Advice on Roland vs Yamaha and Kawai

[Skylark]

Greetings to everyone here, I am new to the forum mainly because I am seeking advice on digital stage pianos.

I am not a professional musician, and have never been "classically trained". I play mostly by ear and my own music, this makes sound quality and feel of the utmost importance in a piano. Right now I am using only keyboards and have one piano sample that I use through my main keyboard (kawai k5000s). I have always found it very frustrating not having a full 88 keys as well as a living breathing piano feel and tone at my fingertips (literally!).

I have been doing quite a bit of reading and come to see that the 3 that top the charts seem to be the Yamaha CP300, the Roland RD700gx and Kawai's MP8ii. Does anyone here have (or had) experience with any of these models? Please no bias opinions! I don't want to start a Yammie vs Roland/Kawai war...I've seen those get started elsewhere .

To be honest I am kinda starting to lean more the Roland way. But being that this is quite a big purchase I want to make sure that I have as much user feedback as possible. If I am going to be spending over 1000 bucks I don't want to get stuck with something that turned out to be over priced, lame, or poor build quality and because of my location it is quite difficult to physically try any of these so I must rely on others experiences.

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[PianoMan]

I played the CP300 in the store once and got lost in it... felt really good for me. The built-in speakers are quite nice (30 watts each... crazy...). One thing is though it's 76 pounds or something, so if you're gigging, probably not the best choice.

I've also read good things about the Roland, though quite a bit of people say that the Roland doesn't sound good out-of-the-box, that is, you'll have to edit the sounds a bit to your liking. I haven't had a chance to try it properly though, so I don't really have an opinion on it either way.

Kawai keyboards generally get positive feedback regarding action and sounds, but I've never seen or heard one myself.

If you can, you should go to a music store and try whatever they have, even if it's not one of those.

 

[giro88keys]

Roland FP4 ftw, at least that's what I'm going to buy next week. It's good sounds, 88 weighted with great quality, and portable ca. 15kg

 

[PianoMan]

The Roland FP4 is designed for portability... the action is a bit light. As someone who plays a Roland RD-300sx (a lighter action) the tradeoff is ok for me, since portability is an issue, but if portability isn't an issue, I'd say the Roland FP7, RD-700gx, or Yamaha CP300 would be better choices. Kawai keyboards are supposedly really good as well, I've just never had the chance to try one in stores.

A friend of mine has an at-home style Kawai that I really enjoyed playing, the finger-to-ear connection felt really good, I can honestly say it's one of my favourite digital pianos to play on, just can't comment on the model you list.

Again, with the FP4, it's decent, but has a lighter touch that IMO isn't as good as the heavier keyboards, but it's only 36 pounds or so, as opposed to 55 (or 76 if looking at the CP300).

If you're looking at lightweight keyboards you could also try the Yamaha CP33 or Roland RD-300gx.

 

[b3maniac]

You might check-out the digital piano comparison files on this site:
http://purgatorycreek.com/

B3