spiritfingers Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Hello - My budget is around 2 grand. I know the RD700 goes a bit over, but when i played it, it sounded very nice. I felt that it had a better piano sound than the CP 300. I am so torn. The RD700 seemed a bit more easier to use and to find different sounds. The CP300 was okay. I will be playing with a full band - i am not sure which one is better. I will be using piano sounds majority of the time...but some nice, soft pad sounds are essential. I also like very deep and bassy sounds...the deeper the sound, the better. Any suggestions??? Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Feel and sound are both very subjective, so your opinion of which sounds and feels better is what counts. Apart from that, the RD700NX is heavy, but the CP300 is a tank. Remember you're going to want to put it in a case, too, so make sure it's something you can deal with moving. The Roland, being newer, might hold more of its value longer, if that might be a consideration. You can download the manuals for both of them from the companies' web sites, so you can get a fuller sense of all their features... you might find something there that really sways you one way or the other. Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecorbett Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Roland has lovely deep bassy sounds! Excellent touch, and although its heavy, isn't as heavy as the CP300. CP300 has built in speakers, so if thats something you'd want its a consideration. For at home I may select the CP300 for its speakers and its furniture value (you could put books, lamps, laptop etc on top of it). For gigging I would go with the RD without hesitation. To me , the RD has the best feel of the lot of em at the moment. Just my opinion of course, try em out and decide for yourself We are all slave's to our brain chemistry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meisenhower Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Both are industry standards (or at least the CP300 was until the new CP's arrived) for digital stage pianos! The big question is are you a Roland or Yamaha piano guy! We usually fall into one of the two camps when it comes to the DP sounds! One really isn't any better than the other, except on a "personal preference" basis. I'm a Yamaha guy, so I'd take the CP over the RD series, everyday and twice on Sunday. To be fair, you're comparing the latest generation Roland to a previous generation Yamaha, so a more fair head to head would be the CP5 vs. RD700NX. Yamaha C7 Grand, My Hammonds: '57 B3, '54 C2, '42 BC, '40 D, '05 XK3 Pro System, Kawai MP9000, Fender Rhodes Mk I 73, Yamaha CP33, Motif ES6, Nord Electro 2, Minimoog Voyager & Model D, Korg MS10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawback Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I've had a CP300 and an RD700GX. I'm a Yamaha guy and I found I spent a lot of time tweaking the Roland's piano sounds to make them sound "good" but in the end I realized I was trying to make them sound like a Yamaha. I wasn't fond of the action on the Roland either - it bottoms out too soon and my hands got tired quickly. I loved having the CP300 at home to practice but I found the internal speakers lacking in tone, so I was always EQing them and never was satisfied - so they were kind of a waste of weight, as I preferred to run the DP through my stereo or used headphones anyway. I loved the flat top and stereo input which made it easy to rehearse with my laptop, or set up a 61-key whatever on top without a second tier on the stand. Taking the CP300 out on a gig was pain - one guy lugging what turned out to be 85lb including the case was very difficult. I ended up taking my Yamaha P90 out more than the CP300 and found that for on-stage purposes, where no one's really splitting hairs, the P90 did the trick anyway. Which leads me to this - maybe you should check out a CP50. ____________________________________ Rod Here for the gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEB Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I have really liked the CP300 the few times I played one and I'm a ex Roland guy who now plays Kawai ... but I never had to move the CP300 It can't as bad or much worse than the MP8II. If this is a long term purchase I would really consider newer generation keyboards unless the CP300 is being blown out at huge discounts. "It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne "A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!! So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEB Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 FWIW for less than $1500 MF has MP8II(which is discontinued). The action is killer..... it weighs a ton and a half (over 70 pounds without a case) and the sound sets are functional if you tweak them (but still not great) .... but the action is killer if carrying doesn't kill you. I guess if weight was not an issue I would get the MP8II and a laptop. "It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne "A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!! So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickey Keys Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I've owned the P200 and, more recently, the RD 700SX. In my band I need to make extensive use of layers and splits, and I use my stage piano as a master controller to call and play specific combinations of patches on both my boards for nearly every song. I find the RD's interface virtually intuitive and the CP's virtually impossible to work with. I started checking out the CP300 recently as well as the CP5 and the 700NX when I'd decided I wanted to upgrade from my RD700SX. Liked the feel of the CP300 - a lot. Sound palette was sufficient to my needs. Liked the feel and sounds of the CP5 as well. Liked everything about the RD700NX. The faux ivory keys and the hammer action gave it a significant (for me) edge over Yamaha in the feel department. But Yamaha's main acoustic piano sounds - especially on the CP5 - edged out the RD's. So, I'd just about decided that the CP5 was the one for me. But then, I took the precaution of downloading the two Yamaha manuals, shedded them a bit and went to my local GC - as it happened they had all three boards on display. The trip - and the manuals - reminded me in boldface caps why I swore off Yamaha forever after dumping an S08. Any functions/setups I want can be done and saved on the fly in seconds with the RD - even at a gig. In fact the first time I ever saw an RD, I'd set up five of my setups within 20 minutes - no manual - no help from a salesperson, no nothin'. And I deliberately had NOT downloaded an RD700NX manual to see if that was still the case. With a CP - set aside a couple of hours of trial and error while you figure out what the guy who wrote the poorly translated manual meant to accomplish in his native Japanese. 3 weeks ago, I wound up scoring a lightly used RD700NX in mint condition off my local craigslist at a saving of about $800 over store retail. First gig with the new RD is tonight. Since I do have a day job and a horrible commute, there is no way I would have had a CP ready in three weeks. The RD was ready in two nights, three hours each night. And the pianos sound like they're going to do just fine in the mix. We'll see for sure tonight . . . but I think I'm going to be most pleased with the upgrade. -Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan_evett Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 The CP300 sounds great, has built in speakers (a helpful advantage in a variety of situations), and is a tank.I was provided a P250 - which is essentially the same size/weight - for a church gig of six years. I moved it a couple of times by myself; not impossible, but not something I'd really want to do all the time (thinking of weird, club load-ins, stairs, etc..). The RD-700NX, at 55 pounds, has some heft but is quite manageable; a bit more streamlined for portability. While I've been a Yamaha guy for years, and likely will always have Yamaha tones in my rig (still have my favorite S90ES tones - the S700 pianos - in my Motif), I'm liking the NX a lot. The CP300 is indeed a terrific 'board, and the new CP's do sound great, but there were interface and practicality issues that made the NX a more attractive option. That bright, Yamaha piano tone is all but there in the NX; a tiny bit of front panel tweaking basically got the sound, for the most part. The woody, new CP1/5/50 tone is a little tougher to get. I've done some deeper editing on the NX, and so far have come up with something that sounds more like a rich, pop/rock Steinway tone; quite useful, and sounds great in many songs. But with a bit more editing I'm hoping well to create another piano voice sound that gets close to the new CP woodiness, with that bright, Japanese tone. Unless you need the built in speakers, I'd try and do a side by side comparison of the CP5/50 and the RD-700NX. See which one you like better. 'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo. We need a barfing cat emoticon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceNorman Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 My gig rig consists of a CP300, an RD700SX and a Motif ES Rack. For accoustic piano - my preference is the CP300. For other sounds (strings, horns, organs, EP's, etc.) - I think the RD700SX has the upper hand. As far as keyboard feel goes - they're both pretty damn good - I give the edge to the CP300 by a hair. As far as weight goes - they're both absolute tanks. The CP300 may be a hair heavier, however the RD700SX has that strange angled back (vs the square boxlike shape of the CP300) that makes carrying the RD700SX yourself a challenge. I can tuck the CP300 onto my hip and carry it without trouble trying to hold it - the RD700SX however requires an iron grip to do that with because the angled back makes it tough to hold. The SpaceNorman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 The CP300 is still a nice piano, but frankly unless you REALLY need those speakers, the considerable weight and the fact that it is a generation behind means you should really be looking at the CP5 or CP50 from the Yamaha range. Norman is right about the RD angles, btw. Even though it was exactly the same weight as my RD700GX, my CP5 always felt lighter (or was at least easier to manhandle) because it had some right angles to get hold of and wasn't so back-heavy. Studio: Yamaha P515 | Yamaha Tyros 5 | Yamaha HX1 | Moog Sub 37 Road: Yamaha YC88 | Nord Electro 5D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan_evett Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Good point, Aidan. The RD-700NX is back heavy, compared to the Yamaha S keyboards I've had. In a pinch I've carried an S90ES under one arm, and it balanced fine. The NX feels more secure side carried if I use a two handed, off set grip. Far beyond the P250, or any other keyboard I've used, the worst carry has been a fully loaded Kurzweil K2500XS: back heavy, left side heavy, 78 pounds, and 'bout slippery as an eel. 'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo. We need a barfing cat emoticon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Eek Alan, glad my imminent new Kurz is a little lighter than that! Yeah, I used to carry my GX sort of "tommy gun" style, which sorta worked. Studio: Yamaha P515 | Yamaha Tyros 5 | Yamaha HX1 | Moog Sub 37 Road: Yamaha YC88 | Nord Electro 5D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceNorman Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 ...I'll chime in on the sub-thread about carrying heavy boards... I used hard cases for both my CP300 and my RD700SX - both of which travel my van along with all the PA gear. I used to always always schlepp both boards in their cases to stageside, uncase and rack them there - then find somplace to store the cases. These days however - more often than not I unload everything exept my two boards - and once the stage is "boxed in" with the big stuff in it's place and my keyboard stand in position - I return to the van and bring in the boards themselves. I uncase them in the van and carry them in to set them directly onto the stand - leaving the cases like two open caskets side by side on the floor of the van. At teardown - they're the first two pieces of gear off the stage - and go straight back out to the van and back into the cases. I always carry them myself - and have come up with a pretty good carrying aid that allows me to carry them safely and easily. I took a 12 foot long length of 1 inch wide nylon strap (it came from a trailer tie-down) - and had the two ends sewn together - to make a solid loop. I slip one end of the loop under the keyboard - basically creating a sling that supports the board. I slip my head through the open sling so that it's carried across my body. The sling allows my shoulders to support the weight - hanging the keyboard at my side ("Machine gun style") and leaving my hands free to support/steer the board around obstacles and through doors. I've never seen anybody else schlepp a keyboard in this fashion - but will say that it works pretty well for me. I've been schlepping both of my heavy boards with the thing for going on 3 years without incident. The SpaceNorman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Interesting idea, Norman. Hope you keep a close eye on the state of that stitching, though! Studio: Yamaha P515 | Yamaha Tyros 5 | Yamaha HX1 | Moog Sub 37 Road: Yamaha YC88 | Nord Electro 5D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Stanfield Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 I didn't get a chance to demo a CP300, but I got the RD700NX a few months ago and absolutely LOVE it. Jason Stanfield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan_evett Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Eek Alan, glad my imminent new Kurz is a little lighter than that! Yeah, I used to carry my GX sort of "tommy gun" style, which sorta worked. Intriguing, Aidan: I just noticed the LE7 added to your signature, and also - from the KC Garage Sale - that you appear to be getting away from the Yamaha sound altogether right now. Will be interested in your thoughts on the Kurzweil, once you've had a chance to use it. Now that my FP-4 is up for sale, my PC3 will be - for the most part - the only keyboard in my home workspace. 'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo. We need a barfing cat emoticon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Good points about weight not being the only element in determining schlepp factor. Extra length makes a given weight worse, as does extra depth. The location of the weight, and how evenly it is distributed. The location of sensible places to grip it, and how high and how straight the board is at the grip locations. I used to have a strict weight limit, but I've learned you really have to get your hands around it... sometimes a few more pounds isn't as bad as you expect. And then, sometimes it's worse. Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan_evett Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Good points about weight not being the only element in determining schlepp factor. Extra length makes a given weight worse, as does extra depth. The location of the weight, and how evenly it is distributed. The location of sensible places to grip it, and how high and how straight the board is at the grip locations. I used to have a strict weight limit, but I've learned you really have to get your hands around it... sometimes a few more pounds isn't as bad as you expect. And then, sometimes it's worse. Right on the money, Scott... 'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo. We need a barfing cat emoticon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LX88 Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Which electric piano ( Rhodes ) patch are you Roland RD 700 NX guys using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Intriguing, Aidan: I just noticed the LE7 added to your signature, and also - from the KC Garage Sale - that you appear to be getting away from the Yamaha sound altogether right now. Will be interested in your thoughts on the Kurzweil, once you've had a chance to use it. Allan, it wasn't so much a desire to get away from the Yamaha sound as such, but as I explained elsewhere, I have a bunch of upcoming stuff where I need more than piano + Hammond. Having used the XK3 to drive the Motif in a previous gig (for single sounds) I thought it would be OK but once you start needing complex splits and layers it's more problematic, not so much the setting up but easy access to controlling relative components. I'm sure it could be overcome given determination and time but the latter is something I'm currently a tad short of. So I decided to swap out the rack for another top board which could go to gigs with me instead of, or as well as, the Hammond and Nord. I didn't really want to spend a huge amount, so that ruled out Kronos, XF etc. Also, I wanted something that still had a pretty good Hammond sound on it, so that's the reason I chose the PC3LE7. I'd probably have gone for a PC3 but supplies appear to have been pretty much exhausted and I've saved a modest bit of cash on going for the LE. Studio: Yamaha P515 | Yamaha Tyros 5 | Yamaha HX1 | Moog Sub 37 Road: Yamaha YC88 | Nord Electro 5D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEB Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Bert recently switch to a Roland. "It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne "A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!! So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Stanfield Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Which electric piano ( Rhodes ) patch are you Roland RD 700 NX guys using? The preset Chorus Rhodes is nice, and lately I'm using the SA Piano 2 a lot to mimic Brent Mydland's sound. Jason Stanfield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickey Keys Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Which electric piano ( Rhodes ) patch are you Roland RD 700 NX guys using? Took mine out live for the first time over the weekend. Some have posted that they don't like the EPs in the NX, but I found the first two in the "Tine EP" category (Tine E.Piano and Phaser Tine EP1) worked quite nicely. -Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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