Roland announces it's new workstation is it up with Kronos?

[KronosSoundDesigns]

the wiggle stick...

..Joe

LOL! You are a very funny man!

[BillW]

One thing that turns me off about these lower line synths are the crappy keybeds. They may have tons of sounds and features, but I think keyboard players get the shaft on playability of lower line instruments. A Squire guitar or Stage Custom drumset can be just as playable as a pro axe if set up right, but there is no improving a crummy keybed.

From something I posted on another forum:

Not for me. No aftertouch, so sale.

We are letting the companies get away with this. The keyboard is our interface to the music, not the layout. They keep trying to make the layout do more, and the keyboards do less. The feel is getting worse, the performance is getting worse, the quality of the keybed is getting worse, and the features (i.e.: aftertouch) are disappearing.

And we still buy them.

Look: if Kawai could market the K1, and Yamaha the DX11 with aftertouch back then for a grand, then the other companies can do it now. I understand that simple keyboard players don't care about it, but *musicians* absolutely do, and as such, expect to see it in the keyboards they buy. Why am I forced to always buy the top-end workstation just to get aftertouch, paying hundreds more for features I *don't* need or want (can you say Karma?) just to get aftertouch?

It's akin to guitarists: imagine how a guitar touted as a "performance instrument" (as this is) would sell today if they omitted the wiggle stick...

..Joe

wiggle stick 0_o? you mean the whammy bar?

and I totally agree with you. No excuse from them to not include aftertouch.

+1

[Jugo]

this board looks quite interesting.. would it be a good update to my M50?

[plisken]

this board looks quite interesting.. would it be a good update to my M50?

From an M50? yeah I would say so.

[alanjpearson]

What is it with Roland and their unwillingness to incorporate after-touch into their keyboards (with exception of hi-end models)?

Surely as a performing device, AT is a highly desirable performance tool.....

My XP30 has it..............

[xp50player]

$1000 for a DX11 in 1988 = $2000 now, so that might be why a $1000 synth now doesn't have aftertouch.

[jimknopf]

I definitely like some of the Juno and Jupiter Sounds on the Axial site.
If these were some day available in a FA-rack with full access to the Integra library, I would be tempted.

As for the FA06 keyboard, it's certainly one more choice in the ~1000$ area, with some gimmicks not available in others. But it's still nothing I would want to have, simply because I would not kick a single of my other keyboards for it, and have no use for another plastic keyboard, with another more or less halfbaked mixed pickles UI and OS concept.

[Francois]

Reading the press release from Keyboard, I note:

"Included in the FA-06/FA-08 is a collection of over 2000 tones inherited from the INTEGRA-7, Roland’s flagship pro sound module. All of the INTEGRA-7’s SuperNATURAL® synth and XV-5080 PCM tones are on board, plus an essential collection of ultra-expressive SuperNATURAL acoustic tones. The sound engine is compatible with free INTEGRA-7 synth tone downloads available from Roland’s Axial sound library site, and the internal sound set can be extended with optional FA-series wave sound expansion collections."

So it would appear FA-06 owners will be able to buy expansions. We can surmise they are the SRX present in the Integra-7. And since the FA-06 has two slots, this means two SRX loaded at any one time.

[jimknopf]

After some years of Roland experience, I'm already curious for the first generation of users telling us more about the limits besides the goodies
My first question: how many user sounds can be saved? Does anyone read that from the specs?

Anyway, I wish Roland to stay alive and contribute.

[NuSkoolTone]

After some years of Roland experience, I'm already curious for the first generation of users telling us more about the limits besides the goodies
My first question: how many user sounds can be saved? Does anyone read that from the specs?

Anyway, I wish Roland to stay alive and contribute.

Indeed. Was looking for a manual for these answers, but none posted yet. It's 16 part multitimbral in some kind of set, but no clue given as to if these must be created "on the fly" or you can actually store them like Combis. And if you can, How many? It's cool I can take a basic sound and tweak in realtime, but I'd also like to make sounds using all the power under the hood with splits and layers I can call up via MIDI from my master controller during the gig. What I do isn't "Oh I just need a brass patch, maybe I'll split an organ on the bottom".

I'd love to have a roland board, just wish they'd get a clue!

[GregC]

After some years of Roland experience, I'm already curious for the first generation of users telling us more about the limits besides the goodies
My first question: how many user sounds can be saved? Does anyone read that from the specs?
Anyway, I wish Roland to stay alive and contribute.

with splits and layers I can call up via MIDI from my master controller during the gig. What I do isn't "Oh I just need a brass patch, maybe I'll split an organ on the bottom".

I'd love to have a roland board, just wish they'd get a clue!

I use to have an Rd700GX and it also served as an awesome midi controller. It was simple fast to do splits on the fly on the RD, too.

don't know about this new FA but it shouldn't be greatly different for doing splits

[Basement Music]

The FA-06 is definitely interesting for the price. If it had the SRX expansion library on board it would be unbeatable but you still get a supernatural based workstation with 128 poly and 16 insert FX. I wonder if they release a higher end version in the future based on the Integra/JP80 with 256 poly, all the effects 16 insert + TFX + the surround of the integra plus all the sounds they have...could be interesting. But probably they won't risk it.

[Joe Gerardi]

$1000 for a DX11 in 1988 = $2000 now, so that might be why a $1000 synth now doesn't have aftertouch.

Maybe, but I would disagree that the cost of electronics are always to provide more for less. in 1988 a PC-AT 286 clone with an 80Meg (NOT "Gig"...) hard drive was $2195.00. (I know- I was working in a PC store back then.) An equivalent PC in today's dollars is probably $600.00, yet every inflation calculator out there says they should be over $4000.00. How much were Blue-Ray players even 5 years ago? $250.00? Today they're 89 bucks.

Additionally, that doesn't account for the Jupister-50, which IS $2000.00 street price and still doesn't have aftertouch.

No, I simply think the manufacturers are basically screwing over the musician out here, and dumbing-down the instruments, and we just stand there, mouths open, waiting for then to do it again...

..Joe

[GregC]

$1000 for a DX11 in 1988 = $2000 now, so that might be why a $1000 synth now doesn't have aftertouch.

No, I simply think the manufacturers are basically screwing over the musician out here, and dumbing-down the instruments, and we just stand there, mouths open, waiting for then to do it again...

..Joe

manufacturers have always enjoyed large profit margins. They usually allocate a large amount into truly new products.

I think most of us ( with a few decades of experience) can recognize recycled/dressed up ' new ' products. I would reasonably guess the production cost of the new FA's is low. There is room for future price decreases at retail ( like most new products)

Capitalism at work here.

[Joe Gerardi]

Capitalism at work here.

Agreed, And in the spirit of Capitalism, if it's not liked in the marketplace, it will die a quick death until the manufacturers start paying attention to the needs of the buyers.

..Joe