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by rjh29 1265 days ago
It's a matter of taste I guess. I had a Yamaha and switched to Roland and much prefer the chunkier key action and the slightly brighter/compressed piano tone. Definitely important to try it in store.

My absolute favourite is the Nord Grand, but it's a little too expensive.
2 comments
jonahbenton 1265 days ago
Ooo, yeah, I saw one of those, didn't get to listen to it. It does seem like it would totally be about taste and preference.

Was really pleasurable, also wistful, taking my son to try them out. We could just hang out in this large room in a retail store in the middle of NYC for a few hours, he just playing whatever was there. Sometimes other kids would drop in too. That kind of relaxed vibe now incredibly rare.

And though I can hear and feel the music, I can't make it, never learned. Don't have time and space to do it now. Really glad he is getting it into his brain at a young age.

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tshaddox 1265 days ago
I believe the Nord Grand uses Kawai’s Responsive Hammer III action, which is also on the much cheaper (and excellent!) Kawai ES920 portable digital piano.
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alfiedotwtf 1265 days ago
Yep - https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2986123/n...

You could go Kawai VPC-1 which is just the controller, and then connect it via MIDI to whatever you like. That way, you get a wooden action without paying for the sound engine (I've got my VCP-1 connected to a CP Reface):

https://kawaius.com/technology/wooden-key-actions/

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rjh29 1265 days ago
The Reface CP is amazing isn't it!

I looked up the VPC-1 and while I probably would pay a bit more just to have speakers and a sound engine - the weight difference is interesting. It's 29.5kg for the VPC-1 vs. 17.0kg for the ES920!

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tshaddox 1264 days ago
The VPC-1's weight is, from what I can tell, reasonable given the action it uses. Its bizarrely named "RM3II action" is much closer to the Grand Feel action they put in their high-end digital uprights than to normal portable digital piano actions. Also, the ES920 is significantly lighter than its competitors.
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alfiedotwtf 1262 days ago
yeah, it's heavy. I had it on my desk, and the desk started buckling so it's now on a stand
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alfiedotwtf 1262 days ago
To be honest, the CP is really nice. There's also a hidden piano if you move the knob in between two values and then power cycle :)
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