Hello all, I am looking to buy a workstation/stage piano for playing in amateur musical theatre pits. I've played a couple of shows now and planning to do many more in the future, so whatever piano I buy will hopefully see me through many of these.
I've been looking at three in particular, the Roland RD-700GX, Roland Fa-08 and Casio Px-S3100. Both the Rolands are available second-hand at good prices in my local music shop. The RD700 is £850 and the Fa08 is a shade over £700. I was originally aiming to keep my budget around £800 but the RD700 seems like a great deal, especially as it includes a stand and speakers. For the FA08, I'd need to buy these additionally. There is also the Casio, attractive for its portability, but being also priced at £700 (new) it would seem better to get a more fully featured Roland.
Can anyone advise me of anything I need to be aware of between the two Rolands, and if there is one that's obviously better than the other? In particular, woujld it be worth spending more for the RD700 & accessories? I'd like a model with lots of onboard sounds (not wanting to connect to VST if I don't have to) and flexibility with regards to pedals and assignable controllers. It's also essential for me that I can save tones in a preset order and flick through these with either a button or pedal which will make playing the shows much easier! I'm less bothered about the action as I won't be using it to practice piano technique or anything and I'm unlikely to use song sequencer functions in the near future at least.
I'd appreciate any help you can give me, so thank you in advance for that.
I've been looking at three in particular, the Roland RD-700GX, Roland Fa-08 and Casio Px-S3100. Both the Rolands are available second-hand at good prices in my local music shop. The RD700 is £850 and the Fa08 is a shade over £700. I was originally aiming to keep my budget around £800 but the RD700 seems like a great deal, especially as it includes a stand and speakers. For the FA08, I'd need to buy these additionally. There is also the Casio, attractive for its portability, but being also priced at £700 (new) it would seem better to get a more fully featured Roland.
Can anyone advise me of anything I need to be aware of between the two Rolands, and if there is one that's obviously better than the other? In particular, woujld it be worth spending more for the RD700 & accessories? I'd like a model with lots of onboard sounds (not wanting to connect to VST if I don't have to) and flexibility with regards to pedals and assignable controllers. It's also essential for me that I can save tones in a preset order and flick through these with either a button or pedal which will make playing the shows much easier! I'm less bothered about the action as I won't be using it to practice piano technique or anything and I'm unlikely to use song sequencer functions in the near future at least.
I'd appreciate any help you can give me, so thank you in advance for that.