Ok it's offical. Roland have no shame at all. That was bad, extremly bad.

Whoever works in marketing should be fired.

I'm curious... Where is the usual official Roland header and end credits? Is this something that Roland are using, or is it something that he did for another client (a store chain, for instance?) or a concept for Roland?

Sure, the acting is hammy, but for starters, anyone notice how good the keyboard sounds (for a $900 unit)? Secondly, how good the styles and playing were?

It may be cheesy, but it runs circles around any of the MS videos, just for sound quality and practicality of performance, not to mention acting and presentation!

In fact, even compared to Roland's own official GW-8 NAMM presentations, this is MUCH better (admittedly, almost anyone here could have done better than THOSE ).

And the Oscar goes to.... Neither of these guys!

The keyboard is awesome. The acting was painful and all I could do to make it to the end - ugh!

And THAT my friends, is why anyone under 30 avoids buying an Arranger keyboard.....

Thank goodness for YAMAHA !

Diki,
Nice to see at least you can see the tree from the woods and give credit where credit due
I have a Prelude, and now with OS2 belive me, its not one of the best arrangers in its price range, it is the Best.I do not use the Prelude as a main board but as slave to a PA50.The styles are very good in the main OTB,but with little effort can be made to sound bad or excellent according to ones own taste.In the main the voices are great and realistc,however the editing feture allows a great deal of tweaking and again with a little effort you will arrive at the sound your looking for.
Roland has not done a great deal of promotion on the Prelude which is more exspensive than the GW8 which has reveived a great deal more publisity and many have said its the same board minus speakers,however the Prelude also has lyric display NTA and good MFX controls on both style and voice.You can create a new style from scratch,it has usb computer connection and usb programme load,I say try it before you knock it.I must add I am only a humble home player but over 50 years have owned most Technics,Yamaha,Roland and Korg and know a good buy from a Bad one.
Gilbert.
The Oscar goes to Prelude.

[This message has been edited by gilbert (edited 10-02-2009).]

I totally agree with Diki ... bad acting but that is obviously intentional ... but the Prelude itself appears to be good value for the price.

But the marketing strategy sure is very questionable.

Thanks to Scott. Nice to see you posting again. Here are some others.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvAh4aqrVGs&feature=related

The Prelude sure sounds excellent, in spite of the odd presentation....it has a nice warm, rich sound, reminiscent of the old E-series, but better.

The Prelude sounds amazing.., and with the latest software update the price is more attractive too. Can anyone here elaborate more on what "tone edit" parameters were added to the Prelude? If it edits tones now..., is there a user section for edits?

I don't know what Ralph and his friend were up to for the vid.., but Ralph is a good player. He did a nice vid for the E-09 on the Roland site.

Squeak,
Tone edit was available with the original OS.which are,
Level
Pan
Decay time
Release time
cutoff
vibro rate
Vibro depth
Mono,Polly
Portamento time
Pitch bend range
and various control can be assigned to pedal.
You need to see the handbook re MFX control which are quite considerale.
Gilbert.

Hi adults,
don't be seriously worried about. This presentation is made for kids. That's the way they are talking together, nowadays.
Greetings
Rolman

What...??? The Prelude had the ability to edit tones with the original OS..??? Interesting.., all this time many of us here (including myself) thought that tone editing wasn't a feature on the Prelude. It wasn't mentioned in any of specifications or features that the Prelude had the ability to edit the tones.

I wonder why Roland chose not to list that feature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwn6QiJHoDw&feature=related

Nice keyboard room....do I have to go to Germany to find them all in one store?....around here forget it! Stores like Frankeve's east coast & George west coast K's....are a godsend for the arranger player who wants to play, compare under one roof.

Production is terrible, but most production of Utube promotional pieces, even by some of the big guys, is pretty low quality.

Keyboard looks interesting.


Russ

Well hot damn! Well folks that what many of us get for assuming things (me included)...

Page 38 of the Prelude Manual is about "Editing a tone/Editing a tone in detail".

I can't understand why Roland didn't post that about the Prelude. That's a big feature IMO when looking at the budget line.

Is there a lyric reader and vocal mic input with efx? even as a backup unit thats a deal killer for me.

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 10-02-2009).]

Dng,
Lyric reader Yes, unfortunately you would have to find a work round for the mic input and controls,for anyone interested mine cost Euro 790


[This message has been edited by gilbert (edited 10-02-2009).]

[This message has been edited by gilbert (edited 10-02-2009).]

Has any Yamaha at the $900/1000 price point got a mic input and FX and harmonizer?

S910 is almost DOUBLE the price of the GW-8 or Prelude. You ought to expect things like that for that much more money... You don't get them with the similar priced S710, do you?

It will be interesting to see whether Roland extend the arranger range into MOTL territory, and what features they add at close to the S900/910 price point...

You can probobly get a used S900 for around $1050.00 - $1150.00 now that the S910 is out That would be a much better choice then the Prelude.

I might pick up a S910 after the new year just for the brighter screen/mp3 player only.

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 10-02-2009).]

Thought you weren't interested in the S910?

Changed your mind?

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 10-02-2009).]

I repeat, don't Knock It Until you tried it.

It is completely misleading to readers when adverse or in favor comments coming from well versed members who have not even seen yet alone played the instrument in question are made,particularly when making comparisons with other manufactures.
I probably like many other forum members appreciate the wealth of expertise within the forum and the information gained is used when we decide our next purchase, therefore the information needs to be from hands on experience and well founded and not on preference, loyalties or personalities.
The Prelude has never been seen as as Pro Board,but for studio, home,and as a slave board is great value for money.
Prelude worth should be judged on what it was designed to be,not what we think it should be.

Gilbert.

Myself I like the Prelude video, certainly different presentation with good quality video & sound.
Having met and spoke to Ralph Schinks a number of time at Keyboard Festival UK, he is very happy sort of person and very approachable. Ralph is part of the Roland R&D deveopment team, so I assume this video is from Roland.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy the S910 when I get it for demoing, and I would love to have the Prelude to add the Roland sound to my kit, but the lack of Style Assembly (being able to swap style parts from the same or other styles) on the latter, is a deal breaker....so far.

Maybe there will be an OS update to allow this essential (for me) feature.

One of my favorite past Roland arrangers, was the E-70...the Prelude kinda reminds me of that 'board, which was about three times the price of the Prelude when new.

In no way am I interested in this entry level beginner Prelude model, Iv'e also played the GW8 witch left me less then enthused....but I will be patient, open minded and set my sites & interests on what Roland will bring out if at all at this point in a MOTL or TOTL arranger workstation in the near future.

I had the opportunity to hear & briefly play the Prelude at Winter Namm back in January and was blown away by this entry level budget arranger's classic rich roland sound & more solid build construction than Yamaha's entry level S-series arrangers. I found the D Beam feature especially cool and potentially useful. The 'icing on the cake' is its UNDER $1,000 (US dollars) street price and weighs ONLY 17 lbs ! The Prelude remains near the top of my ultra portable (with built in speakers) take anywhere budget arranger buy list. - Scott

So far, I've not played the Prelude, but it seems obvious that it is almost identical in all but a few minor details to the GW-8 (which I have one sitting next to me as I write - on loan, guys, don't wet yourselves! ), so I think I've got a good handle on it.

Is it a 'pro' arranger? Well, no, but OTOH so many people tell me that there is no such thing as a 'pro' arranger anyway, they are ALL home units!

But for the way I use an arranger, for the type of live sound I like and the 'space' in the styles that I like, if I was stranded on a desert island with a prelude or GW-8, I wouldn't be offing myself, at least! Push comes to shove, I COULD go out and gig on one of these (with some prep time), more than I can say about any other sub-$1000 arranger.

It's not a G70, but then again, neither is a T3 or a PA2Xpro!

Scott did you buy one yet? Would love to hear your personal review.
To me it might suffice for a lightweight KB to play as a stand alone on top of SMF/Mp3 backing tracks or maybe with a Band......but for solo "Style players" No Way Jose! compared to Yamaha or Korg in sound, versatility, & third party support.

No. As I'm sure you've already predicted, the other lightweight portable arranger w/ 'built-in' speakers I'm considering as a 2nd keyboard is the S910.

The draw ofthe Roland Prelude is new sounds/styles, a much lighter keyboard weight, and substantially cheaper price, while the S910 offers file compatibility/exchange with my Tyros2, and an operating system I'm more familiar with.

I'll of course share my experiences with whatever secondary arranger unit I might eventually get. In the meantime, Tyros2 continues to satisfy as the primary arranger axe.

Scott

Scott......I knew you would only consider the S910 B/U or upgrade to T3 at this stage of the game. Your a Yamaha man & rightly so. Good to see you have returned to SZ.

I don't believe the Prelude has OTS for quick live play. That would be the deal breaker for me. If it's similar to the EX, forget it. Too much navigation although the sounds and styles are fabulous and extremely useful for a 2nd board. Then again, who wants to lug 2 boards? What's wrong with me, I'm saving for Bosi

Prelude has an OTS (it's the button labeled ONE TOUCH).

Just the one per style, but still pretty good.

It also has numerical entry for patches rather than just scrolling only. Plus, the patch calls up its' associated MFX...

It also will do numerical callup of Performances, or a list you can scroll through that doesn't change what you are on until you hit 'enter', so you can cue up changes. All in all, for a cheapy, this one has got a lot of things right...

Regarding OTS You can set up as many OTS per Style as you required,its so simple and the same as Yamaha, called up by the pressing of one button.
Make up, say five OTS settings for a style or song,put them in user program, of which there are 126,then you have five seamless changes up or down using the advance or down button,and of course all can be saved to the usb stick.
Just to clarify, what you in fact do is make up the voicing for each OTS and enter it as a user program, depending on the number of OTS required this will identify the number of user programs used for the selected style.
Diki if you still have the GW8 perhaps you could find time to see if this also works on that board.
Gilbert.

[This message has been edited by gilbert (edited 10-04-2009).]

[This message has been edited by gilbert (edited 10-04-2009).]