Roland is introducing something on April 6th.

Anyone care to speculate ???

Link > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE309uauyHg

Later ,

Gary

Well, they say that a "legend" re-emerges.

Pick any legendary Roland instrument and speculate.

Fran?

Maybe a new modeling synth? Violin and sax featured in pictures... they are both sounds that lend themselves to modeling.

The only real "legend" that Roland seem to be noted for, as far as synths/keyboards go, is the Jupiter 8, so maybe they are re-creating it.

Or...

They are taking a page from Korg, and introducing a "Kronos" type instrument.

Whatever it is, I doubt very much if it will be an arranger.

Ian

Yes I tend to agree Ian. There would not be this level of "anticipatory hype" for just an arranger. And I also agree the J8 is definitely in the legend class....

Maybe it is a similar product to the Kronos, (as in recreating all of Rolands' famous synth engines) but perhaps with the addition of a capability to load and run VST's?? As well as massive sampling capability and memory. The G series was the most tech savvy of all the Roland synths....it would logically follow, that maybe something as a development of that OS is appearing?

Dennis

The only other "legend" I could think of was the Roland D-50 synth, which was quite a hit back in the day...you literally had to have one (along with a Yamaha DX-7) if you were in a "top 40" cover band...the D-70 that followed didn't have quite the same impact (or sound, in my opinion).

If I'm not mistaken, the D-50 set off that whole Sample + Synth type sound...the Korg M1 followed, as did Yamaha with the SY-77, but really Korg and Roland had the market almost to themselves back then.

I think your suggestion of loading and running VST's is valid, for sure...or, maybe a system similar to the Kronos?

I love seeing this new technology.

Ian

Its the return of the G1000 only this
Time its the G1000 version 2. It will
Eat the tyros 4.

I cannot see this being an arranger either. It just doesn't fit Roland's personality lately. I see them bringing back one of the classic synths or possibly workstation that competes with the Kronos.

Roland is playing mind games. Now on Roland U.S. there's a different image saying "prepare for a new musical beginning." What is interesting is that each flash pictorial (three so far) features a guy playing Sax. As you can see the new image also has a picture of a keyboard with a guy carrying it under one arm. The guy has a tie on which suggests "gigging" potential suitable for Live performance??

So most likely it is some kind of keyboard but the Sax is a bit mystifying to me. One of the previous images also included a set of Drums and a guy playing a Guitar and also a guy playing a Sax. They're putting a real emphasis on the Sax instrument for whatever reason since it's been in every flash pictorial so far.

Since all the images have included different instruments there is a possibility it could be an arranger. The G-70/E80 are ready for the Smithsonian so Roland may indeed surprise us all with a brand spanking new top of the line arranger beast that will take arranger playing to the next level. Yamaha is arguably number one when it comes to Sax emulation on an arranger but perhaps Roland has something up its sleeve that will blow the T4 SA2 Sax to smithereens? Something so astounding they are picturing a guy playing a "real" Saxophone! Then the Guitar portrayal is another example. Yammie arguably has the best acoustic guitar sounds on an arranger but again maybe Roland has a "new" level of Guitar emulation that will blow Yammie's acoustic emulation out of the water?? And of course the Drum Kit added to the mix makes me wonder if indeed this "new musical beginning" could actually be Roland's latest attempt at countering the new Korg PA3X/PRO and/or Yammie's Tyros4. As we know, it's been literally (well...figuratively anyway an 'eternity' since Roland released a new totl arranger. Could this be the hour (4.06.2011) that Roland decides to get back into the totl arranger game perhaps? Stranger things have happened, even as we (Roland's fan base anyway wait with eager anticipation to find out what this "new musical instrument/re-emerging Legend/new musical beginning" thingamajig will really be. We'll find out soon enough I reckon.

All the best,
Mike

Like I always have said .....Don't Count Roland out of the Arranger Kb game ....patience is a virtue..