Product: Gem RealPiano Studio
Price Paid: 550 (GBP) used
Submitted
07/06/2004
at
10:58am
by
dave
Ease of Use
:
9
Standard operation is very straightforward with separate buttons for each voice, plus buttons for reverb, dsp effects and touch (3 levels each), and brilliance and tranposition controls as well.
More complex operations, including most MIDI operations and fine tuning, are conducted through the use of a Master Set button. You'll need the manual to know what the different master set keys are, but it's easy to look up and remember.
Features
:
10
As a digital piano, it has just 8 on-board sounds. However, with reverb, dsp, touch, brilliance, tranposition, fine tuning, it doesn't lack variety and features.
In addition, the MIDI support is excellent, with full Program and Control support, local on/off, full channel selection both in and out, including multi-timbral support using all 8 instruments simultaneously, and MIDI IN/OUT and THRU ports at the back.
Also has ths standard audio connectors, and also support for both a damper pedal, and a combination damper/soft two-pedal unit. It also supports half-pedalling.
Expressiveness/Sounds
:
10
What can I say? It's a RealPiano!!! The Concert Piano sound is therefore obviously astonishing, as the RealPiano reputation rightly shows. It includes full physical modelling of the both the piano soundboard, and evey sympathetic string vibration (so the same note will sound different depending on what other notes are playing at the same time, just like a real piano!).
Other sounds are of variable quality. Rhodes piano reasonably good, FM piano good, organs generally not too good, strings fairly bad, harpsichord surpringly good.
The keyboard is fully weighted with a realistic piano action, and very easy to play, with the notes responding rapidly. Reasonble velocity control as well.
Reliability
:
10
Bought mine used, and had been gigged, and it was still fully functional in every respect. Seems very solidly built.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never needed it, so don't know anything about this.
Overall Rating
:
10
I'm a fully trained classical pianist and have played for many years, so I know a thing or two about piano sounds and actions, and for a digital piano, this comes very close to the real thing.
RealPianos, either in the digital piano form of the RPS here, or in the famous RealPiano expansion sound module, are rarely sold (a mark of their quality, so if this were lost or stolen, I don't know what I'd do (other than pull my hair out!).
