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As to the comparison with the RD2000 - are they comparing the same piano settings, etc? Is there a better piano in the RD2000 than what is presented?

Not much information on this (or any, for that matter).
I was wondering the same but thinking that I’m not so much interested in the V-Piano, which is entirely modeled, as Pianoteq takes care of that approach.
SuperNatural pianos are a mixture of modeling and samples, which is what I’d prefer in a DP slab.

I don't see why they'd avoid using the 2000's best pianos if their goal was to compare the two boards so specifically.

I don't either. But it does not mean that they did not do so. There is no information to indicate one way or the other.

When Kurzweil designed the SP6, they used a slimmed down set of elements for each piano part, meaning there is less detail in the SP6 pianos than in their Forte, for example. It could be that Roland did the same thing for the RD88.

The piano sound they are using on the RD 2000 is t he stage grand ,when you first turn on the piano it is the modelled sound . I have the 2000 , you can change the sound to make it sound better than what's on the video and it does sound nicer in my opinion than the RD 88 which is what I would expect . The Rd 88 sounds pretty nice also .

Thank you! This is an excellent post. By the way, do you mod the stage grand, or do you start with a different preset before you modify?

quote=pianomike]The piano sound they are using on the RD 2000 is t he stage grand ,when you first turn on the piano it is the modelled sound . I have the 2000 , you can change the sound to make it sound better than what's on the video and it does sound nicer in my opinion than the RD 88 which is what I would expect . The Rd 88 sounds pretty nice also .[/quote]

According to Sweetwater, the RD-88 speakers and amp are:
Built-in Speakers:
2 x 4.7" woofer, 2 x .78" tweeter
Amplifier:
2 x 6W

And a more in-depth demo:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2YSwj0wJu-E

What I like about the speakers- is they give it a little more of a piano vibe when playing live - it is nice to get some of the sound right from the instrument. It does not need to be overwhelming for this effect. If they used large speakers - then the unit would be heavier. So it is a matter of compromises. It looks like Roland made some nice compromises here to make it an affordable live instrument.

5” woofers are quite large, actually.

For live performance, where most likely there will be a PA with larger speakers, 5" woofers in the digital piano is excellent. I agree. How they sound - I obviously do not know. But for me, I only need it to give me the feel that I am playing a piano, while the audience really gets the sound from the PA. This is all good imho.

He was using the internal speakers for that Sweetwater review. They sounded pretty good, as far as you can make out from a Youtube review (I would be using it in a home environment, living room. My guess is, they will be less punchy than the ones in the SV2S, but I'm almost certain they will be better than the speakers in the PX-S1000 or 3000...
I must say, the RD88 still is a compelling option as a back-up for my MP11SE (still haven't decided), even though I won't be using 75% of the sounds : triple sensor keybed, support for Roland's triple pedal unit.
Will try one as soon as they hit the shops...

He may have been using them for his own monitoring purposes but the onboard speakers were most definitely NOT what the viewer of the video is hearing...the audio is straight from the stereo line outs.

Well, he was using mics, you could clearly hear the noise of the keys on the keybed and the clicking sound of the buttons...

Yes, the mic is for his voice. The audio is so unmistakably 'line out' audio, with such a clean, rich, full, pronounced stereo image, devoid of room noise and flat frequency response. You can see the audio out cables from the piano. If they'd mic'd the piano it would have sounded awful, I promise you. That's not to say the speakers are bad, but mic'ing speakers such as those gives an equally unmistakable sound (a tinny, peaky, BAD one!).

Steve is right. Probably close to all, at least designed to be, Pro demos you see/hear are recorded line out.

That is a huge reason so many users are dissatisfied with the sound when they get their keyboard and run it through gigging type speakers/ keyboard amp or just ok studio type monitors- it never sounds as good as it does in the videos !

Nord in particular.

So true!

I’m waiting for the manual to become available. One of the things I haven’t seen yet is whether the Piano Designer is part of the architecture. I’ve customized a few AP’s and EP’s on my RD800 to suit my ear, but that instrument is too heavy to take out of the home studio. It would be great if that ability carried into the lighter form factor, even if only available through an app.

There’s a lot to like about this instrument, particularly if the SN pianos can be tweaked.