Comparison Kurzweil M90 vs Medeli DP250

The ability to adjust the sensitivity of the digital piano keyboard.

The sensitivity level determines the volume and sharpness of the sound that the instrument will produce at a certain force and speed of pressing the key. High sensitivity allows you to achieve sharp, expressive sound with significant volume differences, low — relatively quiet, soft and smoothed. And some instruments even provide "zero" sensitivity — when all keys sound with the same volume and dynamics, regardless of the pressing force. This can be useful, for example, to imitate the sound of certain instruments (such as the harpsichord).

The number of built-in sounds provided by the Digital Piano.

Despite the name, digital pianos are extremely rarely designed to imitate the sound of only a piano — the electronic hardware allows them to provide other timbres of sound. In addition, even the piano has its own varieties — for example, among the grand pianos there are 6 main classes, from large concert to miniature. So the built-in sounds can cover different kinds of pianos, as well as other instruments and sound effects.

The abundance and variety of timbres in digital pianos as a whole is not as great as in synthesizers, however, in this category there are very “charged” models, with a hundred timbres or more (in the most multifunctional, this number can exceed 900). However, it is worth specifically looking for a “multi-instrumental” model if you do not intend to be limited to the sound of the piano and would like to have more freedom of choice. It is worth remembering that a specific set of timbres can be different.

If the instrument is bought exclusively as a piano, then here, on the contrary, it is worth paying attention primarily to solutions with a small number of timbres. Such models are not only cheaper than "universals" — they can also sound better (due to the fact that there are few timbres and the manufacturer can carefully approach the sound quality of each built-in "instrument").

The range over which the tempo of the sound played by the instrument can change. It can be either a built-in melody or a part recorded on a sequencer, or an auto accompaniment, a tutorial or a metronome. For more information on all of these features, see the corresponding glossary entries. Here we note that a change in tempo is often required in fact — for example, to speed up an initially "sluggish" accompaniment or slow down a training programme that is difficult to master at the original tempo.

Tempo is traditionally indicated in beats per minute. The classical, "academic" range covers options from 40 bpm ("grave", "very slow") to 208 bpm ("prestissimo", "very fast"), however, in modern digital pianos, the working range of tempos is often significantly wider.

The presence of a sequencer in the design of a digital piano.

This function allows you not only to play music on the instrument, but also to record it with the possibility of later playback. However, this is at least; in addition to recording the parts of the instrument itself, the sequencer can provide recording an audio or MIDI signal from the corresponding input, mixing several parts (including recording the music being played over the music being played “on the go”), working with the parameters of individual tracks (volume, tone, timbre), as well as specific functions such as quantization (smoothing uneven tempo). The specific functionality of the sequencer may be different, it's ok to check it before buying. However, anyway, this function can be a good help for the musician; it is especially useful for those who are not limited to the performance of ready-made music and want to compose their own compositions.

The presence of built-in songs in the design of a digital piano.

Unlike auto accompaniment (see above), built-in songs are ready-made tunes that are played exactly according to the notes; the musician can change their tempo and key (if the instrument has the appropriate functions), but cannot control the melody during playback.

You can use built-in songs in different ways. So, when learning, they can play the role of a model that the musician is trying to repeat. You can include such a melody for accompaniment, or even use the synthesizer as a player (for example, to fill technical breaks in a live performance). In addition, the built-in songs can be useful when choosing a specific digital piano model — these melodies are played back using the instrument itself, which allows you to evaluate its general capabilities and the sound characteristics of certain tones.

The ability to overlay individual timbres provided in the instrument (or loaded into its memory by the user). Simply put, layering allows you to play a part on two timbres at once — for example, to complement the sound of a grand piano with the sound of a violin. This allows you to achieve a richer and more original sound.

Specific combinations of sounds can be stored in memory, however, in many models, the user himself can choose a combination of his own. However, it's ok to clarify these details separately.

The ability to add a reverb effect to the sound of the instrument.

Reverb is the repeated reflection and decay of sound. Most of all, this effect is noticeable in vast spaces with a pronounced echo — for example, large caves; however, in any environment, the coloring of the sound characteristic of such an environment is mainly due to reverberation. Thus, this function allows you to simulate music that sounds in different rooms — for example, to give the impression that the instrument is in the hall of a Gothic cathedral, or, conversely, in a small room with soft walls. However, it is also possible to use reverberation as a classic sound effect, which is not aimed at simulating the situation and only gives the sound a specific colour.

The presence of the chorus effect in the digital piano.

Initially, this effect was developed as an attempt to simulate the choral sound of several instruments of the same type. Even a perfect choir never plays 100% in sync, which is what the creators of the chorus tried to reproduce. This effect works as follows: several copies are taken from the main signal, which are played along with it — but not strictly simultaneously, but with a small (up to 30 ms) delay, selected randomly for each individual signal. This really allows to imitate the effect of polyphony to a certain extent, however, such sound is still far from a full-fledged choir. However, the chorus itself is quite interesting as an additional effect.

The ability to transpose sound on a digital piano.

Transposition is a translation into another key, when each note rises or falls by a certain number of semitones. Support for this function allows you to at least "relearn" the keyboard, which is indispensable if you need to quickly change from key to key — for example, if the vocalist does not "stretch" his part and the melody needs to be lowered by at least 1 – 2 semitones. In such cases, it is enough to turn on transposition with the necessary settings — and you can play a familiar part on the same keys without learning it in a different layout. Transposition can also be applied to built-in songs (to adjust to the key of the main part), to tracks that the sequencer works with (to mix two parts in different keys), and so on.