Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards THE RD-700NX Thread!

I haven't read the entire thread but was interested in this.
I have had two Rolands, an RD300s, (slipperykeys) and a RD700NX that I now play.
The keys of the 300s were lead weighted, like authentic acoustic piano keys,

Scroll down a few pics..
http://www.svend.net/roland-rd300s/roland-rd300s.html

The FP7 is described as "one-piece", no way does that imply the quality of the PHA III.

It could well be therefore, that the difference is far more than cosmetic.

"...The keys are constructed of a one-piece proprietary material ..."

Hmm.... RD700 NX wins it for me, despite being hideous, useless for putting music on, the stupid joy-stick, (show me a pianist wasting the left hand on a joy-stick and I believe you are showing me a person who is not a pianist!!)

Mine has other problems, there is a very unpleasant click on many tone-wheel organs and Acoustic Bass 3, to name but a few, when the key is released.

I could whine on at length about what I dislike about it, but I would still buy it again as it was the nearest thing to perfection other than a V-Piano which I simply can't afford.

As I play virtually only the piano voices, with a bit of string quartet for fun, it doesn't matter much, anyway.

That joy-stick..... was anything ever more inappropriately named?

I think the RD700NX and FP7F use the same keys.

I think the FP7 was the same, except with the glossier feel and without the third sensor.

Maybe someone else here can confirm that my memory is correct on these things.


The FP-7F is basically the "straight piano" version of the RD-700NX, the latter being designed as having the additional functions of more of a multi-purpose device. Except for the odd decision of also putting a larger quantity of different piano sounds in the 700 than the 7, which somewhat runs contrary to that product differentiation.


I don't know whether this is what they're aiming for (not having played these sounds on the 700), but in the interest of realism. emulations of tone-wheel organs often do exhibit a bit of key click upon key release.



Sounds like the FP-7F might have been closer to what you're looking for? Unless you are using piano voices that are absent on the 7F.



Seemed like the right name for it on my Atari 2600...

Right and wrong. Exactly the same action, different keys. RD has the key under-structure in a different plastic to simulate the appearance of wood along the sides of the white keys. FP has all white keys with what would appear to be a slightly less textured and slightly whiter (and a good deal more resilient it would seem) version of the ivory-feel surface.

If the FP's SN pianos didn't twang horribly at medium velocities and above it would pretty much be the perfect thing, given its price point. Unless you like vintage EPs (the FP's are dire).

Cheers,

Steve

The 7F doesn't have the wood-effect color on the sides of the keys. Apart from that, the action is essentially identical to that on the RD-700NX, as far as anyone knows. They are both described by Roland as PHAIII. Some people have reported a slightly different feel, but I suspect that is mainly down to the 7F having on-board speakers, and possibly slightly different processing.

The reason I chose a 7F rather than the NX was down to the relative dimensions. That extended left flank makes the RD a very unwieldy board. I used to have the RD-300SX, which was pretty much the same length, only narrower - and a lot lighter. That was manageable, although it could be problematic in smaller vehicles. But combine that length with the 700's weight and depth, and you have a very awkward package. And yes, I could count on the fingers of one (left!) hand the number of times I used that awful Roland joystick. However there are some additional sounds in the RD that are much better than the lame offerings in the 7F. The FP-7F should be primarily considered as an acoustic piano substitute - and nothing else, IMO.

Nice pics of the 300S restoration!

Totally agree. The form factor of it is totally wrong. The lack of symmetry bugs the heck out of me - and it's all for something that is completely useless to a pianist - the pitch-bend/mod stick. It has been a Roland thing for years now. But what were they thinking??

You can have the functionality just fine if you need it in the way Yamaha and Kawai do it - two wheels above the bass keys. Roland needs to sort that out for the next generation!

I've had my RD700NX keys replaced. I think on the surface they look a lot more like the FP-7F keys; more white and non-scratching.

However, they still have the "wooden" colour on the side.

I had thought mine were FP-7F keys, possibly slightly remodelled to fit the RD700NX, but apparently they must be a variation of the stock RD700NX keys then.



Steve, maybe I should have known already -- but are the FP-7F's EP's the same modeled ones as in the RD700NX, or some other version (SN or non-SN)?

As for the twang, the RD700NX obviously offers the Studio Grand as an alternative to those not liking the Concert Grand. Could have been interesting, as others have pointed out, to have had the Studio Grand based samples/SN-model instead in the FP-7F.


-- Per.

No, they are fixed-effect, non-SN EPs that pretty much suck, unless you like a kind of "soft-brassy" EP or something out of an 80s rompler.

Edit: AFAIK, most EP players want authentic Rhodes and Wurlitzer sounds. Yamaha used to try to foist FM EPs on us all the time, but they have now seen the light. Kawai now has a couple of great EPs. Roland seems to think that a watered-down version of the old SA synthesis EP, plus a few low-end samples will suffice for everything other than the RDs. The main EP in the FP-4 was actually substantially better than that in the 7F. On the plus side, the Wurlitzer samples are usable, if not great.


I would much rather have had the Studio Grand in place of ALL the non-SN sounds in the 7F. (Edit: the acoustic bass sound is actually quite good, and I'm finding it useful for gigs with LH bass, mainly played from the FP-4, which shares the same sound.)

On the HP 302 - sound engine identical to the HP305, and similar to all Roland HP pianos with SN sound generators - the best EP is stuck away with the general midi range of instruments, and not available in the EP bank at all. It is number 53 under 'other' (GM) and has three very typical layers of response from a Fender Rhodes (not, however, blended at all!). The EPs in the EP bank are indeed rather lack-lustre.

Question: might it be possible to upgrade or substantially change the software version inside these (Roland HP/ FP etc) instruments? And might such an update be able to include this extremely interesting Studio Grand, available in the RD700NX?

And if such a thing were possible, would that be with Roland's help and approval, or would you have to be, to some extent, naughty?

That is really too bad.

The RD700NX EP's are not particularly stellar, but I've come to find them usable with a few tweaks. For live playing, I've been surprised how well they actually have worked for me (but maybe my expectations were really low). Even those I found rather weak initially turns out to cut through pretty well when needed. But the adjustments required are not always easy to figure out; it is a bit of hit-and-miss/trial-and-error tweaking approach.

They don't sound particularly like the Nord ones -- and I think Nord actually has better effects and emulations. But they add variation to the palette, obviously, when used with a Nord.


-- Per.

What is the name of that sample? Just wondering if it is also elsewhere on other Rolands.



My guess is that each piano model is 1) a set of parameters (kind of "a program") that is part of the upgradeable flash, plus 2) a large set of samples that are probably in ROM or some more resilient part of the memory that cannot be upgraded.

So I would not have my hopes to high for this to happen, unfortunately.


-- Per.

Per asked:

What is the name of that sample? Just wondering if it is also elsewhere on other Rolands.

The sound I was referring to (patch 53 in the 'other' bank) is called simply 'E. Piano 1', which is not much help, is it? This is an interesting set of samples - although the jump from one velocity level to the next is pretty shocking.

However, there is a more practically usable patch (at number 55 on my Roland HP302) called 'Vintage EP' which is a good set of Rhodes samples - subtly different from 'Vintage EP' in the EP bank itself! Very curious...

From your description, it sounds like the former could be similar to 046 "E.Piano 3" in the RD700NX. It has 3 very abrupt levels, and some other weirdness (like the G below middle C, where the panning changes a bit depending on how hard you play it). But I agree, it isn't too bad and could be used in a pinch.

There is also another sample, 072 "E.Piano 1" IIRC, but it sounds more like a two layer sample only -- so I doubt that's the one.

There is no "Vintage EP", but 074 is called "EP Legend 1" -- which has bit more bell-character compared to the others. But obviously as the names are different, the order probably also is.


However, on the RD700NX, I think the SN EPianos all have more life and character than the samples, when compared without any additional effects. Despite experimenting with the sample based ones, I've never really used them for any live playing. But maybe the one you refer to above could actually work well in some settings -- would like to try that some day.

But I'd guess you'd rather grab your real Rhodes :-) I no longer have mine (an old Suitcase)...


-- Per.

Per,

It's a nice idea you imagine there - that I'd rather grab my real Rhodes. But a couple of years ago my son borrowed it for his band's rehearsal room. But a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then and I no longer have a car to bring it home again (funny how things never seem to move unless you can do it yourself!)

But in any case, my own Fender Rhodes, much though I love it, always sounded pretty flabby. I tried and tried to get it sounding lively and crisp, but never really managed.

As for the Roland EPs - well they are a bonus to the piano - the best ones are not too bad but could be much better done, and better organised in the system. But I'm not complaining as they are passable and, like the orchestral stuff - can be used with care.

Imperfect though it is, I really love the SN sound - would be nice to hear the Studio Grand, though.

Hi all!
I have recently bought a Rd-700nx and it is to arrice any day now I have been five times to te music shop primarily checking out the key action and feel that the 700nx excels the Yamaha CP5 (making me feel unsafe), Nord Piano (somehow keaboardy IMHO) and Kawai MP10 (smooth but wobbly). Further the SN piano of 700nx features a very dynamic and resolved middle section which I really liked; you can make it "sing" easily without creating a too brilliant of narrow tembre. I'm really looking forward to start practicing again.

But now to my question: Is there any chance to have an external (MIDI command) switch increase the used liveset number. I think it would be a great feature to have a footswitch do the job instead of lifting a hand from the keyboard.

Kind regards
mimesot

Hi all!
I have recently bought a Rd-700nx and it is to arrive any day now I have been five times to te music store primarily checking out the key action and I feel that the 700nx excels the Yamaha CP5 (making me feel unsafe), Nord Piano (somehow keaboardy IMHO) and Kawai MP10 (smooth & elegant but wobbly). Further the SN piano of 700nx features a very dynamic and resolved middle section which I really liked; you can make it "sing" easily without creating a too brilliant of narrow tembre. I'm really looking forward to start practicing again.

But now to my question: Is there any chance to have an external (MIDI command) switch for moving on to the next liveset? I think it would be a great feature to have a footswitch do the job instead of lifting a hand from the keyboarda aiming for the increase button.

Is there any other handy way of changing between livesets, like programming a key for such operations?

Kind regards
mimesot

You can use a pedal, but you have to set the pedals to system mode for it to work. This will override the pedal functions that are programmed into each Live Set, you can't have it both ways.

To do this: press MENU, open the first menu on the list. Set pedal mode to "system", then press Tone Edit to select live set up/down. It's at the end of the list.

Thank you very much!

That means I cannot switch just one of the three pedals to system mode, but only all at once, right?

Something else. I haven't tested that myselt as I am foremost a piano player but I'm curious: When you hold a chord with the sustain pedal and moce onto a new liveset, does that chord still sound with the old tone or will it transform to the tone of the new liveset? Further, is the sustained chord affeced by any following effects, pitch bends or whatsoever?

Awesome. I'm sure you're going to love the heck out of that board. It definitely has the best action of any keyboard I've tried. I think the nord has the most realistic pianos hands down, but the roland is probably second best. All in all the roland is a more flexible board too. Enjoy.

Yes, only the damper pedal is unaffected.

It will still sound, but will use the effect settings of the new Live Set. So it's not completely seamless. Pitch bend still works.

The virtual tone wheel organs (not the sampled organs) are special in that they don't sustain, but you can switch between them and any held notes will just switch over to the new sound. Which makes sense, I guess.

Hello all,

I have seen the possibilities that this keyboard can do when it comes to digital piano sounds.

I also like the roland upright digital pianos that have good supernatural piano sounds. I even find the Yamaha Portable Grand DGX-500 to have great piano sounds.

I am still deciding if I should get the RD-700NX. I am so used to playing a upright acoustic piano; and I want a keyboard that has the feel and sound of a real piano.

Thank you,
Pkeys