between a yamaha and roland entry level stuff, like S03 and SD-20 and SD-80, which has a better GM playback for bought midi files

The Roland Discover 5 is specifically designed for MIDI playback keyboard.
Starkeeper

Yamaha IMHO . dano

I've always had Roland midi playback, never tried a Yamaha, what do you think Dano, should I do the Yamaha S03 or the midi controller with the Roland SD-20

All in one sounds good to me !

S03 ! OR ..........


How about a used XP30 . That would be perfect !

I had a XP-80, it sounded great for solo instruments but as a GM playback it had really lame GM stuff, does the XP-30 have a Exp GM/GS board?

I'm such a pain in the ass

No contest , Roland GS instruments still rule..

I'll agree with Fran,

Roland plays SMF files back the way they are supposed to sound, not like Yamaha where you'l hear all kinds of weird hand claps and other sounds that dont belong there.

I'll echo that. Yamaha GM is a step behind Roland.

Thanks guys,

Uncle Dave and Donny, what's up , both of you agreeing with me? BTW, Roland GS keyboards are the master, not the GM[JV,XP and XV] they are just okay , especially drums[GM mode]..

I agree, no one comes close to Roland for
SMF playback. I've also tried Yamaha,
and it's no contest.

Sorry Guys But the best keyboard I heard play GM midi files like real PRO is the Ketron SD1.

yep, IMO Ketron does plays midi files the best although GEM does the best arranged songs from their massive catalogue... I do not think that anything can compare to GEM, especially the WK series of songs, some are truely amazing...

Well Ketron and GEM aren't off the shelf.

I'm spending #$250 for the SD-20, cant get a Ketron or GEM for that

sorry didnt realise, i was going with the flow of the thread and ended up at the expensive end! lol....