Electric Factory | RRP: $849
The Alesis Prestige Artist has a stylish and sophisticated look that will appeal to professional musicians and music enthusiasts alike. It has a classic black finish and modern lines, which make it a beautiful addition to any home or studio space. The Prestige Artist is quite small in terms of 88 key keyboards, and this is primarily due to the fact that the interface is placed vertically on the Piano, which makes it extremely suitable for the home. It also is very well suited to a space restricted environment, such small stages or venues, in a live context.
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My first thought when I sat down to test out the Prestige Artist, was just how good the entire experience of playing the piano was. It balances good quality keys, punchy speakers and decent instruments, all of which create a really enjoyable practice environment and elevate the playing experience.
The Prestige Artist comes equipped with a very competent array of onboard features, including a wide range of high-quality instrument sounds. This list includes multiple grand and upright pianos, strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion. The piano sounds are especially brilliant, my personal favourite being the upright.
The control panel includes various effects, such as reverb, chorus, and delay, which can be applied to the instrument sounds to add depth and character, as well as a built-in metronome, and a variety of drum patterns that can be used as accompaniments for both practice and performance.
The modulation effects are definitely capable, with multiple different options, such as different reverb room sizes etc. The metronome also offers different time signatures, which is a nice touch.
One of my favourite features, which is arguably the most important aspect of any good practice piano, is the way the keys feel; how they respond to your fingers, and how those interactions compare to other pianos. The Prestige Artist features graded hammer-action keys, which have a solid and realistic response. The Grading is nice, with the lower keys feeling satisfyingly heavier than the higher keys.
The Prestige Artist does lack Pitch and Modulation wheels, which may hamper its midi use. I suspect that this product was created with the express purpose of being used in a practice space or recital hall environment, and for that, it is competently equipped.
Two of the features that make this product perfect for practising are the Lesson and Practice Modes. Practice Mode essentially splits the keyboard into two zones with the same pitch and voice – the Prestige Artist would be perfect for piano students looking to follow along with their instructor or duet with another player. And if you want to hear how your playing is coming along? Look no further than Record Mode, which allows users to capture and then listen back to their performances with ease. And there’s no need to stress if you don’t want anyone to hear that private practice session playing back on a loop while you assess your progress – you can plug your cans in to either of the front-facing headphone jacks to automatically mute the speaker system!
The purchase of the Prestige Artist also entitles users to 60 free interactive lessons with music education platform Melodics – a great app suitable for desktops or tablets for fun, relevant and effective practice. Melodics offers a huge lesson variety and a learning structure that puts you in charge – if all of that isn’t enough to convince a remote-learning keyboard novice, I don’t know what is!
The Alesis Prestige Artist serves very well as a practice instrument, and is ideal for musicians who are looking to improve their playing skills at home. Its high-quality sound and realistic playing feel make it a great tool for musicians to use in rehearsal, and its powerful speakers will ensure that they can hear themselves clearly as they play – so will the neighbours if they take the dial much further past nine o’clock!
The speakers are seriously powerful, easily passing 100 dBA on my decibel meter, well and truly enough to fit in with a band of acoustic instruments. The address of the speakers is vertical, and they project quite well, but the keyboard does have line out on the onboard, if the speakers are not enough.
Overall, this instrument has a very high-quality sound that is reproduced in clear detail due to the powerful speakers, a realistic playing feel from the graded hammer action keys, and a solid list of onboard instruments and modulation to enhance practice and performance. Though it is lacking a pitch or Modulation wheel, this is not really the scope the instrument is trying to fill.
The Prestige Artist is a great choice for practising at home; with its weight and size it may not be as portable as other digital pianos, but we all know where to go if you are looking for maximum portability from your piano. Additionally, its lack of a pitch or mod wheel may limit the range of sounds and effects that it can produce, making it less suitable for musicians who need these features for their live performances.
Overall I would certainly recommend this keyboard, as the Prestige Artist well and truly hits the mark as a budget option for a home practice piano, and comfortably satisfies the needs of a small entertainment venue or recital hall, backed by its modest array of instruments that are delivered in clear detail through the powerful onboard speakers.
Head to Alesis for more information. For local enquiries, reach out to Electric Factory.
