Hi Guy's.

I'm looking at buying a Roland GW-7.

I'm using an EXR-3 at the moment.
Can you tell me if I'm wasting my money or doing the right thing.

I sold my EXR-3 on ebay and got the GW-7. It really depends what you want...

I personally prefer the GW-7 becuase you can edit the sounds (its basic editing) and save them, its got the two analog control knobs, its a HELL of a lot lighter, It has two pedal inputs, you can save 10 favourite tones to the category buttons which is great for live stuff aswell as the 100 (i think) performances you can have (I think the EXR-3 has only 10) and the value wheel is fantastic for finding sounds quickly.

They sound almost identical, only the GW-7 has newly sampled ethnic instruments and styles. I dont think theres as many styles on the GW-7 because theres none stored on the flash memory, unlike the EXR-3. So theres more space for compositions. The overall size is about 4 Megs, the same as the EXR-3.

Theres no cover function on the GW-7, nor is their V-Link support and no built in speakers.

I'll leave it up to you!! I'll answer any questions if I can...

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- James
www.tonebank.co.uk
www.skeletationmusical.com

oh.... and one other thing.... the GW-7 was made at Roland China and the EXR-3 was made at Roland Italy. The keyboard feel on the EXR-3 is crap compared to the feel of the GW-7. The keys are actually straight aswell, some of the keys were slightly warped on my EXR-3. The key feel is very solid and straight.

I think the GW-7 has the same key action as the Juno-D.

And dont forget the GW-7 has a D-Beam if you like those...

Hey there,

I just switched to GW-7 from EXR-3 - seems to be a good tradition:-)))) Still I got a question about that D-Beam thing - it doesn't seem to be working properly in dimly lit surrounding - e.g. the preset Drum Roll keeps working even without my hand over the beam! Only when I turn on the ceiling light it starts working as it should. Do you get the same prob???? Or maybe I got a bad copy?:-(

Hello tonebank,

Have you tried EXR-5s? How is it compared to GW-7 ?

Is the keys of EXR-s series is better than EXR series?

Could you please give me some advices, which one I should get: GW-7, EXR-5s, or G-600?

All I know about G-600 is I need firmware version 1.03 to fix some bugs. And I don't know whether the one I'm going to get has version 1.03 or newer.

Thanks a lot

Hello,

I just want to know if you can customize any of the factory styles on the GW-7, or can you compose a new style from scratch on this keyboard?

Thanks.

I really like the EXR7s. It is much different than the 5 or 3 models. The keybed is terrific. There are dedicated banks for both sounds and styles, but not in the other boards. The GW-7 has very small keys, like an accordian. The styles in the GW and EXR are very similar. The EXR has built-in speakers, not in the GW. All of the Roland manuals can be downloaded for free from the ROLAND USA site to answer specific questions. Just my opinion.
zuki

lets see if i can answer all your questions from memory...

From what I recall when I tried it at the shop, the EXR-5s has the same cheap key feel as the EXR-5. The EXR-5s has a few more new styles over the EXR-5, im not sure it compares to the GW-7 in my opinion.

As for the D-Beam, yea, I've had that problem. I just think it depends on the lighting of the room you're in. The manual says that lighting will effect its performance.

No you cant create styles from scratch on this keyboard.

So I just bought the Roland GW-7

I have an external sequencer/sampler (MPC 2000xl) feeding midi sequences to the Roland GW-7

I need to set the tones (sounds) on my 16 channels in my Roland GW-7. How do I do that in the keyboard?

Basically, how do I go into the GW-7 to set what sound comes out of Track1, Track 2, Track 3 etc all the way to 16

Hi Guys,
the GW7 style convertor may be of interest.
I think it creates styles from midifiles. I checked it out briefly a while back, it's a bit complicated, and as I don't currently own a Roland, I didn't spend a great deal of time trying to figure it out.
http://www.roland.com/products/en/GW-7/GW-7_World_Styles/index.html

If your GW7's load G70 styles, this site may be of interest. http://www.selskabsmusikeren.dk/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=24&Itemid=32

EMC Styleworks may be of interest if you were wanting to create styles. I have the Universal plus Package version for my psr & ketron keyboards. Unfortunately it's a very pricey piece of software.
http://www.emc-musicsoftware.de/viashop/storefront/start.asp?

best wishes
rikki

The GW7 has only one option for velocity sens i.e. on or off. You can not adjust the sens level or curve of sensitivity. The default sens is too hard. I tried to tell Roland People about the bug but they are not paying any attention. I even downloaded and installed the latest OS released by Roland US but the problem remained the same. Can any one help?

i think the d in d-beam stands for DUMB!

dang thing requires bright light..and you look like
a dork passing your hand across it in live perf..

a manual control would make more sense.
no idea what it accomplishes, can someone clue me?

It requires no light, and it is expressive to where you bring your hand..I think it is cool..I use it for chimes and things like that..also novelty sounds like bubbling water etc...applause too if the crowd needs prompting..

My question - can i use my d-beam on the va-76 for Chimes ? if so, how ? so far i've only used it for pitch, fill-in, end, start, stop..

what d-beam do you use, fran--the one i have on the e60
requires light--says so right in the manual..won't even work in semi-dim light -has to be bright..it works by
breaking the light going in....

I guess it's also depending on the Roland model you have with the D-Beam. I find the D-Beam EXTREMELY useful! I use it all the time, I set it to control Reso., Cutoff, volume, and other things. It is a very expressive tool IMO.

You want to have fun with the D-Beam? Pick a good synth bass, something that sounds like an old Juno Bass. Turn the Reso up in the + direction, and set the D-Beam to control the Cutoff. Or select a string voice, like a violin or cello, and set the D-Beam to control the volume. Try that and listen to how much more expressive your string solos can be.

the d-beam works as a switch by breaking incoming light..some d-beams may be more sensitive in lower
light than mine, , but none will operate in very low light or the dark. it is only a switch, no more..it is no more an expressive tool than any manual button or switch would be, and less expressive than a dial or slider would be.

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Miami Mo

This is an article by Sweetwater explaining about the D-Beam's infrared operation. I don't know if any calibration routines are hidden in the VA76 or other Roland arrangers, but you might contact Roland and ask them.
http://www.sweetwater.com/expert-center/techtips/d--06/02/2003

Sorry, Mo, but you are completely off-base here...

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 02-18-2007).]

yes, Diki, i was off-base as far as the incoming light theory, but that was a logical misunderstanding due to the fact my d-beam only operates at a certain light level..why the d-beam , if it is emitting its own infra-red light, needs
external light to operate is a puzzlement, however..

I was not off-base, however, about it not being any more an expressive tool than any other switch or button..and to that extent, don't understand the purpose of having it at all, why not just add buttons/switches.sloders/knobs that
don't have sensitivity problems and require hand-waving?

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Miami Mo

FRAN, DIKI, SQUEAK.. guess what????
turns out my D-Beam is defective..only works
when there is bright light, that's why I had wrong
theory as to its operation. Jan at Roland said it should
work in the dark..so back this one goes...

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Miami Mo

Sorry to hear it's broken.

Squeak

Did you found 4MB USB memory at gw-7? Mine has only 1.2MB which is terribly little :[ Maybe there is something i should know?