REVIEW - Roland CG-1 Digital Mini-Grand Piano at Costco

REVIEW - Roland CG1 Digital Piano - Recommended - The Roland music & audio products company has been around for decades and is a very well know pro and home digital piano company as well. Roland international headquarters is in Japan but they do not make their products in Japan. They are made in Malaysia, Indonesia, and China and have been reliable and durable instruments throughout the years. I have personally played on hundreds of Roland products in my long music career and I like their music technology and innovations. Costco is, for the first time ever, now offering a Roland mini-digital grand piano which up until now has only been available at regular piano stores that carries Roland home digital pianos in the US. So this situation offers people to know more about the higher price digital mini-grand pianos out there and even get one through Costco if you are willing to be in this higher price range.

The Roland CG1 is actually not a new model. In fact, this piano has been out on the market for almost 2 years at Roland piano stores in the US, but it has another model name and is slightly different than the CG-1. The mainstream piano store model is called The GP607 and it is identical to the SC-1 in design, color, cabinet, internal speaker system, bench, technology, external Roland proprietary apps for tablets, and its long 10-year factory warranty. On the CG-1, Costco includes shipping and delivery into your home street level so that is a big benefit to the purchase. Of course the the local & state sales tax still needs to be paid which can add another $300 to $500 onto the selling price which can make the total price near $6,000. So this piano is no small purchase, that's for sure. Just so you know, the better,mainstream Roland GP607 min-grand has a retail price of about $7000 and sells at discount in piano stores at around $6000, so although the GP607 is about $500 more than what's offered at Costco, the GP607 has some features and functions not offered in the CG-1 and when you also work with a Roland piano store then you get access to product specialists who will help you learn and understand functions & features on the GP607 which has a lot of value because there is no one at Costco who can do that for you. Also, from what I hear, there may be some extra price incentives from the Roland piano stores for the last couple weeks before Christmas.

So why would someone want to buy a Roland CG1 mini-digital grand? Well, for starters, it looks beautiful in its 3' deep polished ebony cabinet with a dark simulated mahogany color interior and 1-position lid. The speaker system is fairly nice but I have heard the speaker system in person and it is a bit weak in terms of bass response.The piano internal speaker system has 70 watts of total power going through 5 speakers putting out 113db in sound pressure volume. But in terms of a big, bold, rich sound, this does not come close to a real baby grand piano and other home digital pianos. The CG-1 has enough power to be loud, but in my opinion the overall sound experience is not that great, especially when compared to an actual small baby grand piano. This also may be because of the cabinet size on the CG1 being only 36" deep which is somewhat small but that also allows it to fit into smaller spaces too. Many mini digital grands from other companies like the Samick piano company have cabinets that measure in at 48" deep which gives them more physical room to put in better, more robust  piano sound systems but they take up a bit more room too. The Samick SG500 digital piano, for instance, has an 8 speaker, 160 watt symphonic internal piano sound system with excellent quality and that piano retails at $5299 which is less money than the Roland CG-1. That speaker system offers a much fuller and richer sound than the Roland pianos although Roland has an upright version of the GP607/CG1 called the LX17 which sells for about the same price as the GP607 but it has a much fuller & richer internal speaker system than the GP607 and it's quite noticeable too...sounds much better and it does the same thing, just not in a mini-grand cabinet.

So what makes the Roland CG-1 different than its more popular counterpart, the Roland GP607 which is available at regular piano stores that carry Roland digital pianos? First of all, the CG1 has 40% fewer instrument sounds on-board which makes the GP607 more versatile in what it offers in the way of non-piano instrument sounds. Since there are 307 tones in the GP607 then there is about 40% less than that in the CG1. There are 716 internal songs in the GP607 to listen to and play along with so you can learn to play different music by listening to the songs and also seeing some of them in digital sheet music form in your iPad or Android tablet in the GP607. But in the CG-1 there is about 80% fewer learning songs than that and there is no access to the more well known piano curriculum that the GP607 has such as Czerny and many more. . The CG-1 has less memory slots to save your settings and the accessories that come with the CG-1 are cheaper quality and there are less of them. Both pianos have a small LCD user display interface and there are many other digital features for recording and playback, sound editing, and other things.

However, as far as the piano playing experience goes on the CG1, there is no difference between it and the regular Roland GP607. It's the same key action, same piano sound chip, and same pedaling...so that is a good thing. Roland uses a proprietary piano sound chip, key action, and pedaling system and they are all good. Roland's key action is a somewhat firm (heavy) as compared to any real acoustic grand piano (and other digital pianos) so there is a big difference there, but it is still enjoyable to play. The piano sound is different than any other digital piano brand because Roland is exclusively using only physical modeling technology rather than "sampled recording" so there is a noticeable difference in the realism of the piano sound. Piano sound in a digital piano is not only dependent on the internal speaker system, but it's also very dependent on the quality of the original piano sound in the sound chip. Since Roland does not actually sample record a real acoustic piano anymore, they have chosen to use a technology called Physical Modeling. Physical Modeling creates a sound from "nothing" In other words, the sound or sounds are done entirely with mathematical algorithms in the virtual world. As you probably know with movie visual effects, CGI (aka: computer generated imagery) is now used to create scenes and effects in movies that could never be done in the past otherwise. Some of these effects and imagery are incredibly realistic such as what we see today in SciFi movies or Disney animated movies like Monster's Inc, etc, so they can be pretty awesome.

In music and reproducing instrument sounds, Physical Modeling can sometimes sound artificial because the technology is not starting off with the real thing, namely an actual acoustic grand piano. I have played these Roland (and other) digital pianos that use only physical modeling technology and the result can sometimes sound good, but also sometimes sounds noticeably artificial depending on what how you are playing the piano, what notes you are using and how they are all resonating together, and also how you are using your sustain pedal with various notes sustaining together. Overall the physical modeling technology is impressive but in my opinion it would be much better if it was a combination of Physical modeling and sampled recording combined together as can be found in the Yamaha digital grand pianos such as the newer CLP665GP which sells on-line at just $5499 internet price, free shipping, no tax. The Roland CG-1, $5499 at Costco, does not include sales tax so the Yamaha price is a better deal with regard to that. Also, the Yamaha digital grand is 9" deeper than the Roland so that is an increase in cabinet depth, especially for people looking to get slightly larger cabinet.

Personally I like the piano sound in a digital piano to be either sampled (but the sampling has to be high quality) and not what is in some of the cheap mini or micro grands, or have a combination of both sampling and physical modeling which a few of them do now. Having a combination of both sound technologies is the best way to achieve the most authenticity in a digital piano but that generally costs more money to do. But that's just my opinion as far as the piano sound experience goes in digital pianos and you may really enjoy the Roland piano sound technology and what it does for you. So when you combine the look of the CG-1 cabinet along with the piano sound, key action movement, and pedaling along with a number of fun and useful features, the Roland CG-1 at Costco can be a good investment, especially if you like the look of a smaller mini-grand piano cabinet with some noticeably upgraded features. I will say that the lower price Artesia mini grand pianos at Costco comes nowhere close to this model in any way shape, or form as far as the authenticity of the piano playing experience you would get from it or those other cheaper pianos. The Roland blows away the Artesia and the other much lower quality brands such as Williams & Suzuki.

At the end of the day, if you want the look of a mini digital grand piano but you want it to be higher quality and stay under $7000, then there are really only 5 choices out there right now as far as I am concerned and I have played all of them and given that I am a long time piano teacher and pro musician, I have a lot of experience with these things. You can choose either the Samick SG120 micro-mini digital grand, the Samick SG500 mini digital grand, the Roland CG-1 mini digital grand, the Roland GP607 mini digital grand, or the Yamaha CLP665GP mini digital grand, Yamaha also makes a 4' deep mini digital grand called the CLP695GP that just came out and it looks beautiful and plays beautifully, but that one sells at $7499 internet discount price in polished ebony so it's definitely more money than the others, but it's a very impressive alternative if you have the budget. The 10-year factory warranty for the Roland digital pianos and the fact it is offered by Costco is certainly compelling, but I would not focus on the warranty or that it would be coming from Costco if there are better options in terms of the piano playing experience or what you get for the money with the CG-1 vs the GP607 at a Roland Piano store. This is going to be a long term purchase so you better do it right the first time.

Whatever digital piano you decide to invest in, I suggest you do your homework, especially in this higher price range and then contact me before you do anything because I can help you with purchasing any of these models (with the exception of the Costco versions) for less money in the US than ad or internet discount price along with being able to get free shipping, no tax, and delivery before Christmas, but only while supplies are available at the manufacturer US warehouses. I will also give you helpful free unbiased and experienced advice so you can make a good piano purchase decision.

Samick SG500 polished ebony

It is also good to know that the Samick grand piano company has a one time Christmas sale on its popular 4' deep SG500 mini digital grand piano in polished ebony going on now while their supplies last. Normal retail selling price for that model is $5299 and the direct factory price right now is less than $4500 including free shipping, no tax, duet size matching padded bench, and full factory warranty. So if you want a higher quality and slightly larger 4' deep digital grad piano with lots of cool interactive features and impressive technology along with a great smooth moving Italian key action and nice stereo piano sound, all at a much lower price range right now, then I recommend you consider this model which could be the perfect choice for you. Checkout my review on the Samick SG500 at the following link and then contact me for more info and to see if there are any remaining at their warehouse in Nashville, Tennessee. Samick SG500 Review

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.