# Prefer Keyboard to Piano



## Captainnumber36

I have realized I prefer to play my keyboard over my piano, the action on the keyboard is much more to my liking and I feel I play it better. 

It doesn't come as a huge surprise to me being that my piano is ancient and my keyboard is fairly up to date.

Just thought I'd share. I almost gave up on performing live till I set up my keyboard again and felt like I could give the shows I want to give in terms of perfection!

:tiphat:


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## Carol Rein

What keyboard do you have?


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## Captainnumber36

Carol Rein said:


> What keyboard do you have?


Yamaha P85.

https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-Digital-Furniture-Style-Instructional-Polishing/dp/B00UOEBXBC/ref=sr_1_1/142-1976824-5348856?ie=UTF8&qid=1511104764&sr=8-1&keywords=yamaha+p+85


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## Captainnumber36

And my piano is an upright Baldwin purchased new in the 80s.


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## Carol Rein

Oh! So you have a digital piano, not a keyboard  as it has hammer action mechanism. Its key action and touch feel should be the normal as a healthy piano should be felt.
That's why you prefer to play in it. It's understandable.
I have one of those digital pianos, and I love to play in it.
I love the keys action, nevertheless I deeply hate the clean synthetic sound of the digital pianos (of any digital piano, I made a post about that), and I only use it as a MIDI controller. So the piano that really sounds is a Fazioli or a Bosendorfer, or a Schimmel Braunschweig that I have stored in my computer, sampled from those real thing, real brands. Those pianos are intense and colorful, with stunning dynamics.
Don't you find yourself unable to perform with deep character when you play in the digital piano? Or may be you use a virtual piano like me?


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## Carol Rein

Regarding to your Baldwin, yes, the upright tend to be stiffer (even a new one), and the short mechanism of their hammers is more susceptible to wear on time than a grand's mechanism is.


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## Captainnumber36

I've been eyeing this Steinway for some time now if that tells you anything! 

But, the DP is better for gigs and practice.


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## Carol Rein

You mean a grand Steinway? That'd be awesome!
You'll find the software piano tremendously superior to a DP, there is no point of comparison between them.
The software Piano sounds exactly like the real thing, it even reproduces the hammer noises, the inner mechanisms, the pedal noises, the release noises, the tremendous complexity of the resonances among strings, etc. All those are missing in a DP which sounds so clean and empty, so electroinc.
You'll find another experience with software pianos like these:






















BTW Did you listen at my piano? Just to illustrate what I'm talking about.


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## Carol Rein

This is my piano, it contains the pianos shown above, and much more


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## Carol Rein

So you'll play the keys in your Yamaha p85 but what you'll get will be actually the first class pianos around the world.


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## Phil loves classical

i can’t stand playing digital pianos. Feels weird, and some have a bit of delay in the processing, but they make my technique sound better than it actually is, on the plus side.


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## Pugg

Piano any day of the week, load the keyboard, sorry.


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## Carol Rein

Phil loves classical said:


> i can't stand playing digital pianos. Feels weird, and some have a bit of delay in the processing.


You mean digital pianos or software pianos?


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## Carol Rein

What I can't stand is the awful and plastic sound of the digital pianos. I can't really play anything on those pianos. It is impossible to perform any emotions, and let´s not talk about concertos requirements about dynamics and color... just IMPOSSIBLE


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## Captainnumber36

It's really just the action, low tone, and sticky keys that annoy me.

The Steinway I'm eyeing has a deep bass sound, but it is very rich. My Baldwin sounds gross to me, I'd rather play my keyboard!
But it's my piano since childhood, I probably shouldn't ever part with it.


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## eugeneonagain

About ten years ago I sold a lovely old Gors & Kallmann piano which was both marvellous and horrible. The action and the balance of the hammers was beautiful, also the sound, but before I had it someone had not taken care of it properly. The tuner told me the frame wouldn't take the tension required to properly tune it and as a result it was a semitone out. 

The cost of rectifying this was more than I could afford, so I sold it to a renovation workshop. 

The cost of having a piano is more than just the initial cost; there's the costly maintenance. Moving house is a nightmare , it means specialist removal and retuning. Playing a digital has its drawbacks for me, but many benefits. I can link to the computer and play my almost perfect Rhodes piano sound or a Wurlitzer.


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## Captainnumber36

eugeneonagain said:


> About ten years ago I sold a lovely old Gors & Kallmann piano which was both marvellous and horrible. The action and the balance of the hammers was beautiful, also the sound, but before I had it someone had not taken care of it properly. The tuner told me the frame wouldn't take the tension required to properly tune it and as a result it was a semitone out.
> 
> The cost of rectifying this was more than I could afford, so I sold it to a renovation workshop.
> 
> The cost of having a piano is more than just the initial cost; there's the costly maintenance. Moving house is a nightmare , it means specialist removal and retuning. Playing a digital has its drawbacks for me, but many benefits. I can link to the computer and play my almost perfect Rhodes piano sound or a Wurlitzer.


I had my piano moved by a bunch of college kids that did moving on the side while pursuing their music band. They did a great job!

But I definitely hear you, having a digital piano does make a lot of things cheaper and easier!


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## Potiphera

I'm trying to sell my Yamaha digital keyboard , model. E433. 61 keys. I purchased when I first considered taking piano lessons. Now I don't need it and want to make space in my room.

Looks like this =. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yamaha-PSRE443-PSR-E433-Digital-Keyboard/dp/B00JAEDIP6


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## brianvds

I don't own a "real" piano so I have to make do with my electric piano, an ancient Clavinova dating from the 1980s. Rather tinny sound, but I have grown used to it over the years. I like the fact that I can set the volume so as not to bother the neighbors, and with the press of a button can switch from tinny piano sound to tinny harpsichord. 

Its action is rather lighter than that of a mechanical piano. And its sound perhaps more akin to a fortepiano than a modern instrument, so I find it is more suitable for Baroque and Classical era pieces than anything heavy.

Nowadays this doesn't bother me, because due to lack of time I cannot tackle difficult pieces anyway. I have decided to focus exclusively on pieces not above grade 4 level or so, so that I can learn to play them reasonably cleanly, rather than making a noisy mess of more difficult ones.

So on the whole, this humble little instrument works for me. Buying anything else is in any event not an option at the moment.


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## dhwanisangeet

I love keyboard because of it a perfect instrument by we can feel harmonium and piano both in it.


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## Guest

I have to say that I like the purity of my Yamaha P115--it's always in tune and sounds pretty good through headphones. The touch is lighter, and the pedal leaves something to be desired, but from a purely sonic standpoint I daresay it might sound a little better/clearer than my Yamaha B3. Still, the tactile sensation of an acoustic piano is hard to beat.


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## philoctetes

Pianos all sound like pianos, a keyboard needs to sound like an organ too, or harpsichord, etc...


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## Guest

I use a Roland U20 which is old but still works. It has about 2 dozen different pianos in it plus a bunch of harpsichords including muted. It has hammond organs, harmoniums, pipe organs, celestes, string sections, harps, horn sections, reed and wind sections, choirs--you name it. These are all sampled so the sound is absolutely real. Plus it has drums, timpani, gongs, cymbals, solo trumpets, saxes, violins, trombone, tube, flute, clarinet and all kinds of sound FX and synthesizer FX. Plus each sound is fully programmable and you change the ADSR envelopes anyway you want to. The keys are weighted like a real piano. I can create any soundscapes I want. Every sound is stereo. I can make entire orchestras or small string ensembles or jazz combos or rock bands--anything I want. I run it into a computer and use cakewalk and sonar software to make compositions. Plus you can download all kinds of new sounds so it's pretty much the sky's the limit. It's MIDI, of course. If you're going to go electric, may as well get a multi-timbral synth or sample player and have fun. Be careful, I've spent entire days working on pieces and refusing to stop until I was finished. The reward is hearing the result.


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## Phil loves classical

Carol Rein said:


> You mean digital pianos or software pianos?


I mean digital pianos, but it also applies to software pianos. Acoustic pianos can achieve way more nuance and depth than any digital piano I've tried.


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## JasonHolloway

For the beginners it is easy to play the keyboards instead of pianos. Using keyboard we can play the music in different tunes and it gives a better grip over the music, keys and scale of the tune. The brand doesn't make any difference for the beginners. Once you become familiar in playing the keyboard you can move for pianos.


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