Roland's new workstation incorporates all the goodies.A 76 key with initial and aftertouch. It has semi weighted "waterfall" keys..It has interchangable synth modules [boards] including a VK8 to utilize the 9 drawbars.Also additional modules available. The unit will hold 4 different synth modules, as well as 6 SRX series expansion boards..Polyphony, full for organ and 256 for synth.The new arranger section has a total of 16 parts, 3 endings ,3 intros, 4 fills and 6 variations..Morphing feature is in place,as is the chord sequencer from the G series..The new harmonizer is also standard..The newly developed SMF features of the DisCover series is also incorporated..The unit has stereo outs plus 6 separate outs for keyboard and a pair of stereo outs for vocal/harmonizer, a new idea, a sample and hold function, in real time you can sing a phrase and use it as a arranger part starting with the downbeat of the next measure when you desire, keyed to the chord change.. The unit has a 64 meg sampler [standard, and can be upgraded to 512]..The storage media is twin 512 Smart media[1028]. The big surprize is the 16 track[128 virtual]digital on board recorder complete with CDRW[MP3 player/recorder] drive..Besides the twin insert effects[140 each] you have access to cosm effects[2 effect units]..The weight will be around 44 lbs, not bad for all the goodies..Another feature, although the unit has no speakers,it does have a built in 100 watt stereo amp with a seperate sub woofer and stereo outs..You can attach any combination of 8 ohm speakers. On board EQ ..Almost forgot the Drawbars also doulble as volume and data controls for the arranger section.What,What who woke me up,,darn just a dream..Roland you listening?

Pretty close to my dream too.

LOL. Fran you had me going right to the last sentence. As I was reading, I thought to myself, I will not be able to afford this very expensive dream machine. You would like to have watefall keys as well, eh.
Star

This would have been priced above the Tyros, possibly even more then the PA-X.
I won't have to figure out how I can afford it.
Star

Jeez Fran you had me going, I was already starting to say good
bye to my 9000 Pro until I read the last line.
Denny

Fran wrote---------".The new arranger section has a total of 16 parts, 3 endings ,3 intros, 4 fills and 6 variations..Morphing feature is in place,as is the chord sequencer from the G series------'

I don't want the built-in recorder or burner,but the above arranger section along with the expansion boards would be sweet.

All kidding aside ROLAND is due for a new Flagship Arranger KB!!

Yea, but I bet it won't come close to Fran's dream board!

If ROLAND came out with a synth like that... people WILL buy it. Yes, think of how many people have more than one synths? they will just buy 1 instead of 3 different synths.

Roland already makes all the feature products of my dream board,,,all they have to do is get on it and get it done.Make it a quality product, and we will pay $3500 for a board like this..

Summer NAMM 2003. Ten days and counting.

Best regards,
Mike

Groundbreaking news rarely happens at the summer show. I hope I'm wrong.

Anybody want to buy my VA-7 ?



Tom G.

Just be patient, it won't be long!!!

TomTom,
$1200 - throw in shipping and the FC-7!
Zuki

Ah Fran, if only...

Since I have a PSR200, I was thinking of adding a Roland VR-760, which would give me most of those dream capabilities. But, I'm going to wait and see IF Roland has any surprises in store ofr us at the Summer NAMM.

I love that 2k, but I'm still a Roland fan at heart.

Roland rulez !

Hi Fran, Long time no talk to. If anyone would know this song request, i'm sure it would be you. Do you know and maybe have the lyrics and music for: Do Yo Ever Think Of Me. I have a senior that keeps asking for it at one of the nursing home i play at. any help appriciated, Thanks, Bob Lee

Hey Bob, Do you ever think of me[E.Burtnett},, I have the fakebook version with lyrics. My desktop is having a problem scanning the page. I will scan it with my laptop over the weekend, or if you like I can sequence it for you and email it..Here are the lyrics: When you have another's arms around you,do you ever think of me. When you whisper I can't live without you, do you ever think of me. And when your eyes disguise the same old loving lies, you tell so tenderly, deep in you're heart, un feeling, When some heart your stealing do you ever think of me..

Thanks Fran. If it's not too much trouble for you i would like a sequence of the song. I have no idea how it goes, so a midifile would help a lot. thanks again, Bob Lee ( rcl1935@juno.com )

While searching for my conversation with Bob Lee..I came across this "dream" machine posting I made...pre G70....Pretty close..huh?

Now if Roland can complete my "dream" machine..soon...like a GX90..

You might want to pay $3500 for that board but they'd be losing money if they retailed it for that. The manufacturing and R&D costs alone would almost certainly make a workstation of that caliber cost twice that amount. Real time controls, extensive software, and high end hardware isn't cheap. Integrating all those components and making them work intuitively is another thing that would take many man hours of programming. It's just not going to happen anytime soon. At least not at that price.

FYI... Wersi has nearly every feature you mentioned with the exception of utilizing expansion cards. It uses VST's if you want to add to your sound palette. Polyphony is only limited by the software used and speed of the CPU processor. Here's a breakdown of some of the features:

Sampling and playback are disk based so no need to worry about RAM limitations. It supports AKAI samples and STS/Sonic Core samples as well.

Cubase was standard since OAS 6 so you've got more Audio and MIDI tracks than you're ever likely to need.

There are 28 real time sliders/drawbars that are programmable. These can be used for the sequencer, audio tracks, styles, level control, and as organ drawbars. There are also other real time buttons and controls that are programmable.

There are 3 pairs of stereo outputs, two microphone inputs, as well as two pairs of audio inputs. Effects/EQ can be applied to the mic and audio inputs.

Effects are all 32 BIT and have extensive editing features. Up to 3 different effects can be used per sound. There is also a global Reverb/Effect section for the main output of the instrument. Multi band EQ per sound and a global EQ are also present.

CDRW, DVD drive, hard drive, and floppy drive are standard.

Storage mediums are Floppy, Hard Drive, CDRW/DVD, or any USB based backup such as Smart Media or SDHC.

The unit has a 2 x 30 watt audio system with built in speakers and sub woofer. The internal Abacus sound system rivals any other arranger bar none. The Wersi Louvre audio system is more powerful than the Abacus and has no equal in a built in audio system.

Using OAA the Wersi can import nearly every arranger style and it will play Yamaha styles directly.

The Abacus Duo comes standard with both a 61 note and 76 note semi weighted (initial and aftertouch) keyboard that has a fantastic key action.

There are optional pedal boards available (13, 17, or 25 note) that further enhance the features of the system.

There are far too many other features to mention.


[This message has been edited by Ensnareyou (edited 08-20-2008).]

Ahhh, Ensnareyou.... but how does it sound?

Oops, that's right. It's the first arranger in history completely incapable of making a recording that sounds like the real thing. A special 'suck' effects block has been added to the recording outputs, to ensure that no-one will ever be able to hear it properly unless they are actually in the room with it.

I'll never look at any of my boards the same again.

Joe

------------------
Songman55
Joe Ayala

Sorry, Fran, but your dream is/was my nightmare Pretty close on some things, pretty far off on others!

3 endings, 3 intros, 4 fills and 6 variations... One step forward (6 variations) three steps back. G70 has four Intro, four ending and seven fills. MY dream would be 4 In and Out, 4 variations, but 16 fills (one for each possible route) and four Break/Fills...

And forget the sampler... unless you could load it as fast as a computer, forget it. Nothing short of a computer loads fast enough for practical usage (at LEAST 40 minutes to load up that 512MB )

Forget that DAW, too. It will only add to the cost, and suck compared to a computer DAW. Even the Oasys got this wrong, and it's over 8 grand!

And, for shame! Why replace the G70/G1000's keybed with some organ weighted waterfall rubbish? It's already perfect for both organ AND piano... Mind you, I wouldn't mind another set of contacts that trigger very shallow, for the B3 stuff

Varios has already been tried and it was a DOG

Six separate outs only work if you can route effects to them as well. Roland seem mired in this scheme of no effects on the Direct outs... Mind you, if you could route the VK organ to one, that would be a BIG improvement for those of us with real spinners!

And any stereo 100 watt amp will make the weight well over 44 lbs. or sound like ass!

But keep the Chord Sequencer, Morphing Styles and six SRX boards! Funny, but the main things I like here are the things Roland DROPPED from the G70

But in many ways, it WAS very close to the truth. Had to laugh at Ensnareyou's price estimate. He's too used to being ripped off by Wersi The G70 does have all those realtime controls, at at least a third the Wersi's price. Sure, it's got those DAW things, and the sampler, etc., but I'm not sure they are worth six thousand extra

I can put together a laptop system to do that for about two grand (or less)...

Now, back to sleep, and try to dream something we can afford!

Diki,

It's clear you have an agenda to bash Wersi even though you've never actually heard or played the instrument in person. If I reviewed products like you do (without actually playing them), I could bash your beloved G70 but given the fact I know little about it other than what its sound engine is like, I'll refrain from doing so.

Would you give a Keyboard Magazine review any merit if they concluded a product was crap yet they never laid a hand on the instrument? I'll bet readership would be at an all time low if subscribers found out reviews where done in the same manner in which you review instruments.

Anyone that can conclude with such conviction that an instrument they've never played "sucks" is a fool. You can and do say whatever you like but you lack any credibility whatsoever by attempting to review a product you know little to nothing about. How could you anyway? You've never even seen or played the instrument in person.

Try a Wersi in person then feel free to cast stones as much as you wish. For now you're just full of hot air.

Look, enough of this bull, Ensnareyou.

It's a practical matter. To play a Wersi, I have to drive 1600 miles. YOU wouldn't drive that far to play a Casio, no matter how much bull an owner tried to pass off on you that it sounds MUCH better than the demos, would you?

Didn't think so.

And I'm sorry, but if you can't get the basic point that you can't say that the good demos ARE representative of a real Wersi sound (you bought one based on someone else's CD) but the bad ones AREN'T is just plain rubbish. I have refrained from getting as personal about this as you for a while, but it is time to respond in kind. (sorry, Nigel)

You are an idiot to suggest that only GOOD Wersi demos are representative.

Either a good demo AND a bad demo sound nothing like the Wersi does, or the bad demo is just as accurate as the good ones (wherever THEY are ) You really are the most blinkered idiot I have talked to here in a while, completely unobjective, completely incapable of registering the most obvious points if they differ from your fanatical evangelizing of this overpriced arranger.

Everyone on this forum is capable of extrapolating the REAL sound of an arranger from the demo mp3 (except, of course, you). It will sound just a BIT richer, a bit more detailed. But Ashley Simpson, in SACD doesn't sound anywhere NEAR as good as Ella Fitzgerald at 128kbps MP3. I don't need to hear Ella in person, to know she was a MUCH better singer than Ashley Simpson ever will be.

Apparently, you do...

And, once again, I'm sorry, but if you can't accept that other people will judge a demo that sounds like crap to be representative of the actual instrument, you need to do two things, First of all, decry the demo as crap yourself (that's going to hurt, isn't it?), and point out some better ones. Lord knows, you seem to be utterly incapable of doing one yourself. You've had it how many years, and still haven't made ONE piece of music on it that you are willing to show? Is it THAT bad?

Let me put it in words your blinkered mind might have trouble accepting. I don't hate Wersi's. I hate most everything I have heard coming out of them. And I hate the idiots that try to 'ensnare' me into thinking that I am not capable of judging anything by how it SOUNDS.

How's that collection of Casio arrangers you have? Oh, that's right. You heard the demos, dismissed them as crap, and didn't even try one (or if you did, acknowledged that they sounded pretty much the same as the demos).

I tell you what... I'll post something REALLY, REALLY bad. Then I'll call you a blithering idiot for calling it the way it is. After all, what do YOU know? It will be a high quality MP3. I'll tell you it sounds completely different, another piece altogether if you drive 1600 miles and listen to it through MY monitors. Then I'll get mad at you for pointing out how stupid that statement really was.

OK with you...?
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Sorry, the rest of you, but if this guy can't keep it from getting personal, why should I bother?