If Roland was smart they would come out with a new TOTL G80 arranger keyboard to rival and upgrade the G70 with today's technology .. that would hands down beat anything on the market today if done right and they listen to their players
Needs & Wants.

Donny, in my Technics days I said your exact words. I met Roland when they first came out with the control D beam. The instrument sounds were good; I was looking to improve. I played the G80, I think that was the model. I read articles about the company, I wanted to understand.

They had some great ideas, but they never got their act together. I bought the D50, and so did three of my friends, everyone sold them. We knew it was not an arranger, we were looking for instrument sounds. (Synth) I bought one of there arranger keyboards and sold it in the same year. Bought the first arranger keyboard that Wersi made, and so did my friend. Both were sold. I was puzzled, the music that was created n the Wersi keyboard was good,

My thoughts:
So why have they not been successful as Yamaha and Korg? They have produced a great keyboard, but they have not given the buyers what they want, what they understand. Fran was able to break that barrier. Korg has been working their way through that problem, and now they are one of the leaders. My best guess, Roland needs some new people at the top, people who understand business.

Wow, off the Soap Box, John C.

Isn't korg part of Yamaha in some way?

" In 1989, Korg recruited the design team from Sequential Circuits just as they were relieved of their duties by then-Sequential owner Yamaha. Yamaha Corporation has always been a major partner of Korg, supplying them with circuitry and mechanical parts. In 1987, shortly before the release of the M1 Music Workstation, Yamaha acquired a controlling interest in Korg's stock. The takeover of the company was amicable, with Katoh drawing up the terms, and the two companies continued to independently develop their product lines and compete in the marketplace. After 5 very successful years, Katoh had enough money to rebuy most of the Yamaha share back in 1993."

Quote from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korg

My theory is that Roland knows there is a lot more profit in synths than in arrangers.

yes Don especially for the upcoming younger generation of musicians...
a synth KB and a DAW can really make amazing creative music these days.
vs canned styles in their minds. To them when they hear the word arranger it bring thoughts of old giant dusty wooden organs,
like Eminee, Lowery, Baldwin, Conn, etc, of yesteryear. They are on a whole new playing field and most of us baby boomers are stuck in between it all musically till we'ere all gone.

Arrangers still very popular in most other countries!

that's easy to see Don just by watching Youtube videos on arrangers for music outside the United states,..especially when you have to use scaling and home made rhythms etc, Middle east, Asian/oriental/Indian, etc ,.....

“My theory is that Roland knows there is a lot more profit in synths than in arrangers”

I am talking about the days when arranger keyboards were popular.
John C.

Still popular at my house John!