Me, I’d go for a nice B3 over the theater organ, but I get your point..! 😂🎹

Curiously, my old Kurzweil K2500S has a 76 action that splits the difference between synth action and piano, but it still retains the piano’s sharper edges, and to be honest, so do most synth actions. Heavier than any synth, lighter than most pianos. It works pretty well, and with full sized keys it allows me to be fairly pianistic on it (getting up in between the blacks when needed e.g.). It’s not a waterfall, but the lowered resistance helps to not snag your palm during smears and falls.

I think it’s a Fatar action, but I haven’t found it on anything other than Kurzweil’s…

As to plastic actions, I absolutely LOVE the action on my G70’s 76. A fraction heavier than say a PA4/5x 76 or most 61’s, but the main thing was firstly, full sized black keys, and secondly, the dropped the stupid fake plastic overhang to the keys, so despite not being a true waterfall action, there’s nothing to snag your hand doing smears.

Roland used this action on the G1000 (a fraction lighter, maybe a lighter spring), the VA76 the G70 and the A70 controller keyboard (got one of those!), but all modern Roland’s are using Chinese actions, and they cannot replicate this action (possibly because it was more expensive and heavier than they want nowadays).

So there’s two GREAT actions no longer available. 🥺

Even more troublingly, several new keyboard workstations are coming out with full 88 piano actions, but the middle size 73/76’s are also fully weighted piano actions, meaning only the 61 is a synth action. I cannot understand that logic… if you want fully weighted, it’s because you’re a pianist, and if you’re a pianist you NEED an 88. But the 76 synth weight has long been the ideal action for a gigging keyboardist needing room for BOTH sounds when split (and enough notes for a reasonable piano part) and a light enough action for the 80% of his gig that isn’t playing piano.

I hope this trend doesn’t become the norm…

Hi Diki,

I agree.

The new trend of using weighted action for 73 & 76 key models does not make much sense.

I wish manufacturers would standardize on the 73-key version with Synth Action Keys.

The 73-key version is not only more compact, the black & white key cadence looks less confusing.


Here is how the Yamaha Montage M7 76-key version looks:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MontageM7--yamaha-montage-m7-76-key-synthesizer

Here is how the Roland VR-730 73-key layout looks:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/...rmance-keyboard

My preference is the 73-key layout.


Yes, the synth action on the Roland G70 is ideal. Roland has always been the king of hardware, especially those before they switched to the Chinese actions. Roland gear is indestructible.

I have a Roland RD-700GX Stage Piano. It uses the PHA-2 action. It performs flawlessly after 16 years without a single issue. Roland hit it out of the ballpark with their Expressive Grand Factory Preset. Each of the 88 notes was individually multi-sampled from a Steinway Model D at different velocities.

The Expressive Grand is a joy to play on a PHA-2 action keybed. The keys are fast. They respond like the crack of a whip. They have just the right amount of heaviness. It seems like Roland optimized the PHA-2 action for extracting every nuance from their signature Expressive Grand Steinway sample.

The PHA-4 action on the Roland RD-88 does not have the heft. It feels like plastic.

The PHA-50 action on the Roland RD-2000 feels too damped and sluggish compared to the PHA-2 action on the RD-700GX.

While I have both the RD-88 and RD-2000, I always use the RD-700GX to practice my piano sessions. The Expressive Grand sampled piano is miles ahead of the newer modeled pianos that Roland introduced in the RD-2000. Roland needs to bring back the Expressive Grand. This was their crowning achievement.

You would not find a single user complaining about this Piano-A preset on the RD-700GX or its snappy PHA-2 action.

I like the FSX Synth action on the Yamaha Genos 2. It is good for playing every voice except the Piano.

I found this listing of all keyboard actions by Manufacturer and Model here:


https://chellos-keyboard-players-club.com/thread-15594.html


The Roland A-70, G-70 and G-1000 that you mentioned all use the FATAR TP/8S key action.


https://www.roland.com/au/products/a-70/

I’m not that happy with a 73… after 30 years of 76 being the standard, I see no reason to drop to 73 other than the few people that want to ape the Rhodes 73, and quite honestly, most of the Rhodes purists prefer the Suitcase 88 anyway.

At least they got the low note right… if you’re covering LH bass, you want that low E for the full 4 string range, and a low C is generally unrealistic unless the original was a 5 string bass.

I just don’t understand the need to ‘fix’ something that wasn’t broke! Especially when the ‘fix’ is to give you less… 🙄🎹

Hi Diki,

76-key with a synth action is fine with me. No need to change an established standard.

Here is an excellent demo of the Roland V-Stage Piano by Katsunori.
He knows how to make any instrument shine while exploring the presets and explaning the features.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH3yU-4OpP0


The Roland V-Stage sounds great. They somewhat copied the Norg Stage 4 hands on interface and presented a much more affordable instrument that many would embrace with open arms.

The real fun would begin when Behringer clones the V-Stage and undercuts Roland. That would complete the circle.

That's very much true. A 76 is perfect when you split the keyboard at C4. The lowest E can be the lowest note as you would have on a bass guitar, and since I played bass my brain can easily picture the whole bass guitar layout in the left section. When I used a 61 key, it was always awkward to have C as the lowest note, and I had only 2 octaves for the left hand which is doable, but not as fluid like on a 76, I wouldn't want to go back to a 61 key that's for sure.


Yamaha made a 73 keys digital piano, the P-121, the short version of the P-125 (88 keys).

I'm surprised that no one came up with a key bed that you could adjust mechanically by disengaging the weights from the keys, and than just have a spring (semi-weight) action key, 'cause it does make a difference when you play synth or piano patches.

It wouldn't be that difficult to build this hybrid key bed, where you would either have a lever that would shift all the weights sideways, disengaging them from the keys, or instead of a lever, you would have an electric (step) motor doing the same thing, plus you could save this in the registration memory if you wanted weights with that patch or not, and with the push of a button you would change things easily. While the keys themselves would have to be designed to have the shape suitable for both scenarios.