Still waiting for the G70 successor i.e. a 76 key top of the line arranger from Roland.

Roland seems to be teasing us with these inexpensive, albeit decent, 61 key offerings e.g. the GW-8 and now the Prelude, etc. Maybe they're trying to tantalize us before the much anticipated 76 key monster arranger waiting in the wings in the hopefully not too distant future.

I really would like another arranger but these mid-range boards are just not doing it for me especially since they're not 76 key (or 88) and the Audya just isn't cost effective enough for me to even consider, especially with only lousy USB 1.1 and micro amounts of storage memory.

I said a while back that 2011 or 2012 will be the year(s) for high-end arranger innovation with several offerings on the table competing for your dollars, euros, or pounds. Korg's new beast, Yamaha's new offering (maybe 76 keys, maybe not), Roland's G70 successor, Ketron... zip. , Casio - perhaps something revolutionary in arranger technology without breaking the bank?? Who else... maybe a new company entering the fray perhaps?? Stranger things have happened but it would have to be a company that is already recognized around the world and has a lot of customer clout as well as huge financial reserves to invest. We'll see.

All the best,
Mike

Well, finally I have been able to test some old styles from E86 in the Roland Prelude. Unfortunately, my fears have been verified. These styles do not sound as in the E86, especially guitars (much less subtle) and drums kits. I have tried to remplace the guitar voice, but without success at all. I have tried to reemplace also the drums kit by another of the available ones, but without success too. The style do not sound as well.
I do not understand why old yamaha styles sound well in the modern yamaya keyboards, and Roland cannot do it.
Another great disapointment has been playing styles from the usb. The keyboard does not permit to use styles directly from the usb (yamaha´s can do it..): they must be loaded first as user styles.
But styles must be in the usb "styles" folder, so you cannot to have subfolders in it.
Afterwards, Prelude load all existing styles from usb "styles" folder, you
cannot elect one or two.
So ,we must to be loading and disloading styles constantly in user area to test new styles.
And when user area is full (only 128 styles), you cannot load more...
Finally, it is very very slow in loading: some minutes to load 100 styles.
At the end, the procedure seems boring. And, for a Roland player as me, it is a pity to see that yamahas are a lot better in this area.


[This message has been edited by Artaher (edited 05-07-2010).]

I wouldn't base my liking an arranger or not by how it plays legacy styles. First things first... how do the ROM styles float your boat? Bottom line is, if they are MUCH better than your legacy styles (at least as far as dynamics and detail), then you at least know you can tweak and convert older styles to sound like that, and Roland provide by far the best and easiest tools for that task.

And yes, I know it's a hair more convoluted how you load in new styles to try, but c'mon! Is that REALLY as important as how the basic thing sounds? I'll happily put up with all sorts of OS issues (and do!) if the darn thing sounds great.

The reason Yamaha's legacy styles play so well in them is that, to be honest, Yamaha don't really add very much new in each model. A few voices here, a few voices there, but much of it remains the same stuff they've had for the last two or three generations (not just models!).

And, at the other extreme, Roland seem determined to start almost from scratch with many of their arranger lines, sadly tossing out much of the good with the bad.

Heads you lose, tails you lose!