I've recently acquired a RD-700NX, for its versatility and feel of keybed, to replace a very aging Yamaha P-150 weighted keyboard.

Sounds is a very subjective thing, of course, and even if I used to be "allergic" to Roland piano sounds, I happen to quite like the SN Acoustic Pianos and find them rather enjoyable playing -- but less so the SN Electric Pianos.

Just to give my bias: I also play a Nord Electro 3 and love the EP sounds (and the organ and also the acoustics, by the way). The EP sounds on the Nord are nice and restrained when played softly, but really rises and starts biting if you hit them, but in an organic and controlled way. They blend well. The Roland SN EP's are a bit "too much" sometimes and sounds almost too large and "clacky" compared to what I'm used to.

So I was missing something closer to the Nord from the RD-700NX sounds; the emulation sounds a bit overdone for some parts and has too much "clack", and it is to my ears somewhat difficult to tweak it to sound like the older Rhodes models.

Anyway, I figured that there are significantly more (non-SN) EP sounds available to use, even if they are somewhat hidden. I guess some of these are from the previous boards that some of you may have preferred earlier on?

So after a bit of tweaking, I came up with something that was more to my liking, and more organic and with a bit of bite when needed -- YMMV! There are plenty of other options to use one of the other 40+ EP samples, so I guess I'll play around some more with this later also.

Here is what I did. It utilises an apparent bug in the software...

1) Hit the "User" key to get yourself into the user presets.

2) Select any preset you want to edit (I picked #31).

3) Press the "Tone Edit" button and change the "Tone" parameter to one of the SN EP's (like "030 Tine EP").

4) Press right arrow twice to get to the AMP simulation screen and set that up to whatever you want. I picked "OLD CASE" and dialed in +10 for Treble, LINE for the Speaker Sim, and assigned 10 to the Drive parameter. You may also want to dial in some Tremolo to your liking (I dialed it a bit back to only 30 on the Depth) and possibly set the Level to 90 or thereabout.

5) Go back one screen and set the MFX1 to whatever you like. I used the "70: VR CHORUS" with rather default (modest) settings.

6) Go back one more screen and now you should change the Tone to one of the non-SN pianos. I find the "042 Stage EP 1" particularly pleasing for a more restrained and smoother EP sound that still has a nice bite. But there are around 40+ of these. You can see that one of the top row keys in the EP area light up as long as you're in the EP area of sounds (030 to 084, if I remember right; the ones from 030 to 041 are all SN based).

7) You can still continue to tweak and edit all parameters to your liking -- par one! If you try to change the AMP simulation type to something else than what you selected initially, it will change to MFX2 instead and you will not be able to get the normal SN EP AMP sim page back again without first changing the tone to one of the SN EP's, selecting the AMP sim you desire, and back again. So in essence, I think it is a (nice) bug that the AMP sim stays once activated even for non-SN EP sounds. You can, by the way, edit all other parameters than the type.

Maybe there is a way to (re)select the AMP sim model, but as I'm still rather new to the board, I haven't yet found it.

That's it.

Curious to hear whether this is common knowledge already? And if not, try out the patch I listed above, if you're after something different from the SN EP's.


-- Per.

I could never tweak the Roland EP sounds to my liking. I currently have a Korg Kronos on order, which seems to have great EP sounds but I'm reluctant to give up the CP1 which has some of the best IMO. A nice EP demo video someone made:

Yes, I agree -- the Yamaha CP1/CP5 have some really nice EP's, as can be heard on the video you linked. Of course they have a certain "Yamaha" signature on them as well, but I found them very playable and enjoyable and clearly better than the stock RD700NX EP's.

In fact, I was deliberating quite a lot between the RD700NX and the CP5, but happened to like the RD700NX Acoustics a bit better, and since I have and prefer the Nord (Electro 3) EP sounds even to the CP5, I ended up with the RD700NX.

As for the post above, I was just glad to discover that I could come up with something a bit more to my taste and seemingly useful for the more "mellow"/early Rhodes type of sound, when I decide to carry only one board for a gig.


-- Per.

Yes, the Nord has excellent EP sounds. They really do a great job on their sounds. I just don't like their hardware. The 700NX does have a great AP section. The SN pianos sound great out of the box. I'm not sure why the SN EPs sound the way they do, but I imagine Roland will improve them on their next version.

On a side note, despite what is stated in the beginning of the video above, I think the amp simulations in the CP1 make some of the sounds created above impossible to achieve on the CP5.

I agree that the SN EP sounds are a bit over powered but these can be tweaked somewhat. What I struggle most with is the feel or connection between the EP sounds and the PHA111 action. I much prefer a slightly more spongy softer action when playing Rhodes or wurly type sounds such as what the Korg has in the SV1. For just about any other type of sound especially SN AP's I really enjoy the PHA111 action.

I agree, Mark. The PHAIII keyboard is excellent for APs and there is a very good connection between touch and sound -- but it feels almost too tight and controlled for EP sounds, especially when comparing to e.g. a real Rhodes or Wurly.

Since you have mentioned also elsewhere tweaking the SN EP sounds, I'm curious to know if you are using mainly those SN EPs, or have you tried also some of the non-SP EPs?


-- Per.

I had the Fantom G8 with the expansion SN electric pianos. I primarily played with those.

Per, I have tried the other EPs. There are many of them and some are reasonably good but for the most part they are the GM2 EP sounds that Roland have been using for the last 15 - 20 years. Many of these sounds were in the original RD700 and I dare say before. I think modifying the SN EP sounds is a better way to go. Many of these EP sounds are used in the 300 layer sets as second sounds to great effect. From the earlier RD700 models most of the instrument groups have been improved upon, such as brass,organs,clavs, harpsichords etc. but the non SN EP sounds haven't changed. I'll add though that with the huge library of very good sounds it makes for a great production tool as well as a stage piano.

700NX and SV1. Nice choices to fill your AP and EP needs.

Thanks, that was a good clarification.

I agree that many of those sounds are a little "wimpy", although I found the "Stage EP 1" quite OK for some of my needs and definitely worth a try. It has more "bite" and dynamics than many of the others -- which sound awfully similar to some of those I had on my Roland JV-80 expansion cards or built-in. I did a search, and that particular tone name seems to be relatively new in Roland devices.

They are. SV1 is also nice for EP's.

My current setup is RD700NX + Electro 3, which gives nice APs with multiple flavours, nice EPs and really good organs. With the SV1, you probably get a better key feel for the EP's, but I guess you might give in on the organ playing and sounds.


-- Per.

I recently heard the Nord being used for organs at a Maceo Parker concert. It sounded absolutely fantastic.

I agree on the SV-1. I just sold mine - since I now have the Nord NS2, but the SV-1 has the best Rhodes Mark I emulation I have ever heard. Was sorry to see it go......

Here is a video sample.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qJUeuZE_AM