I bought the Roland F-90 for a couple of reasons. First, the Grand Piano sound in the $1000 to $1200 price range was the best I could find. Secondly, it's nowhere near as painful to look at as the other products that fill this price range.
Most digital pianos I played out there, especially at this level, are cheaply packaged in flimsy plastic, with buttons that look like they'll sink through the keyholes when you press them.
The Roland F-90 is quite different. It's very solid, and really feels like an honest to goodness musical instrument and not some cheesy electronic toy like the kind that can be found your local drug store.
The F-90, while it looks sleek and elegant, is actually 100% solid and muscular, and it's quite heavy too. I'm guessing, but I think it's probably close to 200lbs fully assembled.
The keys, which can be adjusted to 4 settings of touch, are heavily weighted and you'll feel as though you've worked out after the first time you play the F-90. However, after some time on it, it really does feel quite good.
Now, If your looking for a little bit of everything in a lower-end digital piano, this isn't it. I'd go with the Yamaha YDP-121. It's got quite a lot of bells and whistles for the money. Kids dig it, and although nothing on the Yamaha is premium, it does give you a quite a few features for the cash.
If you want a better touch and sound though, for a few hundred dollars more I'd look at the Kawai CN270 which feels and sounds just fantastic. Now, I'm a manly man, but even I almost burst into tears when the salesman busted out the "Moonlight" Sonata on the Kawai. It was Good. (Yes, with a capital G.)
However, the whole F-90 package is a great one. It's easy to assemble, I was up and running in 15 minutes. It has 50 demo songs, wonderfully played, that you can access at the touch of a button. It has input/output jacks and the standard MIDI in/out ports as well. The reverb has 5 settings from very short to almost never ending. The touch and sound, while not up there with the more expensive Kawai CN70, is fantastic.
If you're looking for a clean Grand Piano sound (best in it's class) in a very solid $1000-$1200 package, and you want something that isn't flimsy, I think the F-90 is exactly what you're looking for. I love it!
Did you find this review helpful?
Thanks for your opinion!