Roland Clan Forums

I have bought a RD-2000 as my very first keyboard due to its really amazing key action feel.
I could have gone with the FD90 but I figure that the 2k, should I get some skill in a year or two, has the bigger ceiling in sounds and whatnot.

However, the pricing still stung my wallet bad, and now I'm wondering about key action resilience.

Right now, I am a bloody beginner and I have the weakest hands possible.
I am using the "Jazz Scat" tone as a benchmark for velocity since it has that nice "dow!" sound at the highest velocity range.

Thing is, on standard, "medium" settings, I can only achieve that if I do the sharpest downward thrust of my fingers I can muster, and even then, it often barely scratches that peak range.
Only if I use two fingers and a super decisive downward "snap", bottoming out it is the most consistent.
I'm not doing any meteor strikes or anything, just "bam" down go the fingers as if the thing owes me money and won't give it up until I give it a stinging slap across the face.
(Not that my baby hands generate much force...)

Am I risking damage to the keys? My fingers really are weaksauce,
Do you guys just don't give a hoot and just let those arms and wrists fly into the keybed when it's needed?
(I'm starting with Hanon so I'm not using my wrists or arms to add to the force for now)


Would really ease my mind...

Especially if you could give me some reassurance that with further finger strenght/training things become more smooth and not as snappy, unless snappy, again, doesn't matter and the RD can just take that no worries.

Thanks.

Okay I found it out.
It turns out that the keys do break when one plays at anything above forte.
Save your money, guys. This thing is only good for soft legatos.

nonsens. I hit the keys as hard as i can sometimes (and i can hit them hard). No problem. Terrific key action

Spo Elman wrote:nonsens. I hit the keys as hard as i can sometimes (and i can hit them hard). No problem. Terrific key action

I see, hopefully this is true. Right now I'm about to send my unit back because it had those "clicking" keys another user had problem with, from the start, as well.

And, yeah, perhaps it is nonsense, but not only did the clicking worry me, but I didn't get an answer for my question in quite some time.
A question anyone could have answered, really, but nobody bothered to.

Until I deliberately fibbed one, myself.

Guess it's true. If you want an answer for your question on the internet, the most surefire way is to post a wrong answer.

nope, but i don't watch the posts here every week... ;-)

I've had the same issue with my older RD-300NX. I have to change the velocity sensitivity on a lot of the patches otherwise I have to slam on the keys to get the maximum velocity. Fortunately no keys have broken!

BabyhandsMcGee wrote:Okay I found it out.
It turns out that the keys do break when one plays at anything above forte.
Save your money, guys. This thing is only good for soft legatos.

Sorry dude, but it seems as you say, you have little skill at this point. Keep practising.

There is a hell of a difference between hitting the keys like a Philistine using a hammer, and having the technique and finger muscle development (which takes time and constant practise) to hit a key very fast, but not hard.

There is absolutely NO need to drive a key through the bottom of the keyboard just because you are hitting it fast. You can hit fast and still not over hit the key.

It seems that you have bought more keyboard than your skills can make use of at this point.

Only practise can improve that situation. Not money, not brute force, not excuses.

Lastly, I don't believe the keys on this board are at all weak. RD stage pianos have been around for many years now, and are used by thumpers as well as more tactile pianists, and I'm not aware of people complaining about them breaking.

Obviously if you start playing it with your Doc Martins, then you take your own chances.