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Should I Buy a Digital Piano or an Upright Piano?



Should I Buy a Digital Piano or an Upright Piano?

Digital pianos sound nothing like a real piano. Upright pianos take up too much room.
There is a lot of conflicting advice floating around.
I will give you the right piano buying advice so you can make your own decision on whether
the digital piano or the upright piano is right for your needs.

A brief history of the digital piano.

Digital pianos were invented about 20 years ago and when they where first introduced they were pretty terrible, the keys were much too light, spongy and nothing like a real piano. The sound was incredibly bright and the sampling was quite dreadful. You couldn't really say that it sounded much like a piano at all.
These digital pianos also looked nothing like a real acoustic piano, they had ugly, plastic lookin cases that didn't match any type of furniture in the room. If guests came around it was almost an embarrassment to have this ugly plastic looking machine in the living room. My how things have changed over the last 20 years!

A brief history of the upright piano.

The upright piano was invented in 1709 by the Italian Cristofori. It was a four octave instrument compared to the seven and a quarter octave instrument of today, with hammers striking the strings just as they do on a modern upright piano. The instrument was invented to meet the need to control dynamics by touch, which could not be achieved on the harpsichord.
The early upright piano went through many changes before it emerged as the instrument we all know today. The Cristofori piano was wing shaped like grand pianos, it had a curved body and a lid that could be elevated. There were also square pianos in which the strings ran from left to right as on the clavichord. And by 1800, there were upright pianos whose strings ran perpendicular to the keyboard. Other names commonly used are: vertical piano or acoustic piano, they mean essentially the same thing.
A typical old fashioned upright piano, tall upright standing, ivory keys, beautiful wood, moulded carvings, stylish legs and brass candlestick holders. The old pianos always had a beautiful warm tone because they were made with quality materials and real wood. The soundboard was seasoned for ages which in turn created a resonant and sustaining tone. The superior quality meant that your piano would easily last a lifetime.

Moving on to modern times

These days your typical starter piano is mass produced in China, Indonesia or Korea with very cheap materials, soundboards made out of trees that were probably knocked down the day before and thrown together as quickly as possible to get distributed around the world.
Well maybe it is not quite as bad as this, but anyway i am sure you get my point.

You can find a list of upright pianos here:
http://www.soundsmusical.com/list_categories.asp?in=Piano/Keyboard>upright pianos for sale

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF ACOUSTIC AND DIGITAL PIANOS

Advantages of Digital Pianos:

1) You can plug in headphones so nobody can hear you play.

2) You can turn the volume up or down.

3) You can record your music on the instrument itself, or to disc, smart media, floppy etc.

4) You can experiment with lots of different instrument sounds

5) Due to their light weight, digital pianos can easily be moved from room to room

6) Your digital piano will never need tuning or maintenance, which will save you a small fortune.

7) You can download songs from the web and play them on your instrument. (Normally the more expensive digital pianos offer this facility).

Digital pianos are very reasonably priced for what they are. You can pick one up from as little as £400.

9) Digital pianos take up less space than the acoustic piano. They are slightly shorter in length, much lower in height and most importantly about 2/3rds the depth (front to back) of an acoustic piano, thus saving you valuable space

Disadvantages of Digital Pianos:

1) The value of your piano depreciates very quickly.

2) New models are introduced every 2-3 years making your piano even less valuable and harder to sell

3) The sound is electronic and although improvements have been made, it will never sound like the real thing.

4) The touch is slighter lighter than a real piano and the key balance isn't perfect.

5) The digital piano's appearance is not as appealing as an acoustic piano and is made from plastic and chipboard. It can easily get damaged if moved around.

6) The outer casing is difficult and expensive to repair if damage has been done

7) Digital pianos are very expensive to repair if anything goes wrong with the mechanics or electronics

9) The warranty is normally quite short, anything form 1 year to 3 years.

Advantages of Upright Pianos

1) Your piano will hold its value over time and if it is looked after it will normally increase over a longer period (normally 20 years plus)

2) The piano has natural acoustic sounds which is produced by the hammer striking the string and then amplified by the soundboard.

3) The piano is made from wood, sometimes MDF and is very strong.

4) If the piano's outer casing is damaged it can be repaired easily and fairly cheaply by a French polisher.

5) If there is a problem with the piano mechanically, it can normally be fixed by a piano tuner very quickly and cheaply. (With the exception of old pianos that normally need a lot of work).

6) The touch of a real piano is second to none. The deep, rich natural tones enable you to really enjoy playing music.

7) You normally get a long warranty with acoustic pianos, anywhere from 5-10 years.

Disadvantages of Upright Pianos

1) The upright piano is extremely heavy (can weigh 175kg upwards) and is almost impossible to maneuver without the help of professional piano movers

2) The volume of the piano cannot be turned up or down, it is reliant on the player to control this.

3) The piano needs tuning regularly (normally twice a year) and can cost in the region of £40-£60 a time.

4) The piano will need the occasional maintenance (every 5-10 years)

5) A good, well made piano can be quite expensive (Usually £2500 upwards)

6) Upright pianos take up a lot of room, especially the grands and the taller uprights.

7) They can mark your floor if you try to move them even the slightest bit and because of the immense weight, the wheels or feet leave deep indentations in your floor over a period of time

I hope this article has helped you in your piano buying quest.

About the Author

http://www.zimmer-rattan.com/

 

Computer Term CPU Demystified

In this post, I want to talk about a little bit about the computer term “CPU,” which is short for “central processing unit.” You can also call it just “the processor.”

A lot of people don’t fully understand this term, so I’m going to employ very basic, plain-English ways of explaining it that should just make sense, probably more than what you've ever heard before.

I’m also going to make clear to you why it is your PC seems to have slowed down from it was in the past. This article will also make clear why it is computers seem to become obsolete so fast.

computer's processor~The processor will make a lot more sense with my help~Reading this article will help you understand the computer's processor better~I'll share with you a better understanding of the computer's processor~The processor will make a lot more sense with my help~Reading this article will help you understand your CPU better~I'll share with you a better understanding of a computer's processor}. Once you understand this, you can better choose the right computer for you. This really depends on how you're using it.

You can think about the CPU as a brain because it is the closest equivalent to a brain in a computer. This is the component that does the processing, which is like thinking.

Another way of thinking about it is to think of it like muscles. A computer that has a low-end processor, not one of the fastest ones on the market, is like that stereotypical 98-pound weakling. A high-end processor is sort of like a Charles Atlas or Arnold Schwarzenegger, someone who is very strong, maybe takes steroids and is very big and muscular.

Consider the two of them -- the person who isn't very strong and the bodybuilder. Even the weaking can carry something light like a book, so there's no advantage to being a bodybuilder. Either one of them can easily carry a book across a room.

However, what if the person is going to move a giant, 100-pound bag of cement, the98-pound weakling might not be able to cross the room or may not even have a chance of lifting it.

If they do actually make it across the room, they’re probably going to stagger slowly and barely make it there since they’re trying to do something that’s just too much for them to do.

The bodybuilder, on the other hand, will couldn't miss notice} that the weight is more than a book, but they'll be able to carry it across the room much more easily than the 98-pound weakling.

That's one way to think about it. A professional grade computer is like the bodybuilder. You can think of the normal-level computer as being a person with average strength. They could easily carry a book across a room, but couldn’t very easily, if at all, carry that huge bag of {concrete~They could easily lift a book, but walking with a giant back of concrete would be really hard to do~While a light book would be no problem to carry, they might not be able to do so well with the heavy concrete bag~The concrete bag obviously would be a nearly impossible chore, and much harder than a mere book~While a book would be an easy task to carry, the cement bag wouldn't be so easy~They couldn't carry something as heavy as a bag of concrete nearly as easily as a simple book, if they could at all~It would be easy for them to stroll accross a room with a book, but they'd be staggering if they tried hefting the giant concrete bag}.

cement?~OK, so you may be wondering what the cement or the book are in practical terms?~In real terms, what do the cement and the book represent?~What is the cement?} What’s the book~What do I mean by the book~What does the book represent~What is the book like~Are you wondering what the book represents~Wondering what I mean by the book~Are you asking yourself what I mean with the book example~What does the example of the book represent~Just what do I mean by the book}? Let me give you some examples. Most people are doing a few things with their computer. They’re writing, using a word processor like Word, or reading their emails.

They’re looking at web pages, listening to some music, watching some little video like a DVD or looking at some photographs. These are common things. Those are equivalent to carrying a book or something light across a room. Today's computer can handle tasks like these with ease.

Things like editing video, is a bigger, heavier task for the computer to work with.

You could also think of playing a complex computer game. Those activities are more like carrying that big bag of concrete, so they do need a high-end computer.

Lastly, I want to talk about is why it is, over the course of time, what used to be a high-end~powerful computer goes from being Charles Atlas to being a 98-pound weakling.

It's almost a guarantee that software will get more complex with each version. Some cars are more powerful and sophistocated, but it doesn't necessarily make them more complex to drive, and the same can be true with computers.

So you can think of them as becoming heavier over time. The average weight has gotten greater over the years so that what used to be light and easy for an older computer is now heavy and harder to do.

I hope that makes sense, even if you've never had much luck learning basic computer skills so far. It actually can be a snap with the best computer training.

Are there any other digital pianos similar to a Clavinova?

I'm shopping for a digital piano that has weighted-action keys like a Clavinova, so they feel more like a real piano. Are there any other brands/models out there like that? I'm searching on Craigslist, and I don't know what else to search for.

Yamaha's Clavinova is quite a good choice but then again there are so many different models, go on their website and listen to samples(if you can't find samples on their page go on youtube and enter their model into search you will find either a demo or somebody playing on it) , Try Roland website they have some pianos that are actually really good but could be a bit pricey.
Also as you mentioned weighted - action keys, note that there are different levels of weighted action keys like light weighted (a bit like synth), standard weighted keys( most of the pianos have those) and heavy weighted keys ( some people like it some not ) best advise is to go to the biggest local music shop play couple of different pianos and you will soon find out which ones you like,as it is really subjective.
Also note that different brand pianos will have different sound as they will be using different samples ( for example yamaha has that sort of crisp sound, while roland quite deep etc) and then look for the same piano online ( as it probably will be cheaper) also check ebay.
I would suggest to stick with brands like roland yamaha or korg, as they're popular brands who still manufactures piano's reason being that if something goes wrong it will be much easier to get parts for it and fix it, coz if you would get for example technics (they no longer manufacture piano's) would be quite hard or near to impossible to get it fixed, plus yamaha and roland gives quite long warranties( i think 3 years) If you buying a used piano check online reviews and piano forums ( you can find a lot of discussions about different models faults.)
ALSO NOTE not all piano's have built in speakers (which in my opinion is a good thing, if you can invest on decent speakers the piano will sound much better, than through built in speakers )
My advice is go on ebay or amazon and start searching for piano if something catches your eye google it !! I'm not saying that ebay is really good place to buy piano but as there is so many pianos for sale you at least will know where to start. then look at at least 5 -10 different people reviews or discussions about that particular model if all of them good it must be worth buying it
if you need any more help ask me

Awesome, Time Lapse Landscapes (TheBigPicture)

Inspiring, awesome landscapes -- be sure to watch full screen: Landscapes:
Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo. Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/
dustin_farrell twitter.com/​crewwest website: crewwestinc.com/​ from Vimeo:
PLEASE WATCH IN HD FULL SCREEN w/SOUND. It is a much better viewing
experience. Hopefully you have a 1080P monitor and good connection. If not,
bug a [...]

TheBigPicture

Schalenwaagen, Gewichte, Taschenwaagen / Two pan and pocket