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Hi Ben,
I do say that for some of RD-2000 users these old-fashion sounds are very awaited and needful - please see one "negative" comment on one German's site (author KieranC, dated 05.06.2017):

https://www.thomann.de/intl/lv/roland_rd_2000.htm?ref=search_rslt_rd+2000_406061_0#bewertung

I wouldn't take the review on the Thomann website link to seriously here. When you read it, you find that the reviewer is connecting his RD2000 into a KC350 amplifier!

If you're going to spend £2100 on a professional top end keyboard, then you're going to need some professional amplification (for example QSC 'K' series) to get the best from it.

I see this is your first post here. Welcome!

I find the best way to audition a keyboard is to bring along a top end set of headphones.

I agree, you could almost joke, perhaps a Nord employee or agent? He says,

""As a diehard Roland fan I had 2 of the roland rd700nx which I sold to fund the new rd2000.""

(I wonder why he has chosen to replace two pianos with one ?)

He then says this....

""I played the 2 pianos side by side and this new keyboard was no where like it's older brother. The Eq is horrible. Along with the response from the keys compare the older models. I sold my 2 x rd700's in error and would certainly not recommend the 2000 to anyone."""

If he had truly sold 2 Rd700Nx's to fund buying the 2000 how could he then play them "side by side"?

Does he mean he did that in the shop selling them? In that case, if it was so bad why did he then buy the RD 2000?

Another quote:

"However the actual build is nice good and heavy not plastic like the rd800 but strong and heavy like the rd700nx"

He then gives it one star for "quality", whatever that may mean in this case.

Deeply suspect as objective and trustworthy commentary, in my opinion.

Thank you for the welcome Dave.

As a RD2000 owner I find the comments on here very useful. What I'm waiting for at the moment though, is the 1.03 firmware update on this instrument - as I think it really needs it.

Roland have been very thorough in designing the RD2000, and had to be, especially since the PR disaster of the RD800, and so far everyone seems to be enjoying the product (me included). However, every new product has a time of evolution as it settles down from production release, so patience is a virtue as they say. I just hope Roland take time to at least review the feedback (and comments on forums such as this one), and fix what really needs fixing - like enabling the Pitch/Mod wheel for Leslie control on TW Organs as the default setting. This is really basic stuff and it's surprising that they have not done this without even thinking about it.

As we all know, you can use the numeric keys to jump between the Tones (by holding down the SHIFT key), but unbelievably, you can't do this same action to jump between PROGRAMS. After all, there all 300 programs made up of 15 blocks of 20, so why not map these so that you could type in a numeric number to immediately jump to say PROGRAM 177. That is much easier that having to keep pressing the UP/DOWN bank keys and then having to scroll to your selection within that bank when you reach it!

It's also good that Roland have started to put sounds on the Axial site for this keyboard, and hopefully they will continue to add more (I would love to have the Cathedral Organ that I had on my RD700 (original) back on the RD2000).

By the way, a big hello to all other posters on this forum.

Hi,
I'm a newbie to this forum and have enjoyed reading all of your comments. They've been really helpful with getting to know my RD-2000.
I was wondering if anyone here had successfully managed to change the cc assignment of the faders?
My DAW requires that each fader have it's own cc number in order for me to be able to control each zone volume separately, but it doesn't seem like I can change this on the RD-2000? Appears they are all set to the same volume cc?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

I'm happy to help if I can, but what you are describing doesn't make sense. I can easily assign all my 8 channels of the RD-2000 zone faders to Logic or MainStage to whatever channel strip I want and control them independently as needed. What DAW are you using?

Cheers!

Macsaint777, but is it possible to set which CC# the faders control?

I believe this is the specific point jkw is asking.

Cheers,
James
x

Hi, yes James is correct, that's what I'm asking.
Sorry, I am not amazing at this stuff.
I use Reason. If I try assign a fader on the rd to a corresponding one in Reason, it works, but as soon as you go to do the 2nd one, it cannot proceed as it is trying to use the same cc#.

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that you should change the MIDI channels for every zone on the RD-2000 to correspond to the channel numbers in Reason. I had to do this in Logic Pro X. Let me know if that helps!

Just curious...
what are your favorite "go to" APs on the RD-2000? Thanks

And yes I know it depends on the environment, gig type, etc...

RD-2000 UPDATE. My RD-2000 has started behaving oddly on several keys. Here is what is happening. When you rapidly repeat a note on several keys, the MIDI velocity jumps up rapidly, and the note sounds out at full 127 quite abruptly. This happens over MIDI, and with internal sounds, and seems to be something related to the triple sensor perhaps?

As you can imagine, playing gospel piano and blues licks very quickly, this is a serious thing and ruins the song or recording!


One reason I bought this from Sweetwater, is the response they had to my email explaining this (and video showing it).

As soon as I send the RD-2000 back to them (they are paying shipping) then they are sending me a Nord Piano 3. I'm excited, but dang it... the saga continues!

I also had a curious thing happen. I was recording the piano to a USB stick (inserted in the Memory USB drive) and the sound of the piano was as though it was being short changed by the processor.

I switched to another piano sound and the problem went away. What I heard sounded like a processor not being fast enough. I didn't save the wav file.

Dave Horne,

I sent my RD-2000 back to Sweetwater here in the US, and they are swapping it for a Nord Piano 3, which I have played only briefly for about 2 minutes several months ago. I hope no more issues arise with your RD! Do keep us updated!


Best!



Ben

Sounds mainly like early adopter blues. Surely once out in the wild for a bit Roland will put out a firmware update to address what users are running into. I know years ago Roland was notorious for leaving bugs unaddressed, but surely in the age of social media that's no longer possible.

So, a few months late to the party, but I finally had a chance to stop by my local GC and sat down in front of their RD-2000 for a good 45min. They also had an RD-800 set up alongside so I swapped between the two. I brought my own headphones.

1. I wasn't blown away by the V-Piano sounds. There's something really crisp, clean and dynamic about them in a way I don't get from samples, but they also don't sound all that *real* to me, which I think is fairly high priority for my tastes. The high notes are more or less indistinguishable from other high end DPs IMO, but the attack on the bass notes don't really stand out.

2. The difference between the V-Piano tones seems greater in-person than in the YT videos I've seen, particularly MacSaint's excellently produced videos. They do strike me more as subtle parameter changes than wholly different pianos, but when watching the videos I really thought they sounded nearly identical, but in person there is a different tonal quality to each selection. I think I like the Aco Grand the best out of all of them.

3. Though I tried to avoid doing so, I found myself gravitating more to the SN pianos, and the Concert Grand on the RD-800.

4. Sadly, I'm not really impressed with the PHA-50 action. It's a fine action for sure, but having only a few minutes on one before (on an HP603), I really tried to sink into it this time, and IMO it feels so similar to the PHA-IV Concert on the RD-800, which IMO shares the same familial feel as the PHA-IV Standard and Ivory-Feel G I'm a bit more used to playing. From what people have been saying about PHA-50 being competitive with Kawai's high end wooden key actions, I just don't agree. And also, despite what others have said recently about PHA-50 feeling very light and almost semi-weighted, I felt instead that it was on the heavier side (as I feel with other Rolands) and it left my fingers a bit more fatigued after playing, which is why I liked practicing on the RD-300NX, it's kind of a workout. Doesn't feel much like Bose/Yamaha acoustic grands I get to play. In fact, right after that GC session I went straight to the Bosendorfer, Yamaha GC1 and MP11 and the feel couldn't be more different. I think I've developed a bias at this point, but the RD-2000 really felt to me like a typical digital piano action, whereas the MP11 had buttery weight to its motion more like a real grand piano, at least in terms of being able to switch between DP/AP seamlessly.

So, from this non-gigging, only-cares-about-acoustic-piano-tone amateur's perspective, I came away feeling the RD-2000 really isn't for me. To be sure, if it was what I had, I'd be totally pleased with it, and in absolute terms it exceeds any capability I have in playing it. But in terms of signature piano sounds and action, I feel that it's not really my thing, and there's no way I would trade the MP11 for it (and given the choice, I know now I'd probably be happier getting a sizable discount on an RD-800 rather than pay significantly more for an RD-2000).

I'm sure this isn't a great thing to post on this particular thread, but maybe it'll be worth some discussion.

Just playing devil's advocate here, but... could it be that your ears and fingers are so used to the MP11 that anything else will simply feel, I don't know...'wrong'?

Cheers,
James
x

Absolutely possible. Sadly, I don't have much chance to get out get to the nearest shop so I don't have as much time as I'd like to dedicate to playtesting and getting acclimated to a different DP. But I do have more opportunity than I deserve to play on a several grand and upright acoustics, as well as a number of different digitals, including Rolands. Action-wise I do feel the particular unit I played feels a lot more similar to other PHA-XX actions than it does to Yamaha/Kawai DPs or to the acoustics I've played.

I do want more time with the V-Piano tones, since I know that I push the sustains and resonances up on my MP11 way up past default, and I especially notice the short decay/sustains on the NU1 (given time, I think I would eschew realistic sound for realistic behavior, but it would take some getting used to!).

Bingo!

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