Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards THE RD-700NX Thread!

I couldn't watch it for more than a few seconds either. Isn't it amazing that after all the comments on forums like this and underneath youtube clips screaming for straightforward, unadulterated demonstrations of an instrument's sonic capabilities, (and not long speeches, backing tracks or - goodness gracious - vocal accompaniments!) that the producers haven't yet got the message?

Interesting... How do you position your fingers? Do you play with the fleshy part of the fingers, or have your finger tips vertical to the keys (thus having your nails come in contact with the keys when you play)? Mine's only problem is the the keys slowly develop "wood grain" like stain, almost like some aged piano keys, but to a lesser degree.

Othello, I think that mainly the nails of my thumps come in contact with the keys.
Some keys feel a bit rough already. If the key-wear goes on that fast, I might have to exchange the keys in some months...

It's really just not good enough that Roland have failed to address such a major issue by now, and instead appear to have introduced a new model with the same problem. My GAS for an RD700NX has been reigned back sharply and despite its limitations, I'm sticking with my CP5 for now.

I haven't had much time to play with it our NX, maybe a couple of hours total over 6 or so separate occasions. I'm still trying to work out how to run the DPBSD file through it and simultaneously record the audio. I can get the DPBSD file to play on a USB stick plugged into it, but the front panel controls don't influence the sound so I'm going to have to add some MIDI commands, or maybe make a separate configuration setup MIDI file that I run first.


I was able to replicate that with MP3 playback but I don't believe I heard it with WAV playback. It sounds like the very ends of the notes are abruptly stopped at key lift, rather than realistically damped. The voice reserve setting doesn't seem to fix it. It doesn't bother me much because I don't think we would ever need to play along with a file, but it would be nice if Roland fixed it.

So far I'm hearing some phasey sounds in some of the mid and upper mid notes that sound kind of fake. On note D4 the attack sounds kind of mushy and the decay sounds phasey; note D5 decay sounds too static. The piano tone itself is pleasant - particularly the low notes - through headphones, but loses a lot when playing through our mid-fi PA speakers. Headphone volume is a bit low, all the way up is comfortably loud with our AKG-K271S though a bit more volume would have been nice. Of the piano voices, the Concert and Studio are my favorite. The Studio is less metallic but also blander. I tend to open the lid opened all the way with it, and turn the pedal sympathetic resonance up a bit.

SO...I BOUGHT IT TODAY

But still have the issue of low sound volume with my AKG 240 mk2. Volume at 50% is really too low for playing ??? Any idea ?

Does some of you use a headphone amp ?

I suspect that NX pianos have the same "Master Gain" function as the F ones (I have an FP7F), so you should be able to raise the output of your new piano up to +12db as desired. (I.e., unless the headphone jack is independent of the Master Gain function -- I haven't checked that.)

On my FP7F I have to reset Master Gain every time I power on -- I don't know if that's the case with your instrument.

I can second a lot of your opinions on the sound dewster. The mid notes, if I don't up the resonance sound a little phasish. Funny the first thing I did was up the lid to the max too. That's how I played the steinway grand so now everything else sounds inferior.

I had one gig with it and was pleasantly surprised how good it sounded through my private slab monitor I had in my little corner of the stage. Unknown brand but it was much more piano-like than what I get through headphones. Bass was loud and clear too. Had the volume turned up pretty load since it was on stage and about 150 people in the audience. At home in my headphones it sounds a little wimpy compared to an acoustic.

My fav is the Brilliant Grand, cant get the concert grand to sound the way I want without stomping the damper pedal all the time. I like to play without it but I find the "ring" or sustain much shorter than I get from an acoustic piano. There's probably a setting somewhere I suppose.

Rather short opinion but I should get back to practising.

Cheers
Fred

/edit
Had to add something. We rehearsed some songs with the same PA system as we used on stage in a sound proof room a few days prior to the gig. At low volume it sounded almost awful. Like a synth. I was getting a little nervous about it but we rigged the stage and I took a practice run at much louder volume. No eq and the XLR output straight to mixer. The stage acoustics plus much louder volume made the same speaker sound a lot, and I do mean a lot, better.

Actually, I just went back to Guitar Center, and checked out the NX on display (for about a month now). The keys on the unit are still very pristine looking, with none of the wear problem. The V-Piano on display though, is in a horrid shape

I got it last week. I've got about 8 hours on it and I gigged with it last Sunday. Here's my take. I'm a piano player and was looking for a GREAT stage piano with Awesome feel and fantastic sound. This board is as close as it gets. When I turned it on I jammed a rock tune and was pretty disappointed the way it sounded. I then played a classical piece and the sound was magnificent. I then began to scroll through the different piano sounds and quickly found "Rock Piano". Tried the rock tune again and it sounded awesome..hmmm go figure...:). This is a players board through and through. The feel is amazing and I can flippin' rip on it.

KEYS DIRTY? No - not yet at least, but there are slight grooves in the key so I can only imagine that dust/dirt/sweat will get trapped but even dirty, I can't see it would take the feel away too much. I actually enjoy playing on the 700 more than I do my Yamaha C Baby Grand.

SOUND FOCUS - I didn't have much faith in this feature but I played with it at practice last Wednesday. We got jamming and the music got real thick on a Jazz piece (I was playing EP). I couldn't hear myself so used the sound focus and low and behold - I cut through and kept playing. It worked.. however once the band came back to earth you have to remember to back the sound focus off again but it's a great feature.

NOTE STEALING - I saw a few posts on this. I did replicate it but only with the sustain locked down and I played a ridiculous amount of notes. I'm not sure if it's a 64 poly when you layer or if it divides the 128 by how many layers you use but I can't think of a song that would make this a big deal. The sound is so thick by the time it begins to poly max and "steal" it's no big deal for me at least.

Not sure if there is an aftermarket music stand but it would be convenient to have something. Luckily I have a top 49 key for occasional strings that I lay my lead/cheat sheets on. otherwise the board is to narrow to lay an 8x11 paper on it.

I did plug directly into the stage snake last week using XLR and the sound was a lot better than using 1/4 plug, but that could have been from the older converter boxes that I was using. The sound engineer was blown away by the sound and the quality once I plugged in using XLR.

That's it for now. I bought it and I'm a believer. I'll post in couple weeks after 25 hours on it or so.

By the way - It's HEAVY. I mistakenly got used to my 88 key controller and a laptop and I forgot how heavy real stage pianos can be. If it's going to travel - it will require muscle and a lot of it when you add the flight case.

I'm curious how it works on piano sounds. You used it in EP sound, so it was Sound Foucus E. Piano Type:
"Changes the sound from soft to strikingly unique.
This parameter is effective only with respect to certain SuperNATURAL E. Piano tones."

According to the manual, there are also:

Piano Type1
Limits the volume change produced by variations in your playing touch, and also reduces the sense of stereo, allowing your sound to be more prominent in the band’s overall mix.
This parameter is effective only with respect to SuperNATURAL Piano.

Piano Type2
Reduces the sense of stereo.
This parameter is effective only with respect to SuperNATURAL Piano.

Sound Lift
Limits the volume change produced by variations in your playing touch.

Enhancer
Controls the harmonic content of the upper range, making your sound more prominent.
* This setting has no effect with respect to SuperNATURAL Piano tones.

Mid Boost
Boosts the mid-range frequencies.
* This setting has no effect with respect to SuperNATURAL Piano tones.


If anyone tried different types in live situation, let us know.

Can anyone help me with the NX and MIDI?

I've spent much of the day playing around with our NX, demoing the various "tones" in there (almost 1k) as well as the drum kits.

I also tried running the DPBSD MIDI file on it via the internal MIDI player and have had some success. If I do it after a factory reset I get some very lame, 2 layer, heavily stretched piano. But if I edit the system settings and set the "Part Mode" to "16PART" (rather than the default, which is "16PART + PERF") the voice playing is then whatever I pick from the front panel. The problem, as with other Roland SN DPs, is that the pedal sympathetic resonance and other sound effects are missing. I can edit these in the ONE TOUCH settings but that doesn't seem to influence MIDI playback for the missing sound effects. It passes the silent replay test, and I can can clearly hear key sympathetic resonance, so that's nice. But I'd really like to hear pedal sympathetic resonance via MIDI (who wouldn't?).

Pedal sympathetic resonance is a generic assignable in-line effect in the GX/GXF, but they removed that from the list of selectable effects in the NX and perhaps bound it more tightly to the APs? And of course they neglect to tell you anything about this in the MIDI implementation manual for the NX, so I'm flying completely blind.

I don't hear the "loom of strings" pedal down noise either when playing it via MIDI. I tried sending a SYSEX message to channel 1 that sets this in the "Live Set" thing, but no dice. In fact, when I explicitly pick the first main SN piano via Cakewalk, I get a piano that sounds very mono. Weird.

Here is the SYSEX I'm sending to try to increase the damper pedal noise:

F0 41 10 00 00 50 12 10 02 00 05 59 F7

I guess I'm doing something wrong as it seems to have no effect.

Anyone got any ideas on what I might try here? I can't say I really even understand the "Live Set" concept at this point.

Studio grand is my new best friend. Bland? Maybe, but I think it sounds clean as a whistle, and the touch is so gratifying.

HELPP !!! I have my RD700NX since few days and I have weird issues with the piano sounds. I hope I don't have a defective RD700NX !


1 - When the damper pedal is pressed, I find the Syn Resonance quite annoying and not realistic ( in the upper part of the keyboard , above middle C, rather than a subtle "string resonance", I hear a strange strong "windy" noise besides the note,). Way Too much effect ! For all the "ONE TOUCH PIANOS" It is set to :"Deph =52.

--> I have to lower it to 10 or set it OFF to have something realistic !

-> Strange nobody mentioned this ? (this problem occur only when the damper pedal is used)



2 - I can edit only 9 of the 30 pianos sounds !

the manual says "In the ONE touch PIANO screen use the VALUE dial to select the variation that you want to edit... press (Tone Edit) button..."

But then I have, in the first highlighted line, access to only 9 pianos:

001 - Concert Grand
002 - Honky-Kong 1
003 - Concert Mono
004 - Studio Grand
005 - Honky-Kong 2
006 - Studio mono
007 - Brillant Grand
008 - Honky-Kong 3
009 - Brillant Mono.

For example, Rock Grand, Mellow Studio or Antique Piano 1 & 2 are missing and therefore NOT editable ??

If I select and play for example the Rock GRAND and then press (TONE EDIT) key, I am proposed to edit 001:Concert grand.

And.... what the heck are those Honkey-Kong 2 & 3 since we have only ONE Honkey-Kond sound accessible through the ONE TOUCH Tones ?

--> Could someone check for me if his has access to setting for only 9 pianos or if for example he can edit the Rock GRAND ?




3 - I am very surprised that for ALL the 9 pianos available through the (TONE EDIT) key, the EDIT parameters are all the same. I hope I don't have a defective RD700NX !

I have (after I carefully restored all to initial conditions, with the INITIALIZE function) for example, for EACH of them :

LID =5
Damper Noise = 29
Duplex Scale =16
String Reso = 64
Key off reso = 64
Hammer noise = 0
and...
Synth Reso Deeph = 52
Peaking Freq = 250 Hz
HF Damp = 3150 Hz


--> How can ALL those parameters be the same for ALL piano !!!. They should be adapted to each sound ?

--> Could someone check for me if his setting are also the same for ALL 9 pianos ?




Many thanks in advance for your help

Honkey Kong 2 - is that some kind of console game featuring the adventures of a Caucasian instead of those of a large ape?

Strange, I think the default level is rather low. Since the pedal sympathetic resonance is an in-line effect there are a ton of other parameters you can adjust other than the level, have you tried any of those?


I believe you can pick among these 9 basic sounds or non-editable variations as starting points.


Rock Grand is based on the Concert Grand base voice.


I'm not sure, but I think Honkey Tonk is a non-editable base variation which is itself based on Concert Grand. Honkey Tonk2 is probably based on Studio Grand. Honkey Tonk 3 is probably based on Brilliant Grand.


I think they have altered them to some degree and then have centered the available controls so that they all start at the same point. I agree that seeing what they did to get the various voices would have been less confusing and much more instructive.

I just tested all the RD-700NX harpsichords in the Live Set front panel presets and none are SN. Bummer.

Here's a video review of the 700NX

http://bcove.me/j27r9t9v

Found it on www.keyboardmag.com/Gear

Funny mate.... he doesn't look an experienced player. Who is he?

20 to 25 attack layers? Only one decay layer? For all I know he could be 100% correct, but my feeling is that he's somewhat off-base with his SN musings.