The original founder of Kurzweil was Ray Kurzweil… a truly amazing thinker with an extremely interesting career behind him… if you can find the documentary “Transcendent man” it’s really worth a watch…
I’ve played all of them and ended up getting the Roland FP90x. I love the key action. The modeling engine piano tones feel like I’m playing a live instrument rather than a recording like a sample-based keyboard. It isn’t the best piano modeling, but is way more than adequate for my ear. It has some really nice Roland D-50 synth patches. It’s fairly heavy at 52 lbs and wouldn’t be my first choice for gigging either. It’s a great home piano that can be used as an occasional gig piano. I think all three are great pianos. It’s the Roland’s key action that won me over.
Kurzweil PC4 is not only digital piano, but work staion, synthesizer. But the piano sound of PC4 is superior to Yamaha p515 and Roland FP 90X. Kurzweil natual acoustic voices sound like real wooden sounds, but Yamaha and Roland sound synthetic and artificial. Especially so called supernatual voices of Roland keyboards never sound natural, without any identity.
The player of Kurzweil had to be Kurzweil SP7Grand, real stage piano with Fatar keys. Kurweil PC4 had to be classifed as synthesizer, so this match was mismatched and not fair.
Also a p515 for almost 2 years now and I completely agree with you. FP90x has great action but its way overpriced. Also I just cant deal with the Roland metallic/robotic piano sound.
Ive got the Roland, action is hard to beat, i like the sound after some tweeks in the piano designer. It records extremely well into my DAW. I think you have to live with a sound for a while to appreciate it.
You would have to desolder and uninstall them yourself. Not that hard, and then that will make the piano significantly lighter. It's too bad that Roland doesn't offer speakerless versions for convenience.
Roland has the best sound, my yamaha has the best sound, etc, obviously it is matter of taste, and it is ok if you're satisfied with your own EP but pleasewe are not in a school yard :)
I have played the P515 and the Roland and both actions are great. Its been a while since I played the Roland so can't pick which one a prefer but love the P515 action. Its fast and accurate. Can't ask for much more.
Owned a P515 for a few years: Annoyances - the action’s heavy and long practise sessions can make your fingers ache (gone since I upgraded to a Kawai Nv10). The white keytops have a sharp point on the underside which can be painful when stretching for a big chord. High reverb settings have a kind of fizzy artifact so have to keep the reverb low. No registration memories - only remembers the current panel setup so can’t easily recall setups for a particular song. Weedy speakers need an external sub-woofer to sound good (same as just about every digital piano in this respect). Nice that they have a setting which allows you to run the built-in speakers when headphones are plugged in - which makes subwoofer connection & volume control easy. Loved the main Bosendorfer and CFX samples. USB audio & midi interface is great : a single USB cable to an ipad can carry midi from the piano to the ipad simultaneously with carrying digital audio from the ipad to the P515 - eg. for garage band etc. Overall I would recommend.
I purchased the P-515 As a beginner/adult learner I wanted an instrument that would grow with me, and train my muscle memory for using everything from a keyboard to a grand. Combined with the much better apps that compliment and enhance the experience - Yamaha's piano room and piano diary, are far superior to the Rolands. The touch on the Roland I felt was marginally better, but the Yamaha feels more like a real grand piano. Yes it's more oriented towards Pianist players... but Is it not better to train as a pianist, and then learn "keyboard/organist" on top of that?
I like the p515 but it dont have an external power supply, i really don’t trust that. That’s why i won’t even go for kurzweil, i had a board one time that was like that, over time the jack itself got stuck in the keyboard and there what happened when they get older. I’m probably considering saving up for the Yahama yc88
Just comparing the acoustic piano sounds the Yamaha was the most natural sounding. Kurzweil was nice but on the bright side and the Roland definitely sounded like a digital piano.
True that most boards are because their sounds are for cutting thru with a band or in the mix. Nords tend not to be as bright. Also a lot has to do with the gain settings on the keyboard like my Nord if I backoff the piano gain a bit it gets fuller and I can bring the master volume up if need to. Then compression, lots of tweaks to get your sound out.
Kurzweil PC4 is not only digital piano, but work staion, synthesizer. But the piano sound of PC4 is superior to Yamaha p515 and Roland FP 90X. Kurzweil natual acoustic voices sound like real wooden sounds, but Yamaha and Roland sound synthetic and artificial. Especially so called supernatual voices of Roland keyboards never sound natural, without any identity. The player of Kurzweil had to be Kurzweil SP7Grand, real stage piano. Kurweil PC4 had to be classifed as synthesizer, so this match is mismatched and not fair.
Of this bunch, the FP90X has the best sounding acoustic piano. Most of the sound of these patches, on critical listening, has tons of effects on them, the core sounds of all of these three keyboards, seem a bit tame to me. In a monophonic setting such as a stage piano in a church, that already has a lot of reverb in the room, I am not convinced that any of these keyboards would be suitable. Lots of gimmicks, but no major improvements in sound, for the gigging pianist.
I've played all three and for me the P515 hands down wins the 'battle':). The key action is superb and the CFX and Bosendorfer samples are perfect. If you want to hear the CFX sample in a more ambient setting you can listen to this track: ruclips.net/video/aZuckRAB-UE/видео.html
Ive been possessing the Yamaha 515 for two years now. I don’t recommend. The key action is not that extraordinary and responsive. Should I have acquired the Roland 90, that is the question …
I bought a P515 for the piano action feel and the the piano sound. I was comparing it against Nord Grand with a Kawai action similar piano's Nord way more expensive, I also have a Nord Stage 3 with the waterfall action, I've down loaded the White Grand which is the Steinway samples and I had thought potential I could use the Yamaha as a midi control to get that Nord sound but personally there its more of a taste thing than a sonic quality difference between the Steinway and the Yamaha CF-X Grand but the kicker is the I mostly practice with headphones and the binural samples of the Yamaha on head phone are better than the White Grand when playing with headphone in IMO. I'd watched several reviews about the Yamaha action being heavier than an acoustic piano but I've not found it to be to heavy to play and the truth is I am rarely likely to play an acoustic piano. The acton on the Yamaha feels brilliant, I have an old Yamaha Stage CP32? not sure of the number bought around 2004 and this is a big step up in feel and sound. What I've noticed is that tactile thing makes a big difference to wanting to play the instrument. So the Nord at the moment is getting much less playing time but that will change when I start to focus on Hammond organ, and muck around with some synths. Horses for courses. Oh that Yamaha also has the ability to change the piano set up and room types so that's not a differentiator from the Roland. I think the sampling is currently ahead of modelling for piano sounds (hence a big part of Nords appeal) but the Roland will have better sounds other than pianos. Love your work Jack
Jack says he's no pianist but he absolutely kills it every time he plays.
It’s called lowering expectations
The original founder of Kurzweil was Ray Kurzweil… a truly amazing thinker with an extremely interesting career behind him… if you can find the documentary “Transcendent man” it’s really worth a watch…
Why a Kurzweil workstation versus two dedicated digital pianos? No Kurzweil SP7 or whatever in stock?
I’ve played all of them and ended up getting the Roland FP90x. I love the key action. The modeling engine piano tones feel like I’m playing a live instrument rather than a recording like a sample-based keyboard. It isn’t the best piano modeling, but is way more than adequate for my ear. It has some really nice Roland D-50 synth patches. It’s fairly heavy at 52 lbs and wouldn’t be my first choice for gigging either. It’s a great home piano that can be used as an occasional gig piano. I think all three are great pianos. It’s the Roland’s key action that won me over.
again roland showing that he has one of the best actions. even against a real piano maker like yamaha (roland action fan)
Kurzweil PC4 is not only digital piano, but work staion, synthesizer.
But the piano sound of PC4 is superior to Yamaha p515 and Roland FP 90X.
Kurzweil natual acoustic voices sound like real wooden sounds, but Yamaha and Roland sound synthetic and artificial.
Especially so called supernatual voices of Roland keyboards never sound natural, without any identity.
The player of Kurzweil had to be Kurzweil SP7Grand, real stage piano with Fatar keys.
Kurweil PC4 had to be classifed as synthesizer, so this match was mismatched and not fair.
After playing, Korg, Roland, casio keyboard for me the colors of yamaha's sounds for years are the best
Owned a P515 since release and found nothing yet to beat it
Also a p515 for almost 2 years now and I completely agree with you. FP90x has great action but its way overpriced. Also I just cant deal with the Roland metallic/robotic piano sound.
Until Kurzweil came around!
Interesting choice detuning each of these pianos to A=422. Definitely made my ears perk up hearing a tuning I'm not used to!
My friend and I have just watched this video and he tried playing along. We realised it was downtuned too. Any idea why they would do this?
@@mcmycee personal taste
Ive got the Roland, action is hard to beat, i like the sound after some tweeks in the piano designer. It records extremely well into my DAW.
I think you have to live with a sound for a while to appreciate it.
Love this episode - thanks team! Merry Xmas to you and yours. X
Great content as always, but you really nailed those transitions from one keyboard to the next. Top notch, lol.
Sooooooo ... beautiful ... sometimes "state of the art" is just delicious to listen to 😀
Thanks a lot for this demo 👍
Shout out to Jack! I’ve been watching your videos for a few years and you are really growing as a player, nice job! Fun to see Falcon at the end too 😆
Does Roland make a version of the FP-90X WITHOUT the speakers?
You would have to desolder and uninstall them yourself. Not that hard, and then that will make the piano significantly lighter.
It's too bad that Roland doesn't offer speakerless versions for convenience.
There is a switch where you can turn on or off the onboard speakers on the Roland FP90X
I have the roland fp90x and love it.
Great vid 😄👍
Could we get some top-down angles in the coming videos 🎹 ,would be great!
Roland has the best sound, my yamaha has the best sound, etc, obviously it is matter of taste, and it is ok if you're satisfied with your own EP but pleasewe are not in a school yard :)
I have played the P515 and the Roland and both actions are great. Its been a while since I played the Roland so can't pick which one a prefer but love the P515 action. Its fast and accurate. Can't ask for much more.
Owned a P515 for a few years: Annoyances - the action’s heavy and long practise sessions can make your fingers ache (gone since I upgraded to a Kawai Nv10). The white keytops have a sharp point on the underside which can be painful when stretching for a big chord. High reverb settings have a kind of fizzy artifact so have to keep the reverb low. No registration memories - only remembers the current panel setup so can’t easily recall setups for a particular song. Weedy speakers need an external sub-woofer to sound good (same as just about every digital piano in this respect). Nice that they have a setting which allows you to run the built-in speakers when headphones are plugged in - which makes subwoofer connection & volume control easy. Loved the main Bosendorfer and CFX samples. USB audio & midi interface is great : a single USB cable to an ipad can carry midi from the piano to the ipad simultaneously with carrying digital audio from the ipad to the P515 - eg. for garage band etc. Overall I would recommend.
The sound is great, but no way could I deal with the action on the one I tried a few years ago. Like slogging through mud. Nothing like my grand.
@@ChrisP3000xyez.very heavyyyy keys. Ouch!😢
great vid again, thanks for sharing.
I own an FP-E50 and it has the SFX presets they are way more fun than they should be lol.
Really must say the Roland sounded most convincing here which is a surprise to me.
He should have used a Kurzweil digital piano instead of a workstation, and P-515 is getting old.
Roland's website says it's "Pure Acoustic Piano Modeling"... idk what that means haha
riiiight....
I purchased the P-515 As a beginner/adult learner I wanted an instrument that would grow with me, and train my muscle memory for using everything from a keyboard to a grand. Combined with the much better apps that compliment and enhance the experience - Yamaha's piano room and piano diary, are far superior to the Rolands. The touch on the Roland I felt was marginally better, but the Yamaha feels more like a real grand piano. Yes it's more oriented towards Pianist players... but Is it not better to train as a pianist, and then learn "keyboard/organist" on top of that?
why the deviation from A-440 Hz? thought my hearing / pitch detection had gone
If you got a Kurzweil, you dont need Software Instruments for greater Sounds anymore. Its really "about the Sound"
Are these real songs? i find them mesmerising Jack!
He's probably improvising.
My darling...you play so good!
In this video, I liked the 90x best, but when I tried it at the store, I didn't care for it.
I like the p515 but it dont have an external power supply, i really don’t trust that. That’s why i won’t even go for kurzweil, i had a board one time that was like that, over time the jack itself got stuck in the keyboard and there what happened when they get older. I’m probably considering saving up for the Yahama yc88
Why do you never review kawai digital pianos ? Anderton's doesn't sell them either, why ?
Kawai and Andertons can't strike a deal, I would guess.
They are probably not a dealer of those pianos.
Just comparing the acoustic piano sounds the Yamaha was the most natural sounding. Kurzweil was nice but on the bright side and the Roland definitely sounded like a digital piano.
They're all on the bright side
True that most boards are because their sounds are for cutting thru with a band or in the mix. Nords tend not to be as bright. Also a lot has to do with the gain settings on the keyboard like my Nord if I backoff the piano gain a bit it gets fuller and I can bring the master volume up if need to. Then compression, lots of tweaks to get your sound out.
@Space Doodle the PC4 has other pianos and some are pretty warm
The price range is different. Kurzweil PC4 is almost a workstation.
Its not almost... PC4 IS a workstation... Not a Stage Piano...
Kurzweil PC4 is not only digital piano, but work staion, synthesizer.
But the piano sound of PC4 is superior to Yamaha p515 and Roland FP 90X.
Kurzweil natual acoustic voices sound like real wooden sounds, but Yamaha and Roland sound synthetic and artificial.
Especially so called supernatual voices of Roland keyboards never sound natural, without any identity.
The player of Kurzweil had to be Kurzweil SP7Grand, real stage piano.
Kurweil PC4 had to be classifed as synthesizer, so this match is mismatched and not fair.
Of this bunch, the FP90X has the best sounding acoustic piano. Most of the sound of these patches, on critical listening, has tons of effects on them, the core sounds of all of these three keyboards, seem a bit tame to me. In a monophonic setting such as a stage piano in a church, that already has a lot of reverb in the room, I am not convinced that any of these keyboards would be suitable. Lots of gimmicks, but no major improvements in sound, for the gigging pianist.
I've played all three and for me the P515 hands down wins the 'battle':). The key action is superb and the CFX and Bosendorfer samples are perfect. If you want to hear the CFX sample in a more ambient setting you can listen to this track:
ruclips.net/video/aZuckRAB-UE/видео.html
Ive been possessing the Yamaha 515 for two years now. I don’t recommend. The key action is not that extraordinary and responsive. Should I have acquired the Roland 90, that is the question …
Definitely
I bought a P515 for the piano action feel and the the piano sound. I was comparing it against Nord Grand with a Kawai action similar piano's Nord way more expensive, I also have a Nord Stage 3 with the waterfall action, I've down loaded the White Grand which is the Steinway samples and I had thought potential I could use the Yamaha as a midi control to get that Nord sound but personally there its more of a taste thing than a sonic quality difference between the Steinway and the Yamaha CF-X Grand but the kicker is the I mostly practice with headphones and the binural samples of the Yamaha on head phone are better than the White Grand when playing with headphone in IMO. I'd watched several reviews about the Yamaha action being heavier than an acoustic piano but I've not found it to be to heavy to play and the truth is I am rarely likely to play an acoustic piano. The acton on the Yamaha feels brilliant, I have an old Yamaha Stage CP32? not sure of the number bought around 2004 and this is a big step up in feel and sound. What I've noticed is that tactile thing makes a big difference to wanting to play the instrument. So the Nord at the moment is getting much less playing time but that will change when I start to focus on Hammond organ, and muck around with some synths. Horses for courses. Oh that Yamaha also has the ability to change the piano set up and room types so that's not a differentiator from the Roland. I think the sampling is currently ahead of modelling for piano sounds (hence a big part of Nords appeal) but the Roland will have better sounds other than pianos. Love your work Jack
Man, a question : fp90x or nord piano5 , say those were the same price, what would be your choice?
The p515 has such damn heavy key action. Im thinking of selling.
Anyone?
Yup - sold it because of the heavy action. Was happy with it apart from that.
@@brickmissing8295 me too! Hurt my arms!!
@@michellemonet4358lol
KETRON EVENT THE BEST
None of these are "premium."
is, not are. None is singular
All are.
Kurzeil
515 was the worst piece Yamaha ever sold