Review: Rockjam 88 Keys Beginner Digital Piano
Review:
Rockjam Beginner Digital Piano
$200 USD
Garnering more than 16,000 5-stars positive reviews on Amazon, this wallet-friendly Rockjam 88 keys digital piano is one worthy of our attention. At about $200 USD, this digital piano will not burn a hole in your pocket, and yet still be just about the digital piano that you need.
Build Quality
This Rockjam beginner digital piano comes with 88 full-size semi-weighted balanced-action keys. The keys are touch sensitive which means that the piano will sound louder when you hit the keys harder and produce a softer sound when you play the keys gently. There are also 4 levels of touch sensitivity and you can find one that suits your skill level and playing style. At this price point, the key-action is, frankly, average and advanced piano players will not be satisfied, but beginners should have little to complain about.
Weighing at just 6.8kg and coupled with 6 D-Size batteries (which are not easy to find, especially the rechargeable ones), it is a portable keyboard. Other than the piano itself, you also get a power adaptor, a music rest and 2 really handy clips for securing your music book or your iPad out of the packaging. You do get keyboard decals which you can stick on the keys and this makes finding the right music notes easier. There is no sustain pedal included in the box and thus, you will need to get an additional sustain pedal if you intend to play more advanced piano pieces.
The on-board speakers, powered by a 24W amplifier, are sufficiently loud for home use and social occasions. However, the sound output does lack warmth and isn’t as rich. The sound improves significantly when you put on a pair of headphones, which the Rockjam piano provides 2 headphones ports — one port is at the rear panel of the piano and the other port is conveniently located beside the keys. There is also a microphone port and dedicated audio out port for you to connect to a more powerful PA system. This is a feature, even some premium branded pianos that cost many times more don’t come with.
Built-in Features
If you haven’t mastered how to play & sing at the same time, it’s alright, the RockJam piano has got you covered. You can either plug in a USB stick containing your favourite MP3 tunes, or connect your smartphone via the auxiliary audio-in port and sing along on the microphone.
There is also a USB MIDI port on the rear panel of this piano which allows you to connect and use this RockJam piano with many free DAWs & software instruments for professional music production.
Not only does this affordable Rockjam piano allow you to plug in a microphone to sing-along with, you can also apply vocal effects to make your singing sound better. You can also use the transpose function if you need to sing in a different key from what you are playing. You also get a card which gives you a free 1 month subscription to the Simply Piano App on your smartphone or iPad.
Sound Quality
On the Rockjam Digital Piano, you get 10 voices and 128 notes of polyphony which is more than sufficient for even intermediate piano pieces. You can layer 2 voices for a richer sound as well as split 2 voices across the keyboard. The volume mix of both the layered and split voices can be adjusted independently — a feature even big brand digital pianos that cost twice as much cannot do. If that isn’t enough, you can also personalise the voices by applying up to 10 different reverbs and choruses.
Due to the affordable price, and I’ll be frank, the sound samples are not the best quality, but for a beginner, this low priced piano is a good choice.
These are demos of the 10 voices on the Rockjam Beginner Digital Piano:
Grand Piano
Strings
Piano
Electronic Piano
Church Organ
Bass
Guitar
Synth
Drum Kit
Hammond Organ
Hope you have found this article useful, do check out my other articles to find the best suited piano or keyboard for your personal use. Also, if you are interested to learn to play the keyboard, do take a peek at my step-by-step beginner course!
Do click on the links provided in this article to find the latest prices and updated information about the Rockjam Beginner Digital Piano.