Tomorrow at 1 PM my Roland rep and the Keyboard Product Manager will be bringing to my store a new G70 to get my opinion on the new 76 key model. It will be the first time seen anywhere in the USA. I will report back after our meeting.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Good news George,

If it is anywhere as good as it looks, I betcha that some of our 9000Pro fans might jump to the Roland since Yamaha refuses to listen to their Customers in that regard.

Looking foreward to your valued opinion.
Let us know when you'll expect one to keep for your store.

I might swing down and testdrive one.

Eric

George ... Please ask about the 6 fills. Hopefully one will be a 'Break' fill!! I am curious how they are triggered? Also, how will the Roland pedal board (I think it is the FC7?)work with it. It has 'fill to original' 'fill to varition' etc.....Thanks

[This message has been edited by JCkeeys (edited 12-07-2004).]

Great, George. I am looking forward to the sound quality as compared to Tyros.

George,when you check out the G70...can you find out if Roland has changed it's saving method to a standard saving process without the need of the Roland Data Base Manager and format...Thanks..

Geo -
Also, will it be available in a 61 speaker model?
zuki

The most reliable way to compare the G70 with the Tyros George is of course to run both keyboards through the same sound system. And the sound system (speakers, PA, etc.), should be high end ones, as they tend to more accurately re-produce the true sound of an instrument.

As always, we look forward to your intricate and detailed evaluations.

Best regards,
Mike

george take pics

The G70 was here for 1 hour before it had to return to Roland. I got to play around with styles and sounds but didn't have time to try the vocal harmonizer or sequencer.

The keyboard looks great and there are lots of buttons. Those of you wishing it didn't have a touch screen will probably actually like this one compared to others I've used. I also thought that the touch screen was really easy to use and the soft "beep" heard when you touch the screen was not anoying at all. The Product Manager thought that you could probably turn off the "beep" if you wish but we didn't have an owners manual or the time to experiment.

The Color screen looks great and the navigation seemed very easy.
The sounds are very similar to the VA76 which utilize most of the "best of the Fantom" series. I thought there was too much effects processing being used on almost all the sounds and suggested that Roland modify these before being released early next year. If not, just as the VA7, you can modify the effects easily to suit your taste. As usual the Grand Piano X is a very warm beautiful piano. I tried the Saxes, Brass, Guitars, etc. and they sounded as I said previously, very similar to the other Roland products.

Next I wanted to see the layout of the style functions. I saw 1 "Intro" button followed by a "main" button and bellow this are the 4 variation buttons. I asked how these worked and how I would get to 6 fillins but only could see how to get to 4 of them. Remember, the product manager was only showing me the keyboard with his having very little time on this keyboard and no owners manual. When you push and turn on the "main" button light and select say variation 3 and then you hit and turn on "intro" button and select say variation 4, you now get the 4th intro and at the end you get variation 3 playing. There is a button next to the 4th variation button called "auto fill" which gives you the fill when you hit variation 1 - 4. I questioned how do you get 6? we didn't figure this one out.

The styles range from very familiar styles heard on the VA products to some really nice new styles. I listened to all the live type styles to compare the guitar strums and fingerpicking styles to the Korg PA and the Yamaha PSR3000 type products and found the Roland to not focus on the fingerpicking and strumming styles as much as the Yamaha or Korg. I didn't have time to try every style and wished I could have had the keyboard overnight to really go through everything.

The keyboard has the same type keys as found on the VA76. Having the sliders just under the screen is great.

I see this keyboard as a grown up version of the VA76 and those that have liked the Roland sounds and styles will be extremely pleased with this new board. The voices and styles will be much of what you have come to like from Roland with the addition of some all new styles.

I was disappointed that there no middle eastern styles available in the G70. I sell many of these pro arranger keyboard to middle eastern musicians that need these types of styles and the sounds associated with them. I would like to see Roland provide these styles and sounds either in the G70 when you take it home or if not, provide styles on a website like Korg has done for their customers.

I asked about the ability to move files freely between the keyboad and a computer and I was told that by hooking up a USB cable to a computer, I can copy and paste things from the computer to the 50MB of internal memory and then store this on a PC card if desired.

I don't know the price of the G70 at this point. The discussion was that it might end up costing somewhat higher than the VA76.

George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California



[This message has been edited by George Kaye (edited 12-08-2004).]

Hi,

I cannot resist letting you guys know that I actually OWN the G70 now.
I picked it up this afternoon and played it for about 4 hours...... for me a huge disappointment.

The demosongs, the Xpiano and the drawbars sound great, but the styles are VERY poor and sounds seem to come from the CANVAS-age.

I expected a lot, but now I realize again what a great machine my SD1 is!

The G70 leaves tomorrow : Back to the dealer.