Roland's new piano... again...

Wow, yet another new piano (or pianos) from Roland. I bought the RD-2000. Then there was the German Grand expansion. So I bought that. And a few months later, the EX came out. OK, so there's another upgrade for an additional charge. Now they've come out with Earth, with an additional charge (or monthly fee??). Mmmkay. It kinda looks like they're trying to compete with Pianoteq.

While I love the action on the RD-2000, I'm not loving the feel of chasing the latest and greatest Roland piano sound. And when I look at Earth, I am kinda asking myself if I wouldn't rather just have Pianoteq instead.

Dunno. If any of you guys have both, I'd be interested in your thoughts. Maybe Earth is fantastic, I've only seen the advertisements. Is it better than the pianos already on the new EX boards? Or is Pianoteq still a big step up? If I'm going to a product I have to use like I would a VST and not something I actually have loaded to the RD, that kinda changes what I'm willing to buy. (I may be over-reacting.)

No plans here, either. And lest I fail to mention it, Pianoteq is teasing that it has a new one almost ready to come out.

It's kind of an odd feeling I have at the moment. I almost feel overwhelmed with the push for "more, more, more" or "better, better, better", to the point where even if something is absolutely fantastic, I'm resistant just because of the push.

Probably over-reacting, as I do tend to do that at certain times.

It happens with a lot of different areas of life.

I used to do some woodworking. No matter how many tools I accumulated, there was ALWAYS another latest and greatest tool that I just HAD to have. At least that's what it felt like when I'd see some fancy schmancy project that some guru just built. And oh, it was beautiful. Did I actually NEED that tool? Sometimes there are specialty tools that really are needed to do certain things. Most of woodworking, though, can be done with some very basic tools. Skills trump a tool budget almost every time. Probably that way with a lot of things.

WieWaldi, yes, I did see that one! Very good video and a nice comparison, at least I thought so.

The thing that has me mesmerized at the moment is Pianoteq. I'm just really impressed with their latest offerings. I know some people still don't like them, I get that. All of our tastes are different. But that new Kawai is really talkin' to me. (Waitin' on a sale which people tell me should be here in a couple of weeks.)

It is almost coming to the point where I feel like the comparisons between VST's of various kinds are coming down more to preference more so than the ability of the VST in a very similar way to how people may have a preference to a particularly acoustic piano. My choices wouldn't necessarily be what someone else would choose. In a room full of concert grands, I think the first one I'd likely sit down to would be a Baldwin (not many of those around). Second would probably be a Bosendorfer. Third would probably be a Kawai. Fourth might be a Mason & Hamlin. Yamaha would probably be down pretty far on the list and NY Steinway would probably not be much higher on the list. Just my personal preference. Someone else might put the Yamaha at the first. They're not wrong. But it wouldn't be on the top of my list. Personal preference...

WieWaldi , yeah, the whole Roland Cloud thing is kind of an irritation to me. Just don't quite like how I interact with that. I liked that I was able to load the German Expansion pianos onto the RD-2000. The EX upgrade, same. It all resides on the RD-2000. But now the Earth pianos, they don't live onboard.