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I recently tried (very briefly) the Korg Grandstage, which has the same RH3 action as the D1, and I have to say the action felt completely satisfactorily, definitely above the Yamaha GHS, Kawai RH-C and Roland PHA4-Standard.
If I'd want a low-cost controller to use with VSTs, this would definitely be a top contender.
I have to underline though that I tried it on the fly, only checked the feel and that was that. If I would be on the market for something like this, I'd spend sufficient time with all the models under consideration, preferably hooked up to a laptop and VSTs, to really see how they feel and with which action I'm the happiest.

Hmm..above the GHS definitely but I am not sure I would personally go as far to say the same about the PHA4 (I use to own the FP30 and thought it was a fine action). I tried the Korg D1 the other day and whilst I thought it was good it still lacks triple sensor, escapement which the PHA4 has.

If anyone was considering, the similarly priced, D1 or FP30 I would think they'd have a tough choice to make if the action was high up their list...

I like very much korg rh3 action. Lovely smooth feeling to my taste. And quiet. Comparing with casio standar action is much smooth and quiet. I prefer it also over kawai es110. Too light and hollow to me. I would put rh3 on par with yamaha gh3. Korg feel more sophisticated and yamaha more solid. I have never tried roland.

Yes, not having the triple sensor is a downside in my opinion as well (but probably one I'd accept if the feeling itself is significantly better). I'm not sure the escapement, the way it's implemented in DPs currently, is such a loss. And the keys are significantly longer which makes for a nicer playing experience. They felt nice and solid and weren't noisy. That's why I'm thinking it's better.
And I also like the PHA4-standard in the FP30 - that's definitely my preferred action in that price range, or was until the D1. But as I was saying, if I was buying in that budget, I'd thoroughly test them connected to a notebook running my preferred VST.

I just got the D1.

Have been playing on a Roland RP-301 in the living room for the past 6 years. It has the Ivory Feel G keybed. I was looking for a 88 key library controller for my homestudio with a budget of about 600 euros.
I tested the Studiologic SL88 Studio, the Korg D1 and the Roland FP-30 comparing the key action in the same session. The studio logic which uses a TP100LR Fatar keybed had a really stiff action, the FP-30 really light (quite some lighter than the Ivory Feel G in my RP-301). The D1 sits in between the two being medium heavy.

From the 3 key actions I liked the D1 the most. It's also quite a step up from my RP-301 allowing for faster/easier less sluggish play. The sound of grand 1 is quite ok but I'm going to use it mainly as a controller for Kontakt Piano libraries. It has no triple sensor which the other two models have, but I was able to do note repetitions faster on the Korg,

Only downside to me is no USB or Bluetooth midi (DIN midi works fine though).

Design wise I liked the SL88 Studio the most, but the action was to stiff to my liking.

Update. After testing the D1 with two of my favorite piano libraries, an unacceptable issue came to the surface.

De velocity curve is off in this piano. It has 5 settings: setting two and three are the most hard settings. Even on those settings the minimum velocity I could get out of it was about 15 while in my Roland RP301 it is like 2 or 3 consistent in PP play.
This problem won't be that noticeable on its onboard sounds as there are not that much velocity layers.


The Bechstein C Digital Grand library has a realtime velocity histogram which showed clearly that it is virtually impossible to play PP while on the RP-301 and the SL88 this is possible without too much effort.

So if you want to buy this board to control high quality multi velocity layer piano libraries beware of the fact that playing pianissimo pieces will be very very difficult even on Touch level 3.

As a gigging device on PA system with Epiano sounds or pop piano, the D1 will be a awesome key action stage piano because the mechanics feel great.

I traded it for the SL88 Studio and this board has a really good velocity response out of the box (even better than the RP-301). The key action is stiffer but I will get used to that.

Now this is a problem when trying out DPs. Everyone says you pick the best action within your budget. You play it at the store (with sound on/off) and it may seem nice. But you won't know what that action does when the DP is connected to a computer. The limitations of the internal sound engine may hide the inadequacies of the action.

The Korg RH3 action is supposed to be quite good, and I added the D1 to my shortlist today as it is priced quite attractively. I have tried the same action with other Korg models and found it okay/acceptable. I can work around the absence of USB-to-host. But if the mechanics of the key movement are not translated to appropriate midi messages, I don't see the point of it.

I have similar questions about the CDP-S100 and PX-S1000 actions, but there isn't much information out there.

Maybe RH3 configuration in D1 is faulty, or Tjong just had faulty unit. In Grandstage, which has RH3 as well, it sends full MIDI range. I was able to get everything from 1 to 127 when tested it in Pianoteq.

The thing is, I'm not sure each Korg's RH3 is the same. I had SP-250 many years ago and I remember it to be much worse then current generation. Maybe they improved it without changing the name?

If my $100 midi controller with a spotty action provides values in the 1-127 range, I don't see why a $600 DP should struggle with it.



Quite possible. Unfortunately, if I buy this it will have to be a blind purchase. I have tested the action, but I cannot test this exact model.

It sure is. And the keyboard uses eight different hammers.

But what I find surprising is this:


So, who exactly designed the RH3 action?

RH3 is Korg's own action.

Good to know that. There has been talk of them using Fatar keybeds long after RH3 showed up.

Went to the store, again, today, mainly to test the Korg RH3 hammer action. They had two models available. The G1 (with I mistook for the G1 Air last time round), and the LP380. I chose to spend time with the G1.

Last time, I said that the action was "acceptable," but I didn't spend a lot of time on it as I was more interested in the Casio CDP and dedicated most of my time to it. I would like to revise my opinion.

The instruments I tried today:

• Casio CDP-235 (Scaled Hammer Action)
• Korg SP-280 (NH)
• Korg G1 (RH3)
• Yamaha YDP 143 (GHS)
• Yamaha YDP 163 (GH3)
• Yamaha CLP 645 (NWX)
• Pearl River GPXXX acoustic grand with some pianodisc player widget attached

The G1 and the acoustic grand were the only instruments I tested with the sound on. All the other tests were purely based on the keybed response.

I would put the RH3, GH3 and NWX actions very close to each other. All of them are nice to play, and have the same, minor difficulty when playing near the fallboard. The acoustic grand, obviously, doesn't have this problem. However, while its keys have "weight," they feel much lighter and are therefore easier to play than any of the aforementioned actions.

The Casio SHA, Korg NH and Yamaha GHS actions are close enough to each other, but in this group I'd definitely pick the Casio.

Based on all the actions I have tried, I'd say that the Casio actions and the Korg RH3 are probably the best ones you can find for less than $1500 in my country. I cannot comment on the Roland PHA 4 action as I haven't tried it yet.

The Roland PHA-4 has been out for several years in the FP30 and other pianos. Is it just that there are no stores that carry Roland in your area? Or have the Rolands just not made it into your market?

Roland has a presence in the country, but their DPs are generally available only when you specifically order it, and I am not even sure if they offer any kind of warranty. I think there is one store within a 100 mile radius which might have an FP-10 demo unit; and this is according to their distributor for this region.

Casio, Yamaha, Korg and Kawai have a much, much better presence in my city.

The Kawai distributor actually offered to send a CA48 to my home to test it out as I couldn't try it during my Mumbai visit a couple of months back. They are moving to a new showroom, so I guess the demo piece has been dismantled in preparation for the move. I said no as I had no intention of wasting his time.

I don't think the Roland guys would even make that offer.

Just Blind ordered a D1.

Can post up some recordings and compare it to the Yamaha p105 and Roland fp10 when it arrives

https://youtu.be/5QN9u-Uxd-U

Comparison between the Kawai ES110 and the Kord D1

both sound amazing but the korg has the edge to my ears..

No option to test out either in my country I always go on info from this site and online reviews .

We have no other choice

@ Mta88

Good luck with your new D1. Please send us some of your thoughts after spend some time with it. I thought it was a great board for the price especially with the RH3 action. I have not played one, but I like what I hear on and see online, Plus it gets great reviews everywhere you look.

One thing however, I believe the included pedal is only on/off . If you want to take advantage of half-damper you will need to buy the Korg DS-1H. I'm sure there are other pedals to choose from, but cant go wrong with same manufacture.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...e-sustain-pedal-with-half-damper-control


https://www.korg.com/us/products/accessories/ds_1h/

The D1 was at the top of my list for driving my VST libraries. I'm wondering if anyone else has had the same issue as Tjong, or if they've managed to get the full MIDI range 1 to 127 on the D1?


It was the same on my old M3-88, I could get the full range no problem. Unfortunately I would be blind purchasing the D1, however I auditioned the Kawai ES-110 recently, and I think I'll pull the tigger on that instead if there is an inherent issue with the D1's RH3 configuration.

I definitely get the full 1-128 range with my D1 and Roland UM-ONE mk2 usb-midi, however it is difficult to play midi value 2-10 and 120-127 consistently.