SDP-2 Stage Piano by Gear4music

Product Information

I greatly appreciated this article about choosing a digital piano. You clearly know this market inside out.

The digital pianos of today are far more technologically advanced than the electronic keyboards of old. They all at some point were developed and engineered to simulate the look, feel and the sound of a traditional acoustic type piano. The grand piano is the top of the line when it comes to performance piano and being able to bring a feel and sound that even comes close to that is the primary goal of any digital piano makers. When it comes to connectivity, you can always use the USB-MIDI output to connect to your laptop to save directly, edit, play and record your music. It also features the RCA stereo output and sustains pedal input. I liked the article. I thought it was very honest. You obviously know your stuff, so an honest approach will always be preferred by readers, controversial or not.The digital piano makers have developed more advanced technologies that go into the sound generation and much of it has gone into the key sensitivity. By making it easier for the user to adjust the sensitivity of the keys makes it much more desirable for them to play. Today’s digital piano models have anywhere from 3 to 5 adjustment level for key sensitivity from soft, medium to hard and fixed sensitivity. Do weighted 88 key digital pianos cost more? Advice: If you need a basic piano with loads of versatility (gadgets), then go ahead and buy a Casio digital piano from the Celviano range (Casio AP). You may want to consider the Casio Privia digital piano range if you’re short of space and your budget is tight. There’s also Casio’s very vest pianos – The Grand Hybrid range: GP300, GP400 and GP500. But for the price you’d be better off getting either a Yamaha CLP or Roland HP piano. Casio digital pianos were considered mediocre a few years ago, unable to shake off their ‘calculator and watch’ image. But we’ve seen positive signs of improvement lately. Casio digital pianos aren’t as good as the big 3 (Roland, Yamaha and Kurzweil), but they’re generally cheap digital pianos designed for beginners – between half and two thirds the price of a Yamaha and Roland. Advice: Buy any model from the CLP range, (if your budget allows). Second best choice is the YDP range. For gigging, choose a P series stage piano. Thank you very much for sharing your opinion on the best piano brand to buy. I wish I knew you a long time ago before I bought mine. After looking at the different brands, I ended up choosing Casio. I thought it was better than Yamaha because it had a screen that beginners can see which finger is being placed on each note as a song is played from the song bank.

Advice: A really good range of digital pianos that are ideal for anyone learning to play. All Hadley digital pianos have the correct weighting on the keys. Their base model (D10) is excellent value and is the piano I recommend for children to learn on if you’re on a tight budget. You enter your local piano shop and you’re confronted with lots of digital pianos with different styles, colours, shapes and sizes. Some have a few buttons (gadgets) and some hundreds of buttons, flashing lights and LCD screens… Advice: Go ahead and buy any Roland digital piano from the HP, RD, DP, RG or FP range (you pay a little bit more for a Roland, but they’re reliable and rarely go wrong).It features 88-touch sensitive weighted keys to help to master your playing style. Hence very perfect if you’re a beginner or just want to improve your playing techniques. These features are similar to those of an arranger keyboard, and if they interest you then so will our guide to arranger and workstation keyboards. Anyway, so onto the sound – it’s great. It’s rich, earthy in the bass, but also bright and breezy at the top end of the pitch. The small speakers to a great job of projecting the sound even though they look like they should do a poor job. I often find that these types of digital pianos do a better job with the sound when compared to a more closed piano because they let the sound hit you right in the face. You don’t have to open a lid to allow all the best parts of the tone to strike out and project across the room.

Furthermore, the USB output means the SDP-2 connects to computers. This is quite a good feature for anyone looking for a MIDI controller, as the SDP-2 is very affordable and lightweight, making it ideal for recording, whether at home or a studio. My personal favorite instrument is usually the string section since I enjoy layering it with the piano and playing ballads or movie theme songs.The Alesis Coda PRO, 88-Key Digital Piano is a great buy if you’re still on the hunt for a digital piano with semi-weighted keys at a reasonable price. The full 88-key keyboard with the hammer action weighted keys that allow you create a supreme tone similar to that produced by full-sized keyboards like the Acoustic Piano. As far as the Roland goes, the touch is on the light side, but much heavier than a keyboard. I would say that the Roland’s key touch is not far away from a brand new Yamaha upright piano with the exception of their Indonesian model B1 which has a stiff, heavy touch. Compared to other pianos on the market with similar specs, this model is relatively affordable. If you want to experience something beyond basic keyboards while still keeping within your budget, then this instrument could be just what you need. On top of that, the excellent customer service provided by Gear4music gives yet another reason to try it out. Let us know what other models you have played to compare against – we would love to hear from you!