I had to call Roland today and ask a question about using the BK7m and was able to speak with the head of Roland Technical Support for Arrangers and Keyboards. He asked me if I was coming to NAMM next week when I asked him if there was anything coming in the future from Roland in arranger products. All he would say to me was "are you coming to NAMM next week?". And then he told me to find him! Does this mean there will be something new? I think a strong maybe! We will know soon enough.

When I would talk to my reps in the past, they would never tell me directly but they would strongly hint at stuff. Like this for example from a few weeks ago... new speakers are coming out at winter NAMM from a big company to compete with another company that has a big chunk of the powered speaker business. All I asked was, "Is their a 10" model?" And the answer was yes!!

Hope the Roland thing is true!! They have been a company to fill niches in the keyboard area... VP series... V-Combo... V-Synth... V-Piano. Why not get back into the arranger business with a BIG BANG!! V-Arranger that blows away the current specs of Tyros and PA?!?

I love the time before winter NAMM.

I'd like to see Roland return to the arranger field...their last few offerings, weren't what a lot of people expected (a TOTL arranger), but they certainly have the resources to produce a very competitive instrument.

If it knocks people's socks off, all the better, because that will send Yamaha and Korg scurrying back to their respective research and development departments, and come out with one to equal or top the Roland.

Competition always benefits us people...the consumers.

Ian

Johnathan,
I think the new powered speakers you are speaking of are from Yamaha. They are introducing a new line of powered speakers with 8", 10" and 12" woofers. I've been told they are priced well and the sound is superb!

You are correct!! I heard the same thing!!

The DSR line is going up in price because of the price of neodymium magnets. The new line will compete really well with the QSC line. Lot's of power and processing built into the box. Can't wait to see the real specs!

The E80, would have been better if it had the 73 key version some of the newer features we find on workstations now, I mean Fantom arranger???? how good would that be????

I agree. May be even an 88 key TOTL with an all new sound engine, of course with the right pricing. Dream on !!

George

Thanks for the heads up.
I don't care what it is but if its got full size keys I want it !!! LOL !!

Can't wait to see it and the new speakers too

yah maybe they can make it smaller then the micro arranger and everybody can go even off like they have been on the micro arranger. LOL

BK7 with keys.....Hmmmm?

a 9 lb Yamaha micro-Arranger with S910 sounds & styles
would certainly put a smile on my face.

Personally i think that Roland may really go total this time..

the Fantom-V that many are expecting to be the big thing at NAMM, which would be a blattant Mix of everyting Roland had so far,

An evolved Fantom 192 voices engine,
A complete V-synth,
Build in V-piano
the engine and sounds of the Jupiter 80,
full controll over a PC running cakewalk Sonar with VST's,
A B3 Emulator,
Total freedom when assigning knobs sliders and buttons.

Maybe they will also add the support of styles to this TOTL instrument.

Roland has the tech to do something here , with the v piano tech and the new jupiter 80 tech it has a lot of arranger type aspects I can see how the could incorp some of the hammond /roland organ stuff combine it into a arranger bring along song player tech from G-70 blend it into a very good unit I hope this what they have in mind and not a Bk-7 with keys 76 keys incorp sonar and soft synth tech into the process as well , and with the opp to upgrade sound with cards or downloads like yamaha now we are talking something I would want.

I did not see your post bacus but we are on the same page here.

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Yes please Roland it will have to be far superior to the BK7, I had one on order, but when I got the chance to really listen to the styles I was unimpressed, and cancelled. If they are going to compete this will need to surpass the Tyros and Korg/Ketron TOTL's in my opinion. I believe they have the tech to do it, did they get the R&D money to do it, wont be long and we will find out

I am very impressed with the BK7m, but it takes some "learnin" to operate it. I would buy one with keys in the blink of an eye.
It is essentially an improved E80 in a module. What I missed was things like no text, need to use external screen for midi lyrics, and no vocal processing. Bring those back and add some keys and I'm THERE!
DonM

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Don I could only go by what Korg Yamaha and Ketron had out at that time, and whilst you like it (the BK7) that is, Roland would be looking to capture a much improved market with new features and better samples. I didn't intend to down you love of the BK, just tried to ilistrate what Roland would need to do to get back in the game

Here is the Keyboard version of the BK7:

Roland Keyboard

TWD,

Are you serious.


Tony

You made me ROFL... Thats a Roland E-20 launched way back in 1988(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_E-20)
And the link references a classified posted from Pakistan and that too for 10000 Rs - that`s about 200 USD.
Crazy. A candidate for the Arranger Museum !!!

Roland, surely had some great arrangers in the past. Hope they come up with a nice one soon. Many a times, I find their marketing/sales team have either got the launch timing or the price wrong, especially for the high end ones. Don`t know why they launched E-80 within a short time from when an awesome arranger in the G-70 was making its presence felt. And then E-80 was discontinued soon. The G-70, E-80 and the Bk-7m are very good sounding arrangers.. but for heaven sake, Roland need to get people like Ralf Schink etc. to play an hour long demo of a new instrument to display the sonic capabilities of the keyboard. It will benefit everyone. Korg have gone ahead and done some demos of the Pa3X but definitely Yamaha is a winner in this category as well. They have pro players presenting pro keyboards enough to tease the buyers to check it out and buy it.

Fingers crossed. Hope they don`t stay crossed too long for a Roland TOTL

Just look at this video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Vkxztxg1c

This is exactly the technollogy arranger players have been wayting for, super realistic acoustic instruments. Cant wayt to see this implemented intoo a TOTL arranger.

Old news

Nothing new on this area from Roland,it's over.

Impuls

You guys are getting ahead of yourselves. Maybe the Roland representative just had twins, and he wants to show George baby pictures.

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Come on Impulse, are trying to suggest that if Roland put out an arranger with those capabilities you wouldn't be interested?? I would drool at it. AS a matter of fact, with the price the way they are if they could produce a TOTL arranger at a lower cost and those mind blowing features and benefits,,,, I mean wow! come on Roland get back into the game

Dont fool yourself Roland is watching the trends and sales of their competition.. you prob wont see a new TOTl arranger with the economy the way it is....BUT, I could see them offering a new under $1000.00 arranger with the BK7m or other OS inside to keep up with the rest...little by little the days of expensive $4000.00+ arrangers is coming to an end & yearly sales figures will drive the bus for all to stay afloat.

I gave a listen to the demo. They sound great especially the trumpet sound. I think it could make its way into the arranger as well. Don`t really know whats stopping all arranger keyboard manufacturers from getting super realistic sounds into their instruments for all their voices I know that the Tyros 4 has amazing realism in the SA and SA2 voices. Roland calls them supernatural tones while Korg has it in the form of DNC. Wonder why don`t they offer a setup where we have super realistic GM Set(128 sounds) with an OS control option to switch between button based articulations or automatic velocity based articulations. This would perhaps get the price down and most people would be happy with 128 quality instruments and say 20 decent velocity switched sampled drumkits.
Then ofcourse, very much in line with what Yamaha Music soft offers, voices and styles offered for additional purchase.
This would be what most players would need... decent quality instruments at a basic affordable price and then purchase additional ones if required. I`ll stop my utopian thoughts here.. As Donny pointed out, the global economy definitely influences what the manufacturers come out with. But from the hint which George got from them it surely sounds like a decent arranger from the Roland stable !!!

Super Natural Sounds have been on the top end Roland Ateliers for a couple of years now, and are happily received by the home market.

SA1/2 is just sample layer switching, which has been available and used in the pro market for years. (The early ones were called Legato voices)

GM = General Midi is a standard that specifies a certain feature set that is common to all Midi compatible instruments, therefore the standard would need to modified by the Midi standards committee to allow all the new articulation controls to be added. (The last update to the Midi standard was about 10 years ago so it’s about time they did something)

Articulation switching in the pro market (VSTs etc.) does not use buttons, but keys that are unused on the keyboard. (For example; A Sax only has a limited range of notes that can be played on them, therefore in the pro market only these ranges are produced leaving the other notes free for articulation switching)

Bill

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Hi Dnj,

you have to keep in mind that the financing comes from Germany the strongest in the Euro, and the manufacturing would prob be in Italy, one of the weaker Euro's. So money to invest at a lower cost = affordable R&D. Also I don't hear Yamaha and Korg complaining, and at $4K thats a pretty good incentive for Roland to get back into the market. Lets face it they have the sounds and the wherewithall, so all they would need to do would be put it into a box. The E80 with improved patches/styles, and the smaller mix of the Jupitor 80, makes this a real possibility, so don't write them off, I think they know they have to get back into the market place, otherwise potential buyers wont see them as a competative voice any more, and also you start to loose the ability to produce the TOTL Arranger.

I am waiting like you all, and I really want them back!!

Robbo I hope your right.....or maybe Roland is taking another direction more toward Synths and gadgets instead of Arrangers, although I just don't see how Roland could offer something better then Yamaha T4 & KORG Pa3x, & Audya, at this time the niche is getting smaller year after year for someone to fit in.
Maybe a micro G..? lol

time will tell hang in there !

Roland allways used to be the company to think out of the box. This time they only need to think in their own box.

-Combining the matrix view from Cakewalk with arranger capabillities and you have the ultimate arranger with both midi and audio styles.

-Using their current sound engines from Jupiter 80, Fantom and V-piano they will have a better sounding arranger then all others together.

-Adding all the good things we remember from the G70.


And as usuall Roland will deliver the best User interface with a huge touchscreen, and free asinable sliders, buttons and knobs.

Since all the things described above are allready developed in software (yes for the last 10 years every synthworkstation or arranger uses dedicated software as their soundsource), there is not much researchcosts required to build them intoo one instrument. And processor power has never been so cheep as of lately.


add 76 keys and this will blow all other arrangers away... both on possibilities as on sound quallity.

Ok, It's been 2 years since the Roland VP-7 Vocal Processor was first introduced at Namm 2010:



I'm really interested to find out if an update or new model might be announced now at Namm 2012,
and how it compares with TC Helicon's impressive VP offerings:

VoiceLive Touch
VoiceLive 2
VoiceLive 2 Extreme
Harmony M
I'm certain TC Helicon is going to be showcasing at Namm 2012 their latest VoiceLive unit: 'VoiceLive Rack', basically the rack version of VoiceLive 2.

Will Roland be up to the competition and featuring a new Vocal Procesor to compete with TC Helicon VPs now?