4 months after returning the one i had for 3 months,
my 2nd E60 arrived yesterday from George Kaye, this time
with the latest 1.09 os loaded in. Nobody in the usa
knows at this writing how the 1.09 improves the 1.08..
but the 1.08 corrects the unstable tap tempo (that and a
faulty d-beam were the reasons I was entitled to an
exchange) plus the V-link has become a control button.
also are 3 new indo drum sets.

I had a love/hate relationship with the E60, and waited
these 4 months to see if there was something I'd like
better: tried the pa800, sd1+, sd5, and finally the s900.
all of them had great features, but none of them blew me
away. If the Ketrons were lighter and had better dealer/
service network and price, I might have jumped.
The pa800 was overkill and overcomplex for my needs,
the s900 won me over, but not totally. If it had 76 keys..
and a separate balance knob or accomp level slider, ( I was amazed it lacked that and required going into screen to balance) no contest..that's what I'd be playing now.

I finally decided that the 76 keys and nice keybed and sound selection still had a powerful appeal to me, since
I have a 61-key Korg is35 that has great rhythms, is the
best layout and os for navigation on-the fly for someone
like me, and the old sounds leave a lot to be desired but
I've managed to tweak a few to acceptable. So the new
os with the V-link button as badly needed extra controller
and tap tempo bug cure made me feel--ok, I think this
may be enough to tip me back, and maybe the 1.09 has
even more goodies..so I made the decision.

Well. after spending several hours with the new one, I have come to the reluctant conclusion that I just have to
find a way to use the E60 in a very limited fashion..which
may not be altogether a bad thing. The v-link controller
functions have almost nothing significantly usable for me.
I can use the ritard or the break is all..i was hoping to use
the fadeout but it's so brief and abrupt it's next to
useless..so I'll fade manually w/the volume knob. btw, i
hve not yet discovered what 1.09 has added or changed.

I won't go into all the litany of complaints I've outlined
here before, they remain. but I have now found ways to
bypass so many functions that are maddening..and I'm
going to look at this thing as just a great stage 76 with
2 bread and butter sounds in the setup: piano and rhodes.
there's a nice chorus organ in the memory intelligence
that is also easy to access in a flash..when i want to use
others, I can't access them with any ease or speed, but
at least they are available. I set up a permanent bass
split on F#2 ('acoustic 88") and whole keyboard recognition. the one d-beam control will be for bass on/off, and the few times i want to use full backgrounds I'll switch it to accomp on/off, the next icon down. then I'll
learn to move as fast as i can within the limited nav.

the key is that the 2 bread and butter sounds are so great.
that makes it unnecessary to go to a whole lot of sounds
like i have to in my Korg. the vintage elec piano #1..that's
so cool and expressive I never tire of it. right above it
in the panel page is the piano/strings for ballads.

the piano sound? the one the E60 is set up with, that
always reappears in the quick piano setup, is called natural piano, and I think it's not good at all..so that
prevents me from using a lot of the shortcuts. There is
a much better sound on page 2, called Superior Piano. But
I have found a way to modify the muddy Classical Piano
sound on page 3 that is an absolute killer, and I'd like to
share with other e60/50 users (maybe the G70 has it too?)

Go to the Classical Piano sound, then go to Tone Edit in
the menu. the 2 parameters on the extreme right are
resonance and filter cutoff..set those to +7. then go to
the attack parameter and set it to minus 3..take 2 aspirin
and call me in the morning!!!!



------------------
Miami Mo

Turns out that only the G70 and higher allow a programmable Fade Time... Silly decision, there.... But if the pre-programmed one is too short for you (and you can get others to agree with you) you MIGHT get Roland to change it's time in a new update if you make enough noise at Roland-arranger.com...

The only non-frivolous uses for the D-Beam I've come across so far (for the way I play) is to use it to turn ACC on/off, for a nice simple breakdown, or to turn the Leslie Fast/Slow (not an E60 option)...

But the thing to remember, Mo, is that the G70 is a VERY different beast from when it was first released. Several MAJOR functions have been added, several major functions have been re-worked, and a host of smaller improvements have been added or changed. But it didn't happen overnight, and it took some determined and patient work on the New Functions and Bug Fora at the old G70 site to get it to their attention.

You have several VERY good ideas for ways to improve the functionality of the E60... Why not do what we did with the G70? Post at roland-arranger.com with your suggestions (make them practical - they are NOT going to redesign the hardware!), get members there to add their voices, keep it civil (mostly!), help Roland track down bugs and features that don't work as expected, and hopefully, Roland will be as responsive to YOUR ideas as they have been for ours.

It has been VERY encouraging to see just HOW responsive Roland's R&D team have become to users since the G70 came out. Especially coming from a Yamaha background, you may feel that no-one pays any attention to your needs! But Roland have shown the way for the last two or three years, and really HAVE taken well written customer requests seriously, and have incorporated MANY of our practical requests into new OSs.

Just keep at it, Mo, and who knows? They have already addressed one or two of your concerns, I am sure they will get to some more, ESPECIALLY if you let them know what they are and get others to back you up...

Just be aware of what are simple OS improvements, and what is a MAJOR change in operational philosophy... The former are likely, the latter, not so... Despite all my pleas for it, I don't REALLY expect to see Roland add a Chord Sequencer to the G70! But I AM trying to influence decisions for the NEXT G-series (and have many ex-CS users with me), and get it's return. Approach it this way, and you don't get your hopes TOO high, or TOO low, too!

Best of luck...

Diki,
I will definitely put my thoughts together for os update
suggestions in next week or 2 and send off to your site.
there will be no pie-in-sky ideas, only ways to reprogram
the existing hardware to work in more fruitful ways..
thanks for your suggestion.

------------------
Miami Mo

I'd like to ask any other e60/50 owners to add their
suggestions as well, for improving the os without necessitating any changes in hardware.