The Latest Marvel in Digital Piano Technology: Roland LX-9 [Product Demo]

[@danielbeller972]

David, superb playing. The sound in amazing and very real, Roland are top when it comes to keyboards (fell in love with them since the Juno days and own a pedal module - guitar synth). Now, you have to post the full version of Auntumn Leaves on the LX-9.

[@longandmcquade]

Thank you Daniel!

[@Samoensskier]

Please post a full version of Autumn leaves played on this !

[@ajotech]

Beautiful operatic playing. Please Roland, update the RD-2000, this is looooong over due.

[@borispradel1037]

What do you think could be an improvement? I own one and installed the German Concert expansion and I'm still very happy with it. Something more advanced but hardly portable is the Fantom 8, same keybed but way more posibilities. Your can expand you Roland using some piano VST on your laptop. The RD2000 offers so much in terms of controls.

[@giuseppepaparo5214]

Il suono è registrato in linea diretta o con microfoni ambientali? Grazie per la risposta

[@bachtube11]

Well done, makes me interested! But seeing this, the hight of this Instrument is distracting me, I like lower type of construction, on order to be able look over it and out of the window ;-) If ist was a upright instrument, there would be a ovious reason to build it so high, but for a digital i expect more compact design, or rather a baby grand design, where I can look over it.

[@damorim]

You should also look at the other LX models below the LX-9 which are shorter in height. LX-5 and the LX-6 provide the same Piano Reality technology but in a lower profile.

[@marcelosp2976]

Roland = EnRolando! Comprei no site da Roland o FP-90X e comparando com meu RD-800 achei seu som abafado e pedi a devolução no segundo dia após sua chegada, depois disso virou um pesadelo. A Roland demora dias pra responder meu chamado, depois dias pra providenciar a coleta e o pior é que após 40 dias ainda não cancelou a compra no cartão de crédito que me recuso a pagar, pois se tivessem feito as coisas como deveria, a compra já estaria cancelada, agora o cartão me cobra o valor e multa, logo meu nome irá ficar negativado, por isso Roland pra mim virou sinônimo de EnRolando!

[@shiningarmor2838]

I feel that Roland put too much effort into making this look like a real piano. A huge part of the appeal of the digital piano is that it takes up less space and is easy to move.

[@eriong.7446]

That’s s different kind of product. The appeal here is that you don’t need to have it tuned all the time and less maintenance in general, less worry about the environment’s effect on it and easier to record, adjustable volume, etc. But the whole point of these is to get as close to a real piano as possible without the drawbacks of a real piano.

[@shiningarmor2838]

@@eriong.7446 So you would say that a large footprint and a lack of portability aren't drawbacks?

[@eriong.7446]

It depends on what you want. So i guess I should have used “” there, so “drawbacks”. If you want a piece of furniture without all those problems, then no. But if you want something portable, you need to look into, for example, the stage piano category. Those are different instruments for a different purpose. Or there are many even smaller keyboards making even bigger compromises if portability is the main concern. But here portability is only a concern as long as they need to get it to the customer somehow.

[@bartvaes4126]

That would be more like a stage piano.

[@mayiask654]

NO! Definitely NO! What he is saying about the action is totally wrong and misleading. This Digital Piano DOES NOT have a "perfectly regulated Concert Grand Action". Just like almost all digital pianos it doesn't have a grand action at all. And second NO: it DOES NOT have escapement. Only a simulation of escapement that doesn't add anything to playability like real escapement in REAL grand actions does. I'm not saying that this isn't a nice and decent instrument. But truth must stay truth and dealers should stop misleading potential customers with wrong claims.

[@longandmcquade]

Hi May, thank you for your comments. The Roland hybrid grand action in the LX series pianos is designed to simulate the feel of a grand piano action. It is carefully regulated to have the same feel as a grand piano. It has the same gram weight resistance as a concert acoustic grand piano. The escapement is replicated within the mechanism. It is possible that it might not be to everyone’s taste. We would invite you to try one of our LX pianos and decide for yourself.

[@mayiask654]

@@longandmcquade Thanks for replying. As i said i didn't mean to say that this isn't a nice piano. Actually i own a FP-90X (which i like very much) with the PHA-50 action which is basically the same as the PHA-100, only with slightly shorter pivot point. So i'm very sure that i would like the LX-9 at least as well. I'm aware that the action is built to simulate the feel of a grand piano's action. But this doesn't make the statement that it "has a Concert Grand action" any more true or correct. And about the escapement: in real grand piano actions the escapement (or let-off) actually adds to the playability in a way that it helps producing fast single key repetitions. But since the "escapement" mechanism in all digital piano actions produce the simulated escapement feel through friction by a plastic or rubber "thingy" the simulation not only doesn't add anything to playability but instead can slow down repetition speed because of the additional friction.

[@mfurman]

@@longandmcquade I agree with the comment about the action. I had a few Roland digital pianos (PHA-4 and PHA50 actions) and I tested Hybrid Grand Keyboard action quite extensively. They are all (especially PHA-4) much heavier than the action of Yamaha C7 grand piano that I regularly play. There is no digital piano action that fully replicates the feeling of the action of grand piano. By the way, there are different grand pianos and actions - which one is Roland LX9 replicating? Michael

[@pianowhizz]

@@longandmcquade interesting, I will measure it this weekend. Top concert grands have a 50-46 gram weighting from A0 to C8. Note that the Hybrid Grand key action in the LX708 did not have the correct weighting - so perhaps in the LX9 Roland have fixed that major defect with their Hybrid Grand key action?

[@Senderson-et9fq]

He understands every word you say, believe me :-). But he is not at home wearing a casual T shirt offering you a coke and ready for having a conversation. He is here as someone who represents the brand and HAS to come up with everything that convinces a potential buyer, including, well: this. Sometimes, people with knowledge (like you) dont fall for it of course. But you are the exception. Roland has no novus and they have no avantgrand series, as far as I know, so they have to have to stick to advertisement strategies.

[@giasone777]

Urm if you want a real piano experience, buy a real piano.

[@briansun6336]

That’s true, but at this price range, there is hardly any real pianos that are as good as this one. You probably will have to pay about 5 times more to match the dynamic range and control of this one.

[@giasone777]

@@briansun6336 Not True - You can buy a Kawai Baby grand for less than $20k. or a Yamaha Upright U3 for less.

[@Sudulicious]

acoustics are heavy,expensive,require care and regular tuning, are very sensitive to temperature and humidity swings and you cannot play silently(unless you spend many $$$ for a silent system)... economics is an important factor for musicians... I was lucky to have a Yamaha C3 semigrand as a kid, but I have a lot more fun with a Kawai mid-low range digital piano, the tuning is perfect and I paid -93% less than for a new semigrand piano... Digital pianos only have room for improvement and for additional features, acoustics have peaked decades ago

[@giasone777]

@@Sudulicious More fun yes because its a toy.

[@Sudulicious]

@@giasone777 what's the purpose of playing music then?