By popular demand, a place to discuss all things related to the Roland FP-90X.

I got my FP90X about 3 weeks ago, I like it a lot.

I sold my FP90 and also cancelled my N1X order.

I am curious about other people settings.

I would like to know how to post a picture like you did above.

@ampersand: do you mind explaining why the FP90x is better than the FP90, to justify an upgrade?

I, too, am curious why you prefer the FP90x to the FP 90. And, if you don't mind, could you explain how you sold your old unit -- to a store, via Craigslist, etc.?

Congrats Ampersand and Purdy! Purdy I think you should get that "flap" out from below the pedal - helps hold the pedal firmly in place.

We really would love to hear some sound samples.

AFAIK, the only difference between the models is the PureAcoustic Piano Modeling, and the ambience effects brought by the PureAcoustic model.

- Hey, let's make power and pedal cables long enough that they are able to run down along the stand's sides!
- Ha. Don't think so!

I get mine this week. For just playing at home are the built-in speakers good enough?

Congrats

I went through all the settings and left it at default, I pushed the high end equalizer down a tad. And reduced the default velocity curve down by 10.


How to post a picture

Funny you should mention that I noticed it the other day thought maybe I should take it off, but it does add some weight and I was playing on the patio the other day on concrete and I suppose it helped.

Kind of an odd thing though. Could have been made to fit better.

I apologize; I meant, "flip" it so your heel is on that flap, and your toes on the pedal, like this...

Well that is obvious, now. . I suppose it is in a manual somewhere.

Thanks for sharing.

I think so although I do like to hook up a subwoofer to get some vibrations out of the bass.

I tried out through my magneplanar speakers which aren’t cheap but my amp has some delay in it and I was dealing with room acoustics.

Using an external speaker almost always adds some delay to the sound.

My last keyboard had speakers where the sound came out more in the back. And oddly I never noticed that for quite some time, until I moved it away from the wall and put it in the middle of a room and heard my son play.

So a little adjustment for me sound wise.

I did notice the other day with the outside jams session with drums, a couple of guitars, and a bass that I could hear my playing better. Really appreciated that. It’s like having a monitor.

Anyway, built in speakers will be just fine for playing at home. I’m no sure it is as loud as it should be from the claimed wattage.

But you do have to be careful if you are playing piano and switch to organ as it can blast your eardrums out so maybe it is loud enough.

I never claimed it was better for the record.

I’m afraid I won’t be much help here, I’m not a very technical person.

Truthfully, I really liked the FP90 and I had the funds to buy the FP90X so I bought it, hoping it would be an upgrade.

Personally, I don’t think there is a big difference between both of them, still I’m really happy.

It’s the action I really like.

In fact I like the action so much, I decided to cancel my N1X order.




I sold it on Facebook.

Some may disagree with me but both the FP90 and FP90X internal speakers sounds is not good.

I just bought JBL 305P powered speakers and trying to make that work, but like I said I’m not a technical person.

@ampersand: thanks for explaining... I was simply curious about the upgrade.

Hm, I don't like the idea of delay when using external speakers even if the quality is better. Hopefully I will be ok with the built-in speakers. It will only be in a smallish living room.

It's arrived! Still in the box though... 😁

Unboxing video?

Delay may or may not be an issue.

Speakers have plenty of output for a living room.

haha too late!

Had a quick go. Yeah, I won't need external speakers. In fact I often had to keep sliding the volume down! 🤣

Well I know I will be keeping it. Will have to play around a bit until I am happy with the piano sounds but already there were a few that I liked.

I found the hammer action and keys in general to be great, definitely pleased with that.

Does anyone know, I know I can record a piece directly on it but can I then send it via Bluetooth to my phone to share with others through WhatsApp etc?

I am trying to connect to zoom for my lessons online.

So far I connected from my FP90X USB to my iPad with a lightning adapter. It doesn’t seem to work. When I get home I will try and see if it will work on my laptop but I would prefer to have work on my iPad.

I would rather not use an audio interface like focusrite if I can do it directly from the FP90X.

Anyone else tried this/ or suggestions?

Yes the speakers are plenty loud.

My problem is how the speakers sound.

Do you find they sound good?

I'm not sure what you're trying to do, but can't it be done via bluetooth?

Mine sound good enough when playing audio from the phone over bluetooth, so I can't imagine they fare worse regarding the internal sound. What about yours don't you like?

Both my iPhone 12 and iPad Pro connect through usb for midi and audio. They just work.

I’m not sure how zoom fits into that picture.

Some apps you have to connect to the fp90x

Yeah, same here I can connect to my iPhone with the usb on the back of the keyboards.

It won’t work with zoom.

So I check the version (for fun) and my version is 1.0.1 and the latest is 1.0.3, I couldn’t even do the update. I kept getting “no update file”. I will go buy a different memory stick and see if this help.

I don’t think the upgrade will fix my zoom problem but it can’t hurt.

Not sure how you are trying to set things up, are you trying to route your zoom audio to the DP speakers? If so you can just use Bluetooth audio and save the hassle on wired connections.

Do you mean you don't like the sound from the internal speakers so you're using external now? So far they sound pretty good to me. My only issue so far is on the piano sounds the lower register sounds a bit muddy to me but I haven't played around with the equalizer settings or any settings at all yet so am hoping I can figure that out.

I would like for my teacher to hear me play via audio interface instead of my internal speakers.

Yes I don’t like the sound via internal speakers and like you I find the lower notes muddy.

If you get to improve the sound please share your settings.

I tried messing with the EQ and it would not save the changes. :-(


I kinda like my piano sound on the bright side.

What about with the Piano Designer App, have you tried that yet?

I did but not much of a difference.

Probably going to just live with it.

I am hoping I don't notice it after a while.... or that my ears will pop and it will suddenly sound better!

I like the mids and highs so far, just those lows bugging me a bit.

I wonder if the lows still sound like that through external speakers?

I started using the free Korg Module with the free sample grand piano for iPhone. Sounds pretty good. I’m still not satisfied. Maybe I’m to picky??? I am hoping pianoteq will have a iOS version that sounds good soon. I’m really not interested in connecting my piano to a laptop. I’m the type of person who wants to play piano and not mess with technology if I can help it.

Yes, to me anyways.

Ok so what I would like to do but don't know if it's possible is this: record a video of me playing using the smartphone but in a way that the sound goes directly to the phone/video rather than using the phone's microphone.

I know it's possible with the go mixer pro but I can't find that in stock anywhere and wondered if it's possible to do it some other way?

So it is not an internal speaker issue.

If you like a bright piano, try the stage or stage bright or concert brilliant

The equalizer slider setting don’t change when you power off. The equalizer frequency and mid range settings can be saved by doing a memory save function.

There is quite a bit of stuff going on in the low range of a piano.

I would turn ambience off,

lid to max, cabinet resonance off, soundboard to max

Turn all the resonances off
duplex scale off

Good luck!

It is an internal speaker issue.

The internal speakers are not good sounding period.

I tried them with Spotify listening to songs and still does not sound good to me. Maybe to others it sounds great but not to me.

The low notes issue is a different issue altogether.

I have that problem with my headphones too!!!

That being said I appreciate your help and will try your suggestions to see if it helps.

This worked for me.

url=https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/229346/how-do-i-record-video-on-ios-with-external-audio-interface]Record external audio[/url]

I’ve used motiv by sure for video recording and it has a sound meter and I just checked and it works too

I am using a lightening to usb cable to connect directly to the fp90x

Also handy for virtual instruments

.
I know a store in the US that has a couple go mixer pro, pm me if you are interested.

Maybe this is the point where you just cut your losses and return the keyboard.

It is far too expensive for you to be not happy with the sound.

There is obviously some speaker, headphone that you are happy listening too. And if that plugged into the fp90x and listening to audio through Bluetooth or through usb isn’t cutting it then you know your answer.

But the classic way to trouble shoot something is to start with something that works and change one thing at a time.

Good luck!

I like the action too much to return it.

I play with headphones 98% and I choose registration — 1-2 superlightST or number 6 Concert Brilliance and like those.

Like I said I will try your suggestions and see if it helps.

And if I can make the audio interface work with my lessons, I will barely need to use the internal speakers.

How long have you been using it? I am only on day 2 and am starting to like the piano sounds better now. I was also going to suggest some of the bright ones as Purdy suggested. I forget now which ones I particularly liked but there were a few where at least the lower register started to sound more like what I was expecting or what I am used to from the KR-7. I must say though I generally stuck to one piano sound on the KR-7 and rarely deviated from it except to play rock piano or whatever. But for playing clasical music and most contemporary music I stuck with the one classical concert piano setting with quite a bit of reverb.

I think and hope it's just a matter of time until you find a setting you like.

I love the feel of the keys though.

It’s interesting because a lot of the criticism of the supernatural and I suppose pure acoustic modeling seems to stem around the sound being too metallic or I suppose too bright.

The concert brilliant snd stage bright are to my ears very bright pianos. I think more suited to cutting through in a group then playing alone.

I agree that you should give your ears a chance to adjust.

You can only expect so much out of the internal speakers as I think as with all speakers that size, they just don’t sufficiently produce low frequencies.

Real pianos have a lot of.vibration in the bass and the small speakers just don’t move enough air and there is no real resonance chamber.

And it is interesting that you feel the bass is muddy because you can tell that Roland went through a lot of effort to model the resonance and sympathetic vibrations that occur on acoustic pianos, And the sustain on notes is pretty cool on how long it can last.

Just goes to show how subjective sound is.

I see. I would normally just connect the line out from DP to audio interface connected to a laptop, not sure if it is even possible to feed the audio back via the same usb connection.

My HD6XX headphones arrived recently and I was quite amazed how much it tamed that metallic ringing that plagued my Shure SRH840, which I always thought was the fault of the pureacoustic sound engine. I didn’t realize how much that Shure was accentuating those ringing resonances, which masked a lot of details in the piano tones. With the HD6XX, the ringing sits _behind_ the main piano sound, creating a much more natural piano tone.

Using pianoteq the difference in piano tones is not so pronounced, except the pedal noise. Again the HD6XX required no alteration at 0db, but for the shures I need to bring the pedal noise down 10-12db so as not to sound like clanging cymbals with every step.

Purely my own opinion, with the HD6XX I find the pureacoustic engine seemingly more detailed than pianoteq.

As for internal speaker sounds, I’ve come to understand room acoustics plays a big and mostly overlooked factor in sound quality. I believe most pianos are tuned to project to large space (more so for cabinet ones like my LX706). Of course I don’t mean a stadium but for instance a large living room or a space with high ceilings. If you have it placed, eg. in a small rectangular room on side of the long wall it will be muddy especially in the bass notes. For these setups small near field external speakers and an optional sub would possibly do better.

Finally I also find coming from a sampled piano engine to modeling, there is some adjustment in playing needed to handle the longer sustain and resonances. I don’t know how it compares to a real grand piano, but I guess it is only a good thing to be more aware of pedaling techniques and such.

The fp90x is an audio interface so you can get sound out and in via the USB port. No external audio interface required.

If you want to have your teacher hear you talk or sing you would have to hook up the mic to the fp90x. I am assuming it also captures the mic input through the usb audio out.

Thanks for this, I'm a bit thick though and don't quite understand how it works. 😬

Anyone know a good pair of headphones to use? I am using bose 700 which are good but wondering if for digital pianos it's better to have a pair of Roland headphones or some other pair dedicated to digital piano sounds?

Thinking of purchasing FP90X, I play tested PHA50 and it felt too "deep" and not resistant enough for classical music. The sound "out of the box" felt a bit "glassy". I like the other sounds though. But I will stick to my Kawai ES8, even though that one also has issues hence I was looking for a replacement. It'd be OK for other styles, but Chopin doesn't feel right fo me on PHA50. Re headphones, I like my open back Sennheisers. This model is still in production after 10 years-a rare example of quality. Tried others and they are still the best.

With the FP90, my old open-back Sennheiser HD545 (150Ohm) are fine. Some others are strikingly worse, not sure if this is due to the headphones amp or to the Roland DP engine, adjusting eq didn't help much. I don't believe in Roland headphones, I'd stick with audiophile favourites. So try before buying; if you can't, buy from a place that accepts returns.

Open the camera app
Plug-in the usb Cable
The app will detect that there is a usb audio device and use it instead of the built in microphone

My experience is the velocity curve has a huge influence on the feel

By default the fp90x is at 60 on a scale of 0 to 100

Ah ok, thanks that seems easy enough. I have the iPad Air 2020 which is a usb-c connection. So I need a usb-c to usb cable, right? The usb on the piano is which kind of usb type though? Type B or type B mini?

Type B

Thank you for your help, thought so and went ahead and ordered one on Amazon. Won't arrive until Monday, the agony....but in the meantime I can try the usb flash drive at least to save a mp3 audio and then put it on my computer.

What is the most up to date firmware version please?

Can answer that myself, it's 1.03. So mine needs updating from 1.01. It says ambience wasn't working properly in 1.02 but I wonder if that means it also wasn't working properly in 1.01? 🤔

Will update later and see if anything seems any better.

I bought a new memory stick and was able to do the update.

At least I have the latest version now.

Have also done the update and not noticed any improvements. However, today I played a lot with the headphones on and thought it sounded much better so am beginning to agree that the problem is the speakers.

The problem from the speakers is perhaps from the fact that the 2x30W of the FP90X while quite nice for a portable is not enough.

I have a decent 6x30W (N1X), but some people would prefer a 2x120W + 180W (Piano Phoenix). (Should I add Devialet speakers which sound pretty good : 900W per speaker).

It is quite hard to make speakers which rivals good headphones.

According to
https://www.roland.com/global/suppo...rs/a837234c-fd73-47ee-bd26-9c245db2fdfe/
all that's been done by updates so far is:

- 1.02 fixed an issue with sostenuto which I'd never seen
- 1.03 fixed an issue with ambience that had been introduced by 1.02

It's not clear to me if any firmware update can fix problems with the speakers, especially since 'the speakers do not sound good' is not much to work on. I haven't managed to make mine sound anything other than normal - you send the sound to them, they reproduce the sound. Mine don't make poor sound sound good, but I haven't heard them making good sound sound poor either.

For me it's just that I struggle to find any piano sound where I like the tone and the low notes don't sound like there's a woolly hat covering the speakers. The mid and high ranges are fine for me.

Today I played with the on board piano designer a bit and that definitely helped. I set the lid higher up and that made a difference for me. So once I find something I am happy with in piano designer I will save it (you can save them, right?!).

This guy in the N1X forum build or customized something to put on top of the speaker to redirect the sounds toward the pianist.

I am trying to find it but it’s a lot of searching.

That might help a lil bit with sound.

I'm thinking of upgrading to the FP90x coming from an FP10 with the PHA-4 standard. Do you guys think the upgrade is going to be significant if I'm after the action? I tried the PHA50 on the Roland GP in a store after hearing so many good things about it and honestly I wasn't blown away with it but I've only been playing for about a year so I'm not an expert. It did feel abit easier and pleasant to play but I didn't really have that immediate OMG this is so much better impression so I wasn't sure if paying about 4 times more was worth it. I'm assuming the PHA50 on the GP will be the same as the FP90x?

Not really interested in other sounds so the piano samples are all I care about. Mostly interested in classical pieces.

One thing I find is the reverb settings don't give the effect I am used to on the old KR-7.

Which piano sound do most people think is the best one for easy classical pieces?

Does anyone know a good dust cover? The most popular one on Amazon has many bad reviews because it leaves a lot of tiny black fibers on the keyboard.

The KR-7 has larger speakers and differently mounted, I don't think you'll ever get the same punch out of those in the FP-90x. They're really not comparable pianos.

I like the mellow variants, but that's me. And I'm not a pianist.

I haven't found a cover to my liking yet, but if you like black then https://www.ebay.de/itm/143865277018 or https://viktoryshop.com/product/roland-fp-90-88-keyboard-cover-by-viktory/ may have something for you (I haven't purchased either).

Thanks.

Oh, does anyone know why the FP-90X doesn't work with Piano Partner 2? It says FP-90 is compatible so why not the x version?

I think it works with another app which seems to be a PP2 upgrade.

Folks/Owners - is there an audio loop back feature on the FP-90/FP-90X, that allows audio from the computer (running a VST) to be played back on the FP-90/FP-90X's speakers?

Yes, it has line input, and you must disable "local control".

Mind the speakers are some distance from perfection - the FP90 internal engine sounds much better with Sennheiser over-ear headphones.

The fp90x has usb audio input so you simply select the fp90x as your audio output device from your computer.

I understand the line in function, but I was looking for what Purdy is saying:


Thanks Purdy.
One question though, do I have to change some settings. Like for example, the P515 requires a setting to be turned 'On' for the loop back to work:

No but you would want to turn local control off and as I recall there is a setting for the usb audio volume

I just read this again and the part you are referencing in the Yamaha manual impacts recording from the piano.

I don’t know if there is similar control.

If you are just trying to play a vst through the usb audio, it would seem either piano will work out of the box.

This Yamaha feature seems to be to send the audio input to the output. I imagine you may have a CD player plugged into the input, then you play along with it, and the combined audio is sent to a computer, as opposed to sending only the piano's audio.

But I think OP was simply asking to send MIDI from the piano to the computer, have a VST produce the audio, and hear the audio in the piano instead of the piano sound?

I believe you are correct. I have a Yamaha keyboard with that same loop back and I never use it.

And I do not have to do anything special to enable audio playback via usb from a computer using a vst.

Same on my Roland.

With something like Korg module running on an iPad connected via usb you just plug it in and it works.

With either the Roland or Yamaha.

Of course as already mentioned, you probably want to turn local to off so you hear only the sound from the computer.

Some Roland propaganda videos

Da, comrade!!!

Just out of curiosity: does anybody know of a location where users share self customized Piano Designer settings?

Hmmmmm..... I can't think of any. RolandClan.com also doesn't have a section for the FP- series. At least here we have an owners thread.

Speaking of specialized settings.

In the Roland piano designer app there are some special tunings for the gp609. It would be interesting to know what was done and if that would crossover to other dps.

It seems there is a lot of customization that could be done on a per note basis. I don’t recall color or loudness per key being used at all in the default piano.


On another front, I was showing the sympathetic resonance to my son, holding down one key and playing others to make it ring.

You could even get a slight bit of sympathetic resonance out of a C key with A.

OK.
Now that this model has been out for about a month or so:

What advice would the FP-90X owners, who have upgraded from FP-90, give to current FP-90 owners? Do you like the PureAcoustic sound engine so much that you would recommend current FP-90 owners to upgrade? What other improvements do you see with theX?


---
Full disclosure: I am a current FP-90 owner who shamelessly invited myself to the 90X owners club

Hello,


So, Mr. @mmathew, exactly how many pianos/controllers have you hoarded by now 😉?

From the top of my head, I'm counting a P515, VPC1, N1X, and now... an FP-90 as well?

In this respect, you might resemble my brother, who also has a little "treasure vault" containing his history of 30+ years of musical, stage and production equipment and accessories 😋.

Cheers and happy curating,

HZ

You’ve violated clearly stated company protocol, mmathew!

Whilst you may think “what’s the big deal; other than “X” these instruments are basically identical,” and common sense would dictate you are correct in this observation, we simply cannot allow a ‘self invitation’ without prior authorization!

If you’d taken the time to review our policies, protocols, and regulations, this situation could’ve been avoided by simply filling out a “Petition to Transition” form, and submitting it to me for review and -perhaps- subsequent approval to transition from non-X to X!

I hereby declare you in contempt of this court, and for this blatant disregard of the law, I shall give thee one more Bannon!

Well, maybe we should take this to the "do you have more than one keyboard thread?" but in summary, I have always had one/two slabs on the side in addition to a permanent/semi-permanent one

Currently:
Permanent/Semi-Permanent: N1X
Slabs on the side: RD-2000, FP-90

I have access to some good piano stores and made friends with them, and they help me trade and sell on consignment. I am a hoarder, experimenter, seeker, explorer.

I'll remember that @Pete In my view, Roland is offering the same PHA-50 action in two DPs with different sound engines. They have not dropped the price of the FP-90. Everything else is the same (from the specs).

The PureAcoustic Modeling does have some good reviews on YouTube, but unfortunately the comparisons don't seem to go into enough detail - that's why I am asking owners who have upgraded.

Hello,


Let's shake hands on that 🙂.

Cheers and happy learning,

HZ

I broke down and bought the rpu-3.

To be honest I did not know how sostenuto worked as it didn’t function on the piano I grew up playing.

I can confirm that all pedals can be proportional so if you set the left pedal to bend down and right to bend up you have some control of the frequency.

I made a discovery today. All the presets in piano designer, even those supposedly for other pianos work with the fp-90x

For example the lx-17 concert piano tuning bY Hugo Veryzer.

It is worth an exploration.

You can try these 2 piano designer custom setup files for PureAcoustic engine. I find they are a better starting point than the default setup.

https://rolandcorp.com.au/blog/what-is-roland-pure-acoustic-modelling-technology

Unfortunately you can't use these files directly in the FP-90x as there is no provision to load these setup files via a USB drive.

I can view them directly in a text editor and could copy the settings. It does appear that the file formats for a saved setup via the piano designer app and these files are different.

Thanks for sharing.

Does anybody know if there is some option to create custom velocity curves like in for example in Poanoteq?
I know that the touch sensitivity can be changed from "off" to "100" but I couldn't find a setting for the velocity curve.

I don't know if this is a feature of any Digital Piano @brennbaer - only controllers, and/or software VSTs can do this. Maybe it's possible in a very round about, i.e., changing the volume levels of each note but even this does not replace the velocity curve.

I believe the velocity setting is a series of velocity curves.

I stole this from another post about a Kawai keyboard but I would guess this is pretty common in how digital pianos treat the velocity setting.

But if you want something really fancy like an s curve, no you can’t do that on the FP-90x

My take on it after playing with fancy curves with VSTs is that is that it is nice to have a lot of adjustment but a continuous curving arc is adequate for my needs.

[/quote]

One question, do we still have the Bluetooth page-turn-with-pedal function in fp-90x? I cannot locate this function in the menu anymore (compared to previous fp-60)..

Looks to be gone?

The Roland piano everyday app supports page turning. I suppose apps that allow midi control of page turning will work.

if anyone is interested I did use some software to create a smooth stretch tuning. I'm not sure it makes much difference but I thought I would share.

You can download the tuned.psf file from here and put it into the piano designer folder on your appropriate device. It should show up as a preset in piano designer.

smooth stretch tune

it looks like this in piano designer



this is the default FP-90x stretch tuning

A nice review of the FP-90x

So an interesting result today.

If you uses the piano designer app and save a configuration to your library, it also saves the piano type.

So for instance you do a custom tuning of the concert grand piano 1, save it to the library, select the stage mellow, go to the library and click on that saved configuration, the stage mellow becomes, the concert grand.

so you could save that to piano and next time you power up the stage mellow would be, the concert grand

it also means that each piano is tuned separately and if you want to apply a custom tuning to multiple pianos, you will have work around this or you will end up changing the piano type.

Here you can see the file that is saved in the library and the piano type is the cabinet, with 18 pianos on the FP-90X

the piano designer app doesn't actually let you select the piano type as far as I can tell, so I view this "feature" as a bug.

Let me see if I understand this correctly:
if I don't use the app, the piano designer and piano selection are essentially "disconnected", meaning you can design/tune as you wish and apply the same to multiple piano selections. But on the app, a piano design is saved along with the piano selection.

I used the app mainly to select pre-configured presets so I haven't used the library feature at all, but I think I will like the feature where the piano selection is also saved with the design. Essentially it is a snapshot of your piano selection + settings at one point in time, and this feature allows me to recall that.

If you don’t use the app and use the piano designer app, it only applies to the currently selected piano.

After you make the change it asks you if you want to save the change.

There is no quick globally edit all pianos.

The pre configured presets are in the library. If you use those it is only temporary until you hit store to piano.

Those presets contain the piano type.

So for instance if you select stage grand on the keyboard and use a concert grand preset in the library it changes the stage grand to a concert grand.

The name displayed on the piano won’t change.

So you have 8 individually configurable pianos. They can be tuned differently and you could for instance make the default powered on piano a concert mellow.

Another review comparison with the FP-60x

Has anyone who owns the fp90x- owned the fp90 too.

I have had my FP-90X for couple of weeks and an FP-90 for 3 years approx. They are in separate residences and we are in lockdown so I cannot do a direct comparison. I think the 90x is an improvement. I like the My Stage button and enjoy the Jazz Piano preset. I mostly just practice on the default Concert Grand. Due to where the pianos are, I use headphones with the FP-90 and can use the speakers on the 90x. The speakers are fine at about half volume.

The piano tone on the 90 is very pure and took me a week or two for my ears to adjust and accept it as piano. The 90x is more realistic and I liked it straight away (with the ears already trained to the 90). The demo songs at half volume play at acoustic grand levels and sound awesome.

The action is solid on both. Build quality is excellent on both.

I expect I will never have them in the same room but I might bring the headphones I normally use with the 90 to try with the 90x and compare. I am a bit disappointed there is no headphone optimisation setting or options in either piano, otherwise very happy.

The way I understand it from the manual that the headphone jack is optimized for headphone output.

Thanks Purdy,

It was nitpicking on my part. The headphone output seems to add a small amount of ambience (reverb) and sounds fine as is. The fact that it has both size headphone sockets is a really nice feature.

I'm hoping some owners can chime in and help me or tell me if there is something wrong with my unit.

I just got my Fp90X this week and I absolutely hate the way it's sounding.

One of my biggest issues is this obnoxious ringing when using the pedal that makes me want to rip my ears out. It is most noticable in the mid range and playing semitones. I have tried piano designer.. turned everything to the lowest settings and can't get it to even be affected. Is this normal? Is there a setting I can change?

Also, problem B. Some of my black keys are significantly louder to the point where when I play Amaj in the midrange all I hear is the C#. I can turn the volume down on C# about 70% and it fixes it mostly. However, it only happens when I am playing through speakers. If I use headphones I need to turn my c# back up to normal. (It's a few more keys than just that c# but it is definitely the most noticable)

I am planning on shipping it back out for return Monday which is really upsetting so I hope someone has an answer. I loved my FP30 and love the FP90 outside of the sound issues even more..

Here is a video link of my "ringing issue" for anyone that may be interested. It doesn't produce as ear piercing of a noise as in person but it is still appearant in the video

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AmUlBpaJyufMpR_YsvKDwsIfr2xu


Thanks in advance

Hi Sporadic,

Sounds like normal sympathetic resonance with the treble equaliser on max. You could try a factory reset in case some settings are messed up. I played with registration and then had to do a factory reset.

The loudspeaker issues sound like a more serious problem. Does the 3 band equaliser have any affect on the problem? Try the piano in a different spot in case there are standing waves amplifying some notes.

I forgot I also did a firmware update to v1.03 as soon as I got the piano. Might help.

UPDATE HISTORY
[ Ver.1.03 ] APR 2021
Bug Fix
The following bug was fixed.
Ambience does not work properly in Ver.1.02.

You might try to lower the sympathetic resonance settings in Piano Designer.

Also the ringing sound might just be the "disharmonic result" of 5 halftones sounding at the same time which naturally happens when you keep the sustain pedal pressed down

Did you try to play the five adjacent keys simultaneously without pedal?
Should sound disharmonic as well (minus the sympathetic resonance of course)

That is how stringed instruments sound.

If turning down the full scale string resonance, duplex scale, and ambience doesn’t help then you should return it

Personally I think the sympathetic resonance from the undamped upper keys is a bit overdone.

And there is no separate setting for damper resonance or for those upper keys. Which I believe some kawai models have.

Also the equalizer might help a bit turning down the high end. By default I believe the eq high is at 4K I’ve lowered that

If you do return it be sure and send some feedback to Roland.

The equalizer can minimize it but I have to drastically reduce the mids/highs to the point where it ruins more than it fixes.
I did do a factory reset and it didn't seem to help either issue. I also did move the piano to the middle of the room to test the harmonics in the area as well and had the same result. I thought the key issue was a touch response thing but I even shut off touch response so all keys played at max velocity and it was still way louder than the white notes. I am going to plug in my studio monitors this weekend and see if its an issue with the output as well or just something related to the internal speakers and that frequency,

I should at least try the firmware update and see if it helps anything for me. Thank you!


I did turn the sympathetic resonance all the way down and it didn't help. I was actually surprised that tweaking everything to an extreme low in the piano designer did not have much of an effect on the overall sound of the piano (outside of a couple of the settings)
Also, I only played the 5 adjacent keys with the pedal in that video to kind of make sure the video reproduced the sound I am hearing. I would almost be ok with it if it did it during that scenario as its very rare you would play semitones in that fashion at all let alone with a pedal. However, I cant even play Maj7th chord melodies with the pedal that have the 7 and 8 notes because it produces the terrible ringing tone. Or something like a Sus 2 chord where there is a half step tone involved.



Thanks for the response, I will try to mess with it a little bit more and see If I can make it tolerable. I think im going to end up trying a Yamaha p515 and the Kawai Es920 although I am worried about both as I hear the Yamaha keys are so heavy you fatigue quickly and the Kawai keys are very light... I think the Roland Keys are perfect so I really would prefer to keep it.
I am not sure if I am just mad about the ringing or not but every time I play it I hate piano sounds more and more.
I really feel like the distinction between the chords is not good. When I go back to the Fp30x and I can hear the difference between two chords much more drastically. However, even though I wasn't initially in love with 90x key action over the 30... when I go back to the 30 now I realize how much better the key action on the 90 is.

I for one don’t think a piano should be just tolerable. You should really enjoy it.

Have you tried the upright piano? It is not a pure acoustic modeled piano. Might help you hone in on the problem.

I'm no piano engineer, but my 90x doesn't seem to sound like that video, pedals or not. I'm not sure if the things that stand out to me are the same that stand out to you, but I'd be inclined to say there's something loose on your specific unit. Take this opinion for what it's worth, which isn't much.

To me it sounds okay, the resonances sound fine. Listening is always very subjective, but for me the C# does not stick out in volume (see fourth note in the waveform as well). I have recorded a comparison with my upright for what it's worth. Don't know if it helps you, but I thought it might be good to have the comparison.

Comparison FP90x vs upright

I agree, especially for that kind of money. I seem to be happier when using headphones. I'm wondering if all my complaints are specifically related to the frequency coming from the internal speakers. I haven't spent a lot of time with the upright sound. I did briefly but most of my time is spent with the first couple piano sounds. I will listen to the upright more in depth later and see if it seems the same or better relating to my issues.



I appreciate the info, even if I do decide to keep the 90X I think I'm going to return this one and have them send me a new one just to confirm it's not a specific issue related to my unit. I have a Yamaha P515 coming this week (I think lol). I will Test it next to that to at least see it I like the Roland more or not before I request a new unit instead of a straight return.


Thanks alot, I appreciate that. It does sound like the frequency is similar between the two through a microphone. Is the acoustic piano 2nd in that clip? After reading up on this issue, I think part of it is my overall pedal technique needs refining. I believe the FP30 was hiding more of the resonance which allowed me to pump the pedal less.
My C# in the midrange is definitely louder through the Roland speakers but not through headphones at all. I wonder if my DB meter would say the same thing as my ears are hearing.

Or perhaps use a spectrum analyzer. Several free versions to take a look at it.

Again the only thing that I have noticed is the undamped upper string sympathetic resonance. And since some notes have two undamped keys that are multiple octaves away, they have a bit more ring to the.

Example, I believe it is g# to c where you will have two corresponding undamped keys ringing.

If you play Amaj you should get a louder A. I’ve read some various complaints on ringing from the supernatural modeling and pure acoustic modeling snd I wonder if it is this sympathetic resonance from the undamped keys.

However, I really notice this more on headphones or if it is really quiet on speakers. The speakers tend to hid some of these things in my opinion.

So things like damper noise don’t really bother me using the speakers but is very noticeable to me on earphones.

And it is nothing I really have paid too much attention to on acoustic pianos but they are generally noisier beasts to me anyway.

And one thing I’ve done is actually tune my FP90x snd one thing is discovered is that while the stretch tuning curve has a bit of randomness to it, the base piano sound tuning does too. It is entirely possible there is some built in loudness variation between keys.


Did you ever try playing through the line outs or recording internally and playing back?

That might help determine if there is an issue with the speakers.

I have not tried to play through line outs yet. I keep wanting to plug it into my studio monitors but just havent done it yet.
The spectrum eq sounds like a good idea.

What steps did you take for tuning your 90X?
I actually have come to conclusion other than the damper pedal ringing being slightly extreme IMO my issue is so far only with the onboard speakers.

So what I just did which actually helped significantly...
I set my "touch" to fixed, grabbed my DB meter and set all the notes within about 5DB of each other across the Keyboard and within like 2 DB per octave. Some of the notes within the same octave were as much as 15 DB different through the onboard speakers. I feel this is why I was thinking it sounded out of tune and chord progressions etc just didn't sound right. This even helped some of my ringing complaint issues as I feel the "ringing" was not harmonically correct either due to the significant db difference in some keys. Once I switched my key touch back to normal the difference was significant.

I don't have an acoustic piano but I am curious to the DB difference between each key/octave. Although it is slightly harder to determine as it doesn't have a fixed touch option on an acoustic piano like the digital.

I am much happier with the onboard sound since these adjustments overall. I need to go back through and fine tune the adjustments I feel as the first time I did it was mainly a test so I didn't take the time to aim for perfection.
Also what I haven't checked is if it is similar across all the piano voices or if it was only effective for the grand piano voice.

I used the piano designer app (because it's easier and faster) and am going to save whatever I need into that for custom presets as I'm sure it sounds terrible through headphones with these tweaks. I couldn't find a way to save piano designer presets on board.

A compressor effect may help solve this issue if Roland provided one. Hard to say. I do feel for those who "hate" the Roland sound.. this may change their opinions if they only listened through onboard speakers.
I'm not sure if there is a way i could save my tweaks and share them with people to try but it would be nice if I could to get feedback once I get it perfected.

That is an interesting result in regards to differing in measured loudness.

From the stretch tuning curves their appears to be to different pianos, stage and concert snd each with four variations, 8 pure acoustic in total.

So I am guessing you will need two different loudness adjustments.

When you save your adjustment preset, it saves it to a file.

On an iOS device you will find it in the piano designer folder. Xxx.psf

You could share that file.

Note, the file contains the piano type. So if you are editing the concert brilliant and save it to a preset, and then apply it, the piano tone will become a concert brilliant.

Thanks for the info. I will see if there is a folder in android somewhere with the file. Once I do more testing and get something more precise I'll share a file for those that may be interested in trying it.

A few notes sounding too loud or a bit 'off' through the speakers is likely because of room acoustic effects. So a compressor would not help. Every room has acoustic resonances. Personally I don't enjoy the FP90X onboard speakers, I use monitors and I'm very happy. After playing it for a couple of weeks I went through and did a few small volume and character adjustments to a few notes on both the concert grand and the studio grand. I would expect that if I move the piano to a different room, or even a different location in the same room, I'd have to change those note tweaks again. I'll also note that the build in eq isn't really good enough for fixing these issues because there isn't fine grained enough control for the frequency and q settings for the mid band.

I play a mix of onboard sound and virtual piano. When I play the virtual pianos I use parametric eq on the laptop to dial in the sound for the speakers and room. I really like the built in usb audio interface, where 1 usb connection carries midi and digital audio. When used in this configuration, one of the FP90X volume sliders controls the volume output in the virtual instrument.

Mark: do you notice significant latency when using VSTs through the fp90x audio interface? Have you tried comparing latency through usb audio interface vs aux audio-in? There were reports in other threads that the fpX0x audio interfaces caused significant latency to make it useless for one cable VSTs... Thanks.

I have no latency problems, I use a macbook. I thought of measuring latency with an oscilloscope, but my simple way of doing so didn't work. On my other DP I'm used to an external audio interface that has a low latency driver. The FP90X audio interface sounds / feels just as good to me.

The FP90X has two ways to bring in external analog audio: line in and mono mic in. (Mic in has a gain control, it works fine with headphone audio out from my macbook.) Both of these audio signals get routed through the digital eq and the mic also has optional compressor and reverb effects. So I am 90% certain that both of these inputs are digitized, processed, mixed, and the converted back to analog for line out or internal speakers. So using analog line in might have _more_ latency than usb digital audio in, because of the additional digital-analog conversions in that signal path.

I'm very happy to take the external audio interface out of the setup, and off the top of my piano. I plug in by usb, I have the virtual instrument output to the FP90X over the usb. I then have the system audio routed to the headphones out. For a lesson over zoom I plug open back headphones into the laptop to hear my teacher but hear the piano through the monitors through the open back headphones. For practice with audio from the laptop, eg Sight Reading Factory with metronome or play along sound, I plug from laptop headphone out to the mic input of the FP90X. Then I have separate volume sliders on the FP90X for laptop sound, piano sound (either local or virtual) and a separate master volume. I find it helps me focus if I can get the mix just so using physical controls.

It would be amazing if the FP90X could assign one or more of its 5 volume sliders as a volume control to the line in or bluetooth in, but I don't think it can. Eg it has a 'song volume' slider I don't use. There are instead volume controls in the menus for those.

He was going to use the piano designer and adjust the per note volume. Not add compression or equalization.

I assume it worked.

I gave it a try but didn’t notice much difference and wasn’t sure I was measuring the proper thing after looking at the wave forms and peak spl reading.

Similar experience with no delay in using the usb audio input. I just kept the local piano on and played the vst over it and judged by ear.

I notice the volume sliders can send midi volume and apps will use that.

Agree the song volume slider could be more useful for adjusting the usb or blue tooth volume in.

Mark: thanks for your information. I really like the convenience of onboard audio interfaces, and your report is very helpful.

But shouldn't you connect the laptop output to the audio-in and not the mic-in? I know that the line level of a laptop headphone output is probably not as high as that of regular line-outs, but anyway the mic-in impedance is prepared for very low level signals. I would feel safer always connecting to the audio-in connector.

The mic input is convenient because of its dedicated volume slider on the top of the keyboard, and mono is fine for 'tutorial audio' from practice software. The line in would work too. Its volume control on the FP90X is in the menus :-( but of course the laptop has a volume control within easy reach too.

The headphone output from a laptop is designed to drive headphones which are low impedance, and it doubles up as a consumer line level output. A dynamic mic input is high impedance. So in this case all is well as low impedance out to high impedance in is 'correct'. The mic input also has a potentiometer on the back next to the input socket to adjust for different level signals. (I suspect Roland did this for pianists who want to use a battery powered mic which outputs a higher voltage signal vs an unpowered dynamic mic.) I turn the potentiometer all the way down to accommodate the headphones signal level. As the sound comes through with no clipping or distortion I'm content its working correctly and safely.

Yeah. I was going to also suggest putting the back panel gain button all the way down. Good to know that the mic works well and that it is mapped to a physical volume slider...

I will wait to see what are the successors of the p515 and mp11se, and then decide between one of the three (probably the yamaha, if it comes with the new action of the 745...). Thanks for your comments.

A couple of questions for you FP-90X lucky owners:

- Does anyone use the FP-90X as a stage piano for giggs? I watched a review where they said that could be a very good alternative instead to carry keyboard (like RD-2000) + a heavy amp. They said the the speakers are really good..

- If you connect the FP-90x to an external audio interface for recording purposes, can you still use the built-in speakers during the recording? If yes, can you control the two different outputs? I mean, do you have a slider to control the audio interface output and a slider to control the speakers output?
I wonder if in this case you could connect even the built-in speakers as output of the audio interface to be able to listen the playback too of your recordings..

- I know about the new function "Stage" and I wonder if they there are any filters for the headphones listening? How is like the FP-90X headphones output in general?

Thanks guys!

no gigging but some jamming and have moved it around. speakers are entirely fine for jamming with a group. I've also listened to it while not playing and it seemed plenty loud with a couple of guitars, electronic drums and a bass.

I noticed when we had a drummer outside who is pretty loud that having an external amp helped because everyone turned up their amps.

I am not entirely sure i would enjoy moving this around to gigs. I don't even like moving my 25 lbs casio. And bulk is an issue with any 88 keyboard in my opinion.

For recording, the FP-90x has usb audio in and out so you do not need an external audio interface. And you can play back through the speakers on the piano.

There are three volume output sliders in two section, 2 for the upper and lower section and one master volume.

For the head phones, lineout, and speakers, both sections of volume sliders apply.

For the USB audio out, it is only affected by the upper/lower slider. So you can have full output to the audio interface and adjust the volume you hear at the piano with the master volume slider.

The lineout is not a true lineout at a fixed volume. I guess there is good and bad about that.

There is no headphone ambience or mystage setting for the piano. Apparently headphone optimization is always on for that pair of outputs. The FP-60x does have a setting.

The mystage function is sort of shortcut aka preset to some fixed settings that change multiple settings on the piano. I'm not sure there is a way to customize them.

And it does have 1/4" and 1/8' headphone outputs.

Gig: I can hardly play yet ;-) but anyway FP90X is heavy. When you lift it the case flexes easily. Specifically if you lift 1 corner, the side you are lifting rotates upwards, twisting the keyboard. I have no idea if this is problematic over the long term. Is the RD2000 stronger? Stiffer?

There is a manual switch on the back that will turn the internal speakers on and off. So internal speakers is separate from using usb out or line out. Connecting headphones turns off internal speakers, but there is also a menu option for that, so you can have headphones and internal speakers at the same time. Headphone output is nice and clean. I don't know if it does do any special signal processing for the headphones. I think what it does it turn off the processing its doing for internal speakers.

The internal speakers get loud but they color the mids and apply a lot of bass. Yes there is onboard eq to make an adjustment but there is only so much it can do. By default the FP90X applies a lot of processing (just eq?) to sound being sent to the internal speakers. It seems really heavy handed. When you plugin headphones and the speakers turn off you can hear the FP90X adapt by turning off the heavy handed eq it was doing for its speakers. Ie for a fraction of a second you hear in the headphones the signal that is being sent to the speakers and then it changes.

There is a weird combination of settings where you can listen to the speaker signal through headphones. You turn off the physical speaker switch. You plug in headphones. Now you hear the clean piano sound in headphones. Then go to the menu and change the 'auto mute speakers when headphones plugging in' setting so the FP90X thinks it needs to drive internal speakers. Now in the headphones you head the heavily eq sound meant for the speakers. But the speakers are turned off by the switch. This sound does not sound good. It is really boomy and I think highs are boosted too, though I'm not sure quite what they are doing.

I suspect I would like the sound from the internal speakers _more_ if I could turn off whatever processing the FP90X does by default and just apply some eq from the sliders. But I don't think thats possible. (Maybe an experiment is possible to measure the speakers processing using a synth sound going to a laptop frequency analyser and then reverse engineering the eq setting to cancel out what the FP90X is doing?)

The master volume slider controls the level for internal speakers, headphones, and line out. I don't think you can adjust those output levels separately.

from the manual page 16. I have no idea if that is true or not but giving roland the benefit of the doubt here.

Forgot about that speaker on off switch on the back.

Interesting find about turning off the speakers and using the headphones. I assume that would allow you to output from the stereo jacks without the acoustic projection stuff enabled if you didn't want to use the line outs.

Its hard to say what is going on with processing for the speakers but there is only so much that will come out of them.

I don't know what processing is on the lineouts, I assume different from the speakers.

And the USB output I believe doesn't apply any equalization from the siders either and maybe the cleanest output.

I have not compared all of the audio output sources.

So I experimented...
Keytouch set to fixed so always get same volume for each note. Instrument set to GM2 Sine Lead. Not a pure sign wave, but close enough and easy to see in the live readout in the parametric eq in Mainstage (DAW on mac).
Correction to earlier - now when I take audio from FP90X headphone out and turn off 'auto mute speakers' the keyboard seems to ignore the speaker on/off switch on the back and I get sound from the internal speakers.

So I played up and down keyboard with the synth at constant volume, looking at the signal level at each frequency in the parametric eq live read out. Mostly its boosting bass a ton below 200Hz. I created a setting in my parametric eq that tried to cancel out what the FP90X speaker processing is doing. So big bass cut, but there also seems to be something going on in the mids around 520Hz where initially I was seeing a boost, but now I'm not sure. Unfortunately you can't set q for the bass, and cutting the bass enough to counteract all the boost killed too much around 200Hz. So I used the mid eq to boost 200Hz back up a bit.

I setup the DAW eq to a configuration thats possible to setup in the FP90X eq. Bass EQ 160Hz, Mid EQ 200Hz, Mid Q 2.0, didn't use the high. Then using the FP90X eq by sliding the bass down you can counter act the normal bass boost it does. Slide the mid up about 1/2 as much as you slide the bass down to balance it out the . Then I can see the signal coming out of the FP90X is much flatter. So if you use these settings with internal speakers, you can adjust how much of the 'always on bass boost for internal speakers' is used. Presumably you actually want some of that bass boost because the internal speakers need some of it.

I don't really know if this will be useful to anyone. If you want to mess with the eq its probably better to use the mid eq to try to reduce a room resonance or just adjust to taste. I just did this out of interest. I play with Genelec 8020d monitors.

I remember I was trying to reduce some boominess around 200-250 Hz in my old FP-80. Around A3 note. I was using mainly internal speakers.
Also one time sound engineer told me that it had some muddy character around this frequency, maybe some boominess too I don't remember correctly. Anyway needed to cut this range a bit. Maybe just the typical issue of Roland sound.

@Purdy @Mark thanks for sharing your experiences ! I will have a look to the manual.. although the fp90x has a good internal audio interface I would use my 2i2.. recording/filing through the iPad is very handy…

I use my ipad pro with the FP-90X for recording and playing through USB. The FP-90x is essentially a 2i2 audio interface. Only one cable and you don't power the audio interface.

And no converting to analog and back to digital in the keyboard.

Added bonus virtual instruments become a one cable solution as USB and audio are carried on the USB cable.

I found no difference in the headphones with the speaker switch on or off.

I did a crude sweep using a GM bell sound, as close to a sine wave as I could find.

I also ran the grand piano through.

again with fixed velocity

Both through the usb interface and through the speakers.

I see a dip in the 1.8K region. I don't see a particularly boomy bass. My ears and gut would agree with that assessment.

I wonder if there is a difference from the rooms? I only used the really precise mic from the ipad so I don't really have a reference to go by.

I do see some keys in the piano that could probably gain from some loudness adjustment and this is in the USB data too.

so I gave it a whack to equalize out the keys. The problem is everything by default is set to the maximum value and if you have keys that are low, you can't bring them up so I started by moving things down.

I don't notice a real difference but it did tame down a group around A6 that was sort of problematic. I now have a tuned and somewhat regulated piano.

I hear a difference in headphones when I switch the menu setting '36. Speaker Auto Mute'.

I can’t confirm or deny that. There is so much leakage in noise from the speakers that I can’t tell. I tried to have the piano play and step around the corner. I’m almost sure there is no difference.

I did find out that the speaker off switch on the back does not work when the auto mute is set to off.

Sorry Purdy, How do you record audio with your FP-90X + iPad through USB exactly? Is there a specific Roland app for that? I watched some videos where they record audio just using the built-in recording system, that's in order to use the internal audio interface of the FP-90X.. I think is the only metod take advantage of the internal audio interface of the DP properly..

The fp-90x has class compliant usb midi and audio.

Any app that records or plays audio, can be used directly.

There is no special app required. It is built into the operating system. It is the same for windows 10 and macOS.

Garage band, or any digital audio workstation software. I think even the internal video camera.

How do you record now on the iPad with the 2i2? Because you can use that same software with the fp-90x.

It is that simple.

It also has Bluetooth audio and midi. Again any app that plays audio can play and any app that supports Bluetooth midi can use and I think even those that don’t can with something like midi wrench.

I got you maybe, you mean that your FP-90X can works as an audio interface connect to a PC.. and so sending the data of your recording into your software.. that's great, but I know that with a dedicate audio interface (like the 2i2) you get a better quality..

Currently, I connect my DP to the 2i2 as input and the 2i2 connected to my iPad or PC through USB.

Yes, the fp-90x can act as an audio interface for a pc or an iPad, or even an iPhone, or android device.

Probably Linux too.

I doubt the quality will be better with a dedicated audio interface because you will be converting digital to analog on the keyboard sending the analog to the 2i2 and then converting it back to digital.

The conversion to and from analog will add noise and you will have less quality than if the keyboard sends you the digital directly and you avoid going analog.

You can connect the fp-90x directly to an iPad or pc with usb and it will be just like your 2i2.

True you won’t see an option 192,000 samples per second at 32 bits but that is overkill for the source data.

But you should try it out and see for yourself.

But the bottom line is you do not need a dedicated audio interface for recording or playing to the fp-90x or any of the new Roland fp-x keyboards.

Because they behave as audio interfaces. I have a motu audio interface which I don’t ever use with the fp-90x

The newish Yamaha keyboards are the same.

That sounds great, Purdy. Hopefully they will put the same feature in the next gen of stage piano… but I wonder if you can just plug through USB your dp to an iPad/Pc and record audio or you have to set the recording from your dp before in onder to send the audio signal to the Daw? Like “press the trigger record through USB“

As soon as you plug in the iPad into the USB port the audio is being sent out, there are no actions you need to take on the keyboard.

You might have to setup your app on the iPad but I have numerous apps that I just plug in and they start working with the keyboard. No action required on either end.

It is exactly like an audio interface.

I can for instance, just plug in neo soul keys or Korg module which are virtual instrument packages and they just start working accepting midi and returning audio over usb to the keyboard.

Blue tooth midi is a bit different. That seems to require a little more effort on the app side.

That's great! I didn't know about the USB audio function, I have always confused that with DP recording to external USB as storage. But for istance don't you need to install any drivers to set the recording setting (like what happen with an audio interface where you can set the sampling rate etc.)? Once you open Garageband or Ableton, you will file in the Preferences like Interfce>Host the Roland... already set? Or as soon you connect your DP to the Pc, will you find Roland Audio Interface set in the audio settings?

Little bit out of scope , but... I own an ES920 and had a FP90 in the past. I do like the internal SK grand piano of the ES920 and the speakers are actually quite good and sound round and have some warmth to them, despite being single speakers (not two way as in the FP90x) and having less wattage power and a single amp. However, for a second location I am torn between yet another ES, or a FP90x and I wonder how you all rate the speaker sound with both the internal Roland piano engine (I could never get a warm full sound on the FP90) and especially with audio plugins as well - meaning routing audio from an iPad or laptop over the internal speakers. I know this works flawless because of the class compliancy. But how does a plug-in like pianoteq or Ivory or whatever sound over the Roland speakers. Is it actually a more full and warmer sound ; or are the speakers themselves a bit harsh and analytic in comparison to the ES for example. Any FP90x owner an answer to that; there is no FP90x to be found here to try for myself unfortunately.

How does your Scarlett 2i2 behave? There is your answer.

I dont think there is a really big change between the fp90x and the fp90 in terms of the speakers.

But I have not played a fp90

Virtual instruments give you more options for equalization and other affects so that might help.

You need to install specific drivers in order to work with the Scarlett 2i2. Then you get a kind of App on your device where you can handle the general recording settings once the Scarlett is connected to your PC. After that, If you are using Garageband for iPad, it just recognize your audio interface but you can't edit any settings with it. If you are using a different DAW from the PC you need to set the audio interface in the software.. So, will be the same with the FP-90X (?)

If like me, you want a flat frequency response from speakers because you find resonances and tonal changes off-putting, then no the FP90X internal speakers are not good. Now, this is true of all internal speakers of all portable DPs, and also true of most console DPs? So are the speakers good given that its a portable? I leave that for others to answer.

FP90X has onboard 3 band eq and you can customize the frequency band of each slider, and for the mid slider you can even set the q (how broad or narrow a range of frequencies it changes). This is great to customize the overall tonal characteristics of the sounds so you can increase warmth, cut harshness, etc. But its not very good for dealing with annoying resonances in the speakers or room. Specifically the mid slider can be set to: 200Hz, 250, 315, 300, 500, 630, 800, 1000, 1250, 1600, 2000. 2500, 3150, 4000, 5000, 6300, 8000. I would have found it much more useful if all 3 of the eq sliders let you set the frequency to any specific frequency, rather than those predetermined steps. Right now I have a resonance at D3. So I'd like to set the frequency to 147Hz, set the q high (so the eq adjusts a narrow band of frequency) and use the slider to reduce just that resonance. But the closest I can get is 200Hz and set the q low. But then then eq isn't targeting a narrow band. Instead I play with monitors.

Also, if you are using the modeled / main piano sounds you can go into piano designer and adjust the volume and character of individual notes. This is quite effective at dealing with resonances. A speaker resonance will make the note(s) at that resonance loud and distracting, so you can use the per note volume to deal with that. A resonance will also change the harmonic balance / timbre of notes lower than the resonance, as the resonance will amplify a higher harmonic in the note. However, such effects are (to me) much less prominent than per note loudness. If there is an amplified harmonic that is messing up a particular note you can try the per note character adjustment. I'm not sure if this does a per note eq or a per note harmonic balance adjustment, but it for sure changes the sound of the note. The change it makes sounds very similar to when you go through the 'soundboard' customization in piano designer.

If you are using an external virtual piano, or even if you route your internal sound out to a laptop or ipad, you can use parametric eq there and really dial to address resonances you have and make the internal speakers quite nice. So if you want to play a vst through the internal speakers just use an eq you can setup in either your DAW or in the effect stack in the virtual instrument.

Thanks for all the info. So..knowing all that - do you find the sound in the end through the onboard Roland speakers satisfying ; do they produce a sort of full , warm and transparent piano sound after some tweaking , or do they remain a lit underwhelming in that respect , even with a good VST. With the internal Roland piano , the result is a bit thin and harsh at some times, but that is probably due to the engine and character of the typical Roland Piano sound, so it's hard to predict how another piano engine would sound over the same speakers without having the setup in front of you (which is not possible over here).

If you like ES920, stick with it, especially if you like the Kawai samples? If my main playing situation was internal sounds with internal speakers, I would not be happy with the FP90X.

Yes but you don’t need a driver for the pc. It is built into the operating system.

So I noticed that a few of the FP90X's physical controls send midi. Specifically the two Part Lower / Upper volume sliders send midi, and also the + - buttons. So if you are playing virtual instruments those 4 physical controls could be mapped to controls in the VI or DAW. Eg you could put velocity curve adjustment on the physical slider if it makes it easier to dial in. Or map the sliders to 2 channels in your daw for mixing.

Hi Mark: very interesting information. The sliders send CC type of messages, correct? Which Cc#? And the buttons send incremental CC or Program Change messages?

Ok, please help….

I bought the 90x a few months ago and have barely played it because it sounded rubbish. I kept meaning to go back to it and tweak the settings until I got a piano sound that I am happy with but no matter what I try it never sounds great. I have more fun playing on my two keyboards (Roland GO Keys and Casio CTX-5000) than on the much more expensive 90x.

The main problem is that pretty much everything below middle c sounds muddy as if the piano is under water. With headphones it’s much better so I’m hoping it’s just that the internal speakers are rubbish? Also, I recorded a few things to the usb stick and when I play those back on a computer or iPad etc. they sound fine.

So before I give up and try to sell it can anyone tell me if it sounds better with some decent external speakers?

If so, please give me amazon links to the speakers you use and a link for which cables I need to buy. I don’t want to pay a fortune on speakers so am looking for some reasonably priced ones, preferably without needing a separate amplifier too.

Any tips greatly appreciated.

For me it’s night and day with external speakers. I use Genelec 8020D. Look back up in this thread, I’ve given some info on some ways you can use EQ to improve the speakers.

I’m very happy with FP90X. I wanted a console DP and went with FP90X, homemade console, external speakers. Cheaper than the console dps I was looking at, and better speakers too. Great action, built in audio interface appreciated.

hmmm....
i can't confirm that.
yes, the speakers can indeed produce some decent bass but they don't sound muddy at all.
at least not in my FP-90X
maybe there is something wrong with your piano?

Maybe but others have said the same thing on here so I am not so sure. All I know is when I put the headphones on the difference is huge and I enjoy playing.

In fact after having another go last night I’d say it’s a certain area rather than everything below middle c. It’s more like the ten notes or so to the left of middle c. The lower notes after that sound ok. I’ve done factory reset so it’s not that anything has been messed with.

Maybe I need to use piano designer and change those individual keys? If I do that and find a setting that works for me can I save it so it’s there when I switch it back on?

I still feel like some good external speakers might solve the issue.

Very unlikely that this will solve the problem but have to tried to put the piano to another place?
Mabybe there are some acoustic issues at its actual location..

I’ve tried pulling it back from the wall but haven’t tried it in the middle of a room yet. Will try that later.

On another note, can anyone recommend a pair of speakers that use a headphone jack as the Roland Go Keys only has the headphone jack for speaker output?

Just get the right cable. One example, and this may not be right for your specific situation is here.

I've also noticed that the built-in speakers in the FP90 don't sound good compared to my old Sennheiser HD545 ref headphones. But a couple of similarly-priced IEMs don't sound great either.
My old hifi bookshelf Monitor Audio speakers with a Marantz amp sound better than the built-in, but not as good as the HD545.

You can change the volume, tuning, and color of individual keys and save them for when you switch back on,

You might try using equalization. You can set the center frequency of each of the sliders.

You might try turning the hammer noise and key off noise.

Opening the lid, will make things brighter.

The resonances, sympathetic and cabinet as well as the ambience tend to muddy sound and you might turn them down.

Your room can have an impact on your listening. Good suggestion to try different spots.

There are sound ports in the back so having against a wall will influence the sound.


Many people do enjoy external speakers.

So, I just tried with some basic Bose computer speakers…..MUCH better!

So now I just need to get a decent pair of active speakers I think, right? 🤔

@Purdy, thanks. I had tried messing about with all of those things before and did have some success but it still just never felt right. Now even with these standard Bose speakers the muffled sounds are gone and the bass notes sound much nicer.

I'm afraid it is very much a hit-or-miss thing. Best to go to a store that sells both Roland DPs and speakers and let you try them together, if you have any such around, let them earn their 20%-or-so commission. Otherwise, place your bet on some active studio monitors that get enough recommendations, and order from an online store that accepts returns.
Speakers sold as "PA" are generally more optimised for max volume per watt and per kg than for best sound quality, but there is no guarantee that hi-end hifi "studio monitors" are sure to sound better.

Thanks.

I am looking at the krk Rokit 5 G4 studio monitors…..do I connect the speakers directly to the piano or do I have to use an audio interface? What is the difference? 🤔

You connect active speakers directly with a suitable audio cable (from line-out). An audio interface is used with a computer, to connect to the keyboard audio line-out (perhaps also midi); but the FP90X has one built in so you can connect digital audio to a computer using just a USB cable.

ROLAND FP90 (Full) tone list
-------------------------------------------------------------------

I am very happy with my 2 years old ROLAND FP90.
Nevertheless, it surprises me that in the manual there is no a list with all the sounds (there is a list, but some 260 sounds are not included). So, I´ve taken the pain of creating it by myself. It is even more surprising taking into account that some of these sounds are actually quite good and usable.

Pdf Download link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z5CVVKdq9f-DQ1qcXZfwyIeEvEtlzjng/view?usp=sharing

On the other hand, there is neither a list of all the percussion instruments for each note (in the "Drum Sets" tones). So, do you know if there is any generic list or so with this info. It would be good to have this info for knowing a bit better what we are doing (and not going only by ear or previous knowledge).

Many thanks.

I think I have answered myself, for this seems to match the GM2 PERCUSSION MAP convention.
http://odasan.s48.xrea.com/dtm/gm2drum.html

This is a very good point.

Please consider that “bright” does not mandatorily equate with “metallic”.

A S&S model D is “bright” (even when played softly) but it is far from “metallic”. You really need to push it at ffff to elicit some “metallic” sound out of it. It has what I would call a clear, “liquid” sound.

By converse, supernatural engine interpret the “bright” as “metallic”; indeed in this mid-top range instruments a big work has been done to avoid the typical “spike” you hear, for example, in the FA 08 concert piano when transitioning to mf to f or ff… but still the sound personality is “metal” and not “water”.

At least, no trace of “glass”, like for example in pianoteq.

Yes but now you get into subjective assessments of sound and words without an objective measure.

And in the end it is a piece of metal that is vibrating in a piano.

Not exactly: there is an harmonic steel string, struck by ha wooden/felt hammer, connected to a cast iron harp, upon a wooden soundboard inside a wooden cabinet.

The sound hitting our ears is a combination of all these waveforms.

And maybe I am wrong, but a “metallic” sound is not something subjective. :-)

Metal strings and metal frame. I don’t think the felt vibrates and wood.

But the predominate sound is metal vibrating.

When you describe a piano as sounding like water or glass breaking then yes, metallic is subjective.

I see your point. While I still believe that the overall sound of an acoustic piano is much more than the mere result of a metal string vibration, I acknowledge that some definitions have a “metaphorical-analogic” aspect. For example, “bright” is a metaphor if referred to a sound.

While I agree with this, please allow me to highlight that a metaphor is not a purely subjective thing, as it is able to elicit consistent understanding across a group of people.

Therefore, to say that a piano sound is “metallic” and another has a “glassy sound” is not a subjective statement, but an objective one expressed by the mean of metaphor.

I guess I used to think that but given the number of people asking for a brighter sound from the fp90x in this thread I think the mean of the metaphor or perhaps the standard deviation is quite wide.

As evidenced by people’s wide preferences for sounds. Keyboards etc.

Also some of the things I hear seem to be different than others.

And I’m also Leary because we sometimes give more weight to a vocal few than is warranted.

Having said all of the above, the FP90x is indeed a good piano.

I also gave the impression that it would proudly emerge also in a very crowded mix.

Not sure if you’ve already bought or figured out what you need.

I have both a Roland LX17 permanently at home and a portable VSTi setup that includes the KRK RP5 G4 studio monitors. My Roland LX17 has an incredible sound engine, so I have never tried to connect it to studio monitors. Checking specs for the FP-90X, however, you will need two “TRS (1/4”) to XLR male” cables to connect this DP to the KRK’s. The KRK RP5 G4 can only be used with XLR male connectors.

By the way, good choice on the studio monitors! I believe a pair of KRK RP5’s will vastly improve the sound from your FP-90X. These produce a nice treble and mids and the bass is deep with a good punch, not muddy whatsoever. Used in combination with the action of the FP-90X, I believe that you will be stoked with your setup.

Dear all, may I ask a question?

When recording audio on the USB stick, is it possible to overdub the file (i.e. recording for example a piano improvisation on a pre-recorded minus one) or any attempt to do this will result in the overwriting of the file?

Thanks.

Yes you can overdub it creates a new file. It isn’t the most intuitive process

Thanks a lot. I was looking at the manual, but this process appears to be not documented.

It appears you can only overdub if you originally recorded as midi (smf) and follow the converting an smf to audio steps on page 19 of the manual.

So the bottom line is that you cannot overdub a mp3.

Let’s say you put a minus one on the USB stick and you would like to record yourself playing over the base, to listen your performance and understand your area of improvement.

You can’t.

Am I wrong.

As far as I can tell, not using just the keyboard.

You could playback the minus one through either the aux line in or through the USB port, or through Bluetooth.

And then you can overdub that.

I could be wrong but the only time I see an option for overdubbing from a file played from either the internal memory or a usb stick is if it is a midi file.

Problem with microphone
-------------------------------------------------------------------

I have a BEHRINGER XM2000S microphone and, for some reason, it doesn´t work with the ROLAND FP90 Piano.
The microphone is OK, for it works nicely when connected, for instance, directly to the computer.

I am following the steps indicated in the manual.
1) Connect the mic in the "Mic - Input" socket.
2) Play with the mic gain wheel (in the rear).
3) Play with the mic volume slider (in the front).

But I don´t get any signal at all.
Am I doing something wrong?
Is there any specification as to what kind of microphones can be used with the ROLAND FP90.

Many thanks for your help.

------------------------
Here you can download a pdf with the specifications of my microphone:
https://www.google.es/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjGvrqujZjzAhURA2MBHUZnBtIQFnoECAMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdarkbox.ch%2Fimages%2Fpdf%2Fbehringerxm2000st.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1oDDkHRfXH0iYWgZx5Cpi-

On asking Roland about the tone list in FP-90, they have sent me this "MIDI Implementation" document (the tone list and drum sets sound are at the end). I´ve searched a bit and apparently it is not available to download on Roland´s website (at least, not easily), so here I share it with you in case you find it useful.

Cheers.

Well, this is kind of emabarrassing, but hey. How do you folks manage settings, especially having the piano power on with the right settings?

I've been using both the front panel and the Piano Every Day app to set the instrument(s), splits, tuning, ambiance, you name it.
But every time I want a specific set of settings, I have to choose each one separately. It would be great to be able to save the current seetings somewhere and be able to recall them later on. Preferably it should be possible to have different recallable sets of settings, but having at least one set would be an improvement on what I'm doing now.
Also, having the unit load the desired settings on powering on would be great. Either having a way to specify which set of settings should be used, or at least remembering those used the previous time.
To wit, I've managed to make tuning and temperament stick, but not for instance the instrument or ambiance. On power on it always goes to unsplit Concert Grand with standard ambiance.

I can't believe I'm the only one who'd like to have these time and patience consuming operations done only once and then selectable by some means. I haven't explored loading stuff from USB, so maybe that's it. I did take a casual look at the manual but nothing stood out to me.

What am I doing wrong? I'm not at all fond of the UI, as someone who works in the software industry I find the panel provides a very poor user experience, which is unusual when you have a lot of buttons. Normally you skimp on the controls and the UX suffers, or you provide a good UX but that implies a lot of controls so the price suffers. Here I feel they have the worst of both worlds, I can't stop thinking the problem is mine, but after a reasonable amount of time trying to get used to it I don't think it's me.

Not embarrassing at all. Read up in the manual on registrations. I tried it but was not successful and I am an IT professional.

I am sure it works fine but I messed something up and had to factory reset.

Luckily I find the default concert piano sound and My Stage preset 1 perfect for me. This is this first digital that I have yet to tire of the piano tone and wish for something better.

With "Registration" you can save up to 30 instruments (60 if you put them with "dual". You can also save "split").

With "Memory backup" you can freeze the existing settings (at least most of them, maybe not the tone) so that it is the new default when you turn the computer on.

- In the manual (p.26) you have a list with all the parameters that are saved in a registration (pretty much all the relevant ones, including ambience, key touch, mic effects, etc.).

- Yes, it is possible to save a registration set (30 personalized registrations) on a USB (p. 16 in the manual).

I meant the piano, not the computer :-)

Page 30 of the manual explains what is saved in the registrations and what is saved when you do a memory save.

Managing the registrations is a pain in the ass. I think you can edit the registration file that you can save and load by hand. I’ll give that a shot.

Roland should have allowed you to load a registration automatically at startup.

Note registrations save the settings of the volume. This can be good or bad.

You can actually control which supernatural piano is used at startup but it is a bit of a hack.

http://forum.pianoworld.com//ubbthr...land-fp-90x-owners-club.html#Post3136775

Fp-90 or fp-90x? Your link doesn’t work by the way.

Here is the link to the fp-90 midi implementation.

https://www.roland.com/us/support/b...ls/dd536621-26fe-4f3e-9b7b-12b3104c78ef/

FP90

Sorry for that. And thanks for the link.

And as long as we are sharing. This is my latest tuned and volume adjusted library preset.

You would load it into the piano designer directory that is created when you save to file from the piano designer.

Note it was adjusted using the usb audio out and a piano tuning software and for volume a spectrum analyzer and I tried to minimize the variation of the peak spl of the fundamental frequency. I used keys set to 0 on the velocity curve so the output max value.

Note the hammer noise is set to-5 which you can do from the keyboard but not for some reason, from the designer app.

Note the is piano 1 concert. The stage grand seems to have a different tuning.

The resultant tuning stretch curve is a bit flatter in shape and there is less overall variation in the tuning.

I have no idea if this will have the same results for other FP-90x keyboards.

Good luck!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GGqcuWSpfhEGD1ksNFg-X7bK6gAEEj3I/view?usp=drivesdk

Here is the fp-90x midi document

https://www.roland.com/global/suppo...ls/8deedc68-0023-4845-9749-c26429e39ebd/

Hello everybody. I'm thinking about buying a Roland FP-90x and I would like you to tell me if It is good value for the money (1800€ here in my country). I saw that it is almost out of stock everywhere but I found one in a shop and I feel I should get it but I want to hear your opinions first. BTW, I don't really like neither NWX on p515 nor RH3 on es920. I already tried them and that's why I'm looking at FP-90x. Thanks for your help.

Great action, OK sounds (layer the sampled upright with modeled piano), not great speakers (like most DPs?), good usb interface, good analog ports. Included pedal isn't good unless you tape it to the floor. Good with headphones and external monitors. Consider a used FP90 or other DP with the PHA-50 action? Unless you want the usb interface, which I do. Heavy.

But also... sample bias: naturally those of us who own it like it.
But also... anywhere in stock is good value, because so much is out of stock.

1800 euro seems to be the price in Europe. With vat
.
If you like the fp-90x then it is a good value to you.

Value is relative, as it depends on the needs of the individual. Personally, I needed just an affordable, quality do, and the p515 fit the bill, as I couldn't justify spending 400€ more for the roland. In your case, if Roland's action is the only one you like, I don't think you really have an alternative.

The problem MarkOfJohnson is that I need it to be portable, so, apart from a used FP-90, nothing else with the PHA-50 with speakers, because I'm not going to add any speakers to it since I'll play with headphones most of the time. I have seen a second hand Roland FP-90 for 1100€ but I'm not sure if it's worth it. It's been a lot of time since it was released.

The point is that I want the best portable piano and, since I don't like NWX or RH3, I think that will be Roland FP-90X. I want it to last at least 6 years from know so that I can study properly piano all that time. I don't want to do a midway upgrade.

By the way, I would like you to tell me, from 1 to 10, how similar PHA50 action is similar to a grand piano action. I actually know it's not that easy to say because grand pianos have slightly different action feelings, but I mean generally. Specially, the weighting of the keys. Thanks 😊.

This question and the answer to it is totally pointless. I have seen people answering both ways for several digital pianos, i.e., "this is the closest" and "not at all", including high-end ones and even hybrids. Also, I have seen several people stating, for several medium/high end DPs, that the transition from it to an AP is "easy" and "fast" to "smooth/immediate", whereas others claim it takes a while.

As usual, the answer to your question, only YOU can provide and, apparently, you have already did so. So, buy the FP90(X) as it seems to suit you the best.

And stop coming to this forum. More importantly, do not ask, after the buy, if it is good or what others think about it. (Yes, there are some that have done so around here). In both cases you may start second guessing yourself, which is not very healthy. NOTE: I am (kind of) kidding in this paragraph.

I catched it EVC2017. I'll order the FP-90X right away. I hope the next time I come to this forum is with a photo of my brand new FP-90X. Thanks to everyone.

Came (sold) from Kawai ES920, i don't like the loud keybed.
Anyone had hands on ES920 and FP-90X to give feedback on the loudness, please?

Thank u.

I haven’t played the es920 but the fp-90x is relatively quiet.

I’ve seen and heard videos of the es920 key noise and bounce. I would guess the Roland is going be quieter.

My Casio px330 has a fair amount of bounce and noise more like the Kawai actions.

There is still a little bounce on the key release on the fp-90x but the noise is very minimal.

I think Yamaha might have overall the least amount of bounce on release, at least for the ones I have played.

I think it would be worth a try on a fp90 or rd2000 or fp-90x to see what you think.

Thank you all for your input

As a bloke who works with code, editing the registration files directly may be actually fine.

To see if I got this straight:

- I do a custom tuning of the stage mellow, not actually changing anything
- save it to the library, select the concert grand, go to the library and click on that saved configuration
- when I power up, the concert grand is called concert grand but it is in fact the stage mellow

This turns your example around… is that it?

Thanks!

You select the 7: stage mellow on the keyboard.

You store to app name it stage mellow

You select 1: concert piano at the keyboard

You select stage mellow From my library

You store to piano from the app

Let me know how that works

Dear all, my long wait for FP-90x just arrived.

I already have a condenser mic which is attached to my Audio Interface. How should i connect to my Audio interface to use the mic, or I cannot?

Or i have to buy another microphone to plug into mic input as indicated on pg 22 of the manual?

Thanks alot.

P.S: Coming from ES920 (sold) i'll give a general review soon if members are keen.

Some Audio Interface work in standalone mode. For a simple setup I would go buy another microphone myself.

The fp-90x need an unbalanced dynamic microphone.

I think the simplest thing would be to get one.

One last time

This is what I ended up with tuning and regulating each keys loudness for the concert piano. You can see there was a lot of variation in loudness.

Again this is from the usb audio output into an iPad running decibel x and I captured the peak spl reading.

Previously I just took the peak reading at the keys frequency and that understated the loudness of the bass.



And the default

Thank you EPW & Purdy for sharing.

@Purdy: what brand/model would you recommend?

There are a number of DJ karaoke microphones that come with a 1/4” output.

Shure has a PGA48 Dynamic Mic that has an option to come with a xlr to 1/4” output cable,

I don’t have any recommendations.

In theory you could use an adapter or a direct input box in reverse and use any xlr connector dynamic microphone but I have not tried that.

I have not used the mic input on the FP-90x.

Here is my homemade DP 'console' for my Roland FP90X slab DP. Cheap and easy to make, from pine planks. If I get a do over I'll make the top shelf deeper and sit atop the sides, not inside them. Also I'd make it 1" taller to give enough room for my knee when on the pedal. I made this because I don't like the speakers on any DP within my price range. With this I sit the speakers (Genelec), laptop, and music stand (book stand) on the shelf above the DP. (Posted because Purdy asked to see it :-)

Thank you for the photo. I thought that the monitors were inside the cabinet. Nonetheless it looks neat and sturdy.

Did I now. Nice job.

Very nice. Please can you say which model the genelecs are, and how much better you find them compared to the fp90x speakers? Thank you

Genelec 8020D, which I like much more than the built in speakers.

Oops, no it was vagfilm who asked to see my cheap carpentry. Sorry.

Thanks 👍

You showed us only the good carpentry. If you also have cheap carpentry, I would like to see that as well 😊

Dear all, what portable stand brand / model are you using and will recommend me?

P.S: owner of 90X.

let's assume that i selected e.g. "Stage Mellow Piano" in my FP-90X.
Now i copy one of the setups (e.g. LX-17 Vienna Concert) of PianoDesigner's MyLibrary to my DP.
Will this change only the settings of "Stage Mellow Piano" or will it also have any (slight) effect on the other default pianos of the FP-90X?

From what i hear/from my experience the other internal piano models don't get influenced.
But i must confess that i haven't done any indepth comparison of the DP with factory setting vs altered settings.

Correct, there are 8 different pure acoustic piano models and changing the setting in one does not influence the others.

You have to be careful as I believe that if you save the lx17 concert piano to the stage mellow piano setting that stage mellow becomes a concert piano, and you will have to factory reset your dp configuration to restore it to a stage mellow.

thanks


Yeah, i think that's correct.
But i don't like the 2 "Stage Pianos (mellow and bright)" (no 7 and 8) anyway so it's not a great loss at least to me.
Did some slight tweaks to the "LX17 Vienna Concert" (which has become my mainly used setup) and saved that version into MyLibrary so i can copy it back to my DP in case i should have to do a factory reset.

The lx17 Vienna concert this interesting because it changes the stretch tuning, adds some per note character, and messes a lot with the per note volume.

I guess what is not clear to me is if that works with the fp-90x concert model.

For instance, on the fp-90x all the stage pianos have the same tuning by default and all the concert pianos have another tuning.

The lx-17 has a different tuning.

And I did go through and regulate the per note volume on each key to normalize the max velocity volume and the lx-17 library is sort of the same in trend but not the same.

Looking at an FP90X: Is this a good piano to lug in the back of a car for gigs? Hammond, EP, Synth pads/leads, and piano?

Or is more or less a, "home piano"?

It really heavy 52lb / 24kg, and it twist flexed when you lift it, which doesn’t inspire confidence when moving it.

I think it is a piano first and if that is your gig, it is fine.

I also really like the 1976 suitcase. It is one of my favorite Rhodes sounds.

I like the animal mode and rising sun organ sounds.

And a lot of other sounds but you don’t get any affects like you would on a stage piano.

It does have a usb audio in and so you can hook up a computer and iPad and get a tremendous amount of different sounds.

I don’t have any issue moving it to another room or into the backyard. Just did that and played some jazz and the built in speakers were fine with the group. But it wasn’t that loud.

If you are going to move around to gigs I’d get a case and a hand truck.

Personally if I was trying to cover bands in gigs I would look for a lighter stage piano.

You can view all the specifications for these pianos by Google searching on the make and model. Each manufacturer has a Web page for every model, with a section showing the instrument specifications---here you will find the weight and dimensions.

Generally speaking, portable pianos have gotten lighter ie, yo appeal more to the wedding singer or solo pianist. What I would say is that the Kawai ES920 should be considered along side the FP90X, as it has a very high quality Onkyo amplifier that produces IMO, one of the best piano sounds available in a slab. Also, it's only 17.5 Kg, one of the lightest portables in that category.

But yes, these instruments tend to be a pain to lug around in comparison to the lighter stage pianos. The Roland RD2000, Kawai MP7SE and Yamaha CP88 are all close to 20kg (with a bag or two of sugar separating them). Nord Piano 4 is 18.5 Kg, so Nords are loved for gigging. The FP90X is 24kg (a lot heavier than the Kawai ES920). Considering how much more the RD2000 or MP7SE can do in a live setting, I would carefully consider whether the extra features will be something you might enjoy and whether you need the top piano action, or whether something like the Fatar TP400W would be OK. In which case, the other stage pianos (some lighter still) would be better.

Hello everyone! The church I go to has recently bought a Roland FP90X and I have not had time to test it that much yet. Wondering a bit how I can use an external midi keyboard. Can I make a midi split and play one sound (organ, pads, leadsounds) with the midi keyboard and one sound (piano, rhodes, wurli) on the FP90X?

Yes, you connect midi out from midi keyboard to midi in on fp-90x

The midi keyboard looks like it needs to send on channel 4 at least that is what works on mine.

Good luck!

I would like to ask the question about Pure Acoustic Piano Models in FP-90X. If we compare FP-90X with LX705/LX706, there are the following sounds:

LX705 LX706 LX708 piano tone list: European Grand, European v2, American Grand, American v2

FP-90X piano tone list: Concert Piano, Stage Grand, Concert Ballad, Concert Mellow, Concert Bright, Concert Brilliance, Stage Mellow, Stage Bright

How are these sounds related? Why are there differences between FP-90X and LX digital pianos? I heard that American Grand model in LX705 is based on Steinway D NY. How about FP-90X's Concert Piano and Stage Grand? What are these models based on?

Could anyone please help me (my Internet search did not bring any results)?

I should also add that I have been also using Pianoteq piano models and I have to admit that for recording, I started to prefer FP-90X's Stage Bright (without the "My Stage" options).

Thank you,

Michael

Roland doesn’t disclose what pianos these models might emulate. Since they are supposedly completely modeled it might not matter.

Within the fp-90x the concert and stage pianos appear to be separate models as they are tuned differently.

The mystage setting is a shortcut to selecting a piano type and ambience.

So if you pick a stage bright piano, and then select a mystage setting you will get another piano.

Could you then please tell me why Roland FP-90X and LX705 use different piano models? How do they relate?

I have another question, please. Is it possible to disable "local control" on FP-90X? Yamaha higher end digital pianos have this option so one can play external piano emulation (like Pianoteq) on internal speakers or with headphones without mixing internal and external sound. I could not find an explanation of this option for FP-90X anywhere

Yes, please have a look at the manual, page 28
https://static.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/FP-90X_60X_eng02_W.pdf

Georg Z., did you mean "Preventing Doubled Notes When Connected to a Sequencer (Local Control)"? I initially misunderstood this function, thinking that the keyboard will be completely disconnected (I use FP-90X as a MIDI controller). Thank you very much for your help

I don’t know. I expect it is because it is a stage piano or maybe just more recent.

Perhaps Roland customer service can provide some information.

Just to share - I now use my Pianoteq Steinway D NY sound model with my Roland FP-90X. I use FP-90X audio system (either speakers or headphones). This way I have better and easier control of (superior) sound and good expansion options.

Michael

Just a quick question. Do u use Pianoteq on a computer and make 90x as a midi contorller? How about the sound output source e.g external speaker?
🙏

Yes that sounds like what Michael is doing and using speakers or headphone on the fp-90x for output.

That is quite easy to do as the fp-x series supports midi and audio over usb. Just one usb cable.

It is also class compliant so you can used a tablet or phone or I imagine a raspberry pi.

Yamaha also has a number of keyboards supporting these features.

[quote=Purdyd]Yes that sounds like what Michael is doing and using speakers or headphone on the fp-90x for output.

That is quite easy to do as the fp-x series supports midi and audio over usb. Just one usb cable.

It is also class compliant so you can used a tablet or phone or I imagine a raspberry pi.

Yamaha also has a number of keyboards supporting these features.[/quote
Thanks, i have a M1 macbook, i think i can use with my 90x. 🙏. Nice to know i dont need audio interface n externals speaks.

I was perhaps not clear enough:

I use my FP-90X as MIDI controller, I connect MIDI USB output to my Mac laptop running Pianoteq (my favourite model is Steinway D NY), choose Roland piano as output in Pianoteq, set "Local Control" on FP-90X to "Off" and it allows me to use either FP-90X's speakers (or headphone output) with Pianoteq sound. What I gain is a superior sound. It would be for digital pianos with either great amplification and speakers or soundboard.

Exactly. I do not need an audio interface. I used a small DAC or Scarlett Solo previously. I found the headphone output better on FP-90X than Scarlett (or the DAC). I do not need speakers and in case of another digital piano (with soundboard), there would be no monitor speaker that can compete with it. I also avoid clutter of cables and speaker placement issues.

Thanks. It's very helpful. You made me want to try pianoteq now!
Fast question: pianoteq is a standalone software right? So i do not need tp habe logic pro?

It is indeed stand-alone. I recommend Standard version. There are more options for the sound than FP-90X's (and it is much more visual to test these options). I am exclusively using it now in a configuration, I described (I had it for more than a year but used less). Pianoteq requires less powerful computer to run on than any sampled models and allows for more tweaking.
I am thinking of getting a M1 computer or laptop (I use an old MacBook Air)

Great sharing. Thanks again. 👍

> ... I do not need speakers and in case of another digital piano (with soundboard), there would be no monitor speaker that can compete with it. I also avoid clutter of cables and speaker placement issues.

It does avoid clutter. But I know FP90 speakers are pretty mediocre and I don't expect FP90X (or any other slab DP) to be much better in this regard. Upmarket furnitures usually do have better speakers, but mostly you can get even better sound with external monitors for less money. Don't get too hyped on soundboard, it is just one kind of a speaker, marketeers are good at twisting our brains.

The internal speakers on slab or cabinet dps are perfectly fine for most people.

It is only when you get to gear forums that people obsess about well, gear.

One thing built in speakers soundboards do is give you a bit of a vibration at the keys that you don’t get with external monitors or headphones.

And of course there is the visual aspect and possibly even the safety aspect of having external monitors.

I was not referring to FP-90X. Its speakers (and most other in Roland digital pianos below LX706) are not great. I meant high-end digital pianos, especially hybrids with soundboard.
By the way, I tried Yamaha HS5 and Adam speakers and they were not dramatically better than the ones in FP-90X.
Cone speakers are not that good for piano sound anyway (I have Monitor Audio speakers in my home audio system)

> It is only when you get to gear forums that people obsess about well, gear.

Well that's were we are right now aren't we?
I should admit that I actually mostly use the FP90 with the built-in speakers, with the volume so low that it hardly matters what speakers (during daytime I can use the AU). But I know the built-in speakers are mediocre, because sometimes I connect it to my bookshelf speakers (nowhere close to high end) and the sound is substantially better. And my old HD545 sound even better (but I get uncomfortable with any headphones after a while). Mind the differences in this range are in fact much more substantial than the fine details between their $20k and $30k setup audiophiles may discuss at lengths, almost anybody can hear them.
Regarding the vibration of the keys, it can be arranged with a speaker or a subwoofer attached to the keyboard. A sub is also often required for good deep bass, if one doesn't mind annoying the neighbours.
I'm not saying upmarket DPs don't sound reasonably well - merely that one can mostly get better sound for the price difference with external speakers (there is much tougher competition on the speaker market than on the DP market). And that a soundboard isn't essential.
I surely do acknowledge the visual aspect

Just a short observation. I realized today (a bit late) that Kawai CA79/99 digital pianos do not have "Transmitting/receiving audio data (USB Audio Interface function)" or "Local Control" options.
I have been so far happy with Roland but I already know that when it comes to any future upgrades (to have a better action, perhaps in a hybrid piano) I can only look at Yamaha.

Kawai CA79/CA99 of course have local control...
Look here, page 5:
https://www.kawai-global.com/data/manuals/cax9/CA99_CA79_MIDI_Settings_Manual_EN_R100.pdf

Yes, I saw it but it is only for MIDI signal (I was originally looking at the manual). I was not precise in my post. It definitely does not have USB Audio Interface. Are you saying that I could use Kawai digital piano the same way I use FP-90X? Please clarify. Thank you

Ps. I am setting Audio Output to "Roland Piano" in Pianoteq (DAC in Roland is used).

That's what the local control is for. With disabling local control, the piano will not produce any internal sound but will still send midi data.
So you will be able to use the builtin speakers for playing only the VST sound without internal sound.

But it doesn't have an USB audio interface, you have to use the line-in jack.
So it's not exactly the same as with the FP90x. For your use case the FP90x is the better choice.

Hi~ how do you record your singing while playing?

I can hear myself but when saved (internal storage) and play, I cannot hear my sining.

Thanks.

I think it only records midi data in order to reproduce the sounds on playback of the midi data on the piano.

Recording the piano sounds plus the singer ------ maybe various ways, which includes just the usual video method (which records all the sounds too), or ----- I think this instrument has an output audio connector that mixes the piano sounds and your microphone voice ----- so that output could be taken to a digital sound recording device, such as sound-card of a computer, or other digital recording device.

Very interesting reading.

I'm about to get an FP90x and I'm indeed wanting to use ut along with Pianoteq, so same question here too.

Also, is there any way of connecting a subwoofer only while still getting the sound through the on-board speakers?

How are you connecting the microphone?

I think the team that were writing the user manual for the FP-90X needed to pull their socks up a bit, and should have included at least some details about whether (or not) the FP-90X has an onboard feature for recording a piano plus microphone mix.

Leaving out that sort of important information is pretty poor actually. But then again, it's the life story of many manuals and manufacturer data sheets etc in general. But back to the FP-90X manual ........ this is just assuming that they really didn't add any information about it. Maybe they did - somewhere - in which case, I would take it all back.

Page 18 and 19 of the FP-90X Owner's Manual discuss _audio_ recording. (You can't record your voice using MIDI, or in SMF format -- you _must_ record in Audio mode.)

I can't find an explicit statement of what happens if you play, while singing into the mic, and do an audio recording. But there _is_ a note about converting SMF (MIDI) recordings to audio recordings:


This suggests (but doesn't state explicitly) that, when you record "live" in Audio mode, the recording contains whatever comes out of the piano's loudspeakers -- that is, it will include microphone (etc) inputs, as well as sounds from the keyboard.

A test should take about 5 minutes.

I think Charles is right. Just focusing on the part that says 'can be re-recorded'. Just assuming it means that - for that feature - it may be a case of the piano replaying a saved midi, where anybody that wants to then sing along during the playback time will also be recorded during the re-recording stage.

Hi guys ..a couple of questions about this great instrument:

- I wonder if anyone using the FP-90x for home studio recording/production purposes...

- I would like to know if his built-in audio interface works well with any DAW and so if you can also use his own speakers for music production...

- It is not clear to me if once you connect the piano to a PC, any audio outputs go throw the piano speakers... I mean if the PC recognizes your piano as a proper audio interface (like when you are the Focusrite installed on your PC for instance).

- Another thing, which third part piano stand would you recommend? Like a piano stand which offers a clear leg area (like the K&M 18810 or 18950).

- The last thing, if the Roland RPU-3 works well (without any issues.. as I have got previously two faulty DP-10..) or is better the KPD-90 which comes with its own stand?

Thanks!

Yes, the fp-90x works just like an audio interface and you can output from the daw software to the speakers.

I have a K&m 18810 it works fine.

Note any single leg stand will have a bit of front back wobble. Some people find that annoying.

My rpu-3 seems to be working fine.

Thank you for your comment Purdyd!


I wouldn't aspected this little issue with this product.. I heard very well about that brand.. Perhaps is just a flooring issue? Anyway you don't have any problems with it right?

Not an issue for me.

Others have complained.

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthre...ga-stand-mp11se-considerable-wobble.html

Hi all,
I recently (late February) joined the Roland family with an fp30x. In general, the DP is great, with a big flaw though on the keys:

I started experiencing the same issue with my keys a few days ago. Send it to a tech store, just to have it back with the same issues again 😢.
I then contacted SweetWater (who were awesome btw), and they told me that I can return the item, and use the money to buy a better one (they are paying for shipping and everything).
So now, here is my dilemma. Even though I just started playing the piano in late February (34yo), I can't stop playing! I love this too much!, so now I want to upgrade to the best DP available in the range of ~2500-3500USD. One of my options is the fp90x, but I read that the problem I had on the fp30x will eventually happen again
In your experience, is this the case? What has been your experience with this specific DP? Do the keys 'clicks' too much/loud with the upper part of your piano because of lack of grease?

FP90x is a different action than 30x.

So I assume you haven't had this issue with your fp90x? Is there anything I should know about the quality of the keys/keybed before buying it?

I have not, but ours is pretty new (so I wouldn't expect it to be an issue, yet). Most DP actions get noisier with use and time, unfortunately.

Yeah, I've read that most (if not all), DP at some point get noisier with time. I just hope my future fp90x will not get as noisy as my previous fp30x in the first months (or year). That is all I ask.
Thank you for your input

This is a mis-placed assumption.

New instruments are often untested. Only a small amount of any manufactured batch of instruments passes through QC.
Then you have the travel from the manufacturing plant to distribution warehouses.
Then you have further travel from NDC's to Music stores.
Then you have further travel from the Music store warehouse to your home.

All that leaves lots of possibilities for transit damage due to knocks and vibrations etc., mishaps...
Lot's of people here get issues with new instruments.

One advantage of buying used is that you can exactly know what you're getting; whereas, buying a new instrument is pretty much pot luck, unless you insist on having a store floor model.

If you buy used you really don’t have any idea either. It could have played a lot or little.

If there is a west problem it is going to show up in the used DP sooner.

I expect an item of this price does have a final qc step.

A new item will be under warranty and if there is damage in shipment you should be able to return it.

I don’t think it will be easy to find a used Fp-90x

This "assumption" is based on actual experience, purchasing/setting up/testing three new university, 12-16 station digital piano labs at different points in my career, in addition to my personal digital piano purchases over the years, those "one off" purchases made as an institutional buyer, and the many times I have assisted my students in making digital piano purchases. So, it may not be authoritative, but the sample size is definitely greater than 50 new digital pianos (of various brands) without such issues. The only one I've had to reject is an "open box" return that I bought at a discount, but that was not necessarily because of minor cosmetic damage-- I cannot remember if it was disclosed by the seller-- rather I didn't like the sound of it.

If you test before buying properly, you do know if everything is good. I always spend time testing everything before agreeing to buy used.

Assuming a small percentage eg 5% actually arrive damaged, then your experience would be normally good. However, recently, more manufacturing sites are being used by the major manufacturers (Y, R, & K) outside of Japan. We've been seeing more complaints on PW. Although there is maybe now a 10-20% chance you get a dud sent to you, if you buy new a lot, it's bound to happen at some point.

I don’t think forums are a good place to collect statistics on failure rates.

20% dud rate? No way.

These other countries besides Japan can produce very good products.

With a new item you get a warranty and usually a no questions asked return policy.

If the problem is a case of wear, like it might be with noise, then buying used might have just accelerated that issue. And you really have no idea how much the digital piano has been played.

I agree it would be nice to try the item out before bringing it home.

But until you get the item home and in the proper environment for a few days, it might not be so easy to assess the item.

When you play a used instrument, you can feel how good (how consistent) the action is across the piano. You can also find out how old it is, and ask how much it's been used ---how often (frequency/duration of practice), what environment (gigged, home use , studio).

That way you can make an informed judgement. I brought mine from a retired gentleman who played it infrequently as he preferred keyboards. It was only a year old. The action played flawlessly across the range. After thorough testing, I couldn't detect any artifacts on the keys that would indicate action damage.

Unless you buy a floor model, it's impossible to make that assessment of a new board.

Of course, you can say that the percentage of instruments with faults passing through QC check is very low, but not anything about the instruments that aren't part of the QC checking. What I mean to say is that anecdotally, we're getting more complaints on PW since these Indonesian plants have started producing instruments for the big 3.

I started a new thread on my Roland FP-90X, but I might as well stick to this thread as its specific to this keyboard. So I will copy and paste my review here.

I had a Yamaha P-70 in my home studio for many years. I basically used it to trigger Ivory II piano software and casually practice piano on it. It was time to upgrade my digital piano. I found my 3 main choices (as I wanted the keyboard to have speakers) were the Yamaha 515, Roland FP-90X, and the Kawai ES920. Out of the 3, I liked the 515 sound wise the least though it is still decent. I found I liked the Kawai E920 the best with the Roland a close second. However when it came to the key bed, I like the Roland the most. As I am getting back into piano playing (I am more of a guitar player but took piano lessons for 6 years when I was younger) having a good key action is very important. I also liked the 4 speakers out of the Roland as well. So after watching many videos, and actually playing it in a store I went with it. I wanted to share my review which maybe helpful to some.

The Roland FP-90X replaced the FP 90 with a more powerful chip that helps provide unlimited polyphony. It has Dual, Split, and Twin Piano keyboard modes as well as dual headphone outputs. MIDI. Bluetooth and USB, for wireless streaming to and from your smart device and integration with your computer-based DAW setup. It has a built in metronome with several different sounds including someone speaking 1, 2, 3, 4 in English or Japanese. Personally I prefer the Japanese.

One of the most important things when deciding on a keyboard piano is how does it sound. With the FP-90X, they provide the upgraded PureAcoustic Piano Modeling, as well as the older Super Natural sound engine that is in the FP-60X and FP30X. The piano sounds of the 90X are really good but I will admit they don't sound as good as many VST pianos software like Ivory 2. However, as the PureAcoustic is modeling and not samples, you can really customize things. From adjusting the piano lid down, in the middle, or high. You can adjust the sound board and get different options to suite your taste as well. One soundboard gives the sound of my friends baby grand piano. In checking out some reviews on Youtube, some reviewers said the higher end of the FP-90X can sound a little shrill or hard out of the speakers. I have to admit I agree with them. Some may like it for certain styles, but it’s not to my taste. The good news is, you can go into the Function button and also adjust the character of every single key on the piano. For my taste I took the 2nd C above middle C and above and adjusted the sound of every key. I moved the setting from center to -1. This reduced the slight shrill and gave a little bit of a warmer sound. I really am impressed with Roland and providing all these options. The 3 band EQ is very helpful as well. With the Dual and Split settings, you have the control to adjust the volume of both sounds to get them to blend correctly to your taste.

The keys and how they feel are very important aspect in choosing a keyboard piano. I found Roland’s premium PHA-50 keyboard with wood and plastic hybrid keys to be excellent and close to a real piano. The 4 speakers with (2x25-watt main, 2x5-watt tweeters) provides a rich, powerful sound. Then the built-in 3-band EQ is also very handy. It supports Roland’s Piano Partner 2, Apple’s Garageband for iOS, and other music creation apps. The keyboard Includes DP-10 damper pedal. Its not a perfect digital piano, but in its price range, its pretty good.
The other sounds from Rhodes, harpsicord, and strings is nice. By combing strings, choir ahs, or some Roland D 50 sounds with the piano sound and have separate volume controls for each sound provides great flexibility. All in all, this is a very good keyboard piano that is built very well and solid.

Thanks for the review and welcome to the club.

Hi @Purdyd

Although not presently a FP90x owner yet, I'm considering it. I noticed reading through this thread you've made recurring mentions as well as very good explanations concerning this DP's function as its own audio interface. If I get the gist of it correctly, not only can you control a VST on a computer with the FP90x, but that the DP's audio interface can retrieve the computer/VST and output it to the DP's own internal speakers.

I'm wondering if you'd care to comment further, both on the relevant publish specs and your perspective on what could be my own personal setup.

First, what the heck are the specs?:
Is this the relevant spec? (from Roland' site) This also seems to be common/equivalent across the FP-x lineup, the 30x, 60x and 90x
DATA PLAYBACKPlayable SoftwareStandard MIDI Files (Format 0, 1)
Audio File (WAV: 44.1 kHz, 16-bit linear format, MP3: 44.1 kHz, 64 kbps - 320 kbps, requires USB flash drive)

Second, I have a Steinberg UR22-MKII audio interface (along with my desktop/external monitors and an Arturia KeyLab61 midi controller. I plan to replace the controller with a DP, say, the FP90X (or the FP60x which seems to have the same AI function). Here's the spec for the Steinberg AI
AUDIO
D/A audio 24bit/192kHz
Audio Quality: 24.0 bit

Do the numbers tell a story which is relevant to criteria such as audio quality, latency, reliability or are they more or less irrelevant given the light duty of the workload imposed on the audio interface.

It seems obvious to me in the first instance, that a straight swap of the controller with the DP should be a snap. Do nothing.

But, let's say I want to move the DP to another room to control a VST in my laptop--i.e. no more audio interface and no more monitors. Is this simply a matter of checking the audio output route from available options in the VST itself? Or is this Windows thing? Dedicated driver? As for a VST I'm thinking, say, Pianoteq in standalone mode on the laptop. (small footprint my laptop can handle) Or, is there something I'm missing or ought to be prepared to do for this to work. Your earlier explanations would lead me to think I have no need for the audio interface because the FP90X is the audio interface required to retrieve the VST signals and to play the VST output.

Another scenario: Let's say the DP is back in the music room with audio interface, external monitors, and big, fat desktop computer. But now I want the option to switch the audio output of the VST away from default external monitors to the FP90X's internal speakers. Is this audio output switching ability controlled by selection of preferences in Pianoteq, or software for the DP, or some kind of external switching device/mixer....whatever.? This option would permit instant compare/contrast between the DP and monitors.

Anyhoo, given that you must feel a certain exasperation at having to keep interjecting notice of this audio interface reality, I figured I'd beg you to take a look at my questions about it. I hope I haven't crossed your line! hehe

Naturally, I invite anyone with a thought or three about this stuff to weigh in.

Since i haven't dabbled with all the audio interface stuff of the FP-90X until now i can't give you any advice on that.

But if money isn't a big concern i would recommend to go with 90X because it has the much better action.

Still FP90x related but straying a tad from the thread's main themes. Although maybe not.

Given the energetic participation in this FP90X thread and the sheer numbers of smart piano people who are owners, it speaks volumes to the apparent incremental value proposition of this DP versus the middle sibling in the lineup, the FP60X. While there are certain niggling concerns about this feature of the 90x or that one voiced here, the general consensus points to a general endorsement. The FP-90x certainly has the look of a very successful model. It says to me, "Yes, it's a steep ouchy hike in price going from the 60x to the 90x, but the added value arriving in the added features is slam dunk."

Or is it?

By contrast, there seems to be no love for the forgotten middle child, the FP-60x. I wondering...maybe it's closer to suggest that the 60X is in an awkward spot, not such a great value proposition in the first place. Why is there no FP-60X owners club? It's a fair chunk more expensive than the FP-30x, so maybe the value proposition moving from the entry to the mid-level model ain't so hot.

I'm wondering what sort decision-making considerations or criteria or rationale (or rationalizations) went on in FP-90X owners' heads. Was it a slam dunk or was it a struggle with the feature set/price? Naturally, can't exclude measuring this model contra its competitors from other makers.

I guess I'm fishing a bit here, also when it comes to the importance of keybed action. Does the higher grade of action in the 90X warrant the luxury surtax which you are quite happy to pay, and without hesittation...or does it grind your gears as borderline exploitive?

And who the heck owns the FP-60X?

I'm curious.

I would be wary of drawing too many conclusions about popularity from this forum.

Forums are often skewed views of the larger world.

Thanks for your input @brennbaer. You'll probably notice that coincidentally your comment about the 90X's action is relevant to my next post about value for money. with this DP. So, yes, budget is a controlling factor for me, and I wonder...for someone like me who owes no allegiance the aristocratic acoustic standard(s), and with no intention of wanting or needing to be acclimatized and ready for AP action, the value proposition is both mysterious and triggers further interrogation for me. On the other hand, I read about attributes like "expressive potential" of AP action. So, having a long history of musical experience (classical guitar), and arguing that expressive potential is the CG's middle name, it piques my interest and wonder and desire (and likely my bias), read piano player's accounts of expression potential even though I'm a tender neophyte with keyboards.

Unfortunately, while I find the recurring emphasis and singular importance of DP action attributes so persuasive, the best I can hold onto is intuition, hunches, and yes, something of a blind trust in the sharp endorsements and insightful comments of the experienced, advanced players in these PW forums.

The PW forum is something of a "think tank". I'd venture that for whatever reason, these advanced pianists have notched up 80 IQ points having drunk the magical/musical elixir for so many years/decades/half-centuries.

I'd be a dumb, dumber dope to dismiss it.

hehe

Yes, your point is well taken, and a good reminder. It's easy enough to spiral into rituals of belief in what might be coined an isolated subculture.

Nevertheless, the forum's lively discussions reveal it's no cult of groupthink conformists. There's healthy debate between some obviously incisive thinkers.

"Too many conclusions" would be a blunder, but a few key conclusions, cautiously arrived at, can be a good thing. I've enjoyed this sort tentative learning with positive results in all sorts of different forums, from sailing, to pet care, to guitar playing and home repair. Now, when it comes to fitness, however, your remark is golden. I take everything in those sorts of forum with boulder-sized grains of salt!

For all that, your reminder is still well-placed. Thanks

If you are looking for a keyboard with speakers that is easily movable, and has a top keyboard action the fp-90x will come up in the discussion.

The competition has some issues.

Es920 has a bouncy keyboard and lacks usb audio
P515 has a heavy action

The Korg sv2 is an interesting option. It not considered in the same league at least as a piano as the other three.

The same could be said of the dexibell s7 pro.

If you compare with the fp-60x

You get a better keyboard,
Better piano sound,
Better speakers

Is it worth the price difference? Well that is something only the buyer can determine.

Some people prefer the fp-60x pha-4 keyboard.
Some people use external speakers or virtual instruments.

Personally, since I tend to hold onto things for awhile and those differences are important to me, it was worth the difference in price.

And I think you are right, the fp-60x does not get the love that the fp-30x or fp-90x get

Just like the es520 and Yamaha p255 mid range digital pianos

The fp-30x has a ton of features, is lighter, with the same piano sound and keyboard as the fp-60x.

The value buyer will get the lower end model and the in the other end, some people know they will want the best and just save money and buy one digital piano instead of a lower model and upgrading.

And oddly, or not so, there is a category of giving musicians who want a light keyboard. And honestly I think companies could do a better job catering to them.

For instance, the fp-30x and new es120 do not have din midi connectors.

Three things drew me to the FP-90X over the FP-60x.

1. I like the upgraded keys. I don't have a real piano anymore and the keys on the 90X I just love. It makes me feel I'm a little closer to having a real piano with the feel and action.
2. I like the 4 speakers over the 2 speakers on the FP-60X. I wanted a digital piano with good speakers with a big full sound. If I was going more into an amp or using headphones perhaps the 60X might be a good choice too.
3. I want the best modeling Roland has to offer in 2022. I am willing to pay the extra money for it. It helps when Sam Ash had no interest for 2 years when I purchased it as well.

A great summary of pros and cons for this and that. Got me thinking further on several ideas, thanks @Purdyd. A real big downside for me is that I don't live in a metropolitan city brimming with oodles of choice. (Prince Edward Island, Canada). I can pretty much eliminate Casio and Kawai both because it would be continental journey to a retailer and repairs. I do have excellent access, though, to the local technical firm, authorized warranty service for both Yamaha and Roland, and he does Korg too. He, in turn, has a solid, long-standing relationship with these DP makers.

Yeah, you've laid out the buyers logic pretty well, I'd say. I'm on the fence but tilting toward the guy who likes to hang onto the best I can afford. I like how you've given some credence to some of the entry level models, especially the fp-30x. The feature leap from the 30x to the 60x, as I think you're hinting at, appears to be much less than that between the 60x and the 90x.

Where I hesitate to go more upscale it's because the lifecycle of electronic "appliances" of all sorts is closer to insect-quick than elephant-slow. And I've looked at the local DP used market, and sheesh, for old high end models with feature sets exceeded by current entry-level models, some people are demanding ridiculous prices. And, I see quite a few needing niggling repairs, mainly to keybeds and switches. My classical guitar, (now about 40 years old) by contrast, is better than new, and should still be around in another 100 or 200 years and if I could live that long, I'd keep it. Of course, granted this is apples to oranges, digital to analog. For all that I can appreciate lingering value of a well cared for acoustic piano from the Victorian era.

Intriguing comment "The Korg sv2 is an interesting option". It sounds like you might be inclined to give it higher marks than the predominant perspective?

Thanks for this input, @Revelation Sound. You've laid out your buying criteria really well such that it's easy it understand why you opted for the FP-90X over the FP60X. Obviously, too, you want to be a current as you can be, close to the leading edge of the "best modeling Roland has to offer in 2022".

So, what will you do in 2023? 2024? Only joking, sorry. I take it that your desire to be current may have something to do with a hope of extending the relevance of this instrument's useful life for as long as possible. Why start behind on yesterday's curve, when today's is right here, right now.

This video made it very tough to choose which piano I liked more.
In some ways I liked the Kawai more; in addition one of my best friends has a Kawai piano and just loves it.

There are four reasons why I choose the Roland over the Kawai ES920. And I didn't know for sure until I actually tried them out in the store. Now if there is anyone who has the ES920, I'm sure they can give several reasons why they choose the Kawai over the Roland which would be just a valid as this is more of a personal preference. I am also sure I would be happy to some extent with it as well.

1. The key feel on the Kawai was too light for me and I really preferred the PHA-50 action more.
2. With the extra wattage and 4 speakers vs 2 speakers, the Roland has a bigger sound (I'm not saying louder). Plus the woman April I'm crazy about also loves Roland but that is another story.
3. You can control the dynamics of each key on the Roland, so the higher keys which can be a little piercing on some piano settings, you can control and bring them down where they sound a little warmer.
4. Roland is aiming for getting the sound of a Steinway. Kawai is providing you with the sound of the Kawai piano. My old church had a Steinway grand and it was the best experience playing that piano on a stage. Breathtaking to hit the ivory keys and not smile. To be able to play a Steinway piano in a large hall and to hear the sound in the room....I felt like the riches guy in the world. I since then, fell in love with the Steinway sound and that is the sound for me.

The life cycle of higher end digital pianos is much longer.

The fp90 was released in 2016

The fp90x in 2021

And honestly there isn’t a great deal of difference

Where things are change rapidly is the virtual instruments and the hardware to run them

And because of the convenience of a one cable solution. I would want a keyboard with usb midi and usb audio in.

Projecting into the future based on the release dates you cite, might put us in year 2026/27 for the rollout of the FP-90Y .
And I'd suppose that current owners of the FP90 might be content to hold onto them for awhile yet, even if just 1 model release behind. What's that, like 10-15 years of ownership, which is not too shabby...for an "electric appliance". All is relative, because this still pegs lifecycle as a thin fraction of that of analog tools, like axes, pie forks, wheelbarrows, acoustic pianos and violins, where the actuary tables go back a century or more. In any case, I am over-dramatizing the contrast. But as you indicated your preference is to go higher end with the hope of enjoying a long relationship with the instrument.

Pro-rated, the annual cost looks like $200-$250/year or a little less than a buck-a-day, and then if well cared for, there's some residual disposal value. A bargain from this longer view angle.

This picture conjures up my wondering if any "preventative maintenance" is ever recommended. Certainly, I've never seen it mentioned...anywhere, meaning a good DP should be maintenance-free...until something goes clunk. With quite a complex of moving parts, are there any lubrication points or adjustable bits?

Thanks @Revelation Sound for posting the video. I appreciate your roundup of reasons to support your purchase decision in favor of the FP-90X. Enjoyed you anecdote recalling your church experience with a Steinway grand. It does help situate your DP experience within a wider personal context, giving me another salient point to ponder.

I take special note of your emphasis on the superior speaker array in the FP-90X over its lesser siblings, and that you're underlining quality over quantity.

Thanks for weighing in. You've done me a good deed! I think I understand the value proposition of the FP90X much better now than when I first posted the original question.

Well, I have had this now for several weeks, and the more I play it the more I like it. The keys are really nice, but after playing for an hour, they seem a little heavy. I think I need to develop some muscles in my fingers. I usually use the first concert piano with reverb on 5 or 6. I also use the harpsichord for some John Thompson book 3 stuff that I used to play when I was a young lad. The keys I don't find slippery at all and are made of a good material.

I also am getting some Billy Joel, or Bruce Hornsby music and playing it through my Android phone through the speakers. I then play with the keyboard with the music which is helping me get better timing with the actual song.

Good Luck with that.

I would advise focusing on both technique and correct piano posture.

What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body https://a.co/d/6JVh5fH


It's a mistake to play for too long ---gradually increase session times. If you play into fatigue, your technique will falter and this will cause poor practice and injury.

Improving strength without good technique will hinder deliberate practice, slowing your rate of improvement down.

actually i was joking.
If he really should succeed in developing muscles in his fingers he would be an anatomical miracle

In Europe, the price of the FP-90X is much closer to a Yamaha P-515 and ES-920 than in the US. For instance, in my case, 1745 (FP-90X) vs 1555 (P-515) vs 1590 (ES-920).

I wonder whether people who criticise the FP-90X for its price tag in the US would consider it in such a market? Because next to the sound of the modelling engine the price seems to be the main criticism?

For context:

I'm looking for a new digital / stage piano and the three usual suspects + the Studiologic Numa X Piano GT (which also costs around 1750 here) are currently my favorites.

I like the Numa X Piano GT because of its midi zones (which would allow me to control external gear), but even though I have good external studio monitors, due to the way my room is set up, it's a toss-up with a keyboard with onboard speakers. The piano is to the side of my main desk / studio monitors so I'd probably have to buy some additional smaller monitors that I can put in front of me for a better playing experience. I'm also not entirely sold on the on-board piano sound of the Numa X Piano GT.

The ES-920 was pretty OK when I played it, the keys felt a bit shallow though.

I only played the PHA-50 once, and the experience was really strange. It was a Roland DP-603 and the key action had some noticeable lateral travel, and it felt quite floaty, as if walking on stilts. I wonder whether that's just how the PHA-50 feels or whether maybe the model was too banged up in the store.

they'll probably have to discontinue the 920 or remake it with a new chassis. it's just terrible and flimsy, significant rattling. the body doesn't compete at all with 515 or 90x. they can maybe get away with the 920 at $1200 where the 520 was. if we get a better chassis back to 1500, 1800, way too unrealistic.

the 520, difficult, I really don't think it should be above 1100. i don't regret owning it but i don't care about the price, RHC's performance is superior to all existing actions on the market.

It's not just the price and sound though, it's the extra cost to rectify that...

a) External headphone amp to get over that awful internal amp
b) Laptop to play your chosen replacement sound
c) VST cost

Just as well it comes with an internal audio-interface.

Or you can buy something you can’t fix, with too heavy an action.

Or too bouncy of an action with a flimsy body and no usb audio in,

Or perhaps have to buy external speakers, a laptop and audio interface.

Or have it so heavy you can’t move it.

And I personally like the sound of the fp-90x pure acoustic piano model.

It is very clear and there is a lot tweaking one can do to the modeling, even on a per key basis.

The headphone amp is perfectly adequate. If I turn up the volume too high it is painfully loud with my beyerdynamic headphones.

I’ve demoed several virtual pianos. More recently Vienna symphonic library. It’s missing sympathetic resonance so there is a thread on how to blend it with pianoteq. Some people like messing with that stuff.

I like to play piano. And I have other people who play it. And I move it.

I don’t know anyone who has listened to or played my fp-90x who has said it is crappy.

Those are all negligible for me because I already do own all those things (producing music for 20+ years) so I can't really count them as a negative compared to the other pianos.

So in that sense, since the 4 keyboards I've listed roughly cost the same for me then it's ultimately really about juggling the action, quality of the onboard speakers, added functionality (audio interface, midi zones), quality control, sturdiness etc. in my context... which makes it a very hard decision

Some comments tho:

About a) I'm not saying you are wrong, but I really have a hard time believing this, I own tons of gear and synthesizers and I never had a problem with driving any of my high-impedance headphones, so that would be quite shocking to me.

About c) Just by listening to the demos of the FP-90X and considering the various editable parameters with their modelling engine I'm somewhat confident to get at least a passable sound with it. I mean the ES-920 for instance didn't exactly blow off my socks either when I played it.

Well, I tried and failed to get anything remotely pleasing from a pair of Sennheiser HD650's, and the cheapish Panasonic store cans (100 ohms) on the Roland pianos. Both these cans sounded fine on the Nord Grand, CP88, CLP658, ES8, etc.

I have read posts discussing which headphones work well with Roland DP's---I believe some people commented with suggestions not to exceed 32 ohms! I believe the Grado SR80e are a good fit for the Roland pianos.

BTW, I've heard many demos on YouTube and yes, all the PureAcoustic models sound fine, if a bit different.
Perhaps if one tried the Roland's in isolation in a store with no other decent competition, they Roland pureacoustic models might sound ok.
If like me, you do something unwise---like play the CLP785 and then play the LX708 in the same store---there is literally blood coming off the LX708 where it went down in the first 30 seconds of the 1st round -- out cold.

Personally, I was very keen to get to the store and see how modelling had advanced when the LX708 came out. I was thinking of upgrading to the RD2000 from my MP7, so I had good reason to want the Roland models to sound good. I was so disappointed with all the PureAcoustic modelling digital pianos: they suck compared to the models in direct competition (at least to my ears). Sometimes I beat around the bush and use careful language, but there is a time for brutal honesty---a nearly £4,000 LX708 was nowhere near as nice to play compared to the £1,300 ES8 and I did try for over half an hour to tweek the LX708 in pianodesigner to fix it. I tried on the RD2000 too for about an hour, and wasn't anymore successful tweeking that. Of the 4 hours I spent in store, at least 2 hours were spent on the RD2000, Fantom and LX708. I ended up buying an MP7SE instead.

What is exactly wrong with this modelled sound: There was this feeling that the sound was coming from a distance---like a ventriliquist throwing their voice! There was much less sound clarity too i.e., compared to the sampled pianos---especially compared to the Nord Grand and Yamaha CLP models. All models sounded boxy, compressed, and underpowered (the speakers on the LX708 especially seemed to lack grunt on full power). I don't know where Roland are going wrong---whether it be in the translation of the modelling engine into actual sound, or if it's just the modellling engine that is unable to output competitive piano.

Even with the 3d thing and the pseudo-TRS turned on (which made it slightly more fun to play), nothing could be done boost the sound on the LX708---in comparison to it's rivals.

On the FP90X, the PHA50 action is great btw, it's just the sound. Therefore, I think with a good VST and a headphone amp (or low impedance cans), nobody should be shying away from the Roland digitals.

I know that the FP90X is probably the cheapest route to a PHA50 action: that to me is it's main advantage. However, to me, both the RD2000 and the Fantom 8 make slightly more sense, as they both have so much to offer besides the pianos (and both are quite good fun)---but definitely, any of the popular VSTs would be my go to for piano over the PureAcoustic modelling from Roland e.g., Pianoteq, VSL, Garritan, Ravenscroft etc.

Doug,

Any theories as to why Pianoteq can get modeling right but Roland cannot? I own an fp90 -- love the action, hate the sound. Quality cans help only to a degree. I figured the fp90x would have better modeling than its predecessor, but from your account it's still sub-par. I'm gearing up to try Pianoteq with my fp90 (once I get over my reluctance due to ham handedness with computer manipulations) and have fingers crossed that I'll like the results. I'll add some quality speakers while I'm at it. I gather there's no point in upgrading to any other slab in this price range because I'll probably want a VST and external speakers in the final analysis. It just seems that so many of us are chasing the best digital in that price range but ultimately conclude that the slab, whoever makes it, doesn't quite get there without external sounds and speakers.

Btw, I am considering Pianoteq due to the fact it takes up so little hard drive space. Good decision?

The demo version means you'll risk nothing. But I found out, after many years, to alter very little of the parameters. The velocity curve will need adjusting to your piano/tastes.
Many are those who, too, find the Pianoteq sound boxy. But through external speakers, it more closely resembles a real instrument imo. Real pianos are very boxy instruments you know.

There you go.

There are people who will want to use virtual instruments and those that don’t.

Some are happy with the internal sounds of their piano some aren’t.

Some will want external speakers, others don’t

Some like the sound of the fp-90x some don’t.

These are opinions.

To say you need to use a virtual instrument on a computer with the fp-90x is a subjective assessment. Opinion.

As for the headphone amp, my beyerdynamic DT 770 pro 80 ohm headphones are fine and plenty loud.

As were my at mx50s and sennheiser earbuds.

That again is my opinion.

I would not judge the merit of an opinion by the length of the post, the number of times it was posted, or the tenor of that opinion.

Enjoy your playing,

With the due respect, the artistic beauty is not an opinion. It is Truth.

Excellent question.
I'm not sure that Pianoteq is a breeze to set up. According to posts discussing headphones vs speakers, there is need to have separate EQ profiles for both. Also, reverb settings sound different through cans compared with playing through speakers.

Pianoteq Pro gives V-piano levels of tweekability; however, the community of users pianoteq has access to as well as a more constant stream of updates to pianoteq suggests that the greater improvement comes from a faster development cycle.

With more pianos modelled, potentially, that's more lessons learned and then shared and improvement deseminated to other models. In short, I think they've worked harder on one aspect (modelling) than Roland have, and that's given them more success to reinvest.

That's not to say Pianoteq is the answer. In some respects, pianoteq plays more dynamically meaning it takes better player control to make sure the piece sounds even. So it's perhaps a better training tool. Also, it has better resonance modelling than most sampled pianos.

For sound purity, the VSL D274 sounds much better than Pianoteq. For performance or recording, the Garritan CFX or VSL D-274 will likely sound better.

There maybe another reason why Roland has issues. One of the issues with pianoteq is a coldness in the bass resulting from a larger amplitude overtone set coming from the mid-range. This can be seen and heard in Stu Harrison's video comparing VSL to Pianoteq. It's possible that Roland have tried to reduce the metallic qualities of modelling to make it warmer, but have caused the sound to become distant. That's pretty much speculation and probably horse poop on my part.

Be interesting to test how your Beyerdynamics perform using an external amp. Bruce from Phily uses one on his RD2000 and swears it makes a decent difference.

a) Electronics change all the time, seems high-impedance headphones are becoming exotic and it may be more important to be able to drive recently more popular low-impedance ones. That said, the FP90 sounds okay with my old Sennheiser HD545, 150 ohm at max volume, but not that great with Senn IE40 and some other low-impedance in-ears at 1/3 max volume. I've got no low-impedance big cans to compare, but I did notice that the voltage at the output drops substantially when low-impedance phones are connected.

C) That's very subjective IMO, I preferred the ES8 piano sound to FP90.

Thanks for helping me make a decision by sharing your views, people. Despite being intrigued by the FP-90X, due to my experience with the DP-603, I ultimately decided to order a Studiologic Numa X Piano GT. As long as the action holds up I'll be happy. If the sound turns out to be crap I'll just use Pianoteq or NI Noire for practice.

I'd like to know how your experience is going so far, was it a positive transition? What did you regret? What would have you kept from RD?

Most importantly, how does the TP400W compare to the PHA50?

I updated my 'console style' stand for my FP90X with a 3rd monitor below the keyboard. Its fed by the left channel line out. Goal was to make the player feel that the sound is more 'coming from the whole instrument' rather than from the monitors on top. It works :-) Quite a good improvement when playing.



For anyone interested in the project, since my original post I made several modifications:
- I made it larger so the top shelf is now 13 inches deep. This is now comfortably roomy for laptop, speakers, music stand, etc.
- I never use the internal speakers so made a lower shelf thats just above the top of the keyboard. This shelf is good for storage of music, ipad, and can fit slim audio equiptment
- Changed from high gloss 'piano black' paint to matte black. Works much better when in 'just give it a quick paint' mode. Gloss requires a lot more care and skill.
- Added 3rd speaker, below the keyboard. So the sound is more spread around the instrument.
- Raised the hight another inch to give me knee room for pedaling.


Here's the previous version:

Hello everyone,

Finally purchased an FP90X, received today.

Very happy with the feel of the keys, it reminds me of Kawai higher end actions..

My favorite sound so far is the Upright Piano, I guess maybe because it is the sampled one

I was wondering where is the Midi Grand to be found ? I saw it on this review at 5:11. Anyone has a clue ? Thanks !

That may mean the piano sound in the general midi bank of sounds? On FP90X go to 'Synth/Other' sounds, general midi starts from number 24 and goes to 274! 24 is the first midi piano. The sounds are:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_MIDI_Level_2

I like the upright sample too :-) I sometime layer the upright sample with the modeled concert grand sound. Warning though, if you connect up to midi apps and you are using layered sounds, FP90X will send double notes through midi to you software, which can confuse it. (Eg Piano Marvel).

Also note that if you go into the Piano Designer you can change the modeled piano sounds quite a bit. Try the different soundboard settings.

Thankyou so much, I honestly did not notice all these sounds were hiding there, it opens up a lot of possibilities.

I tried different soundboards, in Piano Designer, and different tunnings, for example when I press on European Tuning, but I do not hear any difference, anyone experience this, or maybe there is but it's too subtle ? Is there a significant difference?
also I do not get what is My Stage button for, as compared to the default Piano Concert ?

My keyboard was disconnected, I can hear the differences now !

My stage is a shortcut that selects one of the 8 pure acoustic pianos and an ambience.

I’d give yourself a few days to let your brain adjust and you might like the pure acoustic pianos more.

Note, when you use the piano designer libraries it sets the piano type to concert.

So for example if you have selected the stage bright piano at the keyboard and then select a library preset, that stage bright becomes a concert piano. And if you select save to keyboard, it will be set that way until you do a factory reset.

Ok Thankyou !

All the Rolands I played at the store seemed to have slow bounce. Is it hard to play the same note repeatedly fast on them? Is that problem only in cheaper DP no matter the brand?

Playing a key repeatedly you shouldn’t allow the key to bounce, you should play with different fingers and not allow they key to return all the way to the top.

Some of the keyboards, usually the better one, have three sensors to better support this technique

This instrument is amazing, I think I have the
Europpean Tuning GP609 from Piano Designer, I don't even remember, but it sounds amazing, tweaked the touch to 44 and resonance (Ambiance) to 6, very easy to use features. Very powerful instrument. I feel that it is a real piano, not trying to resemble a piano, but an instrument with it's unique sound and touch, the details of the tone are really rich and agreable to the ear, and also the sound is great when recording video with iphone, I am always struggling to get a good sound with my acoustic piano, there is always a distorsion, even with a prof. microphone, here it sounds great, probably coz there are less vibrations or something.

Dear owners, Is it possible and how to have drum beat background sound for our DP? E.g 4/4 beat background drum beat sound.

Yes but you have to use the Roland app.

This is new by the way and has replaced the piano every day app

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/roland-piano-app/id1610462043

Thanks~

MarkOfJohnson:
Are those Genelec speakers? If so, which ones and do you like them? I'm thinking about purchasing two 8030s for my fp-90.

Do you know what the difference between the two apps is?
In the Google Playstore both are available

And to add to this; do they add any sort of latency to your setup?

Yes, those are Genelec speakers. I originally brought up the idea for these speakers here. MarkOfJohnson has an 8020.

Read more here:
https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/3122234.html

I use three Genelec 8020d speakers in my current setup. Left & right on the top of the piano and the third is below the keyboard in the middle, like pointing at my legs. Currently I have this third speaker fed by the left channel. Balance wise the third speaker is set louder than the top speakers, and the top right speaker is maybe a bit louder than the left to compensate. The 8020s have a gain adjustment on the back that has enough adjustment range to balance the sound nicely.

A more complex setup could be in my future - adding a third audio out from the laptop and feeding the third speaker a different mix from the vst, but I don’t think it’s worth it. With 2 speaker you hear the sound as coming from the speakers. Adding the third so sound comes from below the keyboard makes the direction of the sound be from the instrument as a whole, rather than from the speakers. It’s very satisfying. Btw, probably no need to match the third speaker to the first two, I just did so as I came across a used 8020.

I’m thinking about another project where I rebuild my DP console with a built in speaker as part of the cabinet below the keyboard.