Digital Piano
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Acoustic Piano
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Cheaper
A digital piano is relatively cheaper. You can buy a budget $1k Digital Piano brand new
with decent sounds and touch.
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More Expensive
Generally more expensive. Abt $3k to get a decent sounding one.
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Volume Control
You can control the volume with just a knob. You can even play with your headphones
plugged in. Which means, you can practise late at night without disturbing your family
members.
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Mute Pedal
There's a mute pedal, but nevertheless, it is still going to be loud if you are playing in the
middle of the night. And with the mute pedal depressed, the tone of the piano will be
affected > no treble.
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Different Sounds
All Digital Pianos come with a variety of sounds, like strings, electric pianos, organ, etc.
You can even select different types of Grand Piano sounds, e.g bright, mellow, etc.
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Only one sound - Piano
If you buy an acoustic piano, you are stuck with that sound. It may be bright or mellow
sounding. Also, where you put the piano will very much determines how it will sound.
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Literally NO maintenance
No tuning required. No heater required. No repairs needed, unless you heavily abuse
and bang the keys everything. Your Digital Piano will last you for many years to come.
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Requires maintenance
You need to tune your piano every 3-6 months. You need a heater which needs to be
on 24hrs. And just like an old car, as a piano gets older, the mechanism starts to fail.
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Sound Quality and Keyboard Touch
With today's technology, unlike 10 years ago, you can really expect a Digital Piano to
sound like a real piano. Manufacturers take the best recorded piano samples and put it
into Digital Pianos. The good pianos today even come with wooden keys, similar to real
acoustic Pianos.
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Sound Quality and Keyboard Touch
A real Piano will still sound the more authentic touch & sound. But having said so, you
need the right acoustics in your room. Putting an acoustic piano in a small room will
result in a 'boomy', loud and uncontrollable sound. And to get a good acoustic piano that
sounds good, be prepared to pay more than $4-5k.
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Portable
A digital piano, no matter how heavy, is still considered portable. You can carry and
move around without any professional help. So you suddenly need to shift your piano
from one point to another point, even within the same room, you can do so by yourself
or with the help of your family members.
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Heavy
An acoustic piano, no matter how light it is, is still going to be very heavy. And you need
professional piano movers to get your piano moving. In the event when you need to sell
away your piano, this will be one of a major factor, especially if there will be stairs
involved.
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Lots of Useful Features
You can do lots of stuff with it. Built-in drum rhythms, metronome, split keyboard, audio
recording for CD burning, or even linking it to your computer via MIDI and even Internet!
In a real recording studio, 50% of all jobs are done using Digital Pianos and synthesizers.
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No features
An acoustic piano is pretty much as it is. Some of the very high-end models comes with
built-in MIDI interface, or a headphone jack - Silent Piano.
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Summary
A digital piano replicates the actual touch & sound of an acoustic piano with the full
88-key keyboard range. It may not be a real Piano, but it serves the purpose. Or rather
multi purposes.
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Summary
It is a real piano, with real hammers and strings. If you are strictly into Classical playing,
then get an acoustic Piano. If you may venture into pop and jazz, a Digital Piano will
inspire you.
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