Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha N3(X) OR Roland V-Piano Grand?

Yes, I am going back and forth...

I am looking at the Roland V-Piano Grand, the Yamaha N3(X) and then also the Kawai CP1.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of these, but you really need to play them. I was just starting to get into playing when I bought my V-Grand. I was able to "fiddle about" with the Kawai and Roland, but had the store manager really play them for me. Though I know some folks here take "pot shots" at the V-Grand and V-Piano any chance they get, the V-Grand just seemed more alive somehow to me. There were one or two V-Piano owners in these forums who also convinced me that this was a good way to go. I have never regretted my choice, and I sincerely hope that whichever DP you decide on, that a few years later, you feel the same way. That is really how you know you "got it right", because there does not seem to be one right answer to a choice like this.

By the way, I looked around online, and apparently, the MSRP for the V-Grand is $24,999. The V-Grand seems to be sold along side acoustic pianos, rather than being treated as are the slab type keyboards. The Roland LX-7 and LX-17, as well as the Kawai uprights discussed around here (CA-67 and CA-97) are sold at this same store too. I don't know if that affects what the final price is to you or not (as compared to buying something from a big box type store).

The store I got mine from, has an annual piano warehouse sale, with selected models of acoustics marked down for that sale. The year I purchased mine (2013, I think...), the V-Grand was marked down. It has not been a part of the sale since, nor was it prior to that year. I believe that at the store I got it, they usually sell it for about $22k. The CP-1 was, as I recall, somewhere between $15 and $16. I have no idea about the Yamaha, and I don't even know where these would be sold in my area.

One thing I have noticed about the V-Grand is that Roland has not had any firmware updates for it. I have never had any weird problems with it either, so it does seem quite solid.

Tony

Thank you VERY much for all of your help - and everyone's!

I had a Kawai CP205 years ago but moved to a condo and had to sell it.

I REALLY want to get back into it.

I know what the Kawai CP sounds like - a very big sound with a wide soundstage.

So I am just trying to figure out which way to go.

That is interesting. I live in a condo, and that is why I went with a digital piano. My V-Grand takes up almost half the living room. The good thing is that you can adjust every note as needed to accommodate room acoustics, so that if you can't have the piano in an optimal room position, you can still have good sound.

It is really nice to be able to use headphones as needed so I can play any time I want to, and still have a quality digital instrument. I run a small 3 channel mixer into the audio inputs on my V-Grand, and into that, I run the line out on my metronome, my portable DVD player, and my Microsoft Surface Pro 4. It is the perfect learning environment, so my wife can watch TV or do whatever she wants and we don't disturb each other.

Tony

I was looking at the V-Piano Grand's owner's manual - and I was surprised to find out that it only has various piano voices - no electric piano sounds, or organ sounds, or...

While the N3(X) has the piano sounds, plus 3 electric piano sounds, plus 2 harpsichord sounds.

The Kawai CP1 has the various piano voices along with hundreds of other sounds (most of which I will never use) - but various other instruments are nice sometimes.

That is true - you are buying a piano when you buy the V-Grand. If you want lots of different sounds other than piano, then another DP would be a better choice for you.

I have other things to play various other sounds. For example, I have the Roland BK-7m module that I can connect via MIDI to my V-Grand. I don't really use it now, since I am focused on playing piano, but I have it for when the modd strikes. I also have the Roland Integra-7 sound module. You can google for both of these. For "fun" I bought a Yamaha PSR-S970 electronic arranger keyboard. For "piano" I have the V-Grand.

For me, I wanted a digital piano that is just that, since there are so many ways to get the other sounds, accompaniment patterns. I wanted all the money spent on a digital piano to go directly into being the best piano it could be, rather than having it spent on an instrument trying to be all things to all people.

When you buy an acoustic piano, all you get is that one piano. The V-Grand is intended to be a piano as much as is possible with electronics rather than strings. That may not be what everybody wants, so there are many other choices.

Tony

Tony!

If your Piano is taking up half the space in your livingroom isn´t that a mismatch? A V-Grand needs cubicmeters of air and height to show it´s potential - if you tweek it to a small condo I´m sure you lose something. Please tell me.

I don't have an answer for that. It sounds fine to me, but then what do I know (seriously)? Somebody who has a lot of experience with acoustic pianos and placing them could probably answer the question, though I suspect the answer would be more about losing the piano experience by not going acoustic in the first place.

Since I am not performing with the V-Grand, I don't think it really matters to me as long as it sounds reasonable (which it does). Also, our condo has a fairly open design so it isn't as if the living room is its own enclosed box. I have been in a number of other folks' homes and condos in which a piano is pretty much shoehorned into a space in that environment. Our condo is 1200 square feet, so it isn't tiny either.

Many homes (condos, apartments, houses) I have been in that have a piano have less square footage than our condo. I have been in homes in which the piano barely fits in the living room at all. I can comfortably walk all around my V-Grand. I remember one woman who had a Yamaha acoustic grand in her living room and you could not walk all around it. Her whole life has been devoted to playing and teaching piano. If that situation was good enough for her, then I am sure I can be happy with mine too.

Tony

I think you just made my day!

I am Googling and YouTube-"ing" these right now

Pepsi.

The REAL question is, "Beatles or Stones?"

That Roland Integra-7 looks nice!

Can probably mount it under the V Grand (maybe where the optional CD player goes?)

Did your V come with a piano bench?

Because in the videos, it shows it with a very nice Roland bench.

That is a good idea about the Integra-7. I will have to consider that.

Yes, mine came with one of those fancy piano benches that you see concert classical pianists sit on - the classy one with the big pillow seat. It has adjustable height. These benches are rather expensive on their own, so that was a nice touch. It is very comfortable. However, it is only big enough for one person, rather than being longer for four hand play.

The V-Grand and the bench make a nice, impressive looking set. It makes people think I have more money and play better than I do.

I know a guy who went right out and bought a nice, new Yamaha grand piano when he started learning to play. 20 years later, he still has it and still plays. I did the buying part, and sincerely hope for the playing and still owning it years later.

Tony

In the pictures that are shown of the V - it looks like the soundboard is in 3 pieces and all 3 are angled differently?

And in the pictures it makes it look like the 3 boards are different colors - but in the YouTube videos all 3 look like the same color.

Is the soundboard in 3 different levels?

Is the soundboard all the same color? A kind of cherry/mahogany high gloss finish?

The sound board holds the speakers. The middle part of the soundboard is raised about a half inch or so above the rest of the sound board, and looks different from the rest of the sound board. So the visible part of the soundboard on both sides of the middle are the same level and color and the middle part sits on that. There are three speakers in the middle piece, two on one side of the soundboard and one on the other. There are two small speakers facing the player, which apparently play the various noises that an acoustic piano makes. There is a large speaker on the bottom of the piano facing downward. There are a couple of other circular holes on the bottom that look to me to be most likely speaker ports.

The V-Grand has a 4 channel sound system, with 60 watts per channel. From what I understand, different parts of the piano sound are played though the various channels at various times to create a realistic sound stage experience. In other words, there is some intelligence to what the system decides to play through which channels as you are playing, rather than the more static idea that the low notes always come from here and the high notes from there.

Personally, I would prefer a well designed piano system to having a slab-style digital piano and a pair of external monitor speakers. I think a well designed entire piano system would likely provide a more immersive experience, whether it is a baby grand cabinet as we have been discussing or one of the nicer uprights from any of the major manufacturers.

Really, there is quite a bit to the V-Grand. The whole thing was designed as an optimized system to present the experience of playing piano. Reading some of the posts in threads from back when the V-Grand became available, you would think it was nothing but a big scam by Roland. Some folks went so far as to claim it was just a V-Piano stuffed into a baby grand cabinet. That could not be further from the truth. There are a number of professional players who have a V-Grand, just as there are a number of professional players who choose to play other brands and models too. If the V-Grand were as bad as some around here have made it out to be, I am sure none of the pros would have wasted their time and money on it.

This is why I sometimes challenge those with strong negative opinions on the V-Grand to actually PLAY one and fine out what it is all about. Bennevis is one of the few who seem to speak highly of the instrument. But then, he is also one of the few who has actually played one. If a person here says that s/he actually played one, and then says s/he didn't care for it in favor of something else, I have no problem with that. It isn't my business what somebody else likes or dislikes. It is the spouting over nothing that gets to me sometimes. To me, the V-Grand is a bit like those concept cars that auto manufacturers build for an auto show - because they could. The V-Grand shows what can be done with the technology that Roland developed, if cost were not the limiting factor.

That said, I wouldn't expect everybody, or even most people, to want a V-Grand. Many would rather spend that much on an acoustic piano. Piano is my second instrument behind acoustic fingerstyle and jazz guitar, which I have played professionally. If piano were my first instrument and it was truly THAT central to my life, I would change my living situation and get a really nice acoustic piano. To me, the V-Grand represents a nice compromise solution (though not the ONLY such solution) for condo or apartment living.

All that said, I really think a person must play one before deciding whether it is for you or not. You might not like the modelled sound at all, or you may love it. You wouldn't know until you listened to it and experienced the immersive experience of playing the instrument. You may well decide in the end that a nice Yamaha, Roland, or Kawai upright digital piano is more to your taste rather than one of the digital grand models. If that does happen, you would not be the first to make that choice.

Tony