It's funny how these leaks just magically happen, and why any manufacturer would wish someone outside of their company posting prerelease information on a pubic forum is beyond belief, and why anyone would defend such an action is amazingly poor judgement.

My whole point is this forum and a very high percentage of its posts are behind the times, with little desire for revolutionary products. Some members seem to get excited that the G70 has a colour screen, like we didn't get colour TV back in the 70s or computers in 1981 that used colour.

The real deal is that due to the cost of developing these keyboards and because compared to computers, keys sell in far fewer quantities, the manufacturers have to use technology that is several generations behind what you would find on the latest PC.

The workstation of the future (including arranger features) will probably be a 'dockable' LCD touch display with few buttons and 99% of features accessible from the display. The keyboard serving as a dock, which you could add sound expansion boards to.

Just ideas, but these are the type of features that would be excellent, rather than shelling out 2 and a half K every 2-3 years for 'upgrades'.

Also new is Roland giving several of us what we have been asking for, a G-1000 with vocal harmony and SRX expandability. Yamaha has given us an expandable 76-key aranger with vocal harmony (9000Pro), but specifications are not everything. Roland instruments have a different character than Yamaha instruments. It is not a matter of one being better than the other, but I just prefer Roland's approach to sound programming.

Also, my guess is that Roland's adaptive chord voicing is not so much a more sophisticated chord recognition scheme, but a more flexible approach to implementing the chords it recognizes. For example, if a player plays Cmaj in first inversion closed vocing and then plays Fmaj in first inversion closed voicing, if the arranger follows this, there would be generally awkward sounding parallel fifths. However, adapative chord voicing might switch the F to second inversion to avoid parallel fifths and provide a smoother transition between chords. It is "adaptive" in that the way the Roland plays a chord depends on the chord that came before.

Now that you're listening Roland, could you also put manuals on line, like most other companies? That would assist purchase decisions and serve as a convenience for those who don't want to carry around the manual for the keyboard or have a habit of misplacing manuals.

If you did that, I wouldn't have to ask the following: Does the G70 synth engine respond to polyphonic aftertouch (e.g., received through a MIDI input from my Roland A-50 keyboard)?

I want to second the thanks to George for starting this discussion and giving us a heads up on an arranger that a lot of us have been waiting for (I play a G-1000 at church and look forward to the new capability of the Roland to see whether it would better fit the bill).

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Graham

And Roland, how about doing your own work and create your own online support.

I did not think it would come to me agreeing with D'vision, but I can't help but agree to his proposal of on-line support - right now Roland's support is the worst on the market, and a major consideration I have AGAINST buying another Roland instrument.

As far as a dockable touchscreen - for arranger keyboards this is one stupid idea - while it may help the manufacturers cut costs of building a keyboard (making it all software based), it is totally inappropriate for an arranger keyboard, where the player relies on the tactile feedback from the buttons as an acknowledgement of his action. The touch screen can not provide that, and is therefore UNSUITABLE as the primary way to control an arranger keyboard. If workstation players like it, fine, but I believe all of us who perform singles, utilizing arranger capabilities, are in agreement about touchscreens.

I think it is time to close this thread, as it is getting too long.

REgards

Touch screens are the future without doubt, the trouble with keys that use them now is the size of the screen. Hows about the big 3 buying a bulk load of 14 inch lcds to set a standard?

As for the bbs/forum thing, it makes sense for companies to do their own.

and korg tritons and pa series have 48khz sampling rate(unlike 44.1 from both yam and roland -even it's fantom x series).that's why korg sound more clear,crisp and sweet OMHO on synth/pads/drums and electronic sounds.

I do.the best sound quality,editing,sequencer + arranger price wise now is PA 50.but again it's a little weak on arranger side compared to yammies but usuable (if you want all in one best).yes sound like a synth and have a good seq and editing.

Sorry tresortx but it was me and not a Pro who made the post (I'm a car seller actually) "...but you obviously did not read the post well enough to understand what I was saying". I went back to find that I was not refering to you. I was not even refering this forum. And I was, obviously, NOT stating that "arrangers should not have the best sound possible". I only think that as we ask for more and more specs, namely the digital outs, we end up with a very expensive keyboard with a lot of things we do not use (see how many question the Variphrase on the VA for example). It happens all the time - whats good for someone its not good for other. You proove that when you say your happy with your PSR but feel that the sounds could be better. That's why I'm ready to accept that I can't have all I want on a keyboard and still be satisfied with it. Personally I recomend you to buy, if possible, a sound module (why not the Motif rack) so you can enlarge your sound options.
I still think that its good to have both types of machine so you can choose what's best for you.

I also agree that this thread should be closed. I'll post a G-70 question (about the sound) on the Roland Arranger Forum (you're also invited TresorTx).Anyone following please?
Regards