My apologies to George Kaye, who enjoys a deserved reputation here.

However, he is the rare exception to the rule. Roland have banished their arranger future to the one division that cares the least for it. What is a handful (or less) of dealers like George in a country the size of the US?

One of the most asked questions here is 'has anyone even HEARD and PLAYED a G70?'......... Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Roland's marketing ability.

The fact is, few potential purchasers are able to travel the distances involved to try a G70/E80, and no-one in their right minds is going to buy one of these uber-expensive keyboards sight unseen.............

Not to mention the complete lack of ANY US support for the G70. When I purchased my G1000, I got a Roland Zip disk FULL of thousands of older Roland styles, and several hundred good quality SMFs. What did I get with my G70?...... A manual.

Roland US have not come up with a single new style, at any price, for their top of the line arranger, preferring to leave style development to the Europeans, and - God bless 'em! - THEY enter into agreements with top European style developers to GIVE AWAY fine collections of new G70 specific styles. But ONLY to European customers....... (and also, not to be ungrateful, but the styles ARE very, well let's just say, mostly VERY European, and not too relevant for the American market!)

If Roland are NOT giving up their US markets to Yamaha, they had better bloody well do better than they currently are...............