Williams Legato 88-Key Digital Piano

Williams Legato is an affordable digital piano with 88 semi-weighted keys, five great sounds (piano, electric piano, organ, synth, and bass) and built-in speakers. It also features split/layer function (to combine sounds) and a built-in metronome. This ultra-portable piano is perfect for performing and practicing. VoicesThe Legato piano has 5 built-in voices. Each voice may be selected one at a time.

They can be layered to produce two voices at once, or assigned to the left or right hands in the split mode. Voices include: Piano, Electric Piano, Organ, Synth and Bass.Split ModeSplit Mode allows the keyboard to be divided into two sections so that different voices may be played with the left and right hands. The volume may be independently adjusted for each voice, the Split Point (the highest note played with the left hand) may be adjusted and the Split Voice may be changed as desired.Reverb and Chorus ButtonsThe Reverb and Chorus effects may be applied to each voice individually and will be retained even when the power is turned off.

To apply either effect, press either button. The button will light and the effect will be heard when the piano is played. To turn off the effect, press the button of the desired effect again and the LED light will go off.Note: This keyboard operates on batteries or with a power supply, but it ships with neither. We enthusiastically recommend the Williams ESS1 Essentials Pack for the Legato Digital Piano, which comes with a power supply, sustain pedal and pair of headphones. #J10039

The Williams Legato 88-Key Digital Piano is an outstanding deal!
By Sean Hall

I love this keyboard.

First off, this is a long review. That is because I really want to help anyone with making a decision on this and I enjoy being thorough, fair and honest in my reviews.

To give myself some credibility in this review, I am a pianist and would put myself somewhere around the intermediate level. I've had maybe a couple months of lessons (around 5 years ago) and the rest has been self taught. I always practiced on a baby grand Baldwin piano that my mother owns. Now that I have been out of the house for years and only playing upon visits or where I could find an open piano, I decided I needed to invest in a piano.

Pianos themselves are far too expensive and big for what I can afford now so a keyboard was the right choice for me. However... I hated keyboards. I hated the plastic keys and more than that I hated only having SOME of the keys. So I did a lot of research online to find if there was anything I could afford and be happy with. And then I found the Williams Legato keyboard and it had 88 keys! Not only that, the keys were semi-weighted and velocity sensitive (I could play soft, loud and anywhere in between).

Then I see that the listed price is only around $200 while some other keyboards with 56-61 keys were going for roughly the same price. Then I read some reviews, listened to it's sound on YouTube and that basically did it for me. Other keyboards do have other features such as more sounds and other fun things you can do like recording, changing pitch, playing with background beat and so on. However, I don't care much for those although I know I would have fun with them.

The Williams Legato 88-Key Digital Pianos is an outstanding piano. I've owned it for a while now and I couldn't be happier. It has all the keys I wanted ( which I needed to play some of the songs I know) and although any keyboard like this will never be the same as a real piano - I am very happy with it. The weighted, force sensitive keys added that satisfaction that I really wanted.

The quality of sound from the piano does seem to vary based on opinion; I will agree that it does not get very loud but I think the quality of the sound itself is excellent. The velocity sensitive feature works really well and makes the difference between playing a song and playing a song with feeling. Being able to use headphones is so great in many ways. I do have fun with the few different sounds it has (Electric Piano, Organ, Synth, Bass) and being able to layer them. However, all I really care about is sounding like a piano and I think it certainly does its part. I wanted a keyboard that sounds and feels like a really piano and I am very satisfied.

I am not very savvy with other aspects of electronic music such as hooking it up to an amplifier, hooking it up to your computer for recording..etc. This keyboard has those features but I'm not a reliable source for the quality it has in those areas.

I am really really disappointed in some of these other reviews that docked off so many stars because it didn't come with a power cord... I understand that frustration and I myself find it very odd and upsetting that it doesn't come with it's own source of power. But if you check anywhere else (williamspiano.com musiciansfriend.com, guitarcenter.com) you will see that it is listed there. So I don't want that to be a surprise for anyone - I knew about it myself before I bought it.

I did not buy the essentials pack for a couple reasons:

1. I already have high quality headphones.
2. I was almost positive that the sustain pedal would be cheap.
3. I was confident I could find the power cord elsewhere and for way cheap.

I bought the M-Audio SP-2 Sustain Pedal which I absolutely love. (You can read my review for that)

The power cord I found at the DI (Deseret Industries) which is basically like a Goodwill. So they have old electronics parts and I found a 12VDC power adapter that was the right size and it was $2. (I still use it, it works and haven't had any issues yet. You can't just go out and get a power cord. You have to be very careful about finding the right one. Maybe I'll add insight and details on that at a later time. Research AC-DC adapters and polarity if you wish to understand.)

I bought a 1/8" to 1/4" stereo adapter for my headphones and the piano sounds AMAZING with my headphones. That feature in general is amazing cause now people don't have to get all "annoyed" when I practice because they won't here it - only me and it allows me to feel immersed in the sound. You can find that adapter at RadioShack (where I got mine) for $5 and here on amazon where you might get it for a dollar cheaper.

I was also able to find one of those foldable piano stands at the same DI (Deseret Industries) for $3. (I would consider that extremely lucky - it was the only one in the store)

However..... finding all of these separately was a bit of a hassle. So if your not interested in the hassle, the Essentials Pack sounds good enough but I am confident, judging by reviews on it, that what I have is higher quality. Finding good quality, longer lasting products is very important to me but whether or not that matters to you is for you to decide.

If you are looking for an electric keyboard that's overall cheaper and has other fun features maybe Casio would be the way to go. If you want a good keyboard to practice on for the real thing, this is the way to go!
I really hope this review helps

Good Sound, Great Value!
By Florida Shopper

I don't have room for a traditional piano so I've been shopping for a digital one for years. Every one that I found was at least $900 and had all kinds of professional features that I don't need and would never be able to figure out. The Williams Legato was on too good of a Black Friday special to pass up, so I decided to give it a try. I've only had it for a day, but I'm already in love.

The previous reviewer was right, this doesn't come with a power cord. It can be run on 6 D batteries out of the box, but the pack with the power cord includes the sustain pedal, so you'll probably want it anyway.

There are five "voices" on this. I only cared about piano, and I'm very pleased with it. The feel isn't exactly that of a grand piano, but since it's thousands of dollars less and much easier to store, I'm not complaining. The sound is much more wonderful than I expected. This is truly a digital piano, not just another stinky keyboard.

If you're looking for something to play Carnegie Hall with, this probably isn't for you. If you're wanting an afordable, storable digital piano for your family, this is a surprisingly good value for the money!

ETA: I forgot to mention that the Legato comes with a basic wire music stand that rests in two holes on the top of the piano. It's very easily removable for storage. It's got a sort of a shelf or small tray at the bottom with a short lip at the front that helps to hold music books open.

Great value for a beginner (adequate sound and key feel for new players)
By Captain Bruisen

To be clear, this is a "best value" digital piano. If you can afford to pay significantly more, go for a performance level piano so that you only have to make the purchase once. Our son is just beginning to learn piano and we wanted something that felt and sounded enough like a real piano, but wouldn't be quickly outgrown. For a beginner, you don't need the accessory package, just a power supply cord (and a stand/bench if you don't have a setup at home).

For ours, we mounted a 48" IKEA shelf onto the wall using two IKEA brackets. The shelf is a few inches shy of the total length of the keyboard, but the depth is perfect (be sure to leave 1/4" to 1/2" between the wall and the shelf so that the cords can run behind the shelf). We also repurposed our old IKEA picture frame ledge to hold the sheet music (because the piano requires a few inches behind it for the angle of the included music stand, but we wanted his piano flush with the wall). With the stool slid beneath, it takes up very little space and he can't tip the piano the way he might if it were on an X-style keyboard stand. I've attached a photo.

Other reviewers feel it is too quiet and suggest you use headphones, but we feel like the volume is appropriate (although we live in a 250sqft apartment, so sound doesn't have too far to travel). If you do buy headphones or plan on using your own, keep in mind that the headphone jack is for the larger headphone plug. Buy an adapter, but pay attention to where it ships from - we accidentally ordered from China and it took several weeks!

You may want to adjust the tempo (default is rather fast for a beginner) - just hold tempo and metronome for 3 seconds, then select a lower key for slower tempo and a higher key for faster tempo (read the included manual for detailed instructions).