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My 11-year-old Korg SP-250 no longer has working internal speakers and now the E above middle C is making a load clanging and reverb sound. Think it's time to get a new keyboard. I'm considering the Roland FP-60 or FP-90. I've heard really good things about Roland keyboards, and am especially interested in authentic piano sound and realistic acoustic piano touch with the keys. Any opinions about these Roland keyboards? Any keyboards by other companies of this calibre that I should consider? Thank you very much! Kai

I am a relative newbie to the piano world and have little experience at trying different keyboards. However I can tell you what most of the folks here will tell you. The experience you get from playing one digital or another is subjective. Your best bet is to try them yourself if at all possible. I know that there have been many positive comments about the Roland models you mentioned. I have a Kawai ES8 that I am quite pleased with. Good Luck with your search!

You can research for months and never determine which is best.

As Finfan said .... you need to try them yourself.

Then pick one and start playing.

Kai C,

I've never played the FP-60, but I really enjoyed playing the FP-90 when I tried it a music fair a few years ago.

In terms of competing models, the Kawai ES8 should also be on your list of instruments to try.

Kind regards,
James
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I don't have one but I love the Roland FP-90. To me, it has a pleasant touch and a wonderful selection of sounds. Sometimes I wish I had gotten that one rather than one of the ones in a cabinet (although mine does have 6 speakers, which is nice). Different keyboards do seem to feel and sound differently to different people though, so it really is good advice to try them out for yourself. Maybe I am just used to the Roland, but when I try out other keyboards in stores I usually don't like them as much, but I am sure others feel the same way about the companies/brands they are used to!

I see no reason to buy FP-60. It doesn't feature best Roland's keybed PHA50, but PHA4 Standard, the same as twice cheaper FP30. The sound engine is not the new fully modeled one as well (might be advantage over FP-90 for some people). I would go for FP30 or FP90 as far as Roland is concerned. If you don't mind Kawai piano sound, ES8 is a great instrument. I had MP7 for over 1 year and and I loved! its electric pianos, looks, controls, build quality and looks. Unfortunately, Kawai sound signatujre is not 'my idea of fun', but it's the matter of personal preference.

It's perhaps worth noting that the ES8 and now the updated MP7SE feature Shigeru Kawai SK-EX and SK-5 grand piano sounds, in addition to the Kawai EX found in the original MP7. I agree that these things are highly personal, however I gather that those who disliked the Kawai EX greatly prefer the newer SK-EX and SK-5 samples, while players who enjoy the EX tonal character also appreciate the ability to select samples sets from two completely different pianos.

Kind regards,
James
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Is the SK-EX what's stored under the default position 1 of the piano1 button? "SK ConcertGrand"?

Yes, that's correct.

That not only makes perfect sense (putting the flagship as the default ), it's also, to my ear at least, by far the best sound in the ES8.

And while I have your ear, could you tell me what's hidden behind the "Jazz clean" and "Warm grand" monikers in the ES8? Can't seem to find that info anywhere and those are my other two most used sounds in that box. I'm guessing it's just EQ tweaks of other sounds, but which ones?

Ah, I'm afraid I don't know.

Kind regards,
James
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If you don't know then I suppose I shouldn't look further because it's just not out there.

Thanks for the SK clarification!

Usually you can tell if you flip between sounds while testing individual notes, particularly at the extremes of the scale. All the extra piano sounds on my cs8 are just variants of the 4 core sounds (sk ex, ex, sk-5, upright (k60?)), whether that's eq, mic perspectives or both I've no idea but there are nauces in the samples that make it fairly obvious.

Or if ears don't work, bunging the wav recordings into the phase view in appropriate software will make it abundantly clear.

Really ought to have thought of this myself, I guess... thanks for mentioning it, my ears are a far cry from what they used to be so every bit of tech helps!

Just to rule out differences in ES8 machines .....

I assume you mean't "Jazz Grand" and not "Jazz clean" as I do not have a "Jazz clean" on my machine.

Are you sure Don?

I don't have an ES8 in front of me to check, but according to the owner's manual (p.16) "Jazz Clean" should be the 3rd sound in the PIANO1 category button.



Kind regards,
James
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I am sure.

Mine says ... Jazz Grand.


My owners manual does say "jazz Clean". I never noticed the discrepancy.

I noticed I needed an upgrade to my ES8 (I had v. 1.05) so I upgraded to 1.07 and the piano name is still "Jazz Grand".

The documentation for the upgrade indicated some sound names were fixed.

Not mine.

(Yes, I checked to be sure the upgrade worked) .... LOL ...

Hello Don,

My apologies, it appears that this sound is unfortunately written incorrectly in the ES8 owner's manual.

I will look into fixing this point with the next print run.

Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention.

Kind regards,
James
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Late to the party but yes, slot 3 Jazz Grand. I was just going off of the (wrong) manual name.
I like that preset a lot and was curious which of the basic sounds was tweaked to get it...