I've been researching the GW-7. On Roland's website, it is not found where I first looked...in the 'arranger keyboard' section. Rather, it's in the 'workstation' area of the site. Interesting...the accompaning video demo calls it a 'workstation synth with arranger capabilities'. Then yesterday, I visited a Sam Ash store and found the GW-7 in the pro-synth department.

As some of you here already mentioned, it is quite limited as either a synth or an arranger. I was not impressed with either the sounds or the styles. My KR7 intelligent piano sounds better on both counts. However, I understand this is Roland's 'entry level' board for first-timers. I must admit it is one of the most attractive-looking boards Roland has ever produced.

My main point in all this rambling is this...I think (imo), Roland may be wanting to bring arranger features into their synth line as a common feature. This GW-7 could be a 'toe in the water' approach for Roland. I would'nt be surprised to see a more full-featured version of the GW-7 (GW-76?) - a more powerful synth/arranger introduced. Seems to me there could be a day when many serious synths will have arranger capabilities. Sure looks that way even with Yamaha...the Motif ES is 'almost' an arranger! What do you guys think?

Tim