Rolands: Home vs Stage

K

Kaulback

New member
I was just visiting www.rolandus.com and was going through some of their products and I noticed they have a section for digital pianos specifically designed for the home or studio and another section for digital pianos specifically designed for a stage performance. Herein lies my inquiry: The FP series is included under Home/Studio Pianos, however I've heard some people here talking about them. Maybe everybody here who uses them uses them for the studio? I doubt that. Is the Roland site just giving a general guideline or are there real differences between these two categories? On other company's sites (Yahama for example) their home digital pianos are literally digital pianos which are barely transportable but some of Roland's "home/studio keyboards" look just like stage pianos :confused: If you don't want to check out which models are classified where if you need that to give me an answer I'll just post that here.

Home/Studio Pianos:
F-Series
DP-Series
ep-Series
(and the last two here are what you would think a home digital piano is but I'll list them for the hell of it)
HP-Series
MP-Series

Stage Pianos:
RD-Series
VR-760 V-Combo
 
The diff between so called 'home and studio' pianos and 'stage' pianos is probably based as much on build quality at this point than anything else.

I can't imagine the piano samples being any different between the two classes, and that would be the other area in which they could differ.

Roland have a reputation to protect with the traveling musicians of the world - shoddy craftsmanship, no matter HOW good the piano sounds are - is guaranteed to get around in pro circles.

If you are intending to play out only a few times a month, then you can pick any one of the pianos on offer and be sure you're getting a quality instrument. For 100 or more shows a year, go with the 'stage' models.
 
If you look at consumer keyboards (home use) vs. prosumer (stage/gig use) the primary differnence is (as previously stated) the way they are built.

A home keyboard, is designed to be a piece of furniture, with wood (or faux wood) casing, often a matching stand, etc. These also often have built in speakers (although they also have audio outs).

A stage keyboard, is often designed to be transported and set up in a stage configuration (on multi tier stands, etc). Accordingly, these don't require wood or other image enhancements to make them look like furniture. They also don't require built in speakers (since in theory you will be using a stage amp or running direct to the mains).

Also home keyboards often have more focus on weighted keys - which adds to the weight of the keyboard (making it less desireable to haul around). Although many stage pianos do indeed have weighted keys (since that is important to a "piano player").

Home keyboards also tend to offer the full 88 keys - whereas stage keyboards may offer 76 keys (to keep the size & weight down). Certainly you can get 88 key stage pianos, but for most "band gigs" the extra keys are rarely critical.

As a rule, a quality home model will offer many of the same sounds as a stage pianoi (and the quality of sounds - as well as the feel is naturally very subjective)..
 
Another important consideration is the sounds themselves. It is most common to see Home versions featuring the same soundsets as the Stage versions (Or slightly smaller but equal quality soundsets), but without all the extra sound sculpting capabilities. They usually focus more on traditional instrumentation (Pianos, Organs, Strings, etc.), and usually just feature basic presets, that offer very little tweakability. Stage boards usually allow the player full access to the synthesis architecture, and allow the player to program sounds that have never even been imagined before. Additionally Stage boards usually feature more powerful effects sections, and often more powerful sequencing. Whereas a good majority of the Home versions are of the Arranger type, featuring preset grooves, and accompaniment sections. Which is more or less just good for coming up with ideas, and not an actual live performance feature (Though it seems manufacturers are trying really hard to break that concept-Think KORG PA1x Pro).
 
The difference between home and stage pianos is massive.

Home Pianos usually have massive wood cabinets with very nice speakers systems, making the sound resonate through the wood cabinet. They also have weighted hammer actions and great Acoustic Pianos.

Stage Pianos are portable, light, and professional. They have superb Acoustic and Electric Pianos, weighted hammer actions, and onboard speakers for making the keys vibrate when you are playing.

Stage Pianos have superior sound quality and action. The Acoustic Pianos on Stage Pianos are superb, with rich resonance and beatiful clarity. The actions are also smoother and connect to the sound perfectly.

For example, if you play a Yamaha P120 Stage Piano and Yamaha YDP223 side by side, you will notice the difference immediatly.

Chris
 
P120Dude said:
The difference between home and stage pianos is massive.

Home Pianos usually have massive wood cabinets with very nice speakers systems, making the sound resonate throught the wood cabinet. They also have weighted hammer actions and great Acoustic Pianos.

Stage Pianos are portable, light, and professional. They have superb Acoustic and Electric Pianos, weighted hammer actions, and onboard speakers for making the keys vibrate when you are playing.

Stage Pianos have superior sound quality and action. The Acoustic Pianos on Stage Pianos are superb, with rich resonance and beatiful clarity. The actions are also smoother and connect to the sound perfectly.

For example, if you play a Yamaha P120 Stage Piano and Yamaha YDP223 side by side, you will notice the difference immediatly.

Chris
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Precisely. Thus why I posted this, because many of the "home pianos" on the Roland site seem to fit the "stage piano" description.
 
Roland makes very nice Stage Pianos. They have a very different feel and sound, but they are very warm and smooth.

However, their stage Pianos are not the same as their home pianos.

Chris
 
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P120Dude said:
However, they're stage Pianos are not the same as their home Pianos.
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"If they prick us, do we not bleed?"

Shylock in 'The Merchant of Venice' by William Shakespeare
 
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