I hope they bring out a 76...

Might make a decent lightweight alternative to the G70 for more contemporary stuff, if you don't use the VH like I don't.

I would miss the Hammond section and the V-Drums, primarily, and the action, of course. But if style compatibility is good, or it has Makeup Tool-like editing capabilities (even if software), it might make a good alternative if space is tight or I have to carry it by myself for any considerable distance. It certainly wouldn't break the bank...

How well it works over here in the US will depend a LOT on whether Roland voice the styles for us, rather than the European users (it really IS different over here!), and whether G70/E50/60/80 styles can be easily converted. I have said for a long time that basically, it makes no sense to have ANY ROM styles, now that they are burned into flash ROM rather than needing a manufactured chip. Let the customer chose for him or herself. To be honest, my needs in a style selection would be utterly different from even Donny's, so why any ROM at all has me beat...

But seeing as it will be RolandUS that have to do this, I don't hold out much hope... Arrangers, in the US division of Roland, are about at the bottom of any of their priority list. You saw that NAMM demo. That basically sums it up for RolandUS.

WOW! Just under $850 That's an incredible price! The feature update on this GW-8 is huge compared to the current model. I was half expecting $1000 at the least

I will say this though....., there's a VERY good chance that's an intro price. The price on Roland gear has been going up lately. I've seen in some places the SonicCell has increased by $100 and The Juno-D has been selling for a while at $495, and it's now up to $595. Also (not sure if it happened yet), but Fantom G prices are supposed to go up too.

So if this is an intro price (buy'em up now!). At $849 it's a great bargain.

**On a side note..., It makes no sense that the GW-8 is going for this price and the EXR5s is selling at Sweetwater for $895 The GW-8 is miles ahead of the EXR5s yet it sells for almost $50 more.. That's crazy!


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(FANTASTIC to see squeak's postings...I've missed him!!!)
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Im flattered I probably won't be a regular poster. The GW-8 really got my attention and I check in here every so often and due to a personal interest in the topic decided to participate.

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 06-26-2008).]

EXR being quite an old series, i believe roland will let it die quietly...

The Roland Central Europe site has 2 separate listings for the GW-8 keyboards, the GW-8L (Latin) and the GW-8E (Eastern Europe) models.
http://www.rolandce.com/products/product...&language_id=EN

There is also an Asian version as demonstrated on a Chinese music site with 2 videos (www.tudou.com). Stéphane Pigeon states that he was involved with a sampling session in China, as well as writing localized patch presets (Latin, East-Europe) for the Roland GW-8.
http://www.homeworks.be/MAH/achievements.php

I'm seriously hoping that the world samples are the same on all the various versions of the GW-8 and that the only difference is the included styles but wouldn't bet any money on it. One thing is for sure, almost all of the demos so far have been less than stellar.

Hopefully Roland has Dr. Scott Tibbs do a GW-8 demo. He did a great demo for the GW-7 too. Does Dr. Tibbs still work for Roland? I know he did a few of the more recent demos for the V-Synth GT.

Whether Roland will voice the GW-8 styles for the American market will be a pretty good indicator of just how interested they are in the market over here (or not)...

Seeing as they have ALREADY styled it for the GW-8L (Latin) and the GW-8E (Eastern Europe) models, and also an Asian version, and we have heard nothing so far about a specific US version, personally I doubt it (or it will be the usual half-assed RolandUS effort.

Somebody at Roland Japan needs to come over here and put a rocket under RolandUS's arranger division. They have utterly bollixed up the marketing, promotion and distribution of Roland arrangers in this country to the point where you can't hardly find them, and even factory web demos are pathetic, lackluster afterthoughts that must leave their competition chortling with glee.

These guys have lost it, and need to be replaced wholesale... Then retail might improve!

Hello

I was looking through the GW-8 manual in hopes that the onboard sequencer allows dubbing or re-recording of style parts (chord sequencer?)instead of just one part at a time. Can anyone confirm this based on the manual? I know that the Roland E series sequencer didn't do this and my current Korg PA800 also doesn't currently do this.

As an example I mean this:

1.)I start a song and record a performance using style data and song data which means the sequencer records style information across 16 parts. I record 8 measures.

2.)Next, I decide I want to create the next section of the song and choose measure 9 to punch in and hit record. I capture 8 more measures.

Does the sequencer capture record parts 1 thru 16 along with the style data? Or does it only allow me to record 1 part/track at a time?

It does say you can "punch in" performances, and styles are part of performances. Maybe I'm reading too much into this. I would love this ability.

thanks
Brian
http://lib.roland.co.jp/manual/en/dl_08-24781/GW-8_e1.pdf

[This message has been edited by greenkidd (edited 08-18-2008).]

[This message has been edited by greenkidd (edited 08-18-2008).]

[This message has been edited by greenkidd (edited 08-18-2008).]

greenkidd,

I just re-read the GW-8 manual again and I think you'll be able to record your songs in just the manner you described in your posting.

Michael

Thanks for taking the time to check this out.

Kidd,
Your Korg PA800 can record style in real time as well. I believe Korg calls this "Backing Sequence mode."
Unlike most other makes, Korg allows you to use step mode to correct mistakes made recording with styles in real time. If you play an incorrect chord for example, the error will be reflected on most of the accompaniment tracks. You can just go to the "chord" track in step mode and change the chord/bass to what it should have been. The Korg will automatically generate a new accompaniment (full midi) with the correct chord data!