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| Roland CG-1 |
🎹 UPDATED REVIEW – Oct 1, 2025 – Roland CG-1 Digital Piano – $4499 Costco price | 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, or 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 version of the CG-1, called the Roland GP607, is now discontinued and was available at regular piano stores that carried Roland home digital pianos in the US, and that model been replaced by the new Roland GP6. 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 or internet site, on-line or locally.
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| 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 over 7 years. The mainstream Roland piano store model was called the GP607 which was upgraded as compared to the CG1. But the cabinet design, color, bench, key action, and piano sound between the two models were the same.. The GP607 is no longer made and has been discontinued, as I previously mentioned, for about 2 years. 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 local & state sales tax would need to be paid which can add another $300 to $500 onto the selling price. So this piano is no small purchase, that’s for sure.
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 70 watts of total power going through 5 speakers (4 smaller and 1 larger). 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 grand pianos such as the newer Yamaha CLP-865 digital baby grand at $6499 or the Orla Grand 120 at $4609.00
The CG-1 has 40% fewer instrument sounds on-board which makes the new GP6 at Roland stores more versatile in what it offers in the way of non-piano instrument sounds. Since there are 307 tones in the GP6 then there is about 40% less than that in the CG1. There are 716 internal songs in the GP6 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 GP6 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 CG-1, there is no difference between it and the previous Roland GP607 other than the internal speaker system which can definitely have an impact on the sound. In fact, it’s the same key action movement (PHA-50 shorter key, primarily plastic), as the newer Roland GP6, although the electronic/digital technology in the much older CG-1 has been improved in the newer GP6 model. Roland uses a proprietary piano sound engine, key action, and pedaling system. However, and this is important, Roland’s key action in this CG-1model is a somewhat firm/heavy which in some cases can cause hand, wrist, and finger fatigue if playing for longer period of times.
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. |
| Yamaha CLP-865GP |
However, 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 can be good, but in my opinion it would be much better if it was a combination of Physical modeling and sampled recording combined together. This can be found in the Yamaha digital grand pianos such as the newer CLP-865 (as I mentioned earlier) which sells on-line at just $6499 internet discount price. Also, the Yamaha digital grand is about 9″ deeper than the Roland so that increase in cabinet depth makes the piano look more realistic and sound more realistic. But it is the piano sound quality and realism in the newer Yamaha that really outshines the Roland in our opinion. Also, check out the impressive Italian designed Orla Grand 120 for $4609 which is a great option as well.
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| 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 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 $6000, then there are really only a few 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 instruments. You certainly cannot get hurt buying a Roland CG-1 and it should last for a long time as Roland does make reliable digital pianos. 
But whatever digital piano you decide to invest in, I suggest you do your homework, especially in this higher price range and then contact us before you do anything because we can help you with purchasing any of these models (with the exception of the Costco versions) for less money in the US than any Amazon ad or internet discount price. Also, we are able to get you free shipping, no tax, and free delivery, but only while supplies are available at the manufacturer US warehouses. We will also give you helpful free unbiased and experienced advice so you can make a good piano purchase decision.
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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.
Need Advice From Professional. I want to buy a digital piano . Is it more physically difficult to play wooden keys , plastic weighted , or carbon fiber hybrid wood / plastic keys ? I have shoulder and wrist pain after playing for a few hours each day on a Casio Privia PX 750. I was wanting to purchase a Yamaha CLP 795 or a Kawaii CA 79 … I am an intermediate level player no lessons , play by ear . Can someone please get back to me about this ? I enjoy these reviews emmensely !
The Kawai key action in the CA79 and CA99 has a lighter key action than the Yamaha CLP-795GP. Depends what you prefer in that way.
This was incredibly helpful. Thank you!