The commonest mistakes when buying a first digital piano

Ten traps people fall into with a first instrument — from buying "by the number of voices" to the forgotten bench and headphones. How to avoid them.

Most disappointment with a first digital piano comes not from the instrument being cheap, but from the money going on the wrong things. Below are the mistakes that recur most often.

1. Choosing by the number of voices

"Five hundred voices" looks better than "a hundred and twenty-seven". In practice, after a month you use the grand piano, perhaps the electric piano and the strings.

The number of tones says nothing about their quality or about how the instrument responds under the fingers. It is the easiest specification to inflate, so it tends to be over-displayed.

2. Too light a keyboard

The gravest mistake, because it is the only one that cannot be put right later. A sprung keyboard doesn't teach control, and moving to an acoustic means correcting habits.

The minimum for serious learning is a semi-weightedkeyboard, as in the V5N. With music school in mind — weighted with hammer actionkeyboard, as in the V9N or V10NB.

3. Fewer than 88 keys

A shortened keyboard is enough at the start and begins to get in the way the moment the pupil meets a piece using the extreme registers. Then the instrument has to be bought a second time.

4. One pedal instead of a pedal unit

A pedal on a cable slides across the floor and needs correcting while you play. On top of that, the soft and sostenuto pedals are missing, and they appear in sheet music earlier than you'd think.

All Versoni pianos — including the basic V5WN — have a fixed pedal unit with three pedals.

5. Skipping the bench

A kitchen chair is the wrong height and has a back that encourages slouching. With a child, poor posture can put them off practising within weeks, before anyone realises the seat was the problem.

The HS1K, HS1B and HS1W benches are colour-matched to the piano cabinets.

6. Not planning for a headphone output

In a block of flats this is the function that decides whether any evening practice happens at all. If lessons are to take place at home, it is worth noting two outputs — fitted to the V9NB, V10NB and V11B.

7. Confusing Bluetooth Audio with Bluetooth MIDI

These are two different functions. Audio sends sound to the piano — you listen to a backing track through its speakers. MIDI sends information about the keys you press to an app, so that learning software sees what you play.

If you plan to learn with an app and the instrument only has Bluetooth Audio, the function will prove useless. The Versoni line supports both modes.

8. Buying the cheapest gear "to try"

The logic sounds sensible: we'll see whether it takes, and buy something better later. The trouble is that on a bad instrument playing gives less pleasure, so the test is unreliable — the child gives up not because music isn't for them, but because the equipment discourages them.

9. Not measuring the space

A full-size piano is around 130–136 cm wide, and you also need room for the bench and a gap from the wall. It is worth measuring the space before buying: the V5N and V9N are 132 × 28 × 80 cm, while the V10NB — 135.5 × 35.5 × 79.5 cm.

10. Ignoring how the instrument looks in the room

A piano stands in the home all the time. If its form bothers the household, the instrument sooner or later ends up in a worse place, and from there it is a short step to not being used.

It is worth knowing the solutions designed for this problem: the closing lid in the V10NB or the sliding keyboard and full desktop in the V11B.

How not to get it wrong — a short checklist

• 88 keys,
• a keyboard at least semi-weighted, and hammer action for serious learning,
• three pedals in a fixed pedal unit,
• a headphone output, preferably two,
• Bluetooth Audio and MIDI, if you plan on apps,
• the space in the room measured,
• the bench in the budget from the start.

Summary

The commonest mistake comes down to one thing: the money goes on what is easy to count instead of on what you feel under your fingers. The keyboard, the pedals and the option of quiet practice will decide the instrument more than any figure in a table.

You'll find the models and full specifications in the digital pianos.