About Digital Pianos

In contrast to the acoustic piano, which produces sound from the hammer action through keystrokes and resonance within the piano body itself, the digital piano uses sound sampled from a real piano. When you press down a key, an authentic piano sound (sampled sound) is played. Since the sound varies according to the strength of your touch, you can even express fine nuances, depending on the way you play the instrument.

Incidentally, an instrument called the 'electric piano' was invented in the 1930s, but this product is completely different from the digital piano, even though they have similar names. Instead of using the sampled sound of a real piano, the electric piano produced sound from speakers by amplifying the vibration created by striking a string.

We tend to imagine the digital piano as a substitute for the acoustic piano, but lately an increasing number of performing musicians recognise the unique merits of the digital piano and use it on stage. For example, by taking advantage of the feature to mix and play two different kinds of musical instruments at once, you can expand the possibilities of creating new expressions beyond simple piano performance. Moreover, the automatic accompaniment function, with a rich variety of sounds, enables you to enjoy performance to the accompaniment of a virtual orchestra.

The present-day digital piano, with enhanced basic performance, stands in comparison with regular pianos in terms of tone quality, and its touch now approaches extremely close to the level of acoustic pianos. Children can use the digital piano safely for practising, and grown-ups who used to play the piano can easily enjoy it.

The digital piano has many advantages. For example, its volume is freely adjustable, and you can play it late at night without worry using headphones. Moreover, it does not require maintenance such as tuning or humidity regulation.

Furthermore, some models are equipped with various features that take advantage of the latest digital technology, such as recording and playback functions which allow you to record your own performance and play it back to listen right away, the automatic accompaniment function, and the self-teaching function using software. It is recommended that you should understand these features well to get the best use of them.