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A couple days ago my first digital piano Roland HP508 has been delivered. I would like to share my first impressions and thoughts about this instrument since it’s a pretty new model and I’m sure there are some people here who would like to find out more about it.
First of all, it’s a very well-built instrument. It looks very solid and beautiful. For me it has exactly the right size and it definitely brought some new atmosphere to my living/recording room. Although the sound and the touch are the more important aspects of a DP, to be honest it doesn’t hurt if it also looks good…
Action: The biggest reason for me to choose this DP was the key action. After playing with it a couple of days more intensely I can not emphasize enough this aspect. It’s something that works different for every person but I’m extremely sattisfied with the action and I can play for hours with this instrument. The touch and the feel is very natural and also the response of it is amazing. I didn’t check the specifications but the dynamic range is very good and it’s blended nicely with the key action.

Sounds: The supernatural grand piano (and I refer to the setup1: grand piano here, anyway the others are EQ versions of it) sounds really good. I haven’t found yet a digital piano that sounds 100% natural on all 88 keys. The HP508 is not an exception. If we would divide the piano in two sections (approx. the first 35 keys from the left and the rest) we could definitely say that the right hand part sounds more natural and is better sampled (and by that I mean absolutely amazing) compared to the left part which can sound a little boxy occasionally (depending on what you’re playing, which chord, etc.) like on almost all the DPs I’ve played until now. Still the lowest frequencies (let’s say the first 15 keys or so from the left) sound pretty good. You can really feel a huge string resonance. So short, it has a very good piano sound which is very playable.
I’ve also checked the other sounds. The electric pianos are especially good. Not all of them are useful but the “Vintage 60s” is worth checking. Especially if you put some higher ambiance setting (e.g. 7/10) it sounds amazing with the loudspeakers.
Also there was some previous talk abuot the drum kits here on the forum. I produce music and use a lot of plugins and virtual instruments including drums, and I can say that the HP508 has at least 2 or 3 very useful and professional sounding drum kits. I’ve decided to use them on my recordings as soon as I’ve heard them.

Loudspeakers: The instrument has several loudspeakers placed on different parts of it, to recreate more naturally the sound of a real acoustic, meaning you get for example more low frequencies from in front of your legs and more high frequencies from in front of your upper body. My room still needs some more absorbtion so let me review this aspect once again next month as soon as I modified my room. But my first impression is that the Kawai is slightly better when it comes to the loudspeakers (especially the CA95 and the CS10 but probably not the CS7 and definitely not the CA65)
The HP 508 tends to sound with a little too much reverberation on loudspeakers even though you disable the “ambiance” effect which is basically a reverb effect.

Effects / Headphone 3D:
The ambiance function (the reverb) is pretty good, although I wish I had more settings on that. For example, the decay time, High-Pass Filter, etc. or at least some other presets and not just one reverb. It takes a little time to find the right setting (which was different for headphones and loudspeakers in my case) but as soon as you have the right setting you can forget these settings and enjoy the sound.
The 3D effect for headphones sounds absolutely useless for me. Unless you want your piano to sound like you’re in a Turkish hamam or something. I just turned it off immediately and I’m happy to have done so.

Interface and buttons: It’s nice that the buttons are place horizontally. I have to say the way the buttons function is not very intuitive. There were some points where I thought, the engineer was drunk when he implemented this kind of sequences. But just pay attention to the screen which gives you the options and the corresponding buttons and you won’t have any problems.

Summary: I’m glad I bought the HP508 in the end. My other option was Kawai CS7. I liked the CA95 loudspeakers very much but first of all it was a couple hundred euros more expensive than the HP508. The HP508 is also newer technology. And also I liked the key action more than the Kawais. The CS7 was, considering its price, definitely the second alternative. Actually I was almost sure I would buy it until I checked out the HP508 and fell in love with the action and with the natural sound of the grand piano, especially in the higher octaves.

Roland could still improve the loudspeakers so that they sound a little more direct although with a good absorbed room they sound pretty good (as in the “Roland cabine” in the store Hieber Lindenberg in Munich). But especially for recording (and also headphone listening) the sound is great. I can connect with this instrument and it makes me play better.

I am not surprised about the drums generally being well accepted: I besides having a digital piano now, in the past have had the need for some digital drums (my neighboors made me needing it for practicing). The Roland V-Drums (using the SuperNatural technology like the Roland Digital Pianos do it) are the unbeaten best on the market! No competitor comes even close to them. Believe me, I have some really nice acoustic drums. But I have no real issue with my V-Drums for practicing neither.

I have the LX-15e but tried the 508 extensively. While the speakers on the 508 don't project quite as well as the LX, I think part of the issue you might be experiencing is that the Roland multichannel system projects sound out into the room more than the Kawai. Unlike most DPs, the consequence of that is that the sound isn't optimized for the player's position, especially if one tends to sit close to the keyboard. One of the reasons I bought the LX is because it projects sound more naturally. I frequently work with a singer and we don't always have the ability to use my Shigeru. She really appreciates the way the LX sounds like a piano in the room. The LX does benefit from a slightly different setup than the 508, including the lid that can be opened.

Also, regarding the reverberation, I think you are also experiencing some of the additional reflections created by a system that projects more into the room. I turn the reverb off because I find that that the various resonances, create enough ambience in the sound.

Regarding the other sounds... I have a Jupiter 80 and I question whether most of the other sounds on the 508/LX are SN. Sounds like the bass and strings don't include any of the SN behavior found on the Jupiter sounds.

The 3D headphone effect wore on me too. It sounds good at loud volumes, but even then, I think I plain stereo sounds better. Too much reverb processing in the 3D sound.

Derya, did you at some time audition the CS10?

My wife and I purchased a 508 a few days ago ourselves. My wife is the pianist in the family, I don't play at all, and while she would have preferred an acoustic their size and weight ruled them out. Where we live we don't have a large choice of retail outlets to audition brands but she loved the 508 the first time she tried it. Sure the LX sounded a bit better but it cost a lot more too. More expensive models should sound better, just as with acoustic pianos. Choice is good. The piano is what it is and we chose it for what it offered. She enjoys it immensely and that's all that matters.

Yes I played that one too. It was unfortunately out of my budget. It's also a great piano. I think generally the soundboards on Kawais are pretty good. (ca95,cs10)

I think you're right. I believe I can still improve the overall sound a lot once I get some new absorbtion foams.