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Digital versus Acoustic Pianos
by OnlyPiano.com
Deciding between a digital piano and an acoustic? Here are some issues to consider:
What makes a piano digital: Digital pianos create sound electronically, by accessing digitally stored samples of real piano sounds (and often sounds of other instruments as well). They have no moving parts aside from the keys, and since the sound is digital, they never need to be tuned. They are not to be confused, however, with their more primitive and toylike counterparts often known as synthesizers. The term digital piano generally implies a full-size or near full-size keyboard intended to faithfully recreate (to the extent possible) the sounds and (sometimes) feel of an acoustic piano.
Cost: Digital pianos are generally cheaper, though high-end digital pianos can overlap low-end acoustic models. Also, depending on how you want to use the piano, you might end up needing to buy accessories (such as speakers and amplifiers), the costs of which aren't figured into the original price of the piano. You can get entry-level digital pianos starting for around 600 dollars, while higher end ones range up to about three thousand, which is the low end of acoustic prices.
Size: Digital pianos are much smaller and can thus be placed in more spaces, and also easily moved around, both within a home and also to transport to gigs. They undoubtedly have a huge advantage over acoustics in this respect, though they are still heavy and cumbersome compared to most other instruments.
Sound fidelity: Generally, the better the digital piano, the more samples it uses per key, in order to better reproduce the varying textures and volumes one finds in an acoustic piano. Rather than just taking one sample of a note and adjusting the volume at which it is played (to create the impression of loud and soft playing), they will sample each key at different volumes and styles of playing, so that the appropriate sample is used when the key on the digital piano is pressed in different ways. However, it is difficult to completely represent an acoustic piano because the interaction of the strings with each other and the body of the piano cannot (as of yet) be properly duplicated. Also, for live performances, the point source of speakers do not faithfully represent the sound emanating from the strings and soundboard of a real piano.
Sensation: Manufacturers have put great effort into creating digital pianos which “feel” like acoustic ones when they are played. They have had varying success by weighting the keys and using other mechanisms that attempt to make the key react the same way a key connected to a real action would. Many people may not be able to tell the difference, though experts and purists almost universally consider such recreations inadequate and insist that digital pianos can only be used in a limited manner if one aims to become a well-trained pianist. The one exception to this are digital pianos that actually have the complete action system built in for every key – however these are so much more expensive that unless portability and or headphone use are extremely important, you are better off just buying an acoustic piano.
Overall: Digital pianos have many advantages of convenience: Headphone usage, portability, price, and also the ability to easily record music, and play as though you had different 'types' of pianos.
Their main drawback is that even the best are never an exact substitute for the feel and sound of acoustic pianos, which are considered by many to be "the real thing." Choose according to your priorities.
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