Donny, Ya thinking of getting one?

Hi Steve, at this time I am not in need of another arranger but I am also always interested in trying new things,......I really didn't have enough time to sit with the EA7 last time out but hope try it again at Frans studio soon enough just to have him explain more of all the great features and what can be done using it. I have alot more time now to record songs & my needs have varied for studio needs.

cio

dp

I'd love to try one if I could find one. I so miss my G-70, I am constantly scanning the net for a fourth, weight or not.

ROLAND G70 FOR SALE

Here is my review I wrote for Sweetwater..

BTW: The keys are not as bad as some folks make out.. They are more playable than most in the same price range..

It isn't mini keys like the popular Korg micro arranger


.


Francis Carango
from Levittown, PA
September 3, 2016
Roland E-A7
My first impression of Roland E-A7...

Well, it is small...it is light...looks like a toy..

and a lot of fun to play..

The keys ..yep , like the BK5, although they feel a bit stiffer..
after you play a while , you get use to them,,they are more playable than my
Edirol PC80 controller..

The operating system became second nature after a couple hours,
playing and editing..

All the buttons are rubberized, feel good and perform perfectly..
The sliders are firm and smooth..

This E-A7 is loaded with goodies, just as many features as the
BIG boys..

Coming from a week with the Korg PA4x, I can tell you the E-A7
competes favorably,,

Same features, and they work just as well as the Korg..

Many of the sounds , edge to Roland, drums, strings, E guitars, choir,
scats, EP and Acc piano for starters..

The sound is surprising..I was told they were shorter samples than the BK9 etc..
Others on YouTube state they were as good or better than PA4x and Tyros5..

Styles are plentiful and nicely done,,easy to edit on the fly while
performing..Realtime mixing with the sliders..

The new OS with two displays turned out to be a great idea, they work in
conjunction with each other...and direct tabs on the display border, help navigation..
The six assign buttons for pads, phrases , tones, work great...and are in sync with
styles and songs..

The 3 upper and one lower tones are easy to access and view..volume level via sliders ..
Favorite tones section, also user tones and styles..UPG section that saves all panel settings..

There is no sequencer, but make up tools do the job we normally do in the sequencer..

The playback for SMF,Kar, MP3 and wav..works great, and feature chain play
tempo change and transpose,,Parts mute also covered, as is center cancel..

Search feature works great for any data , song, styles, Upg etc..

Song play is easier and smoother operation than Korg..one button to play.

SMF play sounds best of any board...

Sampler improved with update 1.10....samples increased from 512 to 2,048...



I will follow up after a few days...but it looks like a keeper..

BTW: It looked like a toy, but anything but.....this is a very capable keyboard...
ready for the stage, and a light traveler..

Here is my follow up on the E-A7......

When I started thinking about buying an E-A7, I thought it
was primarily a European/Eastern keyboard, thus wasting
control surface space and paging through tones, and styles
I would not need as a USA player...

But Roland handled this nicely, you select the language / country,
and the tones and styles are organized, so the content covers the
language selected...first..

I thought the keyboard scale function would be useless, it doubles
as the phrase/pad controls..

You will be able to play the E-A7 and never know it can be an Eastern
keyboard...for us Western players..

The keys are definately better than the BK5, they have more dept,
resistance, and more playable..

Now about the sounds..
I spent time comparing in detail the E-A7 to Roland's best (G70)..
I believe the sample pcm waves are the same...I guess the digital
converters could be better in the G70 (old argument when we compared
the E60 with the G70)..
The sound of the E-A7 are better than the E50/60...Similar to the E80..

I compared my favorite G70 tones and other common tones with the
E-A7 offerings....they are identical, ..
The E-A7 tones have been changed via multi effects..For example most of the
organs are using a leslie effect controlled by the bender..

The styles are excellent, best to date...and the realtime mixer makes it easy
to get the style to sound ..your way..
I also really like the way the phrase player is in sync with the style..
muting style parts and let the phrase play (pads)..is interesting.
This is also available to use with SMF play...adding 4 markers with the pads
and you can perform in a way to make it your own..

The file utility is great, helps you organize files in your external and
internal storage.
I have over 40,000 files on my 32g micro usb drive, including 2,000
custom /library styles..

Search feature makes it easy to locate a request song..

I also have songs to use in chain play..25 tunes for senior gigs..
about 7 or 8 sets..

Roland is still the only one that reads chords in SMF, without embedding..

The lyric window is great, with a zoom to enlarge words, also
showing the chords, even a measure ahead of the change...makes
playing with a file a breeze..

You have a favorite tone section for immediate selection..the tone incorporates
the Multi effects..
There is also a User tone section and user drum section...
Sampling can also be stored as a user tone or user drums.

EQ is available for every part, song, style and realtime parts..
Compression and EQ is available in the mastering (overall output)...

I really like this keyboard, much better than I anticipated..

The German review that mentioned the E-A7 is a poor man's PA4X.....
wasn't far from the truth...at 1/3 the cost...

After a few days I can get around on it with no "oops"..I did install OS 1.10..

This keyboard can serve as a primary for any gig..

The mic/effects works great with plenty of gain..

There also is a 1/8 inch stereo input for any source .tablet etc.

There are seven assign buttons, and 100 user program locations.
Additional banks can be loaded instantly...so 100 limit is not a factor.

Thanks to Mike Arango, my Sweetwater rep..


As a side note I agree with Mike's comments on his EA7..

Quick! Call the Smithsonian!

That's an awesome review Fran wow a great read!! maybe now more people will take a serious look into the Roland EA7 as it certainly can make music in so many ways at an affordable price for sure...can't wait to dig into it again...

ciao

Sounds absolutely brilliant at such a low price.
Can't understand why Roland don't bring out a new top of range board and really go to town with it.
Love all those buttons, knobs & sliders - made to play live.
Tony

I think Roland tested the market with this one and they will probably be releasing an arranger higher up on the scale based on this first atempt. Because E-A7 is in many ways a first of it's kind in Roland arsenal.

But the keybed... to me, it is close to atrocious. It has virtually zero feedback in playing anything close to piano style. I am amazed how those guys on the YouTube can play piano at all on it. Piano sound itself is rather nice though.

I was considering one just recently and I just could not get over the feel of the keys. And the fact they are so small - but this is secondary. The future could be good if Roland will improve what they did well with this one and change what is wrong.