Forget about the other people
that reviewed this keyboard,
basically they must be button pushers.
.here is the real scoop..
Hold on , here we gooooooooo..

First up...
This keyboard is built to last..
High quality construction..

Excellent keyboard feel
[water fall keys,
even a slight yellowing color
like Hammond's B3],
velocity and aftertouch[adjustable]..

The sounds are terrific..
Great organ[same as VK8],
all the adjustable parameters on board..

Acoustic pianos are very good..
Electric pianos are
absolutely the best,
period..

If you play the one touch preset
Acoustic piano,
you may not be overwhelmed
[although I like the preset],
but with all the adjustable
parameters including,
mic placement, stretch tuning,
and MFX,,you can make your perfect piano..
likewise the Electric piano..

The Electric pianos are amazing
[they will bring tears
to your eyes remembering the
"good old Rhodes days"]..

The piano waves
include 3 Acoustic pianos,
3 Electric pianos,
Wurly,clav and Harpsichord..

The organ dept.
simply the best hardware organs
[better than the Hammond x2
and the Korg CX3]..

The synth generator
has 6 categories, strings, choir/scat,brass,synth lead,
synth pads,and bass..
each has 3 variations[18 total]..
Don't be mislead thinking
these are patches
that were on the VK7..
These are high quality
[96 mgbytes lineral].
.my favorite "scat" is there too..
Super clean, crisp sounds..

You can completely modify
the waves to come up with
great patches..

The Multi effects are excellent,
all the parameters can be
changed from the front panel,
knobs and buttons,
great real time playing...

Everything can be saved to a registration..
You have 64 registrations on board
[nice factory registrations],
You can save groups
of registrations to
Compact Flash memory
[card not included]..

It is very quick and
you can easily load 64
at a time for fresh registrations.

You can name/rename
each registration and
assign all the parameters
including the rhythm,
tempo and rhythm effects
[24 patterns, 4 drum kits]..
there is a dedicated
start/stop button...

You can also assign the
start/stop to the control pedal..

The rhythms cover most generes
[no cha cha , rhumba etc]..
some of the areas covered are,
jazz funk,jazz,R B,blues,
swing,4,8 and 16 bt pop,
fusion,rock,5/4,7/8,
Latin jazz,pop ballad,
and acid jazz..

I hooked up my Roland CA30
antigue[no sound source arranger].
and played the drum patterns
[including the easy eight card]..
it gave me all the patterns ,
intros,endings and
fills I would need...

You can split and layer sounds,
and have seperate control
to bring in or change the
sounds with EV pedal..

Your synth generator
includes portomento,
mono and mono legato,
40 multi effects..

Each group has its own
volume control besides
the master volume control..

Each sound generator has
its own editing knobs
and buttons..

A 3 band EQ with
sweepable mids [master],
besides a Stereo EQ in the MFX..

Outputs are Professional...
Super quiet XLR, L and R...
Quarter inch left and right...
both can be used at the same time..
Use the XLR to
feed the house and
the quarters to feed your monitor etc..
.V- link for video connections
is available..


A user manual you can actually read!!!

The average person that goes
into a store, and then just
pushes the one touch buttons [prests],
will never know how sophisticated
and unlimited the V-combo is..
and keyboard sale people
haven't a clue,
to enlighten buyers..

As you can tell I am excited
about the VR760..
with my laptop, I miss nothing.
[sequences and MP3's play
from my laptop and I play the VR]..

For quick request,
the rhythm group works fine
in a left hand bass and piano/organ environment..
And straight up organ ---
Piano/EP,
absolutely at the top..

Recapping my quest
for a new toy that I like..
the PSR2100, you all know,
key feel and quality??

EXR-5, too entry level for me,
a great choice for
first time arranger buyers..
the key feel is only slightly
better than the PSR2100..
when I played the G1000 next
to the EXR,it had to go..

Last week I also bought a
Korg Triton Studio 76..
Korg's best effort...
The name tells the real story..
"Studio",
as a solo performing keyboard,
it did not work for me..

If you are into
Hip Hop[Squeak]/dance music,
using loops and arpeggiators,
it could be for you..
I found 80% of the sounds
designed for hip hop,
trance loop etc..

I finally found the real
"Pro"keyboard in the VR760..

The best organ, pianos
and great variety of synth sounds
including my "scat",
throw in a ryhthm and
I am ready yo go...

If you need more synth sounds ,
you can add two
SRX expansion boards
and have the same editing features
as the internal sounds..

Definately check it out,
but get into the
thick of it to really appreciate the "performers" keyboard...

BTW...
There is a new feature
called "active expression",
used with a EV pedal,
it adds new ways that
the pedal will effect the patch
[wait to you hear the
Scat patch with this
active expression set to timbre]..

Uncle Dave
doesn't have a shot at this board
[it;s mine],
he'll have to buy his own...



[This message has been edited by Fran Carango (edited 02-22-2004).]

Great review Fran.....
So when are you selling it? [kidding ]........

Good Luck & Enjoy it...I'l check it out next time we have breakfast

Oh, Oh!!! It could happen.

Nice to see you joined the club

You forgot to mention the beam for the leslie

Thanks for the indepth review Fran, but as Donny said "When are you selling it?

Cheers,

Gary

Freddy, my fingers[finger] got tired
typing..There is a lot more I
could have mentioned..

Gary, you don't know me very well..
If it is a winner,
and nothing new beats it,,
I ride it out to the end..
Even then,
sometimes I won't get rid of it...
Sorry, the Yammys don't do it for me..

[This message has been edited by Fran Carango (edited 02-22-2004).]

It's a great board, but as soon as the "scat" novelty wears a little thin, Fran might ................................................................................................................................................. naw.

Frank,

Are there any Brass and Saxaphone patches and if so what is the quality?

Al

Al, there are 3 brass sections
on board..They are very good..
If you want the saxes etc,
you can add 2 SRX boards..
this will give you all the
sounds you need...
I have a JV1010 with the
Vocal board that
I can midi to the VR,,It works for me..
but the way to go is a SRX board
[than you have editing capabilities
from the front panel..]..

[This message has been edited by Fran Carango (edited 02-22-2004).]

A small addition worthwhile mentionning is a very handy knob;
This knob range goes from very clean hammond to very dirty hammond. (Jimmy Smith to Jon Lord in one button)

Fred, why not post your comments on the VR760?
I would be interested in what you have to say..Fran

Fran

Thanks for the info.

Ok, now i'm very intriqued. I just sold my Triton Pro and ordered the new Triton Extreme. Hmmmmmmm, I may have to revisit this beast.

Al

Fran,
What did you mean when you said,"The rhythms cover most generes"? This is not an arranger keyboard. Unless you play like U.D. it cannot replace your G1000. The G1000 IS an arranger.
Starkeeper

[This message has been edited by Starkeeper (edited 02-23-2004).]

Starkeeper,
The 760 has a drum machine built in, and Fran can play left hand bass lines too !

My sights are set on one. Besides, I saw Neal Morse use one live. I demoed one and thought it felt and sounded awsome!. I'm still digging my XP-80, but when I'm finallt through with my XP-80, the VR-760 will be the board for me. I think it's probably a better live instrument then most of the top end workstations out there such as the Triton and the Mo ES, or the Fantom X's. To me the VR-670 is a true performance synth. It's not a workstation.


Peace
Bob
<><

Ok, ok, I understand that you like the board.. But did you HAVE to format your review like a poem?



------------------
Roland EXR-5 user - http://www.exr5.tk

Bart, I did that so we didn't
have to move the screen to read the post..for example ,
your last post..

Well sorry, but first of all most people will read on 1024x768 resolution (if not bigger) and secondly, this forum will change the width of the messages automaticly if you change the size of your browserwindow. Only if you're one of the few people that still use 640x480 resolution, you will have to scroll sideways to read longer lines. Maybe it's time you upgraded your monitor and/or graphics card



------------------
Roland EXR-5 user - http://www.exr5.tk

Bart it is not a case of Fran needing a new video card or even a Monitor. I have a 19" Hitachi Super Scan Elite Monitor and I run a resolution of 1024 x 768 and I am having to scroll back and forth reading the replies like most everybody else on this Forum reading this thread is having to do.

Your "reply with a quote" to Fran must have gotten the formatting messed up when you posted your reply, maybe because of Fran's reformatting of his original post, ie., 'text'.

For the sake of everybody else here on the Forum you may want to consider deleting or editing the offending post. It would save me and 99 out of a 100 other people who read this thread from having to endlessly scroll back and forth to read everyone's replies including yours. Sure, I could change the text size to "smallest" in my Browser but then I'd have a devil of a time reading the microscopic print. It would be easier if you would fix the problem that you (unintentionally) have created by either editing or deleting the offending post. Thanks Bart.

Best regards,
Mike

[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 02-23-2004).]

I don't think that's true at all, but I can't back it up with facts. Can you?

Most of us here on the forum are of bifocal age, myself included. For me bigger is better, hence 600 X 800.

Tom and brother Michigander: This 82 year
old from Alma, Michigan, say's one word to your post---AMEN---------ARJ

Does any one know how heavy the VR760 is?

Also would it make a good controller keyboard?

As I change the width of my browser window (IE5.5) the headers and footers reformat to fit but the postings don't. Therefore I'm scrolling right to read longer posts.

It would be nice if the posts also reformatted.

OK I'm confused now. I've just added a post to another subject and all entries in that one reformat!

So does that mean theres something been posted to this subject that is forcing "fixed width" behaviour?

to the Genesys..The VR760 weighs
37 lbs, 8 ounces...
As a midi controller each Multi part[4]
can be assigned seperate midi channels.
.It will not replace a true midi controller keyboard, but can function as one.
Very important to disable the quick firing
feature on the VR, it is way to fast
for midi modules..The VR handles it well
internally..

I'm sorry, but I don't have a clue of what you're talking about. Offending post? Formatting messed up by quoting Fran?? This forum fills my screen from left to right, and nothing more than that. If I resize my browserwindow, it will do so until I resize it smaller than 800 wide. Only then a horizontal scrollbar will appear. I'm working on a 15" TFT here, and this forum behaves just like any other forum or website. I don't mean to cause any discomfort to anyone, but I did nothing unusual here.



------------------
Roland EXR-5 user - http://www.exr5.tk

If I change my resolution to yours (i.e. 800x600) I still don't have to scroll. The forum resizes perfectly, as it should do.



------------------
Roland EXR-5 user - http://www.exr5.tk

Yes. Well, stricly speaking my assumption was right.

57% of the 'surfers' use 1024x768 and up. (January 2004)

Only 6% uses resolutions below 800x600, and this has been that way since at least December 2002. Given the fact that this forum behaves perfectly in resolutions of 800x600 and higher, I honestly and literally don't 'see' the problem here.

(Source: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp)

------------------
Roland EXR-5 user - http://www.exr5.tk

[This message has been edited by Burkels (edited 02-24-2004).]

I don't think Bart had anything to do with the wide view.
The change happened early on..
I contacted Nigel to see if we could
fix it, and apparently it was OK, at Nigel's view..So I re-paragraphed..

Stop arguing.
I also have a 19" monitor, with resolution set at 800 x 600. I'm not part of the 57%.
Starkeeper

Fran, I am not good in reviews

But to understand why I bought the board I give you the full story.

Anyway a friend of a friend (you know how that goes) needed a band about a year ago on his fifties birthday party, so a couple of old mucisians including myself joined forces and played on this party.
To our surprise we had great response and we loved it to play in a rock band again after so many years. (that was 25 years ago for me.)
So right on the party we decided to start a band again. ( a kind of revival with old guys like me" just for fun)
We are doing a lot of sixties and seventies rock and pop, so I just needed a board with good organ and piano sounds which was transportable,(not heavy) and easy in setup.
For a while I used my old G 800 which has reasonable sounds with some tweaking and equalizing, but I needed something better and I did not want to miss my K2600 at home which is way to heavy anyway for transport.

I first looked for the Gem Promega but the keys were weighted so pretty hard to do hammond glissandro's, while the hammond sounds were the most needed.

Anyway then the VK 760 came.
I was sold in 5 minutes by the keyboard feel alone..., Then the ease of use., Untill this day I did not look in the manual,
Basicly ofcourse because I use what's there.

The sounds are terrific.
It is a perfect performance keyboard in a band.
A transportable hammond and rhodes is what it is!

So all in all my reasons for buying the board are different if you look at it from arranger perspectives.
Nevertheless I would consider the board an excellent add on to an arranger if you don't mind carrying an extra board.

It is in our rehearsel place so I did not do much tweaking untill this day.
Maybe during the summer when we have a summer break. (I might even start reading the manual. )

Hope you enjoyed the story.

Fred

Fran, Just got back from vacation and read your FANTASTIC review. There's not much else I can add to your cudos. I have owned many keyboards and missed out on some real winners, but this time I think I got it right with the VR-760. The two SRX slots are definitely what make this board so universally hot. I know a number of guys who never gave it a second look because of the organ/piano rep, but once everything kicks in, this is one monster board. The nicest thing is, it's not the difficult to learn.
Looking forward to sharing ideas with you as time goes on.

Cass