Alesis Recital Pro digital piano is among the most popular entry-level digital pianos. This Alesis Recital Pro review will have an in-depth look at its features and what the differences are from the Alesis Recital, the original one.
Alesis was founded in 1984 as an electronic audio equipment maker. Since then, the company has gone through ups and downs, and in recent years, it has made its name in the digital piano realm, evolving from synthesizers. The original Alesis Recital was a synthesizer with semi-weighted keys. However, the fully weighted hammer action keys made the Alesis Recital Pro 88 key digital piano a popular beginner’s choice.
What are the pros and cons of the Alesis Recital Pro? Let’s take a closer look at it.
Table of Contents
Alesis Recital Pro 88 Key Specifications
| Alesis Recital Pro Specifications |
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Design
The Alesis Recital Pro is selling for under $400; hence, it will not be a perfect instrument in every regard. However, it is a pretty good entry-level piano.
Considering its build quality, the Recital Pro is quite nice. Even though it is all plastic construction, the texture on the surface gives a premium look and feel. The underside is nice and flat, making it easier to put on any surface.
The Alesis Recital Pro is larger and heavier than the non-pro version of the recital.
The trade-off is that the Recital Pro comes with fully weighted hammer action keys and an overall easier-to-use user interface.
The instrument has a bright backlit LCD screen, a rare find in entry-level digital pianos. It takes the guesswork out of selecting sound and effects.
The function buttons are nicely laid out and easy to access, making selecting voices and running on/off effects effortless. The dual-color LED (blue or red) on the buttons also visually indicates your selections.
The instrument allows you to choose multiple effects simultaneously.
Pedal
The Alesis Recital Pro has a sustain pedal jack in the back. Unfortunately, the package does not include a sustain pedal or a plastic footswitch. You will need to buy a universal sustain pedal separately. It is probably not a deal breaker; however, it does cause some inconvenience and additional costs.
For beginners, you may not need a sustain pedal for a while, but a sustain pedal is usually required when you play more advanced piano pieces.
Sound
The Alesis Recital Pro comes with 12 voices –
- Default Piano
- Bright Piano
- Electric Piano
- Vibraphone
- Organ
- Church Organ
- Harpsichord
- Clavinet
- Synth
- Strings
- Acoustic Bass
- Fingered Bass
The default piano sound is nice and enjoyable. The tone is kind of mellow and warm. Of course, with this entry-level instrument and its price range, we would not expect too much richness and expressiveness in its sound. On the other hand, you can tweak the piano sound to make it better by using the function menu to adjust the sound’s resonance, reverb, and other parameters.
The other voices of the Recital Pro are acceptable but not amazing. Moreover, the chorus and reverb do not work much with other voices that have short sustain sound.
Three of the twelve sounds in the instrument are pitched down an octave. They are Clavinet, Acoustic Bass, and Fingered Bass.
Keyboard
Regarding the key action, the Recital Pro is a step up from its non-pro counterpart. The Pro has fully weighted hammer action keys, which is essential for beginners.
However, we would expect a better key action. The action quality of the Recital Pro is not ideal. Here are a few things we observed:
- The black keys are lighter than the white keys.
- The keys are bouncy and wiggle sideways.
These issues with the action cause some notes to jump out or delay in a chord, making the players feel they cannot play the instrument well, especially when playing classical pieces.
Modes
The Alesis Recital Pro offers layer, split, and lesson modes that are standard for most digital pianos in this price range.
Layering allows you to have two different voices on top of each other, while Split lets you have different voices on each side. The Lesson Mode divides the keyboard into two sections with the same octaves, meaning you get two middle Cs.
Alesis Recital Pro goes a leg up on the layering and split functions. You can layer multiple sounds and assign different volumes for each layer. This goes above and beyond compared to the other digital pianos in the same price range or even some more expensive ones.
Connectivity
As part of the Alesis Recital Pro review, let’s closely examine its connectivity.
It has proper left and right stereo (1/4″) output jacks, which are very useful for connecting external powered speakers, especially for gigging purposes.
There is also a quarter-inch stereo headphone jack that is located in the back. Although I am not a big fan of the back location of the headphone jack, it offers a nice option for silence practice. With a set of good-quality headphones, you’ll enjoy the decent sound from your piano and avoid distractions.
This USB Type B port allows you to connect to a computer to exchange MIDI data. You may also leverage this port to connect to your smart device.
Unfortunately, no USB Audio connectivity would allow you to stream music from your smart devices.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Fully weighted hammer action keys | A footswitch or a sustain padel is not provided |
| Easy access buttons and LCD screen for function selections | The onboard speaker sound is not as good as through headphones. |
| Dedicated line-out jacks for external powered speakers | Only one electric piano voice |
| Balance the volume mix of different layers | |
| Battery operation option | |
| Great potential for gig instrument | |
| Attractive price |
Alesis Recital Pro Review Summary
Through this detailed Alesis Recital Pro review, we think it is truly an entry-level piano. It has a decent default piano sound, which a beginner will often use. The other voices can be fun to play with.
The Recital Pro offers a good balance between portability and playability. With its intuitive buttons and dedicated line-out jacks, it can easily be a gigging instrument.
If you are serious about learning piano techniques, we do not think the key action of Recital Pro is a good option. The inconsistency of the key weights may impact your skill development. On the other hand, if you want an affordable instrument to riff with, Alesis Recital Pro can be a good fit.
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Enjoyed examining this, very good stuff, regards.
Thanks for your comments, Molly!
Sincerely,
Anne