Hi Guy`s ,

I have bought a Roland Prelude , only regret was that our friend "Frankie V " is not a Roland dealer. I bought it locally for a fair price , not super , but fair.


Here is what I think so far.

Build quality is top notch , directly in line with the Yamaha Tyros , you wont find the same type of action and there is NO aftertouch.

However the action is not too far off from the Tyros and is certainly better than any current "PSR" and there are NO rubber buttons.

The other major downside is the size of the keys , they are far from standard piano size keys.
I find myself tripping over my own fingers ! Also the keybed is rather noisy.

The sound quality { speaker wise } is sad , it`s ok for practice , but forget about using this for work or teaching without an amp or external monitors.

Styles , alright , now where near what Yamaha has to offer. I would have to say more generic , and a lot less musical.

The actual keyboard sounds are ok , the Piano sounds ARE NOT pure roland , by any stretch the quality of say an FP-7f , of course that is "Super Natural" sampled.

The organ sounds would have to be the strongest sounds of the whole board , also the Synth sounds which are pure Roland , taken from there best of the past and present Synths.

The Brass and Strings are also better on a Yamaha

Drums are good , not great , but on par with any other arranger in this price range.

Roland has since removed the video demo on there web page for the Prelude that stated that it comes with software that is "PC and Mac compatible" , as it does not , the CD that it comes with is PC only.

Mac users fear not !! , If you want a "Playlist Editor" you can go to the Juno Stage section of Roland's web site and download "Playlist Editor for Mac - Ver 1.00" , as this bare bones editor will work with mp3`s and you can set the order of playback and title the list of songs or types , and label them as such.

Roland CS stated that " each playlist editor is different and is not interchangeable with other keyboards" , but I thought different , so I took a chance and it paid off.

I am early into this new A-KB and have to learn a new Op-Sys , and it is different.

Has far as pedals , have not tried any yet , but there are jacks for both Sustain and Switch.

The sustain takes TRS so it must accept half damper , although I can`t say for sure.

The other is TS , = just On or Off , to trigger rhythms or other effects.

Conclusion :

It`s a fun board , with the "D-Beam" / Size / and Quality , it would be a good choice for anyone.

Just don`t expect any "mileage" , this is NOT a legacy instrument.
Of course it takes a rare arranger these days to get any serious mileage out of it.

For me , this is an in-between board.

Yamaha is used as a reference , other than a Casio 28 years ago , Yamaha arrangers were all I ever had. So no knocks to Yamaha , just wish there "PSR" line had the same quality.


Well , thats it for now , but please don`t go anywhere I might need some help !!

Later ,

Gary

Congratulations on your new keyboard. I find the same thing with Yamaha psr and Tyros- The piano sounds are not very good. I never understood why they don't sound as good as the Motif, S90, MO... Maybe the Tyros 4 has improved the piano sounds?

Hey "montunoman" , thank for the congrats

That thing ( my Prelude ) is growing on me !!

Not a bad little arranger , not bad at all.

Tyros/PSR piano not so good??...why.
Probably the Clavinova and Motif management want it that way.
At the price of a T4 (T3 the same before) the pianos should knock your socks off...(:-

I was recently browsing YouTube looking for digital piano demos (conclusion: At the expensive end the Rolands sound phenomenal but at the budget end I prefer Yamaha) and found demos of the Prelude and the E09. In both cases I thought the basic sounds and capabilities were good but the accompaniment styles used left me completely cold.

Congratulations on your purchase, Gary....I am very pleased you bought a Roland.

I am sure it will give you months of great service and playability.

Roland do make some very fine instruments...I have a Jupiter 8 that is a classic.

All the best of luck with your new arranger.

Ian

Thanks guys ,

The more I drive into my Prelude , the more I like it !!

I just wish it had better brass and strings. I have found some useable piano sounds . but still I think it`s a case of "you get what you pay for" .

The synths sounds and organ sounds are way better than any arranger I have owned , including the T-3 !

But I still wish the styles had a bit more , shall I say substance ?
Still not bad , but not Yamaha.

The one thing I can help thinking about is why can`t Yamaha build a A-KB like the Prelude ? I mean aside from the some what noisy keybed , the action is A-OK !

But Yamaha PSR`s ( top end ) have the edge as far as overall sound volume and like I said the brass and strings , and the Tyros piano is way better too.

But all in all , I`m dig`n the Prelude

I think my next might be something like an FP-7f with an arranger module or maybe even another Tyros , but no way would I waste my money on Tyros speakers !

I mean they or not that bad , but the Tyros I`m sure can sound so much better with a nice pair of powered monitors and a sub.

But until the Tyros 8 come out , I guess the Prelude will do !!

O__ and in case anyone is wondering , 61 keys are perfect for what I play !

Later

Gary