UPDATED REVIEW – October 1, 2025 – Orla Grand 500 & Grand 120 Digital Grand Pianos | Responsive key action – Big Piano Sound – Beautiful Cabinets | interactive Digital Features | Bluetooth Audio Streaming | Sounds Designed in ItalyThe Orla digital piano company is well known throughout the world for building fine digital pianos and keyboards for over 50 years, so they have been around for a long time. The Grand 120 at $4609 and Grand 500 at $5716 are digital grand pianos that offer higher quality sound and key action technology as well as upgraded furniture cabinet design not found in other brands near or under $6000, and they are less money than the other top digital piano brands.
Notation: The Samick piano company in the US used to be the representative company for Orla of Italy when it came to sales and distribution of its Orla products in the US. That is no longer the case and the Orla company of Italy is now shipping and selling directly into the US under the Orla name, which is a good thing.
*SPECIAL UPDATE: For the months of October through November, or when supplies run out at Orla warehouse, whichever comes first (and likely supplies will run out 1st), there is an unadvertised “instant rebate” on the Orla Grand 500 digital grand piano off the regular discount price, which rarely happens. If you decide the Grand 500 will best fit your musical needs and budget, then before you purchase anything anywhere, contact us right away because not only can we help you get that instant rebate, but also an extra discount beyond that one!
Orla is an Italian digital piano company and their corporate headquarters is based in Castelfidardo, Italy. Orla is known by pianists, music teachers, universities, and hobbyists throughout the world and are very popular in Europe. I have personally played many Orla digital pianos over the years and enjoyed the experience quite a bit. Although Orla is not a well known piano company in the US as compared to the “popular brands” such as Yamaha, Kawai, Roland, and Casio, Korg, etc, Orla is still a very large company and does make some high quality product using sophisticated technology in their factories, so they definitely know what they are doing.
These two 2025 upgraded Orla digital grand pianos, called the Grand 500 and Grand 120, have replaced all previous models and I have played both of these newer models many times and am very impressed with what they can do in their price range. In this detailed review, it is important to know that both the smaller cabinet model and the full size cabinet model are identical to each other except for piano size, piano weight, cabinet design, and internal speaker system, and those differences are very noticeable.
The functionality. key action, piano sound chip, pedaling, and all other features are identical in both models including have sliding key covers. These Orla digital grand pianos are much higher quality than the cheapy brands you might see in Costco, Guitar Center, etc, so you do get what you pay for. However, these digital grand pianos are less money than the other name brands such as Yamaha, Roland, and Kawai, so in that sense I believe the newer Orla Grand digital grands occupy a unique space in offering some impressive features for less than other top brands.
The newer Orla Grand 500 mini grand is 4 feet in depth so it is a good size and looks like a slightly smaller version of a real acoustic baby grand piano. Real acoustic baby grand pianos usually measure around 5′ is depth so the 4 foot depth measurement of the Grand 500 (also known as a “mini” baby grand size) is a better size for most people because it can fit in better to more spaces. For those who are “space challenged” in their home, church, school, or other venue, then the Grand 120 at just 2’8″ (32″) in depth which is also known as a “micro” baby grand because of its much smaller size, maybe a better option for you. But there are some noticeable differences in cabinet design for that model as compared to the Grand 500. The interior of both models has a wood color/tone soundboard with speakers placed into the soundboard at the proper alignment for sound, and then finished off with attractive brass coverings.
The wood tone interiors complimented with the brass grills and coverings make these piano look much more elegant than other digital grand pianos I have seen, even at higher prices. The 3 full size support legs under the larger Grand 500 piano, along with the full size triple pedal lyre, are finished of with brass caster & pedal hardware to match the interior of the piano. I was very impressed that they more closely represent what a real baby grand cabinet really looks like.
As compared to the previous models, these 2 new pianos have been totally redesigned in the way they look, the way they operate incl functions and features, their internal speaker systems, the grand piano sound chip, as well as the pedaling and response. But the key action remains the same as in the previous models in large part because it was already so good and a pleasure to play that there was no need for change. Even pro piano players enjoy playing the Grand 500/120 key action. All of the piano tones. instruments, and rhythm arranger sounds & styles in the Grand 500/SG120 are custom designed in Italy by Orla sound & design company, which makes these pianos unique among other digital piano brands.
The key action is designed and built in Italy by the well known Fatar key action company which has a reputation for producing high quality key actions used in a variety of brands. I enjoyed playing the key action in the Grand 500/120 because it moves quickly, responds well to dynamics, it’s quiet and comfortable, and is the Fatar company’s top of the line plastic key action (not wood).
Fatar also builds less costly, lower quality key actions with the Fatar label on them, but they don’t come close to the more advanced key action inside these newer Orla digital grand pianos, in my opinion. So when it comes down to what Orla is offering in these pianos, Orla does pay attention to detail and design and it shows in the improved authenticity of the sounds and functions inside these newer models, especially as compared to other digital piano brands in this price range ($4000-$6000).
As far as pedaling goes, I noticed that the pedaling was improved with all 3 pedals being operational and functioning more like a regular piano including sustain/damper, sostentuo (middle pedal), and soft (left pedal). The sustain/damper pedal offers more sustain time than in previous models and also triggers half-damper pedaling which gives the player different levels of sustain instead of just on and off as was in the previous models. The pedals are made of brass and look elegant and coordinated with the brass hardware on other parts of the piano. The pedal lyre, which is what they call the triple pedal on a grand piano, looks great and will work fine for most players. There are even better, more upgraded triple pedal lyres on other brands, but you would need to pay quite a bit more money to get that.
One of the primary features that everyone wants in a digital grand piano is a realistic acoustic piano sound and these newer models have gone beyond the previous models in this way. Although 192 and 256 notes of polyphony (piano note processing) has become more of a standard these days, Orla still offers 128 notes of polyphony note processing memory. Although I would have preferred more overall note processing memory, 128 notes is still more than enough note processing power to play almost any piece of music. The stereo acoustic piano sound sample is more organic and authentic than before, so it is more enjoyable to play.
The specifications of the control panel of both models (since they are the same) includes having 10 sound group buttons which offer a total of 362 high quality instrument sounds that have easy, intuitive access to make quick changes to the functions along with separate bass & treble control knobs along with master volume knob, menu buttons and data wheel for easy access to menu functions, transpose & pitch control buttons, high quality reverb & chorus effects along with being able to layer and split any of the 362 instrument sounds.
The additional sounds such as electric pianos, organs, choirs, brass, woodwinds, strings, etc, are not easy to produce with much authenticity, but Orla has done an excellent job in my opinion and the stereo imaging in some of these sounds are really amazing…it’s like you are hearing the real instruments. They even built into the instruments a feature called velocity layering which allows additional new sounds to come in when pressing the keys harder at a greater velocity. An example of this would be playing string symphony sounds and then when you press the keys faster and harder, then brass orchestral instruments come in or percussion such as timpani comes in.
That’s what it did for me when I tried it out. I know that most people want to own a digital grand piano for primarily playing the piano sound. But once you get a taste for what you can do by adding realistic instrument sounds to your music, it will give you a musical experience that you likely have not had before and therefore your musical creativity comes alive in ways you would not have experienced otherwise. Musical creativity and expression is what I teach my students so they become more “musical” along with becoming better pianists. You can have both elements (piano and instruments) and learn to play in a variety of ways beyond just playing the piano. It’s great for children, adults, and any student who wants to be a better all around musician.
These newer Orla digital grand pianos have 350 music style arranger accompaniments in them (which is a lot) and that allows you to sound like a 1-man band just by playing chords. These custom-made music styles include drum patterns, bass player patterns, guitar patterns, piano patterns, organ patterns, horn & string section patterns, etc, and have been individually arranged and programmed by the Orla technology design company in Italy and are exclusive the Grand 500 and Grand 120 pianos. Arranger accompaniment styles have been available on a variety of digital pianos and keyboards for many years and some people use them and other people do not.
The Orla digital grands also have recording features that allow recording and playback of up to 16 MIDI tracks of music (aka: 16 individuals instruments) for people who love to compose and arrange music and are interested in doing more than just 1 or 2 track basic recording and playback. However, for those people who want to record and playback their piano practice or playing sessions with a simple 2-track MIDI recorder (left/right hand piano), the Grand 500/120 has that type of recording feature as well and it works great for students and serious pianists. Both recording systems are fairly intuitive and easy to use and cover what most people are looking for. Unfortunately, the Grand 500/120 pianos do not offer wav file or MP3 audio recording which some shoppers may want to have.
With all of these digital features included in these newer Orla digital grand pianos, it’s important that those features be easily accessible and intuitive to use. Fortunately, on these new models I found that they were noticeably more user-friendly than the previous models and now include a “data wheel” which allows the user to easily zip through the features including the sound, styles, effects, and other functions and be able to see the result in the LCD display screen.
You can have great internal piano sounds and instrument sounds in the instrument, but if the internal speaker system cannot provide high definition quality sound reproduction then those instrument sounds can come out sounding like a toy piano instead of a bold, beautiful sound that everybody wants to hear. To that end the Grand 500 now has a stereo 160 watt maximum, 8 speaker internal speaker system which includes two sub-woofers along with six other strategically placed speakers in the soundboard area of the piano. With this new speaker system it was obvious to me that the Grand 500 was on a completely different level than any previous model Orla digital grand piano.
With the newer Grand 500 stereo speaker system being so good, the factory added a new Bluetooth audio connection which allows external devices such as a tablet or cell phone to play their audio music library (iTunes, etc) directly through the piano speaker system via wireless Bluetooth connection so that your piano now becomes your home music player sound system. The Bluetooth connectivity can be used to have constant music entertainment playing in your home, school, church, hospital, or event venue from an iPad/iPhone that does not need to be attached to the piano and can have music played through your piano speaker system from another location. 
Many people do not have a stereo symphonic sound system such as this one designed into the Grand 500 piano, so having your audio wav or MP3 music playing through the piano is actually very cool and a great way to entertain family and friends. Also, you can play the piano “live” along with the music so that you can interact with it using different instrument sounds in the piano just for fun.
In addition to that, the pianos are capable of playing General MIDI song files of your favorite songs including music lesson songs from the most popular educational curriculum. The MIDI song files can be downloaded from the internet and then played through the piano from a standard USB flash drive. These multi-track General MIDI song files also enable you to slow down the songs to any speed so you can more easily play along with them to learn the song.
The smaller 2’8″ version Grand 120 is a practical size for someone with limited room space and yet it has all the same digital features and control panel as the Grand 500 except it has a smaller stereo internal sound system with 60 watts maximum power playing through 4 speakers. The less powerful sound system in the Grand 120 is surprisingly loud and full for its smaller size (assuming you like a lot of volume) and is matched more closely to the smaller cabinet size of that piano and it sounds good. Like all digital pianos, if you want to play it more quietly you simply turn down the master volume to whatever level you like.The Grand 120 lid only has a 1-position height adjustment as opposed to 2 positions on the Grand 500. The Grand 120 definitely looks elegant even in its smaller size but it looks big enough to give off the sense that you have a “grand piano appearance” in your room. Also, the key action, which is the most important part of any piano, is still identical to the Grand 500. So the Grand 120 is a good choice if you have a lower budget and smaller space.
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| Voice and memory setting buttons |
One other feature I especially like about these 2 models is the fact that they will allow you to store and save up to 54 of your favorite settings into panel memory buttons. In other words if you have gone through the trouble of picking out some favorite instrument sounds, favorite effects, transpose keys, drum rhythms, accompaniment settings, sound layers, splits, relative volume controls, etc and you don’t want to have to recreate those favorite settings of yours manually every time you power up the piano, then you can save these favorite settings of your into “user memories” in the piano and recall them quickly whenever you want or need to do that.
This is great for real-time performance and it saves a lot of time and frustration if you are playing the piano in a live performance and want to play one song after another and need to have different setting for each song. Or perhaps you’re playing the 500/120 at a school, studio, or just for yourself and you simply want to bring up some of your favorite sound settings without having to recreate them from scratch. This is a very useful “tool” to have and not all digital pianos offer this feature, especially giving you 54 storage memories which should satisfy just about anyone.
The bottom line is this…I recommend the Grand 500 and the Grand 120 if you can fit them into your space and if you have the budget for it. As I mentioned earlier, the Grand 500 is upgraded in appearance, cabinet and cabinet function, shape, and its sound performance through its symphonic speaker system. However, the smaller 2’8″ size Grand 120 is still the best playing, best sounding smaller digital piano that I know of in its price range.
Specialty cabinet colors – As far as cabinet colors go, although the polished ebony color is by far the most popular, Orla also offers their pianos in a limited edition polished white and polished red finish. Both of these colors are impressive in my opinion and will certainly make the piano stand out in your home, studio, church, or other venue assuming you have the right color mix style for these piano colors to fit in. If you do, then I believe you’ll be very impressed with them, especially the polished red. In my experience most people might shy away from such a bold color as polished “fire engine” red, but once you see it in person you may change your mind and it will definitely make a “statement” in the room you place it in.
The polished white is elegant and the control panel is also in white, so the entire front of the piano is perfectly matched. On the red one the control panel is black so it contrasts nicely with the red cabinet. I think this was a good decision because having the control panel also in red would have been “too much red” in my opinion. With the inside of the piano having the wood-tone soundboard, it really is an attractive combination of color.
Normally these kinds of specialty colors cost more money in some of the other brands (assuming they are available) but there is only a slight up-charge for the Orla Grand 500 and Grand 120 white or red color along with matching bench. So as you are doing your research for a good digital baby grand or for any new digital piano, please contact us first and we can help save you time and along with the additional discounts I mentioned earlier,along with free shipping, and no tax, and help get you the right piano for your musical needs.
*By the way, based on our personal experience, we strongly suggest that you stay away from those “no-name” generic digital piano off-brands that you will likely find at big box music stores and big box consumer products stores. We call those specific pianos “Piano Shaped Objects,” otherwise known as PSO’s. There are good reasons we say this, so if you want to know more, then please ask us.
If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than Amazon or internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.
The review is about a Samick pianos (South Corean firm) but the video is about Orla Grand 500 (Italian firm). Is there a mistake or what?
good question. Those pianos are one in the same. The Italian Orla name (designed in Italy) is used in Europe on the pianos because the Orla people designed the piano sound, instrument sounds, and interactive accompaniments that also are used for Samick SG500/120. Cabinets between the two brands are mostly the same but also may be slightly different.So the videos represent both the Orla and Samick.
Thanks for your reply.
That's a small shock for me. This explains why the best review of Orla4kids Fun 1 is in Corean (Samick is Corean if I remember fine)… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdf1LTLaHUs
For what I know, the keyboard of Grand 500 is done in Italy by Fatar – I don't know the rest.
I need a chamomile now. Best regards 🙂
I wonder who the actual manufacturer of these instruments is: Orla in Italy or Samick in Korea or both?