Newbie looking for a simple, good digital piano

[Ciara]

Hey!

I'm a 21- year medical student and I decided a few months ago to start playing the piano. I know I'm quite old to start this hobby, but I'm still going to do my best. I'm quite determined in this, although I have only dreamed of playing the piano for as long as I can remember.

I'm looking for a very simple digital piano. I live in a place where having a real piano would get me kicked out of my appartment . I'm only interested in the grand piano sound, I don't really need strings, organs etc- I just want to play the piano!

I am currently looking for a piano teacher near by ( no success so far) so I think that would also affect the choice of a digital piano - I know a digital piano can't be compared to the real deal, but I can't have more. I'd also need it to be connectable to the mac I have. Hm... a pedal-usable as well... touch sensitive of course..headset-cabable. Maybe even a learn it - program, too? What else...ah, yes, easily movable. I can't have a big and a heavy instrument because my appartment is so tiny >.< but I'd prefer the type with a AC adapter ( I don't know if that's the real word. I mean the type you need to connect to the small box on the wall to get power). Aha, 61-88 piano keys.

Being a student really eats up the budget but I'd like to hear recommendations from all ranges, so let's say... 100-3 000 e. I'll cut on eating if I have to! Maybe I should just find the cheapest and after I know the theory of playing get a more proper one?

Thank you very much in advance!
Ciara

 

[Kaioken]

Hey!
Welcome to the forum(i'm new as well). I must say i can't help you about which synthesizer you should buy, as i also started a thread and requested a recommendation about a new synthesizer. But i thought i should motivate you a little bit, i'm 21 too( not in college yet, still working hard) - and you should know - It's never late to start playing music! Never in my life i have been so excited about starting to play music as i am now. I know i can do it, and so do you.

Just my 2 cents.
Good luck!

 

[goz211]

Welcome to the forum Ciara.

Pop into a music shop and try some. What's your budget?

 

[Ciara]

Hey!

Thank you

Well, as I said I'd really like for something as similar as possible to the acoustic piano. I've been saving for quite some time now, so I don't really have a definite max. budget. I think I'd be fine spending up to 1 000 euros, but as the prices of each digital piano varietes in different countries it's not that strict. I'd love to find something for 400 e but I don't know if that is enough of money to get something proper. So I guess 500e +- 200e is my budget - after all it is the first ever keyboard.

Recently I've been looking at a digital piano Casio CDP-100 model...it's about 500 e here.

Aha, and I did go to a music store to see what they got but they have only got the really expensive models. 3000 e +.

 

[goz211]

Do you need built in speakers or would you just be using headphones?

I like this model - Casio PX-3:

http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/Casio-Privia-PX-3/2319

No built in speakers and no stand with it. Don't know how much it is where you are.

I have a (semiweighted) Yamaha NP30 which I've recommended to students in the past. It's gone up in price here - used to be well below £200.

A band mate just got his daughter a Korg SP170 for just under £400 including the stand. It has built in speakers.

 

[Ciara]

Hey!

I'd only be using the headphones with it, so I don't think I'd need a built in speakers. Thank you for adcive, I'll be looking those up if I could get them here

I've been wondering, if I connect the keyboard with the mac, and I use headsets on the mac, will I hear the keyboard through the computer or will I need to use the headphones on the keyboard and not hear the computer? Lol I hope that made sense.

Ok, the Casio px 3 is 660 e here, but it seems great!
The yamaha np30 I couldn't find, but the np31 is there, for 300 e.
The korg sp170 would be 510 e.

Oh my, they all seem great and they're all well in the budget. Thank you Goz211 for advice!

 

[DickR]

Ciara,

Have a very good look at the latest Casio keyboards if price, space and soundquality is the issue. What do you mean by 'not the real thing'? Oh oh..... You want to learn to play piano yes?
The Privia range is beyond believe for real piano sounds (but a bit pricy).
I have been a pro keyboardplayer and teacher for many years and the Casio WK7500 with 76 keys or its smaller brother the CTK 7000 with 61 keys are perfect arranger keyboards for the money. They have great (and many) piano-sounds amongst all the other things on your wish-list and they are well in the pricerange for beginning students.
Anyone who looks down on Casio as 'toy' is a snob and doesn't know these instruments at all. Amen.
Happy hunting.

DickR

 

[Vctor]

=
I've been wondering, if I connect the keyboard with the mac, and I use headsets on the mac, will I hear the keyboard through the computer or will I need to use the headphones on the keyboard and not hear the computer? Lol I hope that made sense.

That depends on which cables you will use. If you connect the keyboard through Line In (L/R on the back of keyboard) to your mac/pc, you will still hear the sound on keyboard and mac. In this case you must plug the headphones to your keyboard.

If you connect it through headphones cable, which is Mono, because it's only 1 hole, you won't hear the sound on the keyboard. I never done this, I only connected with Line In.
This cable is for recording audio. I don't know if you were talking about audio cable or midi cable?
With jack, jack, mini jack cable, this is stereo:

 

[DickR]

Vctor???

Since when is a headphone out on a keyboard MONO??
NO WAY!

 

[Vctor]

DickR, when you connect it to your HEADPHONES output on your keyboard.
L/R output uses 2 jacks, Left and Right. Headphones uses only 1.

 

[DickR]

Hi VCtor
I must misunderstand you or you me.

Line out (if available) on a keyboard uses 2 mono-jacks usually into 1 mini-stereo jack if connected to a pc-soundcard or 2 mono-jacks when conected to an ampifier or indeed again 1 stero jack, depending on the connections.
A headphone out from a keyboard however is for sure stereo and uses 1 STEREO jackplug (large or small) into another stereo jack OR,depending where you connect it to, 2 mono jacks.

Also, the sound from a soundcard can NEVER reproduce the sound of a keyboard because it has only the 127 GM (general midi) available (unless you have a special soundcard).
Even a low end keyboard has many more 'voices' or 'tones'.
So listening to a keyboard trough a pc soundcard is very dissapointing if we are talkng about MIDI.
MP3 or WAV is another story.
Sending MIDI from a PC to a keyboard is in many cases good to acceptable because you are using the extensive 'voices' or 'tones' from the keyboard.

Regards
DickR
(Soundengineer)

 

[Vctor]

Hi DickR, I wasn't talking about Midi sounds here.
If I was wrong saying that L/R output is stereo and Headphone out is Mono, I'm sorry.

I am using L/R cables to record audio from my keyboard.
When using the MIDI cable, I'm using a DAW with a Sampler Player to reproduce tones.

 

[DickR]

Haha, yes that's the way to do it amigo.
Regards
DickR

 

[Ciara]

Hey!

Haha! Well I'm open to all options, casio, yamaha and so on, as long as I find something that meets my needs! Thank you, I will check up Casio WK7500!

Well my mac says something like "the computer was not able to detect a keyboard through USB or MIDI" (I don't really know what's the difference though) when I open garageband without a keyboard. So in anycase, I would only have usb ports and ethernet ports and thunderbolt ports on the mac so I would need to get a extra wire. I also have access to a PC which got some more ports. But I was hoping to use it with the mac.

 

[Vctor]

Casio WK-3800 that I have, can be connected to computer for playing midi notes via USB cable, I think on the 7500 is the same.

 

[DickR]

Yes it is the same on the WK7500 and similar keyboards but you have to install the free to download Casio 'Datamanager' on the computer to be able to communicate. between the two trough the USB ports..
.
Ciara, a computer can't detect a midi device (all keyboards are midi-instruments) if nothing is connected. Nothing to do with a PC or a Mac or the ports it has available or what program is installed on it.
Try to lit a candle with a match but no candle.

Midi in very short, is the 'language' that is used in keyboards and synthesizers etc. to tell the instrument what note to play, what instrument it has to use (piano, violin, trumpet or whatever), how long this sound has to sound, how mutch vibrato etc etc.
Midi is NOT music as such.
On the Internet are many sites where you can find out what MIDI is and how it works..

Regards
DickR

 

[Ciara]

Well yes of course..? Even I'm not that noob to think a keyboard would connect to a computer without a cable or some other method. Ö.ö

Anyway, I thank you all for good advice! I was fortunate enough to get my friend loan her yamaha keyboard which I'll be using for first, and then I'll buy my own if needed. Once again, thank you everyone!