Hi Fran and everybody else,
I've just returned from the Frankurt-fair and I had the opportunity to test the new Roland for a while and I was given two deomstrations from the Roland guys. I must tell you it's an amazing piece, the new VA 7. It's got 61 keys, more or less the size of a Solton X1 and its sounds were fantastic. It has got over 3,000 sounds many of which are much better than those of the G-1000, which I am playing. I, unfortunately, haven't been able to go that much into detail if it comes to the possibilities of reloading styles from the zip-disk, but nevertheless, the VA 7 has got the same 100 Mb zip that the G-1000 uses. It has got 120 or something styles, which for me seems to be not enough, but it is very ease to create new styles via "morphing". A technology that enables you to mix any parts of the internal styles. The whole keyboard seems to be very user-friendly, the drum sets are really the best I've ever heard - Rolan has used the same technology as Solton in sampling the drums. Many of the sounds were nearly as realistic as the Solton X1 sounds, and the styles were even more powerful as the Solton styles as well. Many of the Frankfurt-fair visitors were really amazed about how Roland could keep the thing under cover for the last weeks. The Roland guys told me that it is going to be at the shops in Germany between June and July.
Markus