Comparison Artesia DP-7 vs ORLA CDP 1

The number of built-in sounds provided by the Digital Piano.

Despite the name, digital pianos are extremely rarely designed to imitate the sound of only a piano — the electronic hardware allows them to provide other timbres of sound. In addition, even the piano has its own varieties — for example, among the grand pianos there are 6 main classes, from large concert to miniature. So the built-in sounds can cover different kinds of pianos, as well as other instruments and sound effects.

The abundance and variety of timbres in digital pianos as a whole is not as great as in synthesizers, however, in this category there are very “charged” models, with a hundred timbres or more (in the most multifunctional, this number can exceed 900). However, it is worth specifically looking for a “multi-instrumental” model if you do not intend to be limited to the sound of the piano and would like to have more freedom of choice. It is worth remembering that a specific set of timbres can be different.

If the instrument is bought exclusively as a piano, then here, on the contrary, it is worth paying attention primarily to solutions with a small number of timbres. Such models are not only cheaper than "universals" — they can also sound better (due to the fact that there are few timbres and the manufacturer can carefully approach the sound quality of each built-in "instrument").

The presence of a training mode in the digital piano.

As the name suggests, this mode is designed to teach the game. At the same time, usually, it provides different levels of difficulty — from the most basic, for those who are just starting to master the "keys", to the advanced one, which allows you to train your technique and improve your existing performance skills. However, anyway, the principle of learning is the same: the tool independently tells the student which keys to press at one time or another. Such hints can be in the form of a backlight (see above) or as a graphic on the display. Such a method is doubtful from the point of view of classical academic learning, however, it is undoubtedly more convenient and faster than reading musical notation. Moreover, the instrument can also play the role of an examiner — launch prompts at the original tempo of the melody and check how accurately the student hits the notes.

Also note that the learning mode requires the obligatory presence of a metronome (see below).

The range over which the tempo of the sound played by the instrument can change. It can be either a built-in melody or a part recorded on a sequencer, or an auto accompaniment, a tutorial or a metronome. For more information on all of these features, see the corresponding glossary entries. Here we note that a change in tempo is often required in fact — for example, to speed up an initially "sluggish" accompaniment or slow down a training programme that is difficult to master at the original tempo.

Tempo is traditionally indicated in beats per minute. The classical, "academic" range covers options from 40 bpm ("grave", "very slow") to 208 bpm ("prestissimo", "very fast"), however, in modern digital pianos, the working range of tempos is often significantly wider.

The presence of a sequencer in the design of a digital piano.

This function allows you not only to play music on the instrument, but also to record it with the possibility of later playback. However, this is at least; in addition to recording the parts of the instrument itself, the sequencer can provide recording an audio or MIDI signal from the corresponding input, mixing several parts (including recording the music being played over the music being played “on the go”), working with the parameters of individual tracks (volume, tone, timbre), as well as specific functions such as quantization (smoothing uneven tempo). The specific functionality of the sequencer may be different, it's ok to check it before buying. However, anyway, this function can be a good help for the musician; it is especially useful for those who are not limited to the performance of ready-made music and want to compose their own compositions.

The ability to fine-tune the digital piano for specific frequencies.

The essence of this function is generally similar to transposition — a slight shift of each note in frequency up or down. However, with fine tuning, the shift does not occur in steps (by an integer number of semitones), but very slowly and smoothly — by a certain number of hertz or even tenths of a hertz relative to the base scale. The base scale is often called "440 Hz" — this is the standard frequency of the "la" note of the first octave, according to which the rest of the scale is tuned. For a musician, fine tuning usually looks like an opportunity to set a different key frequency value — for example, 438 Hz or 441.2 Hz.

This feature can be useful for tuning the digital piano to another instrument whose frequencies change smoothly, such as a guitar. In many situations, it is easier to change the frequency settings in a digital device than to twist the strings or otherwise fiddle with complex tuning.

— Mini-jack (linear). Any line input is designed to receive an audio signal in analogue format. Such an audio signal can be played back by the instrument itself through the built-in speakers, external speakers or headphones, switched to external equipment (for example, an amplifier or audio receiver), or recorded (if you have a sequencer, see above). In digital pianos, the most popular is the first option — playback; typically, the line-in sound either serves as an accompaniment to the main part or provides additional effects. As for the mini-Jack standard, this is a miniature plug, also called "3.5 mm" and known to many as a standard audio jack on a smartphone, laptop or computer. However, this standard is also very popular in digital pianos — among external signal sources, mini-Jack plugs are generally more common than full-size Jacks.

— Jack (linear). Line input using a Jack type connector (aka "6.35 mm"). In terms of purpose, such an input does not differ from the mini-Jack type input described above. As for the connector, it is almost 2 times larger than the mini-Jack in diameter — however, given the dimensions of digital pianos, this cannot be called a serious drawback. At the same time, the Jack socket provides a better and more reliable connection, with less likelihood of interference. At the same time, for a number of reasons, this type of connector is used somewhat less frequently in digital pianos.

— MIDI in. An...input that allows the Digital Piano to receive MIDI signals from external equipment. MIDI is a standard signal format in electronic musical instruments; such a signal (MIDI-event) is created for each keystroke and contains information about the note number, strength, speed and duration of pressing; these signals can then be recorded and/or played back in a specific tone. The ability to receive MIDI events from external devices can be useful, for example, when playing two keyboard instruments at once (to play all the music on one of them, with better sound quality), or to use the digital piano as an adapter for another instrument that does not having the desired tones. In addition, technically, a MIDI signal can be switched to other devices (see "Outputs — MIDI thru").

— USB to device (type A). USB connector that allows you to connect various external devices to the digital piano. However, most often the range of such devices is limited to "flash drives" and other drives. However, even this functionality can provide very extensive additional features: you can play backing melodies from a flash drive, update user timbres and auto-accompaniment styles (see above) or even instrument firmware, and copy materials recorded by a sequencer to a flash drive (or even write music directly). ), etc. Specific features in different models may be different, this point should be clarified separately.

— Card reader. A device for reading memory cards — usually, the popular SD format. By purpose, this function is similar to working with a USB flash drive (see above), adjusted for the fact that memory cards will be convenient primarily when exchanging data with a laptop — almost all modern laptops are equipped with card readers, which cannot be said about desktop PCs.

The type of display installed in the Digital Piano.

— Monochrome. Single colour display, not capable of working with a colour image; such screens are often referred to as "black and white", although other colour combinations are actually possible (for example, a blue image on an orange background). Despite their simplicity, the capabilities of such displays are quite sufficient for both simple and fairly advanced digital pianos; and they are inexpensive. Therefore, most models that have a screen at all use monochrome matrices.

- Coloured. A screen capable of displaying a multicolor image. Such displays are more advanced than monochrome, they not only look nicer, but also provide more information and visibility (colour is often used as a way of highlighting). At the same time, such functionality is rarely required in the case of digital pianos, and colour screens are noticeably more expensive. Therefore, this option is typical mainly for premium-class instruments.