I'm currently in the market for a digital piano, and have been eyeing up the RD 800. I play mostly classical stuff, and I generally play at home. Having said that, I'd like the option to be able to gig with it. While I do care about preset sounds, build quality, portability etc, by far my biggest concern is the action. Last time I tried a large variety of digital pianos was a few years ago, and the Roland RD 700 series were the only ones that had an action that felt remotely playable to me (I owned an SX previously, but the action on the NX absolutely amazed me). This was a few years ago, and I'm assuming that the hardware has come along a fair bit since then. My question is, given that I'm interested in something that I can use to play classical stuff (along with perhaps some composition/MIDI fun), do you guys reckon the RD-800 is a good choice? If you're not gigging constantly, does it still represent a solid investment over something much cheaper like the FP-30? It'd be frustrating to cheap out on something and then have to replace it eventually if it wasn't good enough, but at the same time I'd prefer not to spend more than I have to.

What do you think?

I think you should try to test one out. I love the action of my RD-800 and find it very authentic. There's a recent post by forum regular Ando who tried out several digital pianos and didn't like the action or sounds of the RD800 at all. These kinds of preferences are such personal things that the only way for you to know for sure is to test one out.

With that being said...If you liked the RD700 series you'll likely really like the RD-800. It's pretty significant improvement. The action is very high resolution and connects superbly to the sound engine. The supernatural sounds don't have the kind of looping artifacts that many digital pianos have. The sound engine gives you incredible control to shape and contour the sounds to your liking (even to the individual note level).

To answer your specific questions. Assuming you like the action and the tones you can get out of it, then it's definitely suitable for classical repertoire. I've not used it as a midi controller, but it has extensive midi control capabilities. It's an excellent all around board. It's also significantly lighter than the RD-700 which makes it more comfortable for toting around to gigs.

One *Really* annoying thing about the RD800 is that it lacks a sheet music rest attachment like many other boards have. If you mainly play classical music you may want to buy a standing music rest to prop behind the RD800 and hold your scores.

I would also suggest that you consider some other options in its price range. The kawai MP7 is very popular around here. It has a similar feature set and is a bit cheaper than the Roland. Another option is the Yamaha CP4 which definitely has its fans.

Good luck with your search!

I'd say you get what you pay for.
While they both have SuperNatural piano engine, the one in RD-800 has more features and allows more parameters to be edited.
So the piano sounds are not exactly equivalent.
Also the keyboards are different.

If you play only at home, you should also look into console models (of any brands). They provide a complete solution (stand, pedals, speakers, sheet music rest) in a nice package.

Hi there, fizikisto,

As I noticed you own 2 of the best SP's, NS2 and RD-800...

Could you please describe them a little bit (action-wise), in my new topic here:

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...action_feel_and_NOISE_i.html#Post2507478

Thanks!

At the price, the FP30 is an excellent bet although it may be lacking in some connections for gigging like lineouts.

And if you want something better, youll lose very little when you sell it on. . .

Hi, i agree with peterws, but i could consider the new Roland FP30 only if the key action is less bouncy and more silent than the RD800 key action. Cheers.

It is a different action. Put it in front of ten different pianists, and you'll probably get 10 different opinions. Fer, do you, or will you, have access to try these for yourself at any point in the future?

By the way, Out of curiosity, I searched for you on Facebook. I think you might be the only Fer de Armas on that social network.

Jay

Spot on Jay. This is SO true about any decent action with any brand.

Hi Jay, i dont think so about being the unique in Facebook, jejeje, cause world is very big!... thanks for your feedback and respect FP30, i really believe that Roland has a winner under $1500 price range, it easily would be consider my next DP purchase for practice and gigs, i hope it has a heavier action than my MP7 studio master controller workhouse. Have a nice day...!

Daughter is a first study classical pianist, who also does a lot of gigging. On stage, early and late night practices happen on RD-800 and she loves the action and feel.

Roland RD800 has the most pleasant and quiet action I've ever come across in a portable DP. The actual noise of the keys moving and hitting the bottom sounds sort of natural and, how wierd this may sound, actually compliments the digital piano sound in a good way. I can play with much less volume than on my old RD300nx and not being annoyed by keys being noisy and klonky.

Went hands-on with the RD 800 and a few others at a local music shop earlier today. Predictably, it feels excellent and I'm sure I'd be very happy with it. I made the killer mistake, however, of trying out a piano well above my budget; the Nord Stage 2 EX 88. It sounds absolutely magnificent, and while I know some people tend to dislike the action, I thought it was perfect. Nonetheless, way too expensive. The trip also confirmed that the action in significantly cheaper stage pianos, Roland or otherwise, simply feels to dissimilar to an actual piano. I think I'll pick up the RD 800 shortly!

Laredo_5,
Yes, the Nords are indeed amazing. Though I think when you spend some time with the piano designer feature on your new RD800 you will be very pleasantly surprised at what sounds you can get out of it. I think you'll be quite pleased with the purchase. Good luck with your new board! I hope you enjoy it maximally.

P.S. I think the triple pedal accessory that Roland puts out (model RPU-3) is quite nice. The pedals are continuous and assignable. I got mine bundled for cheap. Might be worth asking about if you're interested in such a thing.

Hi Laredo_5, are you tried Kawai MP7/ES7 and ES8?... Regards!.

I had disregarded the idea of the MP7/11 out of hand, due to the weight. I haven't tried the ES7/8, though, would you suggest I give them a go before committing to the Roland?

Hi Laredo_5, the Kawai MP11 is rather heavy, however the MP7 weighs 21 Kgs, which is a tad less than the Roland RD800 which is 21.7 Kgs.

RD800 dimensions are: L 1400 W 367 H 138 weight: 21.7 Kg
Kawai MP7 dimesions are: L 1452 W 339 H 171 weight: 21.0 Kg ES7/ES8 will be similar.

RD800 is 128 voice polyphony and records to .wav only, whereas MP7 is 256 voice polyphony and can record to either MP3 or .wav .

I reckon it is well worth you trying out the Kawais. The new ES8 has some extra new piano samples and RHIII action, whereas the older ES7 has the same piano samples as the MP7, and both have EHII action, which is still very nice. MP7 has no speakers, but a lot more sounds than ES7/ES8. I prefer to play through my own choice of speakers, thus I am happy with the overall package and features of the MP7. The Kawai's will all be substantially cheaper than a RD800.

Just Alan, indeed, the MP7 does have some advantages over the RD800 on paper, as you note.

The RD800 also has some advantages compared to the MP7:

The MP7 only has 256 built in tones (plus another 128? general midi sounds that can be accessed by a rather inelegant kludge). The roland has over a 1000 tones on board. There are a lot of really high quality sounds available on the RD800.

It's got more built in rhythm patterns to play along with.

They both give you quite a bit of control to shape the various piano sounds, but from what I can tell the roland gives you a lot more control over the sounds of the electric pianos. The EP's on the roland are very very nice and give you a lot of control.

The RD800 has XLR outs in addition to line outs.

But ultimately it's going to come down to personal taste. They're both very well regarded keyboards. The OP would be wise to try them both out and see which one speaks to him best.

mp7 vs rd 800, both come very very close...

I prefer the sound of the Roland yet the feel of the MP7... But they are very close as both have great keyfeel as wel as top knotch sounds....

Also all the other options like rhytms, sound edditing, effects, master keyboard functionallity are pretty much the same

In the end, the RD800 costs 50% more then the RD800, and i can not find a reason why you would spend so much more for the Roland, except my inner soul telling me that i have allways been a Roland man when it comes to Epiano's

I know you meant to compare with the MP7 (and this was nothing more than an innocent typo), but this struck me as funny, the kind of thing politicians say all the time - and get away with.

Tony