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From: rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Arthur Pewtey)
Newsgroups: net.music.synth
Subject: Pianos, real and artificial
Message-ID: <969@pyuxd.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 10-May-85 15:38:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxd.969
Posted: Fri May 10 15:38:50 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 11-May-85 03:36:31 EDT
References: <153@unc.UUCP>
Organization: The Chartered Accountants Who Want to Be Lion Tamers Association
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> This question may extend a bit beyond the bounds of 
> this newsgroup, but this seems a good place to start...
> 
> I would like to purchase an apartment piano this summer.
> Although I would like to get an honest-to-goodness piano,
> a real acoustic piano is no good for me here. If I'm going
> to get a keyboard instrument it'll have to be of the 
> portable/quiet type.  There are certainly polyphonic
> synthesizers available, but I'm more interested in something
> that is as close to a piano as I can get, in sound and key
> action.  I'm willing to spend up to about $2000 max for the 
> instrument (excluding amp, headphones, whatever).
> 
> Holding Back The Dam #1: The Fender Rhodes
> 	A very nice instrument, but it's not as close to a
> 	piano in sound and action as I want.
> 
> Holding Back The Dam #2: The Amazing Kurzweil Thing
> 	Too expensive.  Yes, maybe there's something cheap
> 	to be released some day, but I want to spend my money
> 	this summer.
> 
> Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.
> glassner@unc	decvax!mcnc!unc!glassner

A good in between choice is the Yamaha PF10 or PF15.  The PF15 has a remarkably
good weighted piano touch, and feels very good.  The sounds vary in quality,
but there are good piano programs on there, plus (if memory serves) clavinet,
vibes, and harpsichord.  Comes with small built-in speakers, or it can be
used with an amplifier/headphone.  88 keys.  Price: $1700 at reasonable stores.
The PF10 is basically the same machine with a smaller keyboard that is touch
sensitive but NOT weighted, and the price is about $1000.

I've been intending to get one (PF15) but I haven't yet.  Reason: despite a
resaonable sound and a very good touch, it still doesn't feel to me like I'm
playing a piano, since the feeling of actually playing an acoustic piano
combines feeling the resonances of the wooden frame as the strings vibrate,
and while the electronic piano may come very close to accurately simulating
the actual waveform and sound of a piano, I've found for me that no matter how
close the sound (or even the keyboard feel) gets to complete emulation, it
doesn't FEEL like I'm playing a piano.  It's either wait until my parents move
and I get a place in which I can keep their piano (a Sohmer parlor grand) or
make do with an imitation.

Do other players feel the same way when they play electronic instruments
simulating acoustical ones?  I've found that even when I've got a fairly
good Hammond B3 sound on my Prophet, it still doesn't feel to me like the
real thing, sometimes just because the keys aren't hard and squared off like
on my old Hammond.
-- 
Life is complex.  It has real and imaginary parts.
					Rich Rosen  ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr