Well the new Roland AT350c arrived in my store late yesterday. I am hoping to get to spend a little bit of time on it soon... (time is always few and far between) and I'll let you know how I am getting on with it.

Other than at the NAMM show, I have never actually played a Roland Atelier for any length of time, so I am really looking forward to getting going on it. I am still waiting for a pedalboard to arrive though, so it may be a while before I am doing the stuff I really enjoy!

So far I have taken it out of the box. I was really surprised at how light it felt given that it is a dual manual arranger. I just didn't get a chance to play it today - too many deliveries coming in. Wish me luck... anyone still interested in Organs?

Hi John, I'm really exited to hear how you get on with this exciting new keyboard once you've had a chance to sit down and play it, and perhaps record a tune for us on it as well.
From what I've heard so far, this is one awesome keyboard setup, and relatively portable too.

Hi John,

I like the setup...nice to see the lower manual go down to "A". The keyboards are nice and close together, too.

The rotary speaker effect, from what I've heard in the demos, sounds very realistic to my ears.

Having two sets of drawbars is terrific...the new Hammond SK-2, on another thread, has only one set.

What about a pitch bender for those cool synth leads and guitar voices? Your Yamaha HX organ uses wheels.

Is that done with the D-Beam, or is there another way?

Is there a down-loadable manual?

Sure is a great looking instrument as well, although 56 Lbs (plus a road case) might be a little heavy for some.

A soft gig bag would probably be more manageable.

Ian

Ian, I am reading the manual now. Will probably order when I decide which pedal configuration I want. Found the manual by going to the Roland portion of Synth Zone. http://www.roland.com/manuals/en/index.cfm?PRODUCT=AT-350C

Hi Bob, how have you been?
Congratulations in advance on getting the Roland AT350c.
Are you trading in something for it, or simply adding on to your current Keyboard collection?
I owe you a phone call so plan to call you once you've got it and settled in with new arrival.

I got it Bob...it looks like you can use the D-beam to bend pitch...I haven't tried using that method, but it should work pretty good.

Anyone here ever try pitch bending with the D-beam?

The organ has some excellent features...most importantly it has the Bass Inversion for chords.

This is looking to be a very fine instrument.

I wonder if it will use the styles from the BK-7M?

Ian

Hi Scott, No, I'm not trading anything in. Couldn't part with the Technics KN7000's. I stopped playing organs back when we both bought KN5000's because my legs didn't want to cooperate with the foot pedals. Got new knees now and thought I might give it a try again. Have to travel some so it will probably be June before I am able to order.

There are about 25 or so demos of various AT350C setups by the same guy that does this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDTbOmRVNmY&feature=related

Cool ! I'll be referring to you as Bionic Bob from now on . . .

Ok so insomnia got the better of me and I am up out of bed again. Of course there's nothing better to do than log on to synthzone to see what is happening!

Bob... good to 'meet' you first of all! I can't think of a better use for those new knees! Well done on that.. it must have been painful!

Good morning all... its a little after 4am here! Yawn!

I'll answer the questions I can...

Yes Ian, the AT350c will definately be able to load styles from the BK7m and any other previous Roland arranger except Prelude and GW8.

Scott... I'll record you a tune if I am able to bring it home for a few days. Time is the evil I have to plot against in the store. I never get time to plan new songs or demonstrations in the store. It's all done at home. It's just as well this is my hobby too!

I am already loving the fact it has the 2 sets of drawbars...3 three if you include the pedal set! I still haven't played it, but I have played Roland emulations of the classic Hammond sound before and they have always been excellent. I really see this as a great alternative for people looking at a Nord C2 for example, because it does have proper physical drawbars, not just a rank of buttons with which I have found changing sounds on the fly the be very frustrating. This is my main reason for getting it in to the store. To my knowledge, none of the stores in Scotland have sold any dual manual organs for a long time now (other than church organs) so I think it is high time we tried the market again and see what happens. Now Scotland can see what a modern organ can really do!

I'm not sure about the pitchbend question at the moment Ian. I am pretty certain that with a PK7 or PK25 setup, you will be able to 'glide' with the footswitches on the expression pedal. I'll let you know once I have played it!

Roland manuals are now always available. You may need to keep your eye on a few sources for them, but rolandus.com roland.co.uk and roland.com are normally the places to try.

Bass inversion for chords is a must! Agreed 100%! I can't believe how many people own keyboards with this facility and still don't kow about it, far less use it! I am wondering now though of it will work with pedals like my BK7m and the HX. If you remember the old custom ABC which Yamaha used to do on Electones... it was like using fingered chord, but the bass line was controled via the pedals, though you didn't have to play a full walking bassline as the auto-bass took care of it. Well the BK7m works in exactly the same way with my HX when you set it up as an electronic organ on the connection wizard. I think that is a really cool feature, so I hope the Atelier has it too.

The weight is really very good for such a keyboard Ian... I think anyway lol! The one thing I have done so far is unbox it and set it up, so I have lifted it on my own. Believe me, putting this into context, the AT350c is much much lighter than for example the keyboard section and tone module of the HX. It had been a long time since I had to move one of those around, but I had to do it recently to perform my BK7m launch event/show in the store. (I took it in to the store to show the BK7m in context with an organ) I really nearly had a broken back doing that! I am only 40 but I really noticed the difference from when I used to gig with one back in the late 80's. I was only 18 then, and as fit as a fiddle. Now though with the middle age spread becoming a full blown permanent feature, it is a lot harder to move that thing! I would imagine as I get older, it is going to keep getting worse too. Perhaps I need to retire the notion of moving that thing around again!

Bob, good luck for an AT350c in June! You will undoubtedly get more time on this than I will, so let us all know how you get on when you decide to go for it. I am really excited at the prospect of trying it out! It really is good fun (at times) working in a music store!

Goodnight again y'all!