Roland A-70JV

The manual....well, anyone who reads these reviews has heard enough
about Roland manuals. However, I'd have to say that the manual
is complete. Nothing's missing, it's just not presented well.

As far as ease of use....well, you have to learn to speak MIDI to
use this thing. The flexibility of this keyboard is tremendous,
and the programability (controller only) is deep. The learning
curve is steep, as are the menus, so be prepared for some initial
frustration while trying to find everything you need for, e.g.,
reassigning control wheels/switches/etc. Fortunately, most of the
most commonly used functions (channel assignments, external program
selection, etc.) are easily available via the large button matrix on
the left side of the display. For common functions, I give it a 6,
low only cuz of the need to learn MIDI (not a problem for me, but
it does presume a fair amount of knowledge). For everything else,
it gets a 1. Keep in mind, though, once you have the unit programmed,
ease goes up to 10! There was no documentation for the VE-JV1 card
included, so I spent too much time trying to locate info on the
sound library. Let's give that a rating of 1 for the JV1.

Some people hate the keyboard action on this thing (some gripes about
the texture on the blacks). The black keys are slightly rounded at
the edges, which takes some getting used to. After three months, I've
grown to like the key action a lot. The roundedness actually helps
when you're forced to go in-between blacks to hit a white (I have a
short right thumb, so this happens a lot to me).

As far as other features go, this baby has a lot of good ones. Lots
of assignable controllers, channel aftertouch (would have liked
poly aftertouch, especially since you have 4 MIDI outs to spread
the traffic over, thus reducing the impact of the high traffic that
poly aftertouch gives you). Anyway, tremendous MIDI control
capability. I would have thought that a keyboard of this type
would/should include a sequencer. I only use sequencers at home,
so this is not missed by me, but I can immagine that others would
miss one.

One slot is available for a sound card. Mine came with the VE-JV1
card. Anyone want to buy it off me? Junk. (Sorry, JV sound fans.)

VE-JV1: The classical and steel-string guitars are nice if you
play them in the appropriate key range. Other than that, this
card is mostly crap. I appreciate that the JV series were/are
extremely popular, so I guess that this card has a lot of usable
stuff for a lot of people. Anyway, take this rating with a grain
of salt, since it is primarily a reflection of this card being
totally unsuited to my personal sound requirements. It would have
been nice to have at least one or two decent pianos on this thing.
Fortunately, the pianos (acoustic and rhodes) are usable. In a
pinch, if I didn't want to drag more/heavier equipment to a rehearsal,
they would suffice, but not excel.

This unit seems pretty rugged, but I haven't had it long enough to
be a test case for reliability. My rating is based on my opinions
about the physical design.
I can't tell what kind of switches this thing has. They could be
membrane switches, but I kinda doubt it. In any case, the switches,
displays, and audio connectors all appear to be circuit-board mounted.
Sorry, I can't recall if the MIDI connectors are. A rugged design
would have chassis-mounted connectors. Overall, though, the unit
seems solid. It's made mostly of sturdy, thick plastics which seem
strong, shock-resistant, and scratch-resistant. I'd most often
prefer a metal chassis, but this one was done right for the materials
used.

Because of the lack of docs for the JV1 card, and the complete lack
of online info for it as well, and give the fact that the stuff I
was looking for ultimately came from a free third-party site, plus
the fact that I couldn't get any other help from Roland USA on this
.......low marks. I'm no clear on whether Roland supports this
unit at all.

Despite the rather low marks I give this unit on the above categories,
I rate this machine rather high. I bought it for the MIDI control
functions, not for the junky JV1 card. This is a very flexible, deep,
powerful MIDI controller. That's all I wanted. If I were to change
anything about this unit, it would be the following:
1. Add five more sliders next to the 4 it already has. Then, I could
do complete control of a B-3 simulation from it. 4 is enough, but
9 would rule.
2. Poly aftertouch.
3. Chassis mount all external connectors.

I bought this thing really cheap. I almost jumped at one when the
price went down to $800. I'm glad I waited. Tremendous bargain on
a powerful controller. Bang/buck alone warrants high marks.
Definitely a repeat buy if lost/stolen/runoverbyatruck.