rewired Posted April 28, 2004 Share Posted April 28, 2004 I'm having a very hard time deciding between the Yamaha P90 and Roland RD170. I've played both, but as I don't play piano/keys well I had to rely on the built in demos to judge them both. My main interest when I played them both was to see how piano like they felt to me. I was surprised how good they were. However I will be unable to try them again as they are no longer on display anywhere near me. I'm buying a digital piano to learn/practice on, and as a master keyboard to use with my PC setup to write with. It'd be for home use only. Most important to me is buying the best piano action I can get, as in time the internal sounds can be replaced. But if both pianos are very similar, with one having the better sounds, maybe I'd go for that one even if it wasn't quite as nice to play. I'm not sure I'd really notice as I've only ever played a piano a few times. So please, I'd be very greatful for any advice. Thankyou. PS. Just incase someone is bored.... if someone could kindly play a short example for each of the internal sounds the P90 or RD170 have and make an mp3 it'd be incredibly helpful to me. Just to see what they each are capable of, esp the RD170 as it has so many more variations. I know that's a lot to ask, but I'm going quite insane here trying to decide :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shinerfan Posted April 28, 2004 Share Posted April 28, 2004 Good day, I just went throught the same dilema last night. I havenot played for years but decided it was part of me and time to build a new rig. I started out wanting a workstation but came to see that getting a good master board will make all the difference. Like you say, we can always add racks in the future, but I still want the closest thing to a real piano "feel." I ended up a little backwards and got the entrylevel P60 from Yamaha. The keys are the same as all the P series but has limited polyphony and sounds. I just had to take a step back and think do I want to spend 750 or 1200 for the same feel? Unless one is rich I think it takes a while to build your personal arsenal. Over much research most people definitly swing for the Yamaha over the others. Kurzweil also has a piano in your price range. Hopefully someone can sound off about that and the Roland. However, I think you will be more than happy with any of these models. I decided enough research, I want to be playing ASAP. I am just glad we live in the 21st century and are witness to such creative tools and minds. Good luck from one nontechie to another.-Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverend Rhythm Posted April 28, 2004 Share Posted April 28, 2004 If you don't play much, I'd say go with the cheapest route. Both the P-90 and RD-170 are good boards. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marino Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 If you want the best action, I would say get the P90, or better yet, a P120. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rewired Posted May 1, 2004 Author Share Posted May 1, 2004 I have considered the P60. But it has fewer sounds and no metronome/line outs/split etc, so in no short time I'd feel the need to midi it up to my computer and use a lot of sampled pianos/soft synths to make up for that. Ideally it should have enough for practice and writing in itself. I don't see the advantages of the P120 over the P90 being as great as those from P60 to P90. As far as I can tell, the P120 has speakers, a few extra sounds including a nice sounding rhoads, and an extra pedal input. That right? It is another option though, but for some reason it felt harder to play when I tried it. No RD170 advice? I've been into or phoned over a dozen music stores, and they all said to get the Roland. Better sounds, longer warranty, build quality etc. Yet most opinions online favour the Yamahas. It all adds up to one confused me :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shinerfan Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Wanted to note I canceled the p-60 order and finally decided the extra 250 was worth it for the p-90. Now I am still confused between the p-90 and p-120, as the price climbs. Patience is a virtue right? I also wonder why the 120 is claimed to be so much better than the 90. Ill let you know what I find. After many hours of research, it seems nothing comes close to the Yamahas for piano sound and feel.-Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olegu Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Originally posted by rewired: ....I don't see the advantages of the P120 over the P90 being as great as those from P60 to P90. As far as I can tell, the P120 has speakers..... ...No RD170 advice? I've been into or phoned over a dozen music stores, and they all said to get the Roland. Better sounds, longer warranty, build quality etc. Yet most opinions online favour the Yamahas.... It all adds up to one confused me :-)I just bought myself a Yamaha P120, and it's great. But I don't think you need go up there in price unless you really need speakers. That's why I didn't settle for the P90. As for your confusing advise: It all depends on what you emphasize most. In my opinion the Rolands have a better, and perhaps richer and more realistic sound on the pianos, but then again, no real pianos sounds the same either. But nothing I've tried beats the response and feel of the Yamaha keys, it's simply the best out there. And it's not that expensive to buy new sounds later, if you're not happy with what you've got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supermanrulez Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 I went through the process of getting a digital piano not too long ago. I am very familiar with both the RD170 and P90. The piano sound is always subjective to each listener. The majority of people prefer the Yamaha sound and that is a fact due to total sales which almost double those of Roland in the digital piano market and almost triple them in the last four months. The action and piano experience is better on the Yamahas in my opinion, but again you need to jusge for yourself as this is a personal experience. Since Yamaha makes actual pianos, they have experience to fall back on. The last thing is customer service. Roland is notorious for poor service and Yamaha is pretty damn good. Since your a beginner, Yamaha also has many programs geared toward their instruments to help beginners. Overall Yamaha will be a better buy due to everything they have going for them IMO. I want to make clear I am not saying Roland or the RD170 is a poor machine or implying that. I am just offering what I know and my opinions. Good luck with your purchase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rewired Posted May 2, 2004 Author Share Posted May 2, 2004 I am considering the P120. It comes down to covering every angle. The P120 has the extra pedal input which I may need in the future. It has speakers, and although I have better, its self contained and portable. And the rhodes I really like, which means I wont feel the need to buy Lounge Lizard or another software EP. The RD170 feels more suited to the kind of music I currently write, which is guitar heavy rock/prog. Lots of variation to play around with, maybe more fun for a beginner like me. But my initial intent was to get a piano as an alternative to my usual musical interests. And so with the Yamaha's also being graded I think I will stick to them. As you can tell, not being a keyboard/piano player I'm not really sure what I want. Its a series of what ifs and but maybe's. I'm sure whatever I get will be fine. If I can ever decide! Thanks for the advice though, it all helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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