Roland E-A7 experiment

For the past two weeks I have owned a Roland E-A7. I bought it mostly for a backup keyboard, and sold my KMA to Bruno.
I loaded my custom styles from the old BK7 in it, and with very little tweaking they worked fine.
There are lots of good things in the E-A7. I like some of the acoustic guitars, and a couple of the electrics. Saxes are good, organs good, drums sound really live. Not crazy about the pianos, but there is a new 88 Grand that is very usable.
I'm able to easily find styles for everything I need. Some are really good.
The OS is fairly easy to get around. The two screens are actually more useful than I expected. Keytouch is fine for me, but I like light keys.
I love the overall size and weight.
The mic processor is limited, but sounds o.k. No harmonizer.
The drawbacks to me are:
No text display, just for midi files.
Big old external power supply.
Screens are pretty small.
Not too much NOT to like though.
Having said all this, it certainly would not replace my beloved PA4X.
I have the right to return it within a month, and I'm on the border about whether to keep it.
If anyone is interested I'll post a recording or two.
One more thought...I could certainly play this keyboard every night and do just fine. The audience reaction has been positive on the couple of nights I took it to work. If a person spent time tweaking, editing sounds for variation, editing some drum parts, etc., it would be a really good tool to have in the arsenal.

Don: Why not the 970 for a backup? You already have experience and registrations for it. You also like the light touch.

I think I like the E-A7 better than the 970. Drums and bass much more realistic, except for the few audio kits on the 970. 970 does have wonderful guitar sounds.
I may hold off on anything until Uncle Dave gets his PA1000. It's not that I REALLY need a backup, but it's nice to have one.

Waiting ...

Good luck with your search, but I think I already know where your heading:

Probably heading nowhere. I'm happy, just foolin' around.

Actually EA7 is a great keyboard. You should never listen to it from it’s own speakers. It would have been better if it had none at all. Great sound and also there can be done a lot with. It has great and very professional tools to play with to make it sound your own.
This is one of Dynamic audio videos in English

https://youtu.be/eSkkqrYnj6E

HUSH!!!!!!

I have played it through headphones, through 2 Maui 5's, through Logitech Z2200's and it sounds good through all of them. Speakers are not that great, but o.k. for hearing yourself.
It does have a lot of nice sliders and buttons, and is e.q.'d to sound good from the factory, which seems to be unusual these days.

E-A7 is a great keyboard but I ended up replacing mine with a PA900. I prefer to have the harmony onboard, just so much easier to work with. I also prefer the larger screen and once I had the 900, I liked the keys better.

I still think Roland has the easiest "songbook" system-just set everything up how you like it and hit "write." Also nice to have the styles right on a USB stick if you want, although I think the later Korgs can audition from USB. E-A7 has more assignable switches and Transpose and Octave on the left side which I prefer. Korg is a bigger learning curve, but I am getting used to it. Sound wise, they are pretty close IMO.

E-A7 still has that glaring deficiency--no Break/Fill. You can use intro 1 for it sometimes, if you time it perfectly, but there are a lot of songs I do that need the break.
Seems the style part balance and one-touch settings are done better on Roland, but of course all that is easily adjusted.
The PA4X does read styles and songs directly from USB.

maybe Roland will surprise us down the road with a new arranger KB...?

Don't think we will se any new TOTL arranger model from Roland.

Forgot to mention, the speakers are better on the Korg as well. Good enough that I sometimes don't turn on my monitors and sub. Like the Roland Makeup Tools though. Seems like on Korg you have to use two or three different screens sometimes to do the same job.

Don, according to photos and the manual, the EA-7 has a Break button in the style control section. Again looking at photos this is something new even over the former TOTL BK-9.

Does the "Break" function not work for your needs? BTW thanks for your review. I've been interested in one of these for a while but right now I lack the budget to buy online. Music stores in north Texas don't seem to stock Roland arrangers :-(

Yes, there is a break button, and it "breaks" to one measure of dead silence, no riff, no tap, just dead air. It is only occasionally useful, and I haven't really found that occasion yet.
Intro one in many cases does what the break/fill should do, but not always. Sometimes it gives you a count-in. And you have to time it exactly right--never a split second behind the beat.

Some things I like not mentioned:

Seven assignable buttons.
Six phrase/pad switches.
User tone /drum banks.
Favorite section.
Sampler w/ edits.
Wave recorder.

DonM quote...it would be a really good tool to have in the arsenal.


It really is.....a great tool... and no matter how hard I tried... I could not justify, selling it..
I have several people that want me to sell it to them, but for so little money invested and what it does....It will stay put..

Didnt one of these roland arrangers recently come out and had audio multi pads that could be linked to tempo?
Thought it was the double screened model.
Jim

EA7 will.. Sample an audio file , save as a user tone and record as a phrase .. assign to a pad switch..

Also the BK9 will in another fashion recording is assigned to last 7 keys..

Hey Don,
Have you tried using the Arranger "OFF" button as a break? The drums will continue, and all other instruments will stop - then you just kick it back in. I use that sometimes even though I have a traditional "break" button.
ie: "Old Time R&R" ... breakdown for vocals and drums on a chorus - just turn off the arranger for a bit.
It works!

Fran, do either or both link to tempo?
Without sounding wonky?
Jim

I think everyone playing live needs to have a backup for if there is trouble with the main keyboard.

My only real negative about the EA7 was build and key quallity..
Buyt it sure is a lot cheeper then the 1000 and 970..

Still would love to see Roland make a high end arranger workstation...

Actually one of the buttons is programmed to stop everything but the drums and bass, and I use that some. I sometimes use the Chord Memory button on the Korg to stop everything but drums, especially on Old Time Rock n Roll.

The EA7 will not sync (wave/MP3) to rhythm. And I believe tempo change is locked out.. Key change is active..

The BK9 can assign to the top seven keys any wave/MP3 and sync to current rhythm.

I believe the tempo change is marginal because of artifacts..

I have software that does a decent job but will also create artifacts..

I did some research on the Roland EA7 and the now discontinued BK-9 arranger a while back and I must say the EA7 packs a punch for the price you pay for it. Roland seems to be focused on reaching young people because their gear of late has been lower-priced products for the most part. They quit making the BK-9 arranger and there is no word of a higher end successor. Roland also stopped making traditional workstations as we all know which is a shame. From what I understand Roland is financially strapped but their lower-priced products seem to be selling pretty well at the moment. I think they could make a comeback financially if they started making cutting edge products again that appeal to professional musicians. Oh well..

All the best,

Mike

Mike I remember seeing Keybplayer posting many post elsewhere. Where did you do most of your posts?

John C.

Hi John. I have posted in other forums but it's been a while. I used to post quite a bit over at www.musicplayer.com but under a different username and also at psrtutorial. I tried recently to sign up again at psrtutorial but the website rejected it because it said the email I used was considered possible spam. I don't know why that would be because it was an www.outlook.com address which is owned by Microsoft, a company that is very serious about stopping spam in general. Joe Waters who is the administrator of psrtutorial and who I consider a friend has a great website but I guess I'll have to keep lurking for now until he allows outlook and/or yahoo based email accounts to sign up again.

All the best

Mike

Mike, send an email to Joe Waters and he will take care of you. jpwaters@gmail.com

Good luck,

Gary