Two Roland portables built on one keyboard
The Roland FP-30X and the Roland FP-E50 look like a cheaper and a dearer version of the same instrument. In one sense they are: the keyboard, the piano sound engine and the speakers are the same on paper. In another sense they are not. The FP-30X is a piano first and almost nothing else. The FP-E50 is a piano with a microphone input, vocal effects, accompaniment rhythms and a screen built around it.
So the question is not which one plays better. It is whether you will use what the FP-E50 adds.
A note on method: this comparison is based on Roland's published specifications. We have not played the two side by side.
What is the same
More than most buyers expect:
- Keys. Both use Roland's PHA-4 Standard keyboard with escapement and Ivory Feel key surfaces, 88 keys, and 256-note polyphony.
- Piano sound. Both use SuperNATURAL Piano for their piano tones.
- Speakers. Both have two 12 cm speakers driven at 11 W × 2. The FP-E50 puts them in a speaker box, but the rated output is identical.
- Headphones. Both have two headphone jacks, one stereo mini and one 1/4-inch (6.3 mm), so two people can listen at once and full-size headphones plug in without an adapter.
- Pedal and stand. Both come with a DP-2 pedal switch, neither includes a stand, and both accept Roland's KPD-70 three-pedal unit as an option. Neither runs on batteries.
If your reason for looking at the FP-E50 is a better piano touch, the specifications do not support that. The key action is the same model on both.
What the FP-E50 adds
A microphone input. The FP-E50 has a 1/4-inch mic input; the FP-30X has none. The microphone goes through the piano's own speakers, with effects Roland lists as Auto Harmony (9 types), Vocal Designer, Voice Transformer, a compressor and a noise suppressor. For someone who sings while playing, at home, in a small venue or for a church group, this is the feature that separates the two.
Accompaniment. The FP-E50 has rhythm styles with intro, ending and variations (Roland lists 177 presets after system update 1.10), a Chord Sequencer and stored Scenes. The FP-30X has a metronome but no accompaniment patterns.
A second sound engine. Next to SuperNATURAL Piano, the FP-E50 uses ZEN-Core, Roland's synthesizer engine. That is where most of its non-piano sounds come from.
A screen and an audio input. The FP-E50 has a graphic LCD and a stereo mini audio input. Roland lists neither for the FP-30X. Both pianos still play music from a phone over Bluetooth audio.
Fewer built-in songs. One thing goes the other way: Roland lists 30 internal songs for the FP-30X and 3 for the FP-E50. If you want built-in pieces to listen to or play along with, the FP-30X has more of them.
321 tones vs 1,018: read the breakdown
The comparison table shows 321 tones for the FP-30X (56 of them on the panel, the rest through the Roland Piano App) against 1,018 for the FP-E50. That gap is real, but it is not a gap in pianos.
Roland's FP-E50 breakdown is 38 pianos, 34 electric pianos, 36 strings, 184 organs and pads, and 726 synth and other sounds, including 74 drum kits. Most of the extra tones are there to fill out accompaniment and band-style playing. Roland publishes no category breakdown for the FP-30X, so a piano-for-piano count cannot be made from the specifications.
One practical difference does follow from the figures: every FP-E50 tone is selected on the instrument, with its screen, while most FP-30X tones need the app. If you want to change sounds without a phone, the FP-E50 makes that easier.
Bluetooth
Both have Bluetooth audio and Bluetooth MIDI. Roland lists the FP-30X at version 3.0 for audio and 4.0 for MIDI, and the FP-E50 at 4.2 for both. For streaming music to the speakers and connecting practice apps, the two do the same job.
Size and weight
Roland measures both with the music rest detached:
- FP-30X: 1,300 mm wide, 284 mm deep, 151 mm high
- FP-E50: 1,300 mm wide, 322 mm deep, 174 mm high
The width is the same. The FP-E50 is almost 4 cm deeper and over 2 cm taller, and it is also heavier: Roland gives 17.1 kg against 14.8 kg, both with the music rest. The difference matters on a narrow desk or a shelf more than on a stand. Each has its own dedicated stand: the KSC-70 for the FP-30X and the KSFE50 for the FP-E50.
Price
At US list price the FP-E50 costs noticeably more than the FP-30X. Whether that premium is worth paying depends almost entirely on whether you will use the microphone and the accompaniment, because the keys and the piano sound do not improve with it.
Which one to choose
Choose the Roland FP-30X if you mainly want to practise piano, if you prefer a slightly smaller and lighter instrument, or if the extra cost of the FP-E50 would buy features you would leave switched off.
Choose the Roland FP-E50 if you sing while you play, if you want rhythms and chord backing for practice or small performances, or if you want to pick sounds on a screen without an app.
If the piano-first route appeals but you are not settled on the FP-30X, see Roland FP-30X vs FP-40. If you are weighing a piano against an arranger-style portable from another brand, see Roland FP-30X vs Yamaha DGX-670.