Costco Roland FP10 bundle $499!

[Reezekeys]

I don't recall the # of sample layers seeing talked about in any video. Also, how obvious the transitions are between them. It's possible (but only speculation on my part) that Roland may use the same samples for the FP10 as their higher-priced spreads but use less of them, spread out more. I wish the reviewers would comment on the layering & range stretching because to me this is the #1 factor in a satisfying playing experience. It's the main reason I went with software plugins for pianos over 14 years ago.

[LX88]

Probably need to get into software.

 

Or high priced spreads!

 

Everybody has a different take on what they can live with or what the deal breakers are. Plunk is a big factor for me.....tones that don't resonate...have too much attack....and also high end overtones that tend to dominate.

 

My acoustic piano reference is a vintage Sohmer upright.As I write I hit a C Major 7 chord and the upper harmonics blend in rather than stand out.The fundamental pitch is even throughout

 

On the FP I0 got the upper harmonics to behave and there is no plunk around C5.Pretty good keybed on the one I played.....

[LX88]

I finally pulled the trigger on one of these.....

 

What took me so long? My local Costco sold 12 of them in one week.

 

Right off the bat...the headphones that come with this really make this work for me. It isn't overly bright...

 

That was definitely worth A LOT.

 

Plus I am starting to like thus PHA 4 action

 

And what about...2 years labor 5 year parts warranty?My Yamaha P 45 keybed went to hell in under a year.

 

.This sample through these phones sounds Damn Good.

 

Best bang for the buck in a portable... My opinion. This thing sounds warm when matched to the right phones!

..

A

[LX88]

A bit surprised by lack of discussion about this...

 

There is actually a lot going on with this board.

 

The weak part that I can see is lack of decent electric pianos.

 

The thing that I am seeing is how good the piano sample is and how good the action is.

 

Other observations... This board has a few advantages over the FP30. It has more tonal control in its brilliance settings and also has ability to use internal speakers and external speakers. You can use a subwoofer with it and then it gets pretty loud.

 

Mine has PHA 4 action but it feels more friendly than the FP 30 I demoed last year. I love the compact size and weight.

 

If you alter a few touch and tone settings this sample is among the best that I have heard. Roland is really offering something here. I feel it's one of the best purchase decisions I have made.

[Morrissey]

Glad you're enjoying it. You got a great deal!

[Bill H.]

I couldn't find it in the PDX Costco a few days ago, so couldn't check it out. Brought headphones too. I did find a David Bitton fleece lined jacket for $20 that lists online for $89 online though, so I was happy. Gotta love Costco. Enjoy your new board LX88

[LX88]

Bill I got mine in Salem actually. They had a demo model set up that you can play.

 

Because the headphones are actually quite good the Costco deal is a bargain at $499. The phones seem perfectly matched to this.

 

The external speakers are a bit of a compromise. But what can you expect...some people want everything.

 

My guess is that Roland threw a lot into thus board. There are all kinds of reviews on line. Merriam music really promotes it...pretty much saying it is the best of the lightweights.

 

The thing to me that is unique about it is that it is capable of giving a certain warmth that I don't often hear at any price. The phones help achieve this.

[jerrythek]

I reviewed the FP-10 last year for pianobuyer.com:

 

Clonk

 

I ended up selling the review unit to a local jazz player here on the island, and he has loved it as an acoustic piano. I didn't care (at all) for the Rhodes... I was being kind in my distaste in the review.

 

Reezekeys: I can't exactly recall the microscopic view of the sample mapping, but I don't recall any major issues jumping out. Certainly not for a keyboard anywhere near this price-point.

 

Jerry

[LX88]

Agreed...the Rhodes sucks

 

But at this price point...what Rhodes is good ?

 

Also agreed that the sample doesn't seem to have major issues other than the fact I tend to back off the brightness...as I would do if I had an RD 2000. Or most Yamahas etc

 

I would love to hear what is up with the RD 88 but there just aren't any around..ditto the RD 2000.Guitar Center seems to be going under and as much as I do like the MODX sample I am not in love with the price or the keybed.

 

I am not sure the FP 10 will even be around after Xmas and they are currently not available on line from what I can see....at least not at original price.

[Reezekeys]

Reezekeys: I can't exactly recall the microscopic view of the sample mapping, but I don't recall any major issues jumping out. Certainly not for a keyboard anywhere near this price-point

 

It's the "jumping out" in timbre or volume from mis-matched sample layers that ruins the playing experience for me, so if you didn't notice any then I'm sure Roland did OK in that dept. I remember the "Session Piano" from their JV expansion board, which was my main axe for a number of years â two layers, but done fairly well imo. The velocity switch was audible but not too distracting if you adjusted your playing dynamics so your average velocities weren't too close to the switch point.

 

Anyway, I'm about to recommend an FP10 to a drummer I know looking for a piano to learn on. He's not a pro but books gigs for bands he puts together, and wants something he can bring to a gig if the piano player can't bring his or her own instrument. He said it has to be "good enough that YOU would be OK playing it" â so the pressure is on!

[LX88]

Been on this thread a lot but I have been trying to find out what the difference is between the FP 10 and what was previously described as the high priced spread...i.e. more expensive versions of supernaturals.

 

Not sure I am hearing layers jumping out or any of that. Overall what I am hearing is pleasant though the speaker sound could stand improvement. The headphone thing is pretty good.

 

Perhaps ignorance is bliss. And yes I would like to run some software with this because the PHA 4 has been a pleasant surprrise.

 

The only jumping out going on here are the rattling keys of my previous a Yamaha portable. Which the FP 10 will replace

[AnotherScott]

Not sure I am hearing layers jumping out or any of that.

AFAIK, no SuperNATURAL piano has any audible layer transitions, that's part of the purpose of the SN modeling. Also no audible loops.

[LX88]

Thank you. There had to be some reason why I wasn't hearing much if anything not to like...except the Rhodes and the organ.

 

This PHA 4 was worth the 499 dollars. It feels suspiciously different than the FP 30 I demoed a year and a half ago.

 

Perhaps Roland pulled the FP 10 off the market hoping not to give competition to remaing FP 30s. When I asked Kraft Music about FP 10 they recommended the 30. Which is not worth the extra 200 dollars just to get 1/4 inch out and a little.more speaker power.

 

I also doubt Costco will have these after Christmas. The addition of relatively good phones with this made it a pretty good bargain.

[LX88]

I can just imagine how some of you may be getting sick of these posts so apologies for that

 

But I just had another breakthrough with this thing

 

I hooked it up to a fairly common Sony home subwoofer. The. FP 10 will allow external speakers to be run with internal speakers.

 

So I got the external speaker working and turned the brilliance setting down slightly.

 

Bingo. This thing is now relatively loud and sounds GOOD after adding the sub. It's about as loud as an acoustic piano and is neither shrill or dull.

 

Why Roland is not reccomending This is beyond me at this point. This thing sounds clear and good. Way beyond what you get out of the box.

 

Overtones sounding very good...bassbis of course fat.

 

Intuitively I knew these was something to this.

 

As far as I known the aaFP 30 can not in a sub and internal speakers and dies not have the same brilliance adjustment.

 

It works like a charm.

[jerrythek]

Perhaps Roland pulled the FP 10 off the market hoping not to give competition to remaining FP 30s. When I asked Kraft Music about FP 10 they recommended the 30. Which is not worth the extra 200 dollars just to get 1/4 inch out and a little.more speaker power.

 

 

Well the FP-30 does offer more sounds:

 

Tones

Piano: 6 Tones

E.Piano: 7 Tones

Other: 22 Tones

 

FP-10:

Tones

Piano: 4 Tones

E.Piano: 2 Tones

Other: 9 Tones

 

You can get to them on the 10 via the Piano Partner app. I discussed them in the review.

 

Jerry

[Reezekeys]

Jerry, do you know if these "tones" are different sample sets, or the same samples with different EQ and/or EFX settings? Your review wasn't explicit about that. I suspect the latter.

[jerrythek]

Jerry, do you know if these "tones" are different sample sets, or the same samples with different EQ and/or EFX settings? Your review wasn't explicit about that. I suspect the latter.

 

For the acoustic piano absolutely the latter. All the others are from different instruments/sounds not brought to the surface of the 10.

 

Jerry

[Reezekeys]

Thanks. Based on your description of the Rhodes I may pass on recommending this to my buddy shopping for a DP. I wonder if the FP30 is improved in that regard. I gotta say it seems like poor judgment to skimp on sample space with one of the main instruments of a DP â especially since Rhodes samples lend themselves to looping as they're almost a sine wave after the attack. Is memory that expensive? A 32GB Class 10 sd card is $8 on Amazon right now. I used an SD card to steam samples on my laptop rig for a while and iirc there weren't any issues.

[AnotherScott]

Is memory that expensive? A 32GB Class 10 sd card is $8 on Amazon right now. I used an SD card to steam samples on my laptop rig for a while and iirc there weren't any issues.

Streaming off storage requires a lot more hardware and OS capability than is built into a basic keyboard. More like the kind of hardware and OS capability built into your laptop. (Or a Kronos.) In most cases, keyboards require that the sounds be in ROM, or loaded into RAM, or in a different kind of flash (NOR), all more expensive than the kind of flash memory you find in USB sticks, SD cards, or SSDs.

 

That's not to say that's an explanation for a poor Rhodes sound, though. It's long been the case that I have found Rhodes sounds underwhelming even in much higher priced Rolands than the models we're talking about here, while finding some perfectly nice Rhodes sound in some relatively low cost Casios, for example.

 

Also, in general (not talking about Roland here), while I suspect that you're right that looping is not so problematic in Rhodes, velocity based timbre shifts are particularly noticeable. So compared to an acoustic piano sample, you may get by with more looping on Rhodes, but that may be offset by needing to deal with more velocity samples.

[Moonglow]

That's not to say that's an explanation for a poor Rhodes sound, though. It's long been the case that I have found Rhodes sounds underwhelming even in much higher priced Rolands than the models we're talking about here, while finding some perfectly nice Rhodes sound in some relatively low cost Casios, for example.

+1

I never jived with Roland's Rhodes. Some years ago I purchased the "Radio Shack" version of the Casio CDP-100 (as a practice piano for my daughter) which has a Rhodes I still like better than some found in more contemporary keyboards.

[LX88]

As I said before I did not expect a good Rhodes at this price point

 

Ditto Yamaha and Casio

 

I would expect the companies don't want competition for upper end boards

 

Roland also could have given us a better organ

 

I recently also picked up a Yamaha MX 49 with Motif sound set and am somewhat dissatisfied with those Rhodes sounds even though people have used them for many years.

 

I would be curious to know which review Jerry did. Met you at NAMM awhile back

 

FP 10 with subwoofer...thumbs up.

[AnotherScott]

I hooked it up to a fairly common Sony home subwoofer. The. FP 10 will allow external speakers to be run with internal speakers.

 

So I got the external speaker working and turned the brilliance setting down slightly.

 

Bingo. This thing is now relatively loud and sounds GOOD after adding the sub. It's about as loud as an acoustic piano and is neither shrill or dull.

 

Why Roland is not reccomending This is beyond me at this point.

Possible reasons for not recommending it include that they don't manufacture a subwoofer you can buy for it, and that suggesting you buy some other device to improve its sound would be tacitly admitting that the supplied speakers may not be satsifactory, probably not the message they want to send. ;-) Good tip, though!

 

BTW, one more possible advantage to the FP30 is that you could connect a triple pedal to it.

[LX88]

Update on my latest discoveries on the FP 10

 

From what I can tell this thing benefits from having just a bit of eq and good headphone selection.

 

When using a separate amp the super hard touch setting seems to work best.Sraight out of the box this is way too bright but that can be adjusted.

 

So without too much headache I can get a sound that competes with a lot of other more expensive digitals such as MODX ...CP4...and even possibly RD2000 though I haven't been around those in a while.

 

I am also impressed with the accessories that come with this. The bench and stand are top notch and the headphones are not bad I will have to mess with eq on those a bit more.

 

Another issue is....I don't know if these are even going to be restocked after the sale and it is difficult to find an FP 10 from other dealers.

[Doerfler]

 

Another issue is....I don't know if these are even going to be restocked after the sale and it is difficult to find an FP 10 from other dealers.

 

I was in Costco downtown DC yesterday and saw the floor model being wheeled out on a cart with a sign on it that read "Last one, as is". Of course there was no box.

 

Take that for what you want.

[Morrissey]

 

Another issue is....I don't know if these are even going to be restocked after the sale and it is difficult to find an FP 10 from other dealers.

 

I was in Costco downtown DC yesterday and saw the floor model being wheeled out on a cart with a sign on it that read "Last one, as is". Of course there was no box.

 

Take that for what you want.

 

 

In my experience, Costco commonly has items on the shelf for just a few months and then never to be seen again.

[LX88]

I jumped on the chance to get the FP 10 at Costco because Rolands in general seem to be rare in any local stores.

 

It makes me wonder if both Roland and Guitar Center are on the ropes.

 

The FP 10 is not being carried by most retailers at this point. Which is a shame in my opinion. It offers a lot of value for the money especially in this bundle.

 

I am using it with Yamaha MX 49 to get additional E Ps etc. PHA 4 is pretty good controller..dont need a lot of features. Fp10 supernatural samples cover the acoustic sounds I need

 

That is...if I ever gig again with all this lockdown.

 

 

.

[Doerfler]

It makes me wonder if both Roland and Guitar Center are on the ropes.

 

Don't worry, they will both be OK.

[LX88]

Not that I am worried but Guitar Centers in Oregon definitely not OK.

 

The one in Clackamas/ Portland looks like a ghost town.

 

Salem near me by appointment only.

 

So I am not quite sure on that one.

 

The only new Roland I saw in Oregon all year was this Costco thing. Fortunately...pretty good overall.

.