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Thanks, best presentation so far. I can almost get a feeling for the onboard speakers of FP-80 until I can try one for myself

The question remains whether the fp 80 and other Rolands have a distortion problem in certain areas of the keyboard or is the distortion really some pleasant resonance. The answer is probably both. I personally have not played any demo Rolands without a recognizable distortion. And judging from the number of complaints on this forum and others I would caution potential purchasers to spend at least a 1/2 hour playing the middle three octaves (starting at Bb3),on the very piano they intend to purchase, listening carefully. And only purchase if you can live with the sound produced.
BTW I doubt that any concert pianist would put up with that tonal impurity whereas a rock pianist might, and also the tone-deaf. (not intended as derogatory)

free thinker,

I'm curious why you don't buy a different DP if the "distortion" bothers you? Have you found Kawai and Yamaha to have a superior sound?

BTW, I have heard the Roland HP digital pianos (with essentially same the SN sound engine) are popular amongst classical pianists for practicing, especially when living in the city, in small apartments, etc where a grand piano would be impractical.

Mark

I had a chance to try out the FP-80 yesterday, and to be honest the "distortion" wasn't that noticeable to me while playing. I was ever so slightly able to hear something 'metallic' or off a bit if I hammered away at one particular key.

I have been playing a Yamaha 155 for several years and I think I will go back to try the FP80 again today and maybe give it a shot, I certainly liked the SN sound, and the feel was a nice change from the very plastic feeling 155. That being said I have nothing but good things to say for the Yamaha, it has served me very well.

How does it hold up on the lower end? C2 down to C1 for example. That's where i figured it would distort if played at a fairly loud volume.

I'm happy with mine. No distortions. I can live with the small impurities, which as said before make it more realistic.

I have both the old FP-4 piano and the FP-4F. The sample is clearer on the FP4. I prefer the FP-4, the FP-4F piano sound is muffled and the touch response is too jumpy and the action is too sluggish. I don't know how little of the problems will carry over into the FP-50.

I have witnessed a decline in quality from the FP-4 to the FP-4F ... I expect no improvement with the FP-50 since they are still stuck in the Super Natural samples with jumpy velocity scales and sluggish actions.

Marko, thank you for the tip.

Markf786: I like the SN over the competition but it has its problems which haven't been addressed by Roland. As I have repeated, the distortion has mysteriously diminished in my fp 80 however now I hear a muffled triad chord in its place. The individual notes sound good but played simultaneously they don't. A totally different distortion than the metallic sound. However it isn't a deal breaker.
I have a Young Chang baby grand but I enjoy playing the Roland at night with earphones. Sorry Mark, no comparison in sounds. If you gotta practice you gotta use something.

Does FP80 have PHA 111 keyboard or just similar action? COnfusing......

I went back today to sit down and really play the fp80, I put about 1 hour on it, and here are my thoughts. Keep in mind I'm coming from playing a Yamaha p155 quite a bit for the last 3-4 yrs but grew up on only acoustics.

The feel of the keys is remarkably better than my 155. The sound of the sn concert piano is terrific, all be it I think out of the box it might take a little tweaking for my preference. I was able to get much more expression with the fp80, but I guess this should be expected for a dp twice the price of the other.

Now the big question... The metallic distortion. I used headphones first and then without. I absolutely understand what people are talking about now. BUT, here is my take on it. It began to bug me but then started to understand that it certainly had to do with how hard the keys were struck (at least IMO). So I turned up the volume and reduced key pressure and was satisfied that I did not hear it all the time, but only when I was aggressive. I know this sounds crazy to most of you but I'm not convinced this is a "distortion" but more of a effect. Sort of like the pedal string resonance sound. Once I popped off the headphones the speakers were impressive. My one slight reservation was it sounded a bit muddy in the base, but I think I'm used to the bright Yamaha. One other note/question, I hated the pedal that I was using, although I'm not sure if it was the one that comes with it, any comments from current users? Can I use one of my p155 pedals that I had?

Needless to say I pulled the trigger, opted to wait a couple days for a in the box piano as only the floor model was left. Looking forward to really trying it out at home.

This definitely happens on the RD-700NX with "Comp Piano" patch. Two keys unnaturally sound like three sometimes. Studio is clean of this. Occasionally I hear a tiny warble from Concert with 3 keys.


I concur, and I generally reach for the lowest EQ knob and dial in -3dB (well it's on a registration, actually.)

Happy for you Croberts.
I doubt the P155 pedals work on the Roland. You might just want to try it out at the shop. Do your pedals support half pedaling? Do you have three pedals? It's probably worth for you investing a little more (about 150 euros) for the RPU-3 unit from Roland. It's rock solid and truly a pleasure to work with.

I got rid of the 'muddiness' by pulling out a bit the 400-500 Hz with the internal EQ. It worked fine for me.

xorbe: I was wondering what the Comp Piano actually is. It doesn't say anywhere. I have tried it and wasn't really impressed. What would 'Comp' stand for, Compressed, Computer, Composition...(Completely useless)???

Maybe they meant Comb (comb filter effect) ; that would explain some...

Despite all the remarks about 'distortion' and metallic noise / ringing etc with the SN AP , I still thinks it sounds very good and musical and I rate the 'playability' very high. Perhaps it indeed needs some tweaking with EQ and lowering of some designer settings, but other than that it sounds mostly very pleasant to me compared to many other offerings that often sound much more static.

Just my personal opinion.

Yawhoooo!!! FP-80 support is now here!!!
Wow, look at all those effects in the machine in the Midi Implementation. Too bad they are not accessible from the piano itself.

The samples simply become metallic and piercing too suddenly with increasing playing strengths. It's what I've been saying all along about Roland SN. There's moments in the demos already posted where it is very audible when players are giving it just a little bit more oomph in the midrange areas. The problem (and it IS a problem) is that it affects some notes more than others. Two adjacent notes can behave very differently and that is wrong. It would appear the only SN sound that doesn't do it is the Studio Grand on the RD-700NX. It was a total deal-breaker for me on FP-7F, RD-700GX(SN) and HP-307. It's a real shame because in other respects they have a hugely impressive technology on their hands with SN.

Has anyone tried both an HP-505 and FP-80? Does the HP-505's speakers sound noticeably better?

I'm pretty sure I want to buy a Roland DP and have tried the HP models. First I was leaning towards the HP-505, but it lacks some of the features found on the HP-507 and FP-80. So I've been weighing the options along with the cost difference. I'd love to get the HP-507, but it's hard to ignore that it's twice the price for better speakers and cabinet. So I'm wondering if the FP-80's speakers are close enough to the HP-505, in which case I could get all the additional features I want but still have decent speakers. I don't care about the cabinet too much.

FP-80 ~ $2000
- Cheaper
- More options to tweak sound than the HP-505

HP-505 ~ $3000
- Nicer cabinet than FP-80
- Better speakers than FP-80?

HP-507 ~ $4000
- More options to tweak sound than the HP-505
- Better speakers than HP-505

Yep. The Ab a +5 above middle C and to a lesser extent, the A a half step up. I just played the 700NX the other day at GC again and when you accent/dig in, especially on single note jazz lines or even intervals of 6ths or 3rds with that Ab on top, it's clearly there.

Those that aren't hearing it, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you don't dig into the keys enough while your playing. Playing more of a flowy, ballady, legato, lyrical Classical, New Agey/Pop style, I could see how you possibly might not hear it.

I might have given the 700NX a try had it not been for those notes. It is without a doubt a thicker, more complex sound then the Yamahas..like a real piano. It has more balls in the lower register and is more attractive in certain contexts for solo playing.

But the bottom line for me is, I simply don't find the Roland pianos as "jazz friendly" as the Yamahas...specifically the CP5/1.

I didn't make any notes but isn't everybody complaining about different keys? I think I already saw completely different sets of keys listed as "problamatic" by different people, complaining about the same problem.

Yes I believe each piano is problematic in a different area. I have come to realize that most people who easily detect the sound have been using an AP. It is jarring to me when I am playing then inadvertantly hit the offending key. Ouch! Makes me want to stop. The silence from Roland is deafening