A touch responsive keyboard is an excellent way to replicate your acoustic piano playing style on a digital keyboard. 

As the name suggests, the harder you strike the keys, the louder the tone is going to be, which gives you a realistic style of play while saving you both money and space.

Since these keyboards still cost a few hundred bucks, you want to make sure that you’ve made the most out of your investment, and that’s where this article comes in handy!

Today, we’ll walk you through a brief guide with all that you need to know before buying the best touch responsive keyboard out there. Let’s jump right in!

Our Recommendation of The Best Touch Responsive Keyboard on the Market

Here’s a brief overview of the top 5 options that you can find on the shelves:

1. YAMAHA P71 Weighted Action Digital Piano

Let’s start with one of the best options that you may want to consider due to its high level of realism and functionality.

The YAMAHA P71 touch sensitive keyboard comes with 88 keys that are full sized and equipped with the Hammer Standard Technology, which allows them to feel almost exactly like playing an acoustic piano.

The best part about this keyboard is that despite its realism, it’s still lightweight enough that you can easily move around with it and store it without taking up a lot of space.

The keyboard includes 10 different voices and comes with a sustain pedal, which adds to the value of the package. 

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2. Casio CTK-3500 Portable Touch Sensitive Keyboard

If you’re looking for a more affordable and simpler entry-level keyboard for practice, this one will save you a lot more. 

The Casio CTK-3500 comes with a board of 61 keys with a decent touch sensitivity that totals at about 400 tones and 100 rhythms as well as a dance mode with 50 more built-in melodies.

Moreover, it comes with a step-wise lesson system that can help you practice your piano and keyboard skills, which is another reason why beginners would really love this one.

The keyboard is remarkably portable, so it’s easy for anyone to take it along to music class and comes with its own power supply.

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3. Alesis Recital Digital Touch Sensitive Keyboard

The Alesis Recital is another excellent Touch Sensitive Keyboard for beginners that want a full sized keyboard with 88 keys.

The keyboard is semi-weighted and has an adjustable level of touch response so it can match your playing style and finger strokes.

It comes with 5 voices, including organ, electric, organ, acoustic, and bass. Like the YAMAHA, this one comes with a sustain pedal and supports the use of batteries, as you can use it with 6 D cell ones as well as a regular power adapter.

Overall, it’s an excellent option for someone who’s looking for a mid-range product that’s not too expensive or too cheap.

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4. YAMAHA NP12 Portable Lightweight Keyboard

This YAMAHA NP12 is a portable alternative to the P71, which makes it more suitable for beginners who are looking for a more affordable keyboard with YAMAHA quality.

The keyboard comes with 61 keys piano style keys with excellent touch sensitivity and high quality audio for a realistic feel.

The NP12 can also be paired with your phone and you can use a dedicated app to control its configurations and settings.

You can operate the keyboard using 6 AA batteries or a power supply. Yet, you should keep in mind that this model doesn’t come ready with a power supply, so you still have to buy one separately.

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5. Donner DEP-20 Digital Touch Responsive Keyboard

Last but not least, the Donner DEP-20 is another premium keyboard with excellent feel and touch responsiveness for those who don’t mind spending a little more on a high-end model.

The piano has a full set of full sized 88 keys and is loaded with 238 different tones as well as 128-note max polyphony.

The piano features a backlit LCD screen that shows the chords and notations clearly in addition to 25 Watt amplifiers for clear audio output.

Additionally, the keyboard also includes a sustain pedal and triangle pedal. It also has different output and input connections, including a USB one.

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Things to Keep in Mind While Buying a Touch Responsive Keyboard

Not all touch responsive and weighted keyboards are created equal. To choose the ideal one for your needs, you should keep some essential aspects and key considerations in mind. Let’s check them out:

Number of Keys

Touch sensitive keyboards on the market come in a variety of keys. The most common ones out there are the 88 key versions, which include all the keys that the original acoustic piano will have.

However, some portable options will remove the octave keys and include only 61 keys, which are more than enough for most beginners.

The choice here depends on personal preference as well as your level of proficiency at playing the keyboard. 

Our recommendation is to always go for the 88 key version to save yourself the cost of upgrading when your piano skills improve.

Touch Sensitivity

Touch sensitivity and polyphony are essential to creating the realistic feel of an acoustic keyboard. 

Always make sure that the keyboard has a 128 max polyphony for maximum quality and sensitivity.

Sound System 

The volume and clarity of the sounds produced are quite essential for a realistic feel. In fact, a high sensitive keyboard with a wide range of tones for each key won’t feel as authentic if it lacks the quality of sound needed to distinguish the difference.

Size

As previously mentioned, the 61 key versions of touch responsive keyboards are always more compact, which is ideal for those who move around with the keyboard or have nowhere to store it.

However, if the size of the keyboard is not a problem for you, you should prioritize other aspects, such as extra features, LCD screens, stands, accessories, and more!

Power

Most keyboards work using a power supply, which may or may not be added to the package depending on the model you’re buying, so you have to keep that in mind. 

Additionally, some of them come with a cordless option, which allows you to run the keyboard using specific types of batteries for added portability.

To Wrap Up

With that said, you now have everything you need to know in order to land yourself the best touch responsive keyboard out there.

Although there are many great options out there, we believe that the highly reputable YAMAHA P71 Weighted Action Digital Piano is our favourite choice on the market. This one has an excellent level of sensitivity and provides an outstanding overall performance that makes it well worth its price.

However, if you want a budget-friendly 61 key alternative, the Casio CTK-3500 Portable Touch Sensitive Keyboard. In addition to its decent performance and reasonable price, this one is also quite portable and can be a great entry-level keyboard for beginners!

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