Gary75 Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Got a budget of around £500 max. I can't think of anything else I could get at that price range used, which was as favoured by many, including the heavy hitting piano guys on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 I played FP4, which features the "Superior Grand" sample for about 5 years. It used to be my favorite gigging board. I sold it a month after my new Casio PX-360 arrived. I prefer the action and dynamic response of the piano on my PX-360 (26 lbs, 4 internal speakers). [video:youtube] The same PX5s Rhodes is in my PX-360: [video:youtube] Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 850 of Harry's solo piano arrangements of standards and jazz tutorials at https://www.patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marczellm Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 It's good, I play one with the university choir and it's fun to play. Life is subtractive.Genres: Jazz, funk, pop, Christian worship, BebHop Wishlist: 80s-ish (synth)pop, symph pop, prog rock, fusion, musical theatre Gear: NS2 + JUNO-G. KingKORG. SP6 at church. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LX88 Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Depending on the price, if you can get one I would go for it. I am currently looking for one in the States. I had its brother, the RD300GX for a long time. It was stolen from me and after I recovered it, it soon became dysfunctional. I had a chance to A/B a RD300GX next to a Yamaha CP4 recently. The 300GX held its own and then some. I still prefer the Rhodes on the RD300GX to just about anything else out there. And the "Superior Grand" sample is still a strong contender to the anything on the CP4... ( my opinion). I was highly disappointed with the Supernatural sample on all the NX stuff. To me, the older Superior Grand was voiced more realistically. There wasn't much not to like for me whereas on Yamahas of comparable age there was that mid range plunkiness... sort of like Casio has in most of their offerings. I have also been looking at the Roland FP7 and am wondering if it used the same Rhodes as the RD300GX. Or if the FP4 uses it for that matter. Keep in mind many of these are pushing 10 years old though. Condition will be important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LX88 Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 By the way... I am not sure that I have ever seen or heard the Casio PX 360 that Jazz + mentions. I have seen a 350 - probably not the same I know he was an advocate of the FP4 for quite a while. Curious... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Got a budget of around £500 max. I can't think of anything else I could get at that price range used, which was as favoured by many, including the heavy hitting piano guys on here. I guess it depends what you need. For example, strictly as a "piano" I'd probably prefer the Kawai ES-100 (or, presumably, the forthcoming replacement ES-110). But if you need beefier speakers, or a wider range of additional sounds, then the Kawai can't match the FP4. 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...
Gary75 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 The last true digital piano I owned was an old Yamaha Grantouch. I'm now two hand surgeries into my right hand with another on my left hand in a few weeks. I find the action on my Kronos too heavy. I should sell it really. I want something that sounds decent but isn't fatiguing. It'll be for practice and playing light jazz/pop. Action first, sound second really. I just want an acoustic piano patch, nothing else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Loving Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 If you just want a good piano sound, look at a Casio Privia PX-160. Best for the price. "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Emm Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 The last true digital piano I owned was an old Yamaha Grantouch. I'm now two hand surgeries into my right hand with another on my left hand in a few weeks. I find the action on my Kronos too heavy. I should sell it really. I want something that sounds decent but isn't fatiguing. It'll be for practice and playing light jazz/pop. Action first, sound second really. I just want an acoustic piano patch, nothing else. Ouch! My sincere sympathy over your having hand surgeries. You must have had your LastNerve re-plated several times by now. I hope you bounce back well. I say this as someone with diminished playing facility due to injury. As a musician, you always crap an anvil when you hurt your hands in any way. I would second the suggestion of the Privia action. The piano sound IS quite good, of course, but their actions are in a nice middle spot between the fully engaging Baldwin grand I started on and plastic crap you'd kick into a dumpster straight away. IMO, its well-balanced between just a smidge squishy and invitingly smooth. The FP4 is still worthy. I babysat one over a weekend and found it to be a well-balanced design I could dig into. However, start looking with a Privia. I think it will serve your hands best. BTW, take heart as I did. Even having settled for a pair of very lightweight controllers, the technique I learned is still there far more than not. Injury is an unwelcome occurrence, but as I gratefully discovered, you can synthesize your way around quite a bit of it. It opened some welcome new doors. I was never going to be more than a weak Eubie Blake wannabe as a soloist, but it turned out that I had a better compositional ear than I'd thought. Praise DAWs! I never would have known that I had nice guitar duets, string quartets and juicy choir voicings in my head without the loss/diversion of my pianistic struggles. As the Oblique Strategies card says, "Instead of building a wall, make a brick." Good luck with your left hand. "Well, the 60s were fun, but now I'm payin' for it." ~ Stan Lee, "Ant-Man and the Wasp" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary75 Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 I actually had a Privia PX300 some years ago. I'm assuming they have moved on somewhat both in action and sound. At that time I found it quite bouncy and the sound quite muddy especially fairly dense chords. As you can see below, I have quite s bit of scar tissue but it looks worse than it is. The most important thing is my tendons are moving freely now. My thumb was done two months ago. I won't be getting any work as a hand model at this point but there's always my face to model balaclavas. I'll have to have a look at Privias again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 The current Privia action is heavier feeling than your old one, and heavier feeling than the FP4. So if you're looking for a lighter feeling weighted action to be easier on your hands, it might not be the way to go. But worth checking out, sure. If you're looking at both new and used models, any of the Casio PX models with a 5 or 6 in the second digit will have basically the same action (along with the PX5S and CGP-700). And again, I think the Kawai ES-100 is worth checking into as well. 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...
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