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What more do you want? I'm genuinely curious about what you expect in this instrument?

There is a Grand style cabinet and a speaker system specially designed for that cabinet. This surrounds the new Modelled engine and PHA-50 Hybrid action.

What is missing in your opinion?

Jay

Just asking, geeez. I've expected nothing so soon I guess. Improved keyboard would be awesome but thats in 2 years or so.

There may indeed be a difference between old and "old", but given that the piano in question has Roland's newest keyboard and sound engine, plus a newly designed cabinet and speaker system, I must say that, like Jay, I can't see anything remotely old or "old" about it. Old would be the RD1000 (1986). "Old" might be the FP80 (pha iii & original SN piano), for example. But even that is only "oldish" I'd have thought. Not "old".

Ok but the PHA-50 is less than a year old. It's currently the best we make, and will hopefully make it's way to a bunch more of our pianos as time goes by.

Asking for a new key action in under 12 months, is a bit much.

You did expect something new from the GP607. So please, Let's hear your wishlist.

Jay

I know it's too soon. Maybe more options for modeling like in V-piano?(at least I heard that there are more options there) That would be great

That topic was disucussed some time ago here. Noone needs a computer inside the piano with thousands of knobs (be it virtual or real), besides few geeks which can be counted on the fingers of two hands.

I think market was expecting new grand style piano from Roland, given the fact that the RG line was not updated since many years.

I do not see anything wrong with the GP607.

However, what I learned when started visiting piano shops:
digital pianos in reality sound a lot different than on YouTube or Soundcloud. I don't want writing about particular brands, but I have to say, that when I tried new Roland for the first time, I was expecting thin, not too much piano like, bright, technical and artificial sound. That was based on internet videos.

Do you know what I found IN REALITY?
Beautiful sounding piano. Warm and pleasant. With a shade of artificiality, but this is kind of pleasure from modelled pianos still today. But you can forget about it withinn a second. Something, what were making my face smile (in contrary to VIDEO). A piano, withi which I spend 3 hours and was very happy with that experience.

I strongly recommend what Jay is always writing: go and play and than judge. Tou can change your opinion 100%, as I did.


The only thing I wonder, is, how would that grand sound, if instead speakers Roland would put the soundboard there. But this was discussed before as well. And I think there are reasons, why they chosen speakers over soundboard, because they could easily put it inside the piano if they would like to.

I agree with that Lx17 experience it is the whole package that speaker system complements the sound very well indeed, the sound is then a very pleasant experience, but, stick on the heasphones and that artificial sound similar to what you hear on youtube is there and somewhat less pleasing ( IMHO ), jut higher fidelity of course when you play it for real of course.

In the end, if one is going to buy this thing, you want it for the speakers where this product comes in its own. I've never heard a CA97 with soundboard, but the CA67 pales into comparison with its sound system/speakers, pretty much any console I tried so far does IMHO, then again, to be fair the price difference, it should do that. Even the Lx7 is much less involving to listen and sit behind. I spent a good few hours on these too one afternoon and could get lost in it with the LX17 providing a very acoustic like experience. Quite frankly, I'd have it over even some of the acoustics uprights I heard too for that matter.

Now onto the GP 607 my honest two cents seeing Jay asked for it.

I am not much of a fan looking at it, I assume they try to keep cost down perhaps and reuse the existing panel with buttons, Yet for me they've gone this far but missed the boat with the styling a bit, it looks like the front end of a HP 603, with a bit of the grand idea tacked on behind. I prefer the more curved side panels of the LX 17 are compared with what you see on the HP series.

When I think about grand cabinets I'd want the best possible illusion. I'd happily pay another 500 if need be to complete that illusion you are sitting behind a grand with an extra bit of work and paying more.

The illusion as it is ... IMHO it sufficiently broken as it is. Sure you got the sort of sliding cover that can kind of cover the buttons, I never liked it a soon as I saw it.

With that in mind for the future perhaps:

- I'd have the height a bit taller ( more like that of the HP 605 perhaps, which is closer to a grand height I think.

- control panels on the side with sliding cover to cover them up so you don't see it. The side panels, make it a bit more grand like looking in the way they are curved, add a bit of style to the thing. I see that same boring shape in many these digitals everywhere as it were made to look to fit in with cheap IKEA furniture these days, where it comes down at an angle and there are too many straight lines everywhere. At least with the LX17 I see a bit of imagination where they did that nicely with some rounded shapes on the side panels.

I was hoping the grand version would really be the flagship model in terms of styling as well, to me it isn't quite there though. Though it is an upright, I personally prefer the look of the LX17 as it is now as far as uprights go.

Thinking of grand cabinet ideas, I rather like the look of the N3 avantgrand despite the squareness of the sides, to me it is still a better illusion overall.

I guess I am not easily pleased

Now I'll get my coat and run rather than wait for my spanking from Roland

You get what you pay for. The new Roland is a third of the price of a Yamaha N3.

Given that Roland have clearly tried to keep the thing within the budget of quite a few people I think they've done a good job. If I was in the market for such a thing I'd definitely consider it.

I haven't yet played one of the new fully modelled range. I played an RD-800 (not fully modelled) several months ago and was surprised to find myself slightly disappointed. But I'm looking forward to checking out one of the new ones.

I have to assume (or, rather, I want to assume) that really interesting things are on the horizon from Yamaha and Kawai. Roland have adopted a completely different tempo to the development of their products. The others are still churning out tiny incremental improvements and it's getting annoying quite frankly. Roland is making monkeys out of them.

Yamaha, Kawai...are you listening? It's time for something new in your mainstream products. Something new and better. If you're going to stick with samples that's fine, but I want lots of velocities and full length decays. Nothing short of that will do. Or if you're going over to modelling I await the results with interest......either way, it's time for a step-change.

If I have to endure another Yamaha CLP launch with Peter Baartmans or Bert Whateverhisnameis extolling the virtues of some tiny additional bit of resonance (small print saying it's only on the top model) or whatever, or Kawai moving a balance pin in their action a few millimetres and hailing it as some sort of holy grail thing I'll scream.

My God, I've turned into Dewster.......time for a lie down.

Yamaha and Kawai regularly introduce new sample recordings of their own instruments. The ES line just got a sound upgrade last year.


For Roland without its own acoustic pianos, stuff like the V-Piano is the natural thing to do. For Yamaha and Kawai not so much. That's also the reason why Yamaha and Kawai don't have to go to the furthest extents in replicating a piano: They still have fine acoustic pianos to sell. In the end it's the real thing what people are after.

"What is real? How do you define real?" ^^ If digital pianos will have good enough modelling and sound system like Roland is sooooo close to achieving then I don't think people will want "real" piano anymore.

I disagree. Yes, there's the newer Shigeru sample, granted. But the older EX thing has been doing the rounds from the same recording session for donkeys years. Calling it HI, PHI, UPHI, Hi-XL etc doesn't change the fact it was the same old dead horse being flogged. Likewise, whatever Yamaha calls their samples, other than the AG (which has samples unique to it), it's been the same old rehashed recordings, tweaked here and there perhaps but nothing really fresh and certainly nothing ground breaking.

I think he means that they want to sell more acoustic instruments instead of digital ones.

The Kawai grand has been rerecorded at least once before the Shigeru. I have the samples from the old and the new recording session side by side inside my ES100.


Yamaha switched the sample from CFIIIs to CFX and recently added the Bösendorfer.

As I said, real acoustic piano manufacturers are not going after "modeling the perfect digital Steinway" goal for obvious reasons. That's something Roland and Casio can excel at.

That statement is one of the most absurd sentences I ever read here.
Truth is, no one wants to have a digital, unless is forced by an external conditions.

Not necessarily. It's like saying that no one would ever want a motor car when they can have a horse and cart. Maybe that was most often the case when motor cars went at 10 miles an hour and tended to explode in your face. But nowadays, most people opt for the car, even though they might, in a certain way, feel nostalgic for the horse.

Bad comparison. Car is in most aspects far better than a horse.

Digital are still very very far away from being even comparable to a medium upright. And they sound ugly and poor.

Sometimes new things aren't necessarily better.

There is beauty in nature, and digital piano isn't beauty in its sound.

New is absolutely not always better, I agree. But your statement that no one would buy a DP except for practical 'external' reasons I don't think is so...or at least will not be so for long. Hence the horse and cart comparison.

And we will have to agree to disagree on DPs and uprights. Most uprights I've played don't come close to the expressive power of a good DP. But that's just one subjective and anecdotal opinion.

Why anybody would want to have an inferior instrument instead of something superior?

Did you had a change to play a good upright? Costing 10kUSD or more?
Indeed, everything below that price and most of used worn pianos are worse than for example LX7.

However, there is a point at which normal playable uprights are... And digitals and far away from them.

New cheap upright I would call piano shaped objects rather than pianos. They are made maybe to be recognized on the mass customer market, but they would be better used to be burned at winter to heat the house than to play the piano. I literally never been touching anything worse than Yamaha B1. But what can you expect from something made out the cheapest components available?

Well maybe I've been subjected to particularly horrid upright pianos. And I do not include all uprights. However, I have played some Yamaha uprights in shops, and my brother has one he bought in new in the 80s (not sure what models though)

I would not swap those for my DP. No way! The bass is weak and indistinct for one thing, although the C4 upwards region is perhaps a little better on the uprights, but you can use vsts to get very good representation on a dp.

I was on old Yamahas as well. Prefer new Roland hands down hehehe. In they have cheap or basic Yamahas in stores near you, than I can understand your opinion very well. Nevertheless, I you will have some free time, I encourage you to find a shop with European pianos and play on Bechstein (not c. Bechstein or Bechstein academy) or other brands and I will be happy to hear your opinion.

Sauter, Schimmel, Bluether, Grotrian Steinweg, August Foerster and similar. Rather stay away from their cheaper brands like Zimmermann or Hoffman.

I once spend few days with Yamaha U1. Would never buy it, even though it expensive pianos. Just not pleasant.