Edirol PCR-30

easy to use...just plug it in and download the driver. However...I can't get the onboard sliders and knobs to work with garageband. I haven't really tried to figure it out, but they don't work strait away.

The features are plenty to give you a lot of control.

Good touch sensitivity. Velocity reads are pretty good...but you can always go back in and correct the velocity further in the software.

I have has the same problem as everyone else that has owned this model. All but two keys died. I heard the same thing about the rubber strips being the problem.

I read in a forum that you could take them off and paint them with graphite paint on both side and replace them and it would work. So I took it apart and pulled out the rubber strips. Then I decided to call roland to see if they could recommend anything for me before I bought graphite paint (whatever the heck that is???). After bouncing back and fourth from customer service to tech support they finally put me on hold and came back saying that they have had major problems with this model and that they would fix it for me for free! All I had to do was pay for the postage. It was back with in a week and has worked perfectly ever since.

I would not buy one again...but I am happy to have this one. Overall, I would give this (fixed) machine a 6...it is good if it works!

Fairly easy to use.

Beware of the Roland modulation stick!

Ok expressivness of the keyboard, maybe some differences in velocity between the keys. Much better in Edirol PCR-300 however.

Picked one up as "broken". Tried to just open it up, clean all the rubberswithces (using electronic cleaner), and reassemble it. No go. Then got new rubberswitches, from Edirol, at ???15, and reassembled it. Now it works like a charm! The new rubberswtiches have different design than the old ones.

Demount it by removing all the screws on the backside, then remove the springs holding the keys (use a pincette), and remove the keys. Then simply replace the rubberswitches, and reassemble. Made in an evening.

Fast response from Edirol/Roland, who also pointed out the solution for this, and sent me the switches.

In general, there is room for improvement in Roland's support: no manuals on webpage etc...

Nice design, a little smaller than PCR-300. The latter has more features and better keyboard action. Get this one if you get it really cheap, and if you are not afraid to do some fixing.

I use this size of keyboard since it is easy to bring anywhere, and only require USB connection to my laptop. At home I use it for arranging music, to type in notes in Sibelius. As such a product, the PCR-30 serves it purpose well, the physical controllers is a nice add-on.

The unit is very easy to setup for a live performance and the hardware controls are intelligently mapped to MIDI control numbers out of the box when you plug it in. Program changes and parameter editing take some getting used to and because of the number of key presses required are not terribly convenient for spontinaity during a live performance.

The unit is feature packed and I love the USB power connection for remote use. I had hoped to use the V-link controls, but never had the chance to try it. I did get to demo it at NAMM and it was very cool. I bought it because it was the perfect size for keeping next to my computer and sports a full compliment of knobs, buttons and slders to control just about anything. The bender is the standard Roland single wheel horizontal controller that has the pitch bend left to right and the modulation is done by pushing the spring-loaded wheel forward. This is OK, but it doesn't allow for you to let it go and sustain the modulation.

I liked the playability of the unit and the solid feel of the keyboard and controllers. Even though it's just made of cheap plastic, it has a quality look and feel.

OK, this is the bad news. This unit is the most unreliable piece of crap I've ever owned (and I've owned a lot of keyboard crap). It lasted about a year of very infrequent use and then a bunch of keys started to fail. Now it's just a big plastic paperweight of shame I hide in the closet.

Honestly, I haven't even tried to get it repaired or called Roland for support. I'm waiting to use it in some video or performance art piece where I set it on fire and smash it into a million pieces, or maybe...

magically it will restore itself.

Call me a packrat.

If you're thinking of buying one of these - RUN AWAY! If anyone knows how to fix this for cheap or free, please let me know. I've always avoided buying Edirol products because I thought they would be cheap and I should have trusted my instincts.

I'm never buying another product from Edirol....ever.

Very easy to use when it worked. They no longer supply a usb driver on their website for this product though, except for Mac. I had to go to a third party site to download it.

The control knobs are not as high resolution as they were represented to be. Moving the knob increments by 3.

I used it a few weeks very sparingly, and it worked fine. After just a couple months of it sitting wrapped up waiting for me to have time to use it, several keys stopped working. Support wanted me to pay for it to be fixed when it was still within warranty... About a year later I thought about trying to fix it myself, and when I got it out, only one of the keys worked.

This issue seems related to the rubber strip that holds the little contacts under the keys. Apperently you can order a replacement one from the manufacturer.

According to others on forums with this issue, Edirol advised them it was a known issue in early shipments of this model. The fact that they don't have this issue and resolution noted in their knowledge base is horrible.

They wanted me to pay for repairs within warranty for an issue that I now know is related to a production flaw.

It would have been in their best interest to publish this issue if they had known about it.

I will never give them another cent. I could afford to sue them, but I don't have the time to deal with it.

I presently use this with Reason 2.5, and it works extremely well. Very easy to setup, edit parameters and use. The manual explains alot (when you take the time to read it!). I not only use it musically (playing or recording), but also for programming automated mixes, etc. It does exactly what I need it for.

Straight forward... it's a simple MIDI controller, and it does what it's suppose to.

There are no sounds from this module... N/A.

Like everyone else who has purchased this, the keys die eventually. Therefore, it is not very dependable.

HOWEVER, Edirol/Roland's customer support is truly CUSTOMER SUPPORT (READ ON)

I purchased this March 2003. The keys slowly died-out one at a time, and having been frustrated for so long, I contacted Edirol/Roland. They told me that they would still provide warranty repair, EVEN after THREE YEARS from the date I purchased it.

I sent it to them October 19, 2006, and got it back October 31st, 2006, completely refurbished. They change two rubber strips (for the keys) and replaced/updated the main board at NO CHARGE. All it cost me (to save my $350 CAN investment) was $15 of shipment by regular mail. Therefore, although I shouldn't have had to go through this, they provided excellent service and ''backed-up'' their product.

Now, it works like brand new. They have excellent customer service.

NOTE: if you no longer have the original purchase invoice, they will not provide warranty. You will then have to pay for the repairs. Luckily, I kept my original invoice.

Although it does what I need it for, I did not enjoy the trouble I had to go through to protect my investment. If it were lost or stolen, I would seriously shop with different makes before making a decision.

MY BACKGROUND: recording artist with 25 years experience, writing and recording original material. I mostly play rock, or anything that moves me. I play guitar mainly, and I own a Fender Strat Richie Sambora custom (that Richie Sambora personally gave me... pretty cool, huh!), a Les Paul Studio, a Brian Moore i9F, Takamine 12-string, Marshall TSL60 with Vintage cab, and a Peavey JSX 212 combo.

Half an hour to setup the drivers and setting on my computer and half an hour reading manual and I'm getting it to do what I want.
Editing all the buttons, knobs and sliders is easy.
Changing midi channels is cumbersome required three button presses.

I can now access all functionality of the VSTi's I use without reaching for a mouse. This is rather essential when playing live.

The internal audio capabilities in this controller is what sold me, and the fact it's USB powered. I can turn up with this little wonder and my laptop, just hook them together with a USB cable, plug into a DI and I'm off and playing. No big mess of wall wart jacks and midi cables.

I haven't really played around with the velocity curves yet but I seem to have to hit it quite hard to get 128 out of it

I use it with out back up at gig's because I don't have a backup. So far it hasn't let me down

The only question I've had was answered by an online database of common QandA

I would cry if it were stolen because they seem quite hard to come by. I think most of the manufacturers like you to buy separate controllers and audio/midi interfaces rather than stick it all in one. Personlly it annoys me I can't by a great 88 key board with lots on knobs and button that is also an audio interface for my computer and has killer onboard sounds too. Asking too much?

Well in my rig I have a 76 key controller with this little baby and a laptop. The PCR-A30 does the audio and midi interface with the computer, has all the knobs and sliders to control the VSTi's and as a bonus gives me a little 2.5 octave keyboard to do some organ and pad stuff on.

it was quite nice and easy to use when i first bought it but after about six months the keys started dying.

i have to give it a 1 because it is very dificult to use when none of the keys work.

it had great features and if the damn thing wasnt broken i would say that the features were very good for the price and size. but its not working...

it was nice for the first 6 months like everyhitng else.

100% unreliable! can you imagine if you were playing a live show and three of the keys died! it would be a fucking mess. to anyone using this product be warned!!

am contacting them now but i am very scared becuase i have read bad things and my warranty is already finished. wish me luck!

all i know is that the damn thing has simply sat on my desk for two years and i have slowly watched it go from beaing a great little midi keyboard/controller to a worthless piece of plastic in no time flat. i have the same problem as everyone else: i moved out of the country for a year and before i left 3 of the keys had died. when i returned all but one are dead! it was just sitting on my deskwith a thin piece o cotton fabric over it even so that no dust would get in it. !!!

only a few of the keys work.

Cool controls if the keys would work. Easy to use. Can power off usb.

Key velocity untrustworthy.

Problem equipment. Cheapification

Cool sliders and dials for parameter control... but this thing just aint working. Planners of obsolescence deserve punitive legal action.

Grrr... Same deal. I used this keyboard bunches. and now - 90% of the keys don't respond or transmit any midi out.

I loved the sliders and knobs. I even used them to mix a record. But now one of the knobs doesn't transmit and 90% of the keys don't either

It's a controller so no sounds.

NOT reliable. The keys die.

I haven't contacted them yet, but i'm out of the warranty period. Grrrr...and i was so ALL about this keybaord when i got it.

I was happy, i was. But this is unreal, 7 out 7 reviewers before me had the same problem, they keys dying. who know if the PCR-M 30 does the same thing? i don't trust Edirol as much now. It's not like I can just drop another 170.00 at a moments notice. GRRRRrr!

It's hard to use it when it won't work.

I especially like the feature wherein certain keys just stop responding.

This has got to go down in history as one of the worst pieces of gear EVER. It worked fine at first, but I let it sit for a few months, and when I picked it up again a bunch of the keys didn't transmit any signal at all! What happened? It wasn't outside of my house EVER! It just sat there for a while! Amazing. What a waste of money!

I've not gotten a response regarding this issue. It's no longer under warranty, but even car manufacturers will repair their DESIGN FLAWS when they discover them.

Worthless unless you plan on trashing it onstage a-la NIN. I plan on a backyard burning with some good old-fashioned ritual dancing.

I found everything easy to use, the manual explains very well.

Features are generous for a budget keyboard, meaning lots of control knobs and faders. More than enough for hobby users like me.

Key started playing up after half a year, now 60% don't work at all, 20% on low velocity. Fader start playing up now, jumping in 2s.

What's the point in having a keyboard that's perfect for 8 months?! Great disappointment, will go on wall as decoration...
Do yourself a faver, NEVER BUY THIS THING!!!!

Takes some getting into to make use of the configurable buttons, but that had more to do with how my JV1010 changes patches and the poor way it was described in the JV1010 manual.

Just can't get enough of these controllers! A great concept, but in the end, I just ended up editing from the computer; because no matter how many controllers there are, there will always be that one extra parameter and you have only an odd slider left or simply none at all anymore.

Master keyboard, no sounds

Black keys are louder (higher velocity response) than the white keys. Very wierd. I normally use a Yamaha DX7 with grey matter E! expansion.
Cannot get used to this.

Reliability problems with keys in general, too.

One key would work only intermittently. Sent it for repair, came back but didn't work at all, then! Got a fully repaired version now, hope it lasts...

Reliability a problem, now out of guarantee. Really only good for scrapping. M-Audio and ESI also seem to be poor quality. Glad I made my experience with bad Chinese build quality with a cheap-(ish) keyboard. Will take extra care with next purchase. No wonder Roland hides their Chinese stuff under the Edirol label...

Pretty easy to use, comes with a bunch of presets, and is now supported by most of the spftware i use

great controllers, nice midi bank features, keyboard ok, but has been a bit intermittent from day one

n/a

Totally unreliable. Had it for 2 years, i noticed that a couple of the keys were much louder or softer tan others fairly early on. Now, two years of occasional use down the line, over 50% of keys produce so quiet a signal as to be inaudible.

just about to try based on comments on this site. watch this space...

If it were stolen, i would definitely check something else out. It has by far the best feature set of any keyboard in its price range, but what's the point when the keyboard section stops working after so little use? would go for something more solid and accept fewer controllers as a compromise

No complaints about ease of use, except that *all* MIDI equipment is annoyingly difficult to use.

Lots of sliders, buttons, and knobs. I bought this controller for the features. However, the action is really clunky and uncomfortable, and I found my wrists straining every time I played it.

N/A

I'm one of those guys who buys a keyboard hoping to "get back into music" and then plays it twice a year. I've owned the PCR-30 for two years, played it a just a few times. Amazingly enough, it now has several dead keys. This machine has hardly been *used*, much less abused. This is ridiculous!

We shall soon find out.

I was hoping to have this controller around for use when the mood for music struck me, only to have it let me down when the mood finally did strike me.

I was new to MIDI and desktop recording when I bought this controller, so it took me a while to figure things out. The manual wasn't written especially well for someone new to MIDI, but maybe that's normal I don't know. I will say, though, that I was able to control some general functions right out of the box (after driver installation), so for that I'll give it a decent score.

32 keys, 8 sliders, 8 rotary knobs, buttons, velocity sensitive keys

No sounds, this is a controller. I'm a guitar player, so I don't know how to compare the feel of the keys to a higher end controller or synth. But, I know they don't feel like piano keys, nor were they advertised as such.

Here was my biggest issue. I bought this controller 2.5 years ago, and when I recently pulled it out for the first time in 6 months, I could not get many of the keys to work. Aside from the fact that I wasted hours trying to figure out what was wrong, it really pissed me off me when I realized that indeed the keys were broken....

So here's the main reason I wanted to write this review. I noticed many other users have had failed keys on their PCR series of keyboards, and some have complained about Edirol customer cupport. For whatever reason, when I contacted customer support last week, informing them upfront that my keyboard was 2.5 years old, they told me to ship it to them and they'd replace the whole key assembly for free. I paid $9 in shipping, and less than a week later it's on its way back to me. Although I do feel that the reliability of this product is really bad, I will say that from a customer support perspective, they have been great to me, because my keyboard is way out of warranty. If you've had similar issues, I suggest you write them a friendly email (i.e. don't blast them) explaining what is wrong and that you would really appreciate it if they could fix the problem, and most likely they will.

I would consider upgrading to the newer M version of these keyboards, but I would certainly do a lot more research as to which other keyboards are out there beforehand.

After owning this MIDI controller for just two years, some of the keyboard keys play too quietly, some too loudly, and some not at all. I would think twice next time before I bought an Edirol product for this reason.

If Edirol can help me fix the malfunctioning keys, it gets a higher rating. Frankly, I wish they'd send me a replacement, because i have keyboards much, much older that do not have this problem of unresponsive keys. If you know a way to fix this problem, please contact me. I've tried taking the thing apart... didn't help much, if at all.