Hello to everyone

I have been reading a lot of posts on this list for the past few months and wanted to pass on my impressions of my new Roland E-50. I was originally considering getting a G-70 but decided to wait and see what the E series would produce. First of all let me tell you a little about myself. I am a lifelong musician who started on trumpet and moved on to more guitar/singer/writer activities as I got older. I have been composing in midi since it's inception and have become pretty skilled in the DAW/recording world.

This is my first arranger. Up to now I never would have considered buying one mainly because I'm not a performing piano player. I have been getting increasingly interested in recent efforts by Yamaha, Korg, and Roland. I had a chance to check out a PSR-3000 at a local Sam Ash and thought it was pretty cool but I"m glad I waited. It's seems like the "cheese" factor of these arrangers is a thing of the past. The latest arrangers are excellent for songwriters who need help creating backing tracks, etc. I'm really in awe. After a lot of research I decided on the Roland because I like Roland sounds, but the real reason was the styles. I am not disappointed. The interface is easy and intuitive. The ability to load additional styles from a 1 GB PC Card I purchased means endless extensibility. This thing is a lot bigger than what I thought. The only thing I wished they would supply is a way to turn the speakers off. This would be handy when the keyboard is plugged into a larger system.

I also wanted to give a shout out to George Kaye who I bought the arranger from. Great price and very helpful. Also, Zuki...your reviews were very helpful.

thanks to all!
Brian

Brian ... welcome to the S-Z family ... and obviously your name does not match your background ...
As for turning off the on board speakers, is there a headphone jack? ... if so, just put a plug (or headphones) into the jack and the on board speakers will be off ...
Again, welcome ...
t.

Hey, thanks for that. I didn't find anything in the manual (including the headphone jack) and thought the exclusion odd.

thx
Brian

Hi Brian,
have you checked underneath, they sometimes put headphone jacks in hidden places. I couldn't for the life of me find it on one of my digital piano's because it was so well concealed.
On my psr1500 , I just keep a headphone adapter plugged in when I want to use external speaker system. One of those little adapters that turns mini headphone socket into a full size socket ( hope that makes sense). Rolands from memory sometimes even have 2 sets of headphones.

best wishes
Rikki

Hi Brian -

Congratulations! Glad to hear you like the E-50 and my (and Adimitis') comments might have helped a bit.

This keyboard is growing on me. I like it more every time I play it. There are lots of things to explore. Taking the time to set up the registrations is worth the effort, because as you said, the interface is user friendly and the styles are fantastic.

Welcome to the forum and keep posting.

Regards,
zuki

The headphone jacks I found. I was referring to the fact that they didn't mention this could mute the speakers in the manual. It was nowhere in the manual that I could see. A bit odd that's all. thanks!

Hey Zuki

thanks! I'm sure I will have lots of questions soon. Here is one.

I still don't completely understand the whole heirachy of User Programs, Styles, Songs. Do I store styles and songs WITH User Programs so that everything is "contained" within a User Program. Kind of confused.

thanks to all!

Brian,

What I'm doing currently is using the existing "list" songs for templates. I then change things around and "write" over them (sometimes using the same name, sometimes putting in a new name in a spot where I won't use the default name). When those are all used up, I'll save all as a user program to a floppy, etc. and basically start over.

I haven't worked with the music finder yet to determine how to manipulate those songs and have much to learn too! It's an extremely deep board.

You'll probably figure it all out before me

Adimitis, please chime in.....

Regards,
zuki

hey friends! long time no see! since last year, right?

zuki_
i am also exploring the depths of E60 and the way you can set up and write UPGs. the only thing that bothers me is the lack of a master eq, as g70 has. other than that, with a little bit (more) patience, indeed you can set everything to your likeness. have you recorded something already?

greenkid_
good to hear you decided for a e50. this is a good keboard, easy to use either studio or live! goodluck! a good place where to find information, about g70, but easily appliable to you e50, is http://www.selskabsmusikeren.dk

about muting the speakers, the issue is pretty easy to solve, since the headphone connections are very accesible. buy an adaptor for small 3,5 jack, and keep it close. when you need, just plug in the adaptor and that's it. this is what i do.

leeclw_
where are you? are you too busy with your e60?


[This message has been edited by adimatis (edited 01-06-2007).]

Greenkid,

Welcome to the forum. As you have obviously discovered, most arranger keyboard manuals are very poorly written, thus forums such as this have prospered because you can find quick answers to most of those perplexing questions the manuals do not address.

Good Luck,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy