Roland RP500 | REVIEW | Digital Piano | Costco | Is it Good?

UPDATED REVIEW - Jan 1, 2021 - Roland RP500 Digital Piano at Costco - The Roland Music Company has been producing the RP series of digital pianos for many years. Roland makes a number of digital pianos from under $1000 to over $10,000 which are available at local piano stores. The Roland RP500 ($1499 price) is a furniture cabinet style piano and is only available at Costco in the US & Canada. The RP500 has been out on the market for a few years now (it is not a new model) and is the replacement of the much older discontinued RP400 which was also available at Costco and the two models are virtually the same with the exception of the RP500 having a couple of MIDI Bluetooth functions for connectivity to external devices such as iPad/Android tablets whereas the RP400 had WiFi connectivity instead. Also, the RP500 has slightly different speakers but with the lower audio power of just 24 watts going through 2 speakers and 2 amplifiers as compared with other digital pianos in this price range with a higher output for better volume.  



To make matters a bit confusing, Roland produces a mainstream version of the RP500 called the RP501R. The RP501R ($1679 internet discount price) replaced the previous RP401R and the differences between those 2 models are the same small differences as between the Costco versions RP500 and previous RP400. However the RP501R mainstream internet version has more features on it as compared to the Costco RP500 version. Those differences are the built-in interactive rhythm accompaniments & music styles on the RP501R which the RP500 does not have. The interactive rhythm accompaniments and arrangements allow a person to play with any style of music background that they choose such as rock, country, Latin, Jazz, Blues, waltz, march, etc along with a one-man-band system that can be fun to use in helping with rhythm and timing training. Some people may use this feature and others will not care about it based on how you want to play the piano. However on the RP500, Roland has an iPad app called Piano Partner 2 which allows connectivity between the RP500 and an iPad with the ability to produce a limited number of interactive styles as well as built-in digital sheet music (mostly classical) accessed from the iPad app. But...you would need to have access to an iPad tablet to have these features available to use on the RP500.

The Bluetooth connectivity on the RP500 does not do audio streaming which is actually what most people want when it comes to Bluetooth connectivity, so you cannot run iTunes or or song libraries through the RP500 using Bluetooth. The Bluetooth functionality on the RP500 is for MIDI only and will connect wirelessley to external device for selected "MIDI" apps and for specific sheet music apps that allow for instant Bluetooth "page-turning" so your foot can press a pedal and the page of a song will turn instantly on the iPad when you are ready to do that. However, that type of music is still very limited so when it comes to music reading and notation, using traditional books will be the primary way of doing that. Unless you load your own PDF sheet music files into your tablet. For a detailed review on the RP501R, please read my prior review of the previous RP401R at the following link: Roland RP401R Review. *Now remember, the only differences between the discontinued RP401R that you'll read about on my review and the Costco Roland RP500 is that the RP500 has a couple of Bluetooth functions and the RP401 had the older WiFi connectivity & built-in interactive rhythm accompaniment styles which the RP500 does not have. Otherwise, everything else is identical.

It is important to note the Roland RP500 plastic key action is somewhat stiff (heavy) when pressing down the keys (takes more finger force) as compared to other key actions from regular acoustic pianos as well as major brand digital pianos including Kawai, Korg, and Casio. Personally I prefer the normal and slightly lighter piano key actions to reduce hand and finger fatigue when playing, especially for beginners but even for seasoned players because that's how real piano key actions feel...they are lighter. Also the piano sound on the Roland models tends to be somewhat brassy and twangy particularly when playing the keys a bit harder with more expression. The harder you press the keys down the more brassy and metallic the piano sound gets, regardless of which piano tone you choose. This is just the personality of this model as well as the RP501R, but is not the case with most regular acoustic pianos or with other digital pianos such as Kawai, Yamaha, or Casio. So if you prefer a more rounded, mellower piano tone, there are definitely better options.

Overall the Roland RP500 at $1499 Costco price is a nice piano in my opinion. The Costco RP500 version only comes in matte black whereas the mainstream Roland RP501R is available in either matte black or matte rosewood. As with all Costco purchases for states that have state sales tax, you would need to add tax to the selling price of the Costco Roland RP500 which does bring the price up a bit higher. There are still some shortcomings in the piano like its smaller 24 watt internal speaker system, especially considering that at least 40 watts of power is more of the standard in this price range which would give a digital piano a much richer, fuller sound as compared to the less powerful 24 watt system in the Roland. Also, the key action in the RP500 is stiffer as I mentioned before and I much prefer somewhat lighter to medium key actions.