Playing piano is very rewarding. Best of all, it is fun. An artist, who plays Beethoven's work on a grand piano, is an absolute wonder. It takes years to become this accomplished. With today's technology-enhanced pianos, you can create and play all types of music immediately. You may just find the best piano that meets your needs.

1. TheTheTheThe BestBestBestBest DigitalDigitalDigitalDigital PianoPianoPianoPiano
Playing piano is very luxury and colorful thing. Best of all, it is fun. An artist, who plays Beethoven's work on a
grand piano, is an absolute wonder. It takes years to become this accomplished. With today's technology-enhanced
pianos, you can create and play all types of music immediately. You may just find the best piano that meets your
needs.
Here we're going to discuss how you can best determine what digital keyboard with 88 weighted tips you should
purchase. We're going compare models and brands, and base our decision not simply on the quality of the keybed
and piano's features, but also it's price and overall what it offers you as a piano player.

2. Photo Model Keys Features Rating
Yamaha P-115 88 GHS Weighted Key Action ★★★★
Korg B1 88 Onboard Reverb and Chorus effects ★★★★
Nord Piano 3 88 1 GB Memory for Nord Piano Library ★★★★★
Casio PX-860 88 256 Note Polyphony ★★★★
Roland RD800 88 PHA-4 Concert Keyboard ★★★★★

3. Significance of 88 Keys That Are Weighted?
As expected, one major characteristic of a digital piano that heavily influences purchases is the presence of 88
weighted keys.
Digital pianos come in different ranges and sizes, but the most standard of them is a full length keybed containing
88 keys. 88-keys is the basic range that pianos have been made with for many years, and this range consists of 52
white keys, 36 black keys, all ranging over 7 octaves plus a minor third.
The only real exception to this comes from very expensive pianos made by Austrian manufacturers Bösendorfer,
which sometimes come with an extended 92 keys.
As the making of digital pianos have progressed, the weight behind the keys has only increased and been made more
technologically advanced than ever before. Nowadays digital pianos have exquisite hammer action key systems that
are made to the exact detail of the real hammer action in an actual acoustic or grand piano. There are varying levels
of detail, cost, and weight that come with these systems.
However, there are some drawbacks to this.
If you are a serious piano player, you may want to take note of the lack of muscle memory generation that may take
place if you use these settings in a fashion that it is not intended.
Simply put, practice makes perfect.
So, if you are using these machines to serve as a substitute while real pianos are not available, you will easily be
doing a disservice to yourself because when you jump back to playing a real piano, it will suddenly become very
difficult for you again.

4. It is always important to be aware of these touch sensitivity settings and always remember to push yourself if you
intend on being a real pianist.
Even though having an 88 key digital piano is the standard, this is not always a hard and fast rule.
Most pianos come with 88 keys, but there are many pianos that come with 76 and 61 keys too. Many times this is
done to increase the portability and ease of transport of the machine, and also for machines that are meant for
smaller settings such as studio or in home use.
Other times, the full 88 key range is not needed because the user of the piano is most likely a beginner to
intermediate player, and is still working on simple concepts and pieces.
For the serious piano player, however, it is almost imperative that you have a piano with a full keybed. One reason
is simply that without it, there will be many pieces of music that you just will not have the pleasure of playing, since
your machine cannot accommodate it.
With that said, if you feel that this is not a serious concern of yours, then do know that there are many 76 and 61 key
machines with fully weighted keys to choose from.

5. High End Options for 88 Weighted Keys
If you aren’t afraid of spending a little money, then you have certainly opened yourself up to some of the best options on the market for
any digital piano, not just one with 88 weighted keys. And one of the first places to look is the Privia series of pianos from Casio.
The Casio Privia PX 850 is the proclaimed flagship of Privia, and it is easy to see why. It comes with Casio’s Tri Sensor Scaled
Hammer Action Keyboard II system, which is one of the best systems on the market and features 3 sensors for every key in the range
(we also recently reviewed the Casio PX-860, as well).
There are 3 different sensitivity levels, all being supported by the Acoustic and Intelligent Resonator (AiR) sound source, and a
whopping 256 notes of polyphony. There are 18 tones here, which is more than enough for any serious piano player, and the entire
package will cost you around $1500 retail (likely less if you buy online).
Another great high-end option is the Roland RD-300NX (we have actually done a review of the Roland RD-300NX here).
This model uses Roland’s proprietary Ivory Feel G keyboard system, which has the most advanced sensor technology Roland has to
offer, with the addition of an escapement mechanism to make the pianist feel at home.
The board is supported by the Super NATURAL sound engine, which improves upon the velocity response, note decay, and key range
behavior of past sound engines.
It features an amazing 128 tones and voices, with over 80 FX controls and 200 rhythm patterns.

6. More Expensive Options ($1,500 and Beyond)
Now, most of the digital pianos we’ve covered so far in this article are fairly affordable (aside from the RD-300NX,
which costs over $1,000).
But what if you were interested in even higher-end digital pianos that are excellent in what they provide the user,
including weighted keybeds? What are your options then?
Well, if you find yourself willing to spend a little bit more money, brands like Nord, Roland, and Kawai have you
covered. In fact, here are a few our favorites are:
1. Roland RD800
2. Nord Stage 2
3. Kawai MP7

7. Touch Sensitivity Catered Towards the User
Another one of the characteristics that makes up part of the decision of a purchase is that of touch sensitivity.
One of the advantages of having a digital platform in dealing with pianos is adjustment and customization. Anyone
who has every played a real piano has always had that shocking reaction to the weight of the piano keys—keys that
seem to be as heavy as bricks under your fingers.
The classical pianist has learned to develop that hand and finger strength over time, while maturing with the
instrument to create a stronger expertise and greater ability to play more intense pieces.
With the advent of numerous technologies and the different climate of much of music today, many times that culture
of classical piano no longer is as mandated. This does not mean there is no place for it at all, as there now exists the
option to adjust the settings on modern digital pianos.
Most pianos come with about three to five different touch sensitivity settings, usually including hard, medium, soft,
and fixed. These settings make it easy to adjust to a setting that is most suitable to the player’s desire.
However, there are some drawbacks to this.
If you are a serious piano player, you may want to take note of the lack of muscle memory generation that may take
place if you use these settings in a fashion that it is not intended.
Simply put, practice makes perfect.

8. So, if you are using these machines to serve as a substitute while real pianos are not available, you will easily be
doing a disservice to yourself because when you jump back to playing a real piano, it will suddenly become very
difficult for you again.
It is always important to be aware of these touch sensitivity settings and always remember to push yourself if you
intend on being a real pianist.
Even though having an 88 key digital piano is the standard, this is not always a hard and fast rule.
Most pianos come with 88 keys, but there are many pianos that come with 76 and 61 keys too. Many times this is
done to increase the portability and ease of transport of the machine, and also for machines that are meant for
smaller settings such as studio or in home use.
Other times, the full 88 key range is not needed because the user of the piano is most likely a beginner to
intermediate player, and is still working on simple concepts and pieces.
For the serious piano player, however, it is almost imperative that you have a piano with a full keybed. One reason
is simply that without it, there will be many pieces of music that you just will not have the pleasure of playing, since
your machine cannot accommodate it.
With that said, if you feel that this is not a serious concern of yours, then do know that there are many 76 and 61 key
machines with fully weighted keys to choose from.

9. Thank you for watching this article. If you found this article helpful, please “like” us on
our Digital Piano Review Guide Facebook page! Also know any details please visit
http://pianospro.com.
- - -