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#502629 - 04/15/21 07:55 AM Does anyone own a Roland Ea7
bruno123 Online   content
Senior Member

Registered: 06/04/02
Posts: 4912
Loc: West Palm Beach, FL 33417
Please share some of the Ea7 features you like the best.
Share sum of the negatives to.

John C.

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#502636 - 04/15/21 06:37 PM Re: Does anyone own a Roland Ea7 [Re: bruno123]
TedS Offline
Member

Registered: 04/28/06
Posts: 805
Loc: North Texas, USA
I don't own an E-A7 but I own several Rolands, as well as arrangers from every major brand. The following comments apply to Roland arrangers in general, at least those made after 1995:

First a little about me. I'm not a skilled player. I grew up playing a chord organ, and graduated to a Yamaha portable keyboard playing the four basic "single finger" chord types. Eventually I came to appreciate more subtle and advanced chord types, especially controlling the bass note with on-bass or "slash" chords. Yet years later, I'm still too recalcitrant, lazy, or unskilled to play all of the constituent notes of successive chords.

I've studied every brand of arranger, most through careful first-hand testing, and others by thoroughly reading the manuals. My affirmed conclusion is that Roland's "Intelligent" chord recognition, with its separate control for Bass Inversion, allows playing MORE different chord types, with a MINIMUM number of keys pressed, and with a MINIMUM of hand movement, as compared to any other brand or control system. For me, this greatly facilitates playing fast or otherwise difficult chord progressions with fewer mistakes. The value of being able to play common major chords with only a single finger key pressed cannot be overstated. Unlike some other brands, Roland never asks you to play "extra" notes that aren't part of the original chord. You're usually playing a SUBSET of what you would have to play on an organ or a piano, so it HAS to be easier than a non-intelligent instrument. I could provide specific examples of why Roland is better for various chord types or specific progressions, and even a "ranking" of the various brands. Suffice to say, after years of testing I'm personally convinced that Roland does it best. But see more below.

Note: I've never been able to play "two-handed" piano. So I can't comment on Roland's "Piano Style" chord recognition with or without use of a sustain pedal. My comments are based on the Intelligent chord recognition, and the left-hand chords, right-hand melody approach that is favored by many arranger players.

Roland's default implementation of chord intelligence is good, but hand movement required to play some scores can be further reduced by using a footswitch to turn Bass Inversion on and off during a song. This allows playing slash chords in the required inversion when needed, and other chords in ANY convenient inversion. Unfortunately, on Roland arrangers this function is implemented as "latching," i.e., it takes one push of the pedal to turn Bass Inversion "on," and another to turn it "off." Yet from a careful reading of the manual, it seems that Roland's STYLE PIANOS like the FP-50 and FP-80 have implemented the function as MOMENTARY. I.e., Bass Inversion is activated while you hold the pedal down, and immediately deactivated upon release. This makes it much easier to play the occasional slash chord followed by a basic chord timely on the next beat, or vice-versa. The Momentary implementation is preferable, and should at least be an option in the function menu.

Thankfully, a creative combination of the MIDI Solutions Footswitch Controller, in conjunction with the MIDI Solutions Relay, can approximate the "momentary" implementation described for Roland FP-series style pianos. [Note to all you Arduino programmers: There's a market for a generic pedal incorporating a logic circuit and two or three adjustable timers which could be used to convert ANY "latching" synth function to "momentary." Believe me, I've looked and one doesn't exist. But that's another topic!]

A different improved implementation can be achieved with just a MIDI Solutions Dual Footswitch Controller, without the Relay. The idea is that you would have three identical registrations ("user programs") in the same bank. The default registration uses Intelligent chord recognition with Bass Inversion off. When you press the right footswitch, it shifts to an IDENTICAL registration with Bass Inversion "on." As long as you hold the right pedal, you can play slash chords. When you release the pedal, it returns to the default registration (root bass.) Meanwhile, holding the left pedal shifts to a different registration which is also identical to the base. However, in this case the chord recognition mode changes to "Standard." This mode permits playing open [1+5] "power chords," [1+8] unisons, etc., which cannot be played in Intelligent mode. [Shame on Roland here, because Casio facilitates these chord types.] Releasing the left pedal returns to the base registration, allowing the use of chord intelligence for the remainder of the score. The problem with this technique of dual pedal control is that you'll have to create a separate registration bank for every style that you plan to use, which is a lot of tedious work.

If you're with me so far, I've claimed that the strength of Roland is in their easy and logical chord recognition. This is one of two defining functions that make a keyboard an "arranger." The other is how it USES the recognized chord to manipulate the style pattern. This is where Roland falls down relative to its competitors. Rolands lack many style control parameters that more evolved brands (Yamaha, Ketron, Korg, and even Casio) have. One example is "Retrigger": Let's say that you have tied notes in the original pattern. What happens if you release the keys and re-press them in the middle of a measure? Roland doesn't give the user any way to control this important behavior.

The workaround is surprising... With one of my special rubato styles (or the "EP Chord" function on some entry-level Rolands), you can reduce your Roland to a "black box" chord machine; a musical force multiplier. You press one key, a triad comes out. You press two keys, four or five notes come out. Hold one pedal, and the bass follows the lowest key. Hold the other, and you can suspend the third. Etc. Now... you send those output notes via MIDI to the style engine of ANOTHER ARRANGER! Probably a Yamaha, since their Style File Format is highly refined with many subtle control parameters, and they have a HUGE library of styles. This gives you best of both worlds!! Roland's facile chord recognition, and the subtle style control afforded by a more evolved brand. The second machine doesn't even have to be an arranger, per se. The ancient, portable Yamaha QY100 had chord-following "patterns." The Motif ES and its successors had chord-following arps; so do the fabulous Montage and MODX6. PC softwares, the sky's the limit!

To sum-up: Roland's "Intelligent" chord recognition and independent Bass Inversion control comprise the best system of its type. Because no other brands offer sufficient customizability in this area, I'll likely use my Roland to trigger chords, for the foreseeable future. Now what I play those chords INTO, will change and evolve with new market offerings. If Roland is out of the arranger market for good, they should either license their chord intelligence logic to a controller company like Arturia, or offer it as a software plug-in so that every laptop and iPad will have a broad variety of chords accessible to novices and less-skilled players. My $.02.

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#502638 - 04/16/21 02:41 AM Re: Does anyone own a Roland Ea7 [Re: bruno123]
bruno123 Online   content
Senior Member

Registered: 06/04/02
Posts: 4912
Loc: West Palm Beach, FL 33417
Wow Teds that is the most in-depth explanation of chord recognizing I have ever read.

Thank you my friend, John C.

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#502639 - 04/16/21 06:27 AM Re: Does anyone own a Roland Ea7 [Re: bruno123]
W Tracy Parnell Offline
Member

Registered: 08/22/06
Posts: 759
Loc: NY
No longer have one but I used to.

Good

1. Easy to play-great fingering modes as mentioned.
2. 7 programable buttons.
3. Make up tools-very easy editing.
4. After editing you can turn the master style volume up or down to match other styles-handy.
5. Good sounding mic preamp-better than PA900 IMO.
6. Overall good sound with lots of legacy styles available.

Bad
1. No harmony.
2. Small non-touch screens-hard to enter text.
3. No true break.
4. No content for pads. I use the pads on the PA900 a lot.

Overall a great keyboard but I went with the PA900 for the screen and harmony.
_________________________
Komplete Kontrol S61/Korg PA900/JBL 308P/Focusrite Clarett 2Pre/Band in a Box/Reaper/EZdrummer 3

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#502642 - 04/16/21 11:32 PM Re: Does anyone own a Roland Ea7 [Re: bruno123]
Diki Offline


Registered: 04/25/05
Posts: 14182
Loc: NW Florida
Hard to fault no harmony at its price point. Likewise the non-touch screens. Remember, this is a sub-$1500 arranger....

But the multipad and sampler blunders were unforgivable. 128MB samplers died in the 90’s. And a multipad system with next to no content and no MIDI import is close to useless.

It was such a half-hearted last fling. Me, I’d have been happier with an improved BK-9, it didn’t need so much to be amazing. I guess if you are the kind of player that makes your own samples, loops, styles etc., the EA7 is a really good inexpensive starting place. But on the whole, players that do create their own content tend to gravitate towards more upper end keyboards.

So close, and yet so far. The EA7... a swing and a bunt!
_________________________
An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!

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#502644 - 04/17/21 11:33 AM Re: Does anyone own a Roland Ea7 [Re: bruno123]
Crossover Offline
Member

Registered: 11/19/17
Posts: 596
Remember the E-A7 came after and despite the end of Roland Europe (based in Italy), where all the arrangers used to come from. It was a surprise that Roland Japan released another arranger at all.

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#502645 - 04/17/21 01:17 PM Re: Does anyone own a Roland Ea7 [Re: bruno123]
Diki Offline


Registered: 04/25/05
Posts: 14182
Loc: NW Florida
I often feel the EA7 was Roland Japan’s attempt at an S900 type arranger. The buttons round the screens, the plethora of buttons all over, the sampler and multipads (but curiously no break/fill)... it reeked of an S-series copycat.

Sadly, it was the end of the line, not the beginning.
_________________________
An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!

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#502646 - 04/17/21 04:57 PM Re: Does anyone own a Roland Ea7 [Re: bruno123]
TedS Offline
Member

Registered: 04/28/06
Posts: 805
Loc: North Texas, USA
Sorry to get a little off-topic, but what was the last arranger from Roland Europe? The operating system of the E-A7 is very similar to prior Rolands, so some of the "DNA" survived. The manual definitely isn't as complete or easy to read as that of prior models. I guess I never realized that it was produced by a different group.

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#502647 - 04/17/21 05:52 PM Re: Does anyone own a Roland Ea7 [Re: bruno123]
Crossover Offline
Member

Registered: 11/19/17
Posts: 596
BK-9 was the last arranger designed by Roland Europe.

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#502648 - 04/18/21 06:13 AM Re: Does anyone own a Roland Ea7 [Re: TedS]
bruno123 Online   content
Senior Member

Registered: 06/04/02
Posts: 4912
Loc: West Palm Beach, FL 33417
I may want to sell my Roland Ea7. I feel it is a very complete keyboard, and if I were younger (had a lot of years left) the Ea7 would be the keyboard of my choice. The gentleman who sold it to me included a large amount of styles, and more.

If you are interested, PM me.
John C.

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