Generalmusic Pro 1

I just use it for the piano so that's that.

Polyphony is fine for what I use it for. I find the action is quite good. I gig quite a bit and actually find when I change over from my synth that the keys feel quite heavy for a time. A natural reaction, I suppose, when moving from non-weighted to weighted but, all-in-all, it's good enough for me.

I think the piano sound is really good. I've never played any of the really high end digital pianos but this is the best digitally produced piano sound I've ever had. The other sounds are a bit naff but all that's secondary to the piano, which is the only voice I really use.

Sturdy as f***. Heavy as f***!!! Afraid to get a flight case as the bloody thing weighs a ton without one! It still plays perfectly after nearly 7 years and countless gigs. The only thing that happened is that the small display screen seems to have come loose and moves around slightly within its housing. No effect on performance though.

N/a

I'd probably buy one again but I'd definitely check others out too if I were in the hunt for a new digital piano. It has served me well and is still my piano sound of choice.

Let's be honest, it's WYSIWYG. You're buying a used stagepiano for absolute scraps...yet the main piano sound can still beat many 2005-2006 Roland, Korg, Kurzweil and even Yamaha models. If you want a more than decent, lively piano sound....get this "gem". It is a gem indeed.

Keyboard action is lighter than Yamaha's, which most non-classical players might like. Still it very much resembles real piano action. Don't forget you can pick up this piece (used) for as much as 400 bucks....88-keys weighted...fantastic piano sound....the PRO1 has a 64 polyphony max, but I hardly ever need that. Some players might require the 128-pol., so I'd recommend the PRO2. I use the PRO1 on stage, and it still beats a lot of competition!

You want a digital stage piano? Why? Because you want it to sound like a piano, and feel like one. Well then, the General Music (GEM) Realpiano PRO1 and PRO2 are truly gems. And a lot of bang for the buck I might add. It's the only digital piano still out there in the "digital piano shootout" from the 90s, and it beats the Kurzweils, Korgs, and Rolands big time.

It's built like a tank. Sure, the external power supply is very cheesy. Still, I've never had any problems with it....these instruments are not likely to be used at a RHCP gig or a Marilyn Manson freak show, so I understand the criticism there, but it's not an issue for me.

Not much experience there....sent a couple of e-mails to General Music, and still waiting for an answer, so I guess a "1" applies. Having read all the other entries, yes, a 1 for the moment will do.

Fantastic bang for the buck! Great piano sound, great keyboard action...i wanted one, I got one, and I'm not going to sell it ever!

It's hard to find, on the used instruments market, but if you see one: buy it, you won't regret it!

The version that sold around 2002 - I don't know the version # or where to look for an upgrade but would buy it if I could find it at a fair price. I use the grand piano sound mostly, but sometimes the pipe organ, since I play classical. For me, it is a very easy K/B to use.

Polyphony 64 - good enough for most users. Action excellent, good K/B weighting.
Effects are there but you have to seek them out - manual poor.
I don't know if it can be expanded as I've not pursued this.
MIDI works very well and is easy to use - I have it connected to an old 486 PC and everything works fine; I sometimes play piano MIDI files of the classics in preference to CD's.
Overall, the features are fine for me as I only bought it as a piano.

Grand piano sound is very good, so is pipe organ. Electric Bass sounds OK but not used. Other piano sounds are a bit odd - I can't think whay anyone would want them. Hapsichord OK, too. Other mixed/layered sounds are weird - not used by me (bought as piano.)
Touch is very good. Range of loudness expression typical of a K/B. i.e. less than a wooden box piano, but I can just about get PP to FF on touch alone.

It has not let me down in just under 2 years, but I don't move it around - it just stays in my basement.
I don't do any gigs so cannot answer that.

I can't find GEM in North America and my music store has stopped selling it - they can't help me either. Considering that the GEM PRO1 is better than anything else in the price range I think they have shot themselves in the foot. Dumb! Internet searches don't help - where is GEM?

If I lost it I would buy a later GEM model, but only if I could find a vendor or the GEM company - have they gone into hiding?! If any GEM emplyee reads this please write!
I've been playing just under 2 years after a 40 year absence (big mistake to stop as a child!)
Best thing about the PRO1 is the sound and string resonance modelling. Also K/B has good weight, far better than comparable Rolands and Yamaha's, which did not sound as good, either. BTW, I use a very good sound system (A 60+ watts/channel stereo amplifier and two 12 inch woofer, 3 cu. ft. 3-way speakers) to get that good grand piano sound. I also added a sostenuto middle pedal (for a total of 3) - but all my pedals are just switches (GEM and Korg brand), not continuous ones. The PRO1 will take both types. The soft pedal tends to stay on unless "flicked off" wih the toe (irritating) - I'm going to look into this (may just be a bad switch.)
Worst thing is the service - where the heck is GEM?
Biggest hit here is the lack of service.

The pro1 is piano player's keyboard. It is not a synthesizer. Yes it does allow some basic editing of the preset sounds, but this is more along the lines of layering, splitting, adding some basic effects, and changing tuning. There are no filters or envelopes to play with. So, if you are looking for all that stuff, don't waste your time. However, if you are looking for a great piano sound, great rhodes and wurlys, and a very decent pipe organ then you should definitely consider this product. Most importantly, you should compare it to other piano keyboards before making a purchase. I found it was the best buy (circa March 2002) in the price range.

But back to the review. As I said, the editing possibilities are fairly limited. But, given what most people will be wanting from this product, it should be more than adequate. Morevoer, the pro1 appears to have far less goodies than the pro2, so if you can afford the extra 900 dollars, you might want to consider the other (just in terms of the expanded sound samples and built-in effects). For my part, I wanted a good piano and good electric pianos. The pro1 delivered.

I don't know what software version my pro1 is running. The manual is fairly basic. If you are not very intuitive, you might have problems.

The polyphony is great for the piano sounds (64). For the Rhodes and Wurlizers, when you start layering samples, it drops to 32. For my playing (25 years - classic, jazz and rock), this is still sufficient. The effects are clean and easy to use, but as I said earlier, you might want to spring for the pro2 if you can afford it. I do not think GEM has any expansions for its realpiano series. A big feature is the piano style pedal that is an optional accessory. This piano pedal has 16 degrees response. Otherwise stated, it is not simply an on/off switch. It allows for a much more realistic dampening effect. The midi is what you would expect from any basic board nowadays. If you are looking for a god controller, you might want to buy a specifically designed controller keyboard (the midi options are ok, but the pro1 was designed as a digital piano.) Note: there is no pitch bend wheel. There is no sequencer for the pro1. I do not see this as a real loss, because I have never seen a decent onboard sequencer. If you want to sequence, hook it up to your computer with its built in serial port interface or via midi. Computer sequencers are simply the only way to go. For its intended purpose, the pro1 is very good.

The pro1 is unequivocally better than its similarly priced competition. Its piano is far more realistic and its rhodes and wurlys are great. (The pipe organ is good too.) The other sounds are kinda cheesy, but are no more cheesy than those filler sounds found elsewhere.(Who really uses synth choirs anymore?) Compared to anything that yamaha, korg or roland have in the price range, the pro1 is simply the best sounding and playing. It has a better keyboard than the p80 (which is very heavy), and its piano sounds are superior. Moreover, the rhodes and wurlys have much less obvious velocity switching. Comparing to the korg sp100 is not really fair, given that the korg costs 60% the price. To be honest though, I think the korg is a good match for the p80, although its keyboard action is too soft. The roland (I forget the modedl, but it cost 100 bucks more) is a decent board too, but does not stack up for price.

The effects are simple, but effective. The tremolo, chorus, phazer, wa and 'verbs are all quite decent. The keyboard reacts as it should, although I daresay the heavy velocity sensitivity setting is crazy. (Get out your hammer if you want to use that one.)

If I have a beef with the pro1, it is reliability. The first one I bought had to be replace because the felt underneath the top casing was defective and resulted in a lot of keyboard noise. I think this problem might be more widespread than one would hope, given the other review on this page. The retailer simply exchanged mine, so I did not have to deal with warranty. I have also seen a defective display (although this might have come from wear and tear rather than manufacturing). Too, I think the external power is a dumbass idea, but it allows the company to sell in Europe, North America and Japan without major manufacturing refits. (Only have to put in a different external power supply...)

The thing is a beast. It weighs a ton.

Bottom line - it has been 10 years since I have been on the road, so I can't say whether it is a good road board. Get a strong stand, though.

My retailer was great. Have not dealt with customer support directly.

I would definitely buy the Pro1 again if it were lost or stolen. I have been playing for 25 years, and this is the best (mid-range) stage piano I have come across. I purchased it because my emu vintage keys modules could not do justice to the rhodes and because proteus could not come close on piano. (I won't even mention the dx-7.) The bottom line is that it is a great piano player's keyboard and it is the best deal around in the $1000 dollar range. Its piano and electric piano sounds are really good. The action is nice as well. It just weights too much.

If you want a synth, however, this is not your bag.

Well, it was SOMEWHAT easy to use. The buttons on are decently laid out for you to see, but it makes no sense to me how to access different voices, you've got to switch to "Perf" mode. Presets are sometimes hard to find when you're in a hurry. For a keyboard that's marketed more as a "piano" than a synth, it's got some decent preset organs and elec. pianos. Manual could have been MUCH better. I think they LOOSELY translated it from Italian to English. I didn't bother to edit patches because I didn't keep it for more than a week.

This keyboard has 64 note polyphony which is plenty adequate for me because I tend NOT to play classical music. I do sometimes, but it's not what I was planning on using the board for. Polyphony on this keyboard for most live performance or recording situations would be fine. Now here we get into my biggest beef with this keyboard. Before I ever bought this keyboard sight unseen (that's another story altogether, but anyway)did TONS of research about it. And everywhere I read that the Pro 1 and Pro 2 had AWESOME action. WRONG. The action is very light and springy. Made a lot of noise too. Keys clicked against the metal casing. I have an old Roland HP-2900G and that piano's action blows the Pro 1 AWAY. I had started to think that Roland's action was no good, but I'm starting to think that they're damned near the best out there. Generalmusic action is NOT what everyone is raving about. Built in effects are REVERB, TREMOLO, and CHORUS. Tremolo sounds pretty good on E.P.s and the Chorus is pretty
good when you're going for that eighties piano sound. However, the effects don't always work when you want to use them. If I've got the effect on my board, I WANT TO USE IT WHEN AND HOW I WANT TO . . . not when Generalmusic thinks I should. Not sure about the expansion capabilities. I doubt it. Standard Midi hookups (IN, OUT, and THRU). Velocity and aftertouch. Velocity seemed to be fine, but the aftertouch quite frankly SUCKED. There is NO on board sequencer. There is a DEMO button that plays a factory preset dems. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?? I thought only Yamaha Portatones did that crap. Why do I need to hear a demo when I ALREADY BOUGHT THE KEYBOARD???? I would have given this piano a higher rating in this category if the action wouldn't have been so TERRIBLE.

Okay, here's the other major thing that got me about his "GREAT PIANO." This piano is totes as having "The best piano sound on the market." And before I go off here, let me just say that the guys over at Generalmusic had a noble cause in mind. They wanted to reproduce the environment of a real grand piano. And they did . . . . to a certain point. They've sampled sympathetic vibrations and hammer hits and those sound independantly of the actual notes. Cool idea, but they carried it off pretty badly. Now here's where I go off about the piano tone on this thing. It's supposed to be the most realistic piano tone to ever hit the synth market. NOT!!!!!!! I must say that the VERY high end is a DEAD ringer for a concert grand. They guys @ Generalmusic get my thumbs up for that. But everywhere else is total SHIT. I play mostly around the middle range because I'm a baritone and that's my comfort range. The middle three octaves of this piano sound simply HORRIBLE. They sound tinny and metallic and . . . well . . . SAMPLED. They have no characteristics of their own. It is apparent that all the tones are the same, just spread out over the keys. TERRIBLE. I mean once I started playing in that range and I had to look at the screen to make sure I was on the Piano voice. It was THAT BAD. Like I said before the organs and E.P.s are okay, but this is toted as a great "piano" and it's not. In fact, my Roland has it beat by miles. Even some of Alesis' grand pianos have this one beat. Like I said before, these guys set out to do something good, but botched the job horribly.

I wouldn't trust this keyboard on a gig honestly. It didn't seem to be too sturdily put together. And the keyboard is extremely noisy (hitting against the metal casing). Power supply is a JOKE. The connection to the keyboard is the size of the charger on a Cel Phone. TINY. Then it goes off through a tiny little thin wire to a lump in the middle. RIDICULOUS. Only after the lump do you get sturdy wiring. STUPID!! Would I use it without a backup?? Hell, I wouldn't use it AS my backup.

Didn't deal with them . . . . didn't keep it long enough.

I'm sorry that I bought this thing in the first place. (Thank goodness for 45 day return policies!) It is DEFINITELY worth what I paid for it. Even at 1000 bucks, I can get something with a better piano sound. I've been playing for almost ten years now and I've got a Baldwin 6' grand piano, a Roland HP-2900G, and a Fender Rhodes Mark I Stage Piano (88-key). I've also had extensive experience with the Alesis QS8.1 and the Alesis QS6.1. I'd say GO WITH THE ALESIS BOARDS ANY DAY OVER THIS PIECE OF CRAP. I'm a piano player, so I'm really not into synths, and that's why I bought this keyboard. And it disappointed terribly. What did I love about it? NOTHING. What did I hate about it? THE PIANO TONES which are its major selling point. I can only say to you people out there thinking about getting either the Pro 1 OR the Pro 2 . . . IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A GOOD PIANO SOUND . .. DON'T GET THIS BOARD. DON'T BE FOOLED. It will disappoint terribly.