In this post, you’ll learn some background about digital pianos, so that you know which features are worth paying for… and which aren’t! Then, I’ll share some of my top recommendations from different brands. This isn’t another list of cheap keyboards. My goal is to help you explore your options and find the best budget digital pianos to support your continued success.
Keyboard v. digital piano
Every digital piano has a keyboard, but not every keyboard is a digital piano. In fact, there is a whole family of keyboard instruments that aren’t pianos! Organs and historical instruments like the harpsichord and clavichord all have keyboards, but feel very different to play than a piano.
The hammer-action sets the piano apart from the rest of the keyboard family. This feature allows the pianist to control the volume by how hard they press the keys.
DO NOT buy a “beginner keyboard”. It probably doesn’t have weighted keys and you will need to replace it within months if you truly want to learn to play. Buying twice is expensive. You want to save by buying the right product the first time.
A digital piano includes features like weighted hammers to create the same playing experience as an acoustic piano.
Digital Piano Features
All digital pianos come with similar features. Here is a general overview. Having an idea of the categories to focus on will help you compare the specific digital pianos listed later in this post.
88-key Digital Piano
All digital pianos should have 88 keys, also known as a full-size keyboard. Anything smaller than that is probably an electronic keyboard (not a digital piano). Keyboards have their uses among musicians, but they aren’t the best option for making progress in your piano lessons.
Hammer Action or Weighted Keys
It takes some pressure to depress a key on a piano. This is important, because pressing more gently will create a softer sound and pressing harder a louder sound.
The ability to control volume is the single greatest expressive tool a pianist has.
Some digital pianos go so far as to recreate the entire hammer system present on a grand piano to generate the highest level of touch sensitivity.
More affordable models typically use a digital sensor to recreate this effect.
The good news is that all digital pianos have a hammer action sufficient for playing varied dynamics and learning a pianistic technique. As long as you are looking at digital pianos and not keyboards, you can’t really go wrong.
That doesn’t mean that all digital pianos are created equally. When we discuss different piano brands, we’ll talk more about their different grades of hammer systems and actions.
Avoid Semi-Weighted Keys
Semi-weighted don’t offer adequate resistance and are often constructed with a spring rather than a more sophisticated piano action. They do not provide the level of touch sensitivity that you want for varying your dynamics. You are looking for specs list either weighted keys, or fully-weighted keys.
Sound Engine
The sound engine is the software that governs the sound quality on your digital piano. It uses a combination of recordings and sound modeling to create the individual sounds of each key.
Each manufacturer has a signature sound engine system. Rather than try to learn everything about sound engineering, you would be best off playing a few different makes. Your ear will tell you which sound system you prefer.
When looking at specs, higher memory will equate to higher quality sound. Storing sound samples for each note takes up a lot of memory, so some pianos store fewer recordings and use a computer program to manipulate the recordings to produce the different notes. This isn’t quite as realistic as individual samples.
Digital pianos will also come with different sounds to try. Focus on how many grand piano options each piano has. While the other instrument sounds are fun, they aren’t an important feature unless you are interested in synthesizing and electronic music.
Built-in Speakers
These should come with every digital piano marketed for home use.
There are professional musicians who prefer a lighter instrument they can carry to gigs, so instruments without internal speakers exist. If you want to put your digital piano in your home, it’s much more convenient not to have to deal with an amp.
The higher the quality speakers, the better sound your instrument will produce.
In nicer digital pianos, the speakers are often in the back to mimic how the sound comes out of the back of an upright piano.
Pedals
Acoustic pianos have several pedals, all for different purposes.
The pedal on the right, the damper pedal, is by far used the most. On an acoustic piano it lifts the felt dampers off the string and allows the strings to sympathetically resonate with each other.
Damper pedals have the effect of allowing notes to continue ringing after you stop playing them. Since electronic instruments don’t have dampers, that pedal can also be called the sustain pedal, because functionally it sustains the sound.
The pedal on the left, the una corda, shifts the hammers up a string causing a muting effect on the sound. This doesn’t happen physically on a digital piano, but the sound will change accordingly when you press the una corda. A lot of pianists don’t use this until they become fairly advanced. It’s also called the soft pedal.
The sostenuto pedal is used least of all and causes only specific base notes to sustain.
Generally, most people only need the damper/sustain pedal. Digital pianos typically come with all three, but I wouldn’t hesitate even a little bit to get an instrument with a single pedal.
MIDI Functionality
Some digital pianos include midi (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) systems. These allow you to connect your computer to the piano.
Then notation and composing softwares, and even some music theory learning programs, can interact directly with your piano.
Polyphony
In classical music, polyphony refers to having multiple voices. For a digital piano, polyphony refers to how many sounds the keyboard can play at a time.
The most obvious time you would need multiple sounds played at once, is just when you are playing multiple notes at the same time. With only 10 fingers, that doesn’t add up to needing that many sounds.
Polyphony is at its most important when using the damper/sustain pedal. The pedal allows each note to decay naturally before the sound finally disappears. You can end up with many tones sounding at once when playing while using the pedal.
What happens if you don’t have enough polyphony?
If you exceed the polyphony limits on your digital piano, there are two options. Either you will play a note and hear no sound (not awesome). OR the older notes will start dropping out before they finish decaying (better, but still not awesome).
How much polyphony do you need?
To avoid frustration, you just want to make sure you get enough polyphony. Some cheaper keyboards use 64-note polyphony. WIth this you will run the risk of exceeding your limits, especially if you ever try to play with a background track.
128 note polyphony is a safer bet. You’re not super likely to exceed this limit unless you are doing fancier electronic music-making that is outside of the scope of the needs of typical piano playing.
Best Brands for Budget Digital Pianos
There are a variety of makers of digital pianos. Some are more respected than others. I’m going to list my favorites here along with my top pick for budget piano from each brand. Every piano I list has 88 keys, a stand, and attached pedals.
Korg
Korg makes great digital pianos. It is a smaller company than others on the list, but it provides competitive options. While you should always do price checks for yourself, from what I’ve seen this option is the most affordable on this list.
Korg B2SP
Hammer Action
The Korg action is called the Natural Weighted Hammer Action. It provides a natural transition from digital to acoustic pianos, because the bass notes are heavier than the treble.
Sound Quality
Korg includes quite a few grand piano sound options, so you can choose the instrument that fits the style of any particular piece.
120-voice polyphony is a little less than other instruments on this list, but should be plenty for learning the piano.
MIDI Functionality
This can connect to either your computer with USB or your smartphone with USB plus adaptor.
There are several apps available to you. First, you get a 3-month premium trial membership to Skoove. Skoove offers hundreds of lessons. You will interact with staff notation for each piece, and because it is connected to your piano, Skoove will be able to let you know if you play a wrong note.
For those interested more in sound production, it can also connect to the Korg Module Le sound module app, and the Korg Gadget 2 Le music production app.
The onboard speakers can be used as a home speaker system, too.
Are these all the features I need?
A large reason why the Korg is a more affordable option, is because it provides all the basic features without the fluff. This instrument will cover everything you need to learn effectively in your piano lessons.
Casio
Casio is a popular brand of digital pianos.
Casio Privia PX-S1100
This is a stage piano, so you need to make sure you purchase an option that includes a stand, pedal, and bench for home use.
Hammer Action
Casio digital pianos feature the Smart Scaled Hammer Action. The keys are weighted, and like an acoustic piano, the bass notes are heavier than the treble.
Sound Quality
Casio utilizes a sound engine called the AiR, or Acoustic Intelligent Resonance.
String resonance and damper resonance are both employed to increase the realisticness of the sound.
192-note polyphony is more than enough for what you will need.
MIDI Functionality
You can connect your computer using a USB. If you view scores on your computer, there is an optional attachment to use a pedal to turn pages with your foot.
Compatible with the Chordana Play for Piano smartphone app. The app includes a pdf score viewer and “falling note” style song tutorials. Note: “falling notes” is a fun way to learn a song, but does not really teach a pianist how to play the instrument.
Other Features
Bluetooth connectivity means you can use the built-in speakers as a home stereo system.
Simulated ebony and ivory keys for a realistic feel under the fingers.
Do I need all those features?
For the most part, yes. Midi and bluetooth are never necessary to learn to play the piano, but the rest of the features are pretty basic to the needs of the aspiring pianist.
Yamaha
My favorite brand of digital pianos. Yamaha is a huge name on the market and is also a leading manufacturer of acoustic pianos.
Yamaha Arius YDP 144
Hammer Action
Graded Hammer Standard Action aka the GHS. This is the first of 3 tiers of actions for digital pianos produced by Yamaha. The keys are weighted heavier in the bass than the treble, to re-create the feel of an acoustic piano.
GHS will give the beginning pianist what they need to build a strong hand technique and transition easily between digital and acoustic pianos.
Sound Quality
CFX Premium Grand Piano Voice takes samplings from one of Yamaha’s top grand pianos. Damper Resonance DSP makes sure that when you use the pedal, you don’t only extend the length of each note, but also experience the sympathetic resonance that you would on a grand piano.
A volume limiter also makes sure that you never blast your ears off, whether through the speakers or the headphones.
192-note polyphony will be plenty to utilize all the features that a digital piano has to offer.
The stereophonic optimizer functions to make the sound more realistic when using headphones. This is a wonderful feature for pianists in apartments or who like to practice at odd hours and plan to use headphones frequently.
You can also set the piano to two sounds if you are looking for variety or to experiment with orchestrating a piece.
Pedals
Half-damper pedal means that the pedal is more than just an on/off switch for the dampers. Depending on how deeply you press the pedal, you will get different levels of effect. This is an advanced feature for expressive shading.
MIDI Functionality
Has a USB connection for plugging into your computer.
The Smart Pianist App is available on your phone and connects right to your piano. In addition to being able to control some of your settings straight from the app, the app can interact with the music library on your phone. If you are interested in playing pop music, this is so helpful. The app can analyze your songs and create a chord chart for you. Then, you have the information that you need to improvise an accompaniment to your favorite songs!
The two-track recorder can be extremely helpful for practicing. You can record yourself and play back to analyze your performance. Things tend to sound very different to us when we are not actively playing! If you want to practice one hand at a time, you can record the left hand and then play along with yourself with the right hand. If you are working on a duet, you can record one part and then play the other duet part!
Additional Features
Matte tops on the black keys reduce finger slippage.
Does the aspiring pianist really need this many features?
The short answer is no. But, this is the first piano in this series that includes sufficient polyphony to play intermediate and advanced pieces. Many of the features here will improve your playing experience. Some, like the midi features, are fun extras that I would just consider bonuses!
What about the Yamaha Arius YDP 105?
This has almost all of the features you want, but only has 64 note polyphony. If you want to use the metronome feature, a backing track, or even an intermediate piece that includes pedal, the risk of running into problems with low polyphony is too high for me to recommend this model in good conscience.
Why not the Yamaha P series?
The Yamaha P series is ideal for the gigging pianist who needs to bring their own keyboard to stage performances. The keyboards are light for traveling and carrying.
They are sold as keyboards only, so if you are interested in a home piano, don’t be deceived by the lower price. You will need to add on a stand, pedals, and bench.
They are not bad instruments, they are just not intended to serve the needs of the typical pianist pursuing lessons, which is why I steer people towards the Arius line.
Roland
Roland rivals Yamaha for quality.
Roland RP102
This digital piano provides all the features a pianist needs to get started at an affordable price.
Hammer Action
Progressive Hammer Action 4 provides weighted keys that vary across the length of the keyboard like an acoustic piano.
Sound Quality
The SuperNATURAL sound engine combines high quality sound samples with digital technology to create an acoustic piano sound.
128-note polyphony allows this to happen.
Pedals
Half-damper pedal allows you to pedal partway to create more nuanced shading than is possible with a simple on/off damper/sustain pedal.
MIDI Functionality
The Piano Partner 2 app connects to your digital piano using bluetooth. It can display pdf sheet music and will even automatically turn pages for you when it hears you get to the end of the page. With backing tracks and flashcard games, this is a great tool for helping you learn.
Other Features
The Roland RP102 provides everything a beginner pianist needs.
It uses the first tier of Roland’s actions, Progressive Hammer Action 4. Other more sophisticated actions up the line include Progressive Hammer Action 4 + Escapement Action and Progressive Hammer 50.
How do I know which is the best digital piano for me?
You can go through their specs and compare features OR go to a showroom and try them out. If you are like most people and you don’t feel particularly drawn to this or that feature, you should try out how it feels and sounds. Guitar Center often has floor models and you can call your local music store to ask what they have available for demo, too.
The best piano for you might not be the same one that someone else would pick. That’s okay! We each have a personal preference for brighter or darker tones, and degree of resistance in the keys. It can be fun to explore and try out the different options in a showroom.
Price Range
The instruments I recommend tend to run in the ballpark of one thousand dollars. I consider this to be a budget digital piano for several reasons:
1. They are much less expensive than acoustic pianos
A new acoustic piano typically costs 4-5,000 dollars. They also need tuning and other maintenance that altogether runs $250+ per year.
A digital piano offers thousands of dollars of savings when compared to an acoustic piano.
2. They will not need to be replaced for many years
While there are cheaper options, they are usually lacking in quality. A developing pianist will outgrow a cheaper instrument in a year or two. Then you will be right back here picking out a new piano. It is so much cheaper in the long run to buy one that will last than to spend hundreds of dollars on something you will need to replace so soon.
3. Payment options
Most retailers offer payment plans. Spreading payments out over 6 or more months makes it much easier to afford a decent digital piano. This is a long-term purchase, so you will continue to enjoy the instruments for years after you are done making payments. Online retailer options include Sweetwater and Guitar Center.
4. Other Ways to Save
Buy used! Check craigslist, or facebook marketplace. Plenty of people do upgrade at one point or another, so there are plenty of used options out there.
Buying a used digital piano is much easier than buying a used acoustic piano. If you know which models you are interested in, all you really need to check is that it’s not broken.
More help comparing digital pianos
This post focused on the bare minimum that you need out of a digital piano. If you want to learn more about digital piano features, you want my digital piano buying guide.
The piano buying guide puts some of these details of piano features in your pocket, AND includes charts detailing the features on Yamaha and Roland pianos. These charts allow you to quickly compare instruments from these manufacturers, and know exactly what you’re paying for at each price point up the line.
Important note: You may have noticed that I always refer to uprights and grands as “acoustic pianos”. Some people will talk about the difference between an “electric piano” and a “real piano”, but a good digital piano is the real thing, too, and is a good option for even the piano player interested in starting to learn classical piano.
Leave a Reply