I recently acquired to give back later the Roland EA-7 and I am very surprised for the money what you actually get. Although I have a KORG PA4x this thing is a monster, it has so many styles and so many sounds, WOW!
keybed feels good and not flimsy, is lightweight and the sounds?
Drum sets and Pianos are very good to me ear and if you are a middle eastern musician especially arabic styles this keyboard is a must, and it even has a sampler? the 2 screens also help alot because you don't have to push too many buttons to get more functions, the only thing that I don't like is that it doen't have after touch and I am used to that feature on all the high end Korgs. I will see if anything else is interesting and post it here.

good luck I enjoyed playing mine for a while great kb to gig with lightweight and gig featured.

I played and compared it to a pa900 and a psr950 about 2 years ago or so... liked the keybed the least of those 3.. but thne i allways struggle with light touch keybeds..

Feature wise, a very strong board.. i was expecting an ea9 back then with 76 top keybed.. 2 touchscreens and 9 sliders and knobs in the middle with the whole integra as a soundset...

It never happened...

The E-A7 is a great board for the money. Good sounds and the ease of use is the best IMO of the big three. I ended up with a PA900 because I wanted the built-in harmony. Now if Roland would make a keyboard with harmony and bigger screen(s) it would be a world beater.

ditto on the EA7....
I just used a Tc helicon VH unit when needed great bang for the buck for sure in an arranger kb..
no big deal.

Well, if anyone wants one I have one for sale.

Deane

For anyone who is considering an E-A7, here are some pros and cons compared to my Korg PA900:

Sounds
This category is about equal in my opinion. You may find some sounds you prefer on one machine over the other but in general they are comparable.

Physical Control
The E-A7 has 7 assignable switches if you can find a use for that many. The Korg has three. Neither keyboard has a dedicated foot controller available such as the Korg EC5-you will have to move up to the much more expensive PA4X for that. The E-A7 does have centrally located sliders which is a big plus. Both keyboards have an assignable knob, but Roland has no data wheel.

Screen
The Korg wins here with a 7-inch touch screen that makes things like naming files and reading lyrics much easier. Some folks do like the dual screen setup on the Roland which does allow for having separate areas of the OS visible at the same time.

Songbook/Registrations
Roland fell down here in a big way by not allowing more than 100 User Programs (as Roland refers to them). You can have multiple lists of 100 but it is not as flexible as Korg’s Songbook. However, it is easier to save listings on the Roland-just hit the “write” button. The process is more complicated on Korg but also allows detailed searches.

Keybed
The Korg is better-the Roland has a somewhat “cheap” feel and the keys are slightly shorter. It should be mentioned that the Roland is lighter and easy to haul.

Mic and Harmony
Roland has no harmony-big minus. Korg has the industry leading TC Helicon built in. I will say I thought the E-A7 preamp sounded better.

Price
The Roland is $1299 new and much less used. The successor to the PA900-the PA1000 is $1999 which is a big difference. To be fair, you will get some additional features for that money such as MIDI to style converter and Kaoss.

In the end, the harmony and screen on the Korg won out for me.

OK, I always loved many Roland products
I don't know what to say but I am enjoying the EA-7 styles over many other keyboards that I have and had, the accordions are also very impressive which are one of favorite instruments, again the only setback that I have is the after touch how much would that add to the price?

There is a reason only top models have aftertouch.. the way prices are calculated aftertouch will really drive the price by like 20% in this cattegory...

Does anyone else here on SZ play a Roland EA7……?

No you don't. See you in Dallas tomorrow at 1:00.

I'm going to give it a try as my second arranger, or backup.
There are four main things I don't like about it.
It doesn't display text files.
No Vocal Harmonizer.
No real Break/fill.
No connection for pedal controller.
I have a T.C. Helicon Harmony M which I love. So I will use it for the vocals, and it also frees up the programmable foot switch. I will use it for break/fills. Stay tuned.
I will use the expression pedal to morph between two lead sounds, R1 and R2.
I will use the sustain pedal for ...sustain.
I think I know a way to make break/fills. I will have to experiment but plan to create my own and write them to one of the four intros. There a limited number of styles where I need the break, so I think I can make three or four and save them with those styles. A number of styles have them built in, so I may be able to copy them and paste into the intros.
This leaves the text display problem. I know with the Korg PA1000, you can use an app to call up text or PDF files from registration, and also the opposite. Don't know if this is a feature of the Roland, but if it isn't I'll just use the laptop or a tablet and do it manually. I can have several folders open and ready to use, for example Christmas songs, Standards, etc. I know hundreds of song lyrics by memory, so it isn't a deal-killer.
I do like the styles, sounds and many of the functions. This will be an on-going project and I hope it all works out. Oh, and I LOVE the light key touch, and the overall light weight.

... Good luck Don... Welcome back to Roland!

Keep us posted on your experiences with it...

Don, no multi pedal input, but the EA7 has 7 assignable buttons placed in a good area for live play..

Also no text read, but you can use jpeg, but you need to send to a monitor to view.
The EA7 will also read lyrics embedded in MP3's on the keyboard screen.(I wish the SD7 did).

Just write a couple breaks for the styles you need.. It is just as easy to pull down the sliders for the style parts during a fill and call it a break

BTW: say hello to my old EA7 and tell it I am sorry I sold it to DNJ.

Don't be surprised if I end up with another EA7.... maybe yours

Nothing surprises me Fran!
I'm sitting here listening to old recordings I did on the BK7m from ten years ago and they sound great! I actually already have a setup ready to go, as I had an EA7 last year, but returned it when the trial period ended. I did the same thing with the BK9. They are the only two returns I ever made to Sweetwater.

Sweetwater sells the SD9?

Don meant BK9

yes

Has anyone made money on this EA7... or just Sweetwater..

I took a hit.. DNJ always finds a way to lose money

Deane looks like he lost a bit

And if I am in the next equation.. Don will take a hit

I won't. I have traded, bought and sold SEVEN arrangers this year, and I'm actually ahead a little. Well, three of them were PA4Xs, and there was an SD7, two PSR S970s, a PA4X, an EA7, a Korg Microarranger. . . Wait that's nine. And I feel like every deal was fair for both sides. That doesn't count the BK9 and EA7 that I sent back.
I really tried to make every one of the work for me, but so far the PA4X rules the roost.
They are tools, not family members!

Fair is the common denominator.

Just curious...

When all this trading started...was there someway the PA4X was not working for you?

PA4X, that’s what you are using now...right?

Again, just curious.

Look fellas I didn't mean to go out and buy an EA-7 because it's better then a GENOS or a PA4X, I am just stating that for the money that you pay you get a lot of board and then some, compared to all the others in the price range.

Definately true..
Its been called the cheap mans Pa4x several times because all the functionallity it offers.

THe only thing i can not stand from this instrument, is the keybed. In my opinion its worse then the Yamaha and Korg keys in this pricerange. Its more on par with Casio's competitors in the lower price range, which is a gamekiller for me.

How do you take a hit if your investment makes you more money over time then you spent?

Totally agree. Such a shame really! A 76 (bk9) keys and a large touch screen would be soooo nice for this instrument!

Actually I thought I would like a PA4X 76. I sold the 4x and got a 76, refurb, from Frank. Turns out I didn't like the size, weight or keys of the 76. Traded it to Zuke for his PA4X 61.
Got restless and wanted to try a Ketron again, so bought Deane's. Traded the 4X to Uncle Dave for PA1000 and $$$$. Had a few operational issues with the SD7, so sold it to DNJ for $$$ and PSRS70. Sold the PSR for $$$$. I actually still have another PA4X to use with option to buy. I'm going to meet Deane in a little while to get his Roland EA7, so I will have PA1000, EA7 and PA4X. I will have trouble letting go of the 4X, but the semi-weighted keys are starting to make my fingers hurt after four hours a night.
Hope to make the Roland and/or 1000 work. I really need two arrangers, so at least one of them is a keeper.
TMI right?

Don good luck be patient give it a good chance call Fran to find out about the really cool features and all the things that the EA7 really can do that might help you with workarounds you already know the Styles and sounds are top notch you can do this keep us posted and say hello to Dean...

Just got back with the keyboard. Too tired to play with it tonight. Deane and Glenda are doing fine.
The trip to Dallas was fine; coming home was different. Got held up on the interstate for almost an hour because of an accident.
Now I will watch six minutes of football and fall asleep!

A fast little DEMO from the EA-7 I did with the internal sound and style, it's a balkan style but I played a GREEK improvisation of my own.
PRESS HERE TO PREVIEW

I love the sound of the EA7. Drums are clean and realistic. The voices you used sound really good, although I'm not at all familiar with this type of music. It got my toes tapping though! Nice work, and thanks for sharing.
I've been working three solid days setting mine up and I hope to take it to a quick job at noon tomorrow. If it passes that test I may even take it to my real job!