Okay, here is the latest scoop from Roland U.S.. First of all, please take this with a grain of salt because the person I spoke with at Roland U.S. was not altogether privy about top product management decisions by Roland Japan.

He said that nothing had been revealed from Roland Japan suggesting that Roland has stopped in the making and/or production of Top Of The Line Arrangers. He told me that the E-80 had been recently discontinued [which we all now know] and said Roland's discontinuance of the E-80 may be the reason folks on the internet think Roland has somehow bailed on making totl arrangers in the future. To his knowledge that "rumor" has no substantiative proof, since he has not heard anything even remotely along those lines himself.

Another thing worth mentioning is don't expect to see a G70 successor at summer NAMM '09 either. He said 99.9% of the time Roland always releases keyboard products [including totl arrangers] at the Winter NAMM's. So our likeliest occurrence for a G70 successor will be at Winter NAMM 2010. When you think about it though, Winter NAMM '10 is only 9 months away. Just about the same time we'll see the Audya for sale on U.S. soil perhaps too huh?

It's also worth mentioning that the tone of his voice suggested that he was privy to the actual production of a G70 successor even as we speak, but of course, tried to show his poker face by trying to hide that from becoming known to me or anyone on the outside by deflecting questions about that possibility when asked. But from his positive demeanor while talking to him, it suggested, to me anyway, that something is up and we may get our wish in 9 months at Winter NAMM '10. Whether it will have 76 keys or not is another matter.

>> I honestly felt pretty encouraged and even hopeful that Roland is still in the business of making high-end arrangers and will continue to do so both now and on into the foreseeable future. Time will tell all, right? Nevertheless, I'm certainly looking forward to Winter NAMM '10 and will keep my hopes up for a new and revolutionary high-end arranger product coming from Roland Japan. All the better if it has 76 keys too...

All the best,
Mike