RD700SX - amped sound quality

[Nick Ponti]

Having serious problems getting an acceptable amped sound from the rd700sx, though the sound is great through the earphones. Pianos in particular are very harsh and thin. Have tried Mackie/Yamaha/Roland amplification equipment with same result. Was running mono. Anyone having this issue? How to resolve? Am currently using an XV88 and am considering moving to the rd700sx because of the savings of about 20 pounds. I am primarily a piano player and have owned just about all of the brands at some point or another and have never been satisfied with any digital piano, but this is without question the worst issue I have come across. Thanks for replying.

[Sven Golly]

Please describe exactly how you are connecting the RD to your amplification, including all components in the chain, and any settings you may have.

 

It sounds like an issue of phase cancellation, for example running both Left and Right outputs into the same channel of an amplifier.

 

Headphones are, of course, stereo, so no phase cancellation will occur under those circumstances.

 

Cheers,

SG

[Dave Horne]

Was running mono. Anyone having this issue? How to resolve?

Running stereo comes to mind.

 

I realize that listening to headphones is different than listening through an amplified setup, but ... has it ever been otherwise? Has a great sounding amplified setup sounded shitty through headphones?

 

In my personal experience, if it sounds great through headphones, it will sound great through an amplified setup. I would buy an electric piano based only on how it sounded through headphones.

 

Am I alone here?

[Nick Ponti]

Had the mono output connected to a Mackie/Yahama powered mixer running all eq flat. Connected the mixer to an EV cabinet and also tried a KMD cabinet which sounds great with my XV88. Also tried making the same mono connection into a Roland keyboard amp, all eq flat. I am wondering if the mono jack is not really running mono, but in fact is just putting out part of the signal. This unit is supposed to feed both sides of the stereo mix to the mono jack when only mono is connected.

[Sven Golly]

Okay, so you're using the 1/4" jack, yes? The XLR outputs don't offer a mono option, so I'm assuming 1/4" here.

 

Are you using a Tip/Sleeve wired cable, or a balanced (Tip/Ring/Sleeve) wired cable? If you're using the latter, and the inputs on your audio gear are balanced (as the Roland amp likely is, and the mixers might very well be), then you may have a problem there.

 

Have you listened to the RD via the headphone mix on the Mackie or Yamaha mixers? How does it sound there?

 

Have you tried connecting both Left and Right 1/4" to separate channels on the Mackie/Yamaha mixers? How does that sound (again, both through cabinets and through the 'phones)?

 

Cheers,

SG

[Nick Ponti]

SG,

 

Yes, I am using a 1/4" Tip/Sleeve. Don't know about the roland amp, but on both the Mackie and Yamaha amps I plugged into mono inputs. Did not try the phone jack on the mixers - assumed it would be the same as the audio output I was hearing from the speaker. Also did not try attaching both the Left and Right 1/4" to separate channels, though that crossed my mind. My impression was that the board would run mono using the mono jack and a mono cable. I would need that since I don't always carry my stereo rig, depending upon the venue.

[Nick Ponti]

SG,

 

One other thing...

Don't think it matters, but I had the earphones plugged into the earphone jack while I had the mono cable into the mono jack. Again, earphones sounded great; amp, horrible. Wouldn't that suggest some sort of stereo imaging issue (for lack of a better term)?

 

Other points...

1) Didn't see anywhere on Roland's site where I could send an email to speak to someone about this. One would think that for a product of this cost there would be a bit of up front support.

2) Why are the sales people in these large outlets helpless when it comes to this sort of thing?

3) When I read these posts and I consider all of my years dealing with electronic keyboards, why does the manufacturer still expect the user to find the tweaks to bring out the best of their products. You would think that Roland would deliver these boards configured to produce their best sounds. I am interested in music, not in spending hours digging through Roland literature and fighting with a piece of hardware with a less then ideal interface.

Now I'll get off my soapbox.

[kanker.]

Nick, read my reply to your post in this thread .

[kanker.]

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

In my personal experience, if it sounds great through headphones, it will sound great through an amplified setup. I would buy an electric piano based only on how it sounded through headphones.

 

Am I alone here?

With rare exception (the Nord Stage I bought which is going back I think), I don't buy any keys without trying it through my amp or the same amp in the store (JBL EON G2). I want to know how it's going to sound when I'm on the stand, and the only way to really know is to run it through the same kind of amp you're using.

[HomeAmateur]

Nick...

 

I agree with your number 3) 100% !!!!!!

 

and of cours its not just Roland...its ALL OF THEM !!!!

[Sven Golly]

Originally posted by Nick Ponti:

SG,

 

Yes, I am using a 1/4" Tip/Sleeve. Don't know about the roland amp, but on both the Mackie and Yamaha amps I plugged into mono inputs. Did not try the phone jack on the mixers - assumed it would be the same as the audio output I was hearing from the speaker. Also did not try attaching both the Left and Right 1/4" to separate channels, though that crossed my mind. My impression was that the board would run mono using the mono jack and a mono cable. I would need that since I don't always carry my stereo rig, depending upon the venue.

Okay... the board *should* run fine with just mono connected, but wanted to mention it just in case. I would pop the headphones into the mixer just to verify; won't take any time if it's already set up, and it will be one more 'obvious' thing we can cross off the list.

 

I'm also pursuing this from the beginning, not assuming any prior knowledge or experience on your part (since we don't know each other), so don't take offense to anything I might ask that you take as an obvious question.

 

Next obvious thing... have you A/B'ed the RD with your XV, using the exact same cable first in one then in the other?

 

Another obvious thing... do all the sounds from the RD suffer this symptom, or just a few? You mention piano sounds, but do the organs, strings, brass, etc. sound less than stellar, especially when compared to the headphone reference?

 

Cheers,

SG

[HomeAmateur]

ohh and I have the 700sx but cant really help ya,.. im just a home hobbiest (at the moment) and only use headphones.... (Sennheiser HD280 pro's) and it sounds great through them.... I am though also going through a Mackie 1202vlz pro mixer (i have my vocals in the mix as well)

 

i do want to get speakers though ,.. headphones get to be a pain sometimes.. and of course sometimes id just like to shake the whole house... or... if i want multiple people to hear what im playing.... i have a splitter for two headphones... so i cant have an audience of more then 1

 

though i DREAD the "hunt" for the "best speakers"...

[Sven Golly]

Originally posted by Nick Ponti:

Don't think it matters, but I had the earphones plugged into the earphone jack while I had the mono cable into the mono jack. Again, earphones sounded great; amp, horrible. Wouldn't that suggest some sort of stereo imaging issue (for lack of a better term)?

If could be that the 'great' sound was caused by effects and other processing requiring the spatial depth of a stereo feed. Very often (especially on newer boards) this is a common occurrance.

 

1) Didn't see anywhere on Roland's site where I could send an email to speak to someone about this. One would think that for a product of this cost there would be a bit of up front support.

Not sure what site you're looking at, but the Support section of the Roland US website is very clearly marked. Click here.

 

2) Why are the sales people in these large outlets helpless when it comes to this sort of thing?

I don't want to get on a rant, but people today want to pay as close to cost as possible, or they purchase over the Internet to save a buck. Your local retailer can't compete with that business model and still hire (and retain) this best of breed sales and product specialists.

 

You don't walk into Wal Mart and expect to get in-depth product information from the kid in the blue vest; your local retailer has been forced to adopt a very similar model to survive; the kid's just missing the blue vest.

 

The harsh truth about retail, I'm afraid.

 

3) When I read these posts and I consider all of my years dealing with electronic keyboards, why does the manufacturer still expect the user to find the tweaks to bring out the best of their products. You would think that Roland would deliver these boards configured to produce their best sounds. I am interested in music, not in spending hours digging through Roland literature and fighting with a piece of hardware with a less then ideal interface.

Now I'll get off my soapbox.

Well, as much as I sympathize with your position, what you consider to be 'best sounds' might be very different from what I'm looking for. The engineers that design these products are focused on making them as flexible and powerful as people are demanding; market forces often rush these products to market before the sound designers are able to create 1,000 great sounds.

 

Who's to blame for this? Well, how about the folks that are continually clamouring for the next new workstation ? Interestingly, often these folks are the same ones that are complaining about the lack of quality sounds...

 

I will say that Roland made a huge mistake letting Eric Persing get away from them...

 

Okay, now I'll get off my soapbox.

 

Cheers,

SG

[HomeAmateur]

Sven,

 

I cant see how you or anyone cant agree that all of these companies purposely "hold back" quality and quanity for nothing but profits sake... with todays technology and dirt cheap memory... there is ABSOLUTLY NO EXCUSE for ANY lack of QUALITY OR QUANITY for the price that we are paying for these basically sound cards in a big plactic box... its simple pure GREED ...

 

 

another simple and plain as day example..... Yamaha NOT putting the P series piano sample in either of the motifs or either of the S series synths.. but particularly the Motif ES the "FLAGSHIP" ....

 

so apparently its ok that their "best" most expensive board doenst have there best piano in it ????????? hell, they even go so far as to not even offer the P series piano that so many people are crazy for in a rack version.... simply because they want you to buy a P-(whatever number) board

 

so .... I personally will continue to be one of those "folks that are continually clamouring for the next new workstation" --- until these companies quit greedily holdiing back.....

 

which sadly we all know will never happen....

 

although it may happen when/if they start getting scared that their compition (softsynths) start jeopordizing their profits.....

[Jazz+]

Playing a stereo digital piano out of its "Mono" sum jack always sounds terrible to me. The manufacturer hopes the user won't notice but it does get weird and phasey sounding. It happens when stereo piano samples are summed into mono. You would be much better off using the Right and Left outputs on the RD-700SX and a stereo system. I was careful to always play my RD-300SX in stereo and to place my stereo EV SXa360 speakers so I was sitting as close as possible in the stereo sweet spot but even then it still didn't sound nearly as good as in headphones. Live it sounded rather muffled and then it would bark to harshly and brightly on hard the hardstrokes. Live it muffled and barked back and forth so drasticly when I took my right hand jazz solos that I sold it. The mono pianos on the RD-300SX were too unpleasant for me to use.

[Sven Golly]

Originally posted by homeAmature:

I cant see how you or anyone cant agree that all of these companies purposely "hold back" quality and quanity for nothing but profits sake... with todays technology and dirt cheap memory... there is ABSOLUTLY NO EXCUSE for ANY lack of QUALITY OR QUANITY for the price that we are paying for these basically sound cards in a big plactic box... its simple pure GREED ...

It's obvious to me that you don't understand what is involved in sound design; memory has next to nothing to do with it.

 

Do some research on what is involved from a cost and effort basis on a production-quality sampling session. Keyboard had an article about one of the Symphonic sample collections a year or two back...

 

Have you ever sampled anything yourself? I'm guessing you haven't. The amount of time and effort involved in getting the full range of an instrument, both in terms of pitch and dynamics, is incredible.

 

another simple and plain as day example..... Yamaha NOT putting the P series piano sample in either of the motifs or either of the S series synths.. but particularly the Motif ES the "FLAGSHIP" ....

Yeah, and Honda didn't put their top-end VTech racing engine in my Accord, either. Should I be whining about that, calling them cheap, and driven entirely by greed?

 

so apparently its ok that their "best" most expensive board doenst have there best piano in it ????????? hell, they even go so far as to not even offer the P series piano that so many people are crazy for in a rack version.... simply because they want you to buy a P-(whatever number) board

Amazing that you have such a firm grasp on the motives of a hugely successful multinational corporation. I guess I'm just naive to think there may be other factors at play here.

 

Oh, and the Motif ES isn't their most expensive keyboard... that would be the Tyros2.

 

You're right, though... every synth manufacturer out there is involved in a cycle of planned obsolescence, determined to leech another 3 grand of your money every 2 years.

 

Y'know what, though? You can turn and walk away... they're not stealing the money from you... you've got an RD700SX, and I'd wager you haven't used 1/10th of the functionality of that board. Were you to buy a Motif ES, you'd likely not use 1/3rd of the waveforms you'd have at your disposal.

 

Maybe it's time to focus on making music for a bit? Stop looking forward, and look down, just to see what you already have? Just a thought...

 

Cheers,

SG

[HomeAmateur]

ya know first of all Sven,...

 

i in no way was "attacking" you personally whatsoever...

 

 

are you like the ambassader of the cooperate music industry or what???

 

 

*** i have a basic idea of whats involved in sound design and it doesnt matter if i do or not... the professionals do ... because thats what they do for a living..

 

Time should not be an issue either.. hello its years between boards that come out... thats not enough time for prefessionals that do it everyday for a living that have all the equiptment to manufacture and produce it basically at their fingertips..... come on b.s. excuse...

 

and it seems to me that memory seems to have a bit to do with it.. i mean its only the subject of every other 3rd conversation.... seemingly a concern of many.... if even for its simplest reason of room for QUANITY of sounds.....

 

*** and... the Motif ES is NOT their "Accord" !!!

 

it is there "FLAGSHIP" that basically boast the best of everything they have to offer in a synth/digital piano all in one music creation workstation --- why would they create a all in one unit to create music (piano being most peoples primary creation instrument on a keyboard) and HOLD BACK THERE "BETTER" PIANO SAMPLE THAT THEY COULD EASILY PUT INTO IT....

 

i cant belive anyone would even try to justify that one.... wow.. ...

 

if you think the Motif is their Accord....what are the P series.... their mopeds ?????

 

the Tyros... is a whole different ball game...

more or less just came out... so another b.s. excuse

 

 

*** and hello.... how do you think a hugely successful multinational corporation becomes that way...... ???? by selling the CHEAPEST TO MANUFACTURE PRODUCT AT THE MOST PROFIT THAT THEY CAN WHILE AT THE SAME TIME CONVINCING THE CONSUMER THAT IT IS THE BEST QUAILTY PRODUCT FOR THEIR MONEY !!! --- you may want to consider "grasping" that .. .

 

their goal and MOTIVE is NOT to give Sven Golly the most value for his money that he can possibly get... there goal is to make as much PROFIT off Sven Golly as possible.... you do at least realize that I hope....

 

thats the basic premis of our CAPITALISTIC SYSTEM

 

and who the hell cares how much Ive dug into the features of my keyboard or not that has absolutly nothing to do with anything and actually i cant even believe you even went there...

[Sven Golly]

I'm going to walk away from this discussion now, primarily because you hijacked a thread in which I was attempting to assist a user with his problems, but also because you've very clearly shown that you have an axe to grind, and there's likely no convincing you of the other side of the coin.

 

I'll gladly leave you to your opinions on the value (or lack thereof) of software, and your complete lack of acceptance of the factors that serve to control the profit margins of corporations in "our capitalistic system."

 

Cheers,

SG

[zephonic]

People,

 

try to imagine what keyboards we'd be playing under communism....

 

As for amplification, in my experience dedicated keyboard amps sound like guitar amps and are not adequate for reproducing the range of sounds on offer by modern romplers. I use EON15G2's for FantomX7, but the EON's (and the Mackie SRM450's, for that matter) have a very dominant low-end (extending right into the lower midrange) that make the Fantom sound very boomy.

 

Creating a dip with EQ around 250Hz helps, especially if you're playing with a band. Don't know if that will solve anybody else's problems, though.

[burningbusch]

I assume you're focused on the One-Touch pianos. Do you find both A and B (two completely different sample sets) to have this thin quality?

 

With the One-Touch screen showing, press F2 (EDIT). Notice the first parameter is STEREO WIDTH. Put the headphones back on and change the setting from L63-63R to CENTER. Notice how the quality of the piano changes from a beautiful tone to a rather unexciting, harsh one. This is what's happening when you go mono with a piano that's sampled like the Superior Grand. But then again, this setting might help to make the piano sound better through a mono system, don't know.

 

There are four pages of parameters that can be set for the One-Touch pianos and many affect the tone, e.g. Nuance, Lid, Mic Type, EQ plus you have the dedicated EQ. There is a lot of sophistication in this piano section, including the ability to control the the stretch tuning of each note.

 

I'm afraid your expection that these things should sound great out of the box through every speaker system and in every environment is simply unreasonable. For example, my band plays in the same two clubs every week (a Wednesday and Thursday). Even though nothing changes in our setup and settings, the band and my keyboards sound different at the two clubs. Simple acoustics. Also, speakers systems vary immensely.

 

The Roland keyboard amps are crap, IMHO. Ivory would sound like crap through them. Like Jazz+ I use backline quality speakers and run in stereo. I spread mine out more so I might only hear one side, but I've listened from the audience perspective and am pleased with the tone.

 

Most samples on ROMplers and stage pianos like the RD700SX are mono. The exception are pianos and some ensembles like string and brass.

 

It could be that the RD700SX is just never going to sound right to you. Maybe you should try the Yamaha S90ES or any number of other options.

 

Busch.

[burningbusch]

*** and hello.... how do you think a hugely successful multinational corporation becomes that way...... ???? by selling the CHEAPEST TO MANUFACTURE PRODUCT AT THE MOST PROFIT THAT THEY CAN WHILE AT THE SAME TIME CONVINCING THE CONSUMER THAT IT IS THE BEST QUAILTY PRODUCT FOR THEIR MONEY !!! --- you may want to consider "grasping" that .. .

 

their goal and MOTIVE is NOT to give Sven Golly the most value for his money that he can possibly get... there goal is to make as much PROFIT off Sven Golly as possible.... you do at least realize that I hope....

 

thats the basic premis of our CAPITALISTIC SYSTEM

No, I'm afraid you don't understand capitalism and market forces as well as you think you do. Ever heard of the concept of market share? This has been a strong corporate driving force for decades.

 

Example. Not so long ago Kurzweil comfortably ruled the workstation world with their K2500 series selling between $4,000 - $7,000+ depending on configuration (real money, not retail). Korg tried to compete in this price range with the Trinity but were always a distant second place. Then Korg brought out the Triton which had more features than the Trinity and sold for about half the price. Instantly the high-end workstation market collapsed. Korg's marketshare shot up way up and soon Kurzweil was struggling. I'm sure Korg made significantly less on a per unit basis (Trinity vs. Triton) but sold SIGNIFICANTLY more Tritons.

 

There's a mantra in the business world. If you're going to introduce a new product into an established market you have to make it BETTER, FASTER or CHEAPER, otherwise the consumer has no reason to buy.

 

Competitition does work. Your view of capitalism is probably accurate for a company like General Motors in the 1960s and 1970s. They produced crap products, planned obsolence was real, they were arrogant and confident in their postition as the world's largest auto maker. What a difference a little foreign competition made.

 

Busch.

[HomeAmateur]

busch, and/or anyone reading

 

i never said or incinuated that competition doesnt work or that I was against it.,. and I never said that the current boards werent quality boards.., my whole point is simply that they could be better for the money, ---

 

does anyone honestly think it actually cost 2-3 or more grand to make these keyboards.. - no, there are so many people along the way making a profit out of every board sold... in fact based on the very basic forumla of production cost to wholesale to retail... a 2 grand keyboard probably cost approx. 500 bucks to make give or take...

 

now yes no need to try to explain to me that all these people need to make money to stay in business and the retailer wouldnt be there for us to try out the epuipt if he didnt make a profit..blah blah stuff.... i understand that...

 

but just a quick thought..how much money do you think the pres and vice and board members of Yamaha, Roland etc... (and every major company in the world) make... ya its millions a year..

 

now... just hypothetically, lets say the pres of Yamaha makes 4 million a yr.. and the vice makes 3 million... how much better could the keyboards be if say the pres made 3 million and the vice made 2 million and 2 million more was put into the productio of the product,...or instead the board cost 1 thousand to buy instead of 2 thoousand....

 

they wouuld still be filthy rich millionairs and we the consumer would be much better off as well....

 

.... that is just one little example of where products could be cheaper or better or both...

 

im not attacking anyone in this forum,.. the only thing im attacking is greed itself... greed which of course keeps the rich rich and the poor poor,.... and also no need for anyone to try and explain that thats an intrigal part of a successfull capitalistic sociaty....

 

 

in fact OUR biggest problem in this world financially is the GAP between the top of the ladder in the corp world and the front line worker...

 

the pres, vice, etc make millions per year off the same product that the guy actually making it makes $10hr if hes lucky...

 

im not saying that upper mgmt dont deserve to make more money then the usually less educated (but not always) front line worker).. im just saying the percentage more that they make is TO MUCH , which is the PRIMARY reason a keyboard (or any product) that cost 500 to make sells for 2-3 grand

 

--- because the pres and vice etc.. have to have 4 vacation homes etc...

 

 

in the end....all i was trying to get across is that at the end of the day (in the 1960's or TODAY) ASIDE from market share or supply and demand and all the other intricicies of the business model......

 

it simply all comes down to the BOTTOM LINE PROFIT.....

 

without profit and of course HUGE proft these companies dont exist...

so of course PROFIT is there PRIMARY concern

 

and yes the most profit is made by subtracting the production cost from sales cost. So when PROFIT is your primary GOAL, logic (and greed) dictate that they produce a product at the lowesdt cost possibe and sell that product at the highest price possible

 

thats really the ony point i was trying to make, which I had just assumed everyone understood already.... but it seems I was not correct

 

 

ohh... im not hijacking this thread am i ??? because i would hate to be the first one ever to go off the specific topic in a thread.... or did i mess a memo about threads now being exclusive to particular posters ??? although i do realize that having to scroll down another two inches in the window to the next post does prove to be a grave inconvience

[burningbusch]

I'm going to take SGs lead and leave the discussion of "economics" to the experts.

 

I will only point out some facts from the article about Roland in SOS that the company made a profit of $32m off sales of $580m in the year 2000. In 2001, $6.4m profit; 2002, $2.3m; and in 2003 they had a loss of $9.9m. Chances are, with the tread line going the direction it has been for the last few years 2004 and 2005 will also be in the red.

 

Nick, I hope you try running the RD700SX in stereo through a decent full range (quality PA) system to see if that's the problem. It could be that the stereo sampling of the two new pianos just lose too much quality when played back in mono.

 

Busch.

[Nick Ponti]

Okay... the board *should* run fine with just mono connected, but wanted to mention it just in case. I would pop the headphones into the mixer just to verify; won't take any time if it's already set up, and it will be one more 'obvious' thing we can cross off the list.

 

I'm also pursuing this from the beginning, not assuming any prior knowledge or experience on your part (since we don't know each other), so don't take offense to anything I might ask that you take as an obvious question.

 

Next obvious thing... have you A/B'ed the RD with your XV, using the exact same cable first in one then in the other?

 

Another obvious thing... do all the sounds from the RD suffer this symptom, or just a few? You mention piano sounds, but do the organs, strings, brass, etc. sound less than stellar, especially when compared to the headphone reference?

 

SG,

 

I have not been able to parallel my XV with the RD700; I am auditioning the board in a store in another city and didn't want to have to carry down my rig to parallel.

 

And, unfortunately I did not try the other patches since I am primarily interested in piano. I did audition the other patches through the phones and they sounded fine. After connecting to the amp and trying the piano I didn't go any further.

 

Also, did not try plugging the earphones into the mixer. I suspect that I would hear the same as the "live" sound, especially since I tried 3 different mixers. Sorry I can't be of more use.

 

I do appreciate your help and regret the uproar that erupted from my comments. It does show quite a bit of frustration out there.

[Nick Ponti]

I'm afraid your expection that these things should sound great out of the box through every speaker system and in every environment is simply unreasonable. For example, my band plays in the same two clubs every week (a Wednesday and Thursday). Even though nothing changes in our setup and settings, the band and my keyboards sound different at the two clubs. Simple acoustics. Also, speakers systems vary immensely.

[Nick Ponti]

Sorry about that last post - that text was from another poster. I wanted to reply to that post...

 

I don't think it is unreasonable to expect what I hear from an amp to be so extremely different from what I am hearing out of an earphone. And I never said that these boards should sound great out of every speaker system. I did say that this board didn't sound right with any of the 3 mixers that I tried. We all know that acoustics and sound reinforcement gear play a large part in this.

 

My other comment simply infers that the patches should be optimized to produce what the name of the patch is. If it is supposed to sound like a piano, then the manufacturer should optimize the patch to sound like a piano and not expect the user to have to tweak it to do so. And I do understand that this is subjective. To give you an example, my XV88 has quite a few Rhodes sounds, but not one that matches any of the 3 or 4 Rhodes pianos that I have owned over the last 30 years. Some parameter always needs tweaking, be it decay, attack, eq, whatever. And to be honest I could NEVER get that XV88 to sound like any of my Rhodes pianos that I could play solo.

[acctjm]

Nick, I agree with some other posters that what you are hearing is the result of summing stereo to mono. Here's an easy test.

 

Using a mixer, connect left output to one channel panned left, connect right output to another channel panned right. Plug the headphones into the mixer and play. The sound should be fairly identical to the sound you hear when the headphones are connected directly to the keyboard.

 

Now pan both channels to center. I believe that you will hear the phasey, mono sound that you've been hearing from the mono amp. This should sound the same as if you would just connect the left/mono output of the keyboard to a mono amp.

 

There may be other factors as some have mentioned. For example, last night I was downloading and reviewing the different acoustic piano sample sets available for my NE2 73. In stereo, Acoustic piano 2 didn't sound bad, but when I pressed the Overdrive button, it suddenly got all phasey. I think the Overdrive effect merges the two stereo signal into a mono processor.?

 

acctjm

[Nick Ponti]

acctjm,

 

I will give this a try when I get back to the store, along with the other suggestions from other contributors. I suspect that I may just abandon this board and look at another manufacturer. And I've been a Roland advocate for quite some time.

 

Thanks to all for their suggestions.

[franky silva]

Originally posted by kevank:

With rare exception (the Nord Stage I bought which is going back I think), I don't buy any keys without trying it through my amp or the same amp in the store (JBL EON G2). I want to know how it's going to sound when I'm on the stand, and the only way to really know is to run it through the same kind of amp you're using.

Hi kevank

Do you have more comments about Stage?

Franky

[Jazz+]

What's all the confusion over? It's common knowledge that stereo piano samples will sound poor (weird and phasey) when played in Mono and when summed into Mono. Although many wouldn't accept the reality when I brought the subject up 18 months ago after I tried playing a stereo Yamaha P120 piano with a mono Bose PAS system. I was given a lot of grief over it for contradicting the opinions of some others. I was offered all kinds of solutions that were not useful. The only solution is to play stereo piano samples with a stereo sound system. I have been told the the ProMega Piano does not suffer from the same problems, perhaps because it uses physical modeling.