I decided its time to upgrade my good old KORG iS40. I love the sounds and styles, but getting compatible updated styles, arrangements and sounds become harder. I am not a professional, but rather a "serious amateur" so looking at the specs and price tag of the E-60 i went to the local Roland dealer and spent there 1.5 hrs. My personal impression is:
(*) Keys - feeling is good and solid, key movement shorter than my iS40 and i really missed the aftertouch, key strokes are really quiet as my KORG makes a sound similar to a soft computer KB if you know what I mean.
(*) Sounds - Organs are nice, piano is very good, but strings, brass, sax are poor IMO. They sound really artificial and "thin" compared to the warm, thick and expressive KORG sounds.
(*) Styles - dance, trance, house etc., are superb. Pop styles are OK, but jazz, bband, world music really disappointed me. I expected much more considering the decade between the 2 KBs. E-60 fill-in is less naturally flowing, even boring in some cases.
(*) Controls - I liked the mod. wheel that stays in position unlike KORG's joystick that returns to center. You don't need to keep your left hand at the joistick when assigning rotary effect for example. Aftertouch absense is noticeable, but understandable at this price level. The touch screen is helpful in getting around easily, but is takes more steps to prepare a performance.
(*) Speakers - the E-60 is too weak IMO. You simply can not play too loud. My old iS40 has a more solid sound and better bass expression.
(*) Price - here in Israel a brand new E-60 cost approx. US$ 1,950.
I think that for me a used PA-80 or Ketron Vega for $1,600 or less will be better, or can I expect to get used to the Roland sounds with time?
I will give the E-60 another chance as on May 28 there is a demo by one of Roland's people. I hope they can make it sound better.
[This message has been edited by Nesh (edited 04-22-2007).]
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