Roland RD-2OOO vs alternatives for good synths (Nord Stage, Yamaha Montage, etc)
9 Jan 2022, 14:13Hey Roland clan. Looking for some advice on how best to upgrade my rig and figured I'd ask here. I know this question has been beat to death on this forum but figured I'd ask anyway.
I'm a classically trained pianist but play a lot of jazz, funk, R&B, blues, rock, etc. I haven't gigged in a while due to Covid but am in a band again and looking to upgrade my rig. My current setup is an old Roland RD700GX (88key) with a Nord Electro 4D 61SW on top. I love the Nord for organ work with the physical drawbars & waterfall keys, and the EP sounds are great too, so I am thinking I'll keep it. The Roland has been a trusty board for over 10 yrs but is now technically inferior to today's offerings, so is due for a replacement.
My new band plays a lot of 80s covers and I find my rig just isn't cutting the mustard when it comes to synth sounds. I need to be able to replicate (or get close to) tones from the likes of Parliament, Rufus, Londonbeat, Coldjack etc, as well as rock stuff like Rush, the Cars, and so on. I need to be able to save and store polyphonic synth patches as presets on a stage keyboard. Action is also really important to me since I don't own an acoustic piano at home (live in a condo). While this will primarily be for stage, I will also sit down at home to play Chopin, Debussy, Rachmaninov etc as well as Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea etc. It has to feel and sound real. So ideally, I'd like a new 88key stage piano with good action, a decent synth section, and good acoustic piano and orchestral sounds. EPs and organs are not as critical since I have the Nord.
So on to the options... I rented the Roland RD2000 for a while and fell in love with the PHA-50 action. It's probably the best DP action I've ever played for classical and jazz work. However (someone please correct if I'm wrong), it doesn't have a true on-board synth, just samples, and no arpeggiator or oscillators etc. I have heard there are downloads that expand the synth section a lot, but not sure how close the samples come to what I'm trying to cover. But maybe it would be good enough for my purposes. I also considered the Fantom 8 (same action plus a real synth), but it's $2k more, a lot bigger/heavier (not ideal for gigging), and is geared more towards music production. I wouldn't use 90% of its features. I also tried the Nord Stage 3 and liked the onboard synth. I'm not crazy about the action however and it also makes my Electro a bit redundant. I've also never been a fan of Nord's string and horns sounds, even the ones from the sample library. They just sound flat and artificial to my ears compared to the offerings from Roland and Korg.
Finally, I've heard good things about the Korg Nautilus and the Kronos (now discontinued I think?) as well as the Yamaha Montage, but haven't had the opportunity to play either of these, so not sure how they stack up.
I know a lot of people love the RD2000 and just use VSTs for synth sounds and patches, but I'm old-school and prefer an all-hardware setup without a need to bring a laptop to gigs. My MacBook is 10yrs old and struggles with latency, and I'd rather spend $$ on more hardware than a new MBP.
Any and all suggestions and advice are welcome. I don't know if it's possible to achieve everything I want (grand piano action, true synths, good orchestra section, portability) in a single board. For the money of a NS3 or Roland Fantom I could buy the RD2000 and something like the Korg Prologue or Behringer DeepMind to complement it, and then run a 2board setup with RD2000 on the bottom and either Nord Electro or synth on top, depending on the gig.
Thanks!
I'm a classically trained pianist but play a lot of jazz, funk, R&B, blues, rock, etc. I haven't gigged in a while due to Covid but am in a band again and looking to upgrade my rig. My current setup is an old Roland RD700GX (88key) with a Nord Electro 4D 61SW on top. I love the Nord for organ work with the physical drawbars & waterfall keys, and the EP sounds are great too, so I am thinking I'll keep it. The Roland has been a trusty board for over 10 yrs but is now technically inferior to today's offerings, so is due for a replacement.
My new band plays a lot of 80s covers and I find my rig just isn't cutting the mustard when it comes to synth sounds. I need to be able to replicate (or get close to) tones from the likes of Parliament, Rufus, Londonbeat, Coldjack etc, as well as rock stuff like Rush, the Cars, and so on. I need to be able to save and store polyphonic synth patches as presets on a stage keyboard. Action is also really important to me since I don't own an acoustic piano at home (live in a condo). While this will primarily be for stage, I will also sit down at home to play Chopin, Debussy, Rachmaninov etc as well as Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea etc. It has to feel and sound real. So ideally, I'd like a new 88key stage piano with good action, a decent synth section, and good acoustic piano and orchestral sounds. EPs and organs are not as critical since I have the Nord.
So on to the options... I rented the Roland RD2000 for a while and fell in love with the PHA-50 action. It's probably the best DP action I've ever played for classical and jazz work. However (someone please correct if I'm wrong), it doesn't have a true on-board synth, just samples, and no arpeggiator or oscillators etc. I have heard there are downloads that expand the synth section a lot, but not sure how close the samples come to what I'm trying to cover. But maybe it would be good enough for my purposes. I also considered the Fantom 8 (same action plus a real synth), but it's $2k more, a lot bigger/heavier (not ideal for gigging), and is geared more towards music production. I wouldn't use 90% of its features. I also tried the Nord Stage 3 and liked the onboard synth. I'm not crazy about the action however and it also makes my Electro a bit redundant. I've also never been a fan of Nord's string and horns sounds, even the ones from the sample library. They just sound flat and artificial to my ears compared to the offerings from Roland and Korg.
Finally, I've heard good things about the Korg Nautilus and the Kronos (now discontinued I think?) as well as the Yamaha Montage, but haven't had the opportunity to play either of these, so not sure how they stack up.
I know a lot of people love the RD2000 and just use VSTs for synth sounds and patches, but I'm old-school and prefer an all-hardware setup without a need to bring a laptop to gigs. My MacBook is 10yrs old and struggles with latency, and I'd rather spend $$ on more hardware than a new MBP.
Any and all suggestions and advice are welcome. I don't know if it's possible to achieve everything I want (grand piano action, true synths, good orchestra section, portability) in a single board. For the money of a NS3 or Roland Fantom I could buy the RD2000 and something like the Korg Prologue or Behringer DeepMind to complement it, and then run a 2board setup with RD2000 on the bottom and either Nord Electro or synth on top, depending on the gig.
Thanks!