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Daren,
Congrats. I'd be very interested to know how many new Yamaha, Kawai, etc owners actually did a side-by-side comparison with the Roland HP-207 (or FP-7 or 203 or RG-3) as you did. The Roland seems most realistic to me.

Hi,

Droah, mine Ab5 is ok but I'm concerned about two other sounds that is A#1 and F3.

The first one A#1 has some kind of ringing colour and differs in tone colour from neighbour sounds. It is not heard when playing piano, it can be heard when playing a little louder.

The F3 also differs from other keys. I'm not sure how to describe it but it seems to be a little more open than other sounds. It's like "qua", I could compare it to a duck's "qua". When I play for instance Chopin's valse op.69 no.2 where this note is often being struck in chords it comes forward from those chords and it is heard too loudly which annoys me a bit.

I tried many options, equalizers, tuning, dynamics etc... I tried to change the position of the piano to minimize those differences but I could do nothing.

Have you noticed anything similar?

I also have the piano in a small room (3.5m x 4.5m) with slanting cailing in half and the piano stands by the wall. The factory settings were not good for me. The bass was too boosted and the middle part was muffled so I made an equalizer changes to the following:

High gain: +5
High freq: 8k
High mid gain: +1
High mid freq: 400
High mid q: 0,5
Low Mid gain: 0
Low mid freq: 200
Low mid q: 2
Low gain: -4
Low freq: 100

and now it's much better.
I set the touch to Light, offset to +8 and the lid to 3. It seems to be ok for me

I have an external slim USB DVD drive connecting to the front USB port. It is very convenient to us since my son's piano teacher requires daily practices and listening to songs on CDs. It occupies little space and looks elegant on the top of the piano (only 5"x5"x0.8" in sizes), it is there all the times, and it is cheap (US$70 from an online store).

Ive now had my hp207 for a week and i cant stop playing.Its outstanding,it feels and sounds like its alive and it really is a big improvement over the hp107,very glad I went for this one.

Just to say thankyou to this thread for helping me to make the right choice.

Thanks
Daz

Yes, definitely. I hear it too.
I am convinced this is a sampling error. When they sampled the Steinway they used for the samples, likely this key had the flaw you are describing.
some strange undesirable resonance...
So the flaw got recorded, and now part of the sample set.
They sample at multiple velocity levels, so there is 3 or 5 samples per key ( I forget how many exactly). The flaw is only present in the top 1 or 2 samples.
IMHO Roland should fix this. It would be easy enough for them to reflash the samples. I was tempted to report it to Roland but was not sure how to convincingly articulate the issue. Maybe record the sound and send it to them.

Best wishes..

Dear frydrych and jorghi,


Have you updated the firmware on your piano?


I have installed v1.7 on it and and don't listen these errors, maybe they were fixed.


As I did as soon as I purchased it, I can't tell you if it corrects that samples, but could be.


In Roland US you will find the update, and with an USB stick is easy to do.


Best wishes,

Andres.

How can you update the firmware? Went on Roland's website and can't find any firmware upgrades.

Jorghi, about ROLAND HP for your information:

- 3 level sampling for EVERY note/key for the HP-201

- 4 level sampling for EVERY note/key for the HP-203, 204 (Europe) and 207

I just got an HP-207. What a beautiful machine. I've been playing around extensively for the past week, and I came across a quirk. I'm wondering if it is just mine, or all HP-207s.

If I play and hold any of the bottom 8 notes, (A0 - E1) and while holding down that key, play a second note exactly two octaves higher (for instance A0 + A2 ) the second note doesn't get played. The same is true in reverse (holding down A2, then attempting to play A0)

Also along these lines, (and this is how I stumbled across it) if I play the two notes at the exact same time, sometimes I hear both notes, but more often I hear only the lower note as if I pounded on the key.

Has anyone else noticed this?

What I don't like with this DP is the way the escapement simulation works : on a real piano, when you start to feel the hardness of the escapement when depressing slowly a key you can still finish the move by pressing quickly and the hammer will moderately hit the string.

But whith the Roland it doesn't act like that, you won't get any sound. So what is the purpose of this escapement ? Other DPs of other brands act the same, it seems that the point of the key travel where you will get no sound is too much near the top.

What's your opinion about it ?

I have an HP-207. I have tried what you have described but didn't seem to have the problems. You probably should call for Roland's warranty service to take a look.

If you need the true feeling of the escapement but practicing without disturbing others using a headset, you probably should get a silent piano, acoustic piano with silencing mechanism and digital sound producer, such as Yamaha's C1S, but will cost you at least 5 times more than a high end digital piano.

The GH3 on my Yamaha don't have this problem and works like a grand piano. That is because it uses three sensors for each key.


Peace.

/Richard

Hi guys
I have been playing piano for 1 year, and I want to buy a new one. I'm a little bit confused. DP-990, and Hp 207 seem perfect for me, but HP 207 seem too advanced for me. Can anyone help me with this?

Well, you could get an HP-203. That's similar but minus a few features and it's quite a bit cheaper. Or just go ahead and get an HP-207, if you like it. You won't be sorry and even 1 year of studies is enough to benefit from having a good-quality instrument. Why sell yourself short?

Agreed. A DP is a computer facsimile of an acoustic instrument, so the way I see it, the more it's like the real thing, the greater its value. More realistic feel, more realistic sound, greater durability -- these are the things that are worth paying for in a DP, and these features benefit beginners and experienced players alike.

Also, don't dismiss the "feels good to me" factor. The better you feel with a musical instrument, the more comfortable you are, the more likely you are to continue practicing and playing.

When I buy my next DP, which may well be an HP-207, it's for the long term. The pain of spending a few more dollars now will be forgotten shortly, but the piano will be with me for years. My current DP I've had since 1994(!).

Thanks guys. That really helped.Im probably gonna buy 207.

Before I decided and bought the HP207 I had a terrible time choosing what to buy. All I can say is that now I am a happy owner of a DP that behaves beautifully and asks me to play more than I can reasonably afford. No regrets here! I think it is a great instrument and, for me, a source of joy and happiness. I would buy it again.