Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards RD2000 or FP90 + another stage piano down the road

Hello,

Background: Classical and solo jazz pianist by background both on pianos post ~1896 as well as forte pianos and harpsichords. Never owned a digital piano because I have despised the action/sound and lack of acoustic feel to them. But due to living situation and portability I've been looking at them for a while.

Motivation: Purchase a portable digital piano that I can set up to stand at or sit at while at home, or for gigs (wishful thinking), more like jamming with friends. Most important are the piano sound and action, the other sounds are secondary to me as it feels too fake to me to play early pianos on a digital piano when the keys are actually narrower, or the harpsichord because it's a totally different action and no DP that I'm aware of can simulate a harpsichord's nuances in touch. At best, playing those instruments on the DP is a fun thing, not serious. I am enticed by the ability to use the keyboard as a controller or to compose in finale/sibelius/logic with the keyboard+computer combo.

Current Status: I have spent the past 4 years testing out digital pianos from Roland, Kawaii, Yamaha, Korg, Casio and have arrived at liking the action+sound combo of the PHA-50 keyboard and Roland's Supernatural piano sound the best. Between these two, I'm trying to figure out which is better for my use case. I will mostly practice with headphones, and realize that even if I get speakers for the FP90, neither the FP90 nor the RD2000 will sound like the LX17 or an acoustic piano, but I want the portability so the LX17 is out of the picture.

Main Question: Given my background, motivation, and current status, are all the extra controls, abilities, supernatural sounds, and v-piano sounds of the RD2000 worth the additional price + a set of decent speakers to sway me from purchasing the FP90?

Discussion: If I get the FP90, there's an option to get a real stage piano down the road. I happen to like the Nord products in this realm (even the electro), but maybe the RD2000 or its successor could also serve that purpose. I mentioned a good set of speakers for the RD2000, any suggestions for those? I might even get them for the FP90 too if its internal speakers don't do the low notes justice. In addition, there's the possibility of a stage AMP filling that space for both pianos. I also like that the FP90 has a music rest, whereas I'd need to create one for the RD2000. In addition, there are new players now like the Vivo by Dexibell that I haven't tried out. Maybe one of those would suit me best.

Thanks!
C

Thank you Morodiene, spanishbuddha, essBrace, and Doug M. If I understand correctly, the only things I'll miss by getting the FP90 instead of the RD2000 are:

-- Live abilities
-- Better (significantly?) sounds outside the piano instrument: organ, electronic piano, bells, etc
-- Organ levers

Things that I won't miss:
-- ability to plug into computer and use as a controller
-- feel
-- main piano sound

What does "better midi control ability mean?

C