Here's my first recording with the G70.
http://cassp50.googlepages.com/links

Very simple; a SMF, the G70 with drawbars and vocal harmonizer recorded with a Boss BR532.

Sounds good Cass...thanks for sharing.

Cassp .....unlike the compressed sound of Yamaha... I really liked your first tune with the G70 its got that real live sound, drums & guitars baby and the Roland vocal harmonies are second to none!! I know you made the right choice!...I know you'll do great with the G70 its one awesome KB....thanx for sharing cant wait to hear more down the road buddy!!

Cass, nice work with the song, sounds like you're getting a handle on the G70 as well, keep up the good work.

Very nice, Cassp. Love the organ, guitar and your vocals.

Taike

Thanks for sharing Cass!

I liked your vocals although I'm sorry I really didn't like the G70 harmonizer. I had heard through the grapevine that the G70 harmonizer was top notch. Unfortunately now that I've heard it I don't think it is.

I enjoyed the song though Cass. Great job!

Best,
Mike

Mike, could you expand on your criticism of the harmonizer. What you heard is only one setting and maybe I could have done a better job using it. What is it that you don't like about the Roland harmonizer?

Mike I think you have to get out and try the Roland Harmonist for yourself...Go somewhere that handles the other brands too[TC Electronics, as in the Korgs, also Gem, Yamaha and Digitechs[fading away]..

Roland is second to none with sound quality, and the way it reads/handles "ALL" applications...
One only needs to have a open mind ...go test them, and then let us know if all our comments are wrong..Poll any other players here that have used the Roland and other brands on a gig...see what their impressions are..

Cass, your song sounds great..

Okay, to be fair, I listened to the song again but I still don't really care for how the harmonizer sounds. I hear a distinct distortion in the harmonizer quality and also a Vocoder like effect. I analyzed the .mp3 in Sony Sound Forge and although the file is in stereo it almost looked like two exact mono tracks that were merged into stereo.

I'm not sure if this would have any negative effect on the harmonizer sound in the song but I know for sure that to my ears the harmonizer sounds less than stellar.

BTW, I just bought and installed a new sound card for my computer i.e. the Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic sound card, and before that I had the SoundBlaster Live! card. When listening to Cass' song again just a few minutes ago I was hearing it through the Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic sound card and also through decent computer speakers which are the acclaimed Klipsch Pro Media 2.1's. So as you can see my setup does not lack for quality in its ability to playback audio accurately. Even so, I came to the same conclusion before the new sound card was installed and also after the new sound card was installed unfortunately. But again don't get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed the song along with Cass' vocals. It was, and still is, the harmonizer that didn't thrill me in an otherwise fine tune.

As an example; here is a song I recorded a couple of years ago or so where I am using the Tyros' Vocal Harmonizer in certain parts of the song much like Cass is doing in his song. IMHO I think the Tyros Harmonizer runs circles around this Roland beast called a harmonizer. To be fair though I will reserve final judgement of the G70's harmonizer until I can listen to it in person. Which may be quite a chore mind you seeing how there is probably not a G70 within a 100 mile radius of where I live.

Here's my song:

On The Road Again - With Tyros Harmonizer

FWIW, here is link to a professional review of the Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic sound card by Tech Report.com >>

Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic sound card review

Best,
Mike

[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 07-09-2007).]

Hey Mike, I don't have the fancy sound card system to listen [detail] that close to the MP3's..But I do have the real deal[G70] and I positively know there is no contest between the Yamaha harmonizer and the Roland harmonist...The Roland is far superior... [I am serious..play them both, I have!!)...

Oh , and thanks for reminding me ...the Tyros "lifeless" sound....just doesn't work for me....Personal opinion..Yes.

I thought maybe other honest opinions would have been posted by folks that have used both...I know I have never talked with anyone that thought the Yamaha harmonizer was better than the Roland [after playing both]...

As it has been said..Play what makes you happy...

see below for corrected text

[This message has been edited by cassp (edited 07-10-2007).]

Mike,

I'd like to explain that the recording was a pretty simple affair. It was two takes, two tracks each of a mono feed. The organ was mixed into the midi& vocals so that there would be a slight sonic r/l difference. I used a BR532 to record the master tracks and and Sound Forge6 to create the wav files. I have been known to record some of my tracks a little hot, but I did not see any distortion on my meters. That doesn't mean there wasn't any. The harmonist on my G70 seems a little quieter than my previous DC5, so I may have used a hotter setting and caused some vocal distortion. In my thinking, when you hear distortion, it's the engineer's fault, not the machine's.

I never used my PSR2000 vocal harmonizer and so I don't have the slightest idea what Yamaha even sounds like. All I can tell you is that the Roland is very versatile and easy to work with. As I said in my first reply - maybe it's something I did or didn't do in the recording process that produces the distortion or sound you hear. I make no claims as a recording expert - this is basement stuff. I would say that you have to try it yourself before making a blanket decision based on one simple recording.

In any case, if the Yamaha works for you and sounds as good or better to your ears, by all means stick with it. I'm not into 'this is better than that' and certainly would agree that Y, R & K (among others) produce some fantastic sounding equipment these days. As long as we are happy with our music, I feel our audiences will benefit.

Cass, go into Singer..Vocal Harmonist/vocal effect/and try these settings that I use...
sustain level=10
output level=93
Compress=on
gate=on

This will give you what you had on the DisCover5.

Mike, I listened to your recording and must say it is very good & clean. I don't think my song sounds that clean. As for the harmonizer, you are using a different harmony set than I did, which could also explain the differences in what you hear. But I must go back to the recording itself - mine sounds more down & dirty while yours sounds as if you spent some time making sure everything was just right. Maybe that's the difference. Good job