Cheaper Digital Pianos - worth it?

Morzadec

Hey guys,

Was wondering if anyone could give me some advice.

Thinking about getting a digital piano. I'm not much of a piano player. I play guitar and I can transpose a bit of what I know onto piano so I'm not a total beginner but far from accomplished. But I really like messing around on piano and seeing what I can produce. Hopefully this can give an idea of my expectations.

I was looking at digital pianos around the 400e mark such as:

http://www.thomann.de/ie/thomann_dp30_rwc.htm
http://www.thomann.de/ie/hemingway_dp501_rw.htm


However, after doing some research online it seems some of these have some shoddy reviews and some see investing in these as a total waste of money. I could be willing to expand my budget to about double if I felt it was worth it long term.

However, I'm just wondering if (as a very casual player who doesn't have too many expectations/high standards about a piano) if these cheaper pianos would actually suit me very well? Could they be ideal for someone who just wants to mess around a bit and improve by teaching themselves, rather than an accomplished player or someone looking to become formally trained?

TLDR: Are cheaper digital pianos around the 400e mark a good option for the casual player, or are they still a bit of a false economy?

martinedwards

I'd take the €400 and get a used Clavinova

muckety

I'm also looking for something similar - for my daughter who learned on a keyboard similar to the ones the OP showed but needs something better now. However, the 2nd hand clavinova's that I have seen advertised are around the 1,000 mark, which is too much for me. Any idea where to get one for c. 400? And what to look out for?

martinedwards

whatever you get, get a full sized keyboard.

we've had one since Ponitius was a Pilot.

when our eldest was doing grade 4, one of the notes he had to play was off the end of the keyboard.

not good!

we got an acoustic after that

joeKel73

I'm looking at digital pianos at the moment too and have pretty much settled on the Yamaha P-35 B for €479 including home stand.



http://www.thomann.de/ie/yamaha_p_35_b_home_bundle.htm

It's pushing your budget but I've watched and read a lot of reviews online on the cheaper Thomann pianos and wasn't impressed with the sound or feedback. They seemed more keyboard'y.

About a year ago I did cheap-out and bought an M-Audio 88key MIDI controller which I thought I'd use through my laptop. But it was a pain to setup, it felt very plastic (keys were weighted but no hammer action) and there was an infuriating tiny lag in the sound. Sold it since.

The P-35 is getting great reviews. There's a good selection of reviews on Amazon to read. I'm only looking for a few basic piano sounds and what I heard on this video from 0:58 to 1:10 sounds great to me;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU6B5WC7yNw

I can't actually recommend it as I haven't actually played it yet, but worth considering I think. Will hopefully pick one up in the new year and report back.

Anyone know does Thomann normally do post-Christmas sales?