Bellyman I love my RD-2000. No plans to buy another stage piano unless it just plain breaks down.


Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.

i own a RD88. i love the synth sounds and the midi capabilities.
i placed it under my desk and use it for some Libraries like NI and Arturia.

Rd2000 with numerous vst's...as AP sounds are very subpar. Ableton Live 12 to record, GigPerformer 4 for live. Pha50 action very good, not quite excellent though....but the slab is built like a tank! An absolute beast of a controller in the studio or on the stage. Four pedal inputs, two mod wheels, 8 sliders, 8 knobs, and everything is assignable.....it's worth the 50 lbs plus 20 more for the case to lug around. 😎

I have a RP501R and had a FP50 a few years ago. Roland pianos are very good but I find that the action is a bit loud. Nowadays I have a grand piano and don't practice very often on the Roland.

    I had an F-140R. I liked it best of all the digital instruments that were available to try at the time I bought it. It replaced a much older Roland (HP-1700) that was starting to fail during hot weather. The old Roland was given to a family whose kid was just starting out on piano lessons (full disclosure about the warm weather issue - they were still thrilled with it). The F-140R didn't see as much use when I got an acoustic, although it was very handy to be able to use headphones when working on fingering and tricky sections. I eventually, and with a little regret, sold it when I needed the space for a guest bed.

    I bought an FP10 from Costco in March of this year. It’s the FP10 ACR and it came with a bench, a stand(the black wooden one) and headphones for a little over $700. I just started playing so I was looking for something as economical as possible and the accessories package made it very attractive to me.
    It’s a great instrument but it’s very limited in the bells and whistles aspect. No drum machine, no 1/4 inch dedicated output Jack. It uses the headphones out for connecting to an amp or external speakers. It’s not very loud but I’m over that because I mostly play with the headphones anyway. NOBODY wants to listen to a beginner play anything so that’s fine.
    The weighted key action was highly recommended for the most realistic feel. Honestly. I don’t know how realistic the feel is but it’s better than the springy key action of a regular keyboard I’ve had and others I have played at other times.

    This FP10 is a very standard, no frills keyboard that is 100% suffice to learning how to play piano. I cannot think of ANY reason that it isn’t a perfect beginner piano that won’t distract a beginner with anything more than necessary at their fingertips.

    10 days later

    FP-90X owner here. Play it mainly with Native Instrument’s Noire for jazz and VI Labs Modern U for blues. Very enjoyable experience!

    BartK, my old Fantom X8 action is quite noisy. My new RD-2000 action is very quiet.

    Interestingly, some acoustic pianos also have very loud, sometimes annoying action noises.

    Whether digital or acoustic, they cover a pretty wide spectrum of noisiness. πŸ™‚

      TC3, that is cheaper. Never know what they might have comin' out. Guess we'll see.

      One thing I've appreciated about Sweetwater, if ya call 'em and talk to 'em on the phone, especially if you're a repeat customer, they can almost always work some kind of a "deal" or "discount" for you, I've had them throw something cheap I wanted in for free at times when I was ordering something a bit more expensive. A person can easily order online, but the discounts seem to happen when calling on the phone. I hate talking on the phone but when it comes to Sweetwater, I'll call.

      Also, my wife likes finding the candy in the boxes when they come! LOL! πŸ˜ƒ

      • TC3 replied to this.
      • TC3 likes this.

        Bellyman Laffy Taffy is the best! πŸ˜ƒ


        Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.

        Bellyman action loudness was a top priority for me πŸ™‚ I can't be waking people up with action clicks/clacks. Fortunately PHA4 is quieter than I've expected. Nice to hear that PHA50 is also quiet.

        Roland FP90 here. I really like the PHA50 action. I don't use the internal sounds.

        6 days later

        I was in a music shop today tobuy a bass. guitar strap and I popped into the keyboard room for a minute to check out some of the stage pianos. Several or them were on the wall one above the other, close so it was hard t see what the board was without looking down between them. I went through the actions thinking "OK, bad, pretty good, so-so ... hey, this one is pretty darn good, what is it?" It was a Roland, naturally. πŸ˜ƒ


        Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.

        a month later

        As an owner of the RD-2000, I was interested when I heard the RD-2000 EX is out. Turns out it's the same physical board with a software upgrade, including some new V-Pianos. I already bought the German Concert piano upgrade and was pleased to see that entitled me to a coupon for the rest of the upgrade, which one can purchase and download from the Roland Cloud. Doing that now!


        Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.

        Boy, these directions are TERRIBLE ... I think I'm figuring it out. Will report back! πŸ˜ƒ


        Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.

        Thanks for the thoughts! This is on my list of things I want to accomplish when I have the time to sit and do it. I definitely appreciate the coupon from Roland, though.

        Hey TC, if you don't mind me asking...

        As another RD-2000 owner, maybe you have some thoughts. I love my RD-2000, no question, it's a great keyboard for me. But I am kinda thinking towards another lighter weight keyboard, "throw it in the car and go" kind of thing, maybe even onboard speakers. But having a decent action, light weight, and even speakers is a pretty tall order. Any suggestions?

        Have been considering maybe a Kawai ES920. But there might be others more worthy. (?) Lots say get the MP7 instead, more features,... but... no speakers, which means I gotta carry them around in addition. I'm mostly just piano, sometimes adding some strings. I rarely use anything else at all for sounds.

        My old Casio (PX-560) is gettin' real tired, plus, it has a crappy keyboard, way light touch, "clickly / noisy". And I keep wondering when it's gonna implode on me at a rehearsal.

        Was just curious, especially from another RD-2000 owner. Not wanting to replace it. Only add a little brother to the family. πŸ™‚

        OK, downloaded and installed, despite terrible directions with obvious cut and paste errors ... If anyone else (esp. B-Man) does this, feel free to ask for help. I've tested it a bit, so far so good, but will spend more time with it this evening before I comment much.

        @Bellyman Ha, I know how you feel. I've had the RD-2000 for maybe 3 years now, and I love it, but it's never left the house. That's about to change! I started teaching a pal to play guitar this year and we have a little trio (him on guitar and most lead vocals, my wife on drums, me on bass or keys) and we're ready to start performing for people, which will really be the first time I've played piano in a live setting (lots of experience in bands on bass but piano has been limited to recording videos). In a couple of weeks we're having a garage party at my house and will provide some live music, then a similar thing at his house over the Labor Day weekend. We'll see how he comes along on guitar, but we might even play real venues at some point!

        Anyway, I'm already having the same thoughts. I love the RD-2000 but it's almost 50 pounds! I have a wheel case for it, so that will help some, but I'm still tempted to get something much, much lighter. I'm starting to think that portability might outweigh compromises for action and sound, especially since I'll be playing in a group rather than solo.

        The Kawai ES920 is definitely one I've looked at. I suspect the action will be adequate, especially after I get used to it, but there aren't any for sale in my area, so I'm going to have to wait until I travel a bit further to try one out. It's 38 pounds, so a bit more than ten pounds lighter than the RD, which I guess is significant but maybe not enough to make it worth the change.

        It does occur to me that a lighter action might be a bonus for longer gigs, and that any clicking and clacking (like my older Casios used to do) wouldn't be heard over the sound of the band anyway. To that end, I'd like to check out a Kawai ES120, and maybe even some of the newer Casios. I know about the latter's short pivot, but we're playing pretty simple rock and blues stuff right now that is very white-key friendly and doesn't require a ton of playing up by the fallboard. The Casio CDP-S360 is only 24 pounds, so that should probably be on my list.

        I've also wondered about giving up a weighted keyboard altogether as long as the action feels otherwise substantial. My Roland VR-730 is semi-weighted but really doesn't feel piano-like at all (it's more for organ-style and synth playing). Maybe I should just suck it up and learn to play the piano tunes on it, since I'm already using it for a couple of other songs for organ and EP sounds. Otherwise, I've heard good things about the Roland GO pianos and keyboards, so I might see about testing one of them out.

        So yeah. That's all by way of saying: I don't have any good advice! πŸ˜ƒ I'm definitely in the same boat. I'll keep you posted if I end up going with something else, and you do the same, please!


        Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.

        Thanks, TC! I appreciate reading your thoughts.

        Lots of stuff out there to look at. Some with decent reviews, some not so great. And some that fit certain players better than others.

        Had seen the ES120 and the ES520, but I had wondered whether I would be satisfied with that action. The ES920 steps up to the next level of actions, along with a step up in weight and a step up in price. I guess no getting around that.

        Dunno, still on the fence. Gonna tear the Casio apart and see what's going on with it if I can, over the next few days. Knowing about the particular keys that tend to wanna "stick", I can somewhat play around that, at least in certain less critical settings. But it still is pretty tired. So I don't HAVE to do anything like NOW. I like shopping from that perspective, way better than the "oh crap, my main board died, I have a gig tonight" kinda thing. I actually took the Casio to rehearsal this afternoon. I got through. (A below middle C... if I play it with pressure towards the bass, it's fine. If I play it with pressure towards the treble, it will sustain indefinitely, just that one note, regardless of pedal. A repeat press usually releases it. I'm guessing that something in there is just close enough to being out of position that it doesn't always get the "off" signal as the key is released.) Have been procrastinating. I really can fix a lotta stuff. Even did some electronics work years ago. But still not exactly lookin' forward to gettin' in there.

        Being in a 3 piece band, (piano, bass, drums), I can't get away with holding back or dropping out all that much. I sometimes wonder how piano players get those gigs where they're in like a 30 piece band and can read the Wall Street Journal while waiting for their tiny little part to come up. LOL! In all seriousness, when I started out in playing jazz, it was a 6 piece and for that, the Casio was pretty much everything I needed. Sorta feels like I shifted gears big time, now, though. Way more in the hot seat / spotlight.

        Yes, will certainly be online to share the details if I latch on to another gigging keyboard. Either I'll like it or will find someone to commiserate with. LOL!! πŸ™‚