Was that the Fazioli that Doc linked to?
Not very good looking - except for the side profile. Meant to be based on a Dolphin.
The Audi Bosedorfer - looks like a pirate.

What's with the sea references?

I want a player piano with moving keys in this shell!

It sounds like you want to build something that has a non-traditional piano shape? Is that correct? Otherwise, the Roland V-Grand or the Yamaha CGP-1000 are digital pianos housed in traditional 4'11" grand cases. The CGP includes additional non-piano voices and features found in Yamaha's arranger keyboards. If you are planning on throwing away the case and repackaging the components, then these don't make much sense. You can buy their "guts" in less expensive non-grand style cases.

The N3 is housed in a much smaller 3'11" "grand" style case. It has better sound emulation of an acoustic grand than the others. But again it you are going to trash the case then you could use the N1 or N2 non-grand styles.

But if you want the best sound, then arguably you should use a computer based virtual piano like Ivory II, and build a computer and keyboard from another DP into your custom designed case.

It's still a little hard to figure out exactly what you are trying to accomplish.

Oops! Faux pas - I played the 190 recently and forgot it's the smaller brother of the Viennese black beauty I was thinking of....

An even bigger piano (apart from the Fazioli F308) is the Stuart & Sons, which is even rarer than the others, though the name is not nearly so impressive (reminds one of another S & S). Or how about the Borgato L282, a hand-made Italian grand with truly impressive and unique sound?

Back down to earth, I read a review of the V-Piano which hinted that some pop musicians are installing it within grand piano shells for their gigs, so they have the flexibility to change the sound to their requirements (and amplify to their will) but still with the caché of an acoustic piano with a famous name.....

Source?

Not in Sydney ... pretty common round here



Name one major pop/rock artist who plays a V-piano (of any type) on stage or in the recording studio.

Gary Barlow used it at one Take That gig. Does that count? Do I win a prize?

It's the review in 'Performing Musician', also hinted at in 'Sound on Sound' (SOS). You should hopefully be able to find those by goggling Roland V-Piano review (I don't know how to post the links on here).

Just paste them into the reply box.

Is this the extract you are referring to from the review in 'Performing Musician'?

But what if you’re a serious musician with a few quid stashed away, and you want something that can sound, for all intents and purposes, almost identical to a £60,000 Steinway, even though you don’t have the manpower or enough room in the back of your Ford Transit to lug a nine-foot piano around with you? There are many musicians in this situation who will find the V-Piano to be a more than acceptable substitute, and I have no doubt that Elton John and Paul McCartney will have them built into fake grand piano cases before you can say “Oops, where’s my Bösendorfer?”

http://www.performing-musician.com/pm/dec09/articles/rolandvpiano.htm

Yep, that's the one.

(OK, I know I'm dumb but how do you paste something into a website from another one?)

If you're on a PC:
Select the URL in the address bar, then right click and select 'Copy'.
Then in the text/reply area, right click and select 'Paste'.

If you're on a Mac:
It should be essentially the same process, but you CTRL click (hold the CTRL key, then click the mouse button) instead of right clicking.

Cheers,
James
x

Thanks (now gotta find out whether I'm using a PC or a Mac....) .

Nah ...

He was wrong ...they didn't

Sorry but the V-Piano does not sound like $100,000 grand piano, and neither does the AvantGrand either. I can see the practical use of installing a DP inside an acoustic grand shell, but this is nothing new. And I HIGHLY doubt Steinway, Yamaha/Bosendorfer, Kawai, etc, would allow one of their feature artists to play a different brand DP.

3 things we all have here, pet roo, boomerang and a S&S.

Weird. I always thought that S&S stood for Steinway and Sons.

Not in Sydney

Who are Steinway?

Regards
Chris

Wayne would like that ....LOL

I found my old Roland V-Piano brochure which lists (apart from Gary Barlow already mentioned) Jon Lord, George Duke, Paul Mason (Van Morrison), Nigel Hopkins (Chris De Burgh/Elvis Costello), Howard Jones, Chris Cameron (Leona Lewis/George Michael), Tom Hickox, Mike Skinner, Kate Nash, Moby, Hard-Fi, Mumford & Sons, Groove Armada, and jazzers Joe Stilgoe and Julian Velard as happy V-Piano players. I only recognize a couple of the names, so I don't know how well-known they are (but I'm not into pop/rock, except when I accompany/sing the songs under duress ).

And Lady Gaga played on a V-Piano Grand in Manchester, England in November last year in a high-profile televised gig: I think the song I saw her sing was 'Edge of Glory'.
Though of course she might be using a more expensive stage DP within the Roland shell......

The V-Piano Grand used in a concert with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and The Enid.

http://vimeo.com/34700250

I particularly like the bit (6:26) where the crowd angrily demand their money back after complaining about being subjected to the awful midrange of that fake piano ..........

There's no accounting for tastes.....