At a weekend conference, the digital piano was in fact electronic piano. I don’t know whether people make that difference (digital or electronic) or whether the naming system is consistent across manufacturers. Briefly, digital piano has better sounds (and more effects) than electronic. It sounds like a major difference, but some of it is due to very small margin in design.
On small margins, human can only survive in small margins of temperature.
I read that scientists discovered a planet a few years ago which they named GJ1214b. They worked out this planet is made much more of water than earth. While the presence of water suggests life might exist there, it has a temperature of about 450F. Ouch, human can’t survive there.
We can survive on earth because, by chance or deliberate act, it has a temperature range that exact suits human. When temperature goes much colder or hotter than normal, we find it really uncomfortable and need to make adjustment such as install air conditioning or heating system.
Most musicians bring their own instruments when they perform. This is the same with musicians leading worship. Pianists, organists and drummers are exceptions (any others?) – we play on the instruments provided.
The electronic piano at the conference venue was probably one of the earlier models; not only that the sound samples were really basic to the point it seemed the manufacturer didn’t care, the sounds were also very “thin” – it does not have the fullness of sound that varies with touch. I struggled in explaining this to people.
The piano “touch” is a difficult concept to explain in the first place, since on the acoustic piano, the keys that you play then go through a long series partially connected mechanism. A good digital piano is able to respond to the touch from the piano to produce the fullness of sound expected. Some digital piano will do much more, but that’s the basic.
A good digital piano reacts to the smallest subtlety of a pianist’s touch on the keys. A very small margin (e.g. velocity, pressure) creates different effect on the sound. We take this for granted. The lack of expression on this electronic piano at the venue frustrated me: given the effort in making such an instrument, its sounds were so poor.
From a distant, the electronic organ looks promising. In a similar way, GJ1214b’s water suggests life. But we can only survive in a small margin of temperature that only Earth provides for. The electronic piano was built with a margin too small for expression.
