Roland RPU3 Pedal Unit review: Turn your Roland home piano and stage piano into a grand piano with this sturdy, three-pedal unit (each pedal for traditional Soft, Sustain and Sostenuto pedal). Its heavy, feels like real piano pedals and will work with most pianos/keyboards.
Introduction to Roland RPU-3
If you’re a trained pianist and own a Roland digital piano, you can turn it into a grand piano using the Roland RPU3 three-pedal unit.
Not only can you play the piano more expressively, this piano pedal also allows you to control your Roland keyboards’ on-board effects (such as Looper and harmony effects).
And it being a Roland, you can expert top-quality build.
Top Features at a Glance
- You get 3 pedals (like that on an acoustic piano) combined into one convenient unit
- Separate 1/4″ outputs for each of the three pedals
- Negative (-) polarity (allows it to be used with most pianos and keyboards)
- Half damper functionality (but works only when used with Roland keyboards)
Compatible with most keyboards, including Roland RD2000, Roland’s FP-90, FP-60, FP-7F and RD-700 series pianos. Its compatible with a wide range of Roland keyboards, including FP, RD, BK series stage pianos & keyboards.
Pros & Cons
- Pros: You get three pedals in one unit, provides a real grand piano pedaling experience. Good Selection of Effects. Heavy and solidly built (like most Roland products), stays put on any floor surface.
- Cons: Connectors aren’t labelled so you need to check if you have plugged in the right connector to the keyboard, Seem to work only with Roland keyboards (and not with other keyboard brands)
Roland RPU3 Pedal Unit: Review
The Roland RPU-3 Pedal Unit comes with three piano style pedals, each features a separate connection for traditional Soft, Sustain and Sostenuto pedal use.
Besides providing the same pedal playing experience on as a grand piano, the RPU-3 pedals can also be used to control (hands-free) various keyboard functions such as selecting registrations or activating vocal effects, Looper and harmony effects.
The best thing about this pedal unit is that its heavy, it feels much more solid and stays put (doesn’t move on the surface). It also offers resistance (when you press or release) similar to that on a proper grand piano.
No doubt it’s a great pedal, priced right, and can be used for more than as a piano triple pedal, your keyboard needs to support half damper feature to make full use of this unit. Also make sure you can change your polarity in your keyboards settings. Also note that Roland website doesn’t accurately list all the keyboards that will work with this pedal unit. But if you have a Roland keyboard, chances are that this pedal unit will work with it.
Roland RPU3 Pedal: Demo / Video Review
Roland RPU3 Pedal Unit: Specs
Here are the useful Roland RPU-3 features:
- Triple pedal unit (as in a real grand piano)
- Separate 1/4 jack outputs for each pedal
- Compatible with most Roland digital pianos (FP-4F, FP-7F, RD-700 and more)
- Lets you control various instrument functions (Looper, harmony effects, and more) on the Roland keyboard
- Negative (-) polarity for use with normally-closed pianos and keyboards
- Half damper functionality (only with Roland keyboards)
- Dimensions: 14 x 12 x 4 in, Weight: 6 lbs
Roland RPU3: Buying Links & Pricing
While a single pedal unit may also work fine for most piano players, a three pedal unit has more weight (better stability). The Roland RPU3 pedal unit really improves a lot of things on a Roland keyboard, including the ability to control functions using your foot, something which professional players would really appreciate.
- Buy on zZounds | Buy on Musiciansfriend | [easyazon_link identifier=”B0046R7NPI” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″]Buy on Amazon[/easyazon_link]
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KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
Looks good, feels solid, smooth pedal action (continuous, using potentiometers). Surprised that it doesn’t work with most brands of Keyboards. Actually, it should be easy to use it with a variety of keyboards.