Chas, give those bad knees and hips a break. Buy yourself a Bruno Stair Lift - you will love it!

I purchased this device for my wife about 4 years ago so she could get downstairs to the basement family room. However, because of my distal neuropathy I use it every day because I can no longer negotiate stairways safely. It is a true life saver, at least for me. It was not that expensive and the company installed it in a few hours.

Us old guys have to help each other when the need arises,

Gary (The old codger!)

Gary, I considered a stairlift as long as three or four years ago; Heck, I even considered an elevator (the $35,000 sort of discouraged me ). The main reason I haven't gone that route is the high probability of my selling this house in the near future. I live alone in a fairly large house and with contracted lawn service, landscaping services, weekly house-cleaning services, and heating and cooling a lot of air in largely unused spaces, maintenance can be fairly expensive. Plus, I'd like to be a little closer to my son and grandkids. I'm getting some cortisone shots in the knees and hips next week, so I'll see how much that helps. I may still do the stairlift thing, I'll see what my son thinks. Have a good day.

chas

OK. Many months have passed. How is the FP E50? What is happening with the arranger feature? Does it support other Roland styles? I am seriously thinking about getting this due to wanting a nice piano first and all else I'll take!

Zuki, I've had mine for awhile now and it faithfully does what I bought it for, a digital piano with a few scaled-down arranger features. I would characterize it as 85% piano/15% arranger. The modeled piano is great, the ZenCore based pianos are OK as are the other handful of instruments included (more are available for purchase).

I bought mine because I wanted a piano-based keyboard in my office which is on the main level of my house. With my worsening arthritis, I didn't want to have to constantly have to navigate the stairs to my basement ('terrace level' here in Georgia ) studio and/or rehearsal room every time I felt like playing for ten minutes (my stamina is 10% of what it used to be). The FP-e50 is perfect for this as it has the (very minimal but adequate) arranger features, Mic input with dedicated Mic effects, performance recording (but not multi-track), and very capable built-in speakers. As a gear hoarder with tons of unused gear, I added a DP32 SD to the rig so I could multi-track if I wanted to.

For a grand, you aren't going to get a Nord Stage 4, but if it's features meet your requirements, it's a great bang-for-the-buck. One cautionary note: If you intend to use it for gigging, that sucker is HEAVY. Also, it DOES NOT play regular Roland styles. I'm not a 'styles' player so that does not bother me. If you just use the drums (which I do), you'll probably be happy, as the drums are very, very good IMO. Keybed is OK if you're a pianist. I would classify it as somewhere between semi-weighted and weighted. Not nearly as "weighted" as my Crumar SEVEN (which I have finally gotten used to - feels like old original Rhodes).

So, to conclude, if you're mainly interested in a good piano, this unit will be hard to beat in it's price range.

chas

Thanks Chas. Seems like a dream machine, with many features. I have too many questions to pull the trigger. Like you, wanted a piano, but they teased us with the arranger function. Seems the style components don't allow much editing, saving, volume controls and the like. But would love to see one. I should live without an arranger for a while

You should. It'll do wonders for your playing (actually that's true, I'm sure Bill Lewis, Paul, and other pianist-types will back me up on that). Of course your approach to playing will be quite different. You may have to cut off your left hand, grow a new one, and start all over again . I'm not saying give up the arranger (still the best instrument for solo gigging - when used with good taste), but it's kind of refreshing using that left hand to reach for keys instead of buttons, switches, and mod wheels - makes you feel more like a musician (JMO).

Good luck 'cause I know you're going to get something (the second your wife isn't looking ). We can feel the creeping gear lust all the way over here .

chas

Chas, I too, really like Stu's video demos and he seems to really like this board. I like the scene settings and now understand the mod wheels might change the complexity/blend of the style itself. Definitely picking this up soon. Still playing live arranger gigs at 20/mo or so. Love the 4X, always will. This will be for fun and videos........ to come Thx for your thoughts on it!

Chas, you also mentioned 'use just the drums'. Can the style be picked apart like that? Not much information on that section.

Zuki, sadly the style itself can't be edited. However, if you push 'START' with the 'accompaniment' turned off, it will play just the drums of the selected style. It would be nice if it would also play just the DRUMS AND BASS of the style. Maybe in a future update. Sounds like a 2 minute software fix. It does include a very flexible chord sequencer (or as I call it, Diki's Dream) which can be useful for learning a new song (it can be programmed off-line) or just 'fun' playing. I have included a link which goes into more detail about the accompaniment feature. Hope that helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f-unNRTGrI&ab_channel=MerriamMusic

chas

Zuki, forgot to mention; there are some 'killer' organs in there but ONLY if you know how to use them. Optimally, you will need an expression pedal and you will need to polish up your mod wheel skills. No 'drawbar' control but all the traditional organ sounds are there with some particularly good percussive (Jimmy Smith - 888) sounds. In a band setting, you'd be able to cover the organ parts with no problem. There are also some decent Rhodes/Wurly type El pianos in there as well (as long as you don't play them next to a Crumar SEVEN ).

Biggest downside (for some) - charging ($5.00/ea.) for additional sound/style packs. Oh well, nothings perfect and if you're satisfied with the on-board sounds, you can always just skip it.

chas