Chris Senner*Keyboardkraze now has a nearly 24/7 chat service directly with me should you have any questions regarding keyboard/plugin choices! This is connected directly to me and it is not AI.
Table of Contents
In the last few years, digital piano brands have pushed boundaries to create some excellent keyboards. What’s important to note is that several great digital piano brands exist. We will highlight all the best brands and list a few of their best options.
You’ll notice that all these brands do something different than the others. Some are known for their high-end keyboards, but others shine in the low-end market.
Keep in mind these are my personal favorite digital piano brands. I’ve been playing the piano for nearly 30 years and have extensively played every brand on this list.
Please note while I have Casio below as the best value, my most recommended digital piano for a budget is the Roland FP-10.
Here Are The Best Digital Piano Brands
- Yamaha: Incredible high-end options, beautiful piano sounds overall, and the best console-style
- Roland: Amazing key beds and the best portable options
- Casio: Incredible entry-level, with some fantastic newer high-end options as well
- Nord: One of the most renowned stage piano companies in the world. Incredible high-end options. Nord has my favorite branding overall as they have created an aesthetic that is recognizable immediately.
- Alesis: Great for kids and beginners. Their Prestige Artist digital piano is one of my favorites near its price.
- Kawai: Amazing high-end options with great key beds and beautiful sounds.
- Korg: Korg sounds are some of my favorite on the market.
Here is a roundup of up of our favorite keyboards in 2024.
Yamaha
The P-515 is a high-end digital piano packed with incredible wooden keys, powerful speakers, and beautiful piano sounds. This is a great pick for those who play daily.
Yamaha boasts incredible digital pianos, including the Clavinova and P series. Torakusu Yamaha founded Yamaha in 1887 as a manufacturer of reed organs. Initially, the company was named Nippon Gakki Co., Ltd., primarily producing pianos and other musical instruments. Torakusu Yamaha was an accomplished inventor and engineer who played a crucial role in developing the company’s early products.
The company’s history with digital pianos dates back to the early 1980s, when it began developing and producing electronic keyboards and synthesizers.
What I Like
Yamaha is known for their beautiful piano sounds across all digital pianos. However, in terms of internal stock piano sounds, it’s tough to match the higher-end options that I’m attached to by Yamaha, such as the CLP735.
What I recommend
My three favorite options from the brand Yamaha are:
- Yamaha P-125a – beginners to intermediate
- Yamaha CLP-735 – High-end digital piano
- Yamaha CP-88 – One of the best stage pianos available
The CLP-735 is a must-try for those without a tight budget.
Roland
The FP-90X is one of the top picks currently on the market. With some of the most realistic key-action on the market, the FP-90X is an easy choice.
Roland is one of my favorite brands of all time, but not just for their digital pianos; they make some incredible synthesizers. I own over 10 Roland keyboards and have played most of their popular keyboards.
Roland is known for their ivory-feel keybed, which I love. I own the FA 08 and use this to this day as a MIDI controller for its keybed.
Roland Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. The company was founded in 1972 by Ikutaro Kakehashi and has since become a significant player in the music industry, known for its high-quality digital pianos and keyboard instruments.
What is interesting is that Roland started off selling electronic drum sequencers before jumping into keyboards/synths. One of the unique features of Roland digital pianos is their SuperNATURAL sound engine, which uses advanced modeling techniques to create realistic and expressive instrument sounds.
What I Like
Roland has a few of my favorite digital pianos on the market, the FP-10 for beginners, and the FP90x, a powerhouse for advanced pianists.
Roland has highly reliable keyboards that I’ve used for years while touring. They’re durable, have amazing keybeds, and just plain rock.
What I Recommend
- Roland FP-10 – Beginners
- Roland RD88 – Intermediate
- Roland FP-90x – Advanced
Casio
The PX-S7000 is a gamechanger for Casio, aligning them with the high-end digital piano giants such as Roland. The PX-S7000 offers a great key-bed, solid speakers, sweet aesthetic, and beautiful piano samples to give you an incredible experience.
Casio is one of my favorite brands as of late. Their PX-S
700 is an absolute monster of a keyboard. Casio is a Japanese consumer electronics and commercial electronics company that was founded in 1946. The company began producing digital pianos in the 1980s as part of its electronic musical instrument line. Casio’s first digital piano was the Casio CDP-100, which was released in 1985. This instrument featured a simple, compact design and offered a range of basic piano sounds and preset rhythms.
Casio was more of a brand for entry-level digital pianos for a while. However, they have recently made a serious push and produced some incredible keyboards.
What I Like
Casio produces sleek instruments that focus on portability and great design. Their recent keyboard beds also feel extremely nice.
What I Recommend
- Casio PX-S1100 – Beginners
- Casio PX- S3100 – Intermediate
- Casio PX-S7000 – Advanced
Kawai
The Kawai CA59 is one of my favorite digital pianos I have played to date. The overall piano sound is phenomenal and the key-action is out of this world.
Kawai is one of the first brands I got to play about 20 years ago in a piano hall. I remember playing this and wanting nothing more than to own it.
Kawai specializes in high-end options, and their price point starts at around $900.
The keybeds are extremely realistic, and the action is some of my favorites in digital pianos.
Kawai Musical Instruments began producing digital pianos in the 1980s, as the technology behind digital pianos was becoming more advanced.
One of their early models was the Kawai K5, which was released in 1988 and featured a wooden cabinet and a sound engine that aimed to replicate the sound and feel of a traditional acoustic piano.
What I Like
I like that Kawai focuses on quality. They don’t produce a lower-end option, but all their keyboards are top-notch.
What I Recommend
- KawaiES120 – Intermediate
- Kawai CA49 – Advanced console-style
Nord
The Nord Stage Piano 4 is a keyboard I've played many times for gigs. It goes without saying, the pianos are tremendous, the key-action is incredible, and the build overall is as durable as they come.
Before MIDI controllers, the stage piano nearly all professionals used was Nord. They make extremely high-quality stage pianos that deliver in basically every aspect. However, they focus specifically on high-end and don’t offer any beginner-level gear.
A few of their keyboards are iconic and are seen in countless professional bands’ tours.
Nord is a brand of digital pianos and synthesizers that was founded in 1983 by Swedish engineers Hans Nordelius and Christer Jonasson. The company is known for producing high-quality, professional-grade instruments that musicians in various genres use.
One of Nord’s most popular products is the Nord Electro, a digital piano that combines a traditional piano’s sound with a synthesizer’s flexibility. The Nord Electro was first introduced in 2001 and has undergone several updates and upgrades.
What I Like
Their keyboards are built for live performance. As a result, their piano sounds are some of the best in the industry, and their organs are also top-notch.
Nord’s are some of the coolest-looking keyboards, and their design can be spotted on stage from a mile away.
What I Recommend
- Nord Stage 3
- Nord Piano 5
Alesis
Alesis has quickly become of my favorite brands to recommend to kids and beginners. With this being said, their keyboards are high-quality; they just come at a lower price than other brands.
Alesis is an American brand of electronic musical instruments, founded in Hollywood, California, in the early 1980s by MXR co-founder Keith Barr.
The company initially focused on developing MIDI controllers, drum machines, and digital signal processors before expanding to digital pianos and other instruments.
Alesis first introduced its digital pianos in the early 1990s with models like the Alesis Performance Piano, a full-featured digital piano with weighted keys, multiple sounds, and built-in effects.
What I Like
I like that there’s a reputable brand that makes a high-quality product. Alesis keyboards have gotten better over the years, and I am now thrilled to recommend their Prestige series like I often do
What I Recommend
- Alesis Prestige – Beginners
- Alesis Presitge Artist – Intermediate
These keyboards are very similar; the Artist just has a few more features, including more sounds.
Korg
The Korg C1 Air is incredible. The Bluetooth capabilities allow you to use the onboard speakers to play music from as well.
Korg is a highly respected brand in the industry. Not only do they make synthesizers, but they also make some tremendous digital pianos.
Korg is a Japanese musical instrument brand founded in 1962 by Tsutomu Katoh and Tadashi Osanai. The company started out by producing rhythm machines and other small electronic instruments, but it quickly expanded into the production of synthesizers, drum machines, and other electronic music gear.
Korg’s first digital piano was released in the 1980s, called the SG-1D.
It was an early digital piano model that needed to be better received by the market. But Korg kept working on new models, improving the technology, and eventually released more successful models, like the LP-10 and LP-180; these models offer more realistic piano sound and responsive hammer-action keyboards.
One of my current keyboards is the Korg Nautilus, a powerful keyboard workstation. The sounds are impressive, and their key-action is excellent.
What I Like
Their mid-range keyboards, such as the B2SP, compete with anything near its price. Korg also has an incredible reputation for its piano sounds; they are typically tough to beat. Korg makes one of my favorite stage pianos, the SV-2. It is truly a beast and one of the best options on the market.
What I Recommend
- Korg B2SP – Intermediate
- Korg Air
- Korg SV-2 – Incredible stage piano
Wrapping Up
To sum up digital piano brands, these are the best brands, all in the respective right.
To wrap this up again, I recommend digital pianos from each brand.
- Roland FP-10
- Yamaha P125a
- Casio PX-S1000
- Nord – Nord Stage 3
- Alesis – Prestige Artist
- Korg – Korg B-2
Chris Senner
4 comments
You should be aware if you are not about Dexibell digital pianos. Right up there with the best of them hem. I own two, the Vivo S7 and S1
Hey Jay,
I was actually in the editing stage of adding Dexibell, I just wanted to add a little more content to that section. I’ll have that in tonight as I actually think this company doesn’t get enough praise.
Kind regards,
Chris
I always liked the Kurweil Mark series. I owed a 10 and 12 great pianos.
The Mark 10 was the first to come out with the disk drives. Are they still producing digital pianos ?
Thanks for your writings very good
Betty Lanz
Thank you Better, Agreed on the Kurzweil Mark series. Kurzweil is a fantastic brand.