At the Night of the Keys , a concert in which Roland showed us their finest key-instruments and drums I heared the E80, played by the magnificent Ralph Schink.
The whole concert was of the highest level. All the instruments were played by topmusicians and I was very happy to be there. Because the E80 has a number of new great sounds , drums included, and a new effectsection for the styles and even for each styletrack an EQ, I can say the E80 is a step forward.
The E80 is a wonderfull instrument and I give you all as an advice, go and listen yourself.
Roland thanks for such a beautifull night!

Hello Wis
I heard the E80 at the Blackpool Festival, and to me and most others there, it was no better then a Yamaha PSR 3000.
Perhaps they have improved it, since it got such negative comments at Blackpool.
Enjoy whatever you play.

Bill

I heared the E80 in Antwerpen and I agree with you Wis. A very fine instrument and yes it has even a bit more than the G70. But not the keys.

Hi Abacus
I think it is not right to say an instrument is better than another one. I think you prefer the sound of a PSR3000, that is OK to me. I like the sound of a G70 and now also the E80.
But I say too the PSR3000 and the Tyros are very good instruments and now there is another very good new instrument on the market, the E80.

Hello K. Boarder
I have never said that one board is better then another, as what suits one person may not suit another.
What I actually said, was that I and others who had a good listen to the E80 during the week, all thought the sound quality of it was very similar to the PSR 3000.
BTW. The PSR 3000 doesn’t do much for me either, (To my ears it sounds old) however it is a very popular board with others, which proves the point that we are all different.
Enjoy whatever you play.

Bill

Yes I am a Rolandfan because I love the sounds and the Rolandsystem. That is what me makes happy when I hear a new fine E80.
But I understand and fully respect all those players and owners of all other keyboards. We and our instruments too are all different and that is a good thing.
Each of us has to make his or her own choice.

I also heard the E80 at Blackpool. I can't say I agree with Abacus because I have never heard the PSR3000, however it certainly didn't grab people's attention like Roland were expecting it to do and Abacus is right saying it got quite a few negative comments both from people in the know and the public who were all keyboard/organ fans attending the show. Maybe the UK people just can't accept the sounds and styles Roland are putting out these days?
For me it sounded like an improved G70 with obviously less keys. If you like the G70 you'll love the E80, but I don't see people part exchanging their G70's for one. How many would risk losing money and getting less keys just for a few extra sounds/styles?
A well known music shop who are the main dealers for Roland were also at the show and said the E80 is basically a G70 revamped with less keys, a few better sounds and some new styles.
I'm sure it will do well providing they have ironed out all the negatives that were inside the G70.

I think it is very difficult, if not impossible to compare keyboards based on a live performance. I'd rank the importance of the various factors in roughly this order:
1) The artistry of the performer on that occassion.
2) The sound system and speaker setup.
3) The artistry of any backup musicians.
4) Acoustics of the room.
5) Roughly tied with 4) -- The quality of sounds on the keyboard used.

10 or 15 years ago, there was so much variation in different keyboards, number 5) might have been tied with 1) or 2). But today I couldn't conceive of comparing two keyboards unless I could demo them side by side through identical speakers. And that's just for a preliminary guess. To be really fair, I'd want them side by side at home for a month or two.

R.

Hi Rickideemus, you are right, that should be the best way to compare different instruments. But where we can do that and how much time do we need.
Is there not another factor; sometimes it happens, what I like today I don't like tomorrow.

I always try the different keyboards using my own set of quality headphones, as this takes away the speaker setup and acoustic variations, so making a level playing field.

Bill