Just got my new price list from Roland today and the EXR-40oriental will be available in about 6 to 8 weeks. The Retail price is $1099 so I expect us to sell it in the $900 range. I'm glad to see Roland is listening!
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Can you create your own style in it from scratch? would really like to know about this...

Ocamain, many thanks for sharing this announcement of the Roland EXR-40 OR. Unfortunately Roland USA's website does NOT include a listing of the actual 'oriental' instrument sounds or the actual styles included in this keyboard. Perhaps George Kaye or anyone else can provide a link to this as soon as it becomes available.

I only hope the Roland EXR-40 OR also INCLUDES traditional instruments & music styles of the Far East: including China, which up till now, have remained disappointingly absent from arranger keyboards distributed to the US (and strangely enough, this includes Ketron's Oriental Arranger models).

I for one would be VERY INTERESTED in finally being able to purchase an arranger keyboard which includes traditional Chinese instruments as well as Far Eastern Styles as I'm looking to intergrate these with my (up to now) Western Pop Music.

Ok, here is a listing of just some of what I feel are essential traditional Chinese instruments that need to to be included in a keyboard which touts itself as an Oriental Arranger Keyboard:
http://library.thinkquest.org/20443/instruments.html

Audio clips are included at the bottom of the webpage link for those interested in finding out what some of these instruments sound like.


George, I assume you mean the EXR-40 OR will be available HERE in the US then. If so, that's terrific news to me. Please let me know as soon as one arrives. Please let me know as soon as a 'complete listing' of the actual sounds & styles included in the EXR-40 OR becomes available as well.

Thanks,

Scott
http://scottyee.com

Scott,

I too would be thrilled to pieces if Roland included traditional Chinese instrumentation in this new arranger keyboard. I already have most of these instrument sounds in my Fantom X and Proteus X keyboards (as well as VSTi instruments) but to have them in an arranger setting would be oh, so sweet! Hopefully, within a couple of weeks, Roland will have posted the manual and we can see if this is the direction they are headed in (the GW-7 is a great start!). Keeping my fingers crossed!

Michael

Hi Michael: in addition to the plethera of purported 'oriental' instrument sounds (I wonder what Roland defines oriental as being), the EXR-40 OR arranger keyboard also includes 99 internal music STYLES of which Roland claims to "cover a wide range of oriental genres" as well. I'm on pins and needles with anticipation over exactly what specific types of traditional enthic STYLES: Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Middle Eastern, will be included, and if the styles will include: Contemporary Oriental styles like Asian flavored (fusion) Pop/Rock/Jazz & Hiphop as well. I think it would be especially cool if oriental instruments (including Chinese traditional ones) were incorporated into the style parts as well. This opens the door of opportunity for arranger players to now be able to incorporate both traditional oriental instruments and oriental styles (both traditional & contemporary) into our music raising arranger keyboard creative possibilities to yet another level.

Scott

Scott I can also see this opening up a few more employment possibilites for several here as well They should add those instruments. I just can't see the point in having an oriental model, and not including a "sound set" to support that.

Squeak

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 07-23-2005).]

I don't know if the EXR-40OR has chines instruments, what I do know is that it's a replacment to the Em-55OR which is a complete middel eastern/turkish keyboard. I'm assuming the EXR-40OR is going to that Road. I came to that conclusion because the keyboard has a scale with arabic writings on it and the first style that's showing in the pictures is a saidi Modern-1 style. I know that the GW-7 does have chines instrument or so I hear. Scott if your looking for just sounds, I recommend the Roland Fantom-X wih the World expansion. The World expansion covers A Lot and I mean A lot of chines instrument. or you could consider the G70 with the world expansion card too.

Hats off to Roland. Now if Yamaha would
also get on the ball.

As Vic83 says, the EXR-40 is in the same line of EM-55or and is focused on middle east/arabic market, while the GW-7 is focused on far east market.
EXR-40 was born in europe under supervision of greek, egyptian, turkish and other music consultants of mediterranean area; GW-7 was born in China and was originally intented only for far east market, then has been extend also worldwide.