Digital Piano with the best Key Action. One of the important factors that buyers look at in digital pianos is the keyboard action. The better the digital piano the more closely its action resembles that of a real concert grand piano. Here we take a look at the best digital pianos with authentic keyboard action.
Digital Piano Keyboard Action: Guide
Key action systems is a determining factor when buying digital pianos, especially for the experienced pianist and for beginner piano players who are serious about learning to play the piano.
You can read about the various key action systems that digital pianos have. You will understand how they differ from each other, and how brands use different terms to mean the same thing (useful because you may not get the opportunity to play every piano and touch the keys).
Digital Pianos: Top Brands
Almost all the top piano brands make digital pianos with different keyboard actions to cater to a wide audience. So you will find pianos with unweighted, semi-weighted, weighted, and graded hammer weighted keyboard action. They all have their own nomenclature to name these different key action.
Key action systems used by top piano brands/manufacturers of digital pianos, including Casio, Roland, Yamaha, Korg, and Kawai.
- Casio: Uses terms such as the ‘Tri Sensor Scaled Hammer Action Keyboard I & II’ for their hammer action pianos.
- Yamaha: Graded Hammer Standard (GHS), Graded Hammer [Effect] (GH/GHE), Graded Hammer 3 (GH3), Natural Wood (NW) — beginning with semi-weighted to fully weighted.
- Roland: Mainly uses the term Progressive Hammer Action (PHA) system (I, II & III) for the action on its high end digital pianos. Roland also uses terms such as Ivory Feel G and Ivory Feel S.
So I guess you can sense the pattern that these brands use, in case you want to compare the Key Actions. They will have digital pianos with lighter action, and then fully weighted action, and on some you can even choose what sort of action you need.
But how can you tell if Casio piano with a Tri-sensor Scaled Hammer Action Keyboard II key action or a Yamaha digital piano with “Graded Hammer 3” is semi-weighted or fully weighted?
Well, for that you need to read the review of that particular digital piano. At least in our review, we have a section dedicated to the feel of the piano keyboard, where we mention whether the digital piano has semi-weighted or fully weighted action.
The digital pianos with fully weighted, hammer action keyboard are more expensive. Digital pianos that are priced under $500 (budget category) have weighted keys but you may not have the options to be very picky, ad its not going to feel like the ones that are priced $1000 and higher. In top end digital pianos, the keys have ivory tops to make the feel even more realistic. Some even emulate the “click” that you would hear while playing pianissimo on real pianos.
- Best Mid-Range 88-key digital pianos (weighted/hammer keys)
- Best Budget 88-key digital pianos (weighted keys)
- Best Budget 76-keys piano keyboards (unweighted, semi-wighted keys)
But this should not be confused with touch/velocity sensitivity, in case you have that doubt in your mind. They all have touch sensitive keys. Most pianos keyboards that are priced upwards of $150 have touch-sensitive keys nowadays.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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