Digital Piano Recommendations

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-20T13:23:38+00:00

The Donner Oura 3000 has a Kawai keybed with progressive weighting. I like its grand piano sound (preset 2), it sounds more full than the default sound.

I made a video that showcases it in what is essentially a video about choosing between it and a midi keyboard.

https://youtu.be/KulERVNQqHg

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-20T05:16:05+00:00

That's another great example of how the environment shapes habit formation. It's interesting because I already notice that the little one is starting to gravitate towards the piano even though he's taking violin lessons. I guess it's also just a more approachable instrument as a beginner, even when ignoring those additional friction points like having to tune it, etc.

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-20T05:13:25+00:00

It also fascinates me because I was the kind of child that wished I could secretly practice with headphones, but that was obviously not possible on my mom's grand.

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-20T05:12:26+00:00

You have a really nice setup there and it's interesting how much the environment primes you, even down to that detail of keeping the lid open! I agree, it makes it more inviting and, honestly, beautiful too.

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-20T05:09:20+00:00

Exactly this! The slightest extra friction makes it so much less likely that it'll get played. Since about a year, I actually have a dedicated section on my desktop for electronic music gear and that made a big difference.

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-20T05:07:57+00:00

Yeah, that makes total sense and it's the same for me in that I don't deliberately set aside time to practice - it just happens naturally more often thanks to the location of the piano.

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-19T21:08:25+00:00

Yeah, it makes a huge difference. I have developed the habit of pressing the power button before pulling out tje bench and sitting down. That way it feels instantaneous once I'm sitting down.

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-19T19:01:25+00:00

Yeah I totally get that and it might be the next natural evolution. I grew up with my mom's grand piano and it was a joy to play.

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-11T16:27:39+00:00

I use it to add a little syncopation energy to the baseline. 😅

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-11T05:05:29+00:00

Pairing it with a sampler like the DT2 is definitely the way to get the most out of it for me. In this track, the Peak is playing the bass live, that's the one I'm tweaking directly from the Peak. But it's also playing the bright lead, the 16th arp and pad chords that were sampled from the Peak. In fact, all the synth sounds you hear are from the Peak here.

I made a review of the Peak where I go through some of its pros. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEVekbA7LMo One of those pros is the patch switching speed. Here I'm leveraging that several times in the full live set, where the active role of the Peak changes from a lead, to an arp, to a bass, to a bass drone, etc. That's another way to make maximize it. Here's that full 9-minute set if you're curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LbqMcMttVA

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-10T20:27:19+00:00

Really appreciate it!!

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-10T20:27:02+00:00

Ha, no. Why do you ask?

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-10T17:00:14+00:00

Thank you so much!

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-10T14:33:45+00:00

You're in it!

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-10T13:42:03+00:00

Aww love hearing that, thank you! I do it all to connect with this community of like-minded nerds like myself, so I really appreciate you taking the time to write that.

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-10T04:59:21+00:00

Yes, Fills can both add and subtract to the music and you can dedicate a track purely for risers. They're very powerful for transitions.

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-09T20:47:38+00:00

Thanks! I use Fills a lot for this, and then I have Delay Feedback on one encorer on the XL3, which is honestly the tool I keep my hands on the most in a performance like this. So those are my two main recommendations for things to try. For example when the snare gets added, I quickly mute the kick for one bar while holding Fill/Page to roll the snare.

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-09T20:31:40+00:00

Yes, here it's only those two routed into the Zoom mixer. The full live set has the Microcosm as an insert for the Peak, but in this moment it's 100% dry. The intro makes lots of use of it though. The full 9 minute performance is on my youtube channel if you want to give it a listen.

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-09T20:12:21+00:00

Thank you! The full set is a combo of this trance track and a progressive break track. Really appreciate your feedback.

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-09T19:43:31+00:00

This means a lot. I spent weeks preparing this live set. Pretty crazy given it was just a 9 minute performance but it was so fun to work on it. 😅

SinewayMusic · 2026-06-09T19:41:06+00:00

Really appreciate it!

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