Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Help me choose a great stage piano!

I need to buy a new Stage Piano, primarily for home usage. I will most of the time use it as a midi-piano, but fore sure also play with the internal sounds sometimes.

I was thinking about the Nord Grand, but was very disappointed when testing it. For me personally, it feels too light weight. I play pop, boogie and a lot of gospel and is know as a "piano-destroyer", I need more weight in keys, more like a grand piano.

Any tips?
I have found Nord Piano 4 pretty cheap, only like 1900 euro. Do you think I would like it?

Yamaha p515 feels too cheap, but I am used to Yamaha. I loved the old CP300, but I think 2500 euro is to much for a 2007 years piano model..

Would love to get some guidance!!

Thanks in advance

Kawai MP11SE?
Roland RD-2000?

Yamaha CP88 has a pretty solid keybed, definitely on the heavy side. Reasonable choice of acoustic and electric pianos a great harpsichord and a mix of others less usable. Organs not that good. Piano sounds nothing more than average but the keyboard is the strong point.

I bought it after having tested more or less everything and I concur that Nords are light weighted (and expensive)

My 2 c

Enjoy

The keyboard action feels cheap, or the instrument overall?

James
x

By far, in terms of features & functions, quality and value for (a lot of) money - it's really hard to beat these two models.

The RD-2000 might actually be the last stop for stage piano shopping - I don't believe there is anything this stage piano can't do. But oh:
- It does not have a music stand (so what?)
- It takes a VERY steep learning curve to learn how to use this instrument effectively. I mean, even basic functions need a bit of learning
- It's a serious stage AND studio machine
- It has 2 sound expansion capabilities allowing you to use sounds from other Roland instruments, even past models

The MP11SE amazes in key action quality (not that the PHA-50 is inferior). The warm SK-EX sounds are to die for. It's VERY heavy. It's probably the strongest and sturdily built stage piano currently. This also requires quite a bit of learning, although not to the levels of RD.

Those are for starters. You can delve deeper into specifics and both these models will amaze you.

From those starter thinking points, do you have further questions or areas - that will help the experts here to guide you, and have a great discussion!



The P515 is not a stage piano. It CAN be used on stage - doesn't mean it is.

For a "piano destroyer" I think the action of the MP11SE would hold up very nicely. I play classical on mine (some bigger romantic rep) and it's a great action. I also use it as a MIDI controller and it works very well for that.

MP11SE too much ?

Perhaps the MP7SE.

I had the MP11SE and for various reasons switched to the MP7SE and find very little difference between the two in terms of sound and key actions.

Truth is .... I believe I like the action on the MP7SE a bit better. I found the MP11SE action a bit on the "slow" side.

Nothing scientific .... just my sense.

AND .... let's not forget the difference in price.

I love the Nord Grand! I would also imagine the action of MP7se is going to be identical as the Nord Grand. While I know Nord says they had the Nord Grand action customized I'd have to think Kawai didn't change that much for the action they made for Nord grand. I'm huge Nord fan and for a stage piano I would go with a Nord if you want heavier action the Nord Piano 4, Nord Piano 5, and Stage 3 have the fatar action which feels heavier than the Nord Grand.

I think the MP7SE version is graded and the Nord version is not...?

Here are the differences:

https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthre...-action-as-kawai-rh3-here-the-proof.html

You have participated in the discussion too anotherscott!

Does this mean those styles are known for destroying keyboards or is that your stage name? I'm not being sarcastic I just never knew that or didn't know if you were saying "I'm known as a piano destroyer" which would be pretty cool! haha

If it's the former then wouldn't Nord be a good choice, aren't they known for gigging and being workhorses?

The Nord Grand would be a very good gigging stage piano but not something I would choose for home use or use in a recording studio where portability is less critical. The Nord Grand's balanced hammer weight action and lack of letoff simulation would render it a less realistic piano simulation than a Kawai MP7SE and even less realistic emulation of a grand action than a Kawai MP11SE.

Both. At the first moment I liked it, but after playing for awhile, it feels more cheap that Nord Grand.

Haha no, just that I play pretty hard and use lot of the 88 keys when playing..
In my youth I destroyed my first acoustic piano because a lot of "hard practice"
It's a joke, but still, I am not a soft piano player. Fast, hard and a lot of keys played in my style.

I have found a used kawai es8 priced 600 euro. How about that one? At least til I found something I really like, like a re-release of the CP300..

I would seriously consider the MP11SE in your case.

I have heard of another hulk handed individual who actually broke a fairly robust plastic action (snapped it clean) during practice (I won't mention the board before you ask, as I like to think that the individual in question was heavy handed). With the MP11SE, you are getting a wooden action with probably the best attempt to replicate an acoustic action in any slab keyboard. It's also weighty, which means you feel more like you're playing on a piano (no vibrations like you get on some light-weight boards).

The RD2000 action is of similar weight to the MP7SE but has a different but quite nice feel. What lets it down is the user interface on the right hand side of the board --- sound selection--- which is just not well thought out (although paradoxically, the left-hand-side of the board is awesome); also, I think you need to be a fiddler (tweeker or sounds) to get anything approaching a decent acoustic piano sound out of it. One needs to invest in a headphone amp, and/or a nice expensive powered amp or other system (hifi) to bring out the benefits of modeled sound and its resonances. There are some users on this forum who have reported positive results after much travail, e.g., Bruce from Philly.

Other boards which have a robust feel include the V-piano (sometimes they go used for a decent price), although you'd now have to play a VST like Pianoteq or Garritan CFX grand to enjoy the most modern quality piano experience.

The Nord Piano 4 isn't as nice as the Nord Grand---I've played both in testing for a good chunk of time.
The CP88 has awful acoustic piano sounds, and a very fast action (somewhat unnaturally fast for a piano). The e-pianos are fairly nice though. Good gigging board, but ultimately would require a VST to sound like a modern digital acoustic piano. Preferred the Nord Grand in all areas to the CP88 tbh (despite the Nord Grand not really feeling like an acoustic to play), as the CP88 was right next to the Nord Grand and the RD2000, I side-by-side tested them.

I have an MP7SE, and to me, it beats all those boards when all attributes are considered in the round (especially for gigging when compared to the MP11SE). The MP11SE having the Grand Feel action would make it more robust for your hulkish digits ;-), and a more suitable home board.

IMO, the Grand Feel 1 is slower than the RHIII action. I think the new Grand Feel III action might have rectified this but if you're talking about other aspects of an acoustic action, I think the Grand Feel 1 is better than the RHIII. The thing is, if I were playing Prelude/Angry Young Man every night in the pubs and bars, I'd go for the CP4 or CP88, as they have a much faster feel than most other decent digital slabs (I'd just use a VST to play at home with). From what the OP is describing, I doubt the CP4/CP88/MP7SE/ES8 etc would stand the pounding.

PM sent.

I tend to agree.

If you are going to "beat" on it, the MP11SE would probably be able to handle it better than most.

You might want to check the Korg models as well, including the B1 and D1 stage pianos. There are reviews and comments on them here and there.