Roland RD-08

[ElmerJFudd]

How’s this compare with FP-60x for same money if you’re not interested in using it with a laptop? 
 

 

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

On 3/19/2024 at 2:57 AM, Dave Keys said:

Same weight as the RD88 I think. A 73 would've been more welcome.

THIS, a million times this!!! Not enough weighted 73s on the market. I recently got the NS4 73HA, because I couldn’t find any currently supported alternatives with a nice action. Only way I could afford it was with 4 year financing and a bunch of negotiating with GC reps.

A lightweight 73 with nice weighted keys in the $1000ish price range and a nice variety of sounds would be a big seller among gigging keyboardists right now I’d think. 

[AUSSIEKEYS]

58 minutes ago, Mr. Mojo Risin said:

A lightweight 73 with nice weighted keys in the $1000ish price range and a nice variety of sounds would be a big seller among gigging keyboardists right now I’d think. 

 

Yes agree. Thats roughly the 1200 aussie price i mentioned. All the software exists in precedding models so no expensive software

 

4 (or more) actual zones not splits.  if you want simple splits the zoning handles that. 

 

Plenty of sound options from preceeding models. That quality is as good as it gets already for a stage piano. Its all been paid for

 

Mid dins and proper line outs not headphone outs of some pianos. Wheels above keys to keep it portable. 

 

Really they could do this so cheaply using past software only needing new tooling for case. 

 

But im guessing a gigging muso is only a drop in the bucket sales wise so they waste money on bells and whistles for the DAW market that a gig keyboard really doesnt need assuming the player just wants a gig keyboard

 

music manufacturers used to be proud of their gigging insruments and cater to the gigger.

 

Now the shareholders have the say on what should be marketed.

 

Theres not a big maket now in gigging players. Not enough to pay the shares. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SonicKeysII]

I thought of buying the RD88 when it was on sale for about$1,000 but I was intimidated by its complicated menu driven OS and punted.  I am still using my Casio Privia PXS-560 as a bottom board with a Roland VR-09 on top.  My boards are dated but I am not seeing anything that floats my boat enough to run out and buy a new board.  What I have works.  Most of the 73 key weighted boards are compromises in terms of action.  Yamaha did a shortened board in the P121, but it only has a few sounds.  The Yamaha YC and CK boards don't have enough good sounds even though the bread and butter sounds are pretty good.  (I own a YC board which I barely play--the VR-09 is a better top board IMHO).

 

I will only be interested in the new RD board if it is easier to use than its predecessor and still has a wide variety of decent sounds.  The computer integration is mostly meaningless to me.  

 

Frankly, I was hoping that Roland would improve upon the RD88 and its seems as if it is going backwards or going in a different direction.  I would have to play the board to make any kind of final judgment.  I would only buy the board if it met my requirements without having to pay for all of the add ons.  I like to plug and play.    

 

 

 

 

[Fleer]

Well, I did get a second RD-88. 

[AnotherScott]

11 hours ago, SonicKeysII said:

(I own a YC board which I barely play--the VR-09 is a better top board IMHO).

 

Although it's a bit of thread drift, I'm curious about what you find better about the VR09 compared to the YC as a top. Anything besides the VA synth?

[Paul Woodward]

6 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

 

Although it's a bit of thread drift, I'm curious about what you find better about the VR09 compared to the YC as a top. Anything besides the VA synth

I was thinking the same. Connected to the iPad app, I got some great sounds out of the synth section and, while the organs and Leslie sim were decent enough for a pub gig, the pianos fell well short of the YC.

[SonicKeysII]

I like the VR-09 Hammond and Leslie sound on the VR-09 better than the YC for the kind of rock stuff I am doing.  In addition, the YC does not have a solo violin which I need for fiddle type playing.  The VR-09 has an excellent solo violin which does country well.  It cuts through the mix like a knife.  The VR-09 also has a great harmonica which is very realistic.  The VR-09 has a bunch of sounds that the YC does not have.  I still don't understand the thinking of Yamaha.  It will give you tons of sounds on the MX61 series which are usable and only a limited number of sounds on the YC and CK which are supposed to be better and newer boards.   My 20 year old Yamaha PSR 2100 which sits in my bedroom/office has better and more varied sounds.  (The Genos derived sounds are sometimes excellent).

 

Because of the actions, both the YC61 and VR-09 stink for playing acoustic piano.  I address that by playing an 88 key weighted action bottom board.  Yes, I could midi my YC to my bottom board but that is besides the point.  Yes, I have done that at home.  

 

I am not a fan of using an Ipad live, having had some bad experiences with it such as shutting down in the hot sun at a farmers market gig or crapping out in the middle of a song at a bar gig.  I want a single top board with no add ons which has a lot of flexibility and is easy to use. 

 

I apologize for going off topic.    

 

 

[AnotherScott]

Ah, yes, the VR09 does have some nice additional sounds. (Even more with the freeware editor.) And yup, that harmonica is great, I was disappointed that the Fantom-0 doesn't have it.

[Ibarch]

The RD-08 upgrade is $299 from Roland Cloud. 

[Paul Woodward]

I’d like to think Roland know their customers (ok, maybe not with the RD08), or maybe they just don’t want to go up against Nord, but I wonder why there is no VR-10 that has some decent pianos from the RD, decent VA synths from the newer boards and upgraded organs and Leslie with drawbars. They have all the tech, but the VR09 is over a decade old now with the B refresh doing nothing to address the quality of ‘stage’ sounds.

Seems only Yamaha have tried this with the YC which, in some respects, betters the Nords…they just missed the net with the YC61 with its poor quality keybed crippling an otherwise decent machine.

[Paul Woodward]

1 minute ago, Ibarch said:

The RD-08 upgrade is $299 from Roland Cloud. 

Wow! Surely that’s hitting the price of the RD88…

[Ibarch]

PMT have the RD-88 at £999 and the RD-08 at £864.

 

So to restore the locked functionality but still be without the 4 extra rotary controls plus 5 bank change buttons is approx £150 more than buying the fully featured RD-88. 

[Paul Woodward]

And that’s not factoring the used market for the RD88 where, as shown above, you could get one in great condition with a bunch of extras for around £600 and that’s all the features active as well. Crazy.

[CHarrell]

They really should just call this thing the Roland-H8.

[David Emm]

My summation: there's a group at Roland who are mad at management, so a conspiracy was hatched to market a miniature white elephant. The company's pianos have had sluggish actions that put me off for years. Attempting trills on one felt like a job for the Hulk. I haven't played either of these new instruments, but for me, wedding that action to a hamstrung, cloud-dependent OS is a recipe for future pawn shop filler.

 

If I was shopping for a starter digi-piano to give a newbie, I'd breeze past Roland and go for the Yamahas. The CP line has great sound engines and more engaging actions. All they need is an outboard module with Roland's otherwise killer sounds onboard. 😜

 

I feel rather fortunate in having resigned myself to synth actions, even for piano. Properly lively-yet-buttery keybeds appear on workstations more than in digital pianos, IMO. I haven't played everything, though, sooo... 🤔 

[CHarrell]

9 minutes ago, David Emm said:

The company's pianos have had sluggish actions that put me off for years. Attempting trills on one felt like a job for the Hulk. I haven't played either of these new instruments, but for me, wedding that action to a hamstrung, cloud-dependent OS is a recipe for future pawn shop filler.

 

If I was shopping for a starter digi-piano to give a newbie, I'd breeze past Roland and go for the Yamahas. The CP line has great sound engines and more engaging actions. All they need is an outboard module with Roland's otherwise killer sounds onboard. 😜

 

I feel the same about Roland's actions, that's why I was shocked to find an RD300SX from like 2005 and thought it felt better to play than anything recent I've tried from Roland on their portables. (though funnily enough, that keyboard's action--as much as I can find discussion on it--was trashed at the time...what kinda standards did people have back then and why are they so much lower now!?!?!)

However, I don't think it's fair to compare Roland such as the RD88 to top-of-the-line stage pianos such as the Yamaha CP88. 

[DeltaJockey]

35 minutes ago, CHarrell said:

They really should just call this thing the Roland-H8.

What's the significance of the H?

[GovernorSilver]

Thanks to this thread I learned quite a bit about the RD-88.  The RD-08 (H8) not so much.  😀

 

I hope to try the Roland FP-E50 soon.  I did a mini-shootout at the store between the Roland FP-90X and the Kawai ES-920 and found that I actually liked both Roland's PHA-4 keybed and Kawai's RHIII, even though they're quite different feeling keybeds.   Both are vast improvements over my beat up old Casio Privia's.  Now it could be the FP-90X had received enough wear and tear from visiting customers to break in its keybed as the PHA-4 is apparently notorious for an out-of-box stiff feel that loosens up after enough hours of playing.

 

I'll definitely ask for the RD-88 next time I visit the shop.  It'll be interesting to try that and compare with the FP-E50.  Even though both have PHA-4, the RD-88 is more likely to be worn in by visiting customers, as the FP-E50 is a newer model.

[DeltaJockey]

23 minutes ago, GovernorSilver said:

Thanks to this thread I learned quite a bit about the RD-88.  The RD-08 (H8) not so much.  😀

 

I hope to try the Roland FP-E50 soon.  I did a mini-shootout at the store between the Roland FP-90X and the Kawai ES-920 and found that I actually liked both Roland's PHA-4 keybed and Kawai's RHIII, even though they're quite different feeling keybeds.   Both are vast improvements over my beat up old Casio Privia's.  Now it could be the FP-90X had received enough wear and tear from visiting customers to break in its keybed as the PHA-4 is apparently notorious for an out-of-box stiff feel that loosens up after enough hours of playing.

 

I'll definitely ask for the RD-88 next time I visit the shop.

Well, I was always not a fan of the Roland actions like I said earlier, but I'm quite happy with the PHA4 on the RD88. It's far from my best fav, but the RD88 suits my lightweight weighted action that is compact lengthwise and fits in a bag which will sit across the back seat of my car. I find when first playing it in any given session, after using one of my other actions, you can feel the sluggishness, but you quickly become accustomed and don't notice it so much. The key sensitivity makes up for that a bit. I'm guessing the sensor is placed fairly close to the key latch, so you don't have to push as much through that sluggishness to get some quick expressiveness.

I agree, I also like the Kawai RHIII, even though it's different, I still quickly feel at home on it.

 

Along with the Roland 3 pedal unit, for me the RD88 is the best combination of features for it's weight and dimensions. I've not had the trouble with the display and menus like some people, and have always managed to work my way through getting the functions I want. Though it's mainly the controller/Mainstage functionality mode I use it in. I can do better sound wise externally.

 

Again my feeling is, given it's comparison, the RD08 inevitably would not get a favourable comment from me as existing RD88 owner, that's to be expected.

 

[nadroj]

2 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

I’d like to think Roland know their customers (ok, maybe not with the RD08), or maybe they just don’t want to go up against Nord, but I wonder why there is no VR-10 that has some decent pianos from the RD, decent VA synths from the newer boards and upgraded organs and Leslie with drawbars. They have all the tech, but the VR09 is over a decade old now with the B refresh doing nothing to address the quality of ‘stage’ sounds.

Seems only Yamaha have tried this with the YC which, in some respects, betters the Nords…they just missed the net with the YC61 with its poor quality keybed crippling an otherwise decent machine.

I can see a “VR-X” (VR-0X?) somewhere in the future. In typical Roland fashion, I can also see it falling under the “so close, but not quite” category. 
 

An organ based, performance focused keyboard with the V-Piano and an actual editable SN (or zen core) synth engine would indeed be killer. Maybe. They’d find a way to mess something up. 

[GovernorSilver]

The RD-08 and RD-88 have the Supernatural E. Piano while the FP-E50 doesn't, nor is it available as a paid expansion.  But maybe regular old sampled Rhodes and the like would be ok as the demos of those sounds on the FP-E50 seemed fine to me.  Of course I'll figure this out with head to head comparisons in the shop.

 

I'm not a gigging pianist/keyboardist.  I'm just looking for a digital piano to practice stuff on, with a keybed that won't be as nasty to my left hand as my geriatric Casio.  The FP-E50 could be the best fit for me.  But again, maybe one of the more expensive DPs will draw me strongly enough to pull the extra $$$ out of my wallet.

[DeltaJockey]

25 minutes ago, GovernorSilver said:

The RD-08 and RD-88 have the Supernatural E. Piano while the FP-E50 doesn't, nor is it available as a paid expansion.  But maybe regular old sampled Rhodes and the like would be ok as the demos of those sounds on the FP-E50 seemed fine to me.  Of course I'll figure this out with head to head comparisons in the shop.

 

I'm not a gigging pianist/keyboardist.  I'm just looking for a digital piano to practice stuff on, with a keybed that won't be as nasty to my left hand as my geriatric Casio.  The FP-E50 could be the best fit for me.  But again, maybe one of the more expensive DPs will draw me strongly enough to pull the extra $$$ out of my wallet.

My view on the actions you've mentioned. The Kawai RHIII in my opinion would probably be kinder to your hands than PHA4. I have to consider my ageing hands when playing these. I actually sold my MP11SE with the grand feel in favour of the MP7SE with the RHIII, as I found the grand feel had a certain damping which would tire my hands quickly.

The RHIII is a lot quicker to respond and left me less fatigued. I play a lot of stuff with left hand octaves, so my pinky and thumb are being extended a lot, and this is where the action response is important to me.

[AnotherScott]

41 minutes ago, nadroj said:

I can see a “VR-X” (VR-0X?) somewhere in the future. In typical Roland fashion, I can also see it falling under the “so close, but not quite” category. 
 

An organ based, performance focused keyboard with the V-Piano and an actual editable SN (or zen core) synth engine would indeed be killer. Maybe. They’d find a way to mess something up. 

 

A Fantom-06 is not too far from that, and the biggest thing it messes up is not having a physical control for the ninth drawbar. (No V-Piano, but I don't think they'll be putting that in any "value priced" model.)

[CHarrell]

2 hours ago, DeltaJockey said:

What's the significance of the H?

 

Sound it out. 😈

[AnotherScott]

They wanted a $999 model under their $1299 model. And if someone later decides, ooh, I underbought, they have an upgrade option. Not the worst thing.

[CHarrell]

16 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

They wanted a $999 model under their $1299 model. And if someone later decides, ooh, I underbought, they have an upgrade option. Not the worst thing.

 

My personal feelings about the usefulness of that upgrade path aside--aka I would consider it very marginal--there is of course the flipside of what the used prices for these will eventually be.

[GovernorSilver]

3 hours ago, DeltaJockey said:

My view on the actions you've mentioned. The Kawai RHIII in my opinion would probably be kinder to your hands than PHA4. I have to consider my ageing hands when playing these. I actually sold my MP11SE with the grand feel in favour of the MP7SE with the RHIII, as I found the grand feel had a certain damping which would tire my hands quickly.

The RHIII is a lot quicker to respond and left me less fatigued. I play a lot of stuff with left hand octaves, so my pinky and thumb are being extended a lot, and this is where the action response is important to me.

 

I did have a slight preference the RHIII of the ES-920 over the PHA-4 of the (probably worn in) PHA-4 of the FP-90X.  I had to go back and forth between the two pianos a bunch of times before deciding which keybed I liked better.   Both feel much better under my left hand than the keybed of my old Casio.  My impression is that life will be better for my left hand with either keybed.

 

The PHA-4 of the FP-90X probably got a workout from hundreds of hands before I laid my own hands on it.  This is the kind of store where musos who audition pianos, organs, etc. will play them for quite some time - possibly hours if they run into a fellow muso, get into a chat about chord progressions/subs/voicings, and end up jamming.   During my own mini-shootout, there were a couple of players who were jamming with each other on piano and organ (later 2 pianos) the whole time.  So that PHA-4 was well broken in compared to how the FP-90X would have been fresh out of the box.

 

I'm not ruling the ES-920 out - quite the opposite.  But I'm not ready to make a final decision on a piano either.  I need another round of piano auditioning in the store.  

 

 

[CHarrell]

1 hour ago, GovernorSilver said:

 

I did have a slight preference the RHIII of the ES-920 over the PHA-4 of the (probably worn in) PHA-4 of the FP-90X.  I had to go back and forth between the two pianos a bunch of times before deciding which keybed I liked better.   Both feel much better under my left hand than the keybed of my old Casio.  My impression is that life will be better for my left hand with either keybed.

 

The PHA-4 of the FP-90X probably got a workout from hundreds of hands before I laid my own hands on it.  This is the kind of store where musos who audition pianos, organs, etc. will play them for quite some time - possibly hours if they run into a fellow muso, get into a chat about chord progressions/subs/voicings, and end up jamming.   During my own mini-shootout, there were a couple of players who were jamming with each other on piano and organ (later 2 pianos) the whole time.  So that PHA-4 was well broken in compared to how the FP-90X would have been fresh out of the box.

 

I'm not ruling the ES-920 out - quite the opposite.  But I'm not ready to make a final decision on a piano either.  I need another round of piano auditioning in the store.  

 

 

 

The FP90X uses the next tier, the PHA50, which is considered the same tier as the ES920.

[ElmerJFudd]

57 minutes ago, CHarrell said:

 

The FP90X uses the next tier, the PHA50, which is considered the same tier as the ES920.

I find the PHA50 keys a tad slower on return than the PHA4.   ymmv