Hi all,
When I plaied the G-70 I found styles some times to be too much quantisized. However, when I had a quick listen to the demo which contains some of the styles, most of them were not so much quantisized. To me some of them sounded better than the ones in the styles family. Have you noticed this?

Hi Christian. Interestingly enough, I too played (auditioned) the Roland G70 on several occasions, and noticed the very same thing you did. I'm convinced that manufacterer demos are not typically produced in the same manner as if were played by us, but tweaked using studio technology to impress (and possible deceive) the listener. I've since learned to never trust or rely on demos alone, and that imperative that you have the opportunity to play the keyboard yourself before coming to any reliable sound conclusion: Trust your ears, and yours alone.

The overly quantized (robotic 'omph pa pa') sound was most apparent with the 'swing' styles, of which so much require the alive breathing (un-quantized) sound of its swung 8th notes. Duke Ellington said it best in the title of his song: "It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing".

Scott

I had a chance to play with a G-70 for about an hour last monday and to me it's just like all the other arrangers I've played. Some of it is good, some is OK and some stinks. I certainly was not personally impressed enough to want to spend THAT much money on it.

The only thing I would REALLY like to have is the keybed and a good part of that is the rounded sides of the keys that allow really smooth organ smears (glissandos) with no damage to your hands or fingers, plus, of course, it is 76 keys.

I'll keep my Tyros, thank you. AND, if the Tyros II is that expensive I'll just keep my Tyros I and get more soft synths where there is a LOT more bang for the buck sound wise. Since I don't gig out with it and I don't make my living playing it, I don't need a new one.

Tom

------------------
Bigger is not always better

Yep, I noticed this immediately as I got the G70 in december 2004. The internal styles were/still are disappointing to my ears (like programmed by technicians, no musicians) .... so I said "goodbye!" to G70

Why doesn't the 'feel' of the keyboard mean THAT much to you all???

After all, the most direct connection between you and what you play is the keyboard 'feel', and yet, most of the time, it is relegated to the back of the list in what is 'essential'.

No sound is THAT inspiring if you are fighting the lack of 'feel' in the physical keyboard. There is a reason people love the 'feel' of a piano. It feels good!! There is a connection between how you hit the wood, and what you hear, and a good keyboard (I won't lie, I believe the G70/1000/VA76 ARE the best all-rounders) makes you believe that.

Don't buy until you FEEL that connection. That is how MUSIC gets made!


And to Roel and previous posters, if you are saying the internal styles don't inspire you, in effect you are saying this is the only thing that makes this a good instrument or not........... Why not edit the styles (easy to do on the G70), make up your own, adapt others, etc. rather than say 'Well, I powered it up and with no effort at my end, it didn't do everything I dreamed of.........'

The more YOU have to put into it, the more it's sound becomes YOUR sound, not someone else's.

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 08-07-2005).]

Diki,
I agree with what you said, to the point that I was ready to buy a G 70 just for the sheer feel of the keys. However, I am currently considering buying a Roland A 37 to use as a controller for both my Tyros and my synth modules (Yamaha Motif ES and Roland Fantom XR).
If I remember correctly, you stated more than once that it has the same keybed as the G 70, am I right?

NO, no, no............ read my posts more carefully :-)

The G70/1000/VA76 and the older A70 controller are the ONLY keyboards that Roland make that use this particular key-bed.

A37 (IMHO) sucks!!

Diki,
In my view an arranger keyboard comes with hi-quality styles, sounds and DSP-settings (out of the box !)

The key-feel is very OK on the G70, but what matters is the music-produced (output) The keys in fact are just an input device and I can live with a Tyros-key feel, specially because it SOUNDS so much better.

Others may think different and say it is normal to put many hours/days effort in it or to adapt other styles to make it sound OK ('personal' ) I don't share this view at all !

Kind of strange some people seem not to accept my views/comments on the G70. I play keys for more than 35 years now, owned many organs, synths and arrangers.... and think I know what to expect for my money.

It just is not the right arranger keyboard for me and many others.... dealers admit this.


Roel

Thanks! That's quite disappointing!

hmmm interesting thread this... as i raised a similar thread a month or so ago and i was led to believe that the G70 from the demo's sounded exactly like that..
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/010858.html

Was i deceived!??

I have used the A37 for years and find it a good controller keyboard (feel & features). It is every bit as good as the G1000 which I also owned at one time.

Friends,

I too have finally found the G70 at a local store, and spent about 40 minutes with it. I did not hear many problems with sounds or styles (using headphones) - it sounded great to my ears. However, I have used Roland gear for years, and I think I have gotten used to the Roland sound - some would say that I have a less discriminating ear

I also thought that Roland had finally did a good thing by authomatically selecting part edit button for the most recetnly selected part (so that you edit the part which you are most likely to be currently playing). Yamaha has been doing this for years, and finally Roland has seen the light too.

My biggest problem was with using the touch screen: with the headphones I could not hear the audible click, and afraid, I would not hear it while performing at any reasonable volume levels either - I think it is one dumb idea for the keyboards. The beep may work for the ATM machines or photocopiers, but definitely not for a keyboard. My company produces industrial computer equipment, and we have to deal with a similar problem - the user needs access to many functions many of which are accessed using programmable keyboard buttons. When the button is pressed, the keyboard (which is actually an LCD touch-panel) jerks a little, so that you can feel it with your finger - not ideal, but way better than the beep alone. Several times my fingers pressed virtual buttons next to the intended one. I don't know if I have fat fingers, or what, but the touchscreen was a big problem for me.

I have tried Fantom, and I thought that operationally that keyboard is really easy to use - having the buttons in a row under the screen, corresponding to the descriptions just above was a great system, way better than the buttons on either side of the screen. I really wish they had used the same button-based operation for the arranger (in addition to the sound/style/performance selection buttons that the instrument already contains.

Since I am not an organ player, the real sliders were also misleading to me. When I take a glance at the slider positions, they are NOT AT ALL representative of the actual settings of the part volumes (or anything else). To me, the sliders should have really been motorized (and at this price, why are they not?), so that every time I change the programs, the slider settings indicate to me the volumes of the parts (or the settings of organ flutes).

Overall, if something were to happen to my G1000 and I had to replace it, I would probably get the G70, hoping that with time I would get used to the stupid touch screen and misleading sliders - having been used to Roland sounds and styles, the transition would have been the easiest for me. I am not sure what else is out there with 76 keys that does not also have significant shortcomings. However, I don't think that while my G1000 is working I am going to pay $3600 or so for the slight improvement in sounds and styles, considering the sacrifices I would be forced to make.

Regards,
Alex

Hi Alex,



Please tell me where you find this function on the G-70 - and how to activate it. Thanks :-)

Regards
Søren www.selskabsmusikeren.dk

Soren,

I am sorry to say but the unit in the store just had it working (or at least I am pretty sure it did). I did not do much configuration on that instrument. Perhaps one of the people in this forum who actually owns the G70 can tell us where this can be enabled.

Judging by the sounds and the lack of excessive reverb, I am pretty sure the G70 I tried had the latest version of the OS. Do you have that installed?

Regards,
Alex

Hi Christian, Scott and others:

When ported over to my PSR-2000, the Roland G70 Styles sound terrific. Wish I had a Tyros so I could listen on that fantastic machine.

Naturally, I didn't like every style I heard but I would say at least 90% were great. When "tweaked" a little, some of the sounds available are downright awesome. I have never had the opportunity to get my hands on a Roland G70 but their styles get a big "thumbs-up" from me.

Rice (The Lone Arranger)

Hi Alex,

I have been playing the G-70 since December 2004 and have been tweaking it A LOT :-)

Haven't found the function that you mention. None of the many pro-users who have registered at my G-70 website - www.selskabsmusikeren.dk - have come forward telling about this great functionality either, so I was just EXTREMELY surprised that we could all have overlooked this.

I notice however that your review is based upon reflections made after returning from the store, where you played the instrument. I honestly think that you have over-interpreted the G-70's way of structuring/presenting the sounds in the display! But maybe I am wrong, so let's hear from the rest of you reading this thread. Have we overlooked something here? :-)

If we have, I will certainly write an article about this at www.selskabsmusikeren.dk. :-)



[This message has been edited by weissefar (edited 08-09-2005).]

Concerning the original idea for this thread; the demos in the G70 are all stored in the Demo folder in the internal memory as SMF's.

If you REALLY feel that they have been 'juiced' to sound less quantized than the Styles, why not copy them to your Cubase program (or whatever you use with a good key display), play a few bars of the same style to the G70's sequencer, save that and transfer to your computer and COMPARE them yourself....

Two possible benefits...... firstly, you will learn how to do all the above functions (if you don't already know!) and be a better user for the knowledge - and you will put to rest (or confirm) your fears about the demos being 'juiced'

And if they ARE being 'juiced' - you will learn what they did to make them 'swing' and be able to use it for your own songs (and maybe rip the parts with the better drums, etc. and make your own, 'better' styles).

My own guess is that the Arranger was used to lay down basic tracks, and then a human being played over them and added some 'swing' of his own! (That's what I would do - don't let the machine do it all, PLAY most of it yourself for Pete's sake!!)