LearnJazzPiano.com archives: which piano are you playing?>

charlp88 -- 08/30/2007, 06:35:58 -- #36652

Dear Doug Your rendition of MY PRINCE was beautiful indeed . I am looking for a Digital piano and I think I want  the roland HP 201,strictly for home use. I noticed that the piano you were playing displayed the Chords you were playing .I think I would like that feature. can you tell me which Piano It Was . thanks   Charlie

Jazz+ -- 08/30/2007, 15:19:33 -- #36652

Roland FP4 and FP7. They are the newest models and the only ones that sample every note rather than sampling a note and then transposing it across several neighboring keys to save memory space like on the yamahas and korgs.

dougmck -- 08/30/2007, 16:49:44 -- #36652

It was a Yamaha P-250. The Chords were added later by hand within a video editing program (Windows Movie Maker). The Keyboard display above the live video of my hands (and the notation file on my site) were generated within the Band in a Box program. I imported the midi file into this program, and the notation and piano displays were generated by the program. It guessed at the chords for the PDF notation file, but I finished up putting these in myself, as The BIAB program came up with some weird chords when it tried to guess at some of the jazz voicings that we use! The notation really needs to be cleaned up to be totally accurate and useful, but I figured that it, along with the display of hands on piano, computer piano view, midi file, and text comments, together would be a good way of communicating an improvised jazz performance. Doug

dougmck -- 08/30/2007, 16:58:35 -- #36652

By the way, I should have mentioned that the Band in a Box program was only used to generate the piano display and notation. The bass and drums backing I had recorded myself beforehand using the on-board sequencer in the Yamaha P 250, before I videoed and midi-recorded the piano. In the more recent versions of the BIAB program, you can IMPORT a midi file, rather than use it to generate backings. Doug

ayolt -- 08/30/2007, 18:47:10 -- #36652

jazz+:  i own a p90, and according to my information every note has a number of samples, attack, hard attack etc. anyhow, i still think yamaha has the best piano sound, but that's just my opinion....

Jazz+ -- 08/30/2007, 19:57:43 -- #36652

I owned a P250, P1209 and P90. None of them samples every note. They sample a single note at three levels and transpose it across several adjacent keys creating an artificial monotonous sort of sameness to the tone quality. Roland's piano samples also avoid the exaggerated hammer attack that afflicts the Yamaha piano samples. MY LIVE GEAR: Roland FP4, EV SXa-360 powered speakers (36 lbs), WS-550 stand HOME GEAR: Mason & Hamlin acoustic, Rhodes Suitcase, Ivory, Roland SRX-12, Yamaha MSP5 powered monitors OLD GEAR (SOLD): Kawai ES4, Yamaha P250, P120, P90, Motif. Roland RD-300SX, RD-250, Kurzweil PC2X, Electro, Bose PAS, Mackie SRM450 & 350, JBL EON10, Roland KC350, Barbetta 32C.

charlp88 -- 09/01/2007, 07:08:33 -- #36652

hello gang a little help please I was told that the roland HP 201 series was the newest. can you guys advise me as to why I should buy one over another thanks mucho  charlie

Whacky -- 09/01/2007, 08:54:52 -- #36652

Hey charlp88, This question comes up quite often here at LJP.  Unfortunately there is no answer. Well actually on the contrary, there are way too many answers:)   I would recommend deciding what you want to spend and for what purpose (s) you will use the keyboard.  If you are going to gig with it, it must be built well enough to be road worthy.  If so, do you want weighted keys and are you prepared to haul it?  Will you need amplification and a vehicle to transport all of the above? Do you need only piano sounds or a plethora of synth sounds too?  Will you need weighted keys?   After you come up with some of these answers, you absolutely must go to some music stores and try out your options.  Almost all of the manufacturers make excellent digital piano sounds.  Some are better than others, but the preferences vary from person to person. (as you can see from poking around here a bit) I wish I could tell you what keyboard to buy, but I cannot.  I don't believe anyone can.  Others can offer info and opinions, but the decision ultimately boils down to your personal needs and preference. ~good luck and let us know what you bought and how you like it!

Jazz+ -- 09/01/2007, 10:46:00 -- #36652

I suspect the HP 201 does not contain Roland's most recent top of the line piano samples, the ones found in the RD-700SX, FP7 and FP4. Those "Superior Grand" samples that are samples of every single key at 4 layers. The easiest way to know is to call and ask Jon at Roland in LA. You need top make that call yourself.

Jazz+ -- 09/01/2007, 10:51:17 -- #36652

Maybe it does though. Roland's website says "88-key multi-sampled piano sound with piano resonance" for the HP 207, HP 203 and HP 201. It does not say that for the cheaper HP 107, HP 103, and HP 101. For the RD-700SX, FP7 and FP4 they say "Equipped with Roland’s finest 88-key multi-sampled piano sound engine, each and every key of a full concert grand has been painstakingly reproduced."

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