I have just been given an opportunity to buy a Roland E60 for $600 (about $595 USD)...is it a decent board for that price?

My only experience is with the G70, GW8 and the BK7-m so I do nto know much about these...

Just thinking of using it along with vA, and some VSTi drums and bass on the lappy...

Dennis

Dennis, the E60 is a nice board..very playable keybed...some newer drum kits from the E80, that are different from the G70...sounds are very similar to the BK7m...and the price is right...

I still have an E 50, and I still sounds great.
DonM

Thanks guys, I might just get this one then

Dennis

Dennis for that money I would look into some of the new controller Kb's first.

http://global.novationmusic.com/midi-controllers/sl-mkii

And where is he going to find a good feeling 76 keyboard...the only option is an old A30,33 or 37....and the E60 is a better controller than those....and it has great sounds and styles with total editing.....Buy the E-60..

Not in Oz it doesn't and then add about $400 for shipping...

@ Donny, I have already gone the controller route, I even have an old A70 sitting in the storeroom

Fran is correct, the E60 represents better value than JUST a controller for the same money.

Dennis

@Dennis what are you actually trying to do musically in the first place I'm a bit confused?

You don't need this

Well, I'm not confused m8, and that's all that matters hey ..by the way the bold font I used was only so you could see there was also a response to you in the same post to BBBB

D

Ahh Dan, MUCHO respect man you know that, but while you know a bit about what I am doing, you are not aware of all of it though

Dennis

Whatever it is I hope it all works out for you good luck

Thx m8, perhaps you would be better off researching your keyboard and speaker system for next month

Dennis

No way,....the S950 is here to stay for now,......
in fact after using it with TWO HK Lukas Audio Nano 300 systems at last nights gig I'm slowly entertaining the notion to KEEP them both!!!as they really sound amazing!
I guess I'm sentimental to KORG as it was my first arranger SAs20 1980's, but now "Brand Loyal" to Yamaha as I keep coming back again and again.

So guess that means you DO support brand loyalty as opposed to your seemingly contradicting statement here : http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/362427/Is_Brand_loyalty_important#Post362427

and a BIG one at that!!

D

Dennis, I wouldn't call Donny 'brand loyal' as he constantly drops Yamaha at the first possible chance every time something new comes out. There must be SOMETHING that is incredibly dissatisfying about them to have done this so many times!

But I wouldn't call him 'brand smart' either, as all of us know from long experience that every time he DOES drop the Yamaha, he will wax poetic about whatever he gets to replace it, gush over how great it is, tell everyone with a Yamaha what a doofus they are for not following his lead, then one day out of the blue (almost mid-sentence!) he will announce he is back on Yamaha again.

And we all act surprised, just to humor him! As is we didn't know it was coming the day he sold the old one - so, not 'brand smart'! What a waste of time and money, doing the same thing over and over again, to end back where you started..! Donny, we say this out of love (right!), but give the other brands a rest. You are going to be on a Yamaha for the rest of your days...

And now the pool starts for when Donny will get rid of the S950 and get whatever else just came out... I've got $5 on two years. But that's cheating, as it is usually two years, ain't it? LOL

All my KB investments and that all they are to me have been very successful financially,...so after a month or so of gigs they are pretty much paid back and it's all profit after that as it should be. As my mentor Uncle Dave always used to say
"everything I have is for sale" and I agree with him,.....and for the busy working Pro musician it's just gear and can be replaced if needed or desire to, keep, sell, who cares?...if it makes me happy & I can make a living I do it baby,any questions?

But that month or so is a loss... when it needn't be. Nor is the time you spend setting up your act for an axe all of us KNOW you will be ditching in a few months' time.

It's never a loss.......as the profits from gigs "always" exceed and surpass the cost of the investment so many times over it's a win win situation ALWAYS!

And that's all that really matters. I think everyone can make good music on all modern arrangers ... and even older arrangers. They all have strengths and weaknesses and it is all a matter of what you find you can or can't live with. I totally understand Donny. His work supports him being able to own many of the keyboards available to see what works best for him at that point in technology. And it makes perfect sense that he commends the strengths he finds despite the inevitable weaknesses that show themselve after practical use. While that may not be how others are it is of no consequence. Sounds like fun to me !!!

Exactly, Nigel. Donny's MO is his MO, nobody elses and he's happy with it. I really don't know why anyone gets their knickers in a twist over it.

jeez so now all the apologists get into the act...

And our MO is our MO, why are you two getting YOUR knickers in a twist over that?

Fyi.....I also had a E60....and E50...A FEW YEARS AGO..ALSO fine. Arrangers

It's not the MO... it the unbridled enthusiasm for a piece of gear that we all KNOW he's going to turn around and stab in the back after a few weeks.

It's POSSIBLE that some people take Donny's recommendations seriously, and that just seems so irresponsible. How about waiting on the recommendations until you've kept something for, let's be safe and say six months..? Then, we'll KNOW it is what you really mean.

The list of gear that Donny has gushed about and then ditched after a few weeks should be a warning to anyone that takes his initial assessment at face value. Wait! You'll save a fortune...

That sounds fair enough, Diki. Maybe some folk really do buy into the old "it must be true, I saw it on the internet" thing. I'd hope most people have a bit more 'common' than that, but then . . .

We can't all be our brothers' keeper, though.

Good point Dnj. Just ignore the complainers.

Don't take it so personally. Although you may not move through gear in the same way why do you even care let alone continue to whine about it on a public forum? Find a new outlet please. And changing a keyboard is not "stabbing it in the back". OMG keyboards are inanimate objects, you do know that ... don't you? Changing a keyboard simply means that something else may be better in some areas for your application it doesn't mean it doesn't have strong points. It is all subjective.

There are more important things to argue about. This just ain't one of them.

And Nigel did you not notice the wink at the end of my post? Seems like you are looking for the scrap not me

I know who's gonna win if there IS a scrap!

DonM

Yeah Don, it's always the guy with the bat and the ball and the




Dennis

Now on to more serious stuff, like the OP

Yeah Dan, on reflection I think are are correct..I was just being a tad lazy in something I wanted to do - I already have the capability with vA and the Kronos - just too lazy to set it up

Cheers m8,

Dennis

Miden, I think you and I have the same arranger tastes. My opinion of the E60 is not good. It is awful for live play and at best, is a continuation of their pitiful E-09 series (IMO). Don't see many playing 'em these days??? I couldn't wait to rid mine. Stick with the PA series.

Sorry Nigel. Personally, I don't care one way or the other what Donny does with his money or his time. As I said, all I really care about is that this forum is often used by people looking to buy something, and that gear recommendations should be made only AFTER you are sure about your impression. Donny's about faces are potentially expensive for someone ELSE if they take his initial review seriously.

We owe it to our fellow members here to wait until the blush is off the rose before we tell everyone how great something is, and they should go out and buy one! If Donny didn't gush so much the minute he got it, his abrupt turnaround wouldn't seem NEARLY as contradictory!

Hey Jim, just curious why you thought the E60 was awlful to play live on stage...I always thought it was one of the best stage friendly instruments..You could use user programs or easily change instruments...it reads styles instantly from compact flash...and has the best edit tools in the business...all accessible while playing live...V=beam was also useable live (E60)..

The sound engine derives from the top E-80...

The reasons I sold the 3 that I owned....first someone wanted to buy them at prices I could not refuse...Second I would have liked an input since it had speakers..

The keybed was way better than the PA800 I had..and was a better playable feel and range...User friendliness was much better than the PA800...

And as you mentioned...I also was glad to get rid of the PA800(The most over priced arranger..second only to the Tyros4)

A clean E60 for under $600 is very desireable..about the same real value I put on a clean PA800...add $100 more if it has the optional MP3 card..

I agree with Fran to a point...I also enjoyed the E60/50 on stage...with a few more options included, It is certainly a productive gigging arranger KB for sure. Jim can you elaborate a bit more about your E60 experiences?

thanx

Sorry no I didn't notice the wink. I just took it at face value. My bad. Apologies Dennis.

( Yup, always up for a scrap mate )

Mea culpa, too. I didn't spot it, either.

All g m8,

All in fun - sometimes it is so damn hard in text!!!

D

Nobody asked me, but I'll say it anyway!

I had the E60 for about two years, I was the second one I think on this forum to own it. I order it blindly, from an internet store, it was among the first five or so sold by the respective shop. Why I did such a risky thing? Because I was so excited by the looks, the functions and the enharitage of it.

When I got it, after previously owning a Pa50, I noticed several very important differences to it. Among them the better keybed, better build, better styles (from the balance point of view), more professional look.

Anyway, I noticed immediatelly also the sounds that I believe were simply nothing like E80 or G70. Less definition, less punch, as much as I wanted I just couldn't get them to work for me.

Sufice to say I sold it and I got another Pa50 that I still own and use.

And just one more thing: to get the most out of the sounds, it really needed an multiband compressor to bring up high freq and help the overall balance. No eq per tracks.

So, still worth it? For a controler and ocassional arranger, no doubt. For a competitive sound set, I don't think so. Just my oppinion.

Thanks Adi - your views are always respected -well afaiac anyway

I concur - I came to the same conclusions as well. Decent enough board in its day, but after experiencing the K, well, nothing else quite matches it in the sound department imo.

As I said, I was being lazy re a particular situation coming up and I was looking for a quick and downright dirty solution, instead of making an extra effort to "bend" the K to my will so to speak

Dennis

I have a Roland E - 60 in Toronto, Canada
Don't ever have a chance/"need" to play it but I would hate to sell it.
It looks good. The lights on the display are super.
It's very heavy but the internal speaker system amplification sounds good.
The 76 keys feel good (light keybed).
Some of the styles are great. So are many of the basic sounds organ especially acoustic and electric pianos.
Easy layout for an arranger with Bass Inversion.
Nice when you change a variation (1-4) a fill-in is automatically triggered.
The Bossa Novas are excellent.
There are a couple of "live band" styles with such realistic guitars.
The build is heavy duty.
Thanks, David