I have owned every component[instrument] that the G70 has built in it's case[ VA7, DisCover5 ,VR760 , Fantom X and G1000]
I will match my wit about Roland stuff..you would be surprised how much I know[even without touching the G70]

BTW..I have also owned the other boards in my comparisons..


Text is good, but know how is still better..

Where did you get that information? You would be surprised how little you know...

Fran,
I was thinking/hoping the same you do now, but was SOOOO disappointed after the G70 arrived in my studio and started playing on it.... fortunately (for me) I'm not the only one anymore
Please TRY it !

Idont know which OS system wason the keyboard when i tested it recentley but the shop owner knows me vvery well as i have shopped there for over 15 years. When i first tested the G70 i raised my concern with the poor sound quality and the overdone reverb effect and so tnbe owner assured me that he would get the latest OS sytem to correct it as his business is to seel the units. When i went in recently knew what i was going to ask before i opened my mouth and told me that he had upgraded the OS last month so i assume it was the latest upgrade.

Members have mentioned here that maybe its the playing style or technique that makes the difference in sound quality. Others w have said that its about how some of the best sounds are "hidden " or that you have to dig into the keyboard to appreciate its quality.

Let me ask this simple question , when was the last time yopu heard of a manufacturer trying to sell a product by hiding its beast features ? When was the last time you purchased a (small car priced) keyboard that sounded (initially ) crap on the basis of what you felt it might potentially sound like ?

I play currently the Yamaha psr 8000 and want to upgrade but for my hard earned money , there is simply no way that Roland could persuade me to "upgrade" to the G70 for even half the cost.

WE can argue about styles, thats just amatter of taste.We can argue about ease of use, thats just a matter of familiarity. But the G70 that i have given more of my time to than really i should and it simply sounds poor. I dont care how much processing power it has,how great the samples are supposed to be. I have heard the roland fantom x piano. My nephew has the keyboard. It sounds great. Ihave heard the roland fantom x souind through the G70. There is something seriously wrong. I believe that that Roland have rushed this product tothe market and i dont know why the OS upgrades have done little tomake a difference to the sound quality but it hasnt. Heres a little test for the G70 owners . Go to a music shop and listen to the Fantom X piano and then compare it to the G70 piano.If it sounds the same then it would confirm to me that Roland have produced some duff G70 units

Fran,
This time I have to disagree with you substantially. (ah, to be expected from a Korg player, I hear you say !!).
First of all your equation in my opinion is a faulty one.(VA7 +Discover 5+ G1000= G-70)
My personal experience with Roland, which was a very positive one ended with the arrival of the G1000, which was only a minor leap forward compared to the G800, soundwise that is. (structurally they are identical). As mentioned earlier in this thread I programmed very extensively on the G800 and hence my statement that ALL Roland keyboards need very extensive programming and tweaking by the user to get substantial results. In this respect the G70 is no different but even a shade worse. (to say that the recent updates have substantially improved the machine is absolute nonsense in my opinion.)
A very important factor to take into consideration is the absence of internal speakers on account of which the board will always sound somewhat different wherever you play it depending on the speaker system used. But of course this cannot be the main reason for faulting this arranger keyboard.
I must also be critical of your (valued) contribution cause as you state yourself you have never ever seen the thing let alone played it therefore it would be wiser I think to suspend your evaluation.
Personally I have played it for a couple of hours on several occasions at a friend of mine and like I have stated several times , have always come away disenchanted.
Contrary to many views I find programming on it not so pleasant ( the touch screen is in fact minute compared to the size of the keyboard, a sort of Technics vice versa if you get my drift) and it took me ages to get anywhere near a decent total registration. Once I had got that far I kinda thought, this is not too bad........
Incidentally I am one of the Korg PA50 guys you are referring to (??) . All I can say is that I have played the KOrg PA80/50 for nearly 4 years now and to my heart's content. The only thing stopping me from getting the PA1X is finances.
Many here also think the SD1 is the best.
I agree it is a very good board that I have owned twice myself, but in the end I was personally disappointed with the repetitiveness of the styles. (generally one bar, two at most). With Korg most styles run the length of at least 2 bars and often 4 or more, which in my opinion makes it much more versatile.
All the discussions and contrasting views on the G70 in themselves prove to me that this is by no means everybody's cup of tea.
I cannot recall any such a debate going on with the arrival of the other top arrangers, generally everybody wanted to have one but was only held back by the strings of his/her purse.
Like Roel I am curious to learn whether anyone has got anything to share with us that is not Roland pre-cooked, but my personal experiences with the board are truly disappointing.
In all fairness I should add that another good friend of mine, who has had all Roland keyboards from the day one, thinks it is the best board ever................
I am also anxious to learn what Scott's assessment once he gets his hands on it !!

regards,
john

I've tried 3 different G-70:s and they all sounded the same(very good!).

Maybe there are some bad amplifier/speaker systems that's causing some of the negative opinions here? I always play a new keyboard through a good pair of headphones just to make sure that the amp/speakers doesn't affect the sound in a bad way.

I find it very strange that many people here seems to be very positive about the old G-1000, and then completely dislike the G-70?!
To me, that doesn't make sense!

Hey,Rolandfan, you really started an intresting discussion here and it's fun to read all the comments, good or bad!

Turnip:
'Bad speakers' ? ..... no way! I played it on the same ones I allways use: Mackie SRM450's and Yamaha MSP5's as well.

It's funny you choose for headphones to get a best impression. Headphone amps in keyboards tell not much about the sound quality. (Many have poor quality IMHO)

btw Similar interesting threads were started around Dec 18th 2004 At that time some people disliked my views very much ...

Do you own a G70? If yes could you send me an own MP3 recording ?

Hi

I will make some mp3 demos of the G-70 in a couple of days.

Regards Niels

Oh dear. Just as I was about to make up my mind as to which arranger to buy.

I tried the Tyros and PSR3000 and frankly the sounds sounded washed out with reverb and just a little 'cheesy' to me. Liked the styles, but in the end the 61 note keyboard meant it was off my list.

Next I tried to demo a PA1xpro in Sam Ash's in NY. Neither of the guys in the shop could drive it (couldn't get the arranger section going at all) and in the end gave up saying that someone had probably messed with the demo unit and it needed a factory reset.

So I came back to Birmingham and, like Spalding, tried out their G70. I was impressed with it - the first Roland I liked since my D70 died a few years ago. I had to replace that with a Kurzweil at the time to get anything as good.

I've always avoided arrangers as they do have a reputation for being cheesy (although I did own a QY20 which was lots of fun - and worked on the beach on holidays!).

I still wanted to compare the Korg so I went back to Sound Control the other day and guess what? The same problem with the PA1x. The two guys in there couldn't make it work. We tried between us for over an hour and even got the manual out and called the Korg UK rep but to no avail. I know lots of you guys have PA1x's out there so they must work :-). I like the sounds (except the piano - never liked Korg pianos - I have a Yammy P200 for that). But I decided I can't take the risk of something that seems so obscure to operate.

You might ask why I need to 'upgrade' from a Kurzweil? But it doesn't gig too well as the K2500 and the P200 weigh a ton between them. I think all three manufacturers have matured their units and lost the cheesiness which seemed to define arrangers before meaning they could be a viable gig-in-a-box unit for me. So I just made up my mind to go for the Roland when this thread started. Life just isn't fair!

[This message has been edited by andrewpowell (edited 05-19-2005).]

Ok Heres what I wanna say.... Sorry for this long reply...

I didnt expect so many replies and I think its great to see so many people here so "passionate" about the top end arrangers. Its good....no its GREAT to debate like this.

I enjoy reading negative and positive posts...Its make me learn more from you...Our collective knowledge on this general arrager forum (in my view) is better than most other keyboard opinion sites on the net...

About 4-5 years ago when the VA series came out I remember someone posting a topic with the headline "The truth about Roland VA7/76"
I remember it still...and decided to go with it. I respect EVERY single one of you and I didnt intend for it to mean that I am telling the truth and you are all liars ( I'm terribly sorry if it came out that way) I merely meant that this was my own personal truth that I discovered for MY self.

I will stick with 3/10 for the sounds with this explanation....Compared to my ex Va-5 I will give it 9 out of 10 BUT compared to other top arrangers that cost the price of a small car I give it only a 3.


When I purchased my VA-5 2 years ago, I thought it was awesome at the time and I rated it 8/10 because it DID sound much better than the E86/G800/G1000. I bought the VA-5 in an instant.

Then last year my friend bought a Tyros and to me the Tyros had far superior sounds than my VA-5. So I thought to myself...not to worry cos the soon to be released G-70 will have the mother of all sound engines. And when I played it a few days ago...I was terribly disappointed. There was barely a difference to my VA-5. I expected a huge difference in sound but for me...there wasnt any.

I dont know what operating system it was.

The G-70 I was connected to a pair of JBL speakers. To me...when I hear a basic unedited sound on a Roland...I can somehow figure out how good I would be able to get it to sound...simply because its the sound is the basic structure...and with the G-70 even with the DSP effects etc I knew I would not be happy...

Why didnt Roland put a brand new sound engine? I was so hoping to to buy this G-70 that I took cash with me to the shop hoping to take it home the same afternoon that I tested it..

There are lots of good features no doubt such as : features taken from the VS Recorder,Vocal Harmony, Key Feel, Impressive looks, Improved styles over VA5, Cover feature, but sounds is most important to me. No quality sounds = no deal for me.

I look foward to Frans in-depth review and the other side of the coin. I have a GREAT deal of respect for him.




[This message has been edited by rolandfan (edited 05-19-2005).]