Technics SX-P30

Its as easy to use as a piano is to play! However it does have one
annoying drawback. This is that the controls are labelled black on
black, and recessed so light can't get in. I find this very annoying
on stage when wanting to check that I've plugged the jacks in the right
way around, and that the switches haven't got knocked in transit/setting
up.

This piano is featureless, thats why its so good. It has 2 voices -
piano and electric piano. Why does it bother with the electric piano?
IMO Technics should lose this voice and save on a switch. Ditto with
the reverb switch - this would then partly aleviate my annoyance associated
with the critisism above.

It doesn't have an inbuilt speaker which does mean that you need to be
able to have yourself loud enough in your monitor - can cause problems
if you're sharing. This makes the keyboard smaller which is good.

The piano sound is very good but still noticably not so good as the
best electric pianos, especially in the low frequencies. Although
the price difference (800 vs 3000 ukp) probably explains why.

Its not failed me yet in 1 year of light use - about a dozen outings
(gigs/practices). I'm only just in the process of buying a flight
case for it now that the cardboard box is falling apart.

I will certainly buy it again, and have advised others (eg. my parents) to
buy one. However AFAIK there are no other equivalent[1] products on the
market.

1: Transportable, piano touch/sound.

Please ignore the "review" below, submitted by "Anonymous", which claims that there is a "wurlitzer organ sound" available by "holding down the second to top key while powering up". That message is a hoax. The only hidden sound is the Fender Rhodes electric piano sound, which you can get by holding down the very top note while powering up.

I see most of you have discovered the Rhodes sound. Try holding down the second to top key - it's a wurlitzer organ. It may only be on the super new models, but check it out.

This piano is very easy to use. Though there are only two sounds, (with a third hidden one), both are useable and appropriate. Its light weight portablility and action make it a great "working" piano.

The piano has a built in reverb. Whoever designed it thought about it and made it very convenient. All switches are on the side, with outputs and midi located there as well. Left hand volume slider for control while soloing (works for me anyway...my bass player won't let me use my left hand for anything else.)

Excellent acoustic and DX-7 sounds, and a third sound hidden. "Here's the procedure to get to it. Set the "piano/electric piano" switch to the "electric piano" setting. Now power off the unit, and then power on while holding down the top key. Voila! It's a pretty good Rhodes sound, too! "

Had it banging around in a cube van (though I made a case out of 3/4 ply.) Hasn't failed me yet in about 50 gigs. Sustain pedal broke down finally but I blame my cowboy boots on that

N/A haven't had to.

I would buy this piano again. I run it through a Yorkville 400K, and use an Alesis Nanosynth for organ sounds. I like the Roland sustain because it feels more like a "real" pedal. Fairly el cheapo keyboard stand but with light weight it doesn't matter.

This is not a complete review, but rather an addition to my previous review of the Technics SX-P30 digital piano. I found out something interesting that other P-30 owners might like to know. There is in fact a Rhodes electric piano sound in there in addtion to the DX7-ish electric piano sound! Here's the procedure to get to it. Set the "piano/electric piano" switch to the "electric piano" setting. Now power off the unit, and then power on while holding down the top key. Voila! It's a pretty good Rhodes sound, too! Unfortunately, it has audible velocity switching, which I don't like, but it's still usable. This procedure is not in the manual, by the way.

Doesn't get much easier. Along the left-hand side (recessed so they don't get munched in transport) are all the controls, which are very sparse: a stereo pair of 1/4" outputs, one of which can be used as a summed mono. There's a volume slider, a switch to select between acoustic and electric piano sound, a reverb on/off switch, a sustain pedal input, a power on/off switch, and an input for the lump-in-the-middle external power supply. There is also midi in and out. There is no reverb level control. The keyboard can transmit on one channel at a time. By holding down a certain note as you power on the unit, you can select midi channel. You can also select local off by the same technique.
There is no LCD display, but when the instrument is this simple, who needs one? As you sit at the piano, you see nothing but the keyboard, and a strip of black. For a piano player, this is psychologically quite pleasing in my opinion. To some extent it makes you feel like you're sitting at a real piano rather than an electronic one.

To me the best feature is the weight: 38 pounds. The other important features are that the acoustic piano sound is good, and that the weighted keyboard feels good. It is well-designed as a portable instrument: all the switches are recessed on the left-hand side. There's a little red light that you can see from the playing position that indicates power is on. It comes with a detachable music stand, similar to the one on the old DX7, but more sturdy. Finally, a good-sounding, good-feeling piano that's light enough to carry to gigs without back strain!
Drawbacks: The manual says 32-note polyphony, but that's misleading. The piano samples are stereo, so in reality, maximum number of notes is 16. This is a drawback, and either you can live with it or you can't. I can live with it, considering the pluses. Other minor drawbacks: the electric piano sound is of a DX7 rather than of a Rhodes. As a DX7 epno emulation, it's good, I just would have preferred a Rhodes. The external power supply is a bummer; at least it's of the lump-in-the-middle variety.

The acoustic piano is very good - very realistic sounding and very expressive. These things are always subjective, I know, but I've played most of the current digital pianos, so I know what the current state of the art is. This one is perhaps not the absolute best in terms of sound, but it's very good. The electric piano is fairly good.

Don't know yet - havent' used it long enough.

Don't know - haven't owned it long enough, and never dealt with Technics before. Technics are owned by Panasonic. Don't know if that's good or bad, but at least it indicates that there's a large company behind them with a long history.

I'd buy it again. There's really nothing else on the market like it, not that I've found anyway.