Hi,

I am considering buying a G70 or an E80. The G70 is a bit more pricey than the E80 I assume because it has more keys.
but from my research, the E80 has more advanced features and newer styles that are not in the G70.

The information I have could be old and the G70 might have been updated via an OS upgrade to match the capabilities of the E80. Am I correct here or is there still a significant difference between the two boards other than the number of keys and that one has built in speakers?

I have a few more qualification questions I am hoping people with knowledge of this can help as these points below are quite important to me:

- It doesn't have multi pads... does it have any voices that are already gated? as in - they are arpeggiated when you hold them down?

- The 9 sliders - are these assignable? can they be used for each of the 8 style parts as a realtime mixer, or for cut off and eq settings?

- Of the 8 style parts can 2 of them or more be drum kits?

- are all the styles from the G70 included in the E80? if not, are they transferable?

- What is the keybed feel like on the E80? is it the same as the G70?

- Can you create custom sounds and assign them a specific Midi Number? this is for when I use my Motif XF as an external sound module (Midi out from Arranger to Midi In on Motif XF).

Unfortunately in Sydney I cannot find one single shop anywhere that has a G70 or an E80 on the shelf to give a test drive.
I have played on a G70 very briefly but it was years ago and everything has been forgotten. I am only now going off sound demos and features and specs.

I Played a Tyros 4 today quite extensively and even though it is a great improvement over previous Yamaha Tyros and PSR Models, it still doesn't have that live crisp sound that Korg or Roland has (To my ears) hence why I am looking at the Rolands.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Nick

Hi Nick,

Your best bet would be to post your questions on the Roland arranger site.

http://www.roland-arranger.com/smf/index.php

As far as I know, the keybeds are different between the E-80 and G-70 (not just the number of keys) although they both have aftertouch, and, the E-80's latest OS upgrade included an MP3 player.

I played them both, and I liked the E-80 more than the G-70, although both have a bender/lever that I didn't like much, preferring separate pitch/mod wheels myself.

You should also consider parts availability in the future, as these instruments have been out a while, although both are excellent and well made arrangers.

Ian



[This message has been edited by ianmcnll (edited 11-26-2010).]