Buying a stage piano

[kandelabr]

Hello all,

I am buying a stage piano. So far I've been (almost) satisfied with Roland E-16, but I think the bands I play in require something more sophisticated.

What I need:

• 88 (weighted) keys
• a good piano sound (for classic, ragtime, jazz and accompaniment)
• A LOT of organ sounds (rock, hammond, rotary, jazz, anything possible, for pop, blues, jazz, folk and church music)
• (I hate those blasphemously untrue strings, voices, guitars etc. Wouldn't mind having them, but would never use any. I also don't need any features of workstations like stored arpeggios, rhytms, etc.)
• For stage performance, I also want the options to store settings so I don't have to spend 3 minutes adjusting sounds for each song we play - like split point, upper/lower sound, volumes, effects, ... it may take some time.

Price range: €1000 - €1600

So far I have in mind Kawai MP 6 (too expensive for its value (?), bad samples (someone told me that?), yamaha PS300 (not enough organ sounds) and Kurzweil SP3X (again, the organs are a bit pathetic).

What would be your recommendation?

Thanks in advance - please keep in mind that I'm a bit outdated (~15 years since I last bought my Roland) so any information will be very welcome.

 

[goz211]

Welcome to the forum. Hopefully you'll get a few responses soon.

 

[Kirkwood123]

Im new to this site to, so this is just
an observation IMO...
It just seems to be a lot too ask of a single SP.
I just recently sold my second Kurzweil SP ( one of the the cheaper ones)
and I was really ready for a new piano sound.
Not that Kurzweil aren't great. I was just bored with it.
Tried the Fantom, the Motif, the new Kurz, and a few others.
Now the CRAZY part... LOL!
I was hooked on the M-Audio 88SX after playing it in stereo
through a couple of JBLs.
so I bought two of them. The last one the store had, and 1 off of eBay.
And I have it interfaced with the Roland 5080
for all the other sounds including hammonds, (
it has the leslie effect you can hear speed up and slow down)
with the Studio pro card.( think thats what that card is called)
But I cant say enough good things about the SOUND and feel of the 88SX,
so maybe you could go try one of the M-audio pro keys with the WEIGHTED KEYS?
just a thought..
or go all out and buy the NEW very expensive Kurzweil...

 

[kandelabr]

thank you for your reply,

but i hardly believe i am asking too much since there are only 3 things i want...

as far as the sample quality is concerned, i think that organ is not a problem, piano is. i own a "real" piano and i know how it sounds and i also know that no electronics come close, so i see no point in wasting money just to get a slightly better but still far from authentic sound.

i wonder if for certain models sounds can be downloaded from the internet (i spotted some hammond samples on ebay) and loaded into synth - how do i see from specs if i can do that that?

edit: does Roland RD-700 have all the stuff i want? it's not exactly in the price range, but... you know

 

[Kirkwood123]

does Roland RD-700 have all the stuff i want? it's not exactly in the price range, but... you know

The RD 700 has the hammer action,and a great ROLAND piano sound.
The organs didn't sound as good as the pianos...
but thats probabaly a personal preference thing
The one I looked at was $2500.00

 

[kandelabr]

ok, just before i buy the RD-700: what's the difference between NX and GX versions? Does GX also have drawbar simulator? It's somewhat cheaper (I could get it for around €2000).

 

[Kirkwood123]

ok, just before i buy the RD-700: what's the difference between NX and GX versions? Does GX also have drawbar simulator? It's somewhat cheaper (I could get it for around €2000).

No clue bra... LOL!!!
€2000...? thats about $3000.00... right?

As I wrote, I was shopping exclusively for a digital Stage Piano.
Onstage I have 3 stacked, the SP,
a Roland synth/controller above that,
and the Moog Little Phatty on top.
I was only replacing my dedicated SP.
Don't know if the RD700 I played was GX or NX,
but it definitely didn't have any ORGAN style drawbars,
what it did have was a few great piano sounds.
And it was 500 dollars out of my price range.
*** "BUT!!!" ***
I did a google search 4 U!
and here is a review from Sound On Sound:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec10/articles/roland-rd700nx.htm
that does include a comparison of sorts...
it might help you.