Alesis Recital Pro Review – Big Win For Alesis?

The Alesis Recital Pro is the successor to the original Recital. There are a number of upgrades with the Recital Pro including the addition of:

• Fully-weighted keys
• Better speakers
• Included Skoove software for learning
• 2 additional presets
• More effect types

In this article, we are going to breakdown our thoughts of the Alesis Recital Pro after one year of playing it.

My opinion is that the Recital Pro is a major upgrade from the original Recital. I think that this is a big win for Alesis and I also think that this is the best digital piano near $300.

While I think that this is a great digital piano for the price, please keep in mind that this is not going to fully emulate an acoustic piano. I feel that people sometimes set the bar far too high when looking near this price range.

With this being said, you will easily be able to use this digital piano as a beginner all the way to your advanced days. You can upgrade at any point, but upgrading wouldn’t be a complete necessity.

Alesis Recital Pro Overview

If this review seems biased towards the Alesis Recital Pro, it is. I truly believe this is a great product for the price. I’ve played on pretty much every digital piano by major brands, including every model.

This is a relatively lightweight, high-quality digital piano that has a nice amount of features for the price that you’re paying.

The addition of Skoove is nice for beginners. For those unfamiliar with Skoove, it is a similar alternative to Flowkey. Both of them being piano courses you can take online.

Read more about the best online piano lessons here. I put together a super informative list where I reviewed and tested every online lesson I could.

Specs

• Keys: 88 hammer-action keys (Touch Sensitive)
• Presets: 12
• Polyphony: 128 note polyphony
• Effects: Modulation, reverb, & chorus
• Metronome: Built-in metronome
• Audio Out: 2 X 1/4″
• USB: Yes, type B
• Headphones jack: Yes, 1
• Weight: 26 pounds
• Screen: LCD Screen

• Type of Keys:Full size hammer-action keys
• Touch Sensitivity:Adjustable touch response
• Presets:12 voices
• Polyphony:128 Notes
• Effects Types:Modulation, Chorus, Reverb
• Song Playback:10 piano demo, 12 voice demo songs
• Metronome:Yes
• Audio Outputs:2 x 1/4″ (line out)
• USB:1 x Type B
• MIDI I/O: USB
• Headphones:1 x 1/4″
• Pedal Inputs:1 x 1/4″ (sustain)
• Built-in Speakers:2 x 20W speakers, 2 x 10W tweeters
• Power Source:12V DC power supply (included) / 6 x D batteries
• Height:13.8″
• Width:51.6″
• Depth:5.5″
• Weight:26 lbs.

Key-Action

The key-bed is an 88 key premium hammer-action bed that plays very well. If you’re someone who has only played on non-weighted keyboards, you will notice a major difference.

While the keys don’t feel as nice as some of the high-end Roland keys, these are a pleasant surprise for budget options.

As far as playing difficult pieces goes, this will work for all levels of skill. If you are doing lessons with this keyboard, you can split the keys into two separate zones of the same octaves.

Includes Skoove

Skoove is a great software for beginners looking to learn to play the piano. A lot of companies are starting to offer free 3 month trials of it as it is really helping students see some more results.

12 Preset Sounds

The presets are pretty good. There’s a few that aren’t very great in my opinion, however, the piano sounds great. I think this is the most important sound as it is a digital piano after all.

The sounds are as followed:

• Acoustic Piano
• Bright Piano
• Electric Piano
• Vibraphone
• Organ
• Church Organ
• Harpsichord
• Clavi
• Synth Sound
• Strings
• Bass
• Fingered Bass

Included with the sounds is also a built-in metronome. You can use this to work on your timing without having to buy an additional metronome for piano. I like this feature, but it isn’t a necessity.

Portability

Portability is key with the Recital Pro. I like that you place the batteries in the back of this keyboard. I have had keyboards in which you place them in the bottom and I have found that to be a little annoying.

This keyboard weighs 26 pounds and is light enough to be carried by on individual. I like to recommend lighter keyboards for those doing gigs as carrying around heavy keyboards not a lot of fun.

Speakers

The speakers are a great win for Alesis keyboards. There are 2x 20 W speakers as well as 2X 10 W tweeters.

This is uncommon for any digital pianos around this price range. Something that is also nice as the polyphony is 128 notes.

I don’t believe that you will find a problem with these speakers really in any way. If you do, there is a headphone jack that you can easily plug into. One thing to note is that speakers are larger than a lot of $500 options.

The onboard effects are something I think are great. I almost always go to the reverb on a piano sound as I just love pianos that have a dark and warm sound.

Overall, this is currently one of the best keyboards for beginners available. I highly recommend reading this roundup of the best digital pianos for beginners here, where the Alesis Recital Pro is included.

Conclusion

While there are not a lot of options for digital pianos near this price point, this one is actually a solid choice. I would recommend this even to people looking for a little bit more expensive digital pianos.

Beginners do not need anything elaborate outside of weighted keys.

The free Skoove for 3 months and the weighted keys are my favorite things about this digital piano.

Let us know what you think of the Alesis Recital Pro in the comments below.