Roland C-30 digital harpsichord

Bring the splendid sound of Baroque music into your own home. Recreated as a modern instrument, the most advanced harpsichord yet is here.

During the resplendent days of the Baroque Period, the harpsichord was the keyboard instrument that colored music with its rich, distinctive tone.
Through the generations, it has continued to charm music lovers all over the world. Now, you can easily enjoy its sophisticated sound and elegant form in your own home.
While producing authentically exquisite centuries-old harpsichord sounds and drawing inspiration from 21st century ingenuity, the Roland Classic Series C-30 Digital Harpsichord uses digital technology to enhance playability and expressiveness. Whether you are a virtuoso or a novice, the C-30 makes it possible for you to spend as much quality time as you want with the harpsichord.

 

The Roland Classic Series provides you with the opportunity to step back in time and become wrapped in the music of the ages

The simple and elegant styling suits modern interiors

Taking up little space, the styling of the C-30 is modeled on the virginal, an ancient rectangular type of harpsichord. With an authentic wooden cabinet and a high quality mahogany finish, the traditional and simple styling will be right at home in a classic or modern interior. The period styling is enhanced by stained glass on the stand, and the decorative panel on the keyboard lid. From a range of optional alternatives, you can create the look you desire by customizing the stained glass and keyboard lid decoration.

Sensitive keyboard response ensures an authentic harpsichord playing experience

When played, the newly developed harpsichord keyboard of the C-30 actually feels as if plectra connected to the keys are plucking strings. Just as with an acoustic harpsichord, if you press with a delicately light touch, you get the same key movement that occurs before the plectrum plucks the string. By designing the keyboard with a long distance to the key pivots, better playability is assured because the touch on the key feels more or less uniform whether you press the key near the tip or further in. Just as on traditional harpsichords, the black keys have a distinctive tip shape with flat tops, and a matte finish to provide a comfortable feel. The amount of dip when you press a key, the sensation you get when the string is plucked, and the springy feel when you release the key are all as they should be on a harpsichord. Because such attention to detail has been given to the keyboard's touch, you can enjoy and experience harpsichord playing as it was centuries ago. 

In the development of the C-30 keyboard and sound source, Roland's engineers gave the highest priority to improving the way that touch affects sound and musical expression. In particular, by implementing the points described below, you can both subtly change the sound depending on touch and let your playing sparkle with articulation and nuance.

How hard you press the keys subtly affects the resulting sound. A heavy touch produces a thick, strong sound, while a lighter touch brings out brightness and beauty in the tone. Forceful pressure on a key also changes the wooden-box sound of the jack rail being struck by the jack, which holds the plectrum. The mechanics of pressing a piano key and pressing a harpsichord are different, and the difference in touch is reflected in the way the sound is produced. When playing multiple choirs of strings with the harpsichord, the timing of the plucking of each string is slightly offset (staggered) to prevent the need for extremely heavy pressure.

This staggering is reproduced, so that pressing the keys in subtly different ways allows delicately nuanced changes in the way sounds are produced. The slight lag that occurs after the jack is raised is also reproduced. This enables a more cohesive sound during trill and legato playing. When the key is released, a distinctive noise is made when the plectrum scrapes the string on its return. You can immediately release the key or, before release, you can pause and wait for the string to stop vibrating. This decision affects the character of the noise that is produced. Paying attention to even key release timing raises expression to whole new level.

All these fine details of the harpsichord's action are important features that have been realized to enable you to play with authentic technique and expressive articulation. The C-30 is a particularly effective means of developing a subtle and accurate feel for the way the harpsichord is played.
 

Rich sound that lets you experience ancient tones.

When playing the C-30 you can easily switch between the built-in French and Flemish types of harpsichord. Both of these have four dispositions--- 8' I (back eight), 8' II (front eight), 4' (upper octave), and lute (buff mute) --- and each disposition has its own dedicated selection button. You can play with a single disposition or layer more than one. The harpsichord in the C-30 was sampled from a French Blanchet instrument. The charm of its gentle, fluent sound is particularly apparent in solo playing.  The other instrument, a fine Ruckers Flemish harpsichord, is already familiar from the C-80. However, the onboard memory has been expanded so you get a set of new high-quality sounds that are responsive to playing technique. The new sounds provide more vivid reality with richness in the mid-range and a high-end that is crisp and penetrating, with enough distinctiveness even for ensemble playing.  Also, as well as sound sets for two types of small positive organs, a fortepiano is also built in. You can play the Baroque music of Handel and Bach on harpsichord and organ, and then change to fortepiano for the early Romantic music of Mozart and Beethoven. On it's five-octave FF-f''' range, you can play anything written for the harpsichord, except for the Scarlatti sonatas and one Haydn piece that go up to g'''.  In your own home, you can experience playing this historic music with the authentic sound of different period instruments. On top of all this, the C-30 makes one more groundbreaking type of beautiful harpsichord sound available...