Roland GPX-F1 Facet Grand Is The Abstract Piano From The Future You Can’t Buy

Roland has introduced the GPX-F1 Facet Grand Piano, a futuristic, abstract take on the classic grand piano. 

The Facet Grand started as an entry in Roland’s Digital Piano Design Awards in 2015 – a contest that challenged industrial designers to come up with original designs for pianos that were not constrained by the physics of traditional acoustic pianos. Roland awarded the Grand Prize to Jong Chan Kim’s “Facet” design.

Since the, the company was inspired to turn Kim’s design into a playable concept piano. While there are currently no plans to release the GPX-F1 Facet as a production model, Roland says that it expects the Facet’s design language and technologies will influence the development of their digital pianos to come.

The Roland GPX-F1 Facet will be on display at the 2020 NAMM Show, being held this week  in Anaheim, California.

17 thoughts on “Roland GPX-F1 Facet Grand Is The Abstract Piano From The Future You Can’t Buy

  1. Uh, “not a piano” is what springs to mind. That is a piano-shaped object. Roland, despite its insistence that it has been in the forefront of piano innovation, has never produced an actual, physical piano. Wood, metal strings, frame, the whole bit. Not Roland. Yamaha, since 1900, yes. Roland, no.

    Yes, there were a lot of really nifty entries in the contest. But all of them are just housing a controller.

  2. ‘form follows function’ is the essence of good design. in most of this form, there is no function. it houses a small controller, not a grand piano.

    1. I know, right! You should call them tell them they shouldn’t be as successful as they are so they could shut down right away. You clearly know best.

  3. Yes, as a “product” this is a garish waste of resources. As an art object, it’s fine.

    Was there some kind of speaker array inside some of that useless housing?

    I liked the integrated music display. Seems like it wouldn’t be that tricky to have a couple cameras that sense eye position and will advance the display of notation automatically.

  4. The upper lid is a high-def display of the top half of the players face. The lower section has pedals, speakers with ports, amps, wifi, and storage space for a sweater and gloves.

    If you stand at the correct position, the shape forms the word “Zobe”, a word, which, like this piano is still in the process of forming an actual meaning.

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