Al, based on the Keith's G70 OS 2.0 findings (above), Roland still HAS NOT got it right with Jazz Chord Voicings, though they do manage to recognize ONE rootless voiced chord, G7(13): F1-B1-E2 . Unfortunately none of the above G70 chord voicings allow you to play a smooth II-V7-I jazz (rootless style) chord progression as you can with Yamaha, Korg, Technics, and Ketron. ie:

Dm7(9): F1-C2-E2
G7(13): F1-B1-E2
C69 : E1-A1-D2

I wonder if/when Roland will finally wake-up to this. I admit it certainly took Korg long enough to include this, but they F - I - N - A - L - L - Y did, so I keep up faith up that Roland eventually will as well. The fact is, that when I started out playing arranger kbs (mid 90's), ONLY Technics included rootless chord recognition,. Other kb manufacturers slowly began following suit (albeit under constant nagging by me and others?) to convince them that its an IMPORTANT arranger feature for the professional keyboard player. Only Roland & GEM haven't heard it 'loud enough' yet I suppose. Back in high school we'd scream: "I want my MTV". Now it's "I want arranger rootless chord recognition" - Scott

I think I can understand why a 'straight-ahead' player might want these voicings, but you DO have to give up the ability to play any chord in any inversion you want and still get the correct chord.

You asked why I would ever play a 3rd inversion Asus? How about this........... Play (in the key of E) the chords of E, A, Asus, and A , a common enough change (perhaps not jazz enough for you, but prevalent in pop!). The way I would finger it would be EG#B - EAC# - EAD - EAC#. This removes the need for a change of hand position and is the correct way (or one of them!) to get voice leading for those particular chords.

Rootless chord recognition forces you to play certain chords in certain inversions - kind of tyrannical behavior not often endorsed by jazz players! I prefer to not have to remember 'don't play 3rd inversion sus chords, the machine will play something else entirely'.

The only way I see for this to work would be for a preference so you could turn it off when you don't need it.

Anyway, to answer your first question - No, the G70 doesn't do rootless voicings. On the other hand, it's piano sound (The Grand X) is the warmest, most detailed and playable piano sound of ANY arranger (and workstations, too!), and incredibly low latency - you get a real feeling of being 'connected' to the sound. You have to go to a GigaSampler rig to find anything that sounds better (if you can afford the cost of a system that's low latency enough to play it 'live'). So what's more important - rootless voicing recognition, or a piano sound that makes you feel you are playing one (action aside)?