Digital pianos with hammer action

Hammer action gives the keyboard of a digital piano the weight and resistance of an acoustic piano: when you press a key, a small hammer underneath it moves and imitates a hammer striking a string. This page offers digital pianos and digital grand pianos, almost all of them with 88 weighted keys. The range includes Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, Casio, Korg, Kurzweil, Pianonova, Pearl River, Nux and Dexibell. Fingers used to hammer action have no trouble switching to the piano at music school or to a concert grand.

How do the hammer actions of different brands differ?

Every manufacturer builds its own action, and its name is listed with each piano. In the Arius series, for example the YDP-145, Yamaha uses the GHS action, in higher models GH3, and in Clavinova pianos the GrandTouch actions. Roland uses PHA-4 Standard and PHA-50, Kawai uses Responsive Hammer III and Grand Feel III, Korg uses RH3 and Casio uses Tri-Sensor Scaled Hammer Action II. Pianonova, Pearl River, Kurzweil and Nux all have their own hammer-action keyboards.

Most actions are graded: the keys are heavier in the bass and lighter in the treble, just like on an acoustic piano. Many Roland pianos also have escapement, a gentle click when you press a key slowly, which you know from a grand piano. The surface of the keys is often matte and imitates ivory and ebony.

Digital piano or digital grand piano?

A cabinet digital piano stands against the wall and takes up little space – for example the Yamaha YDP-145, Pianonova Girona 08, Kawai CX102 or Roland RP107. Digital grand pianos are shaped like a small grand and have speakers in a large body, so they suit a living room, a school or a café, where the instrument should also look good. They include the Yamaha CLP-865GP, Roland GP-3 and GP-6, Kawai DG30, Kurzweil KAG100, Pearl River GP 1100 and Pianonova Gran Concierto; the full selection is in the digital grand pianos category. If you want to take your piano to gigs and rehearsals, take a look at stage pianos.