Well the new Roland AT350c arrived in my store late yesterday. I am hoping to get to spend a little bit of time on it soon... (time is always few and far between) and I'll let you know how I am getting on with it.

Other than at the NAMM show, I have never actually played a Roland Atelier for any length of time, so I am really looking forward to getting going on it. I am still waiting for a pedalboard to arrive though, so it may be a while before I am doing the stuff I really enjoy!

So far I have taken it out of the box. I was really surprised at how light it felt given that it is a dual manual arranger. I just didn't get a chance to play it today - too many deliveries coming in. Wish me luck... anyone still interested in Organs?

Hi John, I'm really exited to hear how you get on with this exciting new keyboard once you've had a chance to sit down and play it, and perhaps record a tune for us on it as well.
From what I've heard so far, this is one awesome keyboard setup, and relatively portable too.

Hi John,

I like the setup...nice to see the lower manual go down to "A". The keyboards are nice and close together, too.

The rotary speaker effect, from what I've heard in the demos, sounds very realistic to my ears.

Having two sets of drawbars is terrific...the new Hammond SK-2, on another thread, has only one set.

What about a pitch bender for those cool synth leads and guitar voices? Your Yamaha HX organ uses wheels.

Is that done with the D-Beam, or is there another way?

Is there a down-loadable manual?

Sure is a great looking instrument as well, although 56 Lbs (plus a road case) might be a little heavy for some.

A soft gig bag would probably be more manageable.

Ian

Ian, I am reading the manual now. Will probably order when I decide which pedal configuration I want. Found the manual by going to the Roland portion of Synth Zone. http://www.roland.com/manuals/en/index.cfm?PRODUCT=AT-350C

Hi Bob, how have you been?
Congratulations in advance on getting the Roland AT350c.
Are you trading in something for it, or simply adding on to your current Keyboard collection?
I owe you a phone call so plan to call you once you've got it and settled in with new arrival.

I got it Bob...it looks like you can use the D-beam to bend pitch...I haven't tried using that method, but it should work pretty good.

Anyone here ever try pitch bending with the D-beam?

The organ has some excellent features...most importantly it has the Bass Inversion for chords.

This is looking to be a very fine instrument.

I wonder if it will use the styles from the BK-7M?

Ian

Hi Scott, No, I'm not trading anything in. Couldn't part with the Technics KN7000's. I stopped playing organs back when we both bought KN5000's because my legs didn't want to cooperate with the foot pedals. Got new knees now and thought I might give it a try again. Have to travel some so it will probably be June before I am able to order.

There are about 25 or so demos of various AT350C setups by the same guy that does this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDTbOmRVNmY&feature=related

Cool ! I'll be referring to you as Bionic Bob from now on . . .

Ok so insomnia got the better of me and I am up out of bed again. Of course there's nothing better to do than log on to synthzone to see what is happening!

Bob... good to 'meet' you first of all! I can't think of a better use for those new knees! Well done on that.. it must have been painful!

Good morning all... its a little after 4am here! Yawn!

I'll answer the questions I can...

Yes Ian, the AT350c will definately be able to load styles from the BK7m and any other previous Roland arranger except Prelude and GW8.

Scott... I'll record you a tune if I am able to bring it home for a few days. Time is the evil I have to plot against in the store. I never get time to plan new songs or demonstrations in the store. It's all done at home. It's just as well this is my hobby too!

I am already loving the fact it has the 2 sets of drawbars...3 three if you include the pedal set! I still haven't played it, but I have played Roland emulations of the classic Hammond sound before and they have always been excellent. I really see this as a great alternative for people looking at a Nord C2 for example, because it does have proper physical drawbars, not just a rank of buttons with which I have found changing sounds on the fly the be very frustrating. This is my main reason for getting it in to the store. To my knowledge, none of the stores in Scotland have sold any dual manual organs for a long time now (other than church organs) so I think it is high time we tried the market again and see what happens. Now Scotland can see what a modern organ can really do!

I'm not sure about the pitchbend question at the moment Ian. I am pretty certain that with a PK7 or PK25 setup, you will be able to 'glide' with the footswitches on the expression pedal. I'll let you know once I have played it!

Roland manuals are now always available. You may need to keep your eye on a few sources for them, but rolandus.com roland.co.uk and roland.com are normally the places to try.

Bass inversion for chords is a must! Agreed 100%! I can't believe how many people own keyboards with this facility and still don't kow about it, far less use it! I am wondering now though of it will work with pedals like my BK7m and the HX. If you remember the old custom ABC which Yamaha used to do on Electones... it was like using fingered chord, but the bass line was controled via the pedals, though you didn't have to play a full walking bassline as the auto-bass took care of it. Well the BK7m works in exactly the same way with my HX when you set it up as an electronic organ on the connection wizard. I think that is a really cool feature, so I hope the Atelier has it too.

The weight is really very good for such a keyboard Ian... I think anyway lol! The one thing I have done so far is unbox it and set it up, so I have lifted it on my own. Believe me, putting this into context, the AT350c is much much lighter than for example the keyboard section and tone module of the HX. It had been a long time since I had to move one of those around, but I had to do it recently to perform my BK7m launch event/show in the store. (I took it in to the store to show the BK7m in context with an organ) I really nearly had a broken back doing that! I am only 40 but I really noticed the difference from when I used to gig with one back in the late 80's. I was only 18 then, and as fit as a fiddle. Now though with the middle age spread becoming a full blown permanent feature, it is a lot harder to move that thing! I would imagine as I get older, it is going to keep getting worse too. Perhaps I need to retire the notion of moving that thing around again!

Bob, good luck for an AT350c in June! You will undoubtedly get more time on this than I will, so let us all know how you get on when you decide to go for it. I am really excited at the prospect of trying it out! It really is good fun (at times) working in a music store!

Goodnight again y'all!

Why is that all the demos i see are using BACKING groups.
IT'S AN ORGAN! So therefore, we want to see it played as such. I would buy one IF i thought it was a serious contender as a replacement for the Wersi.

I want to see it played as a ORGAN!

I think the intent is to show all aspects of the keyboard. It is an organ, but it also does many other things, including arranger functions. See demos 17 thru 20 for organ demos.

In that video the 350c does not sound as good as the VK8M??

Also, I use the Dbeam on the VK8m hammond module and it's really cool for trigger the leslie on/off and the Brake.

Sweentech, how do you know this? The Prelude and GW-8 have four-variation styles like the G-70/E-80 (or so I thought.) I know the G-70/E-80 have an optional "Alteration Mode" message in their style creation tools which the Prelude and GW-8 lack. But this would not explain why the AT-350C can play styles from the E-80, but not from Prelude/GW-8. Please tell us, what is it about the styles in the Prelude/GW-8 that makes them different from other recent Rolands? Thanks!

Hi John,

It is quite impressive to see your posted YouTube of your performance with bk-7m. I just got mine and am eager for exploring it. Their sounds just a bit improved compared with my VA76 Roland, but their styles are really good. I love them together with my Tyros 3.

I wonder if there are any additional styles of your new AT350C compared with BK-7m. How the styles play in your view? If it is not violated copyright, can you share with us some styles for trying. Unfortunately, it is very hard to get a Roland AT350C in my country because it is very expensive due to foreign exchange rate between our. Currency and USD.

Thanks and have a nice day!
Big whale

Morning all!

I still have not tried this yet. I was off work yesterday so didn't get a chance, however today I really hope to explore it a bit.


Forgive me Jazzhooves, as I am new around here I don't know which wersi you have. Would you let me know please?


Morning kbrkr, sounds like you are getting on well with your VK8m... I'll explore options for achieving this later if I get time, and will report back.


Hi Ted, shesh! I am not an engineer so I don't know the ins and outs of exactly why this is the case, but when I was at the NAMM show earlier this year I met the man, from the Italian factory, responsible of the BK-7m and AT350c. He told me that this would be the case, so I am basing my report of this on what he told me. I haven't tried it out.


Well bigwhale, while I know the styles are royalty free for performance purposes, actually copying them may be a different matter. Currently I don't know how to do it, but I have only just seen it switched on to date, and as I work at a dealer, I wouldn't want to sour my relationship in any way with Roland. On this basis, if you don't mind, I think I'll pass, because I just don't know if there is any kind of copyright infringement to doing that. I hope you will understand my reasons for this.

To everyone, please check out this youtube video I found. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB-RgcG0sdY
It is a comparison of AT900c and AT100 (lower spec'd than the at350c) whilst playing the same song. I think it stands up to comparison very very well. I'll need to try and learn this piece I think!

Well I got some time on it today, sat with the manual, tried a bit of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet on it, and it was fabulous. It will take a little getting used to for me, no doubt, as I have never seen one before. I certainly like the sounds. They drawbars are fairly easy, but I can't see a way to assign the Rotary change and brake to the dbeam yet! However Rotary change can definately be assigned to a pedal. The supernatural tones are really nice. This instrument has more variety of them than any other instrument I have tried to date, so it was good to try them.

It sounds quite different to the BK7m on first play, so I'll need to see how I go. I still don't have a pedalboard for it, but maybe soon!

Very nice quality sounding demos...Thank you I really enjoyed listening to them. KORG should take a lesson from these for their PA3x pro demos....
I can see Roland selling many of these AT350c units also....

HP

John, perhaps you can answer since you have the instrument.

These two demos feature saxophone voices...are they SuperNatural sounds, GS, or simply basic panel voices?

Ian, stop trying to sucker punch Roland

They are the standard one touch settings..the same you will find on the low E-50...so you can't slam the sax sound and compare to the Yamaha best sax patch..There are many decent saxes in the Roland group(easily selectable and playable)...As for the Super Natural group I am not sure the sax is in the Brass card...but there are Super Natural Saxes on the new Jupiter-80..

Surely you jest, Fran?

Can't anyone ask a simple question without getting the 3rd degree?

Be nice...no one's trying anything shady here...it's just your suspicious nature coming out again.

Read my post, and you will see I was asking John the question...not you...if I wanted an answer from you, I would have asked now, wouldn't I? You don't have a AT350C, but John does. He is the qualified one here. Not you.

So, John, let me rephrase this to keep Fran happy...if these aren't SuperNatural voices are they GS voices? GM voices?

Ian

Fran, where in my post do you see me "slam the sax sound"?

Where did I compare it to Yamaha's best sax patch?

Man, you gotta lighten up.

Ian

I am not 100% certain about the sax in demo #4. It sounds like an Active Expression sax, not Supernatural. #5 is definately Supernatural.

A few other sounds worth mentioning.. the strings are phenominal (in my opinion) and there is a lot of variety and expression in them. Flutes are very good too. I didn't actually go through all the patches today, or the styles. I will try them all out, as this is an arranger discussion, and I'll report back. But to be honest I can't wait to play it like an organ! I am with Jazzhooves on that one!

Fran the Jupiter 80 has a much more complex version of Supernatural technology in it. You will need to wait to try it for yourself. It is much better than this, I was literally shocked to the core when I heard it being demonstrated at the NAMM show (it was hidden away from the main show so not everyone could see it, as it still was not quite finished)
What makes it really special is how it just fits into your normal way of playing, without the need for you to press additional buttons etc. he controllers you normally use when playing are used to make supernatural sounds come to life.

I wasn't going to say anything but just one little thing if I may.... let's not be negative about this in any way. Let people make up their own mind whether they like it or not. As ever, the proof is in the pudding, and you must try it for yourself at your nearest dealer to get the playing experience. This can never come across properly in a video. Ultimately we are players first, and listeners second! Peace and goodwill to all men!

Thank you kindly, John...Active Expression is a new term to me...is it an improved GS type sound? Some kind of multi-sampling?

I thought the Cello sound in demo #7 was great...would that be another Active Expression sound?

Playing it like an organ is what it's designed for, but, it has to have more than "organ" voices...that's the idea behind this instrument, is it not?

It is meant to give the organ player more options?

The non-organ sounds should be of reasonably good quality...at least as good as the instrument's organ sound (which is excellent, by the way).

The only "negativity" in these posts seems to have been introduced by Fran with his accusatory tone regarding my query...I'm merely asking the same questions any customer would ask.

Ian

I think what Jazzhooves referred to may have meant that it should be played with your limbs and perhaps some rhythm backing but not a full arranger backing. I see great benefits to both methods of play, and I enjoy them both. The recent convention on European organ playing style is to not have a full arranger behind you. You also need a pedalboard.

At350c seems to be a good fit for people who want an arranger at times, and an organ (like I described above) some of the time too. For people who just want a hammond sound to fit in with a band, and perhaps some other quality sampled sounds to throw in too, it is also a good choice due to it's portability and dual manual setup. I can see it may do well for Roland, and I am quite keen to get stuck in about it.

I think the cello is a Supernatural sound from recollection. Active Expression is a term used in different ways on different devices. I first was aware of it with the VR760 where you could use your expression pedal to swell an additional tone through the organ or the organ through the other tone, or both crossing paths at the same time.

However on the Atelier it seems to mean something different. Your expression pedal adds more expression to the sound, not just a volume change. I'm not too sure how to describe it really, it's the first time I have had an Atelier in the store, so I have a lot to learn until I am an oracle of all it's capabilities! I did try it with an EV7 though and it adds 'something.'

[whistles while saying nothing - I'm not getting involved!]

I see where you are coming from, although, on the other hand, many modern organists, including Leigh, are using far more orchestral sounds, especially big sounds like strings and brass mixtures etc.

Of course simplicity is good too.

Can you assign that great cello sound to the pedal-board?

Ian

I'm not sure about that Ian. I'll need to investigate.

Thanks John, and while you're at it, can you check on something else when you get the pedal board?

It looked to me, on at least two of the demos, that you could do a pitch bend via a switch or switches on either side of the expression pedal.

Can you confirm that when you are able?

If so, that is very good news, indeed.

Ian

You are totally paranoid. Maybe I should start beating people to the punch too when I see what is coming.

Keep the discussion to equipment and drop the psychic premonitions.

Smoke On The Water


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Is it OK to have a live percussion?

Just The Way You Are



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One more (my favorite) with an excellent organ sound...yes heaven forgive her...she may have used a style backing track!

Close To You




Her "You Tube" Subscribe Channel

Love that "Close to You" version !! What is the price comparison of the Roland AT350c to a comparable model Wersi...?

Larry, these are a real treat...perfectly showcases the organ.

Lovely player (very), and excellent choice of arrangements.

Thanks buddy.

Ian

Thank you, Larry. A great find.

Hi DNJ

The AT350c is just above an entry level instrument so there is no comparable Wersi instrument available.

Price comparisons would be between the Roland AT500 and Wersi GS500 or for larger models the Roland AT900c and Wersi GS700.

Hope this helps

Bill

Ian the footswitches definately allow you to pitchbend. I must remembver to come back and watch these videos later... got music on just now but will check them.

Nice demos of the At350c there Larry!

Thank you Bill for the explanation.

John,
How does the AT350 compare to say a Tyros 4?
I have been looking a all the promos and it is very interesting.
Deane

Hi Fran,
I have a question for you. First, you know I had the E50 and the then the E80 for a short while but I am certainly not a Roland guru. Why is it that Roland has seen fit not to put their better sounds in the OTS voices?

I am struggling now with my BK-7M, which by the way I like a lot, because of some of the really bad voices assigned to the OTS voices.

It just seems strange to me that any manufacturer wouldn't use their best stuff for all the situations.

Deane

Deane, a lot of it is what sounds good to YOU. I love some of the OTS setups. Some I don't care for at all. Roland MUST add an update allowing editing of the lead voices and saving to OTS, as they have on all previous models.
DonM

Hi Deane,

I still have not had a lot of time on the AT350c yet. It's not like owning one where I can spend all my available time on it! I wish! So I have not had too much time to spend with it, as the store is short staffed at the moment, and I can only get to it once my own work is done (which it never is) and the store and counter areas are manned for security reasons. This all makes it difficult.

As far as I am concerned it is nothing like a T4, and it's not trying to be either. It is an organ first, arranger second. That doesn't mean the arranger section is bad, far from it. I really like many of the accompaniments provided. I also have been trying to avoid looking at it as an arranger product, because it is really offering something completely different.

It is a lightweight dual manual organ. The drawbar section is both useable, and realtime editable, and sounds fantastic. The key action is just right for expressive uses, as the dynamics for the sounds work easily under you fingers. There are no jerky steps between different velocity samples to contend with. This is something which I personally have struggled with on other instruments (no names though because this is about the AT350. I am not here to bash anything else.)

The sounds have a fullness and richness which are missing in other products. I have for years been a fan of the Roland piano sound, and with this instrument it's no exception. It has a lovely mellowness in the quieter passages, and a brightness which opens up gradually as you increase in velocity. It never reaches a harshness I find in some other instruments.

I realy like a lot of the supernatural tones. The clarinet in particular has stood out for me, though so does the alto sax. Both of these sounds (and others) inspire greater playing from you. It's hard to explain, and it's quiet intangible, but there is something unusually full, rich and dynamic about the sounds. In your main sections the strings are the best I have ever heard. (Now that is saying something.)

But I am still nowhere near putting a demo together. I have spent most of my time working through the manual, getting to grips with the OS. I need to know this inside out for work, and I have no reference as I have never used one before. I am enjoying it, but didn't get near it today. It will take me a much longer period of time to give a full evaluation on it due to my time constraints.

I'll let you know how it goes though as I have things to report.

John