There are two different types of digital grand
pianos. The first kind are those made by mass market manufacturers like Yamaha
that have a "grand piano" sound to them.
However, they're "grand" in sound only (and some would say not all that close),
as they tend look more like keyboards than pianos.
The other style of "grand piano" is a digital piano that not only goes to great
lengths to reproduce the sound, they also look like a grand pianos and try to
replicate the acoustics inherent to a
grand piano by shaping it just like one.
There are quite a few different manufacturers in the marketplace at a variety of
different price points so you're likely to find one that fits your budget and
feature list.
You've got mass market manufacturers like
Yamaha,
Korg, Suzuki, Roland, and Casio; as well as higher end offers from
Kurzweil, and Kawai.
A digital grand has a few advantages over it's authentic string and hammer
counterpart. The first is it's portable. If you live on a third floor apartment,
it's not that big of a deal to carry it up the stairs whereas with a baby grand,
you'd be talking about removing windows and getting a hoist.
It's also a good choice if you perform at different locations frequently...
again because it takes far fewer people to move and carry and isn't nearly as
sensitive to being moved.
You're also not limited to just pianos sounds. Remember a
good digital piano
does it's best to accurately reproduce piano sounds but can also do reproduce
sounds and styles you'd find in many keyboards.
For entry level digital grands, you've got well reviewed products like the
Yamaha
YPG-535, Yamaha
YPG-635, and
very budget friendly Casio
WK-210STAD.
At the higher end of things, you'll find the Kohler Digital KD160, Kurzweil Mark
152i, and Kawai CP207D.
