Comparison Alfabeto Animato Assai vs Kurzweil KA90

— Stationary. Stationary tools have their own stand and are designed to be installed directly on the floor. At the same time, in accordance with the name, such models are designed for constant stay in one place and are poorly suited for regular movements even within the same room, not to mention longer distances. However, this is not a disadvantage, but only a characteristic feature of such cases. But the unequivocal disadvantage of stationary tools can be called their rather high cost. On the other hand, such models are as similar as possible to real pianos in appearance, layout and equipment: the keyboard, usually, is located at a standard height, and pedals are installed in the lower part of the case (and there are usually as many as three of them, a complete set). And it is much easier to provide high-quality sound and an abundance of features in such an instrument than in a portable one — the manufacturer does not need to pay special attention to compactness and weight reduction.

— Portable. Portable are called digital pianos, made in the form of portable keyboards and devoid of stands; to play such a keyboard, you need to put it on a table or other support. Outwardly, such instruments are similar to synthesizers, and sometimes almost indistinguishable from them. At the same time, unlike synthesizers, portable digital pianos have mostly full-size keyboards with 88 keys, and displays are rarel...y equipped. And in terms of functionality, the differences are that digital pianos are more oriented towards traditional music: they can provide relatively few timbres, often do not support auto-accompaniment (see below), but provide a fairly high sound quality. If we compare portable models with stationary ones, then the key advantage of this option is obvious — the tool can be moved from place to place with relative ease and even carried with you, if you have the appropriate case. The disadvantage also naturally follows from the design — it will be extremely difficult to play such an instrument without additional support, and not every piece of furniture can play the role of such a support. So it is almost impossible for a portable digital piano to do without a stand (see "Packaging").

The presence of its own cover in the design of a digital piano.

Such a cover during off-hours closes the keyboard, and often also additional controls. This not only gives the instrument a neat appearance, but also protects the keys — primarily from dust (and dust can not only create discomfort during use, but also cause mechanical failures, accumulating under the keys).

Note that this function is typical for stationary tools (see "Body"). Portable models with lids would be too bulky and heavy, so it is suggested that they use cases or other similar devices.

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

Pedals are an indispensable element of equipping a classical piano; accordingly, they are often provided in digital counterparts. Actually, this function is practically obligatory for models of a stationary layout (see "Hull"). But in portable ones, on the contrary, built-in pedals are not found — there is simply nowhere to install them, external plug-in pedals are available for such models (see below).

The traditional number of built-in pedals is three; there are practically no other options in a power tool. Note that in many models, the specific functions of the pedals can change depending on the set timbre, or even manually, at the request of the musician.

Type of action used in digital piano keys.

— Hammer. A mechanic that mimics the feel of playing a real piano as closely as possible. Hammer action keyboards not only provide velocity and force-dependent sound dynamics, they also provide a distinctive response with each press. These mechanics are complex and expensive, but they are considered the most advanced and suitable for digital pianos, and therefore are used in most models.

— Active. In the case of digital pianos, the active keyboard can be described as a simplified version of the hammer action described above. The sound produced when pressing such keys also depends on the force and speed of pressing, however, the keys themselves have less rigidity and do not give the full feel of a piano keyboard. On the other hand, such mechanics are cheaper. As a result, it is found mainly in low-cost models, as well as some professional instruments, positioned more like electric organs.

The third type of mechanics — passive — assumes that each time you press a key, the volume will be the same, regardless of the strength and speed of pressing. Such keyboards are not used in digital pianos — they are too primitive and not very functional for this class of instruments; however, models with adjustable sensitivity may provide switching the keyboard to a "passive" format (see below for more details).

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).

Rigidity characterizes the force with which it is necessary to press the keys of a digital piano.

— Weighted. Weighted keyboards have high rigidity; if you are not used to them, they may not seem very comfortable. At the same time, such rigidity is an integral feature of the traditional piano keys. Therefore, all hammer action keyboards (see "Mechanics"), by definition, are made only weighted (and this is the type of mechanics that is typical for most digital pianos). Moreover, most models with simpler active mechanics have this rigidity — to ensure the greatest possible resemblance to traditional pianos.

— Semi-weighted. Keyboards of relatively low rigidity, which do not require such an effort when pressed, as weighted ones, however, are less reliable in response. They are found only in instruments with active mechanics, and even then rarely, mainly among low-cost-level models.

Technically, there is another type of keyboard — unweighted, in which each key, figuratively speaking, "falls through" under the finger, and the effort when pressed is almost imperceptible. However, such keyboards do not allow adequate pressure control, which is critical for more or less professional music performance. This is why digital pianos don't have unweighted keys.

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 presence of a training mode in the digital piano.

As the name suggests, this mode is designed to teach the game. At the same time, usually, it provides different levels of difficulty — from the most basic, for those who are just starting to master the "keys", to the advanced one, which allows you to train your technique and improve your existing performance skills. However, anyway, the principle of learning is the same: the tool independently tells the student which keys to press at one time or another. Such hints can be in the form of a backlight (see above) or as a graphic on the display. Such a method is doubtful from the point of view of classical academic learning, however, it is undoubtedly more convenient and faster than reading musical notation. Moreover, the instrument can also play the role of an examiner — launch prompts at the original tempo of the melody and check how accurately the student hits the notes.

Also note that the learning mode requires the obligatory presence of a metronome (see below).

The presence of an octave shift function in the digital piano.

This function makes it possible to "shift" the sound by a certain number of octaves up or down — for example, in such a way that the bass register sounds on the keys of the first octave, or vice versa, the first octave "slid" lower, into the bass, and notes of the second sounded in its place or even the third octave.

This feature significantly expands the range of the instrument, allowing you to play notes that were not originally covered by the keyboard. This is especially important for instruments with 61 or 73 keys (see "Number of Keys"), but octave shifting is not uncommon in full-sized 88-key models — it can be useful when splitting the keyboard (see above), when available for each hand the range is noticeably reduced, and the batch can be very low or very high. However, there are other options for using transfer — for example, so that when playing an updated version of the melody, you do not have to move from the usual octaves.