Is Live now and you can download the Roland GW 8 version 2 at http://www.roland.com/synth/GW/

Frans

WOW.., are they extending Version 2 to all current GW-8 owners?

Yes. I Hate Roland (NOT) Now I must buy a GW 8 again

[This message has been edited by FransN (edited 08-31-2009).]

Holy crap that's awesome! That'll be a very big upgrade for current GW-8 owners. Now they can create styles from scratch and edit the presets!!!!!

deleted because the info I wrote was wrong...NTA is NOW available

[This message has been edited by miden (edited 08-31-2009).]

Where is the BIG news we expected ??
No E*** or G***

Impuls

P.43 of the GW-8 v2 manual... plus the 'What's New in V2'

Just download the Update, and the manual is zipped up with it...

Only SOME of us expected that

Anyway, GW-8L's are still available in the US at $895. That is one HELL of a bang for the buck at that price. I am SERIOUSLY considering getting one for guerrilla gigs now that I can edit the styles to taste (and fix the odd translation from G70 style issues).

Diki I can promise you the GW8 IS a great keyboard. It was just the NTA missing that caused me to offload it.

Even the keybed is quite reasonable.

Dennis

Yeah, Dennis... I had one (a friend's) for about a week and really quite liked it but for the inability to edit styles.

THAT'S fixed (and the NTA issue). Seems like a good time to get one

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 08-31-2009).]

Can we have 3 sounds playing at the same time such as a left hand manual bass, right hand piano and strings ?

Seems from the manual that I can only have two sounds max: a split left and a tone on the right.

With my old PSR3000, I can have 3 tones playing at the same time and independently change each one of them.

If I remember right, no, just the two Tones. Mind you, there's a lot of layered Tones, so piano/strings is available as just the one (but no, you can edit it independently).

You DO have to make allowances for the fact that this is an $895 product, and the up to date equivalent of the PSR3k is $1700. How many keyboard Parts do you get on Yamaha's $900 arranger?

Yep, just the two. UPR, LWR (or layered).

Apples to apples, my friends.

Roland's E50 (currently available at @ $1400 from Sweetwater) does have two UPR Parts, a LWR and a MBASS.

I still don't understand (that considering the patch set for the GW-8).., why has Roland not released a software editor for this arranger?

Does the GW-8 have ON BASS...the ability to play inversions...Yamaha doesn't implement that feature until you get to the S700/S710.

Good to see Roland adding the style features...gives it a real bang for the buck.

Yes, the GW-8 has ON BASS.

And has anyone actually TRIED a Sonic Cell editor on the GW-8? It's voice architecture looks VERY like a SC to me. As to whether you can actually STORE the edits, not so sure there...

The thing for me has always been, as a live instrument, Roland have always provided pretty well tweaked sounds in the first place, and a HUGE selection of synth sounds, both pad and lead. Along with the usual 'offsets' to voice programming (the usual stuff - cutoff, resonance, envelope and LFO offsets), you can get pretty much anything you'd need for a live 'approximation'. And, if detail voice editing of sounds is your MAIN priority, then other Roland products can do this, and better. You really have to play with the huge selection of sounds Roland provides before you decide that this product actually NEEDS detail voice editing. I'm as picky about my sounds as the next guy, and so far, with the same editing sparsity as the GW8, my G70 hasn't disappointed me yet.

Keeping costs down for a budget piece of kit like this has to involve SOME kind of compromise, doesn't it? At least they have addressed the sparse (you might say non-existent ) style editing of the earlier software version... in fact, leapfrogged over many much more expensive arrangers with detail editing and style creation ON-BOARD, something that several other arrangers need computer software to achieve.

And the drum kits definitely have that Roland 'live' feel to them and now can do multiple kits in a style. This one is one to watch out for...

Theres still no lyric reader either.

And no voice layering...still, it might be worth a look for some.

That's cool...it will appeal more to a pro...how are the organ sounds and rotary effect?

I tried a GW-8 quite a while ago, and didn't try them (organ&rotary) out.

It was nice instrument...fairly well made...not a bad keybed...very light weight.

I may look at one again, now that they've added the style editing function.

Yes Ian with all its limitations probably the best lightweight entry level suedo arranger/synth on the market.

Well, if you are willing to give up a sound for the hand triggering the chords (or use Pianostyle mode), you CAN do layering. It does two sounds at a time, same as S550.

You wouldn't WANT to read lyrics through that small a screen, anyway...

Weakest part of the instrument, IMO. Not a bad Leslie sim, if you tweak it a bit, but it suffers from having very few 'straight' organ tones. Pretty much all the organ sounds got SOME kind of Leslie or chorus sampled into it. Some got pretty good F/S settings, even. But ramping up and down is important to me. It's like the way a singer starts to add vibrato to their voice - very individual and expressive. So only those few 'straight' tones work with the Leslie MFX sim, otherwise you put the sampled Leslie through a sim, it comes out all nasty and phasey...

But that's just me being ultra picky. Compared to some budget arrangers I've heard, you MIGHT find the GW-8's to be fairly decent...

If you search for GW-8 here, there were several fairly detailed reviews a while back.

What's the name of the MFX used for the rotary on the GW-8? The reason I ask is I'm curious about the number of similarities not only in the patch set.., but the MFX to other Roland products.

My Roland Juno-Di has a MFX taken directly from another line from Roland for organ patches. MFX number 22 on the Di is called "VK Rotary". Roland gave the Di a Rotary MFX from the VK line.

Considering the GW-8 shares its patch set with the SonicCell/Fantom line.., I was curious if some of the MFX are carry overs too.

Sqk

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 09-03-2009).]

Some (actually, most) of the preset panel organ sounds in the S900 are the same way, and the rotary makes them kind of squirrely.

I generally make my own using the drawbars where the sound is more "straight ahead" and the added rotary is more natural.

What are the guitars like on the GW-8?

Yes, there is a VK Leslie sim MFX.

Basically, just like a plethora of different Roland products used to be based on the Sound Canvas and its' derivatives, there are currently a whole bunch of products all based around the Sonic Cell and its' architecture.

The thing is, the GW-8L (and the other world variants) add DOUBLE the sample ROM, so, compared to a Sonic Cell (which has two SRX slots, though), it seems like quite a bargain... You lose the detail Patch editing, but gain double the sample ROM. In particular, the GW-8L has some VERY good Latin percussion added to the basic ROM, and this tips the scales in favor of this, for me, because Roland do NOT make an SRX card to add these back in to other Sonic Cell derived keyboards. If the Sonic Cell had these kits in it, I'd probably already have one, but noooo...

My friend who I borrowed it from back in Winter '08 put it back in the store on consignment/layaway (couldn't get on with no style editing), where it has languished until now. Today, we went and got it back, and I'll probably do another review after we upgrade it.

Stay tuned.