I don't recall anyone paying for a Roland IN ADVANCE...!

Are you referring to a Roland organ, or is there something we don't know? There WAS some speculation about a new Roland at MusicMesse, but I guess it's still in prototype... But they sure as heck didn't pre-sell any of them.

I'm not sure what the fuss is about. If Roland don't get a new G-series out for a year, they are still within a few months of Yamaha's product cycle (T2 came out shortly after G70) and the T3 won't be out until much later this year.(if all goes well). Nobody is predicting Yamaha's decline just because there's a 3-4 year product cycle for TOTL arrangers.

It's not like they are competing head to head at the same market anyway. The G70 is a 'pro' arranger (from what Ian tells us) and the T2 is a firmly 'home' keyboard (same source ), so why anyone expects them to follow the same release trend beats me...

The thing is, the T2 remains essentially unchanged from the day it was released, while the G70 has undergone 2 MAJOR revisions of it's OS, and while a fair portion of the OS upgrades addressed issues that owners would prefer changed (it DID work OK when released, but we pointed out some ways it could be better, and they obliged), several of the upgrade's features were really important features that were completely new to the arranger. Guitar Mode, and the per-Part parametric EQ were totally new features that, in most other manufacturer's product cycle would simply get rolled into a new model, and those with the old would simply have to buy a new model before they got the new features (Korg is one exception, I must admit).

So, while T2 users have had a 3-4 year wait for new features, in a way, the G70 users, since OS3 and the re-working of the OS, have only had a year with this 'new' arranger. So perhaps there isn't quite the same urgency to get a NEW arranger model out. I, for one, am in NO rush to see a new G-series.

Despite being VERY vocal at Roland-arranger.com about features I want changed or added (you didn't expect anything different THERE, do you? ), they are simply me and many others voicing our desire to have something that is already CLOSE to perfect (for us!) become completely perfect! I am definitely in NO hurry to get another arranger. In fact, I'd like a few more years to get some more money out of this one before I want to change...!

So, the truth is (in a way), it's only been a year since Roland came out with a new arranger, and I got it for free! If I don't see a new G series until 2010, it will STILL be on the same product cycle as Yamaha... So they are showing a prototype at Messe. No big wup. They've been showing the Audya for two YEARS now... Still can't buy one.

Last thing anybody wants is for Roland to rush something uncompleted out like they did last time It took a while, but all my PRIMARY niggles have been addressed and I'm down to nit-picking, now. But anyway, to get back OT, one thing Roland have NOT done is take any pre-orders for anything upcoming. They won't even tell us anything about it until it's in production. I wish some other manufacturers would do the same, save these years of futile waiting... (and wondering where your money went, apparently in Wersi's case )