New: Roland RD-08 Stage Piano

[xp30]

The RD-08 looks very similar to the RD-88. It looks like a slightly more affordable version of the RD-88.

https://www.roland.com/global/products/rd-08/

[DesertBoat]

Looking at the MIDI implementation manual, the SysEx memory map is essentially identical, and it uses the same SysEx device identification - so it really is a RD-88 in new clothes, and maybe a few less scenes, and slightly changed interface overlaying the same engine.

[xp30]

I would be interested in an RD-73 or RD-76. And I think that the combination of RD-73/76 and RD-88 would also sell better than the combination of RD-08 and RD-88.

Other companies have 73 and 88 key variants for their stage pianos. Korg has the SV2, Clavia the Nord Piano 5 and Studiologic the Numa X Piano. If I look at my sources for sales numbers in my region, then the ratio for these products between 73/76 and 88 keys is approximately 9 to 11. It is strange that Roland seems to ignore this market.

[DesertBoat]

Now we have the rest of the story - you can buy additional features from Roland Cloud, including the USB audio compliance. So it is designed to put more focus on Roland Cloud.

https://www.roland.com/us/products/rc_rd-08_upgrade

Sound and feature upgrade for the RD-08 Stage Piano
SuperNATURAL Acoustic Piano 3
Apple MainStage integration
Support for Wave Expansions on Roland Cloud
USB audio interface capabilities
Upgrade available with a Lifetime Key purchase in Roland Cloud Manager

Wave Expansions are available with Roland Cloud membership or Lifetime Key purchases in Roland Cloud Manager.

[DesertBoat]

One of the more interesting new features is the Supernatural Acoustic Piano 3, which right now only appears on the Fantom EX upgrade. Now that they have developed the content, I would be surprised if it doesn't show up eventually for the RD-88, or even the RD-2000 as a RC purchase.

RC doesn't show the RD-08 expansion price yet, so no way to compare the overall value proposition yet.

[DesertBoat]

ADMINS -

I see you have now all disabled PMs - so don't know how to contact the team and recommend that the RD-08 be added to this group instead of starting a new one - it appears functionally similar to the RD-88 - you just have to buy back some of the capability and extensions on Roland Cloud.

[DesertBoat]

We now know the price of the upgrade - just posted in RC - $299. So this brings you back to the same price as the 88, less buttons, knobs, and scenes, but with the SA3 piano and class audio support.

[xp30]

Thomann currently lists the RD-08 for 989 EUR (1075 USD) and the RD-88 for 1157 EUR (1257 USD), including VAT. The RD-08 Upgrade costs 300 USD. At the moment, the RD-08 with the RD-08 Upgrade is more expensive than the RD-88. This looks odd.

I expect that the price of the RD-08 will drop soon, or that the RD-88 will be discontinued, or both.

I understand why Roland is pushing their cloud offerings. For indirect sales through a shop like Thomann, Roland only gets a fraction of what the end customers are paying, I guess around 35-40%. This is different for direct sales through their cloud platform.