Hi people!

As some of you already know I was very interested in the new Roland G-70. When playing it in the store however I wasn't impressed like I was in the past when I played a new keyboard. This store did not have the latest 1.06 update installed, so I think this was not quite representative of how the keyboard could sound.

A fellow forum member of the Dutch forum invited me to check out his updated G-70. I gladly accepted his kind invitation and he and I played the G-70 last weekend and tried out everything. It was very useful time we spend, because I know now that there is nothing wrong with the G-70. I just proved not to be my favourite. I can express this best by summing up the pros and cons. This is of course my personal opinion and changes are that you experience it differently. Therefore I'll give some more explanation with the cons:

Cons:
- One of the most important reasons for purchasing the G-70, the acoustic piano sample just doesn't not live up to its promise. My friend had the SRX piano expansion board installed and all those pianos are the absolute best, so that didn't help. They where a lot better than the 'Grand X'.

- I thought the styles where not very inspiring. I guess I actually became a fan of the Technics styles more than I expected after only a year. I was very happy with the Roland styles before.

- There is still too much effect on the sounds. The sounds are mostly better with the 'multi FX' off, but that is set to 'on' automatically every time you select a new sound.

- The arranger 'piano mode' did not function properly. Although we studied the manual again on this, we could not get it right. The chord recognition was quirky and the 'sync start' didn't work properly in this mode. This is one of the features I often use. This always worked fine on my previous Roland as it does on my KN6500.

Pros:
- Really great keybed, can't emphasize that enough!

- Looks very nice, solid and professional.

- Lots of good sounds.

- Great ease of operation.

- You can adjust really everything. All parameters, much more than I ever have imagined can be set and tweaked.

- Data storage through the PCMCIA slot is great.

So I will have to stop thinking about a new keyboard until something else comes on the market. I played the Korg PA1X Pro before and that also wasn't it, mostly because it takes about 3 minutes to start up and the piano sounds rather thin. The Tyros is not an upgrade for me because it has 61 keys and a grandpiano sample that just isn't as good as on my KN6500.
In conclusion, this is just my personal experience. You can respond to it or keep it in mind when you check it out yourself. These are my thoughts, but sharing your experience is what this forum is all about, isn't it?

Regards,

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Tom NL

[This message has been edited by Tom NL (edited 02-09-2005).]

Hi Tom,

except the "grandX"-thing I have to admit (but this is matter of taste i think).

All the cons are some kind of misbehaviour or standardsettings, which can change in future software versions - so I don't give up hoping and waiting for the next release :-)

Hi chdolar,

Do you also have a problem with the "whole keyboard" chord recognition on your G-70?

I agree with you that most of my remarks can be fixed in the software, but I doubt it if Roland will change the internal styles.

Don't think that I didn't want this keyboard to be good. I am (still) a Roland fan and think the specs of the G-70 are great, but in my case it just didn't put a smile on my face, and I want it to for nearly 3.000 Euro ;-).

Tom,

The same for me! I hope you now understand my feelings of 2 months ago?

Roel

Hi Roel,

As you must know I never doubted your judgement on this keyboard. My only conclusion after reading about your experiences was that I should try it out thoroughly myself, and I did so this time.

I hope you still enjoy the PA1X Pro by the way. In a post from George Kaye I read that Korg has a dedicated Piano expansion for the PA1X. Have you listened to that perhaps?

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Tom NL

Hallo Christoph, hallo Tom,
I agree with you both, but my main aspect is missing some features of VA - instruments,
namely the style converter as promise in the first announcement, select M-int instrument and others. Additional the sore point is: "Rolands are silent". They never answer questions till now.
So, Christoph: Hoping in case of Roland means: 'luck'.
Regards: Hanspeter