The Adam Christopher School of Musical Excellence

Stage and Digital Pianos?

A stage piano is an electronic keyboard designed for use in live onstage performances by professional musicians. They have many of the same features as a digital piano but very often do not have built-in speakers. The current Yamaha CP-300 breaks this rule and has built in speakers. This is not a common practice among manufacturers as stage pianos are usually built with mobility in mind. Speakers can add considerable, extra, unwanted weight to a stage piano. Stage pianos can often have different keyboard actions and are worth paying attention to, that is if you are considering a stage piano. In the case of the Kurzweil SP series, they produce a SP2 with semi-weighted keyboard action and a SP2X which has a fully weighted hammer action keyboard. Bear in mind that "fully weighted", as is the case here with the SP2X, does not mean the same a progressive hammer action (see later). While the sounds on stage pianos is often much wider than what you would find on an average digital piano, stage pianos have far fewer voices than a typical electronic synthesiser. Stage pianos usually have a smaller selection of voices as mentioned in a previous question.