I got my GW-8 from Sweetwater this week and I've now tried just about everything on it. First, a disclaimer: I'm a lower to intermediate player and I don't have a ton of experience with keyboards as I have played only pianos off and on (raising little ones and career came first) for the last ten years. I have never played a gig as a piano player(singer and trombone). I'm done with that now so I decided to really commit to getting better and I am retraining myself to be a more complete keys player so I needed something to break up the monotony of the piano. My last keyboard was a Yamaha V50! Anybody remember that one? But I wanted a new one and I did my homework before buying this GW-8.

Sounds: Fantastic! I can't improve upon the previous posts in-depth coverage of the sound set so I won't try except to throw in a few notes. The pianos and e-pianos are superb for an entry level kb. I'm a very big fan of the 88grand. The X Grand is also a beaut. Organs, not-so-much, but they are usable (agreed, there is really not a full B3 rig on this thing). The guitars are awesome but I can immediately see the value of the guitar mode on the higher models. The breathy flute is outstanding. I think it could fool me into thinking it was real, really. There are some nice saxes and then the usual collection of techno stuff that doesn't interest me particularly. As a brass player, I've never heard a synth brass that I liked

Styles: These are what you make of them. I personally think that these would sound better in the hands of a better player since I'm a little slow on the changes (but I can play Autmun Leaves in A minor like a pro! ) I'm dissappointed with the Jazz ones since that's my main thing but there are some other convincing ones. The HipHop & techno stuff is particularly good, I could hear that on the radio but you'll never hear me performing it I didn't buy this thing for the styles though they are great for practice.

Sequencer: Putrid, really bad. I'm a computer programmer by profession yet this thing manages to baffle me. Not good for anything except simple ideas jeez not even for that. No looping, no copy tracks or copy measures, blegh. Again, I didn't buy it for this and I'll be using software for recording. As Diki keeps saying 'Its only $895!!'

Rhythm set: These are pretty good and there is plenty there for me to play with. Plenty enough to get the creative juices flowing.

Effects: A very good selection though they only apply to live play, fine by me. There are enough sounds on this thing with the effects off that you could get some nice stuff.

Keybed: Took a little getting used to as the keys are smaller than a piano but it didn't take long. The lighter touch is a welcome addition, I really had to pound my old Yamaha. I can really fly on these which is bad on a piano where you want to be more expressive, but man, it is great for a keyboard, I didn't realize what I was missing here. I can really rip scales and runs with little effort.

DBeam: fun to play with but this has to be the silliest thing ever devised for a serious keyboard. Roland should sell this technology to Casio right now since it seems it would play better on that market segment.

Conclusion: The GW-8 is absolutely perfect for my situation! I am concentrating on playing and improving and I needed something with a great sound set to keep me going. The arranger backing is cheesy at times but is also helpful to me to improve on hand independence and that factored into my decision.

For professional players like a lot of you on here, you should probably only consider this as an idea bed or backup rig. For professional sound engineers, loopers, and synth fans, please disregrad the 'workstation' label on this kb, just stay away. You will want the Korg M50 at this price point, or go get yourself a $1200 Fantom X6 off ebay. I will probably be purchasing one of those two in a few years but I'm not a good enough player to justify it yet.

So overall I'm really pleased with what this kb does for me and I couldn't be happier with the purchase. I'm playing with just about every night so if anyone has any questions about it I'd be glad to answer them for you.

Well, putrid bad sequencers are kind of the norm, for arrangers... I've got one of the best, and it still sucks compared to Cubase!

There IS an insert effect on the Style, but so far no-one has figured out the codes to address it. When that happens, you'll be able to use the software to assign it, I would imagine.

One of Roland's strengths is that, in the background, there are usually sys-ex codes that can control just about everything. Mind you, they are not easy to work, and take a lot of digging to find out what they are and how they work. But put the work in, and you can do amazing things... I remember back in the day I had to figure out how to completely reprogram the Sound Canvas's flanger so that it was a passable Leslie with fast and slow. All in sys-ex. It was a PAIN!

But the musical results were great!

Diki sounds like great stuff for the HOME PLAYER to figure out many cant even get to First Base ....let alone Cubase



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 10-21-2008).]

Well, most home players can't even figure out this stuff if it part of the normal OS, yet alone needs codes to bang into it...

But it is great for the player who DOES know sys-ex, makes less expensive stuff far more flexible.

I hear ya Diki....

it was easier years ago when there were NO buttons on a Piano to worry about
Where are all going with all this technology anyway?

Off to that gig at the retirement home, from the sound of it...