Roland A-33 MIDI Controller Keyboard

I like this keyboard VERY MUCH and mainly because it has two rows of 8 buttons for sending patch changes, plus A and B buttons to switch banks, so that in total 32 patches can be stored. The patches, in addition, EACH have many parameters so that once setup, there's no need to push but only one button. Each button defines its own upper or lower, split, split range, octaves, transpose key, VOLUME, chorus, whether the upper or lower manual is on or off, or any combination. Each button can even turn on or off either or both of the midi-out ports! The way to program it is with the A-33 editor kindly written and gifted free by the Borg (has a good review below). One thing I add is that with the capability to switch on/off each of the 2 MIDI-out ports, I managed to send patches to a particular synth (without having to use sysex). That and MIDI-Ox and MIDI-yoke use. Otherwise, achieving that seems next to impossible with other keyboards. For each button, you get A LOT OF POWER. And there's 32. But because you can select upper and lower keyboards, and splits, with DEDICATED BUTTONS, actually there are many, many more than 32 possible combinations. One feature I would like to have is maybe 4 buttons. Each button that can be assigned to change keyboard to specified channel, without changing patches or anything else. I give the board (together with the A-33 Editor) a 10 rating overall.

Programming this keyboard is a little nightmare. Without a display you always hope that you did not forget to press one of the various demanded buttons just to edit a simple program change or so. It is like the question: why simple if it could be difficult? So without any doubt this costs some hours what should have costed some minutes.

For all desperate users: I got a nice PC editor software for the A33 what makes it a lot easier to handle. If you want it just give me a mail.

One feature is the 76 key range what is much better than the normal 5 octave range on standard synths.
The keyboard action is nice for a very slightly weighted keyboard. If you play live on stage and on one keyboard you play mostly organ, strings and synth stuff it is favorable to have a light weighted action as it is easier to play intense string legatos or typical synth solos on it. I say this as a studied pianist, so I know what I am talking about. And by the way: the famous Hammond waterfall keyboards feel very similar to me - so if you got a Hammond clone expander this could be the right keyboard for you.
For piano it is absolutely the wrong choice. No chance - look for something different.
The A33 has 32 programmable patches to control some expanders. But be aware that it has only two parallel Midi outs, what means both are sending the same datas. You can control the basic things like Midi chanels, program changes (with bank select), split points, effects - but as I said before, the editing procedure is a nightmare.
In the end I have to mention that you can power it up with batteries what might be a nice feature. And it is the opposite of a heavy/hard to carry keyboard - what is a nice feature for sure.

of course no sounds....

Never let me down. Good quality.

As I had no problem I cannot tell anything negative about it.

I have two A33 as my synth and Hammond sound controllers. They got 76 keys, have nice light weighted keyboards and are cheap and reliable. For controlling the expanders I use a Miditemp Midi matrix, so I can forget the editing problems. According to the price the A33 is a fair deal - if you do not want to play piano on it!

very hard to program this keyboard, and sometimes it doesn't do what you think it should. There's an editor program on the net you can use that makes programming it very easy (it's written in Tk so it's interesting to set up, though wasn't hard).

good keyboard for performance, bad for studio and composition.

for performance, you can spend a lot of up front time configuring the patches. using the a33 editor (the tk i mentioned) is great for this.

for home studio, composition, recreation, you need more creativity and freedom for exploring your gear's patches and controllers, don't do it through the a33. You'll spend all your time referring to the manual (or a cheatsheet you tape to the top of the a33 if you're smart) for how to program. I got to a state where I had one patch on the a33 that was pretty general so I could manually tweek the settings on my gear, of course that means you have to remember your favorite patches, or take the time to set them into the a33.

as a controller for desktop composing (fruityloops, reason, cakewalk, sonaar, cubase) the a33 is simple because you only have to set up one a33 patch to support the basics, and your software sequencer does all the remapping for you. (i.e. midi channel, controller, etc..)

One it is setup (i.e. in a performance), the keyboard is dead simple and great to use.

horrible setup/programming. i'm going to sell this keyboard and get an m-audio, or something else. no on-screen display so you have to keep the state in your head as you program it. there's no hand holding with this synth!

only one controller (the "data" slider - as if it's something special that you probably wouldn't use very often?!?!?).

The pitch bender is not smooth, has a huge bump in the middle. granted this is typical of most keyboards (even expensive ones). but it sucks anyway... try a clavia nord for how pitch bending should be done.

no aftertouch? that sucks. but the keyboard is kind of inexpensive. still, it's missing this feature, which I love for performance. if you need it, you need it, and this doesn't have it.

there is a modulation bend thing on the pitch bender you can remap to aftertouch.

data slider. would rather have a knob, easier to tweak. it's only one data entry, I use it for CC's like cutoff, res, pan, volume, etc... you can see already only one data slider is not enough. a bank of 8 would have been better (another reason to use an maudio keyboard they tend to have lots of knobs these days...)

nice footpedal support, one for expression, and one for sustain. if you're using this to simulate a grand piano or organ, these are neat.

nice midi in/out. 2 outs. one in.

does not have a progam up/down

support for banks (Msb/Lsb) is difficult, but possible, doesn't always seem to take. works well through a33 editor though.

see below for link to the a33 editor...

no sounds.

it's solid.
i've used this in the studio, and on stage...
hasn't failed me.

haven't dealt with it.

on the other hand, there's a free editor out there for the a33 which makes the a33 very programmable! http://www.uttis.de/a33/ search for "Roland A33 Editor/Librarian" on google.

i'm looking to sell it. I just need something more usable for studio use. programming it should be easy without a manual (or memorizing obscure button pushes). lack of onscreen display, dedicated programming buttons or thought to polish of the programming workflow really hurts this for me. but then, I would program this almost daily if I could. the small number of knobs, and lack of aftertouch is another reason.

for some people doing more traditional music, this keyboard is great, if they don't mind a little hassle setting it up every time their sound pallete needs to change...

As stated in some previous reviews a-33 is a pain to initially set up.
Once set up it is one of the best live controllers I have seen. I use two in a live setting with 2 jv1010s;one with country expansion and one with 60's and 70's expansion. I place them very close together on an apex two tier stand so they almost resemble a two manual organ. That way I have access to 32 instant sounds and can make splits on the fly by just changing sound for entire keyboard. The easy way to set up patches is to save sounds to a user bank, then use the a-33 to change patches (no bank change problems that way). I have even installed LED flush mount lights to see better in some clubs.

When using all types of sounds weighted action is a hindrance so this semi-weighted action is just about right.

no onboard sounds

never had a major problem with two units playing about 80 gigs a year in five years of ownership. owned 2 a-30s before this and had similar results.

Never had to call.

The a-33 does exactly what it was designed to do. Great keyboard for playing live due to quick on the fly patch changes, portability and long battery life.

Wow! What a maroon the previous reviewer must be. If you want realistic piano action -- sorry... it just doesn't exist for $350. The closest thing under $500 is a Fatar! Not a very difficult piece of gear to operate unless you're an idiot! Roland manuals typically could be more expressive, however.

No sounds -- it's a light-weight, cheap controller with the simplest of functions. No aftertouch.

No sounds. Feel is okay -- especially at this price point. I too amd a classical pianist. However, I do not purchase non-weighted, inexpensive controllers to perform Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies! Need realistic piano feel? Get an A-90 for another $1500 or so. The purpose for a controller like this, to me (an educated consumer, not a maroon) is for situations needing a light-weight, portable controller with 76 keys. That being said, for it's price point, it is quite good. However, Fatar has recently come out with an 88-key non-weighted controller that is even lighter and more portable... and has a better feel.

I have never, EVER had a Roland product fail.

Roland's products have been extremely reliable for me. This is an older controller, even even its successor seems to have been surpassed by Fatar. A great piece of gear if you get it cheaply and you're not a retard expecting it to feel like a grand piano.

I don't like Roland at all, I prefer Korg, but Korg has not midi-controllers in such price category. Kurzweil has much more expensive keyboards, that's why I bought Roland A-33. (I owned A-30 before)
At my opinion A-33 (as A-30) is VERY difficult to use. To change something exept first 32 programms, transposition, volume & keybord shifting, u must to create some kind of spell, using a lot of buttons & commands. I hate it!

Keyboard action are average. (I'm a classic pianist & prefer to play something more similar Steinway like Oberheim MC 2000 or something else), but sometimes it's cool to use light easy non-piano keyboard for electric jazz or fusion imrpovisation a-la Chick Corea or Herbie Hancock. Not for acoustic jazz playing of coarse!
A-33 has no expansion option (maybe ability to buy & to connect another pedal?:) Even AC adaptor & midi cable not included! But u can INSTALL a "great" pupiter (Oh, Lord! It's a computer keyboard & any computer-based sequencer has a notation function! Why I mast pay for this plastic/metallic ugly monster??) But now I'm a proud owner of 2 pupiters!! (from A-33 & A-30)
It has no aftertouch (but it seems to me, that's good! Have u ever play aftertouched grand piano? And when u play hard u can easily get aftertouched sounds even u don't want to get it! Use wheels or joysticks 4 modulation!)
But A-33' joystick (bender) is bad!
So short way for modulation! I prefer wheels!
U can only use bender in up or right-left direction.

It react to velosity like a cheap synthesizer (Korg DS-8, Kawai K4 or something else.) It's NOT a piano!

It seems to me keyboard action became worse than before.

N/A
But my manual has no some pages!

If it were stolen or lost, I'll buy Kurzweil or Oberheim midi controller with extended piano functions...
Maybe I'll do it before my A-33 lost or stolen:))

The patches are time consuming to set up depending on how specialized your rig is, but the flexibility is there to accommodate different configurations. Ease of use in live situations is good because of the individual patch select buttons.

Light weight and portable. This is the reason I bought the A-33. At this price point I don't think you can find anything comparable in quality and configurability. Flexible patch setups. Two selectable midi outs. Key shape feels good to play.

I'd like to mention one problem that has been reported in some of the reviews below. When I first got the A33, I hooked it up to a Roland JV880 module and noticed that when I cycled the Chorus ON/OFF button on the A33 (or selected a different patch), the Chorus effect on the JV880 would be turned OFF, and would not turn ON again. After some experimentation, it appears that the A33 default setting for Chorus Depth is a value of zero. Apparently, the JV880 interprets a command of Chorus ON with a value of zero to mean 'turn Chorus Off'. I was able to get around this by reprogramming the A33 patch settings as follows:

Fix: For each patch, and for both UPPER and LOWER of each patch, make the following EDITs to set and save the Chorus Depth value.

Select a PATCH
? Press Edit UPPER button
? Press EDIT button
? Press DataSlider Assign button
? Enter 93, press Enter button % Slider sends Chorus Depth
? Move DATA SLIDER to max % send max depth value
? Press DataSlider Assign button
? Enter 7, press Enter button % reset Slider to volume
? Set DATA SLIDER to desired intial volume
? Press and hold WRITE, Press desired PATCH button %save setting

Most of the time I use the A33 as a 'lower keyboard' for a Roland VK7 organ, and it's fine for that. It's less satisfactory when used for playing piano sounds. The light touch and poor range of velocity sensitivity makes it unsuitable for solo piano or accompaniment. It just doesn't provide enough control over nuance. For rock and blues, I can live with it.

Even as light as it is, it seems to be pretty tough. I've owned other Roland equipment that has held up well.

Never dealt with them.

I'd probably get something else if it were lost or stolen, just to try something new. I also have an SL760 controller, and I prefer the A33. I've been playing 40 years and my intention was to create a light and compact setup for weekend bar gigs. The VK7, A33, piano module and synth module provide that. I love the portability and hate the touch sensitivity. I wish the footpedal jack was assignable to Volume ctlr rather than Expression ctlr only.

My needs for a controller keyboard are fairly simple:

I play left hand bass, so I need at least one split point with the ability to set separate MIDI channels for the two halves. A bass sound is always on the lower half, while I change the patch for the upper half depending upon the song.

I play pretty standard pop music, so I need only about 32 different patches (ie, piano, guitar, sax, trumpet, organ, etc) for the upper half. One important consideration: I switch among these patches *while* I'm playing a song, so I need to be able to switch a patch very quickly with one hand. The A-33 has 16 dedicated buttons for switching patches, so it makes a "one button patch change" possible.

The A-33 meets those above goals.

As mentioned, it is almost impossible to program this thing due to the absense of any LCD screen. So I wrote myself a utility for the computer to program the A-33. If you run Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP, then you can obtain a free copy of my software A-33 Editor at http://www.borg.com/~jglatt (under "Software Programs"). Using this utility, the A-33 is very easy to program.

It is unfortunate that the A-33 keyboard does not support pressure (neither Channel Pressure nor PolyPhonic Aftertouch) although you can program the lever to output pressure.

And its velocity sensitivity does not utilize the full range of MIDI velocity.

I would have preferred pressure support and full velocity implementation over other features it has, such as two MIDI outputs and the octave transpose.

I dropped this off of a table onto a hard floor. One of the keys inside of it popped loose and broke. I opened up the unit and glued the plastic key back together. It survived and worked.

On the other hand, the wallwart (external power supply) included with it died. I hate those.

I don't think that this is nearly as sturdy as past Roland products I've used, but nowadays, it seems like all companies are making products whose construction is less than "heavy duty".

If I were to buy another MIDI controller, I'd certainly look at other models that are out there (although I may not necessarily find one more suitable than the A-33. It's not that I dislike the A-33, but I do see ways that it could be improved upon). But I chose the A-33 because I didn't want to have to poke at 4 or 5 keys just to change a patch.

The controller is very easy to play, but there is no LED/LCD display, so programming is difficult.

Keyboard action is superb! Very light, but weighted! And the 2 midi outs are also great. Maybe they must put more sequencer keys on it, but that isn't the reason fot buying this thing. The only less is the lack of a display and the 3 velocity levels. I prefer 7 or 8 velocity levels.

No sounds! It's a midi controller

Dude, this thing is great and very dependable!

Roland, this is the only Japanese concern which don't know what service mean thesedays.

I'm a lucky man, because I'd get it for 200 bugs incl. flightcase.
The new price is a little bit high. The biggest less of the machine is the lack of any display, but Roland fixed this on the A-37.
The keyboard action is just great, but the 3 velocity levels give the machine not a change for us to playing piano on it.
But still: It's a great machine!

The A33 added an expression pedal jack from the A30. There is no "joystick" controller as one user suggested but a paddle for pitch and mod. Unless you assign modulation control to the slider you'll have to carry a custom wedge of rubber to keep the paddle "engaged" for continuous activation (I use a piano tuner's string mute). Suggestion is to set up a default "patch" upon power up completely neutral (no splits, chorus, reverb etc) Unless you do so you will be sending chorus, reverb and other settings to your modules. I have an A30 setup in a school lab and it was too complicated for students so I just went ahead and put in only two "patches". Single zone channel 1 no processing- patch 2 was for channel 10 no zones etc. Careful how you work the paddle because it is costly to replace.