I was wondering about a few things on this piano. I have one and I love it. But I was wondering if it sounds more like a piano when it is hooked up to a big sound system. All I am using is a little amp that really isn't even a real amp. I play it all the time and the sounds aren't the best sounding. When my churched has this piano it sounded much more like a piano. I think it is because it was used in a big room and was hooked up to the sound system. What are your opinions on this?

Does anyone have and RD-300? Certainly there must be someone. If any of you does have one, what are your opinions on this model?

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Ryan Stroup
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I own an RD-300

Ryan,

The RD300 is a wonderful piano - heavy as hell though. I'm sure there's LOTS of RD300 owners out there. I love mine. I also use it as my main controller for all my midi boards and modules.

With respect to the piano voices... a couple of things: Firstly, I've heard better. Heck, I have an E-mu Proteus ($400) that has a much better piano voicing. On the RD300, I find myself using Piano3 (3rd preset) most of the time. In addition, I tend to run the "brightness" slider all the way up.

When I first got the RD300 I ran it through a Peavey KB100 keyboard amp. Keyboard amps have the distinction of having a separate horn tweeter (for high frequency) from the bass/midrange. This brings out more of the brightness, which tends to get lost in live performance when you're playing with a full band (damn those guitar players). The KB100 is not robust enough to handle more than a small venue, so what I have done in the past is run an auxillary output from the back of the amp to a PA system - using my amp as a monitor (facing my ears). A nice luxury if you have it. The sound is much much much better, and you get stereo (by the way, the RD has one of the best on-board chorus processors to date).

*******sidebar discussion*******
Each amp lends it's own "seasoning" to the sound of your keyboard - you could go directly from your RD300 directly into the PA (as you'll see below), but you should also experiment with an auxilliary send (output generally found in the back of the amp) from an amp to the PA just to see what you like better.
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I have recently purchased my own PA (Yamaha EMX860ST stereo amp with two Yamaha 12SV speakers - about $900 out the door). What a difference!!!!

Bottom line, you'll never be happy with a mono amp. If you're on a budget, try a Roland or Peavey keyboard amp for $100 bucks or so. Then see if you can use your Church PA (I assume you use it at Church??). Also, let someone else play it for you so you can determine the set-up that brings satisfaction to your ear.

Good luck.

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Andrew

[This message has been edited by ski2u2 (edited 07-11-2000).]

Finally someone reply's. Well just recently my little speaker broke and so I am borrowing my church's Peavey that they had laying around collecting dust. They don't use it anymore because their new keyboard doesn't need an amp. So I have a much better speaker now. Doesn't really make any different in sound. I'm only a young teenager so I don't really have the money like you probably do. When my church had the RD-300 (its now mine) it was hooked up to their system and plus is was in a much larger environment. I believe thats why it sounded much more like a piano. It kind of hid the bad part of the sound. If I ever use it for something that needs to be hooked up to a big sound system I will bring along my tape recorder and see what it sounds like.

You are like me, I tend to use Piano 3 (Grand Electric Piano) alot myself, mostly with the chorus though. Piano 3 with chorus sounds wonderful. If you notice, Piano 3, with or without chorus, has a ching noise in it. That is really what I think makes Piano 3 sound good. Also, Piano 2 with chorus can sound good at times.

Also my big question that I'm wondering, is there anything I can do on the keyboard to make the voices (sounds) sound better?

Well thanks for replying and if you have ICQ, I would like to talk to you sometime. If you don't have ICQ, go to http:/www.icq.com and download ICQ2000a. I would really like to talk with you. Bye.

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Ryan Stroup
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I own an RD-300

Ryan,

Here's a thought: Do you own a stereo? If so, then you have a stereo amp. All you have to do is by two 1/4" to RCA adapters at Radio Shack for a buck or so. Then run your left and right keyboard outputs to "tape in" or "aux in" on your stereo. Whala... stereo RD300. One caution... the signal coming from the keyboard is very "hot" keep your stereo volume WAY LOW - it's the safest way to make sure you don't blow your speakers. Use your keyboard volume to get the loudness you want. Other way to do it, is to keep your keyboard volume low and adjust your stereo up; however, there's more chance of you accidentally pushing up the keyboard volume, and with that configuration it will only take a slight rise to blow your speakers... so I recommend the first method.

I remember being a teenager and having no money and being forced to come up with all kinds of hairball schemes to satisfy my musical desires. Then I realized I'll never make any money in music so I went to college and got a good job. Now I can buy anything I want... only problem is I've got no time to play

No method that I know of to modify the internal RD voices.


I'm on ICQ... I can't remember my number. I travel a lot for my job so I'm seldom on ICQ. If I remember (while I'm home for the weekend), I'll write it down and send you an e-mail. Otherwise, I'm not an expert, but if you have some queations you think I could answer, feel free to send an e-mail to me at "ski2u2@aol.com". I'll be happy to help out.

Oh, one other very important thing: Do you have headphones??? You'll get the best picture of the RD300's sound capability with head phones.

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Andrew

[This message has been edited by ski2u2 (edited 07-14-2000).]

Ski2U2,
I went to college too, and most of my friends that majored in music are now working jobs OUT of the field. I decided to leave after 2 years and PLAY. Best move I ever made. I've been a full time performer for 30 years, the kids (4) are all fed & clothed, single home in the burbs - 2 cars, etc. The point is - this IS my REAL job. A good job too. I can afford all the neat little toys I want, and I have all I reALLY NEED TO KEEP ME HAPPY. Don't try to discourage younger minds from a career in music. It's a darn good job, IF you have the talent and the discipline. I have both, and I thank God for the opportunity to share the music with thousands of others over the years. I'll bet you're not 1/2 as happy at work as I am! It's a blessing, for sure.

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Uncle Dave

Ryan,

If you're still following this thread... please don't misunderstand my comment about my decision to persue college rather than music. I certainly don't want to discourage you. As Dave says, if you have the talent and the discipline, it is a great thing to live out your creative dreams.

Dave, for the record, I've had several repeat gigs over the years. Having done both, I can safely say Corporate America couldn't hold a candle to a night on stage


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Andrew

Andrew,
I guess we agree then. I'm NOT a suit & tie kind of guy, so if I ever loose my voice or break my hands...all that leaves is doing DJ work. I'd rather be on stage than anywhere.

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Uncle Dave

Yep, I'm still following. I just have one question though. When my church owned the RD-300 it was in a big room and hooked up to their sound system. Well when it was played, the sounds sounded almost completely different from what I hear when I play it at home or listen to one of the tapes that they made in the sound room (when they had it). Like I said what I hear now and on their tapes is different from what my own tapes picked up and my ears picked up. The sounds are not completely different but almost (about 98% different). They sounded more piano like. Do you have any idea why this is. If you want to hear what my tapes picked up for yourself, let me know because I can easily make a recording thru the computer and send it to you. Let me know.

I know this is a REALLY old thread, but I'm actually the guy who started this thread. Obviously I thought I was convinced of something that simply wasn't true. The piano's really don't sound that much different. But I think what made the difference to my ears was the EQ's on the mixer and the acoustics of the building. I now have a pretty sophisticated setup at home and my RD-300 is hooked up to a reverb unit. I have my EQ's setup on my mixer and so the end result makes a very good piano sound. Still doesn't sound like an acoustic piano, but that's not the sound I am going for. I like that whole 80's electronic piano sound.

But like I say, I was wrong about the sound being "so different". I now play full time at my home church and we have a Roland FP-9 (we replaced the RD-300 with that keyboard), but the sounds are too acoustic for my taste. So I went and bought a Roland MKS-20 rackmount module which has all the sounds of the RD-300.

I kinda laugh at my posts now because I sounded so uninformed about everything. But I guess when you're 14, you're not expected to know everything.

[This message has been edited by RyanS (edited 01-27-2006).]

Ryan,

Great to hear you're still at it. Funny thing - I wander into SynthZone only a couple of times a year, and I happened to see your posting and re-read the thread this evening. Can't believe it's 6years old!

Keep on playing... I still cart my RD300 to my occassional gigs. Still heavy to lug.

Andrew

It's great to see both of you guys posting to this thread. I guess these forums are a bit like a time capsule. Even though 6 years does sound like a long time nothing has really changed too much over that time. We all still have that same passion for playing music and that is what really counts.

Hopefully we do get wiser and more mature as time goes past. But RD300 was a good piano back in 2000 and it still is. Sure sample ROM has grown over the yeats which sure helps but it is the feel combined with the sound that makes a digital piano fun to play. And like Ryan says tasteful FX processing and EQ can really make a useable sound into an inspiring sound.

Yeah, the MKS-20. Well it didn't turn out quite the way I expected, but you get the same feel from the sounds when you play it. The MKS-20 has the same voice arrangement, but they don't sound exactly like the RD-300. Piano 1 on the MKS sounds more like Piano 2 on the RD. Piano 2 is garbage all together. Piano 3 is identical to Piano 3 on the RD. Then you have your Harpichord, Clavi, Vibraphone, and 2 E. Piano's. They sound a little different on the MKS, but with some tweaks you can get it pretty close. The chorus is a little different on the MKS and I've yet to discover a way of making it sound exactly like the RD's chorus. Tremolo is about the same. I'm still happy with the MKS-20, but I feel like the RD-300 had warmer sounds and the chorus wasn't so "in your face".

Andrew, good to see you still visit this forum. It's hard to believe so much can change in just 6 years. I've learned a lot since then.