I have no specs but I received an email from Roland....If you subscribe to Roland's newsletter you will receive it too. Its their "THIS WINTER,ROLAND TURNS UP THE HEAT" email. I think Roland is starting the E series all over again.

They also have the very latest FANTOM X with up to 1 gig of STUNNING NEW sounds. Hehe Roland is coming back in style and is about to wipe out the competition.

They'd better eat their Wheaties.
Terry


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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 01-15-2004).]

Roland fan .....
can you also tell us what the live music scene is like in South Africa.. regarding Arranger Kb players, solo acts, venues, what type of music, etc...?

Arranger keyboards are not very popular in South Africa.Roland is more loved than Yamaha though (in South Africa). There are VERY VERY few one man bands. My friend is one though and happens to be the most popular indian musician in Africa. He uses a Roland G1000 and XP60 together....He plays EXTREMELY well to the point that I prefer listenting to his music rather than an entire indian band.I learnt to play from him and started liking Roland because he did lol....But now I'd never change to anything else.....I would guess and say not more than 20 people have a G1000 or VA5/7 in South Africa. They're expensive here. Most african bands I know of use the Korg M1 or Roland XP series almost exclusively. Indian bands in South Africa tend to go for Roland E series. Churches in South Africa LOVE the Roland E Series and HATE Roland EM series. I've sold 5 used Roland E series to churches recently.

Oh and jazz is very popular in Cape Town. Kwaito (new type of African music) is popular countrywide. We've got one good reggae band called mango groove...quiet nice. Me personally...i only play my VA5 at home...and occasionally for visitors...and when they tell me I should join a band i reply "I am 2 bands in one " lol.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh........Fran Carango might be movin there if he hears abot all the G1000 lovers in Cape Town...hahhahahahaha

thanx for the info

Received an email from ROland announcing all the heat. It mentions the e100 and 200, plus the EXR 3 and 5. When click on the links, you can find out about the EXRs and the Discovers, but no mention of the E's. Apparently they're tempting us. The EXR's are tauted as entry level machines with 64 poly and tons of sounds and the Discover orchestrator engine.

Will the E's be the better keyboards. If so, I want to hear what's up SOON!

Roland are usually very secretive about their new products, and normally don't announce them before they have a model to show.

Unless there is some very concrete info about these new E100/E200 at the NAMM, I would have to assume that they are at this point a vaporware. The leaked news is a marketing ploy, intended to temporarily stem the tide of people switching from their aging Rolands to new Yamahas and Korgs.

Regards,
Alex

Rolandfan,
When may I subscribe this Roland's newsletter you say?
I have downloaded different newsletter from Roland (pdf format), but I haven't seen any notice about E-100.
Thanks a lot.


[This message has been edited by Bluebird (edited 01-16-2004).]

I dont know if you can get the newsletter directly from the site...I subscribed to Roland US for the newsletters and updates.

It kinda makes sense that they calling it E100 instead of E10 lol....makes it sound more upmarket.

If Fran comes to South Africa I'm pretty sure he and I can turn the "arranger syndrome" in this country around lol.

It is possible, but after E-50, E-86, E-96, E-300, E-500, E-600...we would wait E-1000 or more. E-100 & E-200 doesn't seem an upgrade.
We will Wait and see.
No more information about?

E-100 and E-200 do not appear in the 2004 Roland catalogue.
Only two arrangers appear: EXR-3 and EXR-5.
http://www.rolandus.com/Specs_Brochures/WNAMM_04_NPC.pdf

[This message has been edited by Bluebird (edited 01-17-2004).]

Only the newsletter mentioned the Roland E100 and E200

George Kaye in his post mentioned that the EXR3/5 will also be sold through the CK division, with different names. I wonder if these are them. Feature-wise, they would fit into the lineup of their E-series.

Exactly, the E100 and E200 are the EXR3 and EXR5 except for their model names. I saw them all at NAMM.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene

Well, it will be a great disapointment if E100 and E200 are exactly EXR-3 and EXR-5, and no two new (and better) Roland arrangers.
I read George Kaye words about it, but I don't understand the rare logical of Roland with two diferent names for selling the same kb in the same country.
Because, usually Roland has not made it, and others manufacturers don't make it.
It is only confusing, I think.
Then, it is clear that the new 2004 Roland arranger won't be E-100 or E-200.
We will wait once...

Remember,
CK dealers are usually not MI dealers and Roland clearly wanted to have models for both divisions. These two divisions are as independent as Yamaha PK division and Clavinova division. We have crossover products in these two divisions as well. It does seem unnecessary but there are blinders between the CK and MI division.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene