RD-700SX

The Best Stage Piano Ever!

Wait till you get your hands on Roland’s top-of-the line RD-700SX! With our best piano sounds ever, a wide range of very useful ensemble sounds, SRX expandability, amazing action, and tons of control, this RD can easily lay claim to the title of “Best Stage Piano Ever.” Let’s follow this powerhouse piano around for a few days to see how it performs.

RD-700SX

At the Gig
First of all, the RD-700SX looks cool, with a stealthy design and metallic black finish. After setting it up on my stand and connecting the DP-8 damper pedal, I instantly made my soundman happy by plugging straight into the PA with the XLR balanced outs on the back panel (no more direct boxes!). I then used the unbalanced outputs to plug into my keyboard amp (a KC-550, of course) and I was set to go.

Let’s talk about sounds. The RD-700SX is home to Roland’s best piano sounds, including two new 88-note sampled grand patches that sound amazing. There’s also a full compliment of other top-quality sounds to choose from — from electric pianos and organs to guitars, basses, strings, pads and more. The RD-700SX even has two expansion slots that allow you to add any of Roland’s SRX-series expansion boards; there are 11 boards currently, and you can bet that there will be more in the future. With two expansion boards, you can access over 1,000 patches instantly!

With all of these sounds, I was pleased to find that I could find and access them quickly, and to make any setup changes I needed on the fly — really nice when you have a band leader who calls out songs faster than an Yngwie Malmsteen solo. Add the onboard reverb, chorus, and two multi-effects units with 125 types each, you can see how many options there are for customizing your sound.

As far as playing, this keyboard is a dream. Roland has put its best feeling, most realistic Progressive Hammer-Action keyboard into the RD-700SX. There is something about taking great sounds and then playing them with an ultra-expressive keyboard that can quickly put you into musical nirvana.

Another welcome feature for performers is the Standard MIDI File player built into the RD-700SX. Add this to the full GM2 sound set and you can load commercially available SMFs or custom creations into the RD via USB (more on this later) and then play them back on the gig with no sequencer or other gear. You can even drop out specific parts of the file to play along with. What a lifesaver!

In the Studio
Okay, so the RD-700SX is a great gigging keyboard, but wait, it’s also an amazing controller for MIDI rigs and home-studio setups. With its two MIDI outputs and USB connector, you can access up to 32 channels of MIDI, and connect directly to your computer as well. Using USB is an easy way to connect to your software-based sequencer, and to transfer Setup data for offline storage without needing a separate MIDI interface.

RD-700SX Rear Panel

The Zone Switches allow you to access up to four external MIDI channels (as well as the four internal zones) for instant layers and splits. The Zone Level/Control faders let you adjust the levels individually, and can also send MIDI control values for tweaking from a central location. I found I was constantly adding layers and playing with the levels to get that “just-right” sound. There are 100 Setups, which store all of the settings of the keyboard — great for instantly reconfiguring your whole rig. I used the Setups to change MIDI channels and routings from my rack of synth modules to my computer, as well as what patches were assigned where, split points, layers, and my effects settings.

Another great attribute is the RD-700SX’s 16-part multitimbral operation. I was able to play a piano part on MIDI channel 1, a bass part on channel 2, strings on channel 3, and my drum part on channel 10. The RD can handle up to 16 channels at once! Another notable spec is the 128-voice polyphony. That’s a lot of voices, and it really makes a difference — especially in piano playing. You can hold down the damper pedal, run your hand up the entire keyboard, and none of the notes will be cut off.

I also have to mention the redesigned front panel and user interface. The new RD-700SX has some great new features, such as dedicated Piano and Electric Piano “One Touch” buttons that let you instantly get to your favorite sounds, a new display, and larger Tone Select buttons, so even players with fat fingers (like me) can choose sounds with ease.

Mega-Sampling
Roland’s unique Mega-Sampling process involves sampling a world-class grand piano in a top-scale studio one note at a time at several velocity levels. As you can imagine, this is a painstaking, grueling process, but the results are well worth it. After this initial work is completed, Roland’s proprietary data processing technology is used to combine and process the samples to allow these sounds to be played back with the utmost realism and highest sound quality. The RD-700SX has two sets of 88-note samples that come from completely different pianos, so you can choose that “just right” piano sound for your performance.

The Best
Okay, I’ve probably used “the best” too many times here, but it absolutely applies to this keyboard. The RD-700SX combines the best sounds you can find with Roland’s best piano action, then puts it in a cool looking, easy-to-use package. I can’t stop saying it: The RD-700XS is the best stage piano on the market today, period.