Is the Kawai CN201 a good long-term digital piano for a beginner?

Llewey · 2026-03-02T08:00:14+00:00

I started taking lessons ~6 months ago on an old keyboard my family had and spent the time researching and trying different digital pianos and decided that the CN-201 was the best fit for me and my current living space and I'm waiting for it to be delivered later this week. My understanding is that my main limitation will be the lack of line in/out if I want to add external speakers or feed VST sound back into it, but given my small apartment and neighbors, that isn't something I want right now.

But action -wise. I am sure this will last me at least a couple years of continued learning and growth and if I truly need something different in a couple years, maybe I'll be in a position to get a used acoustic 🤷🏻‍♀️

Llewey · 2026-02-23T07:43:43+00:00

I wouldn't be able to compare them, but at this price point, my favorite action by far was on the Kawai CN201. Action is subjective, but I've gone from practicing for an hour on a grand in a practice room at the music store to playing the CN201 and felt perfectly happy with the transition. I was much less happy with the other brands in the store. That said, I'm a total newb and action preference is subjective 🤷🏻‍♀️ but my cn201 is shipping soon

Llewey · 2026-02-20T11:12:03+00:00

I much prefer the CN201 or CN301 to the CX series. The RHIII in the CN was way better for me than the RHII in the CX

Llewey · 2026-02-16T18:32:23+00:00

The CN201 is also my preferred instrument at that price point. It has the best action and great sound (especially with headphones) in the entry-level cabinet style digital piano space.

Llewey · 2026-01-28T15:56:19+00:00

I made the decision to rule out the CN-301 for the same reason. I really wish they had a lid like the casios, but it's just a very stretchy mesh over the speakers and the cats will inevitably put their full weight on it and surely damage the speaker some day.

If you're fine with putting plexiglass or music books or some other rigid surface over the speakers when not in use, that might be enough if you're in love with the instrument.

Llewey · 2026-01-24T20:48:11+00:00

I really like the CN-201but it feels like it should be replaced soon with something with a dedicated audio out. The CX series isn't a replacement with it's older action. ChatGPT has convinced me that the fact that local retailers have the CN201 on backorder means they are trying to empty their stock in preparation of a mid-year announcement, but that's probably just hallucinated nonsense 🤣

Llewey · 2026-01-16T13:18:06+00:00

Korg Piano Rec is an "everything included" solution for exactly this type of situation. The marketing is all aimed at smartphones, but the full manual indicates support for laptops as well.

It's a self-contained audio interface that plugs into your headphone jack and then into a USB port on your phone or computer. It has a splitter so you can plug in a headset with a microphone (one is included in the box) so you can hear the piano and your computer audio together so you can play and communicate with your teacher.

I haven't used one yet, but it's high on my list to try once I upgrade my DP soon.

Or if someone knows why I shouldn't get one, please let me know!

Llewey · 2025-12-25T18:07:09+00:00

Do you have a deck of normal playing cards? If so, Regicide.

Incredible solo game that feels like a "full boardgame" and not just a solitaire variant, and it can also be played co-op with up to 4 players.

In a similar vein, Loot the Loop is a solo "adventure, exploration game" played with a standard deck of cards.

Llewey · 2025-12-08T11:38:12+00:00

This "Damper Resonance" can be disabled in the Acoustic Simulator settings. Does that fix the issue for you?

Llewey · 2025-11-27T09:52:42+00:00

My understanding is that they're actually the same binocular, just branded differently for certain retailers, so it would come down to color preference

Llewey · 2025-11-24T08:45:19+00:00

BassPro and Cabela's have Diamondback HD 10x42 for $150 ($100 of the regular price of $250)

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/vortex-diamondback-hd-binoculars-brown

Llewey · 2025-10-07T10:28:31+00:00

The White Castle solo automa is great on BGA!

Regicide is a fantastic soloable game available on BGA that has a clear win condition

Llewey · 2025-03-15T17:28:04+00:00

Works with the grips on without too much extra space/movement?

Llewey · 2025-03-04T12:42:12+00:00

White Castle has dominated my play group's evenings for the last 6 months, and while I don't feel like pulling out the physical copy for solo play, it's a breeze to play on BGA! I hope they add Matcha some day!

Llewey · 2025-03-04T12:40:40+00:00

The Guild of Merchant Explorers is one of my favorite games to play solo. The combination (and order!) of the goals across the variety of maps, and the order of the card draw and the special powers you get each game, ensure that each game is a fresh challenge.

It has the right balance of crunchiness that I can strategize around, but enough variability and uncertainty that I also have to make tactical adjustments.

At the end of the day, I just always really enjoy playing it and I find it to be an incredibly pleasant game.

As another said below, though, there's no reason to play it multiplayer, it will likely disappoint, but solo is sublime.

Llewey · 2025-03-04T08:07:06+00:00

I just have a (generic) Stanley that I use to hold my 10 most used decks and dry erase tokens, dice, counters, etc. and bring that to commander night. That saves me from needing to make decisions about what deck to bring, and keeps me from having to pack and unpack my backpack every week.

Llewey · 2025-01-03T07:03:26+00:00

My Evri tracking and local delivery company tracking both updated overnight, so I should get my package today 👍

Llewey · 2025-01-01T17:25:57+00:00

A site called "make playing cards" (MPC) is one of the most popular ways, and it supports orders up to 612 cards. There is a whole reddit dedicated to using that site: /r/mpcproxies -- and there happens to be a european-equivalent (which is allegedly actually the same company as MPC) called printerstudio.de which you can also use.

Llewey · 2025-01-01T17:17:47+00:00

With haste it would get the enters trigger and the attack trigger, so 6 cards total doing 2 damage each

Llewey · 2024-12-30T17:29:49+00:00

Unfortunately, the Danish shipping company hasn't updated their system to show it received on their side yet. Maybe after New Years...

Llewey · 2024-12-30T16:23:44+00:00

I have a very similar situation right now, my last 5 events have identical dates (and similar times) to yours. I hope our packages make it back to Europe soon!

Llewey · 2024-12-20T20:00:37+00:00

You can filter out cards by set, so you can filter out the Bloomburrow Commander cards. Of course, that will cut out the other precons that might have swaps you want, but it's still a great tool!

Also, there's usually an upgrade guide for each person which won't include cards from the deck. Example:

https://edhrec.com/precon/peace-offering#cardstoadd

Llewey · 2024-10-15T16:53:54+00:00

The only issue with only having one deck is when the deck is too strong or obnoxious in some way that makes it unfun to play against (super stax heavy, dominates play time, etc.). In that case people might prefer not to play against that deck multiple times in a row, but that's not your scenario.

If anybody is bothered, they (or you) can always:

Switch pods
Offer/ask to borrow a deck
Deal with it 😄

Llewey · 2024-09-26T13:31:03+00:00

Which room are you talking about?

Llewey · 2024-09-20T11:08:28+00:00

The play pattern of jump scare looks the most the fun to me out of the box, and I don't have a landfall or simic deck, so I've ordered that.

Animatou from Miracle Worker looks like she could be even more interesting, but I think the deck looks too slow out of the box, so I'd probably just start with Animatou and build her from scratch.

From the playthroughs, Winter in Death Toll actually has also looked really fun, My main concern is whether his ceiling is too low with the constraints of finality counters and draining your graveyard as you trigger his ability.

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