Roland FP E50 Sound

[spiro13]

Hi

I recently purchased a Roland FP E50. I was unable to try one because stores in my area carry limited in store test units. I went online and it seemed to get good reviews as well as having a good sound on YouTube. However, after playing it for a few months I was very disappointed. The sound of the Keyboard is dead. It sounds like there is a thick blanket over it. There is no depth to the sound particularly in the lower range and the black keys sound awful. I've tried numerous settings to no avail. I also tried tuning each individual key with a digital tuner with no luck. The Yamaha 660 I traded in was lightyears ahead in sound.

I was wondering if anyone else with the FP E50 has had the same experience. Or if someone can offer some suggestions with the settings that I may have missed.

Thank you

Tony

 

[Biggles]

I did read a review a while back when I was looking at one for my Grandson, it did say that the sound quality was as you describe.

Then I actually got my hands on one in my local store and yes it was pretty poor.

Suggest returning it, you may find that there is a without penalty returns window.

 

[spiro13]

I am seriously considering doing just that and going back to a Yamaha.

Tony

 

[happyrat1]

Someone enlighten me.

Is that the latest model in the "home enthusiast, junior van Clyburn economy piano line?

Secondly, is this thru the built in speakers? (I'm assuming) Or punching thru a proper pair of studio monitors??

 

[TedS]

The FP-E50's seem to be selling for ~$800 new, so it's not a high-end professional instrument. Still, at 37 lbs weight, it's should have a reasonably-expressive piano action, not a synth approximation. Original poster's comment about the black keys implies an issue with the action.

Also, what ^^happyrat said. Is the sound quality still poor when listening through quality headphones?

 

[spiro13]

T
Here's what Roland said when I contacted them about the noisy keys: "Thank you for contacting us. Keyboard noises such as “squeaking,” or” clicking,” can be normal. Just like the keyboard on an acoustic Piano, the keyboard on your Roland piano is a mechanical device and it will make and develop mechanical noises such as squeaking or clicking."
My Yamaha never developed mechanical noises after 8 years never mind 2 months. As far as sound goes, not much better through headphones or a sound system. I've tried them every way. I expected much better from Roland.

Tony

 

[amwilburn]

To each their own I guess; the FPe50 uses a modelled piano (not sampled like Yamaha) so don't expect it to sound as *real*. But it is very expressive; the other problem is Roland used downward facing speakers (for both the FPe50 and FP30x). Neither of them will hold a candle to upward facing speakers (not a brand thing; Roland uses really good upwards facing speakers on the FP60x; but so do all Yamaha DGX)

As someone who works in a music store, of course i always advocate trying something else yourself in person if possible. If your local store doesn't have a display model, ask them if they can bring one in for you to try.

You should be ware, that the DGX670 (the replacement to the 660) is better in almost every way, except one... unlike all previous DGXs, the 670's speakers crackle when you play the piano keys hard, at full volume.

This complaint was what the FPe50 was targeting; the FPe50's 22 watt speaker system is nearly double the DGX's, and has *much* punchier bass, that won't frap out at any volume.

But it also brought Roland's typical idiosyncrasies as well: a thinner sounding piano model (rather than sampled), great bass, especially on synth bass and drums, but anemic acoustic guitars, orchestral strings, and woodwinds (where the DGX670 excels), and no ability to create or download styles (but Roland *does* include new styles with OS updates. The Yamaha DGX670 lets you create an import styles).

Both have bluetooth audio in, 1/4" mic with DSP's for audio recording.

You have to decide what's more important to you; being able to crank up the volume without the speakers frapping out (maybe just use headphones?) or more piano expression, albeit with a thinner, less real sounding piano (incidentally almost all the current Rolands use modelled pianos, except the absolutely amazing sounding RD88)

If you can *double* your budget, the Yamaha PS500 is superior to both in every way *except* the ability to create and download styles isn't currently there (I think it will be eventually added, but in the distant future. Maybe another 10 years).

 

[spiro13]

To each their own I guess; the FPe50 uses a modelled piano (not sampled like Yamaha) so don't expect it to sound as *real*. But it is very expressive; the other problem is Roland used downward facing speakers (for both the FPe50 and FP30x). Neither of them will hold a candle to upward facing speakers (not a brand thing; Roland uses really good upwards facing speakers on the FP60x; but so do all Yamaha DGX)

As someone who works in a music store, of course i always advocate trying something else yourself in person if possible. If your local store doesn't have a display model, ask them if they can bring one in for you to try.

You should be ware, that the DGX670 (the replacement to the 660) is better in almost every way, except one... unlike all previous DGXs, the 670's speakers crackle when you play the piano keys hard, at full volume.

This complaint was what the FPe50 was targeting; the FPe50's 22 watt speaker system is nearly double the DGX's, and has *much* punchier bass, that won't frap out at any volume.

But it also brought Roland's typical idiosyncrasies as well: a thinner sounding piano model (rather than sampled), great bass, especially on synth bass and drums, but anemic acoustic guitars, orchestral strings, and woodwinds (where the DGX670 excels), and no ability to create or download styles (but Roland *does* include new styles with OS updates. The Yamaha DGX670 lets you create an import styles).

Both have bluetooth audio in, 1/4" mic with DSP's for audio recording.

You have to decide what's more important to you; being able to crank up the volume without the speakers frapping out (maybe just use headphones?) or more piano expression, albeit with a thinner, less real sounding piano (incidentally almost all the current Rolands use modelled pianos, except the absolutely amazing sounding RD88)

If you can *double* your budget, the Yamaha PS500 is superior to both in every way *except* the ability to create and download styles isn't currently there (I think it will be eventually added, but in the distant future. Maybe another 10 years).

Thanks for the in-depth explanations about the differences between Yamaha and Roland keyboards. It is much appreciated.

Tony

 

[amwilburn]

You're welcome, but that's a little *too* generalized; the Roland RD88 is in fact one of the best sounding I've ever heard (and as far as purely stage pianos are concerned, my favourite portable sample! Synths and romplers are a different story...)

But long story short the Modx/Montage (haven't tried the new one M8x yet.. we're almost always sold out! (And they sell sight unseen -- no spare stock for open box displays for that one), but my customer who preordered one, said that it's the best piano he's ever heard, besting his previous Montage & Clavinovas)

 

[papasmurph]

Someone enlighten me.

Is that the latest model in the "home enthusiast, junior van Clyburn economy piano line?

Secondly, is this thru the built in speakers? (I'm assuming) Or punching thru a proper pair of studio monitors??

It's one of those 88 key piano / keyboard combos with accompaniment etc. The biggest plus (AFAIK) is that you can load new sounds. Not just voices, but samples.

 

[Old No7]

I tried a Roland FP E50 once and wasn't impressed at all, and for comparison, I had an RD-88 at the time which sounded SO much better. Not sure if it was the speakers or the amp, but the sounds "should have sounded as good "-- but they didn't; they sounded muffled to me . Also, the accompaniment is also a big negative -- it's seriously lacking, as what you get -- is just what you get -- there's no editing possible, no way to mute parts if you wanted to. Some of them timed out after a bit, so you couldn't jam on them if used as a backing track as it just "stopped"...

Old No7

 

[amwilburn]

? As I'd just explained above, the RD88 is the only current Roland *not* using algorithmic pianos; it uses samples, and sounds amazing. None of the other Rolands even sound close for this reason. So no, it shouldn't sound as good because it's not designed to. It's not remotely the same piano sound. And no, Roland generally doesn't believe in user editing/creating styles with the exceptions of their G70/E80 workstation arrangers (which gave you more editing control than even the Yamahas)

---

www.youtube.com/MarkWilburnTLM/Videos
DX7, CLP300, PSR60, Roland E20 + MT32, CVP309, PSRS970, Fender Std Strat, Squier RB3 Midi Strat, Ibanez SA262, Yamaha CG131, Fujiyama FC390, TUC-Kitty

 

[TedS]

The E-A7 arranger is the last Roland I know of with an on-board Style Composer. It was released in 2015, and OS version 2.0 with sample importing followed in 2017. Prior to that, the BK-9 (2013), BK-5 (2011), and Prelude (with v2 OS in 2009) also featured a style editor. The BK-9 was the last with a full sequencer; the E-A7 didn't have one.

I'm not sure I agree that Roland offers more editing control than Yamahas. Like Korg and Ketron, they do have a built-in facility that allows users to specify different style patterns for Major, Minor, and 7th chords. (Yamaha styles can do this if edited with 3rd-party PC software.) But all things considered, Yamaha has MANY more parameters for style control, to the point that Yamaha styles converted for use on a Roland don't behave correctly because the Rolands just aren't "smart" enough to know what to do with them!

I would love to see Roland release a new full-featured arranger AND add some of the subtler parameters that I perceive as missing from their style playback engine. But the FP-E50 is a style piano in the tradition of its predecessors like the FP-50 and FP-80. Basically an entry-level arranger with an 88-key piano action. Most Rolands have a good MIDI implementation, so you can always connect it to a workstation or laptop if your project requires extensive sequencing. My $.02.

 

[amwilburn]

No, that was it: the G70 and E80 (as well, I think?) allowed major /minor chord variations to be totally different. Yes, you can do that with Yamaha with software, but as that software has never been made public, I'm referring to the on board editor.

On the other hand, it's *only* possible to stack multiple voices on the same channel on Yamaha. And the registration system is why all my youtube videos are on Yamaha (the Roland Jupiter 80 did have registrations as well, but


Never tried the BK9 (or any subsequent models); we did have the BK7 and while easy to use, boy was that ever limited...

Yes the FPe50 is like a descendant of the FP4/FP7/FP50/FP80, but at least the FP4/7 were sampled, so the sound was very different (the 50 /80 might be new enough to use the mixture of sampling and modelling, same as the FP10 still use, which is still a thicker sound than their fully modelled pianos, but with a weird quirk where it switches to nearly monaural modelling for the note fade off (it's quite noticeable if you play a single major chord and about half a second in, listen to it suddenly switch from a wide stereo to mono, especially if you turn off the reverb first)



Mark