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RD700GX versus S90ES


delirium

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The only problem I can see is that perhaps the SN EP/Expressive Grand stuff is a ROM chip that can't be updated..

 

Seeing as someone mentioned there have never been updates for the RD series I can't imagine this happening... I don't see any OS version no.s on booting either...

 

I don't think so they will update any sound, they did it for a reason - to make you buy SRX cards...

 

That's why I love my Motif XS - it has absolutely stunning all sounds I need. EPs, pianos, organs, guitars - all in one keyboard!

 

 

♫♫♫ motif XS6, RD700GX
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Yeah but its also about twice the price and weight... nothing against the MOTIFs, I owned two of them, but the RD makes me think more about creating music than my classic and ES ever did... maybe the XS piano is a lot better than the ones though.
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oh no, there is no comparison between classic or ES to motif XS.

If you didn't hear it, try it out - sound is amazing, as real as it gets.

 

Anyway coming back to topic I came back home and as soon as I started playing my S90ES I knew RD700GX is not gonna replace it, maybe I'll still buy RD for the action but sound wise...S90ES pianos are way better.

♫♫♫ motif XS6, RD700GX
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In my opinion Roland's "Superior Grand" piano samples trump any piano samples in the S90ES or CP300.

Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas

 

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Jazz+ how do you find the GX for your tendonitis? Is it something you think you will overcome? I had some slight pains initially but they have receded (I actually think it was more a result of using a mouse a lot this week!)... I am still loving playing this keybed... though I wish the Expressive Piano sounded better...

 

Sorry all, I know I keep going on about it... ;) I'm just bemused that Roland think this new piano sample is worthy of inclusion...

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I went one more time to test RD700GX to SamAsh this time and after 2 hours I must say that except of the best action on the floor nothing else sounded interesting enough in this keyboard. Interestingly key's action on Fantom G which stood aside felt a little bit better, more loose. more like on acoustic. Pianos and EPs also sounded better on G somehow. (same was BTW with fantom X and RD700SX) Anyway tough decision, just for the keybed almost 2k...

 

Yeh, I also found the key action on the Fantom-G a bit looser, don't know whether it had been played more or whether the larger casing is making a difference. And I think you've hit the nail on the head with the last statement, it is indeed the keybed that's the selling point, the additional sounds add imo nothing better than what Roland already had out there in the SRX-11 & 12 boards.

Gig keys: Hammond SKpro, Korg Vox Continental, Crumar Mojo 61, Crumar Mojo Pedals

 

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Yeh, I also found the key action on the Fantom-G a bit looser, don't know whether it had been played more or whether the larger casing is making a difference.

 

I think the keybed is just tuned differently, better if I may say. I got also impression that keys on RD700GX are wider a bit, maybe just illusion. I'll check it again.

Anyway I prefer fantom G action and sounds over the new RD. But no way it is worthy 3k.

 

 

♫♫♫ motif XS6, RD700GX
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In my opinion Roland's "Superior Grand" piano samples trump any piano samples in the S90ES or CP300.

 

Jazz+, I wish I really do - that would justify buying this keybed.

Unfortunately I can't fool my ears that much ;)

 

 

p.s.

I tried also CP300 to compare action - CP300 pianos beat any piano sound on RD700GX easily, no comparison even whatsoever.

♫♫♫ motif XS6, RD700GX
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In my opinion Roland's "Superior Grand" piano samples trump any piano samples in the S90ES or CP300.

 

Jazz+, I wish I really do - that would justify buying this keybed.

Unfortunately I can't fool my ears that much ;)

 

 

p.s.

I tried also CP300 to compare action - CP300 pianos beat any piano sound on RD700GX easily, no comparison even whatsoever.

 

I'm in the same camp as I prefer the Yamaha piano samples over the new Roland ones. I do like the new Roland action, but I have a piano to play one so the action is not as big a deal for me as others. I think both are very good and it comes down to a matter of preference.

Begin the day with a friendly voice A companion, unobtrusive

- Rush

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been one more time in GC to taste fantom G more and now I'm sure - pianos on new fantom sound significantly better to me then RD700GX and the keys touch feel slightly better too. If it wasn't be so heavy I'd prefer fantom G over RD.
♫♫♫ motif XS6, RD700GX
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The Yamaha CP300 and S90ES piano sound is well suited for rock, Latin, funk and blues. The "Superior Grand" is ideal for jazz and more classical styles.

Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas

 

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I tend to think Jazz+ has it about right... the Roland does seem to have that very dark style whereas the Yamaha's I've owned are usually pretty bright. Did Yamaha ever fix their problem with providing samples in the ppp-pp range? Whenever I played my P120 I felt I was already at pf...
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Two Semi-OT questions:

 

1. Will the SRX12 work and be fully editable in an XV-3080 rack?

2. If the SRX-12 is installed in a Fantom G, will it have access to the new amp models, or is that exclusive to the sounds on the ARX expansion?

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I don't divide keyboards like that, because you always have brighter or darker variation of pianos in every keyboard so you can adjust to what you're playing. In S90ES you have few versions based on S Natural and some are pretty dark.
♫♫♫ motif XS6, RD700GX
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The Yamaha CP300 and S90ES piano sound is well suited for rock, Latin, funk and blues. The "Superior Grand" is ideal for jazz and more classical styles.

 

Specious argument. Yamaha digitals emulate the sound of Yamaha grands, which have been used on many jazz and classical recordings, and live performances.

 

How much does your WS-550 stand weigh? I'm so interested.

 

 

 

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The Yamaha CP300 and S90ES piano sound is well suited for rock, Latin, funk and blues. The "Superior Grand" is ideal for jazz and more classical styles.

 

Specious argument. Yamaha digitals emulate the sound of Yamaha grands, which have been used on many jazz and classical recordings, and live performances.

 

How much does your WS-550 stand weigh? I'm so interested.

 

Zing!

 

:deadhorse::snax:

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I don't divide keyboards like that, because you always have brighter or darker variation of pianos in every keyboard so you can adjust to what you're playing. In S90ES you have few versions based on S Natural and some are pretty dark.

 

Every Yamaha digital I've had just seems to over emphasise the attack portion of the note and the tone seems way bright. This could be probably worked around on the 90ES/XS because of the filters, but on my P120 I always had the brightness fader all the way down.. and it still felt too bright... more importantly their lowest velocity samples were more what I consider to be medium playing (though played back at a lower volume). So for me there was always a disconnect on the Yamaha. I distinctly remember plugging in the P120 when I first got it and playing it for all of 5 mins... whereas with this ROland (and the Promega) I have been playing them non stop..

 

In the end its all down to personal preference of course, despite your "no comparison" comment there is of course a comparison.

 

 

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Well, I ordered the RD700GX keybed...

 

O-Funk, did you mess around with that designer feature? can you really tweak the sound enough there? E.g. I'd need to tweak EPs since I don't like even one as is...

♫♫♫ motif XS6, RD700GX
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haha...

 

you're gonna hate it... ;-)

 

Yeah the designer feature is pretty cool.. but its more about the finer grained stuff rather then huge changes...

 

I can upload some of my epiano patches stuff just so you can play around.. but at least IMHO the rhodes stuff is always gonna lack something... I tend to play them with a little of the cathedral reverb and some distortion... good in the mix, but not great when nothing else is going on.

 

I also tried the GX with my Promega 3. Pretty awesome.. you may want to think about a GEM RP-X module.. personally I don't think theres one size fits all piano.. and I can't get enough of different types..

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Something I tried just now was editing the Ultimate Grand sound..

 

The Ultimate Grand is the one which I thnk was probably in the old RD700 or even the RD300 (SX version obviously)... anyway.. out of the box its nothing special... however with some EQ'ing in the Piano Designer mode it really springs into life... I already have something approaching the Yamaha CP70 tone but with a whole lot more bottom and warmth in tone... just brilliant...

 

Man I love this piano!

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Something I tried just now was editing the Ultimate Grand sound..

 

The Ultimate Grand is the one which I thnk was probably in the old RD700 or even the RD300 (SX version obviously)... anyway.. out of the box its nothing special... however with some EQ'ing in the Piano Designer mode it really springs into life... I already have something approaching the Yamaha CP70 tone but with a whole lot more bottom and warmth in tone... just brilliant...

 

Man I love this piano!

 

Yeah, ultimate grand was in Fantom X I guess and I liked it a lot. It's definitely better then expressive grands. Also I like Comp piano a lot.

 

Next question will be what SRX to buy since we have only 2 slots.

SRX-07 is tempting and SRX-12. Also, if they didn't include ARX expansion in RD700GX, does it mean there will be no more ARX??? or piano and EPs won't be any better then in SRX cards?

 

♫♫♫ motif XS6, RD700GX
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Next question will be what SRX to buy since we have only 2 slots.

SRX-07 is tempting and SRX-12. Also, if they didn't include ARX expansion in RD700GX, does it mean there will be no more ARX??? or piano and EPs won't be any better then in SRX cards?

 

I have ordered the SRX-12.. the SN stuff is okay, but the attack and release isn't quite right.. I figured out a way to make a more clicky front end by using the EQ in the patch (using one of the MFX processors as an EQ) and bosting the highs a lot... but its still not happening for me... I mean its getting there but I'm real picky about rhodes. If I was honest the SN Rhodes sounds a lot like an expressive P80 (not P90) rhodes or maybe a P120 rhodes.. somewhere in between... it does remind me of P80 though...

 

AS for the other SRX... I think its gonna be the SRX-07 for me.

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The rhodes on the SRX-07 is based on old samples for the JV series as far as I can tell.. .as these are almost 20 years old now I can't imagine the rhodes will be that great, even if the other sounds are first rate (I loved the JP-8 stuff in the JVs)

 

The SRX-12 is a card that is just pure rhodes and clav as far as I can tell... it is shipping to me now.. will let you know how I feel about it..

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I was checking out the GX today with the phones and definitely heard that weird phasey thing on the "Expressive Grand" you guys have been talking about.

It was from double hi C, 2 octaves above middle C, chromatically down a tritone to the F#. It wasn't there on the Superior Grand.

I didn't notice the sound in chords but more single line.

 

For comparison , they had the FP7 right next to it. I'm not sure which piano is which on that. I'm assuming #1 is the Expressive and #3 (or Piano2) is the Superior. No phasing in #1/Exp. or #3 on the FP7.

 

The action on the GX was night and day from the FP7. I liked it.

I'm not sure has much has the CP300. They had a Yamaha that was a "thrashed" older floor model with a headphone jack that didn't work...someone had jammed something up into it. It was hard to make the comparison with the just the Yamaha internal speakers, although I've played the CP300 quite a bit and have felt it's the least "toylike" imitation of the real thing that I've come across.

 

https://soundcloud.com/dave-ferris

https://www.youtube.com/@daveferris2709

 

2005 NY Steinway D, Yamaha AvantGrand N3X, CP88, P515

 

 

 

 

 

 

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