Roland FP-30X vs. Kawai ES110 vs. Yamaha P125: Comparison
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 พ.ค. 2021
- Many people have wanted to see a comparison between the Roland FP30X and its competitors from other brands, and it is time I made that video. I felt that the old FP30 wasn't super competitive, but is the new FP-30X more competitive now? That's what this video will answer for you!
Making unbiased reviews for over 10 years: / thepianoforever
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I really liked the comparision, but chapters would've been really helpful in these lengthy reviews.
OMG finally the comparison between ES110 and FP-30X!!! thank you so much!!
My pleasure!
Nice to see a spaceship from Eve again, so thank you!
Thanks. Es110 it is!
This is one of the best reviews you have ever done! Worthy of watching many times. Very helpful. Thanks!
Great comparison, as always! Thank you James.
This channel deserves so much more credit and views. In my opinion one of the best (if not the best) comparison and in-depth review channels. Keep up the good work, i love it!
Thanks for making this video! When I first heard ES110, it made me remember the classical grand piano from my gran's house. I only checked for reviews to confirm the difference with others if I'm hearing it right. Buying in for the more authentic classical piano natural sound of ES110 - this has been what I was trying to find ever since I was a child.👌💯
Thank you for these detailed videos! Unbiased advice is rare these days...
Thank you for your comprehensive analysis of the three models that I am deciding over. Your detailed explanations coupled with demonstrations of each keyboard made for a superb review.
I already own a YDP-143 from Yamaha, but I still love to watch these videos as they’re very entertaining and I enjoy all the pieces you play!
Great review! And thanks to being honest with what really the instrument (action, sound, etc) conveys to you, and not prioritizing a brand because of its name
Excellent analysis. Definitely going with the es110
50:55 Not to be persnickety
and this may have already been addressed in other comments below,
but the Kawai ES110 does have Slow/Fast settings for the Leslie sim. It is toggled by pressing the Function and Rec buttons together (if I remember correctly). A button combo like this isn't ideal but I'm glad it's included.
Superb review!
You're an awesome pianist and consumer educator. Inspiring to watch you play!
Wow, thank you!
I have a p125 and I love it ! Organ Is fantastic on this piano. Thank you for the detailed comparison.
Keep up the good work!
Your videos have been very useful. Sorry for saying you were too harsh on your critics on another video, after seeing many of them I see that your reviews are quite on point
No worries!
I've been thinking about the ES110, so it's fun to watch these comparisons. There's a lot you mention here that I appreciate. The depth you go into with resonance helped me to understand what I enjoy of the ES110 over the FP-30X. Once the sounds are broken down the differences are noticeable. Thank you so much for this thorough review ♥
Glad it was helpful! :D
I found it helpful too. Watching this video again properly on my headphones, the electric piano roads tone was difficult to listen to on the Roland. It kept switching between my left and right ears and wasn’t pleasant. The ES110 truly surprised me here. The Yamaha didn’t have a nice roads tone in my opinion.
nice to see some new competition. it's also nice to see my es110 investment still stands
Hi James, you really made a splendid in-depth comparison between these 3. I got Yamaha P125 since 2 years ago and just sold it off due to relocation, I was thinking whether to purchase the same or just grab the other piece which is highly compatible with P125, I gotta say your review on these 3 has helped me to reach a decision 👏🏻
Just exactly what I was looking for ....a side by side review of these three keyboards. Thanks for the info. And by the way....what a talent !!!!!
Hey James thx so much for this video got a lot of depth on information and etc on these 3 instruments and out of the 3 and decided to get the 125, had a eye on it checking it out etc and I am very happy with my purchase I really love this piano with its sound and all around let my needs for my personal preference for a digital piano😌😌
Great tutorial.. exactly what I was looking for. Appreciate your opinion.
Thank you very much. Came across this video just in time.
Hello, James 👋 . First of all, I want to thank you for your super videos. I love all your videos! To me, a Flappi plastic pedal is an absolute Nogo! For this reason, too, I bought the ES8 a year ago. I believe that every digital piano wants to be taken seriously should be delivered with at least two pedals! Sustain pedal and the soft pedal. With digital pianos, the left pedal could also be used for other effects. Personally, I use a three pedal.
6 seconds, shortest intro ever, lovely. 1 hour compressed content, no pauses, and you call that brief? Man you are underrating yourself.
Having seen the review, I feel glad I bought the ES-110 😀👍.
This is going to help me a lot!
Thanks this video is pure gold
Super glad! Thanks for watching!
Thx. Just the comparison I was looking for. Great work. :)
Glad it was helpful!
Fantastic as usual!
Great review and comparison.
Hi James, very much enjoyed the video 👋😀 👍✌
I own the P125 and when you press the piano button and then the C6 or the sharp That is C-sharp 6 you can make your instrument sound almost identical to the kwai ES110 this is for all UP125 owners
Thanks for the great review. I had the exact same feelings about the Roland escapement on my RD800. It just felt over engineered somehow. Same as you I felt the rebound or return was so unlike any piano I’ve ever played and I never could get on with it.
I’m going to try the Kawai ES110 very soon, was really impressed with the action on the mp7. Its about the closest I’ve felt to a real piano, absolute pleasure to play. Hopefully the 110 isn’t too far off. I would be using it mainly as a midi controller and for practice but would like to get the best action possible for around £500. Cheers
I've been waiting for this comparison! Great video. Watched all the way to the end. We just purchased the FP-30X (with the wooden stand and pedal board). We found the keys to be more responsive (sensitive) compared to the P125. You cannot play very soft or very loud on the Yamaha. Fast passages are easier on the Yamaha though. Would have preferred the Kawai, but it is priced about 30% higher than the Yamaha and Roland in South Africa.
The Piano Every Day app works well to change settings on the FP-30X. It's like a touch screen for your piano. But you have a good point that some years from now the support for the app or android devices that support it may dwindle.
See, Roland's action has a lot of potential in my opinion. It is very sensitive, like you say. Dynamic response is OK. Everything happening on the way down, like I said, is great. It's just not responsive enough to play fast passages efficiently, and in that way it feels like the player is fighting against the action to make it do what they want it to do.
Amazing video! The exact 3 pianos I'm trying to decide between.
What did you wind up going with? I'm debating among these three as well.
Bought the ES110 from last July. No regret at all, it was probably my best investment in 2020. 😆
I also bought ES-110. And pretty happy comparing to rattling Yamaha GGS keyboard.
Agree!
The cheap sustain pedals for Yamaha and Roland are annoying, as all three instruments support half pedaling but you have to buy better pedals for these two to use this feature.
Yamaha and Roland support Audio over USB which is useful for direct digital recording or to loop in a virtual instrument from a tablet or a pc.
Only Roland supports receiving Bluetooth Audio, which can be used with tools like iRealPro, a metronome with more features than the build in ones or to play along to youtube tutorials.
Your unbiased reviews where you do not shy away from giving your honest opinion are great!
Thank you! I'm a student and you've helped me to choose the right piano for me. At the beginning I thought to buy the Yamaha or the Roland but thanks to you I decided to buy the Kawai.
Thank you for such an in-depth review James....It's helping so many people make better choices.
I love the authentic sound of the ES110
For broad flexibility of usage [mixing, playing backing tracks] and available Ports [USB] would you suggest the Roland FP30X against the Kawai ES110?
I've been eyeing the Kawai ES110 for the sound and the damper pedal included in the box. Nice review.
Excellent review! Thank you so much for taking the time to create this. I think I like the P125 the most. The sounds are unbeatable in my opinion and it's professional on every level.
Hi James, great forensic review of the three instruments. Can I ask if the recorded audio from the instruments is taken from the line outs or from a microphone in the room?
His smile while he was playing the metronomes at the same time was so precious lol
This is the review I had been waiting for. It’s not about the cost as they are all similarly priced in the UK.
I actually want a piano to use as a master keyboard to play virtual pianos, and with its own decent internal piano ( just in case computer problems prohibit the virtual piano working in a live situation). Kawaii wins for me. Additionally it has traditional 5 pin DIN plug midi out, more flexible when controlling external devices via midi. The other two use midi over usb. Thanks for reviewing James, great job.
amazing comparison
Thank you for being unbiased and not planning on changing it. You've just become my favourite reviewer.
As an extremely indecisive person, unbiased reviews are the make or break it for me.
I've been struggling to choose a good piano as a temporary solution and since it's temporary I didn't want to spend 1k on something that would be replaced with something better later down the line.
I'm not fond of the bright piano sounds that come with many many digital Yamaha piano - I grew up on playing acoustic Yamaha and they sound amazing there but I cannot for the life of me like the digital version of them, so it boiled down to either the Kawai or the Roland.
I'm not all the way through with the video but I'm slowly tilting more and more towards the Kawai.
And if I ever need more piano sounds, I can always connect the Kawai to a VST and have more sounds there!
In a straight line, it will not work. Kawai has no USB. You will need an adapter or sound card with Midi.
For the third party pedals
Yes
There is one compatible 3-pedals with the connectors for Casio, Kawai, Yamaha and Roland
Thank you! Watching now!
Hope you like it!
Hi James, I have found your reviews (& comparisons) very helpful and feel that you're (brutally) honest and don't sugar coat things. I have been meaning to buy a digital piano for a few months now but am confused b/w Roland FP30x and Yamaha DGX 670. I have found very few reviews about the DGX670 model and even fewer comparison videos on it. I have been waiting for a review/comparison video on the DGX 670 from you but haven't found it so far. Could you please make a review/comparsion video for the DGX 670 model if possible?
Here is a video of the DGX 670 th-cam.com/video/SDHSUIBdYjs/w-d-xo.html that I recorded while on the west coast. I do not own a DGX 670, but have reviewed both separately.
@@ThePianoforever Thank you ☺️
Wow! I‘ve not tried the ES 110 but the ES 520 and found it awesome, even compared to higher-end home digitals. Seems the sound engine of the 110 is similar.
Thanks James.....good work
Perfect review👏👏👏
Great playing, James!! Thanks for the comparison review. Comment on “authentic piano sound”. You’re really only comparing the quality of the built-in speakers, IMO. I bet all 3 of these pianos sound much better from their Output jacks into a Keyboard amp or PA system. For using internal speakers only, I’m surprised by how much better the Kawaii ES110 and Yamaha P-125 sound than Roland’s latest FP-30X.
I think some people like Roland because it is modeled and just prefer modeling to sampling. However, I agree about the action. My problem with Yamaha's action is it gets too heavy in the back of the keys and Yamaha's GHS is long in the tooth. Think it's time for something different. However, it is durable although it gets noisy. I like the ES110 in this comparison. Going up to the higher level, I slightly prefer the P515 to the Kawai and Roland counterparts. Very thorough, James, as usual. Hearing Schubert on Rhodes is weird!
I'd like an instrument which can hold for some years and keep being useful without much need of upgrading, maybe for small gigging, and recording. I like the ES10, it's beautiful, but I like the features of the Roland and Yamaha. I think I like Kawai the most, but I don't know if it will keep it's quality over time in comparison to the other two.
Nice review! What's the name of the piece your playing around the 16 minute mark? I'm guessing a Bach prelude? Thank you. Great playing btw
Thank you for this video! I was leaning towards the Roland until I saw this.
Another wonderful review. You often play the same music for your tests...can you tell me what is the music played at around 36:16? You play this often and it is beautiful! THX!
Again a great in-depth comparison. I enjoyed it. By the way an interesting idea you mentioned in the beginning. Is it possible to put 1 demper pedal to three keyboards? I think it is. Not the easiest thing to do but if you use optocouplers to prevent current run from one keyboard to another and feed the pedal it’s own electric. Maybe it’s possible or simple already to buy. I don’t know didn’t search for it. My personal favor in keyboards is stil the bigger brother of the Yamaha p125. Although the 110 got it’s own place. The Roland? I don’t know. Still not convinced. Besides that, the comparison review was good. Thank you for sharing and playing.
Great detailed review as always. I've been watching many reviews on these three keyboards as I'm looking to buy one this year and also looking the Korg XE20. Any chance you can get your hands on an XE20 and give it a review? I haven't yet seen a detailed review on this and if anyone can give it a good once over, it would be you. Cheers.
Okay, that's it. I'm gonna get the Kawai ES110. I was trying to look for other cheaper brands but this video just sold it. Thank you!
8:00 With some DIY cable soldering... Yes, running in parallel you can chain the pedals, or at least that's what I did time ago with 2 cheap Midi COntrollers.... 96 keys out of 2 very cheap 49 controllers 🙂
thanks for this review. I will go for yhe es110.
Kawaii ES 110 is actually the best among the 3 in terms of piano like authenticity, Yamaha p125 is the in between where u want an awesome piano sound quality while having the option for incorporating other instruments that doesnt sound bad, Roland fp30x is more for the build and the flexibility in terms of instrument choices, more for gigs and mix I think. Overall great review! u had me sold for the Kawaii ES110.
Exactly.
I didn’t even consider the ES110. Well, now I will. Totally impressed! Great review. 👍
Excellent, very informative, thanks! Playing the kawai at the top seemed a good arm workout 😂
You bet!
May I ask what song you’re playing at 37:31? It’s such a beautiful piece, I’m quite interested in learning it myself!
I just wanted to mention, as a software developer, I'd like to offer a rebuttal that the fp-30x app won't necessarily become obsolete, as custom software can be (although not easily) written for the piano, on whatever platform you can think of (as long as it has a bluetooth adapter, which I don't think are going away any time soon).
HI James, I was looking for some reviews on Akai MPK Road 88, more specifically something about action quality...lot of emphasis on the built in controller but not much about key weight, graded action. I was wondering if you could add some information.
Keep on your great work.
Thank you
Cant wait Kawai releasing the new ES120. even 3-4 years older it is still competitive.
Thank you very much for this video. I enjoyed watching it (watched all except the the electric piano sound part, I confess). I was looking for a comparison between the ES110 and FP30x about the key noise, action, sound and resonance (with examples). Your video clears up my doubts absolutely. I think I'm going for the ES110, despite the key noise. Fantastic job.
Regarding using 1 pedal for multiple pianos, I suspect you could make a switch that has one input for the pedal and multiple outputs (1 for each piano), and it would allow you to switch between each piano
Great review, thank you! Did you or anybody compared the 30x to the Kawaii ES120?
Excellent analysis. Can you do a review of the Yamaha DGX 670? Thanks.
I like to say a big thank you to James. Your comparisons are outstanding and helped me immensely to choose a piano for my 4-year-old daughter. I ended up buying a Yamaha P125. As you are an accomplished pianist can you give any advice about learning methods for young kids. There is so much out there quite hard to find a good or better right path to learn piano. I believe I read you saying changing teachers from time to time is a good thing. Right now we are and might be for some time in look down because of the pandemic. Any recommendation on online schools or services you can recommend?
Hi Stefan - what a lucky girl she is !
When i was tiny, every time I heard classical piano I'd go hide behind the sofa and weep and weep at the inexpressable beauty - because i couldn't understand or know what to say if my parents asked what was wrong. We weren't so well off monetarily that time.
Just as i turned 5, my dear old pappa wheeled an old upright along the street in the night that he'd bought from a neighbour who was moving away! 😍
In the morning i came downstairs, sat at the piano and in the end we (piano and me ) were moved into the wash house cos i couldn't stop playing.
At first i listened to all the notes, and then found out which sounded good together then learned simple hymns and songs i knew by ear.
My father played loads of classical music, and we sang together ( he was a beautiful warm light baritone, and he'd take me with him in the car if he had a job during school holidays involving a journey).We sang for hours- just anything and all sorts - simple enough for me to join in.
Over time, i practised extemporising harmonies spontaneously, which all fed into later musicianship.
I only had a few teachers before music college, and the last took me thru grades 5-8 ABRSM - i still feel a debt of gratitude and love for her supreme devotion and gentleness, and IMPORTANTLY, a direct understanding of the female anatomy - male tutors at college seemed unable to grasp that a smaller hand just cannot stretch a third above an octave.
They caused pain, upset, and eventually when i just stopped lessons and practiced alone as my old teacher had taught me, they all actually agreed the result was much better.
Sorry to ramble on, especially since you didn't ask me - but as a female musician who has suffered somewhat, i feel a responsibility to all young lady pianists.
But, basically, involving yourself in her explorations, dance with her, sing and make noise freely - as I'm sure you do..
Keeping the experience going, even just playing music on in the background..
Encourage her listening ( even just play a note or 2 and see if she can copy...it comes up in exams later on...)
Never force it ( pretty sure you wouldn't ).
You know her best... if she's unhappy take action, but please don't take her away from a teacher she likes without damn good reason...
Know she will forever treasure your love and support, and the special gift you are giving her...
Just well intended thoughts from a female perspective.
Bless you both.
Hello! will you make a Kawai ES120 review?
It would be awsome!
Wow you really make me rethinking to buy fp30x
Yeah, it's not the best choice in my opinion.
Good job. Thank you.
Hi James, amazing review. Extremely informative and good fun as well! And I enjoyed your peculiar Scarlatti performance. I'm more inclined to get the ES110 now, but I have one doubt. You say the action is very light and I'm wondering whether that would be a problem if one wants to learn and practice with the idea of being able to play acustic pianos later on. Wouldn't that feel hard and difficult being used to the light ES110 keyboard? Would the FP30X be better from this "student" point of view? Thank you!
In theory, yes, but the FP-30's action is slow and clumsy, and therefore not very pianistic. The ES110 has a much more musical response, and while its action is lighter than nearly all acoustic pianos, its nimbleness is similar to the responsiveness of an acoustic piano. Because of this I feel that the learning curve from "ES110 -> acoustic piano" is less steep than "FP-30 -> acoustic piano".
@@ThePianoforever Thanks a lot for the quick and useful reply!
Hi Manuel - i remember the horror of being at music college and having to practice on awful cheap tinny "easy action" upright acoustics - then having to do exams on a concert grand ( Bechstein & a Yamaha ? too traumatised to recall 😣)- with no prep time. Driving a smart car does not prepare you for driving a huge truck.Building muscle strength and flexibility in the right way is absolutely key to a happy life time at the keyboard and i agree with you 100% that if you train on too slick an action, you may think you can play faster, but these skills are unlikely to transfer to a serious, traditional acoustic instrument.
The weight ( you can adjust these aspects also with the app ) of the roland is one of the reasons i chose it.
I recently purchased the FP -30X and after 2 and a half years of no playing piano at all, deboxed, and still surrounded by packaging, played 5 hours solid such was the desperation and delight.
I could 'feel' the lack of practice in my old hands but no "pain" and was ready to up and go next day for same. Much fun with the Bach well-tempered volume 1 D major prelude and fugue.😍
Maybe I'm too late - if at all possible, go try out and go with your gut.
Sorry must go - good luck and much joy on your journey !
Hey James!
I hope you will still read this, but I have a very important question. I am on the fence of choosing between the ES110 and the P125. The price difference right now is about 100 euro's/dollars in favor for the ES110. You mentioned the key noise is louder with the ES110, my question is if it makes a big difference while playing. I am planning to place the piano in my bedroom on one of the first party wooden stands. Do you think the speaker quality difference will matter?
Thank you so much for your time!
There´s a passive switch pedal called Morley ABC. Designed for guitar players to switch between three guitars on one amp, or the other way around. Shpuld do the trick, since it´s passive and the piano pedals are on TRS jacks. Morley ABC can be had for less than 100 dollars. Or euros. Or whatever. You should definitely have one in your studio, mate =)
Hello James, very interesting reviews. It would be nice if you could review the Arturia
KeyLab 88 MkII 88-Note Professional Keyboard Controller, as a digital piano. Thanks, GP
Hi James, first of all - thanks for what you do! I just discovered your channel recently and went ahead and browsed through your videos - I understand you're VERY experienced and played a PLETHORA of acoustic pianos! My question is, what is your opinion on FATAR keybeds and action? Specifically the TP/100LR. And how does it compare to the three different actions to these digital pianos in your comparison? Is it in a different league?
Transported to Italy in the 1700’s briefly ***giggle*** Thank you for the review and the beautiful playing :)
hey james, i have really been trying to reach out to you bud, do you think there is a slight chance you can do a review on the korg sp300, and i’m looking for a keyboard that has a Nord stage 2 like sound, but not trying to pay 3000 dollars but is there a keyboard out there that has similar feel to the nord and similar sound for around 6-700 dollars that has 192,000 polyphonic notes?
Excellent review as always James. Now waiting for FP90X - ES920 - P515 comparison! Maybe yamaha will have a P515 update soon?
I don't have an FP90X (they are very expensive) but otherwise I would make that video. I am not expecting a replacement for the P515 any time soon, it's still very good, and Yamaha doesn't refresh the P-series often.
Hello sir!
Would you do a Kawai ES120 review vs ES110?
Hello James, the Yamaha use the Graded hammer standard (GHS) Action, not the GH3 Action. Great Video
My bad! I probably meant to say GHS and it came out GH3 lol.
@@ThePianoforever lol ya too much action names from Yamaha :D
Thanks a lot for this very thorough and honest review, James!
I bought an FP-30X recently and, overall, I like it (I'm not a classical pianist and I don't play very fast pieces...). But how ironic that one of the only advantages you mention over the Yamaha and the Kawai is that "the action is very quiet"! Mine has many keys that produce an *awful* clunky noise on rebound -- mostly black keys. From what I've read and the videos I've seen, this is a pretty common issue with the FP-30(X) and perhaps other FPs. My piano is unplayable and my big question is whether I'm going to ask for a replacement, a repair or a refund... If it's a design flaw, a replacement is not the answer. A repair could be, if they know how to fix that *for good* -- hopefully with no negative impact on the action. Otherwise, I'll ask for a refund and buy a P125. The ES110 has the best acoustic sound, to my ear, but the "Rhodes" sound is a dealbreaker. The action is really noisy, too, especially for somebody who plays at low volume.
ES110's Rhodes is my favorite of the three, lol. Sounds less vintage than the P-125, which is a bit less than the FP30X, but hey, I prefer cleaner and brighter for Rhodes sound, never took a liking to the sound of being run through some ancient preamp. Yuck.
Thank you!!!
No problem :)
The Yamaha is so distinct, I was on another tab and thought he was playing a 90s Clavinova
Can the leslie speed be changed without the 3 pedal unit or an external controller?
I was surprised that not only the keyboard is better on ES-110 than on 30X but sound it better too. And given that 110 price around here was 30X price plus the price of the decent 110 grade pedal the choice was obvious. The shop owner had the humour to price P-125 about 20% higher than ES-110. I had a good chuckle. Thanks for the comparison. Helped a lot. Do you have a ES-920 vs 90X comparo? I have a feeling I'd have a zoo of keyboards around the house, eventually.
Does the FP90X suffer from the same sympathetic resonance issue at the higher notes like the FP30X ? I guess they use different sound chip whatsoever, but not sure either.. Thanks
I like the kawai, but it dosnt have a USB out. It has the old style 5 pin midi connection so an adaptor is required. Huge oversight by Kawai.
yeah, the only downside I can see in this beautiful keyboard.
i'm curious to see if the es120 is creating a gap with the two others ... till yamaha and roland will provide their new 125 and fp30x of course ... do you intend to provide the ES120 test one day ?
38:10 - that smile though. He surely enjoyed that Yahama :D
Hî James,
soundwise, which one have the best sound; amp/speakers combo to your ears?
thanks alot! :)
What's your opinion on the vox Continental 73 performance keyboard?
Which of them is better for practising with headphones, with less key pressing sounds since a beginner won't practice in high volume? I can't reach any comments about performance with headphone regarding key sound and heaphone sound. Your comment will be helpful🙂