Folks,

It has been almost a month since the G70 has been out in Europe, and many of our european members now own them.

Yet, other there has been no comprehensive review of the G70 posted here: some posts of gripes, and some short statements of adoration here and there, but not a review.

What I am looking for is a description of the instrument, perhaps comparison with some of the other ones the author may have experience with. In particular, I would like to know if the owners who basically like the G70 find any issues with it. Conversely, if people who tried and did not like it can share some positive tidbits with us, that would be helpful.

One area that has not been mentioned so far is Vocal harmonizer. How does it compare with the standalone units like Voiceworks, or Digitech Vocalist? How about other built-in units from Yamaha, Korg, others?

No instrument is totally good or totally bad, and I think a good review will reflect that.

My intent is not to create extra work for anyone here; however, this will give the rest of us the benefit of the experience of forum members who already own the G70. For me, in particular, this will give a chance to focus on the areas of concern (to others) to see if they are going to pose a problem to me, once I get my hands on the instrument.

Thank you in advance,
Alex

Hi Alex,
I too wonder why this silence.
After me being the first owner that played the G70 and did not like it, I expected more or less positive reviews to come of those who DO like the Roland latest creation.

Questions as :
Why is this the easiest keyboard to operate?
Why does it sound better, compared to other kb's?
Why should I retry the G70 again?
What has improved since the VA's?
Did Roland put the VK's in it or not?
Who do like the G70....did they make a switch from another brand... if yes why ?

Please inform us.

Hi

I have made a litle sampel so you can hear the vocal harmonist. sorry about my singing! http://nielshs.homepage.dk

regards
Niels

Niels,
Very cool. I've always loved Roland's variphrase voices features...
zuki

Niels,
There is nothing wrong with your singing and the harmonist.... well done !

Niels,

The first sample (is it G70?) sounds really nice, the sounds are very good, the style is very fitting, and the harmonizer makes it sound like a quartet (though a bit much of echo to my ears).

The second sample (VA7?) also sounds nice, but the sound is indeed a little thinner.

Thanks a lot for posting these.

Regards,
Alex

Hello Alex,
It might be that the members owning the G70 are enjoying the G70 so much that they don't have time to write .

Anyway I had to pick up a kevlar case which I ordered for my VR-760 at the importer (for the dutchies "Muziekcentrum Oostendorp, Wezep) and my eyes saw a G70 standing in the shop, so allthough I was in a hurry ofcourse
I could not resist a short try out. (15 min)
So it's just a First impression;
Great touch screen, incredible easy to find your way, chrystal clear viewable as well.
Drawbars worked fine allthough felt less responsive as on the VR-760, but that might be because they are ergonomicly on another place. (needs an in depth try out)
Sounds I did demo were excellent and a major
upgrade in comparison with the G series.
(hammond's, piano's, saxophones)
I only used a couple of styles and sounds due to the time shortage I had.
The styles I did demo sounded a lot like the VA series but a bit more dynamic. (less thinner indeed)
(My personal opinion is that Yamaha and Roland allways add a bit too much echo/delay on factory sounds and styles, so I usually edit that a bit to my own taste and you know how good or bad the sound "really" is!)
The buttons for start/fill ins etc.. are on the wright place.
I could find everything I looked for in a few seconds, which is very promising.
The keyboard feel was as expected TOP!

So my first impression was very good and absolutely positive.
Bear in mind I like Roland Sounds, and also have a very long time positive experience with Roland gear , which never failed (knock wood)which makes me a Roland Fan.

Also the looks of the G70 are very professional, in other words looks great in case this might be of some importance.

I won't have much time the coming month's but if I have a chance I try to demo in depth, with the risk I buy the board

Fred

Fred,

It's great to hear from you, and thank you for the review. I think I am in the same category as you are - I like Roland sounds (and styles), so the fact that you liked it is very encouraging to me (not to disregard anyone else's point of view).

Best regards,
Alex

Alex

The first sample is a G-70 style and the second is styles I have imported from my va-7.
When I have got a deeper knowles of the keyboard I will write a review and put more samples on my homepage.

Niels

Hi

Here is a new demo I made of the G-70 Internal styles. http://nielshs.homepage.dk

Niels

Hi:
Im new to arranger keyboards
returning to music as a hobby from a long hiatus (im a physics professor by day).
I've been agonizing between Roland G-70 and Korg Pa1xpro. I have played
piano, violin and sang in the past but
never arranged or composed though Im
looking to start as Ive always wanted to.

In listening to the demos,
they both have their plusses and minuses it seems, and I know only Korg has sampling.
I dont think the 64 vs 128 polyphony
is going to matter too much for me
(but actually Im not sure!).
I am definitely interested in a good vocal processor at least 4 part harmony
both seem to pass I this respect.
Im also more interested in realistic sounds
than in synth type sounds. Piano,
sax, drums guitar..etc.

So does anyone have any words of advice
on this decision?
I think an arranger rather than
e.g. a Fantom is for me, so Ive narrowed
that down. Cost is less of a concern
than understanding the choices.

Thanks for any help!
-Eric

p.s. will winter NAMM 05 reveal any new 76 key arranger keyboards from Korg or Yamaha?

Hi,
today I try giving to you all a first report of my impression working with the Roland G-70. I hope
my knowledge of the English language is sufficient enough to find the right words.
Till now I played a Roland VA76 coupled with the Yamaha Tyros because I love the keyfeel of
the board that much and I have an additional character of sounds and styles for my music.
But now the facts not yet discussed in the forum:
The weight of the board is high (about 20 Kg) but it seems to be in order to a very solid case.
The operating is very, very easy in all applications. Much better than ever Roland Keyboards
have been. The touch sreen works very well. The overview is better as on all other keyboards
I know. But the screen is a little bit small so you possibly need a pair of glasses. Loading
songs or styles from external memory (I use a 256MB CF card) nearly takes no time.Cover and
Makeup Tools are fanfastic in acc on effect. A second splitpoint divide Upper 1/2 with the
Upper 3 Part. It effects the coupled Yamaha Tyros too in the same way (if you choose the
accurate Midi adjustment on both instruments). Very usefull are the 2 left parts.In my opinion a
highligth is the Music Assistant. Not concerning the precondition but in case of users effect.
Base are the complete User Programs. The assistant builds the finder by Name, Artist and
Genre. After select the complete User Program you can use the One touch settings to select
four complet sound and variation settings. All that takes only a second of time! Additional
there are finders for songs, styles and user programms without music assistant help. After
deleting the Roland presets (I don't need them) the internal memory shows 40MB freespace.
Thats' really a lot. (Tyros=3.3MB) Chaining of songs works without a pause, if you wish it.
The sliders are assignable for organ, tone volume, panpot, reverb chorus and mute
(for keyboard parts, songs and styles) Tone edit comprise modulation, envelope and filter (TVF).
The results of all tone updates have to save in user programs. The G-70 has no tone savearea.
But that is no problem. The Dbeam provides a lot of show effects. Octav setting can realtime
taken on the screen. (-4 to +4 to get guitar noice or some what) Tranpose is provided on the
panel. Some functions I didn't test because I need my user programs first. Don't ask me about
the overall Sound. I not finaly sure about that. It is a hard work to set the Equalizer, the
Compressor, the sound effects for a particular voice. At the afternoon I find my settings very
good, the next morning crap. But I think it is a normal feeling in acc on electronic instruments.
Most of the styles of all Pop categories sound good to me. Other classes are often filled with
old VA styles. They are more dynamic, but old is old. The function 'Style creater' that has been
announced in the first pictures of the 16-track sequencer is not yet implemented. May be with
the next update. Regards Hanspeter

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. We'll be interested to hear more from you as you explore your new instrument.
DonM

I may be wrong, but I think there is a kind of arrogance in your post. What especialy
do you want to know. A report of comparing the G-70 with your Tyros (mine too) dosn't make you happy, really.
Regards Hanspeter

Hanspeter,

Thank you for posting your review. A question: does each Performance Memory store 4 One-Touch settings?

Also, the VA7/76 had a function of "Supertones", which were callable quickly, as opposed to wading through pages of sounds. Is there anything similar in G70?

Another question: in the G1000 (and G800) one of my pet peeves is that sounds are interspersed through wrong groups (e.g. a guitar listed among variations of Saxes). Is this fixed in G70?

Best regards,
Alex

Hallo Alex,
first question: no, the One-Touch settings are a component of a style. There are three kind of styles.
1. The internal styles associate with the VA selecting A and B
2. The database coupling with Disk (means external) styles like VA selecting C
3. Disk or external styles
The first kind are the 'factory styles' with OTS presets, it is possible to make your own OTS,
you can store the updates within the Bank of the performance set. (144 items of a User program).
Or a new style.
The second kind are styles you can assign your own OTS, there are no presets
The third one you can select, but not assign your own OTS
So, each Performance Memory is related in the best way to styles type one or two.
Sorry, I now understand your Question, if you have more than 120 different individual styles
with different OTS it is not possible to follow my suggestion for all performance banks.
The facotory presets excluded. But is it necessary?
So, the highest level marks the music assistant, the next deeper level the user programm. After that
the style with lastly the four one touch settings.

second question: The G-70 has the possibility to choose a 'best selection' of sounds. That means,
most of the nearly 1600 tones are excluded from selection panel. That is the same idea, but it's not
the same. Normaly you have to select out of 3 pages. But the very good sounds you can select at
the first page.

third question: the G-70 has 16 selection keys to choose tones. Five of them have two meanings,
so Elec.Guitar and Bass. The display shows at the left side the guitar names, at the rigth side the
bass names. Otherwise there are 21 selection keys on the board. I think it is a compromise.
Hopeful my answers hit your questions, with best regards: Hanspeter

Ironhill, you are VERY wrong. First, I have absolutely nothing to be arrogant about. Also, I would replace the Tyros in a minute if, or rather when, I find something better. I am very interested in all the new technology. I change keyboards on the average of once a year, and I've had the Tyros almost a year.
I know sometimes it's difficult to communicate when our native languages are different. Unfortunately I don't have a second language, and I'm in awe of those of us who do.
I fully expect to replace the Tyros in the next few months. I'm just trying to decide which way to go, same as everyone else.
DonM

IronHill said "The G-70 has the possibility to choose a 'best selection' of sounds. That means,most of the nearly 1600 tones are excluded from selection panel. That is the same idea, but it's not the same. Normaly you have to select out of 3 pages. But the very good sounds you can select at the first page."

I am also the owner of A G70 but I cannot find how to do the above ie set sort of supertones. Could you kindly write more details on how to do this

Thanks

O.K. DonM, I got it.
Regards Hanspeter

Hallo, g,mon
you reach the mode as follows:
push MENU
select field UTILITY
select START UP if necessary
choose BEST SELECTION within SOUND SET MODE
This will reduce the sound offer down to 700. Of course, this will not solve all selection problems you can have, but it is a little help. I personal store my sound combination on specific user programs on CF card. (that is important to do not collid with normal user programs on internal memory) The names I use for my sounds for instance are 'Piano/strings', 'Piano latin',
'Epi the best' and so on. If I need one of the combination or a solo sound i can select it by the user program finder using the HOLD function. I'm very content with the method.
Regards Hanspeter

Your kidding right? You detect arrogance from THAT statement?

DonM sounds to me to be genuinely interested in getting some feedback on the G70.

Thanks Ironhill

I'm sorry about that, I misunderstood his message. Excuse me. Regards Hanspeter

This link only took me to an instrumental demo. (Very nice, BTW)Where's the vocal?

Hallo again.
I made a big mistake tranlating DonM's first posting. Please let me explain why:
The little word 'as' is similar to the german word 'als'. That means in english:
'than' or 'instead of''. Very embarassing. Regards Hanspeter

Hanspeter,
I knew it was something such as that. Thanks for the explanation.
DonM

today I will write something about differences of the functions on my G-70 and my Tyros.
All people know the there are 15 keys more at G-70, but some details of that perhaps are not
that familiar. There are five levels of initial touch on Tyros, three of them on G-70. The after
touch sensivity of the G-70 you cannot choose, (3 levels on Tyros) but it is possible to control
the arranger in addition to the voice functions. The G-70 provides an additional splitpoint for the
upper parts. It separates the upper three part. I often use it to fill melodic breaks. The lower
part split on Tyros is not that usefull.
The operating to choose the voices (tones) and styles is very similar. To handle the arranger
the Tyros has separat keys to choose the tree intros/endings. The four of them on the G-70 are
controled by the variation number and one separate key for intro and ending.
Because other functions are not that identical it is not possible to compare the operating. But
I can say, both instruments provide easy of use selection of their functions.
Of cource, the Tyros screen is much bigger and therefor you can some things better read
without a pair of glaces, but the information of that what happens is very good on both.
Playing the Tyros without changing any effect seems to be more satisfy. But it is not that
dramatic to change two ore three parameters to get good results on G-70. I know, some Roland
people work to do a better preparation. The potential of G-70 sounds I could study by two
demonstrations of Ralph Schink in Germany. There is not a especialy storage to save or load
user voices on G-70, modifications has to save on performance memory, named user program.
To get more voice material the Tyros can load Custom Voices, these are modified by a special
program on a computer. Roland provids 10 special sound cards (Expansion Boards) . One
of them can be installed by user. To modify styles or songs Roland provides some
good tools. One is called 'Cover'. It has the possibility to change the character of music, for
instance let a vienna waltz sounds like an oriental style or song. Another item is called
'Make up tool'. With this you can change the instruments and its sound by volume, octave and
effects during playing a style or running a song. The style and song creater of both instrument
are similar in order of functions. The style micro edit function of the G-70 is more effectiv than
it is on the Tyros, especaly to modify melodic and harmonic tracks. Pads are unfortunately
not available on the G-70. Melodic phrases you have to play by your self (upper 3 split) Some
other things can be done by the D-Beam controler. There are four kinds you can select:
DJ Gear (effects like scraching ore cutting), Sound EFX (finger snaps, bubble and more),
Instrument (Mandolin, Jazz scat and more) and controls (arpeggios, change tempo, arranger
control, keyboard part changes and so on).
The internal storage owner can use is 30 MB, if you delete factory presets 40 MB.Tyros 3.3 MB
I installed a 256 MB CF card. That will reach for 6000 styles or songs. It works very well.
The Music Finder of both are not identical. Tyros points to styles, G-70 to user programs stored
in internal memory. Addional to this the G-70 has finders to selest songs, styles and
user programs. All of them are very usefull searching items in a bigger enviroment.
That are just ideas I had to write it down. The quality of sounds, styles and vocal processing
every body has to find out personaly, I think. For me it is a good mixture because both instruments
sounds good to me, but different.
Regards Hanspeter

Thanks, Hanspeter. Your comparison is helpful.

Well, they sound different but...
different in what? For example, how do you see and feel the difference in sounds and styles? What can you say about it?
Are Tyros styles richer?, are Roland styles more varied? are Tyros sounds warmer? is piano voice better in Roland? ...

Good review Hanspeter. Thank you,
DonM

Thanks for taking the trouble to review your G70 - Most Useful.

KF

Hi tracknet,
normally I refuse to answer those questions. But let me try to say why:
To play with a solo sound, for instance a Tenor sax, witch sample does makes me feel
sound like Stan Getz or perhaps more like Zoot Sims? It's depending using the initial touch,
the after touch and the control lever.The more I understand handle this technics the
more I will profit. Another musician with an other understanding of Tenor sax sound, perhaps
a fan of Sonny Rollins, will come to other results. Another example: I like to play waltzes
composed by Johann Strauß. For that I use a warm ensemble string sound. Normally I get it
with three upper parts using different voices. Testing some variety suddenly i find a better
combination with the other instrument by chance. Shell I make up my minds that way?
Now my comment to the piano(s). At the first time I had the feeling G-70 favourite Fantom X
piano sounds a little bit dull to me. But instead of Roland standard effect I use the anhancer.
That has make the sound more brilliant. But I can say: I'm not an expert to give an judgement
in piano sounds. Some words about the styles. I think a lot of feeling are build by using the
intros. That is very well known by the programers. But this says nothing about the normal
variations of a style. It is my feeling that a lot of the styles of both instruments are boring.
But some new composed styles makes me satisfy. My feeling is that new styles using guitars
Roland has some advantage. All over Yamaha's wins. Only my own feeling!
Regards Hanspeter

hi
Im using as of now the VA-7 but I need new and more real styls so I thing about the g-70 but, how is the 6 fill in done? were do I have 6 fill in bottons?! how can I have control witch fill in I wana select?!

and also I'm in the USA in NEW YORK and I want to buy it so what should I do?

Thank
J. Klein

Hi Joel,
the six Fill Ins are selectet together with
a new or the same variation if you press down a key called AUTO FILL IN. Two Fills are aassigned to variation 2 and 3 for up/down/same selection. One Fill are assigned to variation 1 for up/same and to variation 4 for down/same. I don't know where you can buy the board in the states. I think it is not announced in US?
Regards Hanspeter

The G70 will be announced (in USA) today at the NAMM show in LA
Regards..

Wow!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks that is realy GOOOOOOOOD news!

but about how long aftar the namm will I be able to see it with my eys?...

Hi All,

Do you ever compare the sound and drum quality between Roland G-70 and Roland Fantom X7? I really wondering which one is the best selection.

Thank you.