Product Overview

For well over 100 years now, the grand piano has been the centerpiece of many fine rooms. Of course, owning one simply wasn’t a reality for many folks due to the size, maintenance, and cost. While digital versions of the grand piano have existed now for quite a few years, many examples offered a subpar musical experience at best and thus weren’t regarded as a convincing alternative to a grand piano. That’s where Roland’s GP series comes in.

The GP series consists of two digital grand piano models – the GP607 and the larger GP609. The GP607 shares many features with the GP609, but is housed in a smaller, mini grand piano cabinet that still manages to serve up a highly authentic musical experience. Digital piano technology has come an enormous way in the last decade, and the GP607 features some of the most advanced technology currently available. The GP607 sounds and feels so realistic that many folks who never would have considered a digital piano are now discovering that their dream of owning a baby grand piano can now be realized at a lower cost with far less maintenance, without sacrificing much in the way of musical potential.

Given the addition of Bluetooth technology, the Roland GP607 digital grand piano also effectively doubles as a high-end stereo system. With the click of a button, you can stream high-quality audio from your smartphone or tablet through the GP607’s premium speaker system. Whether you’re playing along with your favorite song, relaxing after a long day, or entertaining guests, the Bluetooth functionality adds a whole new dimension of versatility to the traditional piano experience.

Action

The GP607 uses Roland’s PHA50 action. This is an action that our Director of Sales, Stu Harrison, happens to be very familiar with as it’s featured in the RD-2000 stage piano – Stu’s personal gigging instrument. The PHA50 is a hybrid wood/plastic action that is generally regarded as one of the better actions available on the market.

Stu also raves about the durability of this action. His RD-2000 has received 100’s of hours of borderline abusive stage use and he hasn’t had a single issue to date with the action.

There’s a nice texture on both the white and black keys, and there’s also escapement and a triple sensor. If it’s been a while since you’ve played a digital piano, there’s a good chance you’ll be blown away by how good this action feels.

Sound Engine

The GP607 has 5 speaker cones that are being driven by a total of 70 watts of speaker power via 3 distinct amplifiers. The speaker system is very well balanced, and the signal processing is top-notch. The soundboard functions as a wooden passive resonator which produces a tangible acoustic effect.

In terms of the tone engine itself, the GP607 is loaded up with Roland’s SuperNATURAL Modeling engine, with limitless polyphony on all of the piano tones. Sound modeling generates a piano tone in real-time as opposed to triggering a sample like sample-based sound engines do.

The factory default piano tone is highly detailed, with lots of upper harmonics. There’s also a tone of user control over various sound-related parameters through Roland’s Piano Designer, with the ability to customize variables like damper resonance, string resonance, lid height among many others. You can access this via the touch screen, or through the Piano Designer app on a smartphone or tablet.

Once you move past the acoustic piano tone, you’re still getting a huge 384 notes worth of polyphony across the 307 total onboard sounds. The e-pianos are all studio-level quality, and the organs are very convincing as well.

Connectivity

In terms of connectivity, the GP607 has many bases covered. There’s a DC in jack, stereo mini in, L/MONO, R ¼” output jacks, USB A and B, and two headphone jacks, as well as the aforementioned Bluetooth MIDI and Audio.

These various ports make connecting to a computer, smart device or external amplifier, or PA system a breeze, which is potentially very important if you’re considering an instrument for an institution or place of worship.

Notable Features

While there’s a lot of different things that could go here, we’ve got to commend Roland for using real polyester on all of their polished piano finishes. Not all manufacturers do this for their high gloss finishes, as it’s quite a bit more expensive. What this means is that the cabinet is finished to the same standard as many acoustic grand pianos, so the longevity and durability as a furniture piece are top-notch.

• Piano Sound: SuperNATURAL Piano Modeling
• Max. Polyphony
  • Piano: Limitless (solo playing using ‘Piano’ category tones)
  • Other: 384
• Pedals
  • Progressive Damper Action Pedal (Damper pedal: capable of continuous detection, Soft pedal: capable of continuous detection/function assignable, Sostenuto pedal: function assignable)
• Speakers
  • Cabinet Speakers: 20 cm (7-7/8 inches) (with Speaker Box)
  • Near-field Speakers: 5 cm (2 inches) x 2
  • Spatial Speakers: 12 cm (4-3/4 inches) x 2
• Recording
  • Standard MIDI Files (Format 0, 3 parts, Approx. 70,000 notes memory)
  • Audio File (WAV, 44.1 kHz, 16-bit linear format, require USB Flash Memory)
• Bluetooth
  • Bluetooth Ver 3.0 (Supports SCMS-T content protection)
  • MIDI, Turning music sheet
  • Bluetooth Ver 4.0
• Convenient Functions
  • Classic Position
  • Metronome (adjustable Tempo/Beat/Down beat/Pattern/Volume/Tone)
  • TwinPiano (with Individual Mode)
• Display
  • Graphic LCD 132 x 32 dots

Conclusions

Roland digital pianos have really done the piano market a huge service with the release of their GP series pianos. The GP607 is a high-end instrument that sounds every bit as good as it looks!

Roland GP607 Owner’s Manual

• [English] GP607 Owner’s Manual

Roland GP607 Related Resources

• [VIDEO] Roland GP607 Digital Grand Piano Review & Demo – Mini Grand Piano, PHA-50 Keyboard, SuperNATURAL
• [VIDEO] Roland GP607 vs Kawai DG30 Digital Grand Piano Review & Comparison – Bluetooth MIDI