"Light in weight, decent in feel, better than average piano sound and solid additional sounds makes the FP4 a great choice."
Feature:
The accompaniments are decent, the built in speakers sound fine and they have inputs which is great as I just plug my second keyboard into it with no need for a mixer then I run the FP4 outs to my stereo volume peddle and from there I can sent one stereo output to the main board and my personal monitor. I wish for more EQ options, more editing of the effects, more internal storage, and a longer piano sample in the higher regions but it's still a good unit as it is.
Quality:
I think it's built well and feels solid for such a light weight unit. Roland builds things for road travel but common sense also must prevail!
Value:
I still find it too be a bit pricey considering the piano samples are still a bit short in the upper end but that's what's out there so far. It does sound good though, and better to me than any most other portable piano when size, weight, piano sound, additional sounds, sound of speakers, speakers with inputs, and a suitable weighted keybed are factored in but it is over $1300.0 and that's not cheap.
Desirability:
It's the smallest, lightest, best sounding piano in it's class and with the speakers, the inputs, the additional sounds, some preset storage, some very nice sounding effects, and the overall black finish, it fit the bill for me. Now double the preset storage to 48, make the piano sample ring out a little longer in the upper reaches, add a couple more variations to the accompaniments, make it so that one can play layered sounds while the accompaniments are playing, and lastly, make it easy to send those organ sounds out to my unweighted keyboard so that I can play them on the unweighted keys. As it stands now , it only sends out the general midi sounds not the panel sounds and that really annoys me. There is a killer B3 sound which is sampled with what sounds like chorus #3 of a B3 and I want to play that sound alone on my synth but no, I must send a bank select and program change message which means I need a controller that can do that and despite having a great synth, it still can't send the cammand to the FP4!! Stop it from automatically defaulting to the GM sounds when midi'd to the 'out' of another keyboard. Oh.... if you do I'll want the newer unit but I'm already broke from this one!...uhhhhg
Sound:
I really like this unit as it is light weight, the weighted keys are not too heavy and the piano sound is good. It's an inspiring keyboard, for sure.
Ease of Use:
Not a lot to edit but with only a numeric display, one needs to check out the manual and it can be a bit of a pain remembering the combination of button hits that lead to the desired cammand. In terms of sound layering and such it's dead easy.
Support:
These companies want your business and would be fools to not give you good customer service. I haven't needed it for a while but in the past I've found Korg, Kurzweil, and Nord to be a bit of a challenge to make voice contact with while Yamaha, Roland, and Yorkville (my monitor) to all be really good.
Overall:
It's worth a good listen to if size matters, and it does to me, (the smaller and lighter the better) and you want speakers for practical reasons, a very decent piano sound and solid bread and butter sounds including better than average E.P.'s,. Not much competition that I know of. The Yamaha P85 is very good for the money but it lacks the amount of additional sounds, has no accompaniments or inputs on the speakers and is way more basic overall. Casio hasn't pleased me with their piano sound yet, atleast not in this price category, Kawai has very good piano sounds but the additional sounds fall short and their units are still heavier. The Korg SP line doesn't do it for me sound wise but I do like the feel of their weighted keys. Kurzweil's new units are pretty decent but I still give the edge to Roland for the reasons already mentioned.
Submitted: 10/29/2008
Style of Music: rock, country, pop. new age
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"Bosendorfer vs. Roland fp4 can't tell a difference."
Feature:
The fp4 has every feature you need. It gives you a metronome that goes to 500 and down to 10. Hundreds of different instruments and noises. My favorite feature is the session partner, this is like having your own jazz combo behind you. While they play it displays the chord changes on the screen so you can improvise to it. I love it you can change the chord progression, rhythm and speed too. The features give you all you need. I would say that the fp4 has every feature except the new big lcd touch screen, I don't plan on watching tv on my keyboard anytime soon.
Quality:
When I picked it up out of the box I was shocked how light it was. Thats a good thing for on the road and playing in gigs. It is made of stong metal not flimsy plastic like some of the yamahas and I think it will last me forever. I did purchase a "Protec" case along with it to keep it extra safe and for easy mobility. With any nice and expensive instrument you want to make sure you keep it protected.
Value:
Roland is the top brand for keyboards and synths. That is all Roland makes. Unlike Yamaha who makes keyboards atvs and motorcycles. The price is well set and It was worth every penny.
Desirability:
I decided to go with the black because I think it looks nicer than the white but thats personal preference. The keys are silcon just like real pianos so the feel is the exact same.
Sound:
The sound is great. On the grand piano setting it sounds no different than a bosendorfer with rich bass and clear high. When you turn the volume up you can tell that the two speakers in the back and high quality speakers. The reason I gave it a nine and not a ten on sound is because when I turned the volume all the way up there is some fuzz in the sound. Its amazing how Roland can recreate the exact same sound as a grand piano. Another plus to the fp4 is that it has 128 note polyphony which allows you to put your own expression into your music.
Ease of Use:
Its very easy to get great sound out of it thanks to the 128 note polyphony. It is pretty easy to set up and learn how everything works.
Support:
I haven't had to deal with Roland and I don't think that I ever will.
Overall:
This keyboard is unbeatable.
Submitted: 1/3/2009
Style of Music: Classical, Jazz, New orleans Blues, everything
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