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Greetings everyone! I bought a FP-50. I am a kind of one-man-band (Sing, play bass, harmonies, arrangements and solos, by myself). This piano has very good sounds and rhythms that are sufficient for almost all situations. However disappointed me with something. I can't use the split and the dual function at the same time, and I need that so much! I don't know why Roland engineers didn't think of it. It is a pity! To solve some sound issues, change the EQ and ambience factory settings. Buy a small subwoffer, greatly improves the sound. And yes, it´s a real friendly and portable stage piano.

What really stinks in general about keyboards in a live band setting: they easily get drowned out by electric guitars and drums that go full-out an entire set. I just read a quote from a player the other day (forgot the name) who sadly mentioned even the pro's tend to go constant full volume and there are no dynamics anymore. Bad news, especially for keys.[/quote]
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PERENNIAL PROBLEM; YOU GOTTA FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE.

SCHLEP YOUR OWN P.A. TWO OR THREE POWERED SPKRS ON STANDS WILL GET YOU COMPLAINTS OF "TOO MUCH KEYS" FROM OTHER BAND MEMBERS WHICH WILL GIVE YOU MUCH PAYBACK-TYPE PLEASURE.

OT: I find that onboard speakers are almost useless in a live band setting. I use a Traynor K4 mostly when playing with band. It's a great amp, yet it still all depends on environment of show i.e. room size, outdoors etc. Even at that, I can get it to sound very good when we set up just before show, but then often need to adjust again once the room is filled with people. Keep in mind, playing live in band has been a new experience for me this year. Still so much to learn.

Darn. Take two. I was writing a post here and it some how got erased. And I was almost done, too. Oh well.

So last month and the month before I was writing here how I'm piano shopping. I had it narrowed down, I thought, to Roland's fp80 and kawai's es7 but based solely on reviews, since none of the stores near me carry either. Then I found out roland corporate is near me so I went there and played the fp80. And an acoustic piano store got in the es7. Although its keybed seems marginally nicer, it's only got a tenth of the sounds. But I was wowed by neither. I like more Roland's 700 nx although I'd have to get either an amp or monitors since its got no on board speakers. So I thought I'd try kawai's mp6, too. But again, no stores near me carry it. Kawai corporate is nearby but they're not set up for people to come in. I've talked to Alan Palmer there who though happy to have me come by doesnt have decent monitors nor does he really have the time for me.

I'm now wondering how necessary monitors are with an fp80, for instance. I mean I k ow the sound will be improved. By based on he size of my condo, I wonder if I'll feel like too much of a gear head with monitors and stands. Maybe a good amp would be a lot less clutter and give me more bang for my buck in case I ever go gigging. But I don't know how the sound compares? S that's my first question.

Second question is inre namm. Just a few mons away. Maybe there'll be some new product there that ill love. Never been to namm. I'm assuming that I'll get to try out the different instruments there. But I wonder if some of what they'll be showing is concept gear that never comes to market. And also if the stuff intended for market maybe doesn't see the light of day until mons after namm has come and gone?

NAMM is for industry attendees only (or those with a connection to someone who can get tickets).

There are a few esoteric boards that never seem to get much beyond prototype, but they are usually from smaller manufacturers. Most of what is shown by Roland, Yamaha, Kawai and Casio becomes available within a few months of presentation at NAMM.

It is expected that there will be new offerings from Roland and Kawai by the time NAMM 2014 is staged. Yamaha and Casio have already released some new boards, but it's possible there may be others.

Anyone here get me a ticket? :-)

FWIW --

Look at the power of the onboard amps, and the size of the loudspeakers, on the FP-80.

Then look at the power of the amp in a decent powered PA box (an EV ZX-A1, for example), or a pair of 8" monitor loudspeakers (e.g., a Rokit 8) -- and at _their_ loudspeakers.

Roughly speaking, that will give you an idea of "how the sound compares".

. Charles

PS -- this is, of course, an over-simplification. But one of the things that's sacrificed in building a DP to a given size, weight, and price, is the quality of its onboard amps and speakers. The Yamaha Avant Grand may be an exception -- it trades-off size (it's big), cost (it's expensive), and weight (it's heavy) for real amps, and real speakers, and a real acoustic-piano keyboard mechanism. Or so I understand, never having played one.

Thanks Charles. I'm also a cohen. And coincidentally, when I was about 12, after getting my school picture taken, I took off my tie, messed up my hair, got back in line and invented my twin-that I named Charles-and got into the yearbook twice.

Okay, so studio monitors make the sound a lot better. I figured that. I'm kind of wondering how much space the monitors take up with their stands. I mean they should probably be placed behind the piano, which means I've got to move it away from the wall. And then, if I just get a decent amp, I dunno, maybe 150 watts say, the speakers that come with it are not proportionally bigger than the watt to speaker size in a monitor. So is the sound in an amp a decent trade off for monitors?

I could buy just the piano then get monitors later. But I'm probably going to buy from Kraft music over here in the states. And they offer deals when you bundles stuff together...plus free shipping.

Imagine the following situation:

You are playing a gig at a club with the FP-80 and singing at the same time. It's pretty loud and tight and the stage is small. So you send the output from the piano and a microphone to the desk of the venue. To monitor the sound you get a mix back and hook it up to the input of the piano. Sure, thinking why not use the internal speakers of the FP-80 as monitors. So what happens???? The input signal is mixed with the internal sound on the DP causing a loop. Meaning: anything that goes into the input is mixed with the output of the piano. So in this case the piano is doubled. OK, so you you take the piano out of the monitoring signal from the desk. What do you get now? Now you still hear the pianos internal sound and the microphone through the internal speakers. BUT.... on the output side you are sending both signals (the pianos internal sound and the inputed microphone) to the desk. So basically there is no way of using the internal speakers as monitors on stage because anything you send to the piano will be output at the same time. There is no possibility to break this chain within the piano itself.

I hope this wasn't too confusing. I just wanted to demonstrate a critical situation that can occur when using the FP-80 in a live situation.
The problem could only be solved by an internal switch in the FP-80 not to send the inputs to the outputs. Which just plainly doesn't exist.

As I mentioned in another thread I started yesterday (before noticing this one), I visited a shop and found myself trying to decide between the FP-50 (the FP-80 was not on the floor), the Yamaha CP-40, and the Privia.

I need a lot more hands-on time before deciding what I prefer. Initially, I really liked the FP-50 action and AP sounds. But I was concerned about two things, and am interested in opinions.

The FP-50 has only a few pre-set AP sounds, whereas the CP-40 had many. Does this difference matter? Or, to put it differently, can I effectively get the same range of AP sounds by fiddling with other settings (EQ, reverb, etc), even if the FP-50 does not have as many preset sounds?

Ultimately, I suspect that I will use just 1-2 AP sounds, so I think the most relevant question is how the "best" AP sound on each keyboard compares. But I'm not sure.

My second concern, though, is the EP sounds on the FP-50. I was not impressed with those sounds (particularly the Rhodes), but again, don't know yet whether I would be satisfied if I had time to experiment with the individual settings.

Can anyone you offer an opinion about whether one can tweak the EP sounds on the FP-50 to make them roughly comparable to the EP sounds on the CP-40 (or other keyboards in the same price range)? And can you tell me whether the AP settings can be changed to offer roughly similar choices? I'm also interested in knowing whether the same answers apply to the FP-80.

Thanks.

Ooooooooo...... (Drum Roll).

There is an update for the FP-80! 1.10!

Go to FP-80 support.

Here is what has changed....

"Update history
[ Ver.1.10 ]
Additional Functions
Available for the following applications.
Piano Partner

Added two functions of "Master Expression" and "Rotary Sw" into "Changing the Function of the Pedal ( Center Pedal Function/Left Pedal Function )"

Well, not a real biggy, but hey, the rotary effect is now switchable with the pedals.

I'm going to install it and report soon....

Cheerio

Well, it's great that Roland is supporting their instruments with software updates, however I'm a little surprised that switching the rotary speed via a pedal wasn't possible from the very beginning.

I have installed the update 1.10.
No problem,easy install

Yeah, it works fine.
It is so much fun playing the organ with the pedal rotary effect. It's funny how such a small thing can bring so much joy.

"Well, not a real biggy, but hey, the rotary effect is now switchable with the pedals."

How would you switch it on or off before? I had an ole Yam psr which did this via the dsp button . . .the one I have now doesn`t do it at all at all!

One had to push the organ button to turn on/off the rotary effect.
I have no idea how Yamaha does it.

I just got the FP-50. After being disappointed in some very strange sounds, I recalled something about lowering the string resonance, and changing it from 5 to 2 improved things considerably. Done experimenting tonight, but will probably try some more variations in the morning. If you have some more things to do to tune this keyboard up, please let me know to save experimenting time and time rereading all 5 pages of this thread. Thanks, Cynthia

Overall are you happy with your purchase?

Still exploring the DP, and will reserve judgment until I have adjusted what can be adjusted. But it is clear after playing the demos that the internal amps can very easily over power those internal speakers and cause distortion. But my needs are modest, so I don't need to crank up the volume. In fact, the volume from those speakers can be made ear splitting, but what is the point if it distorts.

Hubby will likely set up an old hi-fi system and we will try our big hi-fi speakers just so he can sit in the sweet spot and listen to the built in songs.

I thought I would like the 'comp piano', but I got such weird effects, I gave up, but that was before the string resonance change.

From the RD800 thread:



Jay, which sounds on the FP-50 are the SuperNatural sounds, Concert, Bright and Comp Piano? And is there some reason that the comp piano is so much louder than the other pianos?

The three SuperNatural Acoustic Pianos are Concert, Ballade, and Bright.

Comp is compressed. There will be little dynamic range and it is designed to have a lot of punch

Jay