Guys,

I am trying to be civil and polite, even though this issue and the response of some of the Roland apologists are beginning to annoy me a little. I am yet to hear back from Roland support officially, and like I said, their response will determine whether I keep my G70. I am hoping that they will acknowledge my concern and promise some sort of a fix (this could be wishful thinking, but I am still harboring some hope).

Diki, comparing the OTS behavior in G70 and G1000 is like comparing apples and oranges, or as they say in Russian, a ***** and a finger. Why don't you compare it with a $99 Casio which also forces you to use single-finger chords? On the G1000 the OTS was a single non-programmable setting, for only built-in styles. The G70 has a set of programmable OTS settings, which, if they had worked according to the manual, would address my main concern about the G70, i.e. the ability to change solo voices for a style when you have no user performance memory configured, especially as these are supposed to work not only for the preset, but also for the custom styles. I had written to Roland several times over the last 8 years (since getting my G1000) and asking them for this feature, especially since the major competitors have some facilities for quick recall of the solo voices. In truth, while I like the improvements in sound over the G1000, and some of the other features, programmable OTS memories was the main reason I had purchased this keyboard.

While I don't feel I have to explain to anyone why I am keeping the keyboards I am keeping, I will answer your question. At this point I am not sure that I want to keep the G70, especially if in the areas of my concern it falls short.

This may not be an issue for other people, although judging by the posts on the Danish G70 forum, there is quite a number of people concerned with the mis-behavior of the OTSes. The fact that Roland has changed this behavior on the E80 proves that they themselves see it as needing improvement.

For me an instrument is a tool to do what I need to do. I don't feel any more loyalty to any particular manufacturer than they feel towards me (and I am yet to see how supportive Roland will be of my concerns).

Regards,
Alex