Roland

Understanding Tonal Characteristics:

 

Generally speaking, digital pianos are designed to mimic the sounds of an acoustic piano as closely as possible. Because an acoustic piano has thousands of parts made of organic materials, replicating the tone of an acoustic piano is not simply a matter of recording each key - it also includes replicating sounds such as the way the dampers silence a vibrating string, or the sound the strings of an acoustic piano slowly decay over a period of time. In general, the more effort a company puts into replicating these sounds, the better the digital piano's playing experience. 

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Sound Source: Indicates whether the sound source is Sampling (S) or Physical Modeling (M).

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Voices: The number of different musical voices the user can select from the instrument panel, plus (if applicable) the number of General MIDI (GM) or XG voices that are not user-selectable but are available for playback of MIDI files.

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Key Release: Indicates the presence of samples or simulation of Key Release sounds—acoustic piano keys and dampers returning to rest position and cutting off the sounds of vibrating strings.

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Sustain Resonance: Indicates the presence of samples or simulation of the sound with the sustain pedal depressed (allowing the strings to vibrate sympathetically).

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String Resonance: Indicates the presence of samples or simulation of String Resonance—the resonance sound of the strings of non-played notes.

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Rhythms / Styles: For ensemble digitals, this is the number of auto-accompaniment backing tracks (styles) available. For non-ensemble digitals, this is the number of rhythm tracks present.

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Polyphony: The maximum number of sounds the instrument can produce simultaneously. UL=Unlimited