Which Piano Should You Gig With? - Kurzweil vs Yamaha vs Korg 

The moment Jack stops being the face of these vids the channel is dead.

You actually convinced me to take the D1 'many many moons ago'; and I still love it. Looks great, plays great and it's really simple to use and set.

Informative and entertaining video as usual guys. I own the Yamaha P-121 and love the fact it has a built in audio interface so you can use it as a controller keyboard. Also has a nifty little one track recorder and backing rhythms.

My boys, love the D1 for home piano practise and they also gig with it at the aged care centres!

Korg D1 after 2 years of use. Pros: Excellent keybed, compact size Cons: missing usb port, piano sound is not as good as expected, limited reverb effect Result: Suitable for all those who don't have a real piano or want to practice at night. Due to its weight, it's not really suitable for frequent carrying.

Nice review. You probably can’t go wrong with any of those keyboards. I had originally intended to buy the Yamaha P125, however, I just did not care for the action. I opted to get the Korg D1 and I’m extremely satisfied with it. IMO, the keybed has the best feel of any digital keyboard under $2K. The built in sounds are decent. It connects with midi seamlessly and using it with Ravenscroft 275, Neo Soul Keys, Korg Module Pro, and B3X, I have most of the instruments that I need. I love the minimalist look of the keyboard and stand.

Nice, keep it up!

I was looking for a new piano keyboard (previous three were all synths in 1986* and a tad dated now). Ended up spending a bit more than I'd intended and bought another synth, the MODX8+ from the info in your videos. Had it for a few weeks and am happy with my decision. Grateful for the info you gave out. Enjoying your vid's and the sense of humour with which you deliver them; not too much, not too little. (Btw, I did look at some Nords, but decided the MODX was better suited to what I wanted). Cheers *1 used (CS70M) and 2 (DW6000 & ESQ1) from Andertons.

I would really like a Casio PXS1000 but with 73/76 keys. That could be really nice for gigging.

This really is your jam, you love keys, sometimes synths cannot convey the weight of your fingers, if that makes any sense what so ever. You can shred with the best of them, what do you actually like doing best, or are you an all round entertainer and just love anything that gets put in front of you? Kurzweil Elec 1 was my fav, reminds me of ole 70s rock @ midnight. :D

I gig with a Yamaha PSS 570, outstanding machine

The Yamaha P-125 is basically the same as the P-121 except with the full 88 keys.

Thanks for another great video, I think the Studiologic Numa x piano could also fit into the mix. Anyhow for me a 73 key is the perfect size and I wish there were more of them (With speakers).

I love my D1

1.Korg 2.Yamaha 3,Kurzweil

I use the Korg D1 as midi controller for church. Key Action is Niceee🔥

ooooooo new camera freshhhhh

The perfect sub £600 weighted gigging all in one keyboard has yet to be made , they all do some good tones but usually fall on proper Hammond sounds . They should also have a gig list facility like the Kronos if gigging is your thing , but great demo as ever 👍

Roland FP-X Series ❤

I got a Korg D1 recently. It sounds really nice when you layer an EP with piano 1. You get the mechanical noise and sustain of an EP with the character of the piano. Love your reviews Jack!

I have always had Yamaha keyboards in the past, ended up working away and decided to buy something to keep keep and play while there. Got a Roland and I just couldn't get on with it. Not that it was bad at all, but I just did like the PIano sound as much, not the feel of the keys. Ended up getting getting rid of it and getting a Yamaha P121 instead and I really enjoy it. Of course if you miss the extra keys then you can get the P125 instead which is the same except for that.

Korg is nice but pretty heavy for gigging? What about a Casio PX-S1100 (or for a bit more money PX-S3100) which are a lot more portable?

Люблю Курцвайл, за самую лучшую имитацию фортепианного звучания.

10:19 Is that the Powergrand I hear in that little Yamaha?

I liked your reviews of the Kurzweil SP1 so much that I decided to buy one. Not just that, but I chose not to buy it cheaper elsewhere, but to buy it from Andertons instead as a 'thank you'. Imagine my amusement when your website repeatedly refused to recognise my password, then repeatedly refused to let me change it. Your loss is Bonners' gain ...

All the keyboards appeared to be played through the "audio outs" (in common with all / most of your keyboard demos) It would be very useful (and very informative) if you could advise on the audio interface and monitor speakers used (absolutely essential IMHO to make a proper, informed judgement). Many thanks.

I have the P121. I love it. The Korg D1 lacks definition when it comes to piano sounds and the sound always too bright. I like how the Korg looks better but the built in speaker always a pro in the Yamaha

You played the heck out of those keyboards!😎😎🎹

Im thinking of replacing my old SG--X. Bloody thing is ancient and weighs a frickin' ton. Thinking of something a little more.... portable.

I would have really liked to see a hint that the D1 doesnt store changed midi settings like channel. It always reverts to factory settings after power off/on. Hard to believe but true.

Hi Jack, thank you for the video. if i want to use my laptop run keyscape but use the on board built in audio interface on the yamaha p121. is there a way to turn of the built in piano sound (i am not asking about the speakers) i am asking about the actual piano sound onboard so that i can use master volume on keyboard to be the master sound of the sounds coming out of my laptop via the built in audio interface ? can this be done ? thank you in advance

Great vid. Does anyone know what song Jack was playing when he was demoing the Korg D1? Suggesting the song titles please be referenced in these videos.

My Favourites for the Pianos: 1st Korg 2nd Yamaha 3rd Kurzweil. Quite surprise for me. just 10 years ago at this price range, Korg would suck for Pianos, Yamaha being the good standard and Kurzweil excel.

Hi there ! I'd like to specially request you do some blues and authentic boogie-woogie piano playing, with strong (repeating) boogie basslines, fast triplet chords, rolling bluesy riffs etc, as part of a piano demo. You are a fab piano player and can play with amazing dynamics - which can really show a piano in good light BUT I just can't tell how they would perform for the stuff I wanna do. Any time I watch one of your piano/keyboard demo's, it is for me to find the best piano for blues & boogie stuff. Would be GREAT if you could enlist someone like the great Mike Sanchez for a go on some digital pianos - as he would really put a piano through it's paces ! ALSO, how about including in your videos (or perhaps a video solely related to) piano sounds when played through one speaker cab - ie. in mono (ie. L&R, or ?/Mono) - so we can assess how much reduction in performance a keyboard suffers from, when outputed in Mono. I'd like a piano that sounds great in Mono as well as Stereo, for those occasions where I just can't lug two big speakers, or the PA guy can't give two channels (or stereo channel) for my keyboard. Some e.pianos sound pretty boxy in the middle register, when played in Mono. Many thanks !!

Clearly the answer is the Roland RD-88.

How is the action and keybed of Korg and P121 compared to NumaXPiano 88 TP 110 Fatar?

Roland RD-88. Best keyboard to run software through on the gig. Great action, mod wheel and pitch bend, inbuilt speakers, lightweight and small.

Incredible that the Kurzweil doesn't even have a true stereo piano sample - it does that thing that digital pianos 25 years ago used to do and that is it has a mono sample slightly spread from left (bass notes) to right (treble notes). And on this demo its output is distorted. Both the others sound good, especially the Korg, which sounds very natural to me, with a bit more body than the Yamaha.

Hi, now that it has been a year more - did you find any beginner piano that will be portable and allowed in economy class hand carry airlines? I want something to learn with as a beginner and will last a lifetime - same with roland fp30x but I want it to be way lighter - either synth or real weighted piano. Pls help ❤ I am looking forward to buying this piano from saudi arabia. I just bought roland fp30x from a music store yesterday - but i will return it back because of this video ❤️ I never played piano but I am really willing to learn - I hope someday you make step by step piano tutorials for beginners & I will watch day and night after buying same piano as yours. 1.) One also concern is - if you take this to your gigs - can you use a normal X piano stand to hold it in place while playing? or do you always do need a flat surface? 2.) Changing that built-in battery how hard is it to replace? Is it easily replaceable in any battery shops?

Korg D1 for electric pianos, Yamaha for just slightly unsatisfactory tones and build, and Kurzweil for cheap acoustic piano. But Jack’s summary spot on.

Easy answer: the cheapest 🤣 I'm a horrible musician and people start throwing whenever i start playing ... so cheaper is better: less collateral money loss 🥳

D1

There isn't any videos of people comparing pianos in a live band setting. The problem is that pianos sound great by themselves, but put them in a band situation and you lose frequencies and can no longer sometimes hear all the notes.

O Korg d1 pode ser usado como controlador??

You are making it hard to really tell 🤔... 'cause you seem to find the sweet spot of every one of the 3 candidates 😁... this is how the pros do it 🤣

For me korgs..

The Yamaha sounds are well programmed, but their acoustic piano is beginning to sound a bit thin, compared to the others. Or it could be that's just how their acoustic pianos sound!! Am normally a Yamaha stalwart, but soundwise the Korg acoustic sounded much better, in this demo. Further thoughts after about the third listen. From a pure quality of samples - 1st is Korg, then Kurzweil, then Yamaha. But if you think of the overall programming of patches, including effects and reverb, the order is 1st Yamaha, then Kurzweil, then Korg. The only one of these with a speaker is the Yamaha, but the onboard speakers on any keyboard are usually terrible compared to the quality of what you can get from proper stage monitors. So this is why the Yamaha may sound better coming out of speakers in a nearfield environment, cos it has the oomph added - Yamaha right from their Sample+Synthesis keyboards the Motif, and the EX5 before that, have been very good at putting together a lot of impact from small samples with a whole lot of programming in them, to bring out what I would call "movement", that non static presentation of an instrument that sounds more real - that random variation. on headphones the Yamaha would also sound more appealing cos it has the "room sound" done very well. But in a live setting, especially where I already have a digital mixer with reverb effects which can be added by the mix engineer, to suit the room, or a stage monitor that allows me to add a bit of reverb to taste, for the person playing the keyboard, I'd want to have the Korg D1. I think I would prefer the higher quality sounds of the Korg D1, they remind me the most of high quality sampled pianos on good virtual sampled piano instruments, on a computer. In a live setting, the room is already adding the reverb, and I'm not sure how easy it is to turn off the reverb in the Yamaha. In a live setting, I think the Korg D1 would be the closest sounding to a close miked piano. I also think the Yamaha and the Kurzweil are not close miked giving them more of an airy sound. So its a matter of preference. It's impossible I think to decouple the room sound from the Yamaha and Kurzweil patches, while its easy to add a bit of splosh (a new english word coined by Christian Henson) i.e reverb to the Kord D1 sound. Also if I was recording an event, I think the higher quality samples of the D1 would be the one I would wish to record, if I wanted to remix the multitrack recording of a show - far more to go on there. Final answer - for me - the Korg D1. would be my choice for a gigging keyboard. Good keybed, lighty weight, everything I need without things that I do not need, like a bunch of useless speakers.

Straight out the box the Kurzweil piano is far & away closest to an acoustic piano. Both Korg & especially the Yammy are obsessed with the treble to “cut through the mix”, so they immediately are not serious about providing a solo piano digital alternative. Also the Kurzweil electric pianos head & shoulders above others, plus strings superb. Only negative I think is Kurzweil doesn’t support half-damper - that’s a biggie if you’re primarily a piano player.

What speakers do you recommend, please?

Nord

The pianos, both acuoustic and eps, sound better on the D1 than on my Kronos 2. Honest.

I want keys but the korg d1 looks 50X better than the other 2

D1 - best action under 1000 Kurzweil - price winner Yamaha - come on Yamaha it's time to bring something new and exciting. xD

Acoustic piano sound in the Sp1 is bad! 🔊👂🏼😧🤷🏽‍♂️

I like the P-125, and I would have bought the 121, when it had been available earlier. However, I am sad, that no piano in this price range has midi out. You could mention this. And it only allows two layers, not three like the 515 (bass + piano + stings)

I've got the Yamaha. It sounds and plays good, layering and android app control is nice, speakers sound great, etc.. But the D1 piano is way more realistic, more upfront, much nicer mids, etc.. I would say that it's about time that Yamaha overhaul this old tech, but they won't, and even when they pretend to........they'll be using those same ole crappy samples, over and over and over......just like Roland. At least Korg seems to be improving (as slow as it may be).

Yamaha soung great ...

Roland RD-88 eats them alive, even if it costs more. I really wish Yamaha, Kurzweil and Korg would make an RD-88 equivalent. Only Casio make something close to the RD-88

Is it me or the Kurzweil's piano sounds feel a little bit strange? I don't know why, I've played kurzweil before and it was ok, but this one doesn't seem to fit my taste!

His Sister in law!!

I'm sorry, but I really dislike Weighted keys... I'm so for the Korg Kronos LS88 .... Almost £1000 more expensive than its weighted key cousin, which is a Semi-Weighted version and a PLEASURE to play. According to me and LOTS of professional players.

Yamaha DGX-670 way too heavy. Also I'm not that impressed with built in pianos.

Im sorry, but for a keyboard company known primarly for their accoustic piano sounds, the SP1 piano sound trash. Sounds like a piano sound from a keyboard 15 years ago.

Yamaha has a workable piano - fair e. Piano, terrible organ… I have had to use these at rehearsal studios and the organs are awful - even in a organ heavy blues band I just skip my usual organ parts and play piano - stormy Monday and whipping post on piano anyone ?😂

God the Kurzweil Piano sounded so thin. My K2500 from 1997 was better in that regard. They have such great Piano libraries and samples but here?

this video is obviously a trick question. the answer is definitely a Nord

That Kurzweil sounded terrible

The SP1 looks and sounds like a joke product, especially when we all know they can make amazing stuff like the Forte and K2700.