My new Roland E 80 Workstation General Arranger Keyboard arrived here yesterday afternoon so I won’t be on the computer much for the next few days and then the following weekend I will be gone in the motorhome, (with the new Keyboard) to the Beach for a weekJ JOY!

I have owned a lot of keyboards since 1970 but this is a state of the art that is the finest board out of all of them. It has and does it all. I am super pleased with it. Check one out for your self, and I am willing to bet that you will agree.
Best to all,
Bebop

We look forward to hearing some demos from your new toy, bebop. Have fun!

So, how is the speaker system?

Bebop good luck with your new toy......
hope to read all good things very soon in your reviews!!

Bebop wrote:
"I received the E 80 yesterday after noon at the music store. It is in a huge bulky box and weighed 62 pounds. I am 75 years old but I carried it into my house and into the studio and up on the rack. So it is heavy, so what. It has the heavy sound and plays like a heavy board.
The sound system is the finest I have heard in nearly forever. No problems for me and it is unbeliveably loud. I can work my clubhouse without amps with this board."

Fran,
Besides loud the stereo separation is awesome with th onboard speaker system.
I was told this board does not have the polyphony split with 64 on each side but has the full 128 on each side. I can believe it. this sound system is the best I have ever heard in a portable keyboard. It is prolly because the Roland District Manager set it up because everything is right coming out of the box and that is surely new for me This is the first plug and play keyboard I have ever had. Even the original Clavinet had to have the legs screwed on
Best to all
Bebop

Bebop I can understand Fran's concern....we've only heard bad things about the E80 speaker system......but without ever hearing one it was hard to believe Roland would make a bad sound system ......I'm so glad you have started to clear up this mystery for us .....please keep your reviews coming we appreciate it!!

When you here bad things about a keyboard you have allways to ask "who said this and why?". Not unfrequently there are unfair messages written by unfair people who are not able to give a good judgement.

Interesting that most of the disappointment with the E80 speakers comes from the UK, therefore my guess is that Roland use different preset settings for different countries, and they haven’t got the UK setup quite yet. (Also see my report on the recent Keyboard Festival)
It may be interesting to check to see if the full OS version number is the same in all countries.

Bill

Soooo Bebop looking past the weight issue.....what else can you tell us about your new aquisistion the E80...inquiring minds want to know......Speakers, Navagation, Setting up, Sounds, Styles etc etc ....

Well, I can only tell you a few things at this point. I have been busy getting wife Jann on an airplane to Phoenix yesterday and I stayed home so I could study, learn and play this new keyboard.
I am only up to page 24 in the 280 page manual so I have learned how to turn it on, play all the demos, and go through all the styles. there is still a lot more to learn. I have not yet found anything I don't like about this keyboard, except the split point keeps going back to the default. Fran told me I need to set up a user program to load when I turn it on. the only problem with that is he didn't tell me how to do it
I find the controls to be so intuitive that I don't even have to hunt for them. I am not yet sure what all of them do but I will in due time. I have this three day weekend to work with it and then next week at home and the following week in the motorhome at the beach so lots of quiet quality time ahead of me to learn more about this board.
I received an email this morning from Roland District Manager advising me about the extras he had installed in this board for me. I now have this day free other then walking the dog and feeding us to check into those things. I also need to get it hooked into the computer to see some of the pics he has installed also.
Back to the sound system. I have no complaints on it and I have to say it is far superior to the Bose speakers and Yam Woofer I got from Donnie and installed on the Tyros 2. This is a powerful speaker system and keyboard. It is the best I have heard in a portable keyboard. I may be selling 5 pairs of power amps too
One of the things I really like is the knob to adjust the balance between the styles and the lead 3 voices. that is worth it's weight in gold. I have fought this problem for years and now no more! JOY
I wish I could tell you a lot more things but I have to learn, experiance and evaluate them before putting my name and reputation in a post for you. It is my intention to keep it honest and straightforward so stay tuned and you will get my honest opinion as i continue to climb the learning curve.
A special thanks here to Travis Mitchell for setting up this board for me, the great additions in it, and expediting the deliver to me at Colton Music in San Jose, CA.
Best to all,
Bebop
PS: Yup for sure I will be selling the 2 Yamaha's PSR9000 and Tyros 2.