Hi all

I have been "lurking" these pages for quite some time now, finding a lot of information and good spirited people. This is my first post, and I really wish the topic would sound different.

My name is Kim Brandt, I live in Denmark, I'm a journalist and a musician in my spare time.

I have had Roland gear for ages - the last keyboard was a G-1000, that I bought in 1998. I have waited and waited patiently for the next "Super-keyboard" to appear, and I truly thought it was going to be the G-70.

I recieved my unit on December 17th and have been playing, investigating, trying out styles, sounds and effects since.

I have spend more than 40+ hours with it, and here's the bottom line:

Tomorrow the G-70 is going back to the store and I'm bying a Tyros instead. I'll tell you why:

Overall, in my opinion, the sound is too "gritty", the bass is not defined but boomy and annoying, many samples are not fine-tuned (some even sound like they are not in tune!) the balance between styles and lead-sounds are completely off, the one-touch settings is a joke. Most 95 percent of the suggested settings in Music Assist is of little or no help, as the programmers apparently were tone-deaf or in a hurry.

Granted, a lot of these settings can be adjusted to taste, but even after programming for many hours I was not able to find anything truly satisfying. I never once had a WOW-feeling. And believe me, I REALLY wanted to, being a Roland fan for many years.

The good parts are, in my opinion:
Great keys, great feel - the unit is solid as a rock. The new touch-screen and navigating system work like a charm, very easy for G-1000/VA-7/76 users to find your way and the data storage facility and USB-port work great.

However, my audience could care less about keys and operating system. They want good sounds and a solid perfomance.

I'm sad to say, that I don't think the G-70 can deliever. At least not without a lot more patience and struggle that I'm willing
to put in. Believe me, I really, really wanted this keyboard to be my next partner for the years to come.

On december 30th a had a chance to get my hands on a Tyros. Within a few hours I was blown away by the sound and transparency from this little keyboard. The styles have all the nuances and musicallity that Roland just don't have.

Granted, it takes some time to get used to the smaller and fewer keys - and some sounds seem a little thin and whimsy in the higher notes, but overall - it makes me want to play all the time: Every single style has something to offer. The inspiration just seem to be pouring out from every crack of this keyboard. In short: It blows away the G-70, and for that reason I'm saying goodbye to Roland and hello to Yamaha.

Important note: The above is based solely on my opinion and ears (also my wife and kids, who even said they liked the piano sound better on the Tyros). Other folk may very well feel different or want something else than me.

Best wishes for the new year,

Kim Brandt
Denmark

Hi Kim, a great BIG Welcome to the SYnthzone Arranger keyboard forum.

The #1 MOST IMPORTANT feature of any musical instrument, beyond anything else, is how much it INSPIRES you to "make music" on it. The Tyros continues to deliver in this regard for me, even after having owned mine for OVER 2 years. Welcome to the Tyros musician fan club.

Scott

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http://scottyee.com

Hi Kim,

At first let me also welcome you to the SZ!

What a disappoint this must have been for you. You have put considerable effort in your report of your experiences with the G-70, the good and the bad, so I am convinced your story is sincere.

I was very impressed by the specifications of the G-70. I also think it is the best looking and most solidly constructed arranger on the market at the moment. But my doubts began when I visited the first demo. I haven't had the change to play it myself, but I am a bit afraid that playing this instrument in the store might not be enough to get the complete picture.

I also would like this instrument to be great, but reading posts like these discourage me to run to the store with the money in my pocket! Now I am not sure what to do.

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Tom NL

[This message has been edited by Tom NL (edited 01-02-2005).]

Tom, you try it yourself..than draw your own conclusion...I find it hard to believe Roland would release a product that is not ready for the market, at least in your area...I will wait and see how the G70[US ready for release] plays and sounds, before I am persuaded by others opinions or comments[even though trhey might turn out to be true]..

It is funny how different we all are and what fulfills our needs...for example the Yamaha Tyros, and the little siblings...do nothing for me...a lot of the sounds are thin and have way too much vibrato sampled in the sound..They have good parameters to adjust sounds and effects, but are too cumberson to use in realtime ..Standard Midi Files do not sound nearly as good as with Roland GS instruments...The above in combination of undesirable keys and poor quality constuction dictates my need to look to other keyboards...I will wait to give the G70 a test run....if it also does not measure up..I will let it be known....Thankfully, I am content with my workhorse G1000...what it does, it does best..what it doesn't do, was never important anyway...

Fran,

Of course you're absolutely right! Thanks for putting things a bit more into perspective.

In fact I fully agree with you about the Tyros. It's very nice that it appeals to a lot of people, but it really does nothing to me. So that must be the opposite of what is going on in this case.

BTW: I am very much looking forward to your review and Scott's when you both had the chance to give the G-70 a test run! In the meantime I will try it out myself. My regular musicstore expects new deliveries from Roland in January. They had sold their demo when I visited the shop after Christmas.

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Tom NL

Hello Kim,
It's good (for me) seeing I am not the only one here that was pretty disappointed in the G70.
It seems we both had the same wish to have a G70 as our 'partner' and to be a Roland fan from now on.

I still cannot believe, people have WOW feelings while playing it (except the key feel, that is OK).

Has anyone of the G70 owners put some impressive MP3's on the Web?

Did you check the OS release version?

Congrats with your new Tyros, that DOES sound fantastic right out of the box

I sympathize with you Kim.
Just let me copy what I said on another thread.
And as for the WOW factor, it is 100% impossible to experience this with the G70 straight out of the box. Although Roel was a bit "jumping to conclusions" I think in the end he did himself a big favour by returning the G70 to the shop as well and purchasing the new Korg PA1x. In short the two leading top arranger keyboards for the time being seem to be the Korg and the Tyros.
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Today I first tickled the ivories on my friend's recently purchased G70. For a good understanding, I used to be quite keen on Roland and programmed very extensively on the G-800 in the 90ties. Over the last 3 years or so I have been quite content with my KorgPA80 (and recently PA50) arranger keyboard, whilst retaining the archaic Roland E70, mainly for its splendid acoustic piano sound.Anyway back to the G70.
I can now well understand my friend Roel's reaction on first hearing the G70 and returning it to the shop within days. Rightly so ? that is not for me to judge,but what I do know is that the G70 suffers the same fate as ALL its Roland predecessors, and that is that it has been extremely poorly programmed in the overall
PERFORMANCE section , including the songbook. IN this respect yamaha and above all Technics are much more impressive straight from the box. It is almost shameful to see how little effort Roland has put in these performances. For starters all G70 users are well advised to turn down the master reverb on virtually all performances etc. One has to re-create performances or user programs all but from scratch, and taking into account the manyfold possibilities (and intracacies !!) of this keyboard we are almost talking about a daytime occupation !!!!!.
As such I had little opportunity to get down to the nitty gritty of the sounds but in as far as I did I can only say they were quite good,though not spectacular.
The styles that I heard did not particularly impress me though they were'nt bad, but my first impression was that the learning curve to master this instrument is pretty steep as well, certainly if you are not into Roland. My conclusion for the time being therfore is that Roland has come up with a good arranger keyboard with great potential, but of which I doubt many users will manage to get down to use more than 25% of this potential. And I repeat, first time buyers on hearing the board straight out of the box will not be particularly tempted.
Oh and while I'm at it, as you know I economised this year by buying a Korg PA-50 and I still think this is a wonderful , almost "professional "keyboard (haha) at a price that puts ALL other keyboards to shame. (mine was 840 euros, brand new)!!!!!
Happy New Year to all of you,
regards,
John