MusicRadar Verdict
A rich, versatile, fun package at a good price.
Pros
- +
Sounds great. Good value. Lots of fun.
Cons
- -
Not a lot.
MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.
Also available individually (£99 each), Grand S and Grand Y offer up to 9GB of multisampled Steinway D (lively) and Yamaha CFIIIS (warm) pianos, and both sound magnificent.
"Each piano can be switched between 'Concert' and 'Studio' mode"
Each can be switched between 'Concert' and 'Studio' mode, the latter recorded with the lid removed and the mics closer for a drier, more contemporary tone.
The Pentamorph controller morphs between five preset combinations of forward and reverse samples, and mechanical noise, while the Tonality editor facilitates noise, resonance and envelope shaping.
A useful collection of effects has been scripted in, and the superb Smart Chord and Animator systems enable automatic chord generation combined with configurable playback of a sizeable (but preset-only) library of performance-controllable phrases.
Roland’s new Earth Piano instrument puts “50 years of piano development” into your DAW
"They just went in there and bang, bang, bang – three takes or so and nailed it”: Why Oasis’ Definitely Maybe was recorded twice
“A commanding new effects pedal that merges aggressive octave fuzz with earth-shaking analogue synth tones”: Third Man Hardware joins forces with Eventide for the Knife Drop – featuring Jack White’s presets, it’s designed for “sonic chaos”
