Hello out there,

I'm a pianist (classical skilled) and looking for a stage piano. It's
important to me that the piano has a 'real' (?) piano-keyboard, and
that the piano-sounds are as good as possible. I need the instrument
for live-performing (classical, but also pop-music) and as a
studio-instrument.

I find those qualities in the Roland RD-700 and the XV-88, but I want
to know what the big differences are between those two instruments
(the hammer keyboard, the hammond-sounds of the RD, the
synthesizer-qualities of the XV,...). Perhaps, someone has dealt with
the same problem and can help me finding the right instrument...

Thank you for your time...

A thread on which I posed the same question: http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum21/HTML/001120.html

Not a huge load of info there, but it might help a little. Maybe some of the new guys around here have more to add.

Really, I think you'd be best served going to Roland's site and reading everything you can about the instruments, then find all the reviews you can online and elsewhere. Saturate yourself with hard, cold, nuts and bolts info about patches, expandability, polyphony, all that.

Then go to a music store and spend as long as you need actually playing the two instruments. Fool around with them just in general, then put yourself in an imaginary performance situation and put yourself through some paces (changes presets, playing some pieces you know you'll want to be playing, etc.).

I would, however, also consider the Yamaha P-series.

Good luck.