When you are a bit a clever and skilfully
user of a VA7/76 Roland keyboard you know
that those negative messages of the last days
are not fair and not true. A clever user makes own registrations(userprograms on a VA)
I owned a PSR9000, a good instrument but the
VA7 offered me more.Now I have 530 registra-
tions ,all edited by myself with the best
drumsets and the best sounds and effects.
It took a lot of time because those 530 styles and registrations are all converted
styles from other instruments.I combined them
with a suitable VA7 presetstyle and the re-
sult is great for using the stylemorphing.
When you have problems with effects, change
them ,it is very easy to do. The presetstyles
on a VA7/76 are of a high level and there are
FOUR VARIATIONS.
It is good working with the touchscreen.
STYLEMORPHING means that tou can use the drum
track, the basstrack or the accompaniments-
tracks of a presetstyle, one of them or all
together in combination with a userstyle
without programming . This is very easy.
Which keyboard offers you the possibility
to have a userstyle with a drumtrack with
16 or 24 measures in combination with a bas-
track of 8 measures and accomp.tracks of a
lenghts of 64 measures if you want that.
Of course with differences for Maj.,Min.and
Sept. WHEN YOU WANT THIS.
To do these things and to learn how, will
take some time but when you are an intelli-
gent musician maybe the VA7/76 is the best
choice for you. I am not a merchant or a dea-
ler.I am not a singer too, the VA7 speaks
for me.
Mart Weeho

Well spoken, Mart.

That's very nice reading someone's defence for VA7. I just ordered (and paid) for a VA5 and I was quit frustrated with the negative comments of many people. I think the VA5 and above kbds are very nice machines and even their specifications (objectively) are superb to many others...
Thanks for giving value to my money! I wasn't sure they had enough...

The VA series is VERY, VERY nice. Some features are alittle clumsy for live use, but they are not all played live, are they? Roland made a great package in this VA line up - enjoy!

Thank you Mart, I am glad that you tell us
once more how good the VA7 is. I am still
very happy with my VA7 too and I can not see
why the VA7 or the VA76 should not be good
for playing on stage.
You can prepare everything and all the styles
you need are on the Zipdisk or ready to play
in a userprogram.What are your special pro-
blems in a livesituation Uncle Dave?
Deb

The touch screen is the biggest problem. Too much room for error, if you miss the EXACT spot you are looking to touch. A button is easier to feel. The lack of real time controllers & Buttons is the other problem. I need to access more things than they let me. I also like to start an arrangement with manual bass, and then switch to arranger mode in the middle, then switch back later on (sometimes). This was not possible without using specific performances. Once you go into arranger mode, the manual mode would not remember the bass part.
I want simple On/Off funtions for the main stuff. That's all. I guess I am spoiled by earlier models that gave us more conrol.

The things you say can all be prepared in a
Userprogram ( a registration). What you say
about the touchscreen is not a problem when
you play a VA a few days.You get used to it.
Uncle Dave you are an exellent entertainer,
you are a busy man I think, but when you
could have one more houre a day you became
a good VA player. I am sure of that.
Mart Weeho

I had no trouble at home with the VA7, but on the job - I need to make quick changes, and I sometimes miss the exact spot that you need to touch on the screen. Unless your eyes are glued to the screen, it's hard to get the right spot everytime. Then there's the pressure problem - push too light and it doesn't change - too much AGG. No thanx.

Mart W

I noticed you mentioned the VA can do accompaniment tracks up to 64 measures. Can you tell me a bit more about that? For instance: if you triggered an accompaniment that went more than a few measures would it always switch chords when your hands changed chords - or would it hold the pattern and notes it began with until the end of the number of measures you programmed- or can you choose your preference for this in setup? - but not affect the arranger bass and drum track? My interest is in finding ways to use the accompaniment at times more like a sequenced midi file (not altered by chord changes while it plays) - but still having drum and bass tracks used in typical arranger fashion.

thanks
Mike

Regardless of how many measures a pattern has, it should ALWAYS change the chord structure with your hand movments. If you want a long phrase, just hold your hand still and wait till the phrase plays out. The very nature of intelligent arrangers is that they "follow" the hand movements.