Is an electronic piano different from an electric or digital piano keyboard? Learn about the various types of electric keyboards & all the jargon associated with digital keyboards.
Different types of pianos came into existence based on the various demands and needs of musicians, both professionals as well as amateurs. In most cases, it was just that a practical design made more sense, and became popular (the digital ones for example).
Things like transportation, space available, cost are some of the factors that most buyers look into, and to cater to their needs you have various types of pianos. And because of these factors, acoustic pianos started becoming less popular (or widely used), and instead electronic keyboards, electric pianos/even digital pianos started becoming more popular (the better ones can produce virtually indistinguishable sounds from an actual piano).
Thinking of buying a Digital Piano Keyboard Instrument?
What are you looking for?
An Electronic Keyboard, a Digital Piano or an Electronic Piano?
A Synthesizer, Music Workstation or a MIDI controller Keyboard (Do you understand the difference?)
Not Sure?
Maybe you know to some extent what digital keyboard instrument you want to buy…but need help to decide what brand to buy, what features to look for?
It can be a bit unnerving, since you can have keyboards just for fun playing, or you can use it for complete music production or for creating fireworks onstage as a music performer.
Moreover people can them by different names electric pianos, electronic pianos, digital piano keyboards and so on. They all basically mean the same, though several years back some distinction did exist, today there is a lot of similarities between these various electronic piano instruments.
Let’s Get Started
Okay so let’s get started understanding electronic pianos!
Arranger Electronic Keyboards
To begin with, you need to know that pianos that come with built-in rhythms are known as arrangers. These piano keyboards have several accompaniments based on all the popular music genres. In addition to the various rhythms, these music keyboards also have several voices, effects, built-in sequencer to record your music, and several output options for connecting to the computer, amps or to storage devices. You can read all about electronic arranger keyboards here!
Electronic Pianos
These are meant for those who want to buy a piano but for some reason cannot afford a real piano. These are interchangeably called as digital pianos, electronic pianos, and electric pianos. Though when it comes to pianos, digital piano is the more commonly used term. Here you have options of pianos with arranger type features or just simple piano without all the bells and whistles that comes in an arranger. You also have options of semi-weighted keys or the proper piano like graded weighted keys. You can read more about digital pianos here and the various types of piano actions like synth, weighted, hammer, graded hammer keys
Electric Pianos
So now what is an electric piano, and how different is it from a digital or an electronic piano? Technically speaking, it is different, and the electric pianos produce sounds similar to how an electric guitar would produce, and that is using pickups. These electro-mechanical instruments do produce sound mechanically, but then the sounds are converted into electric signals using pickups, which is then fed to the amplifier to produce the sound. These are bulkier compared to the modern keyboard instruments, but these were introduced several decades back, and back then size did not matter as most acoustic instruments were anyways huge.
The first electric pianos were made around 1940-1950s, which was then further modified by and his Leo Fender. The company Fender Rhodes, that makes cutting edge synths and electric pianos, is named after them. In the 1970s, they built an 88-key electric piano which went on to become quite popular. Most of these electro-mechanical instruments have been replaced by the modern day digital keyboard instruments & synthesizers, primarily because of the size. Rhodes Music Corporation does produce a small number of electro-mechanical pianos though, catering to a small crowd. Now that you know what is an Electric Piano, check out this video showing the New Rhodes Mark 7.
Synthesizer Capabilities
Besides the above mentioned piano keyboards which contain more of the bread and butter sounds, you also have piano keyboards that come with synthesizer like features. These electric pianos & keyboards help you to create unique sounds and are used extensively for music creation.
Read here for more types of electronic keyboards & synths
Question:
Does The Keyboard Sound Very Different to a Piano?
This is a common question that most beginners have when they set out to buy a new piano. So does a music keyboard sound very different to a Piano? Here’s some basic differences between the two (though there are more similarities between these two music instruments).
An acoustic piano is built differently than a digital piano, the acoustic one has a mechanism where hammers strike strings to create sounds.
Digital pianos & keyboards are similar, where the sounds are created using the electronics inside.
A music keyboard is usually smaller (fewer octaves) than a digital piano.
So if you buy a digital piano, it may or may not sound a lot different from an acoustic one, depending on the quality of the digital piano (which impacts its price). A good music keyboard can also have good piano sounds (in addition to many more instrument sounds & rhythms/backing tracks). These instruments are usually used as a one-man band or as part of a musical group.
However, if you intend to play a lot of piano on a keyboard, you need one with weighted keys and preferably a keyboard with more than 61 keys. Most arrangers / digital pianos (with styles) have an amazing collection of sounds & styles. They usually have hundreds of voices to choose from, they have drum kits then there are acoustic instruments such as the piano, guitars, brass and other synth sounds. In such musical instruments, you need to make sure that the polyphony is sufficient so that the notes don’t drop-off when you play complex passages with chords, string different voices and accompaniments together.
Here are some of the common features found on digital pianos / arranger keyboards.
Hundreds of Digitally Sampled Voices
Some have Virtual Drawbars
Microphone Input and Vocal Harmony Feature
Large LCD Screen Display
Downloadable Music data
One Touch Setting
Mixing Console Button, and more
Answers:
Music keyboards are usually very affordable and that is why most use it, to begin with, to learn to play keyboards/piano. But then the piano sounds on a cheap keyboard are just about okay, not really close to any good quality piano. However, keyboards are a lot cheaper, serves the purpose for beginners, and that’s why they are so popular. – Peter
Music keyboards, also known as arranger keyboards can be of various types with the better ones known as arranger workstation that are loaded with several features. Any keyboardist looking for variety in their playing experience usually go for arranger workstations. Some say that having a long list of features is actually a downside as you don’t actually use all the features. However, if you take some efforts to go through the various features, its actually quite fun to use them and they do help yo make the overall playing sound better. Fortunately, there are several forums also where you can find useful tips on how to use the music keyboard. – Ben
Question:
I think I understand what an electronic keyboard is, but then I hear different people using different terms to refer to digital keyboard instruments. And if you go to any music shop, you will find the sales-guy there use terms like arranger keyboards, synthesizers, workstations, midi-keyboards, organs, etc. Mind you, some of these are keyboards obscenely expensive. My question is more from an academic perspective. So ignoring the sound quality aspect, what differences in terms of features exists in these digital keyboards? – David (Newcastle, UK)
Answers:
Electronic and digital means the same thing, though the term “electronic” is mostly used for entry level keyboards and the word digital is used for intermediate to high end keyboards. An electronic keyboard would mean a keyboard with 61 keys and an electronic piano would mean a portable music keyboard with 88 keys.
New to the keyboard music instrument. – Ben
I agree that the range of Digital Pianos that are available to choose from nowadays is immense. Even after you have decided to go in for a digital piano with 88 keys, you will still be faced with various options to choose from. You can choose a make based on looks, weight, height, key actions, built-in styles and various other factors. – Eric
Even I am facing this dilemma as I am looking for a portable digital piano. I am not able to decide over a couple of points. First is regarding the keyboard touch i.e. what sort of feel you are looking for, and second is whether you should go in for a piano with built-in rhythms and styles (as in the Yamaha DGX / YPG 88-key keyboards). I guess finally it is up to your own self to take a call. Glenn
If you see the menu of this site, one section has pages that are categorized based on the types of keyboard. It explains the difference between the various types of digital keyboard instruments. I would definitely agree with you on this! The range of electronic keyboards that are available in the market and the different terms that are used to describe keyboards can really be unnerving and at times confusing. Besides the distinction between synthesizers, workstations, arranger workstation is getting thinner by the day. They all can do most things. So it does take time to get to the bottom of this and figure out what is the use of each of those types of digital keyboards. – Bob
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