Hello to everyone

I have been reading a lot of posts on this list for the past few months and wanted to pass on my impressions of my new Roland E-50. I was originally considering getting a G-70 but decided to wait and see what the E series would produce. First of all let me tell you a little about myself. I am a lifelong musician who started on trumpet and moved on to more guitar/singer/writer activities as I got older. I have been composing in midi since it's inception and have become pretty skilled in the DAW/recording world.

This is my first arranger. Up to now I never would have considered buying one mainly because I'm not a performing piano player. I have been getting increasingly interested in recent efforts by Yamaha, Korg, and Roland. I had a chance to check out a PSR-3000 at a local Sam Ash and thought it was pretty cool but I"m glad I waited. It's seems like the "cheese" factor of these arrangers is a thing of the past. The latest arrangers are excellent for songwriters who need help creating backing tracks, etc. I'm really in awe. After a lot of research I decided on the Roland because I like Roland sounds, but the real reason was the styles. I am not disappointed. The interface is easy and intuitive. The ability to load additional styles from a 1 GB PC Card I purchased means endless extensibility. This thing is a lot bigger than what I thought. The only thing I wished they would supply is a way to turn the speakers off. This would be handy when the keyboard is plugged into a larger system.

I also wanted to give a shout out to George Kaye who I bought the arranger from. Great price and very helpful. Also, Zuki...your reviews were very helpful.

thanks to all!
Brian

Brian ... welcome to the S-Z family ... and obviously your name does not match your background ...
As for turning off the on board speakers, is there a headphone jack? ... if so, just put a plug (or headphones) into the jack and the on board speakers will be off ...
Again, welcome ...
t.

Hey, thanks for that. I didn't find anything in the manual (including the headphone jack) and thought the exclusion odd.

thx
Brian

Hi Brian,
have you checked underneath, they sometimes put headphone jacks in hidden places. I couldn't for the life of me find it on one of my digital piano's because it was so well concealed.
On my psr1500 , I just keep a headphone adapter plugged in when I want to use external speaker system. One of those little adapters that turns mini headphone socket into a full size socket ( hope that makes sense). Rolands from memory sometimes even have 2 sets of headphones.

best wishes
Rikki

Hi Brian -

Congratulations! Glad to hear you like the E-50 and my (and Adimitis') comments might have helped a bit.

This keyboard is growing on me. I like it more every time I play it. There are lots of things to explore. Taking the time to set up the registrations is worth the effort, because as you said, the interface is user friendly and the styles are fantastic.

Welcome to the forum and keep posting.

Regards,
zuki

The headphone jacks I found. I was referring to the fact that they didn't mention this could mute the speakers in the manual. It was nowhere in the manual that I could see. A bit odd that's all. thanks!

Hey Zuki

thanks! I'm sure I will have lots of questions soon. Here is one.

I still don't completely understand the whole heirachy of User Programs, Styles, Songs. Do I store styles and songs WITH User Programs so that everything is "contained" within a User Program. Kind of confused.

thanks to all!

Brian,

What I'm doing currently is using the existing "list" songs for templates. I then change things around and "write" over them (sometimes using the same name, sometimes putting in a new name in a spot where I won't use the default name). When those are all used up, I'll save all as a user program to a floppy, etc. and basically start over.

I haven't worked with the music finder yet to determine how to manipulate those songs and have much to learn too! It's an extremely deep board.

You'll probably figure it all out before me

Adimitis, please chime in.....

Regards,
zuki

hey friends! long time no see! since last year, right?

zuki_
i am also exploring the depths of E60 and the way you can set up and write UPGs. the only thing that bothers me is the lack of a master eq, as g70 has. other than that, with a little bit (more) patience, indeed you can set everything to your likeness. have you recorded something already?

greenkid_
good to hear you decided for a e50. this is a good keboard, easy to use either studio or live! goodluck! a good place where to find information, about g70, but easily appliable to you e50, is http://www.selskabsmusikeren.dk

about muting the speakers, the issue is pretty easy to solve, since the headphone connections are very accesible. buy an adaptor for small 3,5 jack, and keep it close. when you need, just plug in the adaptor and that's it. this is what i do.

leeclw_
where are you? are you too busy with your e60?


[This message has been edited by adimatis (edited 01-06-2007).]

Greenkid,

Welcome to the forum. As you have obviously discovered, most arranger keyboard manuals are very poorly written, thus forums such as this have prospered because you can find quick answers to most of those perplexing questions the manuals do not address.

Good Luck,

Gary

------------------
Travlin' Easy

greenkidd,

Gary is 100% right! Most user manuals are "very" poorly written. Although Roland is my favorite keyboard maker--their manuals just suck! They for example spend more time on telling you what a function can do rather than tell you the steps on how to do it You'll often find the best way to learn the OS of a new keyboard is just by putting your hands on the board itself and going from there. Hands on is the best way IMO. Just use the manual when you get completely stumped on something.

Also the quesiton you raised about turning off the internal speakers. The solution given with the "headphone adapter" plugged into the jack is clearly the way to go, but you won't learn this from the manuals. Tricks like that are what we have found out on our own and shared with members here. I honestly don't think I've ever owned a keyboard that told me in the manual to plug a headphone adapter into the jack to cut off the speakers.

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 01-06-2007).]

Hey squeak_D

thanks for the encouragement. Yeah, the hands-on approach works for me. I'm figuring it out. The only thing that puzzles me is how the different elements (style,song,UPG all inter-relate in terms of "packaging" them. I'll figure it out eventually. The manual doesn't present the heirachy in a very clear way. thanks for the suggestions though!

Brian

[This message has been edited by greenkidd (edited 01-06-2007).]

[This message has been edited by greenkidd (edited 01-06-2007).]

Most of the information about UPGs, UPSs, etc., is the same for G70, so a lot of information can be gleaned from the Danish G70 Users Club site.

Adi,

I'm here. Reading the forum passively as usual, but you're right - I'm close to my new E60 since it arrived a few days ago.

I'm enjoying the keyboard - as you are. As I mentioned to you in my email earlier, I had the chance to play with the E50 over Christmas and performed a couple of times with it. The dealer who sold me the E60 was kind enough to loan me the E50 showroom piece, as the E60 I ordered didn't arrive in time for Christmas. I'm generally impressed with how easy it is to use the instrument, coming from ZERO background on Arrangers. I led singing the Christmas carols with a group of 30 people, and they were wowed by how nice the styles sounded. I was of course delighted how quickly I could do something like that, having only the E50 a couple of days before the event.

The E50 is sweet. The E60, in comparison, is nicer, albeit heavier. If I am to choose between the two again, I would still go for the E60 for more keys and a firmer keybed. The E50 is more compact and easier to lug around though.

I wish Roland can fix the OTS for external styles in the E50/E60. Other than that, I'm a happy camper!

[This message has been edited by leeclw (edited 01-06-2007).]

I just became aware of the E-50 a couple of days ago. I think it is a bit of a bargain...high definition touch screen,high quality sounds (Roland in my opinion always comes up with the best sounds,compared to ,say,Korg), modern features like USB and really nice sequencer. I checked the manual in detail. It seems a genuine bargain,not just a good keyboard.

The only thing I want to moan about is that Roland should do some desktop versions of these brilliant keyboards. The reason being the fact that with a desktop version,you retain basically the whole machine minus the keys,and you can match the unit to a master keyboard of your choice,such as hammer action keyboards (if you are into this kind of thing).

A few years ago Roland came up with the very nice VA Arranger keyboards,and did not do any desktop version either...come on Roland! (by the way,does anybody knows if there some 'wish-list'for users on Roland sites? I want that desktop thing badly.)

I am still forced to use my Yamaha QY-700 which,although is a powerful desktop sequencer,I would not prefer to an E-50 desktop version. It uses the same old floppy,the sounds are just XG standard stuff,certainly not a match to the E-50's killer sounds...
Everybody raved about the QY-700 screen,a nice one certainly,but the one on the E-50 is really great,it even shows the notation!

[This message has been edited by santantoni (edited 01-06-2007).]

[This message has been edited by santantoni (edited 01-06-2007).]

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productlist.aspx?ParentId=20

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 01-07-2007).]

These are synths and sound modules,not arrangers

Best I've found is Ketron Midjay!
DonM

Don is correct .....MJ is the very good for a module aranger at this time ...try one if you dont like it dump it.

Yeah,but that's too expensive,and still,it's not really a sequencer. What I am looking for is something like the Yamaha QY700 but with touch screen and Roland sounds

I just bought an E-50 and was looking around on the internet and saw your post, you said you wished there was a way to shut off the speakers when plugged into a larger sound system, problem solved take a 1/4 inch headphone adapter plug and insert it into the headphone out. Dave