Kurzweil SP6 88-Key Digital Piano

The SP6 is a sophisticated piece of kit, and that it comes in at 27 pounds, is a breakthrough for Kurzweil. It has 1024 user slots to create your own sounds. Sounds can be imported. Kurzweil sounds are known for being the best the best in the industry. They're quite customizable as well. Not the most intuitive, though.The keybed is well-balanced between being good for pianists and one that's good for synth/organ players. Downside:This particular Medeli keybed used might have a note or two might make very low level mechanical knocking noises. Kurzweil is aware of this. They needed a lightweight, good playing keybed that is capable of great sensitivity. And this Medeli meets those criteria. But Kurz also found that this keybed can occasionally make these slight knocking noises, none of which affect the playing. They found that in trying to completely avoid any extraneous sounds with this keybed, they would have had to reduce its sensitivity, and they didn't want to do that. And that this keybed plays so well in a weighted 88 keyboard that weighs under 30 pounds, Kurz was willing to put up with that. If you get a unit that has a key that renders a slight knocking sound, they don't consider it a defect. Not all units will have these low level mechanical sound issues, but a few will. It's quite random. In spite of that, in no way do those sounds interfere with how it plays when amplified, and it really is a versatile, great sounding, powerful keyboard. At the price point, there isn't a keyboard that I know of that has the breadth and quality of sounds of the Kurzweil. And compared to the Privia PX-560 or PX-5s, I prefer the feel and sound of the Kurzweil. The Privias, to their credit, have a graded keybed (keys are lighter at the top than at the bottom of the keyboard), the way a real piano is. But you'll notice that the drop (from rest to fully depressed) in the keys is shorter than on a real piano. The Privias are fine, but the Kurzweil's keybed is full-sized.

I just bought the Sp6. I have to say Kurzweil has done it again. A long time Kurzweil user, I've had the SP88, and PC88 after parting with a Yamaha KX88, and for a time had a Roland RD-700. I am a working full time musician who does a variety of jobs from solo piano, duos with a singer to jazz trios, R&B groups, big band, shows...as a professional composer and arranger I work in the studio on a regular basis doing a lot of different music. I've played the Sp6 through good headphones and playback speakers in the studio to a pro-grade big stage venue sound system. The piano sounds on this keyboard blow me away. I don't understand the comments about 'tinny' and 'weak' when mentioning the keyboard's higher registers--what I've heard with my own ears is simply amazing, something I would compare (as one who gets to play actual grand pianos onstage) to a middle-of-the-road brand mid-sized grand. And if you are comparing the SP6, Motif or even a Nord Stage to a real grand piano...you are being unrealistic. A digital piano to a Yamaha C6 or C7? And in those venues I've played where there is a grand piano onstage, well, why would I even bring a digital instrument that replicates a piano sound? Granted, you would use the SP6 in venues where you don't have a grand, and if you are playing the keyboard through an amp or cheap PA, well, any top-line digital piano is going to sound less than convincing. What is remarkable is that Kurzweil has managed to put these amazing sounds into a 27-pound package, a considerable weight less than the keyboards I mentioned above--add the SKB cases I hauled them around in and loading in and out of venues was a workout in itself. And the action? Well I don't have a problem with it--good and even response up and down the keyboard. Lastly, you can't beat the price! .

My reaction is about the same as it is to most digital keyboards. The two highest octaves are too weak and tinney to use. These octaves sound like a toy piano. My other issue with all these keyboards is the sustain pedal. The SP6 at least has one piano-the 9-foot grand-that has a decay that, when the sustain pedal is depressed, actually approximates the sustain of an acoustic piano. All the other pianos have too short a sustain, making it difficult for a real pianist to play smoothly. When any of the makers come out with a keyboard that has a realistic decay, a decent highest register, and a passable approximation of an acoustic piano sound, I'll buy it.