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Average rating:
4.1 out of 5
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This is the digital piano for analogue synthesists. I don't know really much about workstations or romplers, but this keyboard is worth its weight in gold for synthesists who tend toward impractical things like analogue modulars. Some analogue effects such as chorus and tremelo sit atop an additive synthesizer. There are only a handful of presets, but they are all good. The acoustic pianos sound fine to me, as does the electric pianos. All of the series is basically the same internally (RD200, 250s, 300, 300s). Ingore people who say otherwise. Keyboard action is great, kind of stiff a bit too "linear" feeling. Makes a fine midi controller though, but watch out for the lack of pitch bend of mod wheel. The sound is golden- detailed, warm (!!), fast, dynamic, capable of some grit as well at lower registeres. Perhaps gigasampler blows it away. . . but the interface is great.
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I purchased my RD-300 new in 1986. Rolands state-of-the-art sound synthesis digital piano. 8 sounds. Piano 1, sample of a Bosendorfer Grand. Piano 2, Steinway Grand. Piano 3, Yamaha Electric (popular electric piano of the '80s) Harpsicord, Clavi.(sounds great with the Chorus) Vibraphone, Electric Piano 1 - Fender Rhodes, Electric Piano 2 - DX7. This was the daddy-of-them-all digital piano of it's day. I saw this keyboard in bands from Diamond Rio to Hank Jr. It's a big, heavy keyboard compared to today's rigs. I have the original manual. Great weighted action - never had a problem. Only replaced the midi jacks and the Volume control sliders. I've recently had to face the fact that there are better piano sounds out there, but still in a live band application, a little chorus, a pinch of delay and some good reverb and the right EQ and this rig still sounds great. It's a great 88 midi controller. Not a lot of bells & whistles, but it can transmit on 2 midi channels simultaneously,with volume control on each, plus use the on-board sounds. Easy programs changes and key-transpose. Has keyboard split function, on-board chorus & tremolo. Stereo outs, headphone jack, sustain pedal and soft pedal.Midi in,out,thru. Transmit & receive on all 16 midi channels. I made a lot of money with this keyboard.
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I am searching for a RD300 manual too if somebody might know an online version or something similar I'd really appreciate that! Thanks in advance, Chris
Review to the RD300: Just a quick Review on the Sounds: - Piano 1 to 3 are not really good for todays standart BUT the third one with Chorus or without lets you have some fun just the Sustain sounds really MIDI like with all of those Piano sounds. - The Clavinet without Chorus is quite funky! - Well the Fender Rhodes Sounds (the first) is the best part of this Keyboard, with Tremolo(switch on the Chorus for a deeper and/or faster Tremolo) it sounds really really good and can kinda replace the bad "pianosustainsounds" for Balads and that kind of stuff but really does a good Fender sound for the more funky tracks too! The second one is ok but I never use it since the first is definetly better! The Vibraphone is really cool for kind of pop-bells(listen to Soulsister: "The way to your Heart" I pretty conviced they use the RD300 Vibraphone... however ;) the harpsichord well, - I don't like the weighting of the Keys for classical music so I never use it but its ok!
I bought that Keyboard for 300�(euro) which I think is a really fair price for that keyboard!
bye, Chris www.funkymania.de
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I'm the same guy who wrote a review on this module 3 or 4 years ago. About 2 months after I wrote that review, my church had to take theirs in for repair. One of the keys had stopped working correctly. Apparently it was in the shop for about 3 months and they decided the best thing to do would be to just buy something new. So they bought a Roland FP9. Nice unit by the way. Anyway, I knew that Shivelbine's (the place they originally bought it in 1990) still had the unit so I asked them if I could buy it from them. They told me that they hadn't messed with it in a while and was suprised I even knew about it. I explained how I knew they had it and they said right now it wasn't even in playing condition and wasn't sure if it'd be possible to get it back in playing condition. So about 4 weeks later after continually emailing the owner, they had informed me it was playable and they would sell it to me. So I traded in my Casio WK-1200 (suprisingly they took the piece of junk) and I got $100 bucks off. I paid $300 for the RD-300.
They must have done a good job on fixing it because I haven't had a problem with it since I got it in 2/00. Although in July of 2000 I had a glass of tea sitting on it (I think by now you should be able to tell where this story is going) and well somehow I managed to knock it over and the tea went all over, into the keys, all in inside. I quickly picked it up (with some help, ofcourse) and turned it over and layed it on the bed to drain out. I left it liked that the entire night. Then that morning we turned it back over and I turned it on. Well the middle G key made some weird noise, and other keys made clicking noises. Also the last few keys were sticking a little. But it was playable.
Still today the G key sorta makes a little noise and those upper keys still stick (not that it affects me since I don't use those keys). But other than that, all the keys are fine. I never did get it cleaned although I still think I should.
Its a nice unit I think. Although it is quite outdated and the sounds may be the crappiest by todays standards, I would replace it if it ever was stolen or became inoperable. I've got an Alesis NanoPiano which I use sometimes. But a lot of times I still use the onboard sounds. If you've got this unit, I recommend using Piano 3 w/ Chorus. Thats my favorite sound. Or Piano 2 w/ Chorus and a little Tremolo. The electric piano's are the most realistic I think.
Like I said in my original review 3 or 4 years ago. I would not recommend this keyboard if you aren't planning on getting some kind of sound module to replace the awful sounds.
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I bought this unit when it was a new product way back when. I just recently got it out of storage where it had been for lack of space (this rig is big and heavy by today's standards for a digital piano). The onboard acoustic "piano" sounds are lame but the E pianos are good, as are the harpsi and vibraphone (if you really need those things). Where this board shines though is its action. It's heavy and slow - much more like a true grand piano than anything I've tried at the stores lately. Hook it up to a good keyboard module, shut your eyes and play - chances are you'll believe you're sitting in front of the real thing. I should be ashamed of myself for keeping it out of my rig for so long.
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