Fran,
the sound engine in the E80 is the same as the G70 but with a little added internal rom. The keys will feel much better than an E50 or E60. It's the weight that bothered most people. Very heavy!
Yesterday I had a visit from my Roland Rep and we talked about the state of the arranger keyboard from Roland. It seems he has as little information as the rest of us. I was told that all G70,s E80s and soon all E50's and E60's if not already, will be gone from Roland's USA warehouse. This leaves just the E09, EXR46oriental, GW8, Prelude (same as GW8 but with speakers) left in their lineup. I asked if Roland was getting out of the arranger business and the answer was a big "I just don't know at this moment". It seems that there is not much conversation between the Roland management and sales reps regarding the arrangers. My guess is with a poor economy, Roland is not going to spend much money on developing new products right now. Who knows what the future might bring!


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com