RD700NX.....Just starting it folks, let's go!!!!

I was looking for a fully weighted keyboard for my studio, having had a Kurzweil PC88 for several years and (foolishly) getting rid if it when I downsized my studio a couple of years ago.

I've been trying out various options in the £2k price range and just wanted to say the the NX is easily the best, most sensitive and nicely weighted keyboard I've played in over 25 years.

Hi again. Does anybody have an idea why FP-7F is almost 1/3 cheaper? Same keybed, same sounds. Don't tell me it's the missing sound focus feature, nice screen, or the fact that it doesn't look so cool on the stage

the fp7f is more of a consumer piano.. essentially if all you want is the basics plus a great piano sound then its the one to get, but there is quite a huge difference in specs

oh yeah, and it dont look so cool

can't wait to try both once they are available in Europe...

If you don't use the "geek" stuff, notice that the RD-700NX has no speakers which might be importante depending on the work you do. As far as piano sound and keybed, yes they're the same.

the fp7F does not appear to have balanced outputs.. this may be quite important to you when playing out...geek or not lol :)

tradsista wrote:

Hi,

Can anyone tell me this...I'm confused!

Is the sound engine and key bed of the FP-7F exactly the same as the RD700NX?? Do they feel and sound the same?

What am I missing out on if I go for the FP-7F over the RD700NX?
I am a performing acoustic piano player with regular professional gigs, not a keyboard geek. I use a keyboard when I really have to. I don't use the geek stuff.

Can anyone help? Has anyone tried both keyboards??

Thanx!

What am I missing out on if I go for the FP-7F over the RD700NX?

I believe the key actions are the same. Weight is similar (though both weigh too much IMO). Length of the NX is a serious portability issue due to the stupid joystick being located in the keybed section.

The FP-7F (as well as all other Roland SN DPs except for the RD-700GXF) has only one SN piano, the "Concert Grand" in the RD-700NX. The NX has two more: "Studio" and "Brilliant", which are distinctly different at the sample level (i.e. not just EQ changes) from the "Concert". "Concert" sounds best to me, "Studio" second, with "Brilliant" a distant third.

There are SN EPs in the NX, and no SN EPs in the FP-7F. Even if you don't like the SN EP sonic signatures (many seem not to) SN means they will respond better than the old school looped sample sets in the FP-7F, they are considerably more configurable, and they are recording quality.

If you want to record the audio via MIDI playback, the RD-700NX internal architecture is much more straightforward in this regard, though you will need an external sequencer. Many SN AP features (e.g. sympathetic resonance) in the FP-7F are turned off by default for MIDI playback, and even if you know what you are doing it can be a SYSEX nightmare turning them back on. Roland does this with other non-SN equipped DPs and for the life of me I don't understand why.

The NX is also more consistent when it comes to remembering your settings through a power cycle, it's hit or miss with the FP-7F depending on what you want to store.

I haven't been following it too closely lately, but I think the layered string stealing problem is still present in the FP-7F, whereas the latest NX firmware has largely fixed this (as well as the AP decay stealing).

I bought the 700nx because of the action. I've owned dozens of electric pianos since the mid 60's and this one was the best I've ever tried (some of the the weighted ones I've had- six or seven Rhodes, Honer, Fatar, Kurz PC88, Korg Sampling Grand which I modified to a shorter key drop, Yamaha s90, P80, among others)

I later found out the FP7F had the same action for a lot less money. Guitar Center had none in the store so I ordered one and got it last week after returning the 700nx.

I really like the SN AP in the range starting about half an octave above and below middle C. I've had nothing better. But I don't like that middle octave, so much so that I run MIDI and audio cables to an adjacent room to my S90 (which is only just OK to me) and use that piano sound. I've tried endless internal and external EQing and sound processing on the 700nx/FP7F without coming up with something I like.

That aside, the FP7F lacks the ability to mute selected channels of incoming MIDI data. It always responds to all 16. A pain when I want to use it only for a couple of channels while using other tone modules for other channels.

To me the action is so good that I'm getting to where I can overlook these shortfalls. BTW, the Jazz Scat preset is worth the price of admission.

Bill

Just got my RD700NX...Awesome DP =) Just one thing that disturbs me. Everytime I press the sustain pedal (and don't touch any of the notes) I hear this humming sound at the background. Afaik, grand piano doesn't do this. Any ideas why? I upgraded to 1.04 OS

that's werd. you're not talking about the damper pedal noise, right? (just checking).

mine is also running v1.04 and no humming noise. actually it's hard for me to even hear the humm simulation in my EP's...

are you running balanced or unbalanced output? does that still sound when nothing else connected but your headphones? im running balanced and no humm through the mixer or through my headphones. my headphones (7506) runs very hot too so i would definitely hear it if the humming was there.

also try a differnt power socket in your house or run regulated and filtered (battery backed) power supply. i use a battery backed UPS on my music stuff.

Rodan wrote:

Kenchan...are you in marketing?

^^ wat the hell?? hahaha! :D

@kenchan: I think it's the same noise that you get when pressing on the sustain pedal of a grand piano, but this is to the extreme. I'll try to record it on a .wav/.mp3 file and send it to you as attachment if you don't mind. Just want to make sure if it's a normal thing.

kristanto.oetomo wrote:

@kenchan: I think it's the same noise that you get when pressing on the sustain pedal of a grand piano, but this is to the extreme. I'll try to record it on a .wav/.mp3 file and send it to you as attachment if you don't mind. Just want to make sure if it's a normal thing.

hey i pm'ed you back but that's perfectly normal. that's the damper pedal noise. :)

the great thing about it is you can dial it out completely if you dont want it (my pm includes how you do that) and it's actually velocity sensitive with the pedal just like a real piano. if you stomp on it you hear more of the dampers letting off the string noise.

Yea, didn't think this DP would have such capability initially. This thing is too good =)