Bachus 'new toy' and his primary (musical) reason for purchasing it, got me to wondering; why do we place so much emphasis on the quality of the 'piano' sound when buying (or evaluating) a new keyboard. Most of us are not (primarily) pianist and few of us do arrangements that feature solo piano or piano solos within an arrangement. The fact is, most of the mid and TOTL arrangers AND workstations have piano voices that are more than adequate for most of our mixes. In fact, some of the 'factory' piano voices may even be better suited to the other voices in the mix than some of the very expensive SUPER-DUPER software samples that require powerful computers with loads of memory. The same with the even more expensive dedicated 'stage pianos', although I can see the justification for a stage piano (but only if you're a pianist, NOT just for providing a superior piano voice for your regular arrangements).

I am not a pianist by any stretch of the imagination but I have found that the pianos in my Tyros II, Fantom G7, BK7m, or even my latest toy, the very inexpensive Numa Compact 2x, are more than up to the task if the performance is us to snuff. What's more important to me is the feel of the keybed and in that regard, the Fantom is lightyears ahead of the others. Some people like the new offering for the SEVEN (a free upgrade) but I'm not a huge fan, probably because I don't like that keybed for AP (although it's perfect for 'Rhodes'.

Your thoughts on why the quality of the piano voice is so important to you even though you're not a pianist.

chas

Bachus, this post was not aimed at you....or Steve, or Russ, or Sam CA, or any of the KNOWN pianists in the group; we KNOW why you guys want a great piano/(s); for the same reason these durn guitar players (sorry Russ, Nigel, Eric, John C.) HAVE TO HAVE 8 gazillion guitars; it's their PRIMARY instrument and they want as many options as possible. Although we welcome your replies, this was mainly aimed at those keyboardist for whom piano is NOT their primary instrument. I believe Fran's answer came closest to the truth; we hold the piano up as the 'gold standard' and assume that the quality of the PIANO voice will probably reflect the quality of the other voices in the instrument. In any case, very interesting responses and another opportunity to peek into the mind of that mysterious creature, the keyboard player (and his sub-species, the arranger player ).

chas

[IMO Piano should be play as such, a solo acoustic instrument so the player can express all their talents when doing so which is beautiful when done properly...and the Piano is then showcased as it should be.