Oh, by the way.. since I DON'T have an arranger at present, I am keenly interested in what Roland has up their sleeve with this new totl unit. Will Roland finally forsake the "G" moniker and give it a fresh name and look instead? My guess is they will although I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

Roland got a lot right with the G70, like physical drawbars for the organs, a nice solid key bed action, a fairly decent AC Grand, and although it's a bit on the heavy side I think its successor will weigh even less than its now obviously quite obsolescent and bulkier big brother the G70. If it does come in weighing more than the G70 it will detract from overall sales in my opinion. Hopefully Roland will bump up the polyphony and give it an onboard Sampler as well. And as long as I'm at it bring back the chord sequencer (with shouts of hallelujah in the background ), provide it with a better VH, give it more inputs and outputs and a lo-Z (XLR) Mic input would be nice too. USB 2.0 will definitely be on board though and most likely the DAC's will have been bumped up to 24 bits as well. Also, Black may gone and we might see something entirely "new" in the way of a different color scheme. Something bold, something fresh, something exhilarating - along with a bold fresh new design.

I expect it to show up at Winter NAMM '10 or at the latest Frankfurt Musikmesse '10. I am also currently in the process of saving my pennies and look forward to seeing this new beast from Roland and company. They most likely have already made a sale by way of me, if it indeed has 76 keys, a respectable light weight, and has fullfilled the majority of my other criteria. Of course how it sounds will ultimately be the most important determining factor but I still wouldn't settle for just a 61 key version. And right under how it sounds will be the price tag out the door. If they charge an arm and a leg like Ketron has done with the Audya they will unfortunately pay a bigger price in the end in loss of overall sales in my opinion. Which would be a pity really. But if they come in at a very competitive price point then most likely it's gonna sell like hot-cakes. All things considered that is.

All the best,
Mike