The wedding piano dilemma

[Jose EB5AGV]

Last week my niece asked me if I could lend her a digital piano for her wedding ceremony at the church (I will attend, but she said didn't wanted to bother me with the playing)

 

So I found myself into a problem. I wanted to help... But none of my keyboards were suitable. I have plenty of synths, controllers, workstations and such, but no 88 key weighted slab, with sounds and speakers on it. I could setup the Studiologic SL-88 Studio along a laptop or iPad and an amplifier. But I preferred a simpler and more elegant all-in-one setup.

 

So I looked for used gear and, on the opposite side of Spain, I found a good candidate. I bought it and it has arrived today. In the picture it is setup with Korg Module, just to check how it works, as it has USB audio and MIDI. I love that setup, using AUM as a host. Pretty flexible and super-easy to setup!

 

All in all, here you have it, a humble Korg B2, as new, and at less than 60% its new price, ready for its task (the wedding is on 13th April):

 

 

I think it will do its intended job nicely. And well, after that I will have another tool on my playing arsenal 😉

 

Jose

 

PS: I hope the B2 speakers are enough for the intended use, as the church is not too big. I will have an amplifier ready for it, just in case it is needed

[The Piano Man]

Ideal tool for the job! Lightweight, decent piano sounds and perfectly serviceable keyboard action.

 

6.3” line outs would be good, but immaterial if you are connecting to an IOS piano.

 

Best wishes!

[JamPro]

Congratulations on your niece's wedding.  I hope you and all your family have a great day!

 

(And enjoy your new keyboard.)

[jazzpiano88]

1 hour ago, Jose EB5AGV said:

PS: I hope the B2 speakers are enough for the intended use, as the church is not too big. I will have an amplifier ready for it, just in case it is needed

 

Congratulations, and looks like a good solution.   My gut feel is that you're going to need the amplifier, even if just as a moderate boosting transducer to fill up the room.    

My experience with built in speakers (Yamaha P250, CP300) is that they are great for the player in a quiet room.   But in a larger room with people, the internal speaker suddenly gets lost in an infinite background of room ambience.   Maybe if everyone is quiet enough during the playing it will be ok.   

It will be interesting if you can let us know your findings on this after the wedding.

[Jose EB5AGV]

5 minutes ago, jazzpiano88 said:

 

Congratulations, and looks like a good solution.   My gut feel is that you're going to need the amplifier, even if just as a moderate boosting transducer to fill up the room.    

My experience with built in speakers (Yamaha P250, CP300) is that they are great for the player in a quiet room.   But in a larger room with people, the internal speaker suddenly gets lost in an infinite background of room ambience.   Maybe if everyone is quiet enough during the playing it will be ok.   

It will be interesting if you can let us know your findings on this after the wedding.

 

We will have a sound/setup check a day or two before, as there are also other instruments, as a cello, involved. I don't know yet what else will be there. The fiance of my niece is a good cello player, as is his brother, who will play. I will carry an amplifier and most probably will set it up.

 

So, finally, the "minimalist setup" won't be so, but well, I will do my best so they have a good one. I have some experience from my band gigs and I hope they help, even if the venue is so different 😅

[AnotherScott]

I got the "step up" XE20 primarily for similar uses, it's got 1/4" outs and more wattage (among other things), but should be very similar as a piano. I don't know how much the volume difference really is, but I think it's plenty loud enough for a typical wedding ceremony (where it's mostly quiet while you're playing), and solo/duo cocktail (where you're basically just background ambiance anyway).

[Jose EB5AGV]

 

On 4/5/2024 at 12:17 AM, jazzpiano88 said:

Congratulations, and looks like a good solution.   My gut feel is that you're going to need the amplifier, even if just as a moderate boosting transducer to fill up the room.    

My experience with built in speakers (Yamaha P250, CP300) is that they are great for the player in a quiet room.   But in a larger room with people, the internal speaker suddenly gets lost in an infinite background of room ambience.   Maybe if everyone is quiet enough during the playing it will be ok.   

It will be interesting if you can let us know your findings on this after the wedding.

 

Here you have a short report. We did a sound check the day before. The church was large, with 15m or so ceilings and the instruments to be used were a cello, some Spanish guitars and the piano. The piano was going to be played only along the cello. I tried the B2 with just its speakers and was clearly too weak. I had taken an small 45W mono amplifier and with it at about 50% gain and the B2 at 60% output, the volume was enough for the intended pieces (classical except for some ballad from Lord of the Rings 😉)

 

Well, the wedding was last Saturday and the piano setup was simple: KORG B2 connected by its headphones output (there are no other options) to a Behringer K450FX. The cello was not amplified but is incredible how it projects its sound. I placed the amp pointed to the public on the longitudinal section of the church (piano and cello were on the front left side) and, based on several recordings, could be heard from all the church (people behave nicely and were quiet)

 

I was not intended to play but, as the player was only going to play the classical music, I played on the final festive piece, if just church organ chords (the main instrument there was a singer with a guitar, amplified through the church speakers). It took by surprise to my family and guests. And even myself 😅

 

All in all, we had a great ceremony and the humble piano setup did its job. And now I have another keyboard to play! 😁

 

Jose

[mcgoo]

I'm not sure if it's a culture thing,  but the thing that struck me from the OP is,  what church doesn't have a piano? That's not a criticism,  just a bewildered observation!

 

Congrats on your niece's wedding and kudos to you for helping to make it special. 

[Jose EB5AGV]

1 hour ago, mcgoo said:

I'm not sure if it's a culture thing,  but the thing that struck me from the OP is,  what church doesn't have a piano? That's not a criticism,  just a bewildered observation!

 

Congrats on your niece's wedding and kudos to you for helping to make it special. 

 

Here in Spain the unusual is to find a piano in a church, at least on the predominant Catholic ones. You can find tube organs in some larger ones, and electronic organs in others. But acoustic pianos are not usually found. In fact, I am trying to remember any church around this area with a piano, and can't remember any.

 

So, yes, it seems a cultural thing 🤔

[Dockeys]

Same here…pianos in churches in Ireland are a rarity. Organs yes but pianos no. You’ll find the odd digital piano but I wouldn’t turn up at a church gig hoping there’s a piano there.