Scott,

Thanks for the info. Walnut Creek is only 20 minutes drive from Dublin. I will go up there this weekend to check out the G70.

Yes I still enjoy playing my SD-1. It's still the best sounding keyboard for me.

Henry

I went up to Walnut Creek to try out the G70 at Colton Piano today. Colton Piano has a large selection of pianos as it's mainly a piano store. There was no other customer in the store, I could play all I want without being disturbed. They did not have a PA system so I tried out the G70 with a set of headphones that was setup there. The 1st thing I checked was the OS version, it was at 1.10. That's good. I think I played for about 1 hour. Overall I was very disappointed with the sounds & the styles. I did not like them at all. I really don't have anything new to report. I always liked the Roland sounds since my band uses many Roland gears. There is nothing new in the sound department except the sounds had too much effects. I'm sure the sounds could be tuned to sound good. The styles were very mechanical. The ones I tried were very busy and had very little musical feel. Another thing is I don't like the fills. There are no fill buttons! When you change variations, it puts in a fill for you. Very strange. On the other hand, this keyboard is well built, it has a beautiful color screen, lots of useful buttons and the keys are excellent. Roland needs to spend more effort on the styles and the sounds.
I have not been to a piano shop for many years. I had a great time playing the different pianos at Colton. There was a Bosendorfer at the very back of the store. It was so nice, beautiful tones and great actions. It was selling for $127,000.00 USD. That's a lot of money! I thought the playing action was a little on the light side.
Henry

[This message has been edited by Henry01 (edited 07-20-2005).]

Henry, considering this fact, and that I played the exact SAME keyboard (probably with 1.10 as well, unless an OS upgrade was actually performed between the time I played it and when you did, which I doubt) it seems that we BOTH came away with the SAME impression of the G70. Considering all the standout features of this keyboard (terrific 76 note keyboard feel, well placed buttons, & user friendly OS & navigation), it's ashamed that the G70's sounds & styles sound so lackluster out of the box. Thanks for your report Henry.

Scott

[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 07-20-2005).]

Scott, I think you played the same keyboard as well. I was not able to make "music" with this keyboard. The G70 has excellent hardware, but it is a lot of work to make it sound good. I have no doubt that someday the G70 will be a great board. Hopefully version 2.0 will fix everything.
Henry