Review: 21323 Grand Piano
Posted by Alice,Donny Chen's playable piano project on LEGO Ideas passed review in May 2019 and now, 15 months later, it's finally available. As a pianist myself with a degree in music, I was certainly excited when 21323 Grand Piano was revealed and I've been looking forward to building it ever since.
It's the largest Ideas set released to date, comprising 3662-pieces and priced at $350/£320. It contains a Powered Up hub, motor and colour sensor, and links to the Powered Up smartphone app to make it 'playable'.
It sounds impressive, doesn't it. Let's see if that's the case...
Box and contents
The box is very big and very heavy, far more so than I anticipated. Here it is with a minifigure for scale.
Half the parts are inside an internal box which helps prevent them from slipping and sliding around inside
Much of the weight of the box is attributable to the 562-page instruction manual which, in addition to the instructions, contains information about Donny and his Ideas project, and LEGO designers Woon Tze Chee and Steen Sig Andersen, who produced the initial concept model from Donny's submission.
There's no sticker sheet, which is good news!
Construction
Parts are in numbered bags, 1 to 21, so the number of pieces you're working with at any one time is manageable.
The first step is to build the mechanism required for the Powered Up components to operate and sense the keys. This is an important step to get right, as I discovered later on when I noticed the rubber piece on the left wasn't lined up correctly.
The next couple of steps involve attaching the damper wires and making the soundboard with the frame. The soundboard assembly was a separate build which is attached once complete. We can start to see some detail here on the frame, with some tuning pins and bridges which the 'wires' would attach to.
The back end of the piano is now encased, so we can now move on to building the base upon which the keys will sit. This was also constructed as a separate assembly that clips on once complete.
The edges are then smoothed out with curved pieces, before attaching the 'strings', which are warm gold flex-tubes of varying lengths.
To complete the case there's a door that can be opened to access the Powered Up hub. It's an effective way to hide the hub and have easy access but I can't help but feel it ruins the sleekness of the case as obviously a real piano is smooth all around.
Next we turn the whole thing upside down to give it some legs and build the pedals.
Once turned upright, it's definitely starting to look like a piano! The sustain pedal (on the right) is the only one that moves. It pushes up the grey axles to which the dampers will be attached
The next step is to build the keys. There are 15 white and 10 black keys to build, so it gets a little repetitive! It was a little tedious building the same thing over and over, but to me it was the most exciting bit, seeing the mechanism come together.
Once complete, there are 2 full octaves of keys.
The keys closely resemble that of a real piano. The mechanism perhaps isn't quite as sophisticated but it gives you a general idea of how a piano works. Pressing a key pushes the white 'felt' hammer up which hits the string above it.
The keyboard slides in to place before building the frame around the side and front. Both keyboard and frame are affixed to the base by two axles from underneath which allows to be removed easily.
Next, the fall board to cover the keys is built, which has an attractive printed, in gold, 'LEGO' tile in the centre.
I think this is such a lovely detail.
The fall board opens and closes to cover the keys. Next, a music stand and dampers are added. The music stand adjusts like the real thing so you can have it at different angles.
There are 17 dampers to build so that was also a bit repetitive. They attach to the grey axles and will move up and down with the pedal.
We're nearing the end of the build now but the piano wouldn't be complete without its lid so that's the next step! You build this separately then attach it to the side of the case with Technic pins, which are part of a hinge that will allow it to be opened and closed.
The lid can be held open with a lid prop attached earlier with the music stand. The height can be adjusted by inserting the end into different holes of a Technic beam, and the front hinges so you can just open the front to access music stand.
The piano is now complete, but we need somewhere to sit in order to play it...
The final part of assembly, then, is to build the stool, which not only looks very comfortable, but also has a neat mechanism inside it to raise and lower it to suit.
The completed model
The completed model looks fantastic. With no sense of scale you could almost be tricked into thinking it was real.
It's very unusual for LEGO sets to have a completely studless exterior, but that's the case here. There's not a single one in sight.
With no studs and shiny black bricks, the thing is a 'fingerprint magnet'! I had to wipe the whole thing over with a lint-free lens cloth to remove them before photographing it.
The proportions are not quite right, though, It's far deeper than it should be and its width:length ratio is closer to that of a baby grand than a grand piano.
Here's a closer look inside at the details. You can notice here how that door ruins the sleek edge of the case a bit, but we need to access the Powered Up Hub somehow I suppose!
A nice addition is this large printed tile with the music for Donny Chen's Playday which you can hear on the app. I even took it to my real piano and played it :)
Playing it using the app
The music stand is big enough to hold my iPhone XS.
Once you've fired up the Powered Up app and selected the piano from the menu, it takes you to this page to choose 'play' or 'listen'
In listen mode, you can select one of these songs to listen to as the piano moves the keys up & down. The pattern at which is does so is the same for every piece.
Here it is 'playing' Donny Chen's Playday:
In play mode there are fewer choices. After you've selected a tune, its notes are played as you press the keys. There's no need to press the correct one but you do need to press them at the right tempo!
Here it is in 'play' mode. The piano's mechanism is a bit noisy when pressing the keys which detracts from the enjoyment of the piece somewhat.
One thing that annoyed me, though, is that the sheet music displayed in the app is definitely not the real music for these pieces, even for Donny Chen's Playday. The app moves the notes along to the tune, but they are not the right ones, so I'm not sure what the point of it is, really...
How it works
With the keyboard removed the mechanism behind is exposed to reveal how it works.
In listen mode, the axle with the red, white and blue 2l half-beams is rotated clockwise by the motor. As they move round, they push the end of the hinged key assemblies upwards which causes the keys themselves to move down as if pressed.
In play mode, pressing a key causes the long black Technic axle to be pushed upwards which moves a red piece in front of the light sensor, which you can just see on the far left, behind the yellow Technic connector. When the sensor sees red, a note is played on the app.
Finally, the 'rotate gear anticlockwise' button on the app screen above does just that: the axle with the half-beams is turned until the orange 2l beam hits the 5l grey one on the left. In this position, all keys are flat, or at least as flat as you can get them.
The foot-pedal operated dampers move up and down realistically but have no effect on operation in either mode.
Verdict
I have to say that overall I am impressed with 21323 Grand Piano. Who'd thought that one day we'd have a 'working' piano made out of LEGO!?
The exterior looks fantastic, with curves in all the right places, and the legs look elegant. It's not quite proportionally correct but that doesn't detract from the aesthetic too much.
The whole process of building it was enjoyable, seeing how it all came together. It's a great way to learn how a piano works: the key, hammer, damper and foot pedal mechanisms are very similar to those in a real instrument.
Using it in conjunction with the app is fun, for five minutes at least, and I appreciate that the set is more than just a model of a piano, which would be pretty pointless. When not being 'played', it makes a stunning display piece that would look particularly good on top of a real grand piano.
Your opinion of it will very much depend on your expectations. If you were expecting to be able to play it like a real piano (and LEGO does call it the 'first-ever playable LEGO Grand Piano' in the press release, after all) then you will be sorely disappointed.
However, if you have any knowledge of LEGO and the current state of the art, you'd know that it would be impossible to build a fully-functioning piano at this scale, so what has been achieved is actually pretty impressive.
And therein perhaps lies the problem with it: LEGO will be hoping to attract new customers who won't have that knowledge, so those buying it may well have higher expectations. They might ultimately be disappointed when they find that they can't play Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 once they've built it...
£320/$350 is a lot of money for a LEGO set, even if it does contain over 3600 pieces and expensive electronic parts. But I suppose when compared to the likes of the Millennium Falcon which, at £650, just gathers dust once its built, at least the piano does something!
I'm not sure if I, or other musicians, could justify spending £320 on a LEGO set when they could buy a real and useful keyboard for not much more, but it would definitely be on my Christmas list!
It's currently available at LEGO.com in Europe, but out of stock in the USA and Canada.
Thanks to LEGO for providing this set for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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78 comments on this article
Wonderful review, thank you for the insight on the actual playing aspect of it. I have this in back order and await it’s delivery. I just hope the delivery person isn’t angry it is so heavy!
Fantastic review Alice - Many thanks!
Great review. Is it just me, or should there be more dampers to the right?
Nice review of a truly dreadful LEGO set...x-D
That copy that LEGO wrote ("first-ever playable LEGO Grand Piano") was pretty misleading, I was trying to look for videos to confirm that it was actually playable in the way that you'd THINK, but then I saw it was on backorder and grabbed it before it sold out completely. It's still sealed in the box at my house, and now I'm starting to have buyer's remorse.
Thanks for the review!!
This was a great review!
I hope the update the app to make it "fully playable". For example, by programming your own sequence of notes and chords into the app, and then when it's done you can play your custom music in play mode. It won't exactly be like playing it for real, but I think it'll be as close as we can get.
@brickengineeringdude said:
"Great review. Is it just me, or should there be more dampers to the right?"
Maybe one or two more for aesthetic reasons (with only a two octave keyboard it’s hard to decide what’s proper), but on a real piano the highest octave or so of strings doesn’t have dampers.
I prefer the Falcon but this is beautiful.
If this is a bit repetitive, I suggest that the king of repetition, the London Bus, is not for you!
This isn’t for me, but being made out of Lego it’s an impressive work of art. I could easily see this as a great display piece for many musicians and music lovers. Even with its limited functionality it’s very impressive.
They really need to make it clearer what precisely this does to justify the "fully playable" tag. The fact that, when you "play" music, it doesn't matter which key you press to produce the next note, does seem to move this away from what I'd interpret as a "fully playable" piano.
It's a cool set and i'll get it. The change that i would have liked to see, is that when you let the motor drive it so the keys move, they move in a more random pattern. This could have been done by dividing the key "actuators" into several sections and then driving them using several different gear ratios.
On the Playday tile there's a misprint in measure 6. Beat 3 should be 16th notes but they're written as eighths.
Gosh, that clacking noise made while "playing" a piece by hand is atrocious! Sounds like you're hitting the keys on a pre-1960 typewriter even as the music plays.
I thought about getting this set for my sister, who is a pianist, but now I feel like it would just insult her since it cannot actually be played in any fine manner. So much for trying to do my brotherly duty and introduce her to LEGO!
Here is how you make it “fully playable”. You turn the motor on, so that the keys move, then you put your phone on the stand, then you get garage band and play whatever song you want on a similarly sized keyboard. Problem solved.
Considering the comparison to set 75192 Millennium Falcon a bit further...…
But, like the Millennium Falcon, can it do the Kessel Run in 12 Parsecs?
I suppose the panel on the side of the piano could be considered a smuggling hatch at a pinch.
Guess the Piano wins ultimately as you can play the Star Wars theme tune on it..... albeit clunkily.
Looks great for sure but I fail to see the point in making it "self playable", a rather silly gimmick which just adds to the price and makes the model too deep. Real pianos don't play by themselves, why should this? Now the "play yourself" feature is pretty much pointless as well as any key will do, but at least the motor and extra depth isn't actually needed for that, right?
They should’ve scrapped they playability concept and just made a really nice model of a grand piano (which still could’ve had “working” keys and hammers). That would’ve allowed them to get the proportions right, smooth out the design, and knock $100 off the price. LEGO fans and piano fans would’ve both been much happier with that.
Every attempt to integrate LEGO with phones has failed imo (hidden side, powered up replacing power functions on trains, ruining this otherwise great model...)
I think this would have been a lot better without the electronics and app. The proportions could have been more realistic (for a baby grand). The model already does look fantastic and with the keys/hammers moving in a mostly realistic way that is all that should be expected for a Lego model. The way that the motor/sensor and app were implemented is just more of a cheesy gimmick than anything anyone would consider functional, and is ultimately unnecessary for the enjoyment of this model. The sound doesn't even come from the piano, it comes from you phone. Like I said, cheesy. My phone is capable of playing piano music without being connected through an app to a Lego set! Not to mention that the price could have been a lot nicer without it.
While I must confess to a bit of disappointment with this set proportions, and the noise level when playing in "play" mode, it's still a unique set, the like of which has never been made and probably never will be made again, by LEGO. Will definitely get one, and maybe a spare for the future.
Concept was better than the execution.
@MrClassic said:
"Real pianos don't play by themselves, why should this? Now the "play yourself" feature is pretty much pointless as well as any key will do, but at least the motor and extra depth isn't actually needed for that, right?"
Player pianos do.
However I agree with your other point. While this is a great display model, it seems it would be better without the extra cost and bulk of the power functions since both of its functions leave a lot to be desired
Thank you for the review and explaining how the play and playback modes work and what to expect as this was never clear in the official releases a month ago. For those expecting far more hopefully one day someone clever will eventually tinker with the colour and distance sensor so that the app knows which actual key has being pressed and then simulate the correct sound from your mobile. At this point I will run to the shops if not already sold out. For correct 'pianola' playback, you would probably need a roll with pins to move the keys as the roll moved (similar to the NES screen) but that is something for another Lego ideas as you would probably want to start from an upright piano to allow enough vertical space for the roll.
Now that I see it in action (pun intended!) I think I agree with others. The motor and app interaction are interesting but since you still can't actually "play" it, leave those out, knock the price tag down and nail the proportions down better. I realize that Lego simply isn't capable of being playable at this scale, but the solution is too much of a compromise.
That aside, the design, the level of realism, and the functioning mechanics are all fantastic.
I must admit that, while I think certain details and elements of this look amazing, (speaking from someone with pretty much no musical background) the inaccurate proportions do throw me off, when you compare this to an image of a real grand piano. It is LEGO after all though, and is honestly quite amazing that something so large and unique was able to be released. However, I'm kind of upset how LEGO's official description and marketing for this set is really, really close (in my opinion) to deceitful advertising. I think they certainly might have had a larger number of sales if they had not made it sound like it would actually make the corresponding sound to each key you press. (I definitely thought that would be the case). I also think the very hefty price tag will, unfortunately, alienate a lot of potential buyers from the start, notwithstanding that this is already quite a niche product (at least in my opinion). Happy for folks that enjoy it, but I'm certainly pretty disappointed.
I'm probably lacking adequate knowledge of both technology and LEGO functionality, but could it really not have been created to be actually playable? There is a fully working, realistic mechanism, with both the white and black keys setting off a string of actions when pressed. Why can't these keys be recognised individually? Couldn't they have come up with a more versatile colour sensor or barcode sensor? Isn't that how LEGO Mario works? Like I said, I'm probably overlooking something as I'm not really technologically adapt.
Nevertheless, beautiful model! Can't wait for a (playable) LEGO Les Paul ;-)
@Elcascador, you'd need some way of detecting every individual key, either with a switch underneath like electronic keyboards, or some trickery involving a distance sensor. The current ones would not be up to the task of differentiating accurately between two adjacent keys, though, not to mention if two keys were pressed.
It could be done, at a larger scale, but it would be prohibitively expensive with solely LEGO parts.
@yuffie said:
"Another example of Lego's sad obsession with having no studs on show to make models look as little like Lego as possible."
The review specifically mentions how unusual the studless look is. Plenty of Afols attempt studless building but Lego almost never does it. What give you the impression that Lego is obsessed with it?
I can't wait to get it... was so bummed that I forgot to go online on Day 1 and order it, because it's been sold out since then, and no backorders since, even for VIP members.
Very much on a fence with purchasing this set, especially being a musician and pianist.
The model appearance wise generally looks great and seems to capture the feel of a real piano nicely, amongst the similarities of the mechanism on the real thing.
The app/functionality though has much room for improvement, given the clunky noises when playing and lack of synchronisation and realism when playing.
At £320, it’s certainly a lot more than I originally expected, especially when a similar amount of money can get you the Roller Coaster or Hogwarts Castle. Both of which offer better value for money.
Nintendo had a playable piano made out of cardboard with Labo. It utilizes an IR sensor. Doesn't Lego Mind storms already have an IR sensor? I wonder if a similar technique could be used here.
I still haven't figure out if the original ideas entry was actually playable? Did it make sounds when you pressed the keys on that version? To me that would clarify whether the official set is a step forward or backward...
The sensor for every key movement could be the cell phone camera. But it would be no longer considered made only from Lego parts, and the devices used differ a lot in size, camera position, etc.
As a musician (though not a pianist), the music on the app not being accurate would bother me too. Considering all the attention that goes into the detail of making these sets, you'd think someone would have caught that. At least it's as "easy" as updating the app, assuming anyone tries that now.
How should one judge or comment to a set which is not fully right in proportions i.e. the body is much too deep than it should be, and at the same time it is not fully playable? I don't think the money is a concern here, rather the concept itself is a concern. If none of the element is done right, why bother.
I'd prefer a fully accurate model given the size and piece count and is okay when it is not playable.
Great review Alice (from a music teacher)!
Here is how you could make it playable:
My understanding of the color sensor is that it can recognize six colors. You have four color sensors each responsible for six keys (which are color coded). You can code the app to recognize individual notes based on which signal came from which color sensor and bing, bang, boom a playable piano app!
Now we just have to engineer how to make the app play the right notes on the piano...
Really appreciate this being reviewed by a musician. And a balanced review at that. I think lego have done a great job at this scale and price to make as accurate a model as possible. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty impressive imho.
I'm definitely not the target audience for this, but learning that the keys don't even correlate to the right notes is a shocker!
I'd also expect the £300+ model piano to make noise itself, not depend on you linking your phone to it. This would definitely have a wow factor if you could just press a key and hear a noise, but it's a lot less impressive when you have to go 'hold on, let me get out my phone to play piano sounds while you look at this model'.
Thank you for the great review.
It has confirmed my suspicion that this set is not for me. The proportions look even worse than what I thought, and the functionality, while impressive, is absolutely not what LEGO touted in their press release. I mean I know that a fully functional piano made from LEGO pieces was not realistic to begin with, but TLG made it seem differently. Shame on them. Then again, money well saved.
Envisioning 75112 General Grievous sitting at the bench with all 4 arms playing...
Also envisioning Schroeder pecking out "Jingle Bells".
I think the original Idea that was submitted described it as 'Playable' so LEGO haven't done in that respect anything that the creator didn't do themselves already. The playable aspect was about being able to press the keys, and if LEGO hadn't added any noise making ability it would still have been as playable as the original submission.
Unfortunately the ability to make noise has increased the price substantially, without adding the functionality people apparently want, so it seems like LEGO have turned what should have been an impressive and well liked set into an object of derision. I do find that a bit sad because I think it is a great model of a piano in Lego (I was really glad when it was chosen to be made into a set) and I love that it replicates some of the actual mechanical action of a real piano. I do hope to get this set eventually but the price makes it a less easy purchase.
My take away: It plays, it just doesn't Play Well.
@Agent00Z's idea of an app update to allow the user to input other music might be the one thing that could come close to redeeming this design.
@CCC , I think it's down to expectations: no-one would expect a LEGO model of a spaceship to fly, but it's reasonable to expect a LEGO model of a piano to play music by some means given there is precedence set by other miniature pianos.
Someone unfamiliar with it, on first seeing one on display, might ask 'does it play?', but would not ask 'does it fly?' when seeing the MF.
'Yes, sort of' is a better answer than 'no' I guess...
We might be having a similar discussion when the typewriter is released and it turns out it doesn't actually put ink to paper.
@yuffie said:
"Another example of Lego's sad obsession with having no studs on show to make models look as little like Lego as possible."
Studless and studdy looks is just a style of building FYI. Seems like you haven't been keeping up with things but, LEGO hasn't made anything that shows they are supposedly "obsessed" with studless looks.
@Darth_Dee Unfortunately it's not that simple haha. A color sensor won't be able to do that well unless you just want to press one key at a time and be missing the 7th and half steps/black keys. But yah, how LEGO marketed the playability aspect is quite misleading.
"Fully playable" is just... false, untrue, a lie.
I'm just spitballing here, but would it be possible to use the rotary encoder in a mindstorms or similar motor in order to detect how far an axle is turned and to link this up to a mechanism that turns the axle different amounts based on which key is pressed? This mechanism would, of course, be monophonic but seems like it would be possible using a very similar using similar electronics and a similar amount of space to what is included in this set.
@Bricklunch said:
"Considering the comparison to set 75192 Millennium Falcon a bit further...…
But, like the Millennium Falcon, can it do the Kessel Run in 12 Parsecs?
I suppose the panel on the side of the piano could be considered a smuggling hatch at a pinch.
Guess the Piano wins ultimately as you can play the Star Wars theme tune on it..... albeit clunkily.
"
You can't even play the Star Wars theme tune on it.
If Lego marketing hadn't created the wrong expectations, I think this set would have been perfect. I think the self-playing function is brilliant and it's executed well (once again, marketing language aside).
I'm surprised by the comments about the shape and scale. Yes, the proportions aren't exactly like a real piano, but nobody's commenting on its limited range of ``two octaves. I think a correctly proportioned piano with only 2 octaves would look even weirder than this obviously stylized approach Lego took. ```
I'm really curious how a non-Lego fan would interpret this set - i.e., someone who didn't read the press release and the deceptive language about playability.
I think I am in the group that would be more tempted to purchase at a slightly lower price point without the electronics. While its kind of cool for the 5 min of fun it's mostly going to sit on the shelf as a display model. I was quite excited about this and have purchased most Ideas sets of recent years however sadly think this will be my first pass.
Will say the sleek look with the polished black tiles is a stunner.
It would be possible to make it fully playable, by marking each key with a different color, and then read that color as a note. But it would only work for one key at a time. And you would need 25 different colors.
^ And 25 different sensors, or a single one capable of reading them all, and that's the main problem.
@Huw said:
"^ And 25 different sensors, or a single one capable of reading them all, and that's the main problem."
David Gilday at this website, http://mindcuber.com/mindcub3r/mindcub3r.html, created a custom block for the ev3 colour sensor to allow it to detect any colour in RGB colour space, so it wouldn't be outside the realms of possibility to something similar with powered up.
This just is not a playable piano like they had said, very disappointed
@Huw said:
" @CCC , I think it's down to expectations: no-one would expect a LEGO model of a spaceship to fly, but it's reasonable to expect a LEGO model of a piano to play music by some means given there is precedence set by other miniature pianos.
Someone unfamiliar with it, on first seeing one on display, might ask 'does it play?', but would not ask 'does it fly?' when seeing the MF.
'Yes, sort of' is a better answer than 'no' I guess...
We might be having a similar discussion when the typewriter is released and it turns out it doesn't actually put ink to paper."
It doesnt come down to expectations! Lego said it was playable and it is not. if lego would have said about the MF that it could fly and it could not, we would all be equally angry. It is simply false advertising...stop defending that!
And the right answer to the question "does it play" is simply "no" The keys simply move in a repetitive way..it is not even that spectacular...
I know it's a novelty and expensive.... but I still want it :)
@Tuun said:
" @Huw said:
" @CCC , I think it's down to expectations: no-one would expect a LEGO model of a spaceship to fly, but it's reasonable to expect a LEGO model of a piano to play music by some means given there is precedence set by other miniature pianos.
Someone unfamiliar with it, on first seeing one on display, might ask 'does it play?', but would not ask 'does it fly?' when seeing the MF.
'Yes, sort of' is a better answer than 'no' I guess...
We might be having a similar discussion when the typewriter is released and it turns out it doesn't actually put ink to paper."
It doesnt come down to expectations! Lego said it was playable and it is not. if lego would have said about the MF that it could fly and it could not, we would all be equally angry. It is simply false advertising...stop defending that!
And the right answer to the question "does it play" is simply "no" The keys simply move in a repetitive way..it is not even that spectacular..."
Agreed- there has to be a change in the way Lego market their products: a lot of people are going to have paid a considerable amount of money for this and are going to be very disappointed. A well- regarded brand is devaluing itself by using the term "playable" instead of perhaps "play-along" or "playing" (although both of those are also a bit of a stretch).
We'll have to excuse Huw for holding back a bit- I'm not sure what the links are between Lego and Brickset, but too much criticism would certainly mean they got fewer review sets.
Great review with videos and everyrthing. But, as impressive as this set is, I’m really not that interested in non-toy Lego sets.
I understand everyone’s disappointment, I too was disappointed when I learnt it wasn’t actually playable. But I knew this before building it so I didn’t expect it to. I thought I wasn’t going to like it but having built it and seeing what it CAN do, I am impressed and I do really like it :)
One of the few times that, after seeing a review on here - that a set that I was very much interested in - sways me to no longer be. I just can't justify shelling out $350 +tax for this one. Yes, it looks fantastic, but it ends there. Like others have noted - if it was available with the option to purchase the motor hookup separately, etc and was more in the $200 range, then I would keep it on my want list. Gonna skip this one and look forward to more affordable items that my whole family can enjoy.
@Pongo said:
"We'll have to excuse Huw for holding back a bit- I'm not sure what the links are between Lego and Brickset, but too much criticism would certainly mean they got fewer review sets."
1. I didn't write the review
2. LEGO does not expect us to write positive reviews of the sets it sends
3. LEGO does not decide whether to send us sets based on our opinions in previous reviews
If you want to read a scathing review that's even elicited feedback from the Ideas design manager, take a look at https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-ideas-21323-grand-piano-review/
By your reckoning they won't be getting any sets to review ever again ;)
I cannot wait to get my hands on this piece of art, I absolutely love this set.
@tyresoflaherty said:
"That copy that LEGO wrote ("first-ever playable LEGO Grand Piano") was pretty misleading, I was trying to look for videos to confirm that it was actually playable in the way that you'd THINK, but then I saw it was on backorder and grabbed it before it sold out completely. It's still sealed in the box at my house, and now I'm starting to have buyer's remorse.
Thanks for the review!!"
Resell it on eBay!
@Huw said:
[If you want to read a scathing review...]
I wouldn’t call that a scathing review. I read it. Though I would say that the author was clearly very disappointed and frustrated and unable to separate function and form.
I don’t even know how I feel about the set...and don’t know if I ever can truly be a fair judge since I’m not sure I’ll own one to build and experience it for myself. Especially if the set I saw yesterday turns out to be legit...my budget for the year is already blown, oy.
Good review here. I appreciated the balance.
Looking at this set and other sets, where is the powered up speaker. I would have thought that it wouldn't be hard to make and would make these types of sets so much more interactive. I must be old school, but I would like the sound to come out of the piano, or out of the train for the Disney train. Having the sound come from the app is just disappointing.
My biggest gripe with TLG of today is that they are unable or unwilling to grasp the concept and appeal of modularity.
They could have made and sold this set at a reasonable price without any of the expensive and ultimately disappointing sound functions. For those who would like the gimmick they could have sold an add-on set with all the functions hardware.
But just like with Technic sets, where they don't offer this modular concept like they did years ago, or with trains, where one has to turn to alternative manufacturers to see how it's done (and how LEGO themselves used to do it back in the day), or with any other theme nowadays, LEGO just doesn't want to learn. Just look at the arrogant and ignorant comment by that LEGO Ideas design team member in the review Huw linked to. "If you want to learn to play the piano, buy a real piano". Sure, thanks for the great advice, but that's not the point. You said this thing was playable. You upped the expectations unnecessarily. That's what I would love to say to the face of these people.
Whenever I read comments by members of the LEGO marketing team nowadays I wonder how much further removed from their customers they can get. And whether they don’t realize what their output elicits in their potential customers.
I am so put-off by that stuff that I have not bought several sets (the piano included) that I had originally planned on getting. And to be honest I don't feel any loss. I am far happier knowing I can spend that money on sets from the aforementioned alternatives that really deserve it. For the amount that piano costs I can get an entire train station layout including tons of accessory buildings, all of which forms a far more impressive (and functional) display piece than a piano with less functionality than my high-quality Yamaha keyboard (which incidentally cost less than this set).
Sadly, I don’t have the money for this one.
"with curves in all the right places, and the legs look elegant." - Brickset, 2020
As an AFOL with a decent sized collection and city in his basement who worked at an LBR store for 4 years, as well as entering my 14th year as a music teacher teaching elementary band, I cannot recommend this set less. It's somehow so much less than the sum of its parts. The marketing is beyond disingenuous to the point of deceptive, and I'd be pretty aggravated if someone told me "You need to read the fine print" after advertising it as a playable instrument. Coming from someone who is in the midst of building a coffee table for his UCS Falcon complete with the Death Star Docking Bay, this thing is monstrously oversized.
@Huw regarding your comment about the UCS Falcon not flying....there was one night I was working at Lego and a customer asked about the 76042 Helicarrier and asked "does it actually fly??" to which I told him it also turned invisible just like the real one which was how they were able to shoot the movie since average bystanders in NYC weren't able to see it because of the retro-reflective panels and that the Lego model had those too. That was the end of that conversation.
@Arnoldos said:
"It would be possible to make it fully playable, by marking each key with a different color, and then read that color as a note. But it would only work for one key at a time. And you would need 25 different colors."
The engineer in me can't help but keep coming up with different ways to make it possible, like combining distance and colour sensors, gear ratios, using a camera, barcodes, etc.
I saw it in the Lego store - it's really pretty, I'll give it that.
But I agree with many others that the 'playing' feature is disappointing. I'd have been much happier with a model of the same size but that somehow managed to get a much bigger, non-functional keyboard in - and flattened the profile of the model accordingly.
There is little excuse for the music, it's all well out of copyright.
Instead of this you could get a Nintendo Switch and a Labo toy-con pack for the same price, so you could build yourself a cardboard piano that actually worked (which is surprisingly fun)... and you'd still have a Switch.
@CCC said:
"
I don't get this bit of the review. That is, a model of a piano being pointless but in the next sentence that it is a stunning display piece. Most of the best Lego sets are stunning display pieces, that is why many people but them. Most people don't expect the MF to fly or the Death Star to shoot a working laser beam. But they look good as display pieces. That is the point of most sets."
Thank you for this!!! It has bothered me since the first reveal; this expectation that a plastic toy actually produce musical notes. Where did this degree of asinine reasoning even come from? I don't mean to be cruel but I can't imagine how a thinking person thought it was possible. Do they think so highly of Lego they believe they can do the impossible? As I asked in another section- are they upset the NES system doesn't actually play games?
I stood in line for an hour at my local Lego store Aug 1st and got the last piano (of seven) on Aug 1st. I consider it the crown jewel in my extensive collection and I have some older, highly coveted sets. This piece is simply stunning. People look at it and it literally blows their minds. When connected to the app and the keys begin to move their jaws go slack. It is an expensive toy- a Lego brick built model of an actual instrument- NOT an instrument replacement. The "WOW!" factor of this set is truly second to none.
Wow—that’s so bad. Who would want crunching CLICKS overshadowing some classical music?
I managed to get a set on its initial release date and spent the day building this up.
I was fortunate to visit Donny Chen in Melbourne and see his original prototype submission in real life.
Thanks, @Alice for a great review. I come from a family where playing and teaching piano features prominently.
I think this is a great set and it fully deserved being accepted by the LEGO Ideas team.
What a great review!
Such a shame that this impressive, beautiful set is overshadowed by Playablegate™.
My view on this is:
- Marketing team inserts the "Playable" term, which, in a semantic discussion, has some truth, so they stick with it.
- People not knowledgeable about the subject think "nice I can play music with the keys" in their first thinking step.
- The second thinking step would be "wait, that cannot be possible. What is meant with this 'playable' thing?"
- But people generally don't get to the second thinking step and rather get upset instead.
- And that's alright because that's how people work.
- And of all people, marketing people should know that.
So in my view it is 100% a marketing screw-up.
I genuinely hope that it doesn't take away any credit from Donny Chen, Woon Tze Chee and Steen Sig Andersen, who did a phenomal job in creating this product. I am deeply impressed by their skills. Hats off.
@Paski said:
"So in my view it is 100% a marketing screw-up."
Except the Ideas submission is titled "Playable Lego Piano"
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/a4e4413f-8488-4551-ac9d-9e7f8c35154e
The marketing absolutely should have caught that this has certain connotations, and steered away from it in the name.
Whilst marketing messed that up, there is blame to be shared around the Lego Ideas product development for why we've ended up here. The original submission called for about 1,000 fewer parts, and frankly I think it looks better using strings than Lego rods.
So the entire product development has taken what was a quirky and interesting project and made it unnecessarily and prohibitively expensive.
@tyresoflaherty said:
"That copy that LEGO wrote ("first-ever playable LEGO Grand Piano") was pretty misleading, I was trying to look for videos to confirm that it was actually playable in the way that you'd THINK, but then I saw it was on backorder and grabbed it before it sold out completely. It's still sealed in the box at my house, and now I'm starting to have buyer's remorse.
Thanks for the review!!"
Wrap it up so the colours on the box won't fade, store it in a dry place, forget about it for five years or so and then try to sell it at an auction site like Catawiki. You will probably get more money for it than you payed.
Great review, and very helpful. I love the concept and had been on the fence about buying it. After reading the review, I think I'm happy to admire it from afar. $350 is just a little too much for what it would do for me, mostly because there are so many other great sets to buy!
Reading through the comments, I'm surprised by how much the marketing materials tainted perception. It's understandable, of course, since "fully playable" is a stretch at best. But one thing really stood out to me: it seems that whatever the consensus of Brickset users, the set has still sold really well (or, at least, it's sold out). I've seen many indignant comments over the years, wondering how TLG dare insult us yet again (stickers!?! re-releases!?!), and yet those sets still sell. Maybe Brickset users aren't fully representative of the global LEGO-buying market?
@MrClassic said:
"Looks great for sure but I fail to see the point in making it "self playable", a rather silly gimmick which just adds to the price and makes the model too deep. Real pianos don't play by themselves, why should this? Now the "play yourself" feature is pretty much pointless as well as any key will do, but at least the motor and extra depth isn't actually needed for that, right?"
I get this whole concept and was pretty excited when I first saw a press release for this many months ago...maybe even back in late '19. I was at my local Lego store on release day and managed to snag one of the eight (or so) they had. Mine is still sealed in the box but I hope to build it someday soon. The build and finished piece does impress me.
Maybe someday someone will create a MOC for an upright Player Piano - a piano that is actually supposed to play by itself through the use of a rotating drum / scrolling paper or some other form of analog programming.