What really separates these three keyboard actions and what are the characteristics that you can expect when you’re playing on them? Differences – PHA-4, PHA-50, Hybrid Digital Pivot Length The Hybrid Grand is considered one of, if not the top digital piano action available before jumping to the full hybrid category with models like the Kawai NOVUS series or Yamaha Avant Grand series with their full acoustic piano actions. The PHA-4 and PHA-50 have been out for several years now, but are both still considered very relevant in the marketplace and some of the best actions available at various price points. In terms of the hierarchy of these three key action designs, the PHA-4 (PHA stands for Progressive Hammer Action) is found throughout the lower half of Roland’s lineup in terms of pricepoint, the PHA-50 keyboard action is found throughout much of the upper half, while the Hybrid Grand is currently used exclusively in only the top two models of the LX series – the LX706 and LX708. Roland Digital Piano Actions – Background Roland Digital Piano Actions – Background We’re going to cover the exact differences between these three action designs and provide a detailed breakdown of exactly what each action has to offer. These are the three action designs circulating amongst Roland’s FP line, F series, RP series, HP series, GP series and flagship LX series. Roland of course also has some semi-weighted actions that they use in synths and certain keyboards, but for the purposes of this article, we’ll only be focusing on weighted key actions. The Ivory Feel-G is still used in some models, but it’s largely been replaced by the PHA-4. In this article and companion video instead of a digital piano review, we’re going to take a close look at the three most common Roland action designs featured in their 88-key digital pianos with weighted keys, as well as some synthesizers, stage pianos and workstations- the PHA-4 Standard Keyboard, PHA-50 and relatively new Hybrid Grand action. This is the case with other digital piano manufacturers like Kawai, Casio, Korg and Yamaha as well. the JX-8P engine is very old school and super simple, just like the hardware synth itself was, with just a handful of editable parameters (since its sounds were only editable via hardware buttons and sliders) but the n/zyme engine has a crazy amount of parameters you can edit and then tweak in real-time.Īs long as Roland keeps releasing new modules the Fantom is somewhat limitless.If you’re diving into the world of Roland digital piano actions, you may have noticed that they have several different configurations going into models throughout their lineupp. It isn't "locked in" to a particular set of editable parameters, it can have completely new synth engines loaded onto it. This is how it can play zencore patches, supernatural patches, add the n/zyme engine, or add the 4 other old school synth engines long after it was released. The Fantom is basically like an OS that can run multiple "apps" (synth engines). So, yeah, the page you linked with models specifically from the V-Piano line, the top of the line Fantoms have that same engine included, along with a bunch of different piano patches that you have full control over to edit/tweak, etc. The V-Piano means the synth engine that creates (really good) piano sounds/waveforms on many of the Roland products. Another point in favor of just buying the top of the line (if you care about that 80s/90s sound from those engines, which I personally love). On the regular Fantom those 4 were free, with only n/zyme being $150. I guess on the 0 series all the synth expansions are $150 each. The supernaturals are good, but the Vs are the best on the machine by far.ĮDIT 2: Looking at the forum discussion it looks like I was mistaken. When I'm not running Ivory on my DAW my go-to is the V-Piano on the Fantom. That alone would be a major point for me. But after reading the differences I'm happy I got the F6 and even if I had both options at the time I probably would have still gone for the top of the line.ĮDIT: I just checked Roland's site and it does appear that the V-Piano is not listed on the 0 series. I bought my F6 a year and a half ago and was at first worried that I paid about double what the 06 just came out for. I would think they pre-load those engines on the new line, but with the reduced memory an actual owner will have to verify. There are 4 other engines ( JX-8P, SH-101, JUNO-106, and JUPITER-8) which are all free. The "slimmed down" aspect is less memory, doesn't support the V-Piano engine (I think), and the form factor uses more plastic than metal.Īs for the synths you can load. u/Mutiu2 's link will point you to technical differences.Įssentially the 0 line has the same internal software and is basically capable of all the same sound output.
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