Ian...
"... are discussing feature enhancements there..."
"...in THAT forum..."


[This message has been edited by Burkels (edited 04-11-2009).]

I'm sorry but I think Rolands time has come and past. Their best two boards were g800 & g1000. The va76 was a flop and the G70, which is better, but never really got off the ground due to pour marketing, weight, etc. Even if roland come out with a new arranger they have to get out of old g1000 type keyboards and start something fresh, like audio drums, sa2 or next generation sa voices, since yamaha already has them. lighter keyboards and even try to shrink the size all around. Provide styles that all nationalities can use them, latin, western euorpe, eastern europe and last but not least, NO recycling of older styles, PLEASE! they've been doing that for years....

Donny,
The next time you see your Roland Rep friend ask him why not a single store in all of Dallas or Ft. Worth carries Roland arrangers - at any price point. I would love to try one out - kind of hard to do when they are not avaialable except on the internet.

Hammer

That's the one I'd like an answer to, as well...

Look, they set the pricing and dealer structure to give exclusivity to area CK division dealers, and then didn't insist they carry the product at all. End result is, if the local CK dealer didn't want them (most of them were only interested in high dollar KR pianos and real pianos, etc.) you could NOT get to see them at all. And the terms of the dealership meant that no-one could advertise them nationally, and offer the same kind of discounts you would get with a Fantom or Juno, etc..

I know now that MI dealers can get them, but the damage had been done. JUST when Roland really needed widespread exposure, and competitive pricing, they buttoned them up tighter than a tick on a.. (well, you know!) and made them nearly impossible to find to try, and nearly impossible to order at a discount.

End of story... they didn't get the exposure necessary to overcome the flawed OS1 release of the G70, and the whole line has withered on the vine. Those of us that have G70's have come to realize their potential, but it's getting harder and harder for anyone to find out for themselves. Admittedly, the G70 never came OOTB as slick as some other arrangers, but once you got to know it, you realized there was a LOT of power and capability under the hood, and at least one of the friendliest editing environments ever put in an arranger.

But if you never got the chance to know it, you would never find these things out...

RolandUS killed off it's own arranger line, by stupidity and greed. And made it twice as hard, at least, to recover, should they eventually get around to releasing a new TOTL series. Whatever they come up with NEXT, they better market the hell out of it!