I thought it would be interesting to post our feelings of the Arranger keyboards we each owned...
This is my list with favorites first..

Roland G1000[what a surprise]..Durable,dependable,best get around board for live performance,lots of sliders and buttons.Great sounds,excellent read from zip for styles and SMF's..Best SMF playback..Very playable,best feeling keyboard of the bunch...

Roland VA-7..When I first bought the original VA new, I thought it sounded great, but some of the extra touches drove me a little crazy, I preferred the G1000 operation better..Later I bought a used VA-7 from a SZ member...this had a version 2 update..allowing many great updated features..It also had a great sound system and input jacks for a laptop..I was even able to get a decent mic/effects setting and save in a performnce..It actually recorded nicely..I sold it to make room for a G70...If I deside against the G70, I may replace with another Version 2 VA[maybe VA76 for better keys]..

Ketron X1..This keyboard was on the path to be the best...Great sounding voices and styles..good key feel..good speaker system..some quirks in the SMF playback,but had solutions to the problems..The hard drive folder limits made me crazy..especially searching while playing live..The G1000 was superior for performing live..

Ketron SD1,,this is a great board,but I could not get use to the all the same looking buttons...and it a semi dark room, it was a NO NO...Ketron is still capable of being the best...I don't know what the hold up is...If Roland re groups it may be too late for Ketron..


Roland EM2000..many of the G1000 features but had severe shortcuts compared to the G1000..It seemed to be built solid, but did not hold up compared to the G1000..

Roland E-600..A darkhorse keyboard...Great piano sound, good mic/harmonizer..Played sequences from floppy drive okay,but had quirks when using a laptop[99% okay]..

Roland G800,,I loved this board, it had a lot of great things , but the G1000 had all the good things plus the great things not available on the G800..

Roland G600,,a good 61 key board with the same great sounds of the G800, with a few goodies not found on the G800..but it didn't stand a chance next to a G1000..

Roland EXR-5, great board ,but novice oriented..Sounds are good but not Roland's best...

Yamaha PSR2100..lots of goodies for the dollar, but a poor feeling keyboard..many poor sounds..harmonizer was okay..SMF playback was embarassing too many times..

Casio MZ2000,,First impression was okay, but did not like overall..

Yamaha PSR2000,,Just did not like this board,,weak sounds,,2100 was much better..

Yamaha PSR 740,620,
Korg IS5 and IS35...FORGETTABOUT them..


The views are my own opinionated revelations of hands on applications...and are not meant to offend you poor Yamaha and Korg lovers......just kidding..

Hey I forgot the Farfisa G-7,nothing great but a pretty neat all in one keyboard[simular to the PSR2100]...and that is where I am going to place the Farfisa..right under the 2100...

[This message has been edited by Fran Carango (edited 01-04-2005).]