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In previous post I had asked about the accompaniment which is not available in the MP-6. Here is my situation; new to piano. Actually new to music. i love jazz and blues. i wish to learn to play. I am very serious about this. I do want different sounds like B3 organ etc.

I originally picked the MP-6 over the Yamaha DGX-640 as I read the MP-6 was better. i was also concerned about the small internal speakers in the DGX. Worried they would sound tinny. Also MP-6 looked much nicer.

So now i find the MP-6 does not allow for accompaniment. I'm thinking there is after market software for this. Again i am new but plan on sticking with it.

Of course I also find i need to spend say $300 on a decent set of monitors for the MP-6.

Sooo, thoughts on the FP-7F as opposed to the MP-6. I believe the FP-7F has accompaniment? Are the internal speakers in the FP-7F any good. My concern is that they will have poor bass response. i am not looking to blow the paint off the walls but do desire good sound both volume and quality. Seems like for the same price as MP-6 i can get the Roland with it's internal speakers .

BTW: Still a bit unclear as to this whole accompianment thing. Can anybody clear this up for a total newbie? I thought i just needed a drum rhythm but seems like the accompianment adds other instruments? Does it help is it a good feature? If i get this feature will it aid my learning or hinder it?

Am i going way overboard with features? My thought is I can grow into the piano. No need to upgrade down the road. this is why I have ruled out the cheaper $100 keyboards .

Frankly, i have no clue which way to go!!!

Piano is an excellent solo instrument, you don't need accompaniment or any drums to learn it. It can help to practice with a metronom here and there, but even that isn't a requirement (metronoms are included with most digital pianos, otherwise can be bought cheap seperately).

You could always just play along a CD or whatever if you really need accompaniment. I'm pretty sure that will be more fun anyway. Google "piano play along tracks" and you should find plenty of material.

They're both fantastic pianos, you can't go wrong with one or the other. The MP6 is more of a "stage piano/MIDI controller". It has tons of options as far as setups go, you have 4 zones that may control internal/external sounds, etc. But as a beginner you surely don't "need" this.

The accompaniment on the Roland is good, and it's nice once you get to that point. That said, the MP6 has a playback mechanism which basically does the exact same minus showing you the chords on the LCD screen. You can create your own playalongs with Band in a box, Chordpulse, Songsmith or whatever in about 5 min then jam along with it, so it should not be a deal breaker at all. Actually, I use it alot and I find the playback module of the MP6 is well done, simple, accessible, efficient.

First and foremost, go test both with headphones. Monitors are usually less nice than phones if you don't spend a ton on them, and for the enthusiast I'm not really sure that monitors are that much better than a good second hand HiFi stereo setup anyway, but I don't have much experience in that. The fact is, since I barely play with/for other people for the time being, I find it much better with headphones.

The most important parameter is how do you like the piano, does it feel good. Since you're a beginner, ask someone to play some stuff for you. Try simple pieces. You'll have to play with it for a long time so you better find the sound pretty and the feel too.

If you don't plan on lugging it around I do think you should look into the cabinet versions too

Personally, I like the accompaniment features—I have a PX330. But since the onboard speakers aren't great, I ended up buying monitors and a sub anyway and the accompaniments sound somewhat better. I also bought a Roland BK-7m that has a huge inventory of various styles. That was pretty expensive in my eyes, though. There's the option of using backing tracks from sites like karaoke.com. And I would assume there's a lot of software out there that can add accompaniments — Band in A Box comes to mind — and I'm sure others here can recommend more. I tend to go the hardware route so I'm not very knowledgeable about softwares.

Appreciate the replies. Does anybody have some input re: Roland internal speakers. I live in the middle of nowhere and cannot demo unless i wish to drive 1 hour. My concern is will the speakers in the FP-7F give decent sound quality wise??

Thanks

The speakers in most (all?) DPs is the weakest link. I think you will outgrow the small built-in speakers after some time. However, if you connect the piano to a hifi system, like many do, you can make it sound very good later on.

the drum accompaniment is not that critical. Get an iphone app for $10 and you'll get drum + bass.
Or get Band in a box (for a lot more than $10) and get lots of accompaniment.

Playing with boxed drums and bass sucks anyway. Your best bet is a metronome.

I think the onboard speakers will be fine for a good while. But it's really important to try it out. When you go to the store, bring your own headphones. If you don't have decent headphones, you'll want to invest in a good pair. There are a few highly recommended ones, good perf for the money kind of thing at about $100.
Are you able to try the MP6? They are usually impossible to test drive so a lot of people end up buying something else. The other thing is that the monitors that stores have are usually a crying shame. Makes high end piano sound horrible. If the piano you're testing doesn't have onboard speakers, you'll have to bug the guys to plug in a pair of good quality monitors...

I have to say I'm not a big fan of the Roland keytops. They have this porous texture that gets dirty after a while. See it at the store, they have that on all the high end models. Some expert can probably correct me on that, but I don't care for it.

Overall, having the MP6, I find it "easy" to play. I just think the action is really fast.

>> I find the playback module of the MP6 is well done, simple, accessible, efficient.
I'm probably missing something here because I find it painfully slow.

I´m also in between these two stage pianos and still not sure which one to take. I could not test the MP6 so far, but the fp7f, and I have to say, that the speaker sound is ok. Better then different systems with more >20 watt. It´s balanced and If you don´t turn it too loud, it sound more than good.

The FP-7F inbuilt speakers are disappointing. It's quite pleasant with good headphones, but the mids and high sounds are dulled and overwhelmed by the muddy boomy bass using the inbuilt speakers. IMHO.

I don't think you need to be too worried about the internal speakers on the FP-7F. Given the limited space in the case, the 7F's speakers do quite well. Yes, as spanishbuddha points out, they can be a little bass-heavy, but they're significantly better than similar offerings from Casio and some Yamahas. They're also much better than the ones in my FP-4. Of course, you can eventually supplement them with high quality monitor speakers - but that's a whole new minefield, as you'll discover from a quick search on this site.

With regard to the original question, I think you can't go too far wrong with either the Roland or the Kawai. A lot of experienced musicians have opted for either one. Having owned both, I can say that there are things about each that are pluses and minuses, but that for learning they are both excellent. As for the extras, study the manuals and pick the one that offers you more of what you think you'll use.

What you need is a yamaha MOX8

Wouldn't that go WAY overboard with features?

Not really it does everything you want in one board and offers unmatched computer connectivity and as a songwriting and expressive tool its everything you would need.

I think the MOX8 is a great board, but probably not what I would recommend here... because for the limited needs of the OP (learning piano, playing other sounds like organ, playing with accompaniment), it's not that it wouldn't do a nice job, I just think it would be more complicated than necessary. The FP-7F and MP6 are much simpler.

Back to the OP, I'd lean toward the Roland over the Kawai, again, for simplicity, in that the accompaniment scenario is simpler, and it has the speakers. Even if the speakers aren't as good as you might ultimately like, you can always hook up better ones (or use headphones) just as you can on the Kawai, the difference being you don't *have* to do it on day one. And even if you have external stuff, sometimes it's nice, for a quick little something, to just be able to hit one power button and start playing. Plus, it can be nice to feel the speaker vibrations in the unit. Also, if you ever might like to bring it somewhere else to play, you won't necessarily have to bring a bunch of other gear to be able to get sound out of it. The Kawai has lots of nice features of its own, but I don't see where it offers anything over the Roland for your particular use, whereas the Roland does offer those advantages over the Kawai.

I would also think about that sentence, "I originally picked the MP-6 over the Yamaha DGX-640 as I read the MP-6 was better" -- there are tons of boards better than the DGX-640 (and for that matter, the MP6), though they're not necessarily better in all respects, or more suited for your particular purpose.

Yes, I agree that the FP-7F is a much simpler way to go. The MOX8 has a very steep learning curve if your not familiar with workstations or any of the other MOTIF boards.
The internal speakers are great for living room volume. If you crank them the bass gets muddy fast. But that's what external monitors are for. For a couple hundred dollars you can get a pair of powered monitors that will make a CASIO come to life. The problem with software is messing with a laptop while trying to play. It takes all the spontaneity out things. The groove box that mate a hardware controller to software address this problem for the producer/DJ crowd. For keys you can marry a controller to a DAW but the controllers available usually suck for playing piano. The FP-7m has styles similar to and arranger board or module. It follows you, with Band In a Box you need to enter chords and song information before you play. I too have started using a BK-7m. I like just selecting a style and tempo and just playing. It follows me and if I decide to change something, its usually button press away. The fact that I can record or play to backing tracks with it is icing on the cake.