piano56

Thanks Mike, would enjoying reading your likes and dislikes. Lots happening - there is also hydrasynth plus whatever behringer does. I"ve read mentions of technique, mostly 'do I have time to learn new technique.' Maybe learning something completely different (like LinnStrument) is better than risking funny gestures leaking into piano technique. Parts of MPE seem benign - advanced pianism requires finger independence to bring out inner voices. I mostly wonder about the other wiggly stuff vs. efficient playing. Thoughts? I hope osmose works out so I can buy the x-thousandth unit down the road (and happily pay full price at that point vs getting a unit from the first batches).

*However, if you wanted a 45-48 pound piano right now I would recommend the ES8 by Kawai which I have had for 4 years- Out of curiosity, does anyone have a comparison between the ES8 and P515? I have yet to see a P515 in stores. The Kawai ES8 is my favorite among the more or less portable pianos, only one I tried where I felt like I could play hard classical pieces and enjoy the experience. My regular piano is a really good Steinway D, so I"m used to a fairly heavy action and the D sound (however you describe it, but NOT a bright pop music sound). Folks love Yamaha...I tried the P515 and no offense to Yamaha fans, but didn"t like it at all. I"m about to buy the ES8 so glad you still like yours.

I"m new to the forum, just want to say how much I"ve enjoyed this thread and the nice discourse among obviously veteran players. I"m a veteran in some ways, newby in others. Appreciated the expressed commitment to piano. I am blessed to have two grands and one is spectacular, a totally tweaked out Steinway D, formerly a 1970s artists piano immaculately restored better than new. Time spent on that piano playing great rep is time well spent. I am seeking that immediate level of satisfaction and inspiration playing hardware synths. I play a lot of dense classical music (Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Scarlatti) with lots of inner voices - synth PAT seems important to digging in at that playing level. I just had my D action reworked, very slightly less heavy, less friction. Lighter synth actions seem more sensible every year that passes. My career was in tech industry (recently retired). I"ve performed a lot but only really classical recitals and competitions, in spite of starting at age 4 playing by ear and did a couple of garage bands early on. I had a Vision based studio as a sideline in the early 90s doing some fun tv/film work. Who knows if I"ll ever play out commercially again, like many of you do. I"ve sold all older hw (nothing so special) and starting over with Studio1, Komplete, new SL controller, quantum thunderbolt interface, new pc, new laptop, plus other specialty libraries and VSTs. I"m close to pulling the trigger on a Kawai ES8 as a portable practice piano..if anyone thinks that Kawai is a mistake, I"m all ears for a few more days. I"m thinking of maybe a $4Kish synth budget for next year (over/above the Kawai). We"re probably all tracking the same very interesting new gear coming out. The one difference might be that I"m starting from blank slate, so nothing to rationalize 'I sort of already have that.' I compose two ways: pen/paper away from piano, or improvise on piano until something clicks. Improvising/composing on a nice expressive poly synth sounds fun. I"m not overly religious about analog. I built a couple of analog synths decades ago in electrical engineering school, I know the pros/cons. I see a lot to like in these new digital designs. I get the random warmth of real analog, in fact think my Steinway"s warmth comes from impure random things that somehow magically line up - but a lot to be said for oscillator stability/tuning plus architectural scalability. FM is a bit of a puzzle...never owned or played a heavy fm synth (missed the dx7 craze). Trying to understand why or even if some of these new digital synths sound a little icey in fm mode (on YouTube). I get the fm math but need some hands on experience. Any thoughts? I need hw that"s accessible but deep:-). I don"t need a ROMpler (my iPad serves that plus nice emulations). I want an inspirational playing experience without digging forever. Finally back to OP: Behringer seems like the wild card on PAT...holding off buying until they hopefully show some cards at NAMM. Anyway thanks in advance for being here as a sounding board on these things. I"ll happily reciprocate and share what I learn. Pardon the long post.