Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards All about Roland FP-80 & FP-50!!!

@marko,

Have you seen the Messe floor recording of the Numa Concert; all talk and talk and talk and he touched the keys exactly zero time. Strange way to sell a keyboard, but it seems to be quite common...

You have got to laugh at these "demos", if Beethoven is reincarnated in today's Germany I bet he is a computer programmer this time around.
He'd be a good one, obviously..... just keep looking for a computer programmer with lots of hair and a hearing-aid.

I saw that too. It's driving me crazy! very simple; stop "talking" about the features. I want to "read" about the features and specs. Why would you not "play" the keyboard in a video demo is beyond my comprehension.

We'll , they don't actually drive the new cars on the show floor at a car exhibition either. Just missing the barby models you usually see at an auto show ;-) That would make up for the lack of audio demo's a little..., if your ears can't get nothing , your eyes...

If indeed the fp-80 is just a recycled fp 7f , and it's the same price as well, then maybe they have fixed the 'honkytonk' sound coming through the grand piano 1 and that is the sole purpose of this new product.

It's the same grand-piano sound (sample base), so ...

Dumb question: Is the "Ivory-S" key-action in this new model the same as the PHA-III action with triple sensors in my FP-7F? I've yet to find a straight answer to this basic question...

K.

Seems like losing the looper and lid simulation are huge losses to me. They are probably still there, just inaccessible.

Where did you get the manual? It is not on rolandus.com web site.

BTW: FP-50 can be heard on these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5ttkVK11Hw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWirjnQYRTg

Correct - inside information. I think it wasn't ready yet for public release, but seemed pretty final.

JFP : "It's the same grand-piano sound (sample base), so "

I'm talking about the buzzing sound coming from certain sections of the keyboard on the fp-7f. Whether this was corrected on the fp 80. If it is I'm buying one.

Just out of curiosity, why in this case would you prefer the FP80 to the RD700NX. Price perhaps, or some other function? Can't be the speakers (please!).

I prefer the fp 80 because of price mainly and I don't mind the small speakers as the piano will be used only at home with headphones also it's smaller in size. Both these pianos are available in the Toronto area. I only tried the fp 50 and I couldn't determine if Roland fixed the buzzing sound found in many fp 7f's as there was too much noise in the showroom.

Here's a demo of the FP-80:
Roland FP-80

Unfortunately, as usual, the sound quality of the recording is not the best, but it does give an idea of the main features. Still no word on whether there is a new sample alongside the Concert Grand, or whether it's just variations on a theme.

As a side note, I was looking at the Casio PX-5S as a possible lightweight gigging board. I went into GC today to have another go on the PX-350, to see whether I might rethink whether the APs would work for me. While they are silky-smooth sounding and dynamic, I find the upper-mids a trifle annoying, and I noticed how jumpy the action/sound connection can be. I've decided to pass on the PX-5S (although I think that it offers a huge bang for the buck, if you need all the non-piano stuff), and I'm considering the new FPs. The FP-50 is nowhere near as lightweight as the Casio, and it misses a few nice features of the FP-80, but I'm thinking it could be a very versatile small gigs board, in the absence of anything competitive from Yamaha.

Well spotted Vox.

He says something like "12 acoustic piano sounds". Well, FP-7F has what, three? All the same piano. I reckon there's a healthy chance the Studio Grand - or something very like it - is onboard the FP-80. I like the look and spec of this thing. Another winner for Roland I expect.

Studio Grand is not onboard.

It has more AP presets/ other preset names, but all based on the same sample-set as before. Perhaps some slight changes in programming of designer or EQ ? If it had the 'other' SN AP's I would have bought it, since I got a good price offer ! That's why I checked with several Roland reps and got the manual from inside to check myself. Sorry...

About the Casio ;
yes for a piano it didn't do it for me either - not as sophisticated / subtle keybed to sound connection as with more expensive board. Keybed also has only three preset touch curves, neither worked for me personally for AP. Also the AP is good for gigging an rock / pop stuff , but for classical and delicate Jazz the upper halve is too much "pling pling" and audible looping in high notes, despite longer samples. PX5S is a very very nice board, but for pure AP it doesn't do it for me. For people searching for an all-round board with many nice sounds and features it's a no-brainer at this price...I almost pre-ordered it twice, meaning how tempting it is. If I'd needed something for a band, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. And that's also it's intended audience mostly, considering it's a lightweight stage piano / controller board.

That's disappointing, really. It is supposed to have 14 piano tones but I guess it will be one or two pianos, plus endless combinations of piano+something plus the unavoidable honky tonk which nobody ever uses. Sad. I find it hard to believe that company with so little innovative effort could have brought the V-Piano.

The "innovation " is in the speakers, adding SN Ep's (which they should have done in the first place on the FP7f) and gimmicks like AirPlay . If your using headphones or external speakers and are mainly interested in the action and AP, the FP80 is the same as the FP7f IMHO.

Thanks JFP. Odd that they wouldn't utilise the Studio Grand in other products although I guess it adds perceived value to the RD-700NX as an exclusive voice. That said, they make no claims in that regard so they haven't capitalised as they could have done in relation to a marketing advantage for the RD.

I know the quality of the audio is poor on the video but to be fair I don't hear so much of the metallic velocity transitions so maybe the pianos are tweaked slightly?

So, how much better are the speakers? The FP7's are rudimentary to say the least, giving the pianos a compressed, muffled and indistinct character in my opinion.

Cheers,

Steve

Any idea of how the key action of the FP-80 is? I mean is the same (loud, thumpy) as the previous Roland models?

Regards,
Kromen