The Roland E20 was introduced in 1988. Described as an intelligent synthesizer it was the 1st product of Roland SPA which had been set up after a takeover of the SIEL company in 1987. It was a venture to enter the home keyboard market dominated by casio and yamaha. Featuring styles and built in speakers, the E20 used the advanced LA Synthesis system of the D50 as its core sound engine. The E20 set a new standard with high quality sounds and styles which was a jump ahead of Yamahas competing PSR line. As well as the E20, the cheaper E5 and E10 were subsequently launched as cut down versions while the enhanced E30 debuted in 1990.

Gpaulp the x5d is a synth and e09 is an arranger. Hard to compare. It seems the x5d has 8mb wave memory..is that the same as wave rom? Lucky2bhere someone told me the sound quality of the e09 is vastly better than the em series and almost as good as the exr series. I wonder what the wave rom of the exr series was...also i notice the GW7 also has 32mb wave rom but 8 sounds less than the e09 and 10 drum kits less...so it probably sounds similar. How did it sound in the shop when that guy played it? Good? Great?

I hope it can layer 2 sounds.

E30

FIRST GEN 1988-1991 e5, e10, e20, e30 SECOND GEN 1991-1993 e15, e35, e70 THIRD GEN 1993-1996 e16, e36, e56, e66, e86 FOURTH GEN 1996-1998 e14, e28, e38, e68, e96, g800 FIFTH GEN 1998-2001 em30, em50, e300, e500, em2000, g1000

You missed a winner in the last group you mentioned....E-600

1993 also released the EM 305 and the EM 303.

I tried both E-50 and E-09 at Frankfurt Musik Messe and I think that E-50 is much better than E-09.
You could prefer E-09 only if you need a big variety of ethnic and oriental sounds.

Thanks. Looking forward to demo this unit.
Starkeeper

I play mostly indian songs so the e09 would be ideal for me. I read somewhere it has stuff from the srjv asia expansion board. I have 2 questions. Can it layer 2 sounds? And since it has 70 drum kits can u change a styles drum kit? Almost as many drum kits as there are styles it seems...but im sure they are good... Im sure a GW7 owner can answer me...because they are nearly the same. Fran yep i forgot about Rolands first touch screen keyboard the e600. I had owned the e500. I also forgot the G600 and the oriental models.