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This post describes a malfunction of the Roland V-Piano pedal unit. I bought this piano from Musicstore.de in 2010. In late 2012, the sustain pedal stopped working properly. When pressing the pedal all the way through, the sustain effect did not work at all. When pressing the pedal only half way through, it worked fine.

I sent the pedal unit to Musicstore.de and they replaced the reflective opto switch ("Reflexkoppler" in German). It worked fine for a few weeks, but recently the problem occured again, just once. Perhaps it is a loose contact, damaged from pressing the pedal too hard.

Anyways, at least this can be repaired easily. I will see how it goes. If you have any questions about the V-Piano, feel free to ask me.

@M. Apex,

Was wanting to know if you thought that the "Vintage II" presets sound anything like a real Bosendorfer grand?

According to Scott Tibbs (of Roland) here is what he says:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ewq6NgYpxA

At 1:22 he plays a piece "on the Bosendorfer."

I say... not exactly so!

Hello pv88, I am an amateur without much experience on various grand pianos, so frankly I have no idea. You could evaluate the sample recordings out there. The V-Piano is very involving and a joy to play. The sound representation is detailed and realistic. Most people cannot not distinguish its sound from a real grand. I would still prefer to own a Steinway B, but the V-Piano is the next best thing. A modernist sound machine, the result of 10 years of R&D. Perhaps I am uncritical, but I really admire it.

Don't worry - you aren't alone . I've had my V-Piano for almost three years, and every time I've gone to try out a new DP in a showroom, I've returned with renewed appreciation for my V-Piano. But the most important thing is that I don't feel like I'm missing out through not having a real piano to practise on at home because I can play on my V like I would on a real piano, and develop my interpretation - all the nuances, phrasing, tonal variation, dynamics, articulation etc - on my V-Piano, and transfer it onto any acoustic piano I then play, which cannot be said for other DPs which don't respond to the touch like real pianos.

As for that so-called Bösendorfer sound that Mr Tibbs claims for the Vintage 2 settings, it's Blüthner actually. (The Roland brochures and websites never mention any piano brands.) For some reason, he thinks that all European pianos are mellower than a Steinway. In fact, Bösendorfer and Fazioli, the best known of the European brands, are both brighter in tone than Steinway. Only Blüthner is consistently mellower. Other brands like Steingraeber and Sauter are on a par with Steinway, depending on their voicing.

Bösendorfer brighter than Steinway? First I heard of this. This lady begs to differ as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhYQtFlbjwM

The Bösendorfer sound is totally unique and recognizable, with its dark hues in the lower register (helped by sympathetic resonance from the extra low notes in the 290) and bell-like mids and treble which are brighter and 'ringing' compared to the Steinway sound but without the latter's consistent brilliance when pushed. Lisitsa's Royal Albert Hall concert recorded last year shows what I mean very well. As does this: http://youtu.be/NtHlzVWUp5s also played on Imperial 290.

As for Blüthner, there is a plumminess to its tone, almost like a mid-range boost but not the bell-like sound of Bosendorfer, and not the latter's ringing quality. Try this: http://youtu.be/sGA-UVQGpMI (Blüthner Model 1)

The differences between the Bösendorfer and Blüthner are very obvious on my CDs (the same recordings as on the YouTube clips), but I don't know how good the sound quality is on YouTube, as I can only hear them through the computer speakers very dimly.