Newbie Buying a (first) Digital piano

Hi,

I am looking to learn the Piano. be having a go on a standard bacic keyboard for a few days, and I am amazed how much I have learned and enjoyed so much, its such a great way of removing stress!!
I am now looking to buy a piano, at 1st I was looking at just a cheap standard piano, but decided againt it as it just would not fit in with the furniture, although I would jump at the chance of getting a Baby Grand
ANyway I have had a good look around at various Digital pianos and just cant make a choice on the Brand or the model. I did want the Roland Rp-201 untill I started looking at the others.
The Choice is between Yamaha , Roland and Now Kawai. I hadn't even heard of the Kawai untill the local music store introduced me to it, it was the CN33 Model. my only concern with this is its more expensive than a basic roland. and only has 96 Polyphonics. (I know I am only learning, but know people who can play and would hate for them to come around and play and it drop notes.
I then decided to pay the extra and get the Yamaha CLP-330, but then Noticed Roland had the Harmany offer on with 23 Months Interest free credit, so I am now looking at the Roland HP307.
I am hoping someone here can help me make the choice, part of me is thinking of going for just a basic model or even the Kawai and saving the cash, but I want a Piano that is going to last for a long time.
The Main things I want are for it to be black, would Prefer Polished Ebony, but not 100% sure as worried about the cats scratching it, etc. Also I would like to to possiby have the front legs and the most important one, I dont want to loose the sound quality to get the consmetics i want.

Sorry for such a long post, many thanks in adavance for any replys.

Hi Ste,

Thank you for posting.

When it comes down to it, which one makes your heart go pitter-patter? I bet that deep down, you've probably already made your mind up.

Go with that gut instinct. They're all very good instruments, so which one do you think will fit into your life the best?

If your friends "drop notes" so to speak, then they're too fussy, and need to mind their own beeswax.

If you like your instrument, and it gives you endless hours of joy, then that explains why there are so very many to choose from. Everyone has their own style.

I cannot recommend on over the other, as I said that are all fine instruments. Listen to your heart. After all, it's YOU who will be playing it every day, and not your friends.

As for the long post, feel free anytime. We love when people can be descript.

Thank you for your interest in the site, and
Best wishes,
~B~

Hi there guest.

I have a Kawai E3 keyboard which I use to input MIDI information into the computer. I really like it for the action and overall feel.

You are selecting from 3 instrument manufacturers which are all excellent for what they do - I don't think you'll lose out with any of them - I think it'll just come down to your preference for one of them.

In addition to Broccoli's comment regarding dropped notes, 96 note polyphony is excellent. What this means, essentially, is that the keyboard can sound 96 simultaneous notes. To put this into context, you would be able to hold down the pedal and play a chromatic scale from the bottom note right up to the top (88 keys in total) and still have 8 notes that you can play - assuming that the other notes are still sounding after all that!

For a log time, 64 note polyphony was the standard for most keyboards / stage pianos - I don't think you'll fill it. The only precaution in this is in multi-timbral playing. Should you play two voices at once (eg. piano sound and strings), you would have 48 note polyphony (as each layer uses 1 voice per note), but again, this will be unlikely to be a problem.

All the best in your selection.