Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards My first RD-700NX recordings

Hi all,
I just bought the RD-700NX this weekend!
I'm very happy with it so far. It's my first digital. the sound is amazing! especially the recording quality. personally I would not be able to distinguish it from a real piano..
The action is even closer to an acoustic I think. every acoustic is different and I personally prefer it over a medium quality upright action. It's very fast and responsive, but not too light.
the ep's are a bit strange, but nice to play though.
anyway, thank you all for all the information you provide here!

I recorded some tunes right away. If anyone is interested in the sound quality (or my playing of course.. ):
RD-700NX Recordings feel free to comment!

Cheers,
Julian

Can't play m4a files, how about mp3 ?

good point Jazz+, I fixed it.

Nice playing, Julian. A lot of the recordings have far too much reverb for my taste but that's a personal thing.

I liked best the voice you used on It Never Entered - which is that one?

The Rhodes demo only served to reinforce my own take on the RD's electric pianos - immensely tweakable, but you never seem to get where you're headed.

Overall (and no disrespect intended to Julian's choice of gear), for me these recordings and my own experience of the NX demonstrate a truth that maybe some have lost sight of on this forum.

That is, you can have a piece of kit which tickets all the boxes technically - escapement simulation, ivory feel, models vs samples, no loops/stretching etc etc. And it can still end up with it sounding not that much like a real piano.

There are many people currently wetting their pants over the arrival of the Korg Kronos because it has unlooped samples. But the ticking of a certain technical box doesn't guarantee a great sound.

Digital piano = box of compromises, folks!

Hi JulianMaurits,

Really do like your playing in that first piece, "Tres Palabras.mp3," as it has a nice easy feel to it, and, it sounds rather complex, rhythmically speaking. I can tell that you enjoy the music as that's what counts.

No easy task for the pianist, however!

pv88

Hi Julian,

I am truly impressed with both your playing and this piano's warm and dynamic sound.

Please note that there seems to be a blank of about 1:57'' at the beginning of the Skylark recording.

Thank you for sharing,
Paolo

I agree, great playing, thanks for taking the time to record and post!

Most DPs have the reverb on by default I believe at least partly to cover up a somewhat lame piano sound. But real pianos have enough resonance going on, they really don't need another layer of mush on top. IMO Roland SN APs don't need nor do they benefit from it either. I've even tried all the reverbs in Adobe Audition and none could improve the basic SN AP sound (IMO).

I'd say turn the reverb off and turn up the pedal sympathetic resonance, which sounds pretty nice for being an in-line DSP effect.

thanks for all your kind and useful comments guys (are there any women on this forum?..)!
You're right about the reverb. it's too much. but it were just some first recordings, not perfect at all..
so Dewster, I suppose you tweaked quite a bit? you made some good presets?
Aidan, the sound used in It Never entered My Mind is the studio grand. (this one doesn't have much reverb actually)

I will upload another file later, without reverb.

cheers,
Julian

Julian, I've listened to "Georgia" several times today and I must say I'm very impressed with what you've done with all of these pieces - bravo! I'm not an EP connoisseur, but the Rhodes sounds really nice to me - the low end is pronounced, but not overbearing. The tremolo at the end piece is a nice touch too. This EP records very well, which isn't too surprising as it is SN. The NX EPs and APs seem to respond to your intimate playing style quite well.


Here are some settings I've used for the APs in our NX, they're mostly just turning things off, lifting the lid a bit and jacking the sympathetic resonance up:

All:
Panel EQ: Off (w/ button)
Panel Reverb: Off (w/ button)
Panel Chorus: Off (w/ button)
Panel Compressor: Off (w/ button)
Sound Focus: Off (w/ button)
Sympathetic Resonance: 64

Concert:
Lid: Set to 7
Menu EQ: Off

Studio:
Lid: Set to 7

Brilliant:
No other setting changes

I've only sampled a bit of each recording, but so far, BIG thumbs up - they all sound great!! (as does the playing)

Thanks,
Greg.

thank you dewster for your settings.
I uploaded a new one without any reverb. it's a little improvisation on a beatles tune. hope you like it.
You've Got To Hide Your Love

thanks, Julian

[Edited]

Ah, much better AP sound! Your intimate playing really puts the NX in a good light!

The reverb in the NX isn't anything to write home about - it certainly seems to kill the APs. When slathered on a pipe organ it sounds sort of OK though.

I think you have the left and right channels swapped (I noticed this in your other recordings too). Also, I'm not hearing the damper pedal mechanical sound - you are recording to MIDI first? Or are you just not using the pedal? Or do you have the pedal mechanical noise turned off?

Paolo noted in an earlier post that there are ~2 minutes of silence at the beginning.

Thanks dewster,

As I did not originally see Paolo's post, which mentioned that.

Have edited my post, above.

pv88

Aidan (I hope you don't think I'm trying to be snarky) could you tell me what it is about the NX Rhodes in Julian's rendition of "Georgia" that sounds bad / off / not realistic? Have you tried an NX, and if so are the EP presets different than on the GX?

Julian, what do you think of the NX Rhodes sound?

Like most people, I've been exposed to EPs via popular music, but I'm by no means a connoisseur. Our family owned an EP when I was a kid, I believe it may have been a Wurlitzer, but I only dinked around on it a bit. The tremolo knob was fun, and I faintly remember taking the plastic top off and seeing felt hammers and bars or something (as a kid I took literally everything apart and, unfortunately for others, often left it that way).

First of all, Julian, much better recording and again nice playing!

Dewster, re: the RD's EPs... I find it tricky to put into words exactly what feels wrong to me about them, and I have only limited acquaintance with those on the NX - however, I understand that it's basically the same EP modelling as its predecessor, perhaps with better factory presets.

On the GX, the Rhodes model, for example, when you get down into the territory around E2, has this curious fuzziness about it, almost like distortion or line noise, which is unlike any Rhodes I've ever played.

You can hear this in Julian's recording somewhat - the lower notes sound a little "ghosted" and you hear the overtones more than you do the fundamental. The EPs delivered out of the box with the RD700GX were disastrous - flabby and thin. It was possible to get better results by really wading into the sound designer but they still, to me, had a rather one-dimensional quality about them.

The GX Wurlis are far worse, going from flabby plastic to thin and piercing, with very little natural warmth.

As a quick Rhodes comparison here is a quick play through of Georgia on the Nord's Rhodes Mk1 Deep sample. In retrospect, it probably required a bit of boost on the bass and the "bark point" is set a little high, but you get the idea...

My Georgia!

To me, this has a slightly more organic feel to the sound, and better response to phrasing, especially for jazz purposes.

very nice playing!! I agree with you on the rhodes sound. I played a real one several times on my school, and it's really different. the nord one is better in my opinion (I tried the NP in the store). the RD has a strange sound, hard to describe. but it is very responsive and sounds good to my ears, just not exactly like a real rhodes..
actually I thought the nord AP sound was more woody and realistic sounding than the RD. but I was really turned off by the rubbish action of the Nord. also the connection to the sound seemed to be more natural on the RD.


I'm recording the sound through a firewire audio interface, into logic. You could be right about the channels.. I think I swapped left and right for both the piano and the speakers, so I hear them correctly...
I can't figure out how to record midi and then play the RD's sound with the file... I'm a bit new in this world, sorry.
also my midi usb cable distorts the audio signal from the firewire cable next to it.. anyone has this problem too?

I've just listened to Skylark. Very nice! Hoagy Carmichael was a great composer and I'm glad his music is still being played.

The piano sounds great to me as do you and I for one do not find the reverb objectionable.

thank you! skylark is a beautiful song indeed. (as is Georgia)