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Roland’s 50th Anniversary Concept Piano

articles.roland.com

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Re: Roland’s 50th Anniversary Concept Piano

#61

Post by kimburgess »

brudgers wrote: post #43
henearkr wrote: post #23

Wouldn't latency be horrible, if e.g. the drones are connected through wifi or bluetooth? My understanding is that that's why until now no serious electric piano has ever proposed bluetooth audio connectivity for the player. [Edit]: they use an other tech with zero latency, as described in the article. Thanks for the replying comments.

Reverb is the result of latency, and in large spaces the audio signal to distant speakers is delayed to minimize dead spots due to wave interference. Which is to say musical experience is complicated and hence live sound design is also complex in ways that aren’t casually obvious. The rule of thumb is sound travels one foot per millisecond (30cm per millisecond). So at 30m, ten milliseconds latency wouldn’t change th…

Haas would like to disagree. If you experience a second wavefront within ~2-50ms you'll still localise to the first, even if the second is up to 10dB louder.

Re: Roland’s 50th Anniversary Concept Piano

#62

Post by illumin8 »

layer8 wrote: post #36
tshaddox wrote: post #10

Over the last several weeks I have been deep in research for a new digital piano, spending a lot of time looking at Roland, Kawai, and Yamaha models, and seeing this made me giggle. I doubt I would ever buy even one of the less traditional-looking production models (like the Kiyola), but I am glad they have fun with creating wild concepts like this.

The higher-end Kawai models have an Android-driven touch screen. It would be great if someone would manage to jailbreak those.

I sort of prefer the ones without. The Kawai CA95 doesn't have it, but it does have a line input and USB/5 pin MIDI in/out, so you can simply place a tablet (iPad or Android) on the music stand and use a USB cable to play whatever digital synths or piano emulators you want to download.

Not having a built-in tablet means it is future proof and can work with the latest tablet, even a decade into the future.

Re: Roland’s 50th Anniversary Concept Piano

#64

Post by tshaddox »

jonahbenton wrote: post #35
tshaddox wrote: post #10

Over the last several weeks I have been deep in research for a new digital piano, spending a lot of time looking at Roland, Kawai, and Yamaha models, and seeing this made me giggle. I doubt I would ever buy even one of the less traditional-looking production models (like the Kiyola), but I am glad they have fun with creating wild concepts like this.

Got the kids a $2k Roland FP 90x for Christmas to replace a $1k Casio. I don't play but they liked the Roland action when we tried their models in stores over Yamaha, Casio, and some others. Now that we have it- incredible instrument, well worth the upgrade, good match for their skills. It is a really, really good sound producer, better than most analog pianos I've heard, though I can easily tell the difference betwe…

The FP-90x is currently at the top of my list. The price and portability makes it much more practical for me than the bigger console pianos, even though I am very allured by some of the nicer actions with longer keysticks. I’ve played the RD-2000 enough to know I’ll enjoy the action, but I haven’t been able to find an FP-90x in a showroom yet to hear it in person. The piano sound samples I’ve listened to aren’t super impressive, but I’m not super concerned about that.

One of the things I plan to do is connect my iPad and laptop and play around with all the newer piano VSTs that I’ve missed since being away from that world for about 10 years. Sadly Kawai pianos don’t work as USB audio interfaces, so you can’t pipe the VST output back into its onboard speakers. The Roland pianos all support this feature, as do I believe most or all Yamahas.

Re: Roland’s 50th Anniversary Concept Piano

#65

Post by tshaddox »

illumin8 wrote: post #60
tshaddox wrote: post #10

Over the last several weeks I have been deep in research for a new digital piano, spending a lot of time looking at Roland, Kawai, and Yamaha models, and seeing this made me giggle. I doubt I would ever buy even one of the less traditional-looking production models (like the Kiyola), but I am glad they have fun with creating wild concepts like this.

Kawai makes quite nice digital pianos. The CA95 that we bought about 5 years ago has real wooden hammer action and a wooden soundboard. It also reproduces the harmonics (through digital samples) that you get when you hold the sustain pedal down and play a different string (resonant frequencies can vibrate other strings that you haven't played). I highly recommend them if you are considering a digital piano.

I wonder if that’s the predecessor to the CA99. I played that in a showroom and the Grand Feel III action is fantastic. I’m just not sure if I want to pay like 2-3x over what a portable digital piano would cost.

Re: Roland’s 50th Anniversary Concept Piano

#66

Post by thewebcount »

peterkelly wrote: post #56
sneak wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IAP cloud subscriptions and in-app surveillance spyware in the Roland iOS app seem to suggest otherwise: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/roland-piano-app/id1610462043

Damn, I was joking in my original comment, but yep there it is. In-App Purchases Roland Cloud Core Year $29.99 Roland Cloud Core Month $2.99 https://www.roland.com/global/categories/roland_cloud/ "Roland Cloud is an evolving cloud-based suite of software synthesizers, drum machines, and sampled instruments for modern creators." It's not hard to predict how that's likely to pan out in the coming years. I recently saw…

Yeah, I don’t get most of these plug-in companies. They require an internet connection to work. I love using software synths, but knowing that any time from next week to next decade I won’t be able to reproduce the sounds I’m using to record my songs scares the hell out of me. With a hardware synth, I can at least have the ability to back up the sounds and buy another instrument if the current one dies. I can literally use the same sounds I made in the 80s on many different synths (Rolands, Yamahas, etc.). That’s worth a lot to me.

Re: Roland’s 50th Anniversary Concept Piano

#67

Post by tshaddox »

FlyingRobot wrote: post #45
jonahbenton wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got the kids a $2k Roland FP 90x for Christmas to replace a $1k Casio. I don't play but they liked the Roland action when we tried their models in stores over Yamaha, Casio, and some others. Now that we have it- incredible instrument, well worth the upgrade, good match for their skills. It is a really, really good sound producer, better than most analog pianos I've heard, though I can easily tell the difference betwe…

To me even the very highest end digital pianos still sound digital, but they are close enough and the benefits of digital outweigh what you might sacrifice in sound for most people. I've noticed there is also fierce debate between digital pianos that are based on sampled sounds versus modeled. I believe most Roland digitals are modeled with Fourier series, while all/most of their competitors are sampled (not sure abo…

I’m not extremely concerned with sound quality, both because I intend to play around with lots of VSTs and because I‘ll be upgrading from a Roland RD-700SX which has served me incredibly well but which is very outdated when it comes to the sound engine!

Re: Roland’s 50th Anniversary Concept Piano

#68

Post by pdntspa »

anigbrowl wrote: post #63

This is a fine example of why Roland isn't really relevant in the electronic music gear market any more. They have a great legacy and great marketing department, but I can't remember the last time they released a product that really excited people.

I've always thought of them as a maker of reliable workhorse stuff. The MIDI keyboard I have from them has been rock solid and it's outlasted at least two others.

Re: Roland’s 50th Anniversary Concept Piano

#69

Post by tshaddox »

rjh29 wrote: post #37
jonahbenton wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got the kids a $2k Roland FP 90x for Christmas to replace a $1k Casio. I don't play but they liked the Roland action when we tried their models in stores over Yamaha, Casio, and some others. Now that we have it- incredible instrument, well worth the upgrade, good match for their skills. It is a really, really good sound producer, better than most analog pianos I've heard, though I can easily tell the difference betwe…

It's a matter of taste I guess. I had a Yamaha and switched to Roland and much prefer the chunkier key action and the slightly brighter/compressed piano tone. Definitely important to try it in store. My absolute favourite is the Nord Grand, but it's a little too expensive.

I believe the Nord Grand uses Kawai’s Responsive Hammer III action, which is also on the much cheaper (and excellent!) Kawai ES920 portable digital piano.

Re: Roland’s 50th Anniversary Concept Piano

#70

Post by tshaddox »

FlyingRobot wrote: post #33
tshaddox wrote: post #10

Over the last several weeks I have been deep in research for a new digital piano, spending a lot of time looking at Roland, Kawai, and Yamaha models, and seeing this made me giggle. I doubt I would ever buy even one of the less traditional-looking production models (like the Kiyola), but I am glad they have fun with creating wild concepts like this.

Looked at those exact brands about a month ago. Went with the Yamaha N1x hybrid. (Which means it has a conventional acoustic action with hammers and everything) so far pretty happy with it. I suggest going over to the piano world forums and doing a dive. The threads on these models are long. Also above all go see them in real life if you can.

Wow, I hope you’re having a blast with that piano, I’m jealous! I have been intensely lurking on the Piano World for a while now. :)
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