Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha P90 vs Roland RD-1700

I've been looking at digital pianos and have narrowed it down to these 2: the Yamaha P90 and Roland RD-700.

I've read a bunch of posts on these 2 here -- everyone seems to agree they're both decent keyboards.

My opinion: the Yamaha has better, more authentic keyboard action. The Roland has more authentic piano sound.

The Roland action feels a little light and 'plasticky' compared to the Yamaha. The Steinway grand samples in the Roland sound pretty authentic. The Yamaha grands seem a little lacking to me.

As I was pounding away on these 2 in Mars Music (called something else now) for 2 hours I noticed a neat test for checking the sound -- hammer out some tritones at different octaves. This seems to be a difficult thing to duplicate in a digital piano, and the Roland sounded much more natural than the Yamaha with this test.

It's interesting that when I was in music school (majored in theory & comp with a piano minor) we had Yamaha grands in the practice rooms, and Steinway concert grands on the stage. I use to sneak in at night when the Steinways weren't locked and pound on 'em occasionally. The Steinway's had lighter action and better sound than the Yamaha's, but I preferred the Yamaha's firmer action. It mirrors the difference between the 2 digital pianos.

So I'm in a quandry as which to go with. I suppose I could by the Yamaha for the action, and get a Roland module later on for better sound. But, as I want to write music (and mabye eventually perform) the Roland controller is a much better tool for the job.

Excuse my long-windedness, but I wanted to both share my observations with this board and also get any advice from those that have experience with these 2 keyboards.

Chime in if you've got any :-)

I prefer the sound and action of the Roland. But while we may disagree on this, I see that we have something in common...

(hint: I'm posting this on my Mac).

I dislike them both and have owned and played professionaly with them both. The Yamaha P actions are too sluggish and stiff, they are OK for 20 minutes, but if you play a lot of fast notes look out. The Roland action is more resonable for that and safer. The Yamaha P90 sounds clangy and dullish and the Roland sounds muddy and weird. Wait until January when new models will be issued.

Just wondering have you ever try Roland HP103?? Try it once and see if you like the sound and feel of it

Looks like a good-looking, stable platform for a digital piano. But I was wanting something more portable.

Oh, yeah...we both read Piano Wold Forums posts

What's the word on the new models? Better sound, action?

I found it harder to play legato (without pedal) with the Rolands -- especially playing octave basslines in the left hand. I really had to jump from one note to the next with no delay.

BTW, my favorite non-digital keyboard (there's a relatively recent term) is the Czech hand-made Petrov grand piano. It's got a laid-back mellow sound perfect for playing Mozart.

My P-90 sounds great though headphones. My Peavey KB-1 amp makes it sound awful, however. I tried some Roland amps today that were much better (bigger speaker).