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Comment by illumin8 | Hacker News Reader

Kawai makes quite nice digital pianos. The CA95 that we bought about 5 years ago has real wooden hammer action and a wooden soundboard. It also reproduces the harmonics (through digital samples) that you get when you hold the sustain pedal down and play a different string (resonant frequencies can vibrate other strings that you haven't played).

I highly recommend them if you are considering a digital piano.

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You can get this feature at their lowest end model of that series (CA49), though it may lack some other aspects of the resonance modeling that they reserve for higher end models. I believe almost all digitals starting at $2000 across the board have this feature, and the limiting factor that'll hold you back from hearing it all at the lower end of the price range is the audio setup that comes with the keyboard.

I remember discovering this feature when I held down all keys from A0 through E1 (without sounding them), depressed the sostenuto pedal, and then played a bunch of other keys.

That's the term I was looking for: resonance modeling. When you hear it in action you realize why most digital pianos sound so terrible. A quality digital or virtual piano models all the resonant frequencies and is a joy to listen to.

I wonder if that’s the predecessor to the CA99. I played that in a showroom and the Grand Feel III action is fantastic. I’m just not sure if I want to pay like 2-3x over what a portable digital piano would cost.

It is. The CA95 just has Grand Feel II action. I agree, it's one of the best digital pianos I've tried.

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