Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Why I purchased a Roland?

Don't know if this will fly or not, maybe it is a bit redundant, and certainly it is a bit self serving. The cvpug site is a great place to go to learn about Yamaha and to some extent other manuafacturers. It appears that Roland and most others do not have similar sites. I have done a reasonable search of previous posts but 1) they are all over the place and 2) though much of the information has been extremely helpful I still feel a bit queezy or unfullfilled. Reasons can be as simple as liking the associate, getting a good price, buying closer to home or more technical in terms of touch, feel, or other specs such as polyphony. Please try to keep it on the simple side for those of us who are at the lower end of the food chain. A comment about the model and, having been given the gift of hindsight that you now have, would you make the same decision. I know that these things can be personal and subjective, but what the heck, what hooked ya? Oh well, here we go!

I haven't posted here in awhile, but here goes:

To me, Roland is a real innovator. They make great instruments that meet my needs. While other manufacturers tend to specialize in "synthetic sounds", I find that across the board, Roland acheives a greater degree of realism in their recreation of acoustic instruments (piano, strings, etc.). I also think that the flagship Roland products have a level of fidelity that outperforms the competition. That's not to say that Yamaha, Korg and Kurzweil don't have great products. I'd love to have a Motif, or a high-end Triton. As some of you know, I do music professionally (mostly in the studio). My current set-up includes:
Fantom S88
XV88
XV5080
VK8
XP80
lots of expansion boards

Disclaimer: I'm not an employee of Roland, but I occasionally do clinics for them.

I bought my Roland KR577 about a year ago. I made my decision based on factory specs, appearance, price, and availability. The closest piano store is 120 miles away. The next one is 300 miles and then about 400 miles.

I studied specs and photos on the internet, then phoned around for pricing. By comparing specs I could determine what the state of the art was in digital pianos. Appearance was a factor because it would be in our living room. I found a new KR577 300 miles away that met price considerations as the KR577 was being replaced by the new KR5 and KR7 units. It turns out that I liked the looks and some features of the KR577 better than the new KR7.

Sound and feel?
I hadn't played piano much since college, some 25 years ago. I grew up with an old upright in the house and mostly played old uprights in the college practice rooms. By this time I had no concept of what a piano is "supposed" to feel or sound like. I am too self conscious to be able to tell what I am experiencing trying out pianos in a show room. Perhaps if I could get a bunch of pianos to my self somewhere I could get a sense of what I like and don't like.

I basically found what I thought was the best piano for my needs on paper and when the price was right bought it. I am happy as a clam with my Roland.

I do admit that after reading the piano forum I have developed a desire to get an opportunity to sit down to play a quality grand.

Craig

I went for my side by side Yamaha 210/Roland KR-7 comparison but unfortunately the KR-7 had a key malfunction of some sort with about 5 keys around Middle C. Don't know what that says...... but the store did say it would be correcting it shortly. They were more than happy to let me play to my hearts content on whatever with headphones. I spent a lot more time on the Yamaha for obvious reasons. I did go over and play the Roland KR-15 which basically has the same keyboard feel and features of the KR-7 but a much larger pricetag. Oh my! How this baby grand sounds. When I would go to the Yamaha 210 from the KR-15 the richness, vibrancy, and tone of the sound was so different..like going back to a toy piano. Must be how many feel when they go from a quality acoustic grand to a digital. I must admit that the more I played the Yamaha the more I felt the Yamaha/Roland quite comparable to my liking in terms of feel. Yet, I have this little voice on the inside that keeps nudging me back to the Roland. I plan to go back for another side by side comparison but since the store is some distance away it may be a while.

Anyway, I do appreciate your feedback and would still be interested in any further comment on your Roland purchase and satisfaction. Thanks

There is so much subjectivity in these things that at the end of the day it's best to go wtih your "gut" - if it's telling you the Roland is the right piano, it is.

If you like the "mini grand" look and sound of the KR15, you might see if you can find the KR977, the previous version of the same instrument. It should be a lot cheaper and there are probably still some in dealers. I don't think the electronics or actions changed much when they brought out the new line.

My guess is that what you're mostly hearing in the KR15 is the better sound system. I used to have the 977's big brother, the 1077, with a much larger case, 240 watts and 12 speakers. The sound was fabulous! (As was the price, except I bought it used). Don't forget that you can supplement the sound systems of these pianos with external speakers and amplifiers for not much money. I did that with my Yamaha CVP900 and think it now sounds just as good as the 1077.