George is shipping me a Roland GW-7 and a Roland SH201. I'll use the SH 201 on top as a "traditional" synth and the GW-7 on my right hand for piano, vibe, etc. presets.

Thanks, George...OH, Boy, New Toys!

Last choice: An SD-5 or an E 80. SD-5 was the hands-down winner, until I really looked into the "riff" function (it's not a looper, like I thought), lack of jazz styles and incompatibility of SD-1 styles, plus no new styles for the SD-5. Really would miss the 13 note Ketron foot controller if I switched to Roland. Seven just isn't enough without major revamping of technique.

Special thanks to DonM again for advice on Midjay, G 70, E 50, etc.

I'll let you folks know shortly after FedEx arrives...


R.

Thanks Russ,
Everything left today.
For everyone reading this post of Russ's and need some clarification of the SD5's RIFF mode, let me try to explain to those of you who haven't been able to try one out.
When you play one of the 30 or so RIFF styles in the SD5, variation 4 becomes the riff trigger. By this I mean, whatever chord you played when you pushed this button, the keyboard plays a continuous 8 - 16 measure loop in that key. Russ was hoping he could play his own chord progressions and the loop would play it back. The chord progressions are preprogrammed by Ketron. Only coming out of the loop and choosing a different key (by playing a different chord) allows you to change keys. The Chord progression will be the same unless you play a minor chord and then the riff chord progression will be different. Many customers have complained that this gets booring after you've used it a few times because there is no random playback and it is always the same.
I also think there needs to be more riff styles coming from ketron so a library could grow and be more helpful.
The second point to comment on is that the sound set in the SD5 is not exactly the same as the SD1 and so when customers load in SD1 styles that are not in the SD5 (fewer styles than the SD1 comes with the keybaord) they don't sound the same as they are expecting because of there not being all the exact same sounds.
I thought a little clarification might be appropriate.


------------------
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

ROLAND RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm telling you.........that GW7 is an awesome keyboard for the price. The styles are absolutely fantastic too.
Congratulations.

zuki

Yeah, that riff feature pretty much blows. With SO little extra (put in your own chords in advance, or even better, record them live.... see where this is going?!), it might be a fantastic feature. But a factory pre-programmed set of changes...? P-LEASE....

What are we...? Kids?

Roland Chord Sequencer.... the logical end of this Ketron failed attempt at giving the player an opportunity to jam with two hands. Why couldn't they have just copied this entire feature, note-for-note? After all, Roland aren't using it themselves any longer...

You're gonna love the Roland SH-201 The layout on that synth is very simple, and there are knobs, and sliders galore to keep a tweeker quite happy.

Some of the presets are also quite good. I think Roland did a great job with the SH-201. What's good to see is that even though it's not extremely high, the poly is enough for what the synth should be used for (which is pads and leads).

Yes, as Fran states--Roland Rules! I don't understand why Yammie doesn't compete in the synth department. Roland has the V-Synth, the V-Synth GT, the SH-201, and the Juno-D. Not to mention their workstation line up. Yamaha's only "dedicated synth line" is the S-Series (which is quite dated now). Even Korg has more dedicated synths (outside of the workstations).

Sqeake why worry about Yamaha ...
theres plenty of gear on the market that can be made to sound any way you like,
find it, buy it, play it, enjoy it!

I know Dnj... It just has been on my mind recently--considering Yammie "used" to make dedicated synths, but don't anymore.

Yes, there is so much more out there to make music with.. The clock is ticking, and the count down is on--Won't be much longer and Roland will be yet another addition to my set up Although this Roland I'm buying is bloody hard to tame! Probably why they call it the FANTOM

Sqeak its been out a while an dthere is mucho support on that ax for sure just look for it!

Guys...G 70 or E 80? The e 60 is attractive because of 76 keys and a lot less weight.
What about features of the e 60? No hard drive or vocalizer. Never used a vocalizer live, and believe an out board one would be better. True?

Thoughts?


R