Looking at getting the RD-800 for our church.
Any owners happy to give me their pros and cons of this this board???
Love the idea of 4 sounds layered. But on the specs it only has 128 polyphony. My Fantom X which is just over 10 years old has 128 note polyphony. Has there not been any advancement in this? Using a lot of layers with rich pads it is easy for me to chew up voices so they start dropping off on the Fantom when playing live. So while I was really excited to see such an easy way to layer and control sounds the fact that it has only 128 notes polyphony worries me.
RD-800 pros and cons?
Re: RD-800 pros and cons?
Hi, I bought my RD800 a little before last Christmas and on the whole I love it. I have one or two gripes and will cover those in a moment.
First - you are concerned about note stealing. I too own a Fantom x7 and have noticed note stealing there from time to time. In the RD800 however I have not noticed note stealing. Is the system of priority better? I don't know. There may also be that I don't layer that heavily, I find that if I can't get the sound I'm after within a couple of layers then I'll go back to the X7 and create something or even get a sample of something close and adapt from there.
As a live keyboard - excellent. It is a joy to be able to control each layer as you want. I bought this board mostly due to the excellent piano and electric piano sounds (on a side by side comparison with a Nord Stage the RD is miles ahead). My most common layer is piano/strings or Rhodes/organ and for this it is great, I assign the organ or string to a Yamaha FC7 pedal and can control the volume from there. I also use a couple of other pedal for a) sustain and b) rotary simulation slow/fast.
In the studio the pianos record very well and on a side by side, recorded play back listening, it is hard to tell a real grand from the RD new grand.
Bad points - I come from a long history of hammond and synth playing and find the keybed very heavy. Lots of folk about saying how authentic it is but it is much heavier than my old upright joanna in the hallway. Playing fast synth or hammond type scrubs are not easy. I still own a VR760 which I use as a second tier whe playing live so the hammond issue not really an issue but it would have been good to be able to gig with just one board.
Bad point 2 - I was pleased to see that the Roland VR hammond engine is included and many of the usual hammond tweeks can be done (rotor speed, ramp speed, mic distance etc) What they have done is leave out a few of the essential bit to create a believable hammon, these being a) no 'leakage' adjustment b) no key click on/off c) no chorus/vibrato, you can assign one of the FX chorus to make up for this but is is clumsy to do so. d) although you can adjust the percussion you can not adjust its volume or re-charge rate. All a bit of a shame really as I'm sure it would not have been much effort to include these as it is existing technology and makes a real difference in my VR760.
Bad point 3 - power supply, what on earth were they thinking on this - first it is a silly little plus as you normally see on a radio and then they put it at the opposite end to what has become the normal - e.g. it's on the far right as you view from the back. Coupled with the fact it is a really short lead just means that getting power sorted when setting up live is a faff. I have bought a longer lead but it is still daft to have the power lead attachment the wrong end of the keyboard. This has been amplified by folk plugging the power into the wrong socket resulting in a recall in USA. the 'fix' is to attach the power lead in such a way you can no longer use a case to transport the board in.
Bad point 4 - keyboard shape. All of the leads are now on a slightly downward angled part of the keyboard. I, like most others' set up a gig and plug all my leads in when standing in front of the keyboard. This means you can not see the holes you're pushing into, you have to feel with your fingers and hope its right. You don't even get a helpful bit of text on the case saying 'midi in' 'sustain in' etc.. Sure you can walk around the back and crouch down and see the plug positions but who has time for that when setting up for a gig.
Reading back it looks like I don't like the RD much, this is not true. On the positive side the pianos, the electric pianos and clavs are extraordinary and when playing a piano patch the weight of the keybed is less of an issue. I do find my hands are very tired after a gig though and gigging several night in a row take it's toll and I have to rest my hands for a few days.
My kit consists of: RD 800, Fantom X7, VR760 into a pair of self powered EVSRA100 speakers for monitor via a small Alesis mixer that also send a mix of my keyboards to the main desk.
First - you are concerned about note stealing. I too own a Fantom x7 and have noticed note stealing there from time to time. In the RD800 however I have not noticed note stealing. Is the system of priority better? I don't know. There may also be that I don't layer that heavily, I find that if I can't get the sound I'm after within a couple of layers then I'll go back to the X7 and create something or even get a sample of something close and adapt from there.
As a live keyboard - excellent. It is a joy to be able to control each layer as you want. I bought this board mostly due to the excellent piano and electric piano sounds (on a side by side comparison with a Nord Stage the RD is miles ahead). My most common layer is piano/strings or Rhodes/organ and for this it is great, I assign the organ or string to a Yamaha FC7 pedal and can control the volume from there. I also use a couple of other pedal for a) sustain and b) rotary simulation slow/fast.
In the studio the pianos record very well and on a side by side, recorded play back listening, it is hard to tell a real grand from the RD new grand.
Bad points - I come from a long history of hammond and synth playing and find the keybed very heavy. Lots of folk about saying how authentic it is but it is much heavier than my old upright joanna in the hallway. Playing fast synth or hammond type scrubs are not easy. I still own a VR760 which I use as a second tier whe playing live so the hammond issue not really an issue but it would have been good to be able to gig with just one board.
Bad point 2 - I was pleased to see that the Roland VR hammond engine is included and many of the usual hammond tweeks can be done (rotor speed, ramp speed, mic distance etc) What they have done is leave out a few of the essential bit to create a believable hammon, these being a) no 'leakage' adjustment b) no key click on/off c) no chorus/vibrato, you can assign one of the FX chorus to make up for this but is is clumsy to do so. d) although you can adjust the percussion you can not adjust its volume or re-charge rate. All a bit of a shame really as I'm sure it would not have been much effort to include these as it is existing technology and makes a real difference in my VR760.
Bad point 3 - power supply, what on earth were they thinking on this - first it is a silly little plus as you normally see on a radio and then they put it at the opposite end to what has become the normal - e.g. it's on the far right as you view from the back. Coupled with the fact it is a really short lead just means that getting power sorted when setting up live is a faff. I have bought a longer lead but it is still daft to have the power lead attachment the wrong end of the keyboard. This has been amplified by folk plugging the power into the wrong socket resulting in a recall in USA. the 'fix' is to attach the power lead in such a way you can no longer use a case to transport the board in.
Bad point 4 - keyboard shape. All of the leads are now on a slightly downward angled part of the keyboard. I, like most others' set up a gig and plug all my leads in when standing in front of the keyboard. This means you can not see the holes you're pushing into, you have to feel with your fingers and hope its right. You don't even get a helpful bit of text on the case saying 'midi in' 'sustain in' etc.. Sure you can walk around the back and crouch down and see the plug positions but who has time for that when setting up for a gig.
Reading back it looks like I don't like the RD much, this is not true. On the positive side the pianos, the electric pianos and clavs are extraordinary and when playing a piano patch the weight of the keybed is less of an issue. I do find my hands are very tired after a gig though and gigging several night in a row take it's toll and I have to rest my hands for a few days.
My kit consists of: RD 800, Fantom X7, VR760 into a pair of self powered EVSRA100 speakers for monitor via a small Alesis mixer that also send a mix of my keyboards to the main desk.
Re: RD-800 pros and cons?
Thanks cvselman! That's answered a lot of my questions.
I know you have an x7 so I figure you might have tried out an x8.
1. I'm wondering if the action is more similiar to the x8?
2. Do you know if it is hard to midi another keyboard up to it to take advantage of the RD sounds?
I know you have an x7 so I figure you might have tried out an x8.
1. I'm wondering if the action is more similiar to the x8?
2. Do you know if it is hard to midi another keyboard up to it to take advantage of the RD sounds?
Re: RD-800 pros and cons?
Hi, the keyboard action on x8 is very different. Its not that the x8 is bad, just mot as good. The Rd 800 has little hammers under the keys to make it ferl like the movements of real piano.
Ive not connected to rd with midi. Im a live player and can get all the mix, layer and zones I need from rd. When recording or if I need a better controller I use my X7. I also have vr760 which is a great controller too.
Ive not connected to rd with midi. Im a live player and can get all the mix, layer and zones I need from rd. When recording or if I need a better controller I use my X7. I also have vr760 which is a great controller too.
Re: RD-800 pros and cons?
Thanks heaps cvselman!
We've bought the RD-800 and I have to say out of the box I really like how easy this board is to use. It is very intuitive and the action and sound are very good.
I have to agree with you on the slope of the back of the board. I've put it in my studio for a few days to program some live sets to recall at church and I had to crawl under the board to hook it up because I have it near a wall.
It is so easy to use. I'm really liking this board. It will be ideal for the more technically challenged keyboard players at church and sufficient for those who want to do more.
Thanks for your posts.
We've bought the RD-800 and I have to say out of the box I really like how easy this board is to use. It is very intuitive and the action and sound are very good.
I have to agree with you on the slope of the back of the board. I've put it in my studio for a few days to program some live sets to recall at church and I had to crawl under the board to hook it up because I have it near a wall.
It is so easy to use. I'm really liking this board. It will be ideal for the more technically challenged keyboard players at church and sufficient for those who want to do more.
Thanks for your posts.