Replacing my Roland with Kurzweil, Good Decision?

[rickdwyer]

I have a Roland RD-700SX and perform professionally in various chamber ensembles performing classical arrangements. Piano and harpischord are very important. I am considering the purchase of a Kurzweil SP3X or PC3X having been told by the all knowing sales guy at the local store that the Kurzweil produces a much better piano sound. Interesting though is that the store does not have a single Kurzweil on display.

What are your thoughts? Does the Kurzweil have better piano sounds? Relative to both of my Kurzweil choices how easy is it to layer patches? I do perform some pops arrangements in local clubs and want to easily and quickly layer sounds.

Is the additional cost of the PC3X justifiable? Yes it has a sequencer that I might use but it is not a major factor.

In advance, thanks for the advice.

 

[Neo_rolandva76]

no...

tou should not to do that...

Roland RD700GX is better than kurzweil SP3x...

roland`s feature is more than great...

 

[shaneffrenchrolandplayer]

the man is right the rd is one of the best piano sounds you can get for the money.....the problem in sound must be in your amplifacitation because the rds piano is one of the most superior......kurz. keyboards are good controllers but whoever told ya they sound better are so full of s**t

 

[kanthos]

Don't buy without trying, but keep an open mind. Everyone has a particular sound in mind and particular preferences. I personally find Kurz piano sounds to be better than Roland too, but it really comes down to what you like. Don't trade in what you have without being able to hear and compare. The bigger question: are you happy with the sound you have? If so, why switch?

 

[Mourndark]

+1 to that, kanthos. Try them out and go with whichever YOU think sounds best, not what the salesman says!

 

[ianpolinar]

Don't buy without trying, but keep an open mind. Everyone has a particular sound in mind and particular preferences. I personally find Kurz piano sounds to be better than Roland too, but it really comes down to what you like. Don't trade in what you have without being able to hear and compare. The bigger question: are you happy with the sound you have? If so, why switch?

+1 Kanthos!
I believe that the wisest way for picking the right KBoard to ourself
it should be to try, to listen, to play (possibly with more time and calmness)
before to decide finally what's "the" keyboard, what's "the one"for us.
IMHO acoustic pianos and harpischords from Clavia-Nord are the best overall
and the Kurzweil pianos are good second
as I consider Roland or Yamaha pianos very good and they have nice keybeds, oh yeah, but their sound is too much perfect,
and a bit "glacial" because their acoustic pianos are without any imperfections, just that imperfection
that make the listening to the swedish pianos more warm and so lovely to play!
That's my very personal taste,obviously.
Everyone has his own tastes ... and the choice of instrument is always very subjective

 

[delaware dave]

The PC3x will blow the doors off of the Roland in every category except ..... acoustic piano.

 

[ootini]

In my opinion Roland JV/XP Piano < Kurzweil K2000 Piano < Roland A90 Piano = Roland RD700 Piano

 

[delaware dave]

The k2000 is more than a 20 year old product. Why would you put something like that in the comparison to a keyboard that is just a few years old?

 

[ootini]

Because 20 years ago Kurzweil acoustic piano samples were pretty much as good as the Roland JV/XP samples were ten years later.

 

[delaware dave]

Wouldn't disagree with you..... however the thread was about a Roland RD-700SX and perhaps swapping that out with a Kurz PC3X/SP3X. Both keyboards are around the same era (i.e. just a few years old) an he was looking for advice between these two keyboards. Guess I was puzzled by the relevancy of the Roland JV/XP and the K2000 entering the discussion. Why not also include a Yamaha S90ES into the discussion? or a Nord Stage 2? See where my confusion was coming from?

 

[ootini]

Ahh yes, sorry I was just giving my experience, which is with JV/XP Rolands and the Kurzweils.
Basically I started with a Roland XP80, then added a K2000vp to my rig which took over piano duties, due to the better samples. Then added a Roland A90, which also, in turn took over piano duties.
I see you're point though.

 

[chescovsky]

.....................DREAM THEATER COVER: FATAL TRAGEDY SOLO ON KURZWEIL K2600XS

 

[ootini]

And in the mean time.....

I'm now running a slightly different rig. I've got a Kurzweil PC3K6 sat on a Roland A90ex and to be honest, the Kurzweil sounds immeasurably better in almost every way than the Roland, APART from the pianos! The Roland A90ex still has a nicer acoustic piano than the Kurzweil, but everything else on the Kurzweil is superior. But then that's basically to be expected, the VE-RD1 board in the Roland allocates a lot of memory just to the stereo acoustic piano samples, and wraps them all up in one of the best keybeds ever made. Kurzweil on the other hand built an utter monster of a synth that can give "almost" any other synth a pretty good run for it's money.
So it's down to what you want; nothing but pianos pick up the Roland (RD700 in this case), you want a jack of all traders (and nearly master of them too) grab the Kurzweil. But this advice still isn't as good as what you were given above, "listen to them all and make up your own mind."