The prices in the UK (And I believe most of Europe) of the G70 and E80 are now down to pretty much the same level as the Korg PA800 and Ketron SD5, thus undercutting the Korg PA2x and Yamaha T2 significantly.
Interestingly the New PA2x also undercuts the T2.
The main question to be asked however is will it be a G or an E model, and will the chord sequencer be bought back.

Bill

I think I'd go for an E80 if that were the case....none around here for that price.

Bill, this might be in part due to the strength of the Euro to the Yen at the moment, or it might reflect a realization that some of these (especially the Roland's, IMO) were quite overpriced when released. Add to that their move to the low-discount CK lines (Roland, again), and the average price of TOTL arrangers took a dramatic spike with the G70's introduction.

Maybe there's a recognition that sales volumes at these inflated prices have negatively impacted bottom line? Better to sell more at a lower price than few at the higher one, IMO...

There was a brief moment when the G70 was first announced, that the MI division thought they were going to sell it, and a preliminary MAP was announced. Then Roland pulled the rug quickly out from under them, gave it to the CK division (Mom and Pop grand piano and organ dealers, KR line, etc.) and they immediately announced a MAP virtually $1000 more expensive!

Good for those dealers, but a disaster for Roland, once they realized that few of the CK dealers even wanted anything to do with those things, especially how hard a sell they proved at that inflated price. Result; Roland arrangers became harder to find than dragon's eggs, and the death spiral commenced.

Hopefully, this is a return to sanity at Roland, and a belated realization that, although long in the tooth (but not as long as the T2!), these arrangers are STILL sonically competitive with anything else on the market today. They simply lack some of the karaoke features that only a few pros really have much use for (most home users buy an arranger to PLAY it, not have it play for them!).

The T2 always WAS a very expensive beast, but, IMO, the SA voices, the HD recording, and the sampler, AT THAT TIME justified it's extra price, all fairly unique features. With the S900, though, only the sampler remains unique in the Yamaha line (and it sucks, IMO) and now the T2 looks EXTREMELY overpriced compared to current competition, from Korg as well as the S900.

But the Rolands NEVER justified their price, and only a few, like me, that felt it's sonic edge and quality build and key-bed made it the right choice at any price were buying it. I don't anticipate any new Rolands for a while. I am sure the price drops reflect Roland's desire to reduce inventory a bit, but one would expect to see more of a blow-out once the new models arrive, not before...

No point in putting new models out while sales for the current line have been such a shambles. Getting them back in the MI stores, and re-establishing brand recognition BEFORE a new model ought to be priority #1. Otherwise, they can only expect the same result...

Bill, I think your onto something. The new Roland Fantom G is about to ship (April) and it has a brand new Sound Engine. As we have seen with all the other workstation/arranger boards, whenever a new sound engine is released, they upgrade both product lines.

The question is ; When?

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Al Giordano
http://www.arrangerworld.com


Tyros 2, Yamaha P-250, Korg Triton Extreme 76, Roland VK8-M, DW Collectors Series Drums, Roland SPD-S.

G-70 Release pre- Feb 2005? (as there are g-70 user reviews at Harmony-Central that date back to Feb 2005)
As far as I can determine Tyros 2 release was circa Nov 2005...
So, again, which one is older?

Oops.. I guess the launch in the US of the G70 was January 05, T2 wasn't until later in the year (European release came earlier for G70). But they were damn hard to find (and still are!). But essentially, there's less than a year between the two, so a push, I guess I find it hard to think of a three year old arranger as 'long n the tooth'! For Donny, it's three months

BTW, FantomX was also a 2005 release, so maybe the NEXT G-series will use that one's engine (it had audio recording capability, but less extensive than FantomG

The Fantom had been out for what, four years prior to the G70 (original Fantom 2001, FantomS 2003), so Roland often give the WS a clean run for a while, then trickle down the technology when a new WS hits. You rarely see THIS year's new technology in THIS year's arranger.

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 02-14-2008).]

Diki, I follow your logic, but Korg apparently goes against it.

They have included the Oasys sound engine in their new M3 Synth and also in their new Pa2xpro; both of which have been released this year.

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Al Giordano
http://www.arrangerworld.com


Tyros 2, Yamaha P-250, Korg Triton Extreme 76, Roland VK8-M, DW Collectors Series Drums, Roland SPD-S.

and if korg does it the way they did with triton sound engine, that means the lower cost pa500 will have most of the sounds of pa2x>m3>oasys. (wow!)

All this talk about a new arranger from Roland...

Where is this coming from? Has something been leaked? Are there specs or pictures? Or is this idle speculation based on the winter doldrums in the northern hemisphere? I see a similar hollow conversation over at roland-arranger. Neither of these two threads address the stated topics. If you are only stoking a speculative fire, the flames are not warming my attention. Unless and until something a little more concrete leaks out of the Roland R&D dept. please don't try to make us drool over something that's not there...

...heaven knows I already slobber enough as it is.

The Oasys has been out for three years, though... trickle down.

Cassp, you know all this talk is the inevitable knee-jerk reaction to some self-styled 'insider' information about the G-series' inevitable demise (got from a dealer - wow, it must be true!).

They get here when they get here, and IMO, we don't need one yet, anyway. Plenty of people appreciate the G70 just the way it already is! I have said quite a few times... it will take the return of the Chord Sequencer to make me trade my G70. They have no other technology (WS or arranger) that I have any need for (already got a DAW and a WS or two)...