Well, after several years of not owning an arranger keyboard, I just couldn't stand it anymore. Today I purchased the Roland GW-7 from Dwight at bpmmusic (at just under 600.00). I've spent months doing my homework online, as well as recently calling George Kaye to talk about the Roland G-70 (incredibly gracious gentleman, by the way!). I already have a fully loaded Fantom X 61 (with 4 SRX expansion cards and version 2 audio track OS), which I absolutely love. I was primarily looking for an arranger keyboard to use for quick song composition (all originals, no covers) outside of my 3rd floor home studio, so portability is extremely important. I plan on importing my GW-7 songs into the excellent sequencer on the Fantom X and using the Fantom voices, adding audio tracks, etc.

I am impressed that the GW-7 offers such a diverse soundset with its world instruments from China, India, Middle East, etc. I like using these textures when writing music on the Fantom, so this is very important to me. I was definitely tempted by the G-70 (which has an outstanding soundset for an arranger keyboard, among other incredible features), but just couldn't justify its high cost and limited expandability (only 1 SRX slot, which to be fair, is really great by arranger standards) and no sampling or audio recording
implementation. To be able to afford the G-70, I would have to sell my Fantom X setup which just doesn't make too much sense,
especially now that I have been spoiled by its sampling and audio recording capabilities (the entire universe of sound is now my oyster!). To be honest, if I was a working musician performing on a regular basis, I would probably do whatever it takes to buy a high-end arranger AND keep my current workstation setup. By the way, I've owned 3 Yamaha PSR keyboards in the past but wanted to go in a different direction this time around.

Once I determined that I didn't really need a high-end arranger it was time to narrow my choices, which I did by first setting a 1000.00 spending limit. In my mind the only 2 serious contenders were the GW-7 and the Korg PA-50 (though the newer Casio WK series deserve an honorable "bang for the buck" mention). The GW-7 won out because of its world sounds, extreme portability (it only weighs 11 pounds & and I don't need an onboard sound system), available Roland styles (including a large number of G-70 files, which I've already downloaded) and its lower price. Another plus is that the GW-7's layout and operating system is exceedingly simple (hey, the manual is only 48 pages!). I already have enough complicated stuff to wade through on a daily basis, so this is a big consideration!

In closing, I especially want to thank all of the members of the Synth Zone Forum for your invaluable contributions to my decision-making process. I read your postings daily and always find them enlightening and entertaining, to say the least! George, I promise that when I win the lottery or sell the house, you will be one of the first persons I call (to buy one of those high-end arranger workstations). Can't wait!

Michael

Good luck with your new KB....I really like the GW7 also played it a few times in the store nice sound......its a great feeling KB and fun to play for sure......post some songs when you can also!!