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

Roland CG-1

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW - November 15, 2020 - Roland CG-1 Digital Piano - The Roland music & audio products company has been around for decades and is a very well known pro and home digital piano company. Roland international headquarters is in Japan but they do not make their products in Japan. They are produced 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 the place that has exclusively been selling this Roland CG-1 model although the mainstream model called the Roland GP607 and has been available at regular piano stores that carry Roland home digital pianos in the US and that model sells for about $6000 discount price plus tax. There are obviously some advantages in buying products at Costco but there are also advantages to buying the upgraded mainstream model from a real piano store on-line or locally.

Roland GP607

The Roland CG1 is actually not a new model as far as the Roland technology goes. In fact, this piano has been out on the market for about 4 years at Roland piano stores in the US in the form of an upgraded model called the GP607. The mainstream piano store model GP607 is identical to this CG1 at Costco in design, color, cabinet, bench, overall technology, external Roland proprietary apps for tablets, and its long 10-year factory warranty. On the CG-1, Costco has been including shipping and delivery to your home street level so that has been a benefit to the purchase of that model. Of course the the local & state sales tax would need 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 mini-grand has a retail price of about $7000 and sells at discount in piano stores at around $6000 or so at local brick & mortar piano stores in the US, so although the GP607 is about $500 more than what's offered at Costco in the CG-1, the GP607 has some features and functions not offered in the CG-1, as I mentioned earlier. Also when you work with a Roland piano store then you get access to product specialists who can help you learn and understand functions & features on the GP607 which is a good thing and that can have extra value because there is no one at Costco who can do that for you. 

So why would someone want to buy a Roland CG1 mini-digital grand? Well, for starters, it looks attractive 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 less than 70 watts of total power going through 2 speakers, whereas the upgraded GP607 has 5 speakers including a built-in sub-woofer in an enclosed acoustically sealed speaker box for much better overall sound projection and quality. But in terms of a big, bold, rich sound this CG-1 does not come close to a real baby grand piano and other home digital pianos. The CG-1 has enough power to be fairly loud, but in my opinion the overall sound experience is not that great, especially when compared to an actual small baby grand piano. Besides the lower powered and smaller internal speaker system, 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 and Yamaha piano company have cabinets that measure in at close to 48" deep or larger 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 4' deep 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.

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 digital 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 on both models 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 other than the internal speaker system which can definitely have an impact on the sound. 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 as compared to most real acoustic grand piano (and other digital pianos) that I have played so there is a big difference there, but it is still overall enjoyable to play as far as key action goes. 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.

Yamaha CLP765GP

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 pretty good 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 CLP-765 which sells on-line at just $5499 internet discount price with free shipping...and we can help you get it for even less money including free shipping and no sales tax, brand new. The Roland CG-1 at $5499 at Costco does not include sales tax so the Yamaha price would be a much better deal plus it offers a noticeably better piano playing experience in our opinion. Also, the Yamaha digital grand is about 9" deeper than the Roland so that increase in cabinet depth makes the piano look more realistic. But it is the piano sound quality and realism in the newer Yamaha that really outshines the Roland in our opinion.

There is a special unadvertised instant rebate that we can get you for the new Yamaha digital baby grand which drops the price down well below the Roland CG-1 or the mainstream GP607. If you want more info on this opportunity you should contact us right away.

Roland CG-1

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 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 purchase, especially if you like the look of the smaller mini-grand piano cabinet. I will say that the lower priced Artesia mini grand pianos that you may have seen advertised at Costco come nowhere close to this model or any other others mentioned here 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 and Yamaha blows away the Artesia and the other much lower quality brands such as Williams & Suzuki. I like to call pianos with a nice looking cabinet but with a sub-par piano playing experience a "PSO" otherwise know as a Piano Shaped Object...something I do not recommend.

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 $7500, then there are really only 5 good choices out there right now as far as I am concerned and I have played all of them. 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 CLP-765GP mini digital grand, Yamaha also makes a 4' deep mini digital grand called the CLP-795GP which has yet to come out in 2021 and it looks beautiful and plays even more like a real grand piano than the others but that one sells for $7499 internet discount price in polished ebony.  This is going to be a long term purchase for most people so you better do it right the first time. But for the money you will get the biggest bang for the buck with either the Samick SG500 or the Yamaha CLP-765. Right now during Covid those pianos are even more difficult to get because there is a surge in demand for these pianos and production of them t their factories has been problematic with the overseas factories having been shut down because of Covid restrictions and the workers there still not back at full production...so there is a shortage of pianos and it looks like this shortage will not end anytime soon. If you want one of these pianos then get your order in right away to reserve one.

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, 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 special private 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 $4700 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 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. Check out 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.