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Hi Guys

Firstly thanks for all the great information. I've visited this site a few times over the past few weeks and I've learnt a lot of useful info that has helped me to choose a new stage piano. Just thought I'd share my experiences of trying a few pianos…

I'm really a guitar player… but I love the piano and I did play it a little about 15 years ago. I decided that it was time I got to grips with it again… but, although I love acoustic pianos and feel that they have a 'heart and soul' that digital devices find it hard to replicate, an acoustic wasn't really a practical option for me at this time.

Having tried various keyboards during various visits to retailers… this weekend it was decision time, so I went armed with a list of models to try:

Roland RD-300sx
Roland RD-700sx
Roland FP7
Yamaha CP33
Yamaha P140
Yamaha CP300
Yamaha S90es
Yamaha MO8

The important factors for me were keyboard action and piano tone (other instrument sounds were a bonus... but acoustic piano was the main criterion for tone).

One tip I gained from this forum was to take my own decent quality headphones (Sennheisers in my case) in order to test each piano with a known reference speaker/headphone.

I spent a few hours trying them all out (and some Korgs… plus a few cheaper brands). Quite soon I decided that the Yamahas – although good – had an action that didn't appeal to me. Really liked the Roland 700sx… but I'd only really budgeted for 300sx money. So the last couple of hours were devoted to trying the three Rolands. Ruled out the 300sx – based on the action. To me it felt a bit mushy and not as piano-like as I was looking for. This meant bad news for my budget… as I was now only looking at the 700sx and the FP7.

The FP7 has a nice action that, to me, feels a bit firmer than the 700sx… and is perhaps in between the 700sx and the Yamahas in terms of firmness (firmer than the 700sx… but not as firm as some of the Yamahas).

I kept moving between the FP7 and the 700sx in order to compare actions… and I think I could have been convinced either way. They both felt nice and responsive… but were different. I think I could live quite happily with either action.

So, the factor that was going to make the difference was piano tone. The FP7 sounds great… but, to me, not as good as the 700sx. The salesman thought that they both used the same samples… but my ears don't agree. The FP7 is a good instrument, but the 700sx appeared to have the edge (actually, when I spent a bit more time with the FP7, I thought that on one of the piano types there was a whole octave that sounded a little different to other keys/octaves… perhaps a tiny bit boxy in tone. My wife's ears agreed.)

The FP7 had the advantage of built-in speakers. However, I felt that these sounded a bit boxy and weren't able to get the best out of the piano.

So, the 700SX came home with us. Since then, I've played it quite a lot (surprising how one's memory is able to dredge up stuff from 15 years ago. I was never much of a piano player… but my limited ability is coming back to me after all those years of total neglect. That's been quite encouraging… and gives me a bit of a platform to build on in the future. What is it that they say about 'never forgetting how to ride a bike'?).

Bottom line is… I love my 700SX. The feel and the tone are inspiring. Whenever trying out guitars, I always look for an instrument that is engaging… an instrument that rewards your efforts to play it and keeps you playing for hours (even though you only intended to play it for 20-30 minutes). My 700SX is like that.

I know that there's often a 'honeymoon period' whenever you get a new instrument… but I don't think that the novelty will wear off in this case. My head has already moved beyond appreciating the technology… and is now enjoying the music making (limited though my ability may be).

My advice to anyone looking for a digital piano is... read as much as you can about the various contenders, but then you have to try them out. People's preferences for feel, action and tone are very personal... so it's all about finding the instrument that connects with you.

Congrats on your purchase!!

That’s a great board.

My budget started at less than $500, and I ended up with the S90es last November (and the Honeymoon is still going!!)

I was torn between the S90es and the RD700sx for quite some time, can’t go wrong with either one.

If you get a chance, post in the price paid thread:

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/6/2405.html

Great for you! I'm still waiting for my FP7 to arrive (any day now) but in the end it came down to either the MP8, RD700SX, or FP7. Good advice on making an informed purchase, too

That is great to here. You deff well be in tweekers heaven with the 700sx. Good set of monitors well light up the house. My Fender Blues Jr. sounded great with the keyboard plugged into it before I got the monitors.

Congrats! You are right, the RD700SX sample is not the same sample as the FP-7.

Congratulations, WelshRoland, and welcome to the forum! Thank you as well for the very detailed post. Were you able to try all those models in one store? I'm finding it frustrating to locate good digitals anywhere nearby to try out in person.

You chose well. Actually it is the same Piano 1 (Superior Grand)samples as in the FP and FP4. However the samples sound better in the RD-700SX sound engine. They have more clarity and sound fatter. (different D/A converters, etc) I like the RD-700SX's "Superior Grand" sound but I like the FP4 action, it's got a faster key return than all other Roland actions.

rintincop,

Where did you get your info about the samples being the same? The Roland US customer support told me they were different. Thanks.

A tech from Roland Japan told me they are from the same raw sampling session but that they sound different due to the implementation, compression, digital to analog converters, etc... The RD-700SX produces the sound in a way that sounds fatter, has more definition and greater clarity. In that sense they are "different."

I forget what the RD-700SX has for outputs (same for the FPs for that matter) - but if they have a USB out, or digital or optical out, you could get equal sound from both by using an external DAC(digital-analog converter). A good quality external amp/DAC combo may produce better sound than both the FP series and the 700, so if you already had something along those lines or planned on getting external equipment down the road, the superior sound of the 700 could be had with the cheaper FP lines.

Just a thought...correct me if I'm wrong

Justin

Good theory but I think it's more than just the DACs. There's also the compression, different chip sets, programming, and some other factors in the RD-700SX sound engine.

Yamaha does the same sort of thing with between their P250/P90 or CP300/CP33

I have also ordered a RD-700SX - am picking it up next week and am looking forward to it like an mad over-excited kid the day before xmas.. D'oh! But once I got it working I felt I was standing with a really useful instrument - I liked the many sounds and possibilities of customizing each sound. Key action seemed about the same as fp-7 - very nice feel there. The superior grand sound seemed quite a bit better than the fp-7 grand sample - and generally the sound bank impressed me on a whole (although again the string sounds didn't please me, but maybe I'm just hard to please in that department...), and the drum kits seem useful for guide tracks when recording and writing.
All in all this instrument made me feel inspired and creative, whereas the fp-7 annoyed me at some points. I thought it over, and over, and over, and then I thought about it some more - I felt like the RD-700SX met my needs the most, but the price scared me a bit and I wasn't totally sure wether I could trust my gut feeling that I'd be more pleased with the RD-700SX in the long run.

BUT eventually I did go with my (thoroughly informed) gut feeling - what else can one really do when it comes to choosing tools for creative purpuses like that..? I may have to starve for my art for a while, but I can lose a few pounds anyways so what the...

Now I just can't wait to pick up my beautiful new 'baby'...

By the way - I just want to thank everybody for posting their opinions and experiences here (and in the fp5/fp7 thread) - it helped me a lot in the process of chosing my new instrument - great forum, nice crowd. Of course nothing beats trying the instrument yourself, but hearing about other people's experiences is more useful than any specs list

I'll second that about this forum... I'm a newbie here, but delved deep into thread history when agonizing over the same choice that Cille just made (with the same delicious outcome - the RD-700SX). Now, my job is to justify it by growing into it. There's something about this contraption that makes me feel that will be worthwhile - that I won't be bumping into annoyances and limitations as I did during my brief ownership of a low-cost MIDI controller.

I've installed the piano in its own desk (a Creation Station from StudioRTA), which is low enough to compensate for the 4-inch height of the keytops. An iMac sits on the top shelf, and an added intermediate shelf supports the sloped iControl (for Garage Band) and Mackie mixer (overkill, but there are lots of other audio sources around here, as well as DAW integration). The computer keyboard is on this as well, just above and behind the Roland. There's no room for both a traditional pull-out keyboard drawer and my legs!

KRK studio monitors are on little added shelves that flank the top shelf, angled toward me and optimized for my ear height.

With all this, there is a feeling of respect for the instrument that makes it engaging and fun to play, which is of course what keeps one learning.

So yes, I also thank this community for being such a wealth of informed and helpful discussion!

Steve