Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Roland FP-4 and FP-4F ?

Hello, Can anyone tell me the differance between a Roland FP-4 and FP-4F please? I have the opportunity to purchase an FP-4 for about $800.00 but I see on the Roland site they show an FP-4F, but not an FP-4.

Also does this sound like a fair price for this DP?

Any and all input much appreciated!

Cheers

Rocky

The Roland FP-4 is the older model. If the price quoted is for new, it is a good deal, IMO.

The FP-4 shares the same non-SN (SuperNATURAL) sound engine with the FP-7. The FP-4F has the newer SN engine, which avoids the looping of sustained notes, velocity-layer jumps and other artifacts which hamper realism. The SN models tend to allow for better expression due to an excellent action/sound connection. The FP-4F also has a newer and more sophisticated action than the FP-4, although it has been noted that it is perhaps more "sluggish" as well as heavier-weighted.

That said, the older model still has a good sound and is capable of being played expressively, despite the lighter action. However, it perhaps doesn't have the timbre range of the SN models. The FP-4 has a user-selectable/editable FX section that the newer "F" models lack, and can also remember more MIDI parameters (EDIT: see my post below in reply to anotherscott about MIDI functionality). In addition, its electric piano patches are arguably superior to the FP-4F. Its speakers are not the best, but then, from what I can gather, neither are the FP-4F's.

I would say that the decision to purchase the FP-4 over the FP-4F would depend to a large extent on the kind of music you play. I wouldn't suggest purchasing it for classical repertoire, but it copes pretty well towards the jazz/pop/rock end of the spectrum. To give you an example, I am rehearsing a jazz standards set on the FP-7F but will be gigging with the FP-4 due to its lighter weight.

Whatever you decide, I think that the Rolands (older and newer) are quality instruments that will serve you well.

Hi voxpops I'm curious why the fp4 wouldn't be
good For Classical rep? Thanks

There are slab/stage pianos with much better actions than the FP-4's: Kawai MP6/MP10, Roland FP-7F/RD-700NX, for example. The FP-4's action is, IMO, too light and lacking definition (for want of a better word) for serious classical work - particularly if transferring regularly between an acoustic and a DP. That is NOT to say that you can't play classical pieces successfully on the FP-4, just that you probably won't be able to get quite the range of expression and subtlety that is required.

Can you elaborate on this? Maybe I missed something, but I didn't see any difference between the two in this respect, from the manuals. In both cases, it looks like a registration can include a transmit channel, MSB, LSB, and Program Change.

Thanks for pointing this out, anotherscott. You're right about the registration memory - I was going on my own memory, which was obviously faulty! I'll edit my previous post. I do know there's a difference, however, which affects functionality. Again from memory (so please forgive me if I've got this wrong), there's a setting you can turn off on the FP-4 which you can't on the "F" models. It may be that you can turn off the Program Change function globally, but retain it (as a working function) in the registrations. I remember being able to use a module with my FP-4 and it would only change program when I selected a particular registration - the rest of the time it would stay where I left it. I think when I tried that function with the 7F, I couldn't make it work in the same way.

I'm not set up for this at the moment, so it's not easy to test, but I swear there's something that's different!