One other keyboard I'd like an opinion on: Roland Gw-7

[altruist]

Ok, so I keep reading and hearing stuff about how this one is really good for both entry level and experienced players, which kinda leaves me thinking that it might not actually be good for someone who is a bit more experienced. I've read that there are 101 different "styles" available, but haven't been able to find how many actual patches it has. Does that mean that it only has 101 patches? How good are the synths on here for example? Also, how is the playability?

[Super]

It has lots of patches.
More then 700, I believe.

You know, Roland has a site, where you can find videos for the keyboards youre looking at...

Here's GW-7 vids for example:
http://rolandus.com/products/product...57&ParentId=83

Just go into RolandUS.COM - products, choose what ever you want, and check the vids.

Not long ago, I wanted to buy my first synth.
I knew NOTHING about synthesizers\ professional keyboards.
All I played was a casio ctk arranger.. (Cheap keyboard, but actually quite decant).
Anyway, I didn't know what I was looking for.
I saw stuff like the Roland Fantom X, Korg Triton Extreme or Yamaha MOTIF es.
Each one of those three was too bloody expensive!
So, I went to a shop that sells Rolands, and I saw the Roland GW-7 and the Roland Juno-D.
The Juno-D seemed quite professional and that, (I was impressed by the D-beam for example, which I never knew before). And it was quite cheap.
The GW-7 was about the same price, but I really liked it. It has some really cool sounds, built very good, and I believe it's a perfect arranger. (Although they write "Workstation on it, it really isn't... It has ryhtmes, and unlike like synthesizer workstations, you can't really edit the patched. Meaning it's not a synth. It sure is a great keyboard to play, and if youre not into synthesziers (where you make your own programs and have some more complex options like samplers and stuff), It's great.

I almost got the GW-7. If I had, I believe I was very satisfied.
But. I got a triton le instead. Which is very different. It's a synth.
The whole syntheziser stuff in synths, is just a new world... It's quite amazing.

Again, if youre not into synthesizing, get the GW-7.

[altruist]

I don't know exactly which features I want the most at this point. Synth sounds are definitely cool, but as far as modeling my own sound... I don't know if I caer about that. I'm looking into some older Fantoms right now actually, mostly the S88 and FA76, with the FA76 perhaps being my best bet since most of the stuff it's missing that the other stuff has isn't really stuff I care about a whole lot.

[ReaPeR]

If you're searching for something roland, but low cost... try to find an XP-60
http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/xp60.shtml

It's basically the keyboard version of the JV-2080... a really good rack, used by the keyboardist of Children Of Bodom, and it has some sounds used by the keyboardist of stratovarius too (he use an jv-1080 with an orchestral expansion card too, and some patches are programmed by itself, so you won't find it in the presets)

[TheMayhem]

Originally Posted by ReaPeR

If you're searching for something roland, but low cost... try to find an XP-60
http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/xp60.shtml

It's basically the keyboard version of the JV-2080... a really good rack, used by the keyboardist of Children Of Bodom, and it has some sounds used by the keyboardist of stratovarius too (he use an jv-1080 with an orchestral expansion card too, and some patches are programmed by itself, so you won't find it in the presets)

is there anything special about the xp-80?


would it be worth going out of ones way to get ahold of one?


or are rolands new synths/workstations better?

Well of course Fantom series are better.. but the xp-80 is a very good board!