u/D8nnyJ

So, I’m looking to upgrade my digital piano and could really use some advice from people who have actually spent a decent amount of time with some of these models.

For context, I’m currently working on Grade 8 piano and play pretty much every day. At the moment I have a Casio CDP-S360. It’s done the job perfectly well, but I’m at the point now where I’d really like something that feels a lot closer to an acoustic piano, especially when it comes to the action.

The main ones I’ve been looking at are the Roland FP-90X, Yamaha P-525 and Kawai ES920. I’ve also had a look at the Kawai MP11SE.

The action is definitely the biggest thing for me. Sound and features are obviously important too, but I practise mostly with headphones anyway, so I’m much more interested in how the piano actually feels to play.

I recently went to a music shop and spent about an hour playing the FP-90X and P-525. I quite liked the Roland, although the action definitely felt on the heavier side. The other thing I noticed was how far down the black keys seemed to travel when I pressed them. It felt a bit strange and wasn’t something I was used to.

The Yamaha surprised me in the opposite way. It felt really light to me, almost as light as my much cheaper Casio. I know the P-525 is really highly regarded, so I wasn’t expecting that.

I haven’t managed to try the ES920 yet, although a friend of mine has an ES520, and I actually quite liked the action on that.

I’m going to head back to the shop and try a few more before I make any decisions, but I’d love to hear from people who actually own or regularly play these pianos. Playing something for an hour in a shop is one thing, but living with it and practising on it every day is obviously another.

Are there any other slab digital pianos I should be looking at if getting a really good, realistic action is my main priority? I’m also happy to spend more than the FP-90X, P-525 or ES920 if there’s something more expensive that’s genuinely a step up.

The only real limitation is that it needs to be a slab piano. I have a small home studio with a Wavebone desk and a separate rolling keyboard desk underneath it, so I need something I can keep on that rather than a console-style digital piano.

Would really appreciate any recommendations or experiences. Thanks!

Ive been saving money to eventually purchase the Roland FP-90X.

I heard some chatter recently, however, that there could be a whole new digital piano lineup from Roland.

Has anyone heard anything about this? I've done a Google search, but found little return.

I will say, the specific account that got hacked was a crappy one that hasn't been used in a year or 2, but I got an email a few days ago saying someone logged into it. I went on twitter and could no longer access the account. Then today I received an email saying 'Your email address has been changed'.

Now, the email this twitter account is linked to is one I use a lot, mainly for Steam and Google Play (where I have a couple of subscriptions). Is this something to worry about? It seems I'm at a loss trying to get the account back, and I can't change the email it's associated with because I've been shut out of it. Is it possible I'll get cyber-attacked elsewhere? I'm sure most of my important accounts have 2FA.

I'm preparing for my Trinity Grade 8 exam next year. My aim is to take it sometime next summer or autumn, so I've got around 12 to 16 months to prepare.

So far I've learned my two technical exercises (my teacher says they're exam ready), my scales and arpeggios, and my first piece, Chopin's Valse.

I actually found the Valse fairly manageable. It was definitely hard at the beginning, especially getting it up to speed, and there were sections where my teacher really pushed me to bring out the musicality, but after about 4 to 5 months of consistent practice I got there. I have lessons every two weeks and usually practice for about an hour a day, which is about all I can manage alongside work and other commitments.

Now I've started my second piece, which is much more rock-inspired, with lots of jumps and syncopated rhythms, and it's absolutely doing my head in. I've been working on it for almost a month, and I can only just get through about half of it at half speed, with plenty of stop-starts. Today I spent almost an entire hour on about three bars. Is this normal for Grade 8?

I sometimes read posts on here where people say Grade 8 isn't actually that difficult, and it makes me wonder if I'm missing something. To be honest, I found Grade 5 and Grade 6 relatively straightforward. I learned all the pieces and technical work within a couple of months and passed both exams with Distinctions. This just feels like a completely different world.

My teacher has been really encouraging. He believes I'm on track to take the exam next year and has said the pieces I've chosen are well within my capabilities. He also compliments my playing, so I don't think it's a case of him setting unrealistic expectations.

I think I'm just looking for a bit of reassurance. Did anyone else reach Grade 8 and suddenly feel like they'd forgotten how to play the piano? Did it eventually click, or is this just what the jump to Grade 8 feels like?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been through the same thing.

I bought my first iPad Pro a few weeks ago and it’s honestly been a game changer for my workload. I used to print loads of documents and worksheets just so I could write on them, but being able to do everything on the iPad has made things way more efficient.

I’ve got a quick question though. Is there a better app for writing on documents? At the moment I’m just using Preview, which works fine, but sometimes I’ve noticed when I rest the side of my hand on the screen while writing, I end up highlighting loads of text by accident. It’s not a huge issue, just a bit annoying at times. I feel like there might be a smoother or more efficient way to do it

I’m still pretty new to all this, so I’d appreciate any suggestions.