: Need keyboard that sustains like an acoustic piano I have always hated playing even nice keyboards, because I want to play them as a piano. The problem is always the same... the sustain is not at all like it is on an acoustic

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If by "sustain" you mean resonance (sympathetic ringing of strings, as Ulf Akerstedt says), the closest you can get is a digital piano whose notes are recorded samples of the notes on a high-quality acoustic piano. The acoustic piano's resonance is recorded with the sampled notes. It's not exactly the same but it has a lot more richness than a synthesized sound.

If by "sustain" you mean "sustain pedal," that's pretty simple to determine. Check the input jacks of the instrument to see if there is one marked "Sustain." Usually it's a 1/4" jack. That's where a sustain pedal plugs in. The pedal might come with the instrument or you might have to buy it separately. They usually cost around US .

If by "sustain" you mean "decay time" of the sound (the time it takes the sound to get softer and softer and eventually stop), many keyboards and digital pianos allow you to modify the decay time, either as an option on its own or by changing a reverb setting. More reverb = longer decay time.

I don't know if we are allowed to recommend brands here, but any instrument's documentation should say whether notes are synthesized or sampled, what the sample source is, decay and reverb options, and whether sustain pedal is an option. Check out those details as you shop.

To save money: avoid instruments with more computer capacity than you need (e.g. built-in sequencers or other DJ software), and look for instruments that are just the keyboard part and a simple folding stand, not the full piano-like cabinet structure.

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Frequently, digital pianos will not treat the depression of a footswitch as a fully depressed damper pedal. Instead, it's treated as a half-pedal, to help the pianist avoid creating a muddy mess for want of better articulation. This is actually billed as a feature sometimes, although I cannot recall where I have seen it listed as such.

My Yamaha digital piano behaves in this way. I find that the effect is not particularly limiting, but I am concerned over the potential to develop bad pedalling habits... when using an acoustic piano, I frequently overuse the pedal now.

I suspect that using a pedal with half or continuous pedalling support will result in the keyboard behaving as expected, but I do not have any such pedals to check with.