Digital Piano vs. Acoustic - Piano shopping

[gracie2]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 5:46pm

Our stage height requires nothing taller than a spinet piano and I (not a musical person) am leaning toward suggesting the purchase of digital pianos instead this time around.

Our theatre building is basically walls and a roof - no heat, no a/c, in a flood zone, which requires removal of the piano(s) at the end of our summer season. Along with having to move them out of the building's when we have heavy rains.

To my untrained ear, though I do LOVE music, the Roland digital piano sounds as good as an acoustic. Bonus - They don't weigh 300 pounds or require frequent tuning.

I've had our regular piano players do some checking, but our main player seems to shift his opinion with the wind. When he tried the Roland he thought it was fantastic, when he and I met with another of our piano players to get her opinion, we ended up at a different store that doesn't deal in Rolands and she liked the Kawai studio acoustic. With with, he agreed...sheesh.

Anyone here have an opinion either way? I was told by the Roland dealer that schools and universities around our state are switching to the Roland digitals.

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 5:50pm

The Kawaii pianos are quite nice for their price and for playing at home, I'd not hesitate to recommend one. But for your purposes I'd go with the Roland digital. It's cheaper and will be much easier to transport.

[gracie2]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 9:25pm

Thanks Mike. Do you happen to notice a difference between the two as far as sound quality or key weight when played?

As I said, I'm not a musical person, but to my ear, the digital Roland sounded pretty damn awesome.

I think part of the problem is that the piano guy has been playing piano all his life - he's like 70 - and like most of us, doesn't easily embrace change.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 11/23/13 at 10:50pm

Kawaii makes a good digital piano, but Roland is the more common brand that you'll have an easier time servicing if there's a major issue.

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 12:48am

The Roland does have a very slight synthesized tone to me, but it won't be noticeable to most of your audience members or non-musicians. In terms of key-weight, I have been surprised how well they have managed to replicate the feel of an acoustic. Your piano guy will probably gripe a bit, but given what you've described, I think going with a digital instrument is simply more practical.

From what I gather, you'll be using this piano for rehearsals and performances? How often do you predict you'll have to move it, and how far away will its temporary storage spot be? It just sounds like an acoustic would be a huge pain under these circumstances.

[gracie2]

Posted: 11/24/13 at 3:46am

Yes, piano moving is huge pain, speaking from many years of personal experience. Pianos are usually moved twice per summer, so that's 4 trips to and from storage across town. If we have other stuff come up, it gets moved to the back of the building out of sight. If there's a flood threat, we have to heft it up onto the stage.

The piano player is concerned about training kids' voices with the proper instrument. He is also the director, a 40 year chorus teacher and lifetime piano player.

My argument is we aren't spending years training kids voices. We have them for 6 weeks of rehearsals and half of that time is spent with a piano that is in a local church where we hold rehearsals until the previous show moves out of the performance space.

I watched several YouTube videos that showed how they make the Roland digital pianos and was impressed with all the work that went into recreating the feel and sound of an acoustic.

I thought the Kawaii sounded more like a keyboard instrument and the Roland sounded more grand piano-like. Thanks for the proper spelling trent. It's hard to choose which is better than the other without hearing them side by side. I have a decent ear, I just can't sing or play, lol. And I'm sure those who have in depth piano experience have a better ear for it than I do.

And ugh. I really don't want to drive 90 miles to Chicago just so I can find a piano store where I can hear them side by side. If I would be lucky enough to find one that sells both.

I had another of our piano players, a long time band teacher tell me she was happy with the Yamaha keyboard she bought for the grade school. So, I'm not really getting any kind of consensus on this subject from our piano players.

A little frustrating. I'm glad we're taking this task on in our off season.