On the Roland site of Italy there is a new collection of styles for Roland VAs (76, 7, 5 and 3).
The styles are from the Roland EM 55.
Here is the link: http://www.roland.it/download_arranger.htm
Enjoy, you lucky VA owners!

Thanks Dreamer.

You welcome, Bevan.

Nice to see that you're more polite than me
Andrea.
I downloaded the new ones about a week ago,
and did not tell it here. Shame on me!!
Well, they work OK on my KN5000 too
GJ

Andrea---did you check out the audio demos of the EM55? I was impressed!
The very first mp3,"contemporary", I saidYes! that is what I find lacking on the yamaha.The Roland drummer plays with a touch of "attitude". He HITS the drums!
I must say that I liked these demos much better than the VA series demos.
But you say that these styles can be used on the VAs.Very interesting. Are there styles on va7/5 that are more aggressive than what Roland puts on their site?
It seems like the EM55 is being developed for a different market, or at least by a different team of programmers, but I welcome this trend. Thanks for your always helpful posts.
Bill

Bill,
unfortunately I didn't hear the EM 55 demos; in my opinion in the VA7 demos Roland made the mistake to insist too much on the variphrase and, after a while, you get bored of hearing someone saying "Honey I need you" or something like that. Re. the EM 55 styles, they are for all Roland VA; I tried them and have to say that, while less impressive at first than some VA 7 styles, they are more versatile. The intros and the endings are shorter (1 or 2 beats) and the same goes for the basic and advanced variations; this may sound a bit repetitive at first but makes for a greater flexibility and nobody, in the audience, can say that your ballads (or whatever) begin and end always in the same way.
Bill, now it's my turn to be impressed: you live in Nashville, the capital of country music, and not far from Memphis (need I say anything?): how is the musical scene there?
Best regards
Andrea

Gunnar, do you mean that Roland posted these styles before Christmas?
They didn't tell me anything!!

Hi Andrea,
I use to look into some sites regulary, and
the new Roland styles was converted at 24, so
I probably downloaded at 23.
Nice X-Mas present.
GJ

These styles use the VA sounds. That was
another surprise.

Bevan---does this mean that a EM55 would have the same sound quality as a VA7? This keyboard is looking better all the time.

Andrea---the best music made in Nashville rarely makes it onto the radio(IMHO) and has nothing to do with the hokey over-commercial "country music" that this town is famous for.This is still a guitar town. It is not hard to find players that will make your jaw drop and say"who IS this guy!"---and of course often these talanted people are never heard from again. Commercial success has more to do with hard work and good marketing than with creative output..This town is FULL of home studios and many of the clubs feature singer-songwrighters of world-class quality.
also Andrea, I did enjoy your songs done on the VA7,please fell free to treat us to more anytime! You seem to enjoy an easy-going style of music. Do you ever play anything with a bit of a punch to it?
I am very interested in roland arrangers as I have not been able to find satisfaction with yamaha or korg so far,but no local dealer carries them and information is hard to come by. Thanks for the info.
Bill

Yesterday I gave these EM 55 styles a try and have to say that some of them are really useful (Light Rock, almost all the Pop styles in general, Disco samba) while others frankly suck (Merengue, Mambo, even if I like latin music a lot).
Bevan, yes, these styles use VA instruments (Bill, many styles labelled for VA 7 use the G 1000 soundset and drum kits, instead).
The difference is substantial: while the G 1000 has some of the best styles Roland has ever made, the VA 7 has far superior sounds: the stereo acoustic piano and the V-drums, to name just two.
I have tried to tweak G 1000 styles changing the sound map, but the results are uneven: if you switch a piano rhytm track to the stereo piano of the VA 7, the piano itself will be way too prominent (even if you lower the volume) and you (the player) will be left aside. With the drums, on the other hand, the results are always astounding: even some old E 20 or E 70 styles acquire a new dimension.
Bill, thank you for your report on the Nashville music scene; I understand what you mean with "easygoing style of music". Actually in "Dock of the bay" I tried to add some punch to an otherwise quite ballad (hear the horns in the chorus or the choice of the snare drum). But you are right: music is for me a way to relax and that's way I love ballads or latin beats like the bossa nova or a gentle samba, full of joy or, at most, a delicate melancholy.
Anyway, if I find enough time (and that's a big IF) I will try to post something more punchy......hmmmm......let me see....."Gimme sove lovin" maybe?