I just bought a load of Roland E-09W (white) arranger keyboards for a very good price. I had not tried this keyboard out at last years 2008 NAMM show because I thought it was just the same sounds as the older EXR series boards but I was thrilled yesterday when I unpacked one and realized that it's the same sounds as the now discontinued GW7. These are the well processed Fantom sounds, not the sounds we are hearing in the new GW8L keyboard.
The E-09 has 130 factory styles (20 more than the GW7) and it includes styles from around the world, including Western, Middle Eastern, Indian and Asian. The Styles can be played as Bass and Drum, Combo or full band and there an original and variation button and one fill in button.
There are over 800 sounds and 70 Drum Kits.
The keyboard has built in good sounding speakers, stereo outputs, midi but no USB or Floppy Disk Drive. You can save 99 performances and then bulk dump out midi to save them and reload new ones.
There is a 16 track sequencer, however only one song can be stored and again you can bulk dump this information out to a computer or midi sequencer( a reason to use any older midi sequencers that might be lying around your house).
The keyboard weighs a mere 16 lbs and is one of the easiest to use I've played in a long time.
There is even a dedicated scale tuning button if you want to program middle eastern scale tunings and all this data can be saved in the performance memories.
Most noticable to me is how good the sounds are in this model. It's the best of the Roland Fantom sounds and expansion boards. It has the really breathy sax's and the expressive guitars, both acoustic and electric with all the velocity element changes taking place.
This keyboard is a perfect take around or even be considered a pro sounding model even though you don't load in new styles or play lots of midifiles. However, for sounds, you can't beat it for this price point. It has Roland's G70 piano sounds, both electric and acoustic. I think it even has a better selection of styles then I've heard in most arrangers costing up to $1000.00.
Best of all is the Price:
UNDER $500!!!
PS My guess is that Roland will discontinue this model soon too because they never marketed this one correctly either (like the E80).

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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

I'm confused..... I thought the GW-8L's sound engine WAS the Fantom/SonicCell sound set.

George are you saying the E-09 has good quality Fantom sounds?

If you listen to the GW8L most will not like the effects that have been programmed into the keyboard's presets. Some sounds don't have enough and some have too much. When you listen to the E-09 you like it's sounds much more. I don't know if it's because it's different samples or just a different programmer, but they all sound great.
I've read comments here at the SZ which I agree with regarding how the GW8L's sounds aren't as good as a fantom or the older XP80 sounds. This E-09 definetely sounds better to me.
And, where the GW8L doesn't have enough styles which can be played in Blues, Jazz, Country, Pop, etc. and specializes more in the South of the Border Styles, the E-09 really has playable and very well programmed styles.
Also, the key feel on the E-09 has a better feel to me than that of the GW8L, even though the price is so much lower.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

I have an EXR46 in my store and I just side by side compared the E09 to the EXR46. Although many of the sounds have the same name, the sounds are completely different. The 09 has so much more expression and just a better sound then the EXR.

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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

Geo -

Thanks for bringing it to our attention. I'm very interested. Seeking a low cost, great sounding compliment to my 800.

It appears able to save a lot of info to Performances - probably just about everything I would need.

I see that main and layer volumes are saved to performance.

Questions:

1. Are OTS1 and OTS2 VOLUME CHANGES saved to a performance?
2. Can you change an OTS in a style and save to a performance?
3. Can the intro/ending buttons, when engaged, be saved to a performance (I would think not). I use this feature extensively on my 800 and not sure in live medley play that I'd want to fool around pressing intros/ending buttons.

Thanks,
zuki

George -

You mentioned 2008 NAMM. There are user reviews from back in 2006 on the E-09. Is the white just a repackaged unit from a few years ago, or did they make changes from the original one?

George... got an E50/60 in the store to compare it to?

You are right about Roland's lack of marketing. Seems like they gave up after the V/VA series tanked...

Yeh George - Do you have an E50? I'm looking to buy one now.

zuki

Hmmmm...., George's report has got me wondering now about something. I'm curious if the new Prelude will sound better than the GW-8L. Perhaps the same thing will happen with the Prelude in terms of sound quality when compared to its big brother (GW-8)

I doubt it squeak...

To me, most of this seems to be a styling team issue, maybe voicing team, too. Once upon a time, Roland's voice and style creators were the best in the business. Heck, they pretty much INVENTED GM/GS, which, for all the abuse it gets, is really a way of saying 'here are the main patches everybody uses, and drumkit layouts' and providing those in a consistent package.

This is where everyone has failed, lately joined by Roland themselves. Consistency. The products voiced around the Sound Canvas engines used to be that way. Once upon a time, it didn't matter which Roland E.Piano you selected, they were the same volume (if you didn't move the volume command). They sat in the mix roughly in the same place. Same with basses, strings, horns, you name it. EQ was consistent, if you took a style with a rock kit, and changed it to a jazz kit, it still worked.

Same with the styles. Roland styles were consistent. You changed styles in the middle of a song (I love doing that between different styles of the same genre, to add variety to a piece) and the volume didn't jump, the EQ balance didn't jump, it sounded usually pretty natural.

Now, sadly, a thing of the past. Change pianos, and you find yourself having to move the volume slider to compensate. Change styles, and sometimes quite different instrument balances, overall volumes and EQ balances change. It's as if, back in the Sound Canvas days (and a few products afterwards, like this E-09), there was ONE guy who did everything... or at least rode shotgun, and banged everything consistent before it was made public. Now it sounds more like a whole bunch of different guys doing their thing, with no one person making sure they all balance.

Cutting corners has NOT helped, I think...