So you decided to choose a digital piano instead of an acoustic one. Congratulations, you made your first decision. But this is only the first step. Choosing a digital piano can be tricky. There are so many digital pianos on the market today that you need to be sure that you are buying exactly what you need. You don’t want to pay for features that you’ll never use, and you don’t want to lose sight of the features that matter to you. This article will help you make the right decision.
What’s important to you?
What do you want to do with a digital piano that you can’t do with an acoustic piano? Portability can be an important function. In this case, choose a “digital stage piano.” They are portable, unlike digital pianos in cabinets or digital pianos that are stationary.
If you’re just starting out playing, choose a digital piano that looks like an acoustic piano. It is important that you get used to the feeling of a “real” piano when playing at home with a teacher or in a public place, such as in a church. I would also recommend not spending too much. Maybe after a while you decide that playing the piano is none of your business, and don’t want to spend too much money until you’re sure you can continue. There are available digital pianos (less than $600 or $500) that look like acoustic pianos and sound good for a beginner.
How are you feeling?
Most digital piano owners want to feel like an acoustic piano. Many have heavy keys that mimic the hammer of an acoustic piano. But they can differ from a digital piano to a digital piano. So try a few. There is no point in going into detail about all the ways in which manufacturers imitate an acoustic sensation. A quick and dirty explanation is enough.
Acoustic pianos use a percussion mechanism with a hammer. When you press the key, the strings are hit by a hammer. Some digital keyboards use imitation hammering mechanisms to mimic that feeling. These are weighted hammer wrenches. These digital pianos most resemble acoustic pianos. The following are just weighted action keys.
Play an acoustic guitar to feel, then you will have something to compare to find the right feeling from a digital piano. In addition to the feeling of pressing keys, do not forget about the feeling of the pedal. Many digital pianos come with an inexpensive pedal that doesn’t look like an acoustic piano pedal. Cheap pedals can make the game a little harder and frustrating as they sometimes move when you click on them. It can be very boring. It is worth buying a heavy stationary pedal. If your digital piano doesn’t come with it, make sure the manufacturer sells a piano that you can personalize for your piano.
In addition, some digital pianos support several levels of stairs to simulate an acoustic piano. On an acoustic guitar you can reach different levels of sustein by more or less pressing the sustein pedal. Some digital pianos imitate this. The less expensive can only have a pedal on/off of the sustein, meaning you press and it turns on. There’s no half.
What does that sound like?
Digital piano manufacturers use different methods to sample sounds. The digital piano plays a recording of discrete sound. Since manufacturers use different techniques, all pianos sound a little different. If you need one that sounds like an acoustic guitar, play the acoustic guitar in the store and immediately compare it to the digital piano you’re looking at in the same store.
Some questions to keep in mind:
1) How many speakers are used and what is their size? Usually, the more the better.
2) What is the power of the amplifier? The stronger the better. Even if you don’t need it to play very loudly, the sound quality will be better if the amplifier doesn’t have to get tired.
3) Listen to the fading note. Hit the note hard and hold it. Listen to how long it takes for a note to “disappear.” He disappeared like a note of acoustic piano disappearing?
4) What does it sound like with headphones? If you’re going to play with headphones so you don’t bother neighbors or family members, make sure they sound good in your headphones.
5) Sounds like an acoustic piano?
Polyphony
Polyphony is the number of notes that can be played simultaneously on a digital piano. I have a 32-note polyphony, but some digital pianos are up to 128 and up. We only have 10 fingers, but with the sustein pedal you can hold countless notes. Therefore, you will need a polyphony of more than 10 notes. You don’t want to lose notes by holding the sustein pedal because your polyphony is too low.
If you have a 32-note polyphony, it’s probably all right. In addition, the new models of digital pianos use complex algorithms to determine which notes to skip when reaching maximum polyphony. This means that in the rare event that you exceed the maximum polyphony, the keyboard will determine which notes you can skip and no one will notice.
If you’re sequencing different voices or performing different voices when you’re recording on a keyboard, you may need more than 32 notes of polyphony, because each new voice contributes to the maximum number of notes your keyboard can play at the same time. Of course, if you use more advanced methods like this, you probably already know about it and choose a keyboard with a higher polyphony.
Design and display
Design is important if it can serve as both a piece of furniture and a tool. It is very important for premises with high passability. If your piano is in a room with low attendance, this probably won’t be a problem.
Also make sure the buttons are configured logically. You want to make it easy to use. Make sure none of the buttons can be accidentally pressed while playing on the keyboard. This can change your settings during the performance. How embarrassing! Take a close look at the digital piano and its location. Watch a video of the digital piano http://www.digitalpianoguide.com. Notice the models and the size of the buttons you like.
You should also make sure you have a good LCD screen. This will help you know what features are being used. My digital piano doesn’t have an LCD screen. At first it was unpleasant when the metronome was set to a certain rhythm. However, a quick look at the manual has fixed the problem. And because this feature is often used, I quickly memorized it, and I no longer needed to turn to management.
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