Looking for light weight digital piano solution

[Dan Belmont]

Hi All -

I have been using a Roland RD-800 digital piano for acoustic piano for jazz gigs and it sounds great ... it, however, weighs 48 lbs. and it is has become too heavy for me to move around ,... I tried out a Casio Privia PX-S1000 but the acoustic piano sound is just not that good ... are there solutions people would recommend ? I am open to getting a great MIDI controller MIDI'd into a great sounding module ...

Thanks !

Dan Belmont

 

[Biggles]

Yamaha P125 @ 26 lbs

Kawai ES110 @ 26.5 lbs

MIDI - Studiologic SL Studio @ 30 lbs

 

[happyrat1]

Take a look at the Kurzweil PC4.

I think it's at least 15 lbs lighter and it has the Kurzweil German Grand samples.

You may either love or hate the Medeli keybed but test drive before you buy or else buy with a good return policy.

Gary

 

[Dan Belmont]

Take a look at the Kurzweil PC4.

I think it's at least 15 lbs lighter and it has the Kurzweil German Grand samples.

You may either love or hate the Medeli keybed but test drive before you buy or else buy with a good return policy.

Gary

Hi Gary -

I owned a Kurzweil K2500 for years and loved it ... does the PC4 have a better piano sound than the K2500 ?
Thanks !
Dan

 

[happyrat1]

Hi Gary -

I owned a Kurzweil K2500 for years and loved it ... does the PC4 have a better piano sound than the K2500 ?
Thanks !
Dan

INCREDIBLY better!!

The German Grand is like a 2 Gig sample and older K series pianos are included and tweaked and upgraded as well as new stuff.

Gary

 

[Dan Belmont]

INCREDIBLY better!!

The German Grand is like a 2 Gig sample and older K series pianos are included and tweaked and upgraded as well as new stuff.

Gary

Great Gary - thanks for the quick reply ! If you don’t mind my asking what do you do musically in general and with the PC4 ? And is the PC4-7 better than the PC4 ?

 

[happyrat1]

I own a PC3K8 and mainly use it for amateur composition for fun (sigh, never profit )

The PC4 is it bridge between the Forte and the upcoming, soon to be released K2700.

The PC4 is 88 keys. PC4-7 is 76 keys (weighted or not I don't know.) Like I said, Kurzweil gets a lot of flack for using Medeli keys instead of the Fatar TP40L series they traditionally used.

Upshot is, some people hate it and others can gush how much they love it.

That's the only way they could get it under 30 lbs. though and weight is your primary concern.

Your call man.

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

If ya wanna hear my music, check out my sig.

 

[Dan Belmont]

I own a PC3K8 and mainly use it for amateur composition for fun (sigh, never profit )

The PC4 is it bridge between the Forte and the upcoming, soon to be released K2700.

The PC4 is 88 keys. PC4-7 is 76 keys (weighted or not I don't know.) Like I said, Kurzweil gets a lot of flack for using Medeli keys instead of the Fatar TP40L series they traditionally used.

Upshot is, some people hate it and others can gush how much they love it.

That's the only way they could get it under 30 lbs. though and weight is your primary concern.

Your call man.

Gary

Thank you so much Gary !

 

[happyrat1]

Thank you so much Gary !

You're very welcome...

Gary

 

[Dan Belmont]

You're very welcome...

Gary

Since you have been so responsive I'll ask you this question - a number of reviews of the PC4 on the Sweetwater site make me think it is buggy - and years ago I was thinking of using the PC4 as a MIDI Controller and the one I got was problematic ... are there really build problems with the PC4 such that it is easy to get a lemon ?

 

[happyrat1]

There may still be a few bugs, but I doubt they've released a final firmware yet.

One thing that bothered me about the PC4 was that there is no longer a dedicated GM bank. I understand there are workarounds but for me this one is kind of a dealbreaker.

However, if you'd really like to get the dirt from actual owners of the board then I'd suggest signing up over at :

Log in

Log in

forums.godlike.com.au

And

Ksetlist – A community of users of Kurzweil keyboards

ksetlist.com

There you will find first hand accounts of the pros and cons of the board.

On the other hand you might also want to consider the SP6 or SP5 Stage Pianos or if you are willing to drop a bundle the Forte is the current flagship model.

Gary

 

[anotherscott]

I have been using a Roland RD-800 digital piano for acoustic piano for jazz gigs and it sounds great ... it, however, weighs 48 lbs. and it is has become too heavy for me to move around ,... I tried out a Casio Privia PX-S1000 but the acoustic piano sound is just not that good ... are there solutions people would recommend ? I am open to getting a great MIDI controller MIDI'd into a great sounding module ...

There are lots of options. If you like the Roland sounds, the RD-88 might be a good choice. If you're trying to get closer to that PX-S1000 price range, there are the FP10/FP30 models, though you give up 1/4" outs, and (like the PX-S1000) 5-pin MIDI connections.

The Kurzweil PC4 mentioned is a great board, but based on your more minimal needs (since you were considering a PX-S1000), I'm not sure you need to look any higher than their much cheaper SP6. Though the Kurz actions, while okay, are not top tier, either. But there's a lot of subjectivity to feel.

I like the Yamaha CP88, but at 41 lbs, may still be too much to cart around. If you can get by with fewer keys, there's the 29 lb CP73, though I don't like that action nearly as much, personally.

Kawai ES-110 was mentioned... it's also worth looking at the step-up ES-520.

Any action you like can work with a Dexibell S7 module or an iPad, which has a variety of piano apps that some people like, though you have to make sure latency is ok.

 

[Dan Belmont]

There may still be a few bugs, but I doubt they've released a final firmware yet.

One thing that bothered me about the PC4 was that there is no longer a dedicated GM bank. I understand there are workarounds but for me this one is kind of a dealbreaker.

However, if you'd really like to get the dirt from actual owners of the board then I'd suggest signing up over at :

Log in

Log in

forums.godlike.com.au

And

Ksetlist – A community of users of Kurzweil keyboards

ksetlist.com

There you will find first hand accounts of the pros and cons of the board.

On the other hand you might also want to consider the SP6 or SP5 Stage Pianos or if you are willing to drop a bundle the Forte is the current flagship model.

Gary

Hi Gary -

Yet another question - does the SP6 have the exact same piano sounds as the PC4 ?

thanks !

dan

 

[anotherscott]

I believe all the SP6 piano sounds are in the PC4, but the PC4 has additional piano sounds that are not in the SP6. It may (or may not) be possible to load the "missing" PC4 programs into the SP6. I think the boards come with the exact sample samples in them, so in theory, any program on the PC4 should work in the SP6, but I don't know if there is a way to actually get the program out of one into the other. Maybe someone else knows...

 

[happyrat1]

Like I said, he won't get the 9 foot Bosendorfer they sampled for the German Grand.

Otherwise, the ability to load patches would be limited by internal samples only.

The SP6 doesn't do sampling.

Gary

 

[anotherscott]

Like I said, he won't get the 9 foot Bosendorfer they sampled for the German Grand.

Otherwise, the ability to load patches would be limited by internal samples only.

According to Kurzweil's the PC4 and SP6 both have 2 GB sound sets and include the same pianos samples. See: https://kurzweil.com/2020/09/23/comparison-chart/

GD = German D, JC7 = Japanese C7, TS = Triple Strike

Am I missing something?

 

[happyrat1]

I bow to your insane researching skills Scott.

I figure if I'd have to look it up the OP can read a specs sheet as well as we can.

Gary

 

[Biggles]

Out of interest Dan

You tried a $650 Casio and now you are considering a Kurzweil PC4 at $2500

what is the budget you have available?

 

[happyrat1]

The way I read it, he owns an RD-800 and he wants something lighter that sounds AS GOOD OR BETTER.