I'm looking to buy a digital piano - Suggestions?

you MUST get a Keytar....80s style to the max...

Save your money for an Alter G instead.

Wow. wrote:

My price range is probably $500 - $800. I've been trying to do some research, and it seems that the Yamaha P-80 is a great choice. I think it's a little outside my price range though.

Does anybody have some suggestions?

What do you want to do with this "digital piano"? Just play at home? Take it on the road to gig? On board recording? Want beats and other stuff with it?

The Yamaha P-80 is meant for beginners. Perhaps you're a beginner? It's is nice for "piano players" that it has weighted keys and 88 keys. It doesn't have many sounds on it though, but the piano sound is supposedly pretty good. The sound you hear though either through headphones or an amp are limited by the quality of the headphones or amp. Rule of thumb for keyboard amps is that they should cost about the same as what the keyboard/piano costs in order to get the best quality sound. Exceptions to that rule of thumb though.

If you don't mind non-weighted keys and would like a whole host of other sounds, you might want to consider some 61-key keyboards instead. Way more flexible, and way more portable. Want to play the strings part of Led Zeppelin's All My Love? Want to play the keyboard part to Van Halen's Jump? Want to play some horns on Low Rider or Soul Man?

I have a Roland Juno-D which is considered a lower-end "professional" board. I bought it new a few years ago (2005 I think) for $595. You can get them NEW now on Ebay for $495 with FREE SHIPPING. It is a very cool little keyboard. AWESOME organs and synth sounds along with good guitar and percussion and horns. Oddly enough the worst sound on it is the acoustic piano sounds, but with a good amp they sound ok. I have gigged with it a ton and played the snot out of it and my daughter plays it every day too, and the thing is still in perfect working order. It has non-weighted keys, but I prefer that...easier to play quickly, and many of the B-3 type organs sounds better with that kind of key action. Awesome keyboard for the money. Just 61 keys though.

Have you gone to a music store and played a ton of different things? If not, you should do that.

Anyway, good luck with your purchase.

i'm not sure i would call any 88 key weighted key electric piano as 'beginner'......

beginner is a shitty 40 key keyboard

I'm still somewhat of a beginner.

Basically, I'm looking for something that gives me the closest sound and feel to a real piano. I'm not interested in any fancy whistles and bells. I don't have the money or space for a real upright. I just need something to convenient to practice on.

Look for 88 (weighted)keys and at least the damper (and perhaps una corda) pedal. It's too bad you don't have the space for an upright, because you can often get a good deal with individuals selling their used pianos - a decent digital piano will not be that much smaller than a studio piano.

You definitely want a keyboard with weighted keys--if you progress beyond what you're planning to play on now and it has non-weighted keys, you'll regret it.

Horn voices on any keyboard, even the Motif XS/Roland Fantom G boards, tend to sound like crap - unless you want some awful, overly-punchy, synthed-out sound.

uh_no wrote:

i'm not sure i would call any 88 key weighted key electric piano as 'beginner'......

beginner is a shitty 40 key keyboard

Well, it is. It's NICE for beginners, but it is intended for beginners. The sounds aren't the top quality that more expensive digital pianos have. It's pretty good though.

40 keys is a toy. Got to have at least 61 keys to be worth anything.

Just Blaze wrote:

Horn voices on any keyboard, even the Motif XS/Roland Fantom G boards, tend to sound like crap - unless you want some awful, overly-punchy, synthed-out sound.

Gotta have the amp to handle the horns or they will sound bad. Either go stereo with two keyboard amps OR power speakers, OR run it though the band's board through the mains. When I play horns on my Juno-D in either manner, they sound awesome.

You're right, and I have done all of that. In my opinion, these companies just haven't gotten the horn sound right. I can get a way better sound recording myself playing different notes on a trumpet/trombone with a basic condenser mic and then layering those.

I've heard amazing string/orchestra, piano/e-piano, and guitar voices - never heard a good horn, though.

Maybe I'm too picky.

Hopefully you've tried different digital pianos because it's a very personal thing.

Go for a used Roland RD-150/170 - it's no longer in production. I tried everything (well, 10 years ago) and that felt the most realistic to me for around $1100 new. Sounds-wise, there're only 16, but then again, I have tens of thousands of samples at my disposal for sampling work - I don't need it for my "piano."