This is my review of the New Korg SP170 digital piano that just came out. The product features include:
* The two skillfully sampled concert grand piano sounds capture all the nuances of the performer’s touch.
* A total of ten sounds are provided, including electric pianos, harpsichord, organs, strings, and more.
* Our new Natural Weighted Hammer Action (NH) faithfully reproduces the touch of an acoustic piano.
* The SP-170’s compact body houses a robust, built-in speaker system to deliver a deep and powerful sound.
* Two headphone jacks allow for parent/child or student/teacher private practice, or for just sharing with friends
If you are seeking a versatile keyboard synth, this is simply not it. This is a piano. The other sounds are great (Fender Rhodes is great), but this is not the reason why I purchased it or even what I expect to do with it. Two things I was looking for: great piano samples, and a realistic touch. This Korg does those very well, even better (IMHO) as opposed to Yamaha P95. The built in audio system actually sound pretty good inside a living room, however won’t work for stage. One criticizm: if you might be a pro-audio guy, you’re left to guess if the output quality from your headphone jacks is stout enough for an instrument level signal (technical details are not available, anywhere, that I could find), so I took no chances and bought a Whirlwind pcDI to stick before the mixer. If you want a piano, this certainly does it, and (if you like it) you simply won’t find better sounds or touch at any price.
Even though it does not have any buttons the Korg SP170korg sp 170 still have a number of tricks up in it’s sleeve.
You can tune and transpose the notes. Tuning is useful in case you are playing with other instruments which have a difficult time tuning correctly. Transposing is extremely good in case you only know how to play a specific song in one key but have to have a different key to match a singers range. Again this is done while using 3 top keys down technique from before.
You can also find beautiful selectable reverb and chorus effects. These added excellent depth on the sounds. Try adding chorus to the electric piano sounds and you will have a big wide professional sound or reverb to the strings to have a lush concert hall sound.
The piano is really a pleasure to try out. Korg have created new natural weighted hammer action keys. The Korg SP 170 is weighted such as a real piano, with a heavier touch from the lower ranges as well as lighter and lighter from the higher keys. The same as the Yamaha NP-30 but this time using genuine weighted keys rather than just spring back.
For more information on the Korg SP170 then just go here to Amazon.com to find out more.