Hi Scott,

forgive me for being blunt but the RA30 compared to anything from the last 5 years, sounded crap. I had the RA-50, which was the E70 in module. Its successor the RA-90,which I owned briefly as well was similar to the E86. Both modules had a fixed set of 256 sounds which could not be tweaked in anyway. And they had card slots to add those very expensive cards harbouring
(fasten your seatbelts) 8 new styles !!!!!!
I assume your interest is historical rather than with a view to getting one of those, cuase in my opinion bying a Casio is money better spent.
regards,
john

John I think you may have a couple errors..the RA50 is a MT32 map[LA ]and is not like the E70, but the RA90 is like the E70[SC]..the RA30 was released after the RA90 just prior to the RA95..it was designed as a compact , no frills arranger module, and did not sound like "crap"..in fact it is the same exact sound source as the other lower line Roland GS instruments..
They can be found under $100, and make a better choice than a Casio for me[with your favorite controlling keyboard]..

Fran, your knowledge of all things Roland is amazing! Thanks for sharing with us.

cass

Here's something that I've never thought about and never dawned on me before.

Does a controller keyboard need electricity to operate?

And also could one use a module such as the RA30 or Midjay using a PSR type keyboard which is not using electricity?

I guess you see my point. Although I suspect that my current keyboard will operate flawlessly for longer that I own it, BUT, my main questin I guess is, suppose there was a malfunction on the keyboard that I was using. I am wondering if I could play a PSR type keyboard with no electricity and use a module?

Always learning new stuff!!

Scott Langholff

My immediate reply would be that you need electricity to send the midi messages, at least. I think you could play a keyboard with no sound, but you'd need electricity to help send the messages. The small, midi keyboards use batteries, but that's still the old Edison moving thru 'em. I'm sure there's more to it.