This sophisticated stage piano from Roland looks very cool in a way that makes you want to be seen with it, and for the image-conscious pe...
This sophisticated stage piano from Roland looks very cool in a way that makes you want to be seen with it, and for the image-conscious performer that is no bad thing. But sleek exterior aside, how does it perform?
The black and silver-trimmed controls of Roland's third incarnation of their flagship stage piano, the RD700GX, put you in mind of a performance car. The feeling that you are getting behind the jog wheel of something impressive is instantaneous, even before you flick the 'on' switch and watch the display screen proudly announce, to the flickering accompaniment of numerous red lights, that your piano has been made by someone named Roland.
The aforementioned jog wheel is one of the most obvious initial differences between the GX and its popular predecessor, the RD700SX. It helps you to navigate your way through the various on-screen menus faster than using the Increase and Decrease buttons, although if anything it is a little over-sensitive, as in some menus it is very easy to skip past entire sounds without even noticing. Another notable difference is the new 'Ivory Feel' keyboard, which, as the name suggests, replicates the feel of real piano keys. This may sound like a bit of a gimmick, but playing a real piano is a very tactile experience. When I compare the feel to the plastic keys of my own ancient, but much-loved stage piano, the RD700GX does feel more pleasant to touch. A perpetually perspiring guitarist I used to work with once said, "If a musician isn't sweating, then they're not working hard enough." More practically, this ivory-feel finish is actually designed to be more absorbent, reducing the risk of slippery fingers when you're up there under those hot lights.
Control panel
Connections on the rear panel include balanced XLR and jack main outputs, a headphone output, multiple MIDI ports and three pedal inputs.
The control panel has been logically laid out. To the right of the jog wheel you find a variety of large, obvious tone selection and function buttons, and immediately to the left, in the centre of the panel, the display screen. To the left of the screen there is a thoughtfully grouped selection of function buttons, including Transpose, Split, Rhythm and Arpeggio buttons, and four faders, each with a zone select button. These faders have three main functions. Firstly, you can use them to control the volume levels of individual zones. For example, you may want to use four different sounds at once, either layered on top of each other or split across the keyboard, all at slightly different volume levels. The faders set the levels and the zone select buttons allow you to drop the sounds in or out of the mix as you perform. Secondly, you can use these faders to control different parts of a MIDI sound module in a similar way. And thirdly, they give you control of the virtual drawbars on some of the organ sounds.
Also included in this selection of buttons and faders is the oddly named External Internal button. Basically, it is a MIDI on/off switch, so you don't have to constantly send MIDI signals to an external sound module — a handy basic feature that is often forgotten by less thoughtful manufacturers.
Moving further to the left again, the next section of the panel comprises a set of control knobs for effects and EQ. The lower half controls are for the assignable reverb, chorus, delay and multi-effects options, and the EQ is arranged above it. When you switch the EQ on, you get a visual representation of your EQ settings on the display screen. Also in this section you'll find an on/off button for an interesting new feature called 'Sound Control'. To quote the manual, switching this feature on "reduces inconsistencies in the volume and produces a more stable, consistent sound." The obvious downside of this is that it can make your performances less expressive when you are trying to play with any degree of subtlety, but if you're trying to play something a bit flash it can help by giving you greater precision, as if every single grace note you play was completely intended and not some fluffy fluke (ahem). In the interest of basic musical expression, you wouldn't want it switched on all the time, and it is a bit of a cheat button, but then so is the transpose.
Left of this, you find the volume fader and Roland's patented V-LINK button, which allows you to control any external V-LINK compatible video equipment you might be hooked up to. Over 40 years after the Pink Floyd first performed in front of a lava lamp at the UFO Club, audio-responsive visuals have relatively recently become a rapidly growing performance element. Perhaps one day we'll all be wondering how we ever managed without.
Below the control panel, to the far left of the actual keyboard itself, are two assignable function buttons (which you can use to drop various effects in and out, or switch between edited variations of your sounds), and a pitch-bend and modulation lever. The lack of a modulation wheel seems like an unusual oversight, as the lever springs back into place from all three directions. Modulation can be added to the organs in other ways, but a basic modulation wheel would be a quicker and easier way of adding that Leslie flutter on the fly.
Get connected
Despite weighing a hefty 25kg, the RD700GX doesn't feature any onboard speakers. Roland may argue that this proves it is a real stage piano, but speakers can be useful for on-stage monitoring. For a few performers, this can be a genuine deal breaker. I was recently asked to advise a touring stage show on which stage piano to go for. Their requirements were not excessively specific, but for the musical director onboard speakers were absolutely mandatory, which really narrowed down their options. What the RD700GX does feature, however, is a pair of balanced XLR outputs so you can go directly into a mixing desk — further proof that Roland are very clearly aiming to appeal to professional performers. This was also the first thing my unerringly practical sound engineer commented on when he turned up for rehearsal, which I felt was a bit like commenting on the exhaust where normal people would point out the alloys.
The rear panel is also home to a headphone output, which would be better placed on the front to stop the cable getting in the way; a pair of standard jack outputs; various MIDI ports (because even though technology moves on, musicians don't throw away old gear); all three pedal inputs; a contrast dial for the display; two USB ports; and room for two expansion boards, so you can dramatically increase the number of sounds available to you. I've tried out quite a few of Roland's expansion cards over the years and have found most of them to be a rich source of impressively usable sounds, so this is definitely a real bonus. Sadly, there are no line-in sockets (handy for routing a sound module output back into your piano so you don't need to use more channels on your PA or amplifier), but you can play audio in via a USB memory stick if you so desire.
Open her up
There is also room for two expansion boards, so you can dramatically increase the number of sounds available.
The very first sound that loads when you power the RD700GX up is the Expressive Grand. You also get a little picture of a grand piano on the display (in case you're not sure what one looks like). For the manufacturers, choosing the first piano sound on an instrument like this must be a bit like trying to decide which track you start an album with. Not so much for the end-user's benefit, but it is that all-important first chance to really make a good impression on your prospective customer. The Expressive Grand sound on the RD700GX is fantastic. It's rich and bright and resonant throughout the register. It isn't muddy in the bass, it has just the right amount of reverb on it, and the sample, as you would expect, sounds as if it has been taken from a world-class European instrument (if someone from Roland reads this and tells me it was taken from his mum's ropey old Evestaff upright and then enhanced by wizards, I won't be amused).
The piano action is also very good. It's fluid and responsive, but it doesn't run away from you, and, coupled with the ivory-feel keys, makes for a deeply satisfying playing experience. The only thing standing between the performer and a truly great grand piano sound is going to be the amplifier. Putting it through cheap headphones or a rubbish PA would be sacrilege, and you'll probably find it plugged into both of those in most music shops, so take your own cans.
I didn't move off the Expressive Grand sound for quite some time, but when I did decide it was time to move on I instinctively went for the jog wheel. Rather than cycle through the sounds, it opened the lid on the little picture of a grand piano on the display and the sound became brighter (demonstrating the purpose of the image that I'd been so facetious about). You can close the lid entirely, dulling the sound, or open it right up to make it brighter, depending on what kind of mood you are trying to evoke.
Moving the lid up and down is the tip of the overused iceberg as far as editing the piano sound is concerned. You can really go into serious detail, editing everything from damper noise to the microtuning of individual strings. A basic understanding of how pianos work is helpful here. For example, acoustic pianos benefit from something called 'sympathetic resonance'. When the hammers hit the strings, those strings vibrate and create the sound, but many other strings that have not been hit will also vibrate at the same time, and these vibrations add colour to the overall tone. Try playing a brass or woodwind instrument near an acoustic piano and you can also hear it. Top end digital pianos have been replicating this effect for some years now, but you can actually edit the one-touch piano sounds in the RD700GX to increase or decrease the amount of resonance you get. It's as if you are designing your own piano!
It is impressive, but part of me can't help feeling that this ability to edit and enhance every last nuance of a sound could actually be a slightly dangerous thing. Sometimes, when you don't like the way a preset sounds, or when you are trying to achieve something incredibly specific, it can be very useful. But occasionally, when a sound has been brilliantly designed and sculpted by what I always imagine to be some pale and wild-eyed genius in a room with no windows, the best you can hope for is that you won't mess it up too much. It is partly a matter of personal taste and partly of knowing what you are doing, of course. But it's also a matter of willpower and restraint. Just because you can lengthen the resonant ring time of the duplex scale to send dogs mad, doesn't mean you should. Also, acoustic pianos have certain unintentional idiosyncrasies that do colour the sound in an unmistakable way, but only exist because of inherent limitations of the technology. Perhaps it is worth asking whether the fact that some of these traits don't exist in a digital piano is really such a bad thing before we go working out how to replicate them. Having said that, you can't fail to be impressed by how realistic the piano sounds and feels, and also by how much more realistic you can make it, even if it does mean the end result is charmingly clunky and out of tune (like a ropey old Evestaff).
The most important moment, which demands some level of self-restraint, is when it comes to playing with a band. The grand pianos found in the more advanced one-touch-setting section of the piano menu are all very demanding of your attention in their various ways, but, for me, none of them really sat well in the mix when it came to playing with other musicians. The great wash of frequencies they used seemed to fill every last gap in the dynamics of our small rehearsal room, and the PA wasn't exactly sensitive to all the delicate tonal subtleties either. There are plenty of piano sounds to choose from in the main bank (ie. not the more advanced one-touch-settings bank), and the one that sat most comfortably in the mix for me was the modestly named RD Grand. It seemed a bit of a shame not to use the big attention-grabbing piano sound that had impressed me so much from the start, but changing to a less imposing tone made the band as a whole mesh better. Whenever I switched back to my favourite grand, the piano completely commanded our sound in an almost embarrassing way.
Electric lady
Having heard some impressive electric piano sounds on one of Roland's expansion boards a few years ago, I was keen to see what their flagship stage piano had to offer. Perhaps my high expectations coloured my judgement, or perhaps Roland just want to sell more expansion boards, but at first I was a little disappointed with the initial selection. They all sat pretty well within the overall band mix, and at least one or two were predictably great (particularly the Supernatural Wurly), but I would describe the majority as good. I don't want 'good' from a world-class professional instrument; I want 'awesome' or 'incredible', or some other suitably inspiring superlative.
However, just as you can really get under the ribs of the grand piano sounds in the one-touch bank, you can also lose hours of your life to the electric piano sound designer. To be brutally honest, my understanding of how classic electric pianos work isn't quite as up to scratch, and in technical terms I didn't really have a clue what I was doing when it came to adjusting things like the bar angle and pickup distance of the electric pianos, so when I had made what I perceived to be a notable improvement to a piano I wasn't always sure how I'd done it, or how I would do it again. It was educational, though, and the well-written manual does a pretty good job of explaining what is going on. Adjusting the level of hum and line drive are both good examples of where the ability to replicate the inadequacies of older technology really can be a benefit. You can also make a huge difference to the sound by selecting different types of amps, depending on whether you're trying to replicate the sound of the Doors, or Merv and the Magic Tones (don't go changing). My disappointment with the electric pianos was short-lived once I'd discovered how many weird and wonderfully expressive tones you can create within the designer, and on more than one satisfying occasion I managed to stumble across something beautiful that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, even though I still wasn't sure how.
I personally found that most of the organ sounds required a considerable amount of fettling to get what I wanted from them as well, but I'd never pretend to be a proper organist so I will entertain the possibility of being wrong this time. What I did think was a refreshing change is that most of the organ sounds immediately lent themselves to jazz or gospel styles. So many stage pianos seem to feature one, or possibly two, slightly lame jazz organs and then a plethora of pipe and reed organs, making them better suited to playing Handel than Jimmy Smith. As I mentioned earlier, you can also use the zone faders to control the virtual drawbars on some of the organs, which deserves some patient experimentation (unless you're a proper organist, of course).
Moving on to the sounds for instruments without black and white keys, the RD700GX comes loaded up with a pretty healthy selection of decent-quality orchestral sounds, as well as some perfectly usable pads and synth patches. Of course, the electric guitars are predictably dodgy and you will find better, more interesting sounds in other synths and keyboards (some of which are made by Roland, of course). But the RD700GX isn't a synth; it's a piano. At least these additional tones don't sound like a complete afterthought, as is often the case with stage pianos. They complement the main piano sounds well, and when you layer them up and control all the individual volumes properly using the zone faders, you can get some credible on-stage results without having to rely on an armada of extra keyboards.
Bearing in mind that the RD700GX isn't a synth but a piano (keep up that mantra now, Eddie), let's move on to the rhythm guide. I don't think I've ever actually played a stage piano that has got this feature quite right, but given that Roland must be the world's leading manufacturer of digital percussion, I had been hoping there would be a first time for everything. One day, I'm sure that there will be a first time award for rhythmic excellence in this category, but this wasn't it. I remember being momentarily impressed by the onboard drum machine on the original RD700, but I never spent much time with it when I was given the opportunity.
The drum sounds are good (as you would hope, given Boss' and Roland's pedigree in this area), but whilst waiting for our drummer to turn up (again), the rest of the band and I found the rhythms themselves uninspiring. Normally, I would optimistically comment on how this feature could make a good songwriting tool, but I just didn't feel it this time. Also, if you change rhythm partway through a jam, just to add a little variation to the groove, you risk changing tempo too. What's worse is that sometimes when you switch to a different sound the rhythm can change completely, as if each sound has its own assigned pattern. I can never understand why so many onboard drum machines and rhythm guides on stage pianos don't incorporate such basic features as intros, fills and endings, which you can find on the simplest of home keyboards. I know it isn't a vital performance feature, but personally I'd love a decent, usable onboard drum machine to privately jam along to from time to time. If it isn't considered important enough to do properly, then why bother at all?
As I diligently work my way through the features, I keep thinking that surely none of these minor niggles can matter when you consider the cool stylings, incredible piano sound, extraordinary deep editing options and sheer playability of this instrument, but the truth, and nothing but the whole truth, must be told. If the rhythm guide lacks relevance in the eyes of the serious performer, then the presence of the built-in arpeggiator feature is even more of a mystery. This isn't some sort of bells and whistles accompaniment setting that you would find on a home keyboard or a synth, but an arpeggiator in the true sense. When you hold down a chord with your left hand, it sets off an embarrassed arpeggio, which you can attempt to play along with using your right hand. It is incredibly easy to accidentally disturb it mid-phrase; simple minor chords often play patterns that sound more in keeping with their relevant majors for some reason; and you end up with an awkward, lumpy loop with all the deep musical expression of an Early Learning activity centre.
Dimming the arpeggio light with no small measure of irritation, I think 'Who the hell is that feature aimed at?' But I soon realise that I've now covered all the bases, and can finally return to the warm folds of that fantastic grand piano sound and risk my most embarrassing funk faces in the absorbing world of the electric piano designer. Playing this stage piano is a wonderfully self-indulgent experience, and it is worth considering the implications of all this elegant sophistication. Unless you are looking for something to take centre stage in your studio as a substitute Steinway (or Bluthner, or whatever else you manage to design with it), then you might want to ask yourself whether anyone else is going to appreciate it.
Conclusion
If you are in a working band and expect to be playing regular gigs in small venues with very basic PA systems and the occasional staircase, but you don't do much in the way of studio work, then perhaps you should also take a look at the more portable and cheaper baby brother, the Roland RD300GX. But if you are either a solo performer out to impress or you normally play in bands on bigger stages with great PA systems capable of doing this piano justice, and you also have the luxury of roadies (or willing friends) who will assist you in getting your piano back to its pride of place in your home studio, then my advice is do it properly and indulge yourself. 0
