I think it is commendable that Roland is fixing bugs and issuing the OS updates, despite the fact that some people may interpret these updates as admissions of earlier deficiencies, and make snide comments about them.

This is way better than what Yamaha did a while ago, where it would take hours of arguments just to have them to admit that something may be not working properly - just review posts from Scott Yee and Don Mason.

I would also like to disagree with something Weissefar was saying - I think it would greatly help to have one of Roland people participate in this (or a similar) forum. Yes, it would take some time and effort, but Roland is already spending lots of money on producing a glossy publication called RUG Magazine - it looks nice, and undoubtedly takes a lot of effort, and yet I think it is completely useless. Do you give a $#!+ about how many Roland keyboards Ricki Martin's band uses? Even if you did, all of their stuff is pre-recorded or in the best case sequenced. Instead of this useless crap, Roland could expend some effort on building up a relationship with its user base by having a staff member participate here.

Of course, they would have to listen to an occasional earfuls about their products' shortcomings, and it would help if they had occasionally contributed useful technical hints (like Yamaha, GEM, Ketron reps are doing here). But it would help them come up with better instruments, with features that users actually need, as opposed to forcing us to use touchscreens. And it would certainly give people like me fewer things to harp about.

Regards,
Alex