Roland E86. 1993. Man, that makes me feel old. Where did those sixteen years go?

How great does it still sound, though?
http://www.keyboarddemo.com/audio/E-86_DEMO/Roland_E-86_-_Demo_N_2.mp3
http://www.keyboarddemo.com/audio/E-86_DEMO/Roland_E-86_-_Demo_N_3.mp3
http://www.keyboarddemo.com/audio/E-86_DEMO/Roland_E-86_-_Demo_N_1.mp3

I have very fond memories of that board, which I gigged to hell and back for ten years. How many of today's boards will we still be playing ten years from now?

Got ten years out of my G1000. Will probably get that and more out of my G70.

Unless they bring back the Chord Sequencer...

You see, you couldn't actually PLAY that harmonica solo in realtime unless SOMETHING was playing the chords for you (too many bends at chord boundaries).

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 05-22-2009).]

wow, E86 is 16 years old and listening to the E86 is just like listening to the G70.

Well if you play the Korg PA800 that's just like playing i30 and Pa80, there styles are all recycled.

I can say the old boards that have taken a big leap in the last ten years are the Solton, now Ketron and Yamaha.

[This message has been edited by mc (edited 05-22-2009).]

Yep, it sounds pretty sweet...I think I spent time with nearly every E back then, starting with the E-20.

I used an E-70 for quite some time, and later the E-86 because the style cards were a bunch of money...I even had the "Super Card".

First heard the E-70 played by a guy named Luigi Bruti....ever hear of him?

Ian

I can't hear much improvement in Ketron, either. Not without a huge drop in flexibility to accompany it.

Only really revolutionary things have been Mega Voice technology and SA1/2/DNC, IMO.

Mind you, I'll blow that E demo away with my G70.

The drums are a HUGE improvement (and so is the harmonica!)

Yes and don't forget that Roland also use Articulation Voices in their Atelier Organs and these sound so great. I hope they put some in their next series of arrangers.
Listen to their audio demo at http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=932&ParentId=79

I heard those Atelier demos ages ago. I am utterly unimpressed. Have you even HEARD the SA/SA2 voices on a Tyros2/3?

If this is what Roland thinks is cutting edge sound design, I don't even want to SEE it (let alone have to pay for it) on any new Roland arranger until they have gone back to the drawing board and made lead voices as good as Korg's DNC or Yamaha's SA...

Go here: http://music-tyros.com/en/audio/index.html and play the jazz and clarinet demos (in fact, play them all). When Roland get anything to sound that good, you can tell me how great they are again, OK?

I used to play yamaha arrangers and have hear the tyros 1 2 3 etc but I am not impressed with the Tyros. I quess it is all personal but at the moment I like Roland more.

I like Roland more too (got a G70), but when it comes to Super Articulation stuff, sorry, but Roland haven't got a clue.

Rumor was, they had a new arranger in development that used this feature. I guess they played it for a few people, and it was so bad they shelved it (but released it for the organ division, who don't have much SA voices to compete against). Hopefully, they are still working on it, but I can wait until it competes successfully with Yamaha. I am not holding my breath. Even if the get the technology right (like Korg have), it takes quite a while to develop the content for it (as Korg are showing).

I can wait...

I don't know about that rumor but the trombone on that Atelier organ sound really good in my ears. My last Yamaha was the psr 6700 a great keyboard but had to sell it in that time because I needed the money. Then I stopped with music several years until a few years ago I started again with a casio ctk 900. Now I own the Roland GW 8l and I am very happy with it. I am saving for a new type Roland arranger I hope he arrived at the end of this year.