Roland A-90EX

Very easy to use. QUite a deep controller keyboard with many levels, but easy for the novice to get started and lots of room to grow.

64 voice. Medium -light hammer action is comfortableand relatively fast. Get the EX pIano card - great piano sounds plus many other essential keyboard and synth patches for demos and live operation.

Full MIDI spec.

Sequencer control.

All sounds ver good.
Great for all styles of music.
Effects are good, but for today, relatively limited.
Very reactive keyboard. Great aftertouch.

Used for many years without problem.

These things get banged on when played and then get transported so there are liable to be problems.

I have broken 3 keys over the life of the unit (still in service!) but they are relatively easy to replace.

Yvery easy to get the parts I needed.

Hard to replace this one! They just don't make them like this anymore.

This is the best MIDI controller ever made by far!!!! If you can find one get it!!!!!! The piano sounds are Excellent probably one of the best samples ever put together the A90 EX is just awesome - sampled a while back ago but still great - I have a JV880 and -s760 sampler and a Casio WZ-3000 - Talk about sounds - controlling the Casio is great!

I bought this used the end of April 2006 - IF it has damaged keys get it anyway and have it repaired - YOU WILL NOT FIND ANOTHER KEYBOARD LIKE THIS EVER!!!!

10 years later this keyboard is going stronger than ever!!!!! Poly is fine - How ever what I love is the obvious controller features - quik fast - great for gigging and studio work..... Find one if you can - And Honestly, I would still pay up to 700.00 for this thing - Talked to a Roland tech recently and he told me that - The techs are encouraging Roland to bring the model back - or something very close to it.... Roland should have made this keyboard forever - with software updates + optional hardware updates... Too bad

The hammer action is Fantastic for its age - (tangent) Yamaha SP08 are just amazing hammer wise...

The sounds are great as mentioned earlier - sampled on 96-99 technology, and yes a little dated, but honestly who cares - recording sounds great samples easy to change if needed on the fly...

Absoulutely, definitely without a backup - It's a Roland A-90 EX what do expect!!!

Pretty good - easy to get tech

IF it were lost or stolen I would need therapy - can't imagine ever having a studio without it - Pretty heavy to gig with, but worth it if you are doing a large set..... Live - it is great.....

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The A-90 is a PRO-oriented 88 keys performance master keyboard with a excellent soft-medium hammer action. The MIDI routing and control features makes the A-90 the MIDI core of any keyboard player on a gig.

Working with a PC and a set of virtual intruments (VSTi, DXi) the A-90 is a excellent tool to control all the virtual instruments on you PC on a live performance without put a hand on the PC to change a sound.

Now the A-90 is discontinued, and miss another master keyboard with the MIDI features, elegance and reliability of the A-90.
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First of all, sorry for my bad english. I'm a 32 years old keyboard player, playing with my own band daily on a 5 star holiday hotel resort on the Canary Islands (a spanish islands placed on the North African Atlantic coast, that belong to Spain). I use here the A-90 there since 2 years and a half.

If you are looking for total MIDI control and a medium hammer keyboard action the A-90 is the real thing. The A-90 appeared on 1997 and has not internal sounds, but the A-90EX incluides the VER-DI card with a bundle of pianos and keyboard sounds. The card was 24 Mb, something impressive on that years. I writte this review on 2004, and now if you are looking for great piano sounds, you should consider to buy a external sound source instead upgrade an A-90 to A-90EX. So we'll forget the internal sounds by now, and later I will recommend you some good sound source for pianos based on PC.

The A-90 gives you control up to 8 layers. You can assign each layer to a MIDI channel and to one or more MIDI outputs. Also with the A-90 you can switch, merge, split, velocity split... and combine these LAYERS on so many ways as you want to imagine.

Lots of MIDI IN-OUT Routing! Using the 2 MIDI INPUTS you can play two external Master Keyboard as a extension of the 88 keys of the A-90, using on them the power of the MIDI filtering of the A-90. Amazing! There is also a lot inputs for pedals and footswithes ready to be assigned to any MIDI control or program changue. These external foot controls can be assigned to one or more layers on as many combination as you want. Total control!

After 2-3 hours of practique and a reading the manual, you will find the way to do this. The A-90 is a perfect tool to control huge sets of MIDI modules, or maybe a computer full of virtual instruments.

The user interface is not for begginers, some menus are long and complex, and some functions are very hidden. But there is a lot of direct access buttons that will help you to edit some basic and also advanced functions on a snap. Practice and all will be easy on the stage!

I love the buttoms!!! Are big and pretty, very confortable, like a JD-800. All the buttoms have a bright orange light (except the numerical buttoms). Even the Panic buttom has a light on it! Don't you love it?

The keyboard action is excelent. I feel like play a real piano!

The A-90 HAS NOT A HARD KEYBOARD. It has hammer action but a little soft. My fingers never get tired like other 88 hammer action keyboards I tried (specially Kurzweil and Fatar were too hard for play 2 hours each day). So remember this ... the keys are little soft, but there's hammer action.

The keys are also really solid. Forget your plastic synth keys, you will feel the key weights. The mechanics is the same than the RD series of Roland Electrical pianos.

There is 8 velocity curves. I always felt happy with the default curve and I need no changes. You can assign a different curve to each layer. There is also aftertouch, but I never used it.

I never used the Sequencer control buttoms, but I use the sliders all the time. There is 6 sliders but only five transmit MIDI. The other is the internal volume of the internal expansion board. There is not build in sequencer. Do you need it?

With the numeric pad you can enter any data or recall any of the 64 memories. I never used a memory, I always work switchin on and off layers. To create piano sounds I make several combinations of layers, mixing the acoustic piano of 'The Grand' with a N.I. FM7 DX glassy piano, or a Rhodes from N.I. Elektrik Piano VSTi. Just combining what I need of the 8 layers to create a sound of my choice, just setting up the volumes of each layer on the sliders. But there is hunders of work with the A-90.

The ver-di expansion board sounds were one of the best pianos ever heard on 1997, 98 and lot of top musicians used the A-90 as main piano. These sounds are not for me. There are inside the classical Roland pianos, and some pads, organs. But I recomend to plug the A-90 to any VSTi or DXi giga piano, like 'The Grand'. I tried the popular 'East-west Bossendorfer 290' with the A-90 with a friend's VST-MIDIfied laptop. Our conclussion was Bosendorfer 290 was perfect as classical piano or smooth jazz style, and 'Steinberg The Grand' was perfect for Rock-Pop. 'The Grand' is a dry piano, and B-290 is a wet piano.

Nothing compares to these two virtual pianos. I also tried several Gigapianos for Gigasampler, or the internal sounds of other electrical pianos as P-80 or RD-700, or even the aclaimed Kawai MP-9500 (the Kawai looks really ugly), but personally the real piano is 'Steinberg The Grand' on a Roland A-90.

I own an second hand A-90.

The keyboard external structure looks solid as a rock. All the keys work perfect after years of daily use. No broken keys, as other people report. No 127 velocity values after a lot of abuse. All works great. All the buttoms and functions work perfect. I use a lot the sliders everyday and all continues working right.

Just I have the same problem than the next review with the pitchbend. Please read it on the next review. If I move the pitchbend it doesn't works but changue a bit down the tone. So I think it's a general fault of all the A-90s. It was broken when I brought the keyboard, so I use the pich and modulation wheels instead the pitchbend.

I also have a led on a buttom that doesn't work. Unluckly is the led of the Switch of the Layer-1. It's a very important light because I can not check when layer 1 is on or off. I was using a lot this buttom so i guess when I use a lot a buttom, maybe the led will get broken. Any report out there with problems on the leds on the A-90?

No alarm, it is just one led after lot of intense crazy sessions. So I think the A-90 is totally reliable, even when doing abuse, but not totally perfect as we can see on the problem on the pitchbend.

I would like to fix on the customer support these little things, but I need the A-90 to work. I'm on Canary Islands and there is no customer support here. Is very expensive to send the A-90 to Spain and return back by air these 27 kg+box , so I'll live with these little faults, since the keyboard is totally operating.

The A-90 is my main playing tool. I use also Yamaha CS2x and a CS1X as master keyboards (not as sound source). Why? Just because the 8 rotatory buttons on the Yamaha's transmit MIDI controller. I assign the Yamaha's to a layer an the A-90 that plays N.I. B4 VSTi on the PC, or another layer that is connected to Steinberg Halion, a virtual sampler on the PC with lots of sounds from the Akai and Gigastudio library (Strings, Brass, Pads, Leads, Classic Synths). I love to control the filters and envelopes on the CS2-x buttoms. And I control all this through the A-90.

I brough the A-90 just because I can not find all these MIDI control features on another master keyboard. But I'll like to replace it, just because I get tired of the same keyboard every night during 2 hours. But I found nothing better as MIDI routing keyboard, so I'll continue waiting until something new appear.

Just a little mention to the Kawai MP-9500. If you are looking real hammer action go to the Kawai. Real hammers! and a solid HARRDD REAL keyboard.

The Kawai also has a good MIDI implementation, sliders and 4 layers, but far of the 8 layers and the vaste MIDI posibilities of the A-90.

I love on the A-90:
- Keyboard Action and key's feeling.
- Excelent MIDI routing and MIDI control
- 4 MIDI OUTS
- Lots of Pedal and footswitch inputs.
- Expands their MIDI layering power to external master keyboards.
- It has the best and prettiest buttoms I never found.
- Solid construction, reliable keyboard and nice design and lines.

I miss on the A-90:
- Some more sliders.
- Lots of buttoms but there is no assignable switch buttoms!!! Just switch the 8 layers, switch the 4 MIDI outs and switch portamento & monophonic.
- Easier menus.
- 8 layers is enough but if there is more layers I'll use it.
- As heavy as all the good hammer action keyboards. (27 kg)

The A-90ex is very easy to use, although one has to learn to do this himself. The manual is not very clear about some isues. Nevertheless, the A-90ex is very easy to use, the piano sound is great!

I've experienced a very strange problem using the A-90ex with Cubase VST. The midi data received by Cubase is not corresponding with the things I've played. Some notes have a length of sometimes more than 300, where I've played is for like 2. When I play a C9-chord (d-e-g-c) with the right hand, combined with a left hand (c-g-c), no MIDI-information is send at all. I've tried to contact Roland for this problem, and so far without any results.
The keyboard of the A-90ex is brilliant. It playes very light, but still feels like an acoustic piano.

The piano sound, as well as the Hammond B-3 (distorted) sound are fabulous! I play all kinds of music with the A-90ex, and it's very usefull for all kinds of stiles.

The midi-information send to Cubase doesn't seem to be right, as I've found out recording in a studio using Cubase. In that way, it's not reliable at all.
Last week, my pitch bender broke down: when I bend up (and the tone is supposed to go up 1 whole note), it works fine, but when I release the bender, the note drops a little more than half a note, which makes the sound (and the entire A-90ex) out of tune! This is a terrible failure, which makes the A-90ex not reliable at all. I've tried to analyze the problem, and it appears to be that the plastic has worn out, which means the entire bend-unit has to be replaced.

I've tried to contact Roland several times now through customer support on their website, and 'till this moment, they haven't responded at all. To me, it's unbelievable that a company as Roland has the guts to call this customer support.......

Lately, the A-90ex isn't reliable anymore. May be this is normal for a midi controller of 10 years old. The worst thing about it, is that Roland doesn't seem to be able to give any kind of customer support.

The hammers broke on me at a gig in the middle of a tune. I couldn't deal with that.
When I opened it up I saw about 15-20 other hard plactic hammers cracked!
I could not trust it after this experience ever again. I fixed it at and auothorized Roland center and sold it -at a lost. Don't buy it!

After talking to Roland they have told me that some of the PA-4 hanmmers made of plastic that has been improved since I've got my model. They have replaced the faulty parts for no charge after the warranty expired by a year. I guess they felt really guilty.
Now they use the PA-5 hammers I hope they are reliable.

The perfect controller gone wrong because of the cheap plastic hammers....
I loved it but could not trust it.

This controller has it all -- good keyboard action, high flexibility with an interface you'll get used to in no time.
I installed firmware upgrade version 2.11 from <http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/plank/A-Series%20Downloads.html> to get additional patch names.
The presets are pretty much useless, as you will replace them with your own. Editing performances can get lengthy, but is not difficult. I would have liked more control over patches, but hey, it's supposed to be a controller, not a synth.
Although the manuals could be improved, they do cover all the features and proved useful many times.

64-voice polyphony is fine, but if you get carried away with the sustain pedal, it shows its limits.
The excellent keyboard action is quite deep and satisfying, although not as light as more recent pianos. It is easy to control pressure and the plastic finish doesn't feel cheap. In fact the problem is elsewhere; the keys make all sorts of little (mechanical) noises when used -- but the previous owner did play outside and in areas with a lot of cigarette smoke...
The included VE-RD1 card is the best match out of the 3 or 4 available expansion boards; it allows for the complete set of A-90 features to be used. Still, it lacks the extra tweaking functionality you would find on a synth or a sampler.
You can insert a M-512E memory card for 64 additional performance settings and other stuff.
As a top-of-the-line MIDI controller, there is nothing much to say against the A-90EX; it supports just about everything you can think of. You have as many programmable wheels (4), sliders (5), buttons (2) and pedals (6) as you will ever want, and you can assign them to any parameter that God created.
Although there is no onboard sequencer, there are dedicated control buttons for an external sequencer, as well as a performance chaining feature.

This is where the VE-RD1 shows its limitations. As far as piano and organ sounds goes (nice B-3's), it can hold its ground, although it can't compare with recent Technics electronic pianos. It does feature a lot of similar sounds, and mostly keeps itself to "sounds from instruments with keyboards".
It goes far enough to be used as a stage piano by itself, but there are many dedicated electonic pianos that sound better (and cost less). If you want total MIDI control however, the A-90/EX is for you. The reaction to the input is excellent, and is limited only by the equipement you control. All I have to say is that the VE-RD1 is not the best equipment you can control.

When I bought it the previous owner, a professional keyboardist, had to repair lots of stuff (stuck key, dead buttons and/or lights, etc.). Since I got it, I did not have any problems. The usual cleaning will prevent the "happening of shit". I would certainly use it without backup, just like I would for every Roland equipement I encountered.

A store I know ordered some obscure A-90 parts (boards, keys, hammers and manuals) from USA and Japan and got them 2 weeks later. Not bad. However, this particular model is discontinued since 2001 and will only get harder and harder to repair. I never directly contacted Roland, but I've heard enough horror stories...

Excellent (best?) MIDI controller. Excellent key action. Average stage piano (by itself, I mean). I recommand it if you can get one for a bargain, but it is getting old. I have yet to find a complete replacement in newer models though...

Not very hard to use.

Great MIDI controller.
Lots of bottons and sliders.
Lots of MIDI out and MIDI in ports.
Currently nothing better out there.

Some very good old synth samples.

Great reliabilty except the hammers for the keys may occassionaly break, but its not hard to fix and all it takes is a philips and glue.

I am not sure.

Great main midi controller.
It is too bad the a90 is discontinued.

Typical learning curve for Roland stuff - slow at first, then easy. This thing has a ton of master controller capabilities - the main reason I got it

Action is the closest to a real piano in my opinion. I have been playing for 25 years with emphasis on classical and jazz, so contrallability and realism were important in my choice. The VE-RD1 expansion has typical Roland stereo chorus and reverb, although the reverb sounds cleaner and has better high-end crispness than I've xperienced with their other units. No onboard sequencer but does have excellent sequencer controls. I've only used it a couple of times to control my computer-based system, and it worked flawlessly once I got the program to pay attention to the messages. I wish they had kept the poly-aftertouch on it like they had on the old A-80. (Maybe a future OS upgrade...)

Definitely has one of the best piano sounds I've found short of using a huge sample in a dedicated sampler. I've used it on several recordings that I contributed to, and many listeners thought it was a real Baldwin 9 footer! The electric pianos are to die for if you want the sound of a real Rhodes or old Wurlitzer. The use of tremolo with the mod wheel completes the package. I have compared the sounds to those in other Roland piano-type keyboards, and this thing is just more open, cleaner, and has more depth to it. I believe the reason for this is the size of the original samples used (less compression) and the quality of the output system on it. Some people have even said that the stero grand sounds on it are too wide, I agree that the first 3 of them are spread really big - great for recording. The semi-concert ones are great for live work, especially if you are going through a mono PA. Strings are OK, not it's strong suit but they are quite usable. The synth sounds are pretty good, creative working of the effects and sound combinations have given me some great ethereal pads. The organs, well, they sound like an afterthought to me, the only one I like is the overdriven 'B' sound, the rest are pretty wimpy (if you want good organ sounds, use something designed for it).

One work - it's a Roland. Every Roland product I have ever owned has been virtually indestructable, doesn't flake out unless I do something to screw it up.

Roland is typical of one of those big companies that is still learning real customer support. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it sucks. Anytime I've needed help and called them, once I get someone they are very helpful.

Stolen - the poor bastard had better get at lest 1000 miles away to keep me from chasing them down andbeating them with it once I catch them. I would definitely buy it again, even with the huge crop of wannabes hitting the market since they introduced the beast. I did some major comparing to other 88-key portables, especially master controller boards, and none of them had everything I was looking for besides the A-90

The sounds are good. Have the VE-RD1 extra. Lot of the same type of sounds. I belive the DynoPiano1 sound is the cleanest, coolest sound on the board. Manual seems to be somewhat informative. Purchased the video manual to see if it explains a little better.

Keyboard action is great. Coming from all acoustic piano's, it has a great feel. Haven't hooked it up to any other keyboards as of yet.

Sounds are pretty close to the real thing. Effects are nice to the ear. Need to hear how it handles to other keyboard sounds before I can make a fair judgement.

Sure. Not a problem yet on taking it to any gig.

N/A

Played for many years. Looking to learn more about it's uses. It will be my main keyboard/controller for whatever sounds I plan on using.

It hasn't taken me long to work out all the features on this controller. It almost seems to easy now. I have upgraded to the latest operating system which gives my more module patch names. I had a few problems upgrading the operating system but it turned out to be program I was using to play the sysex messages.

Polyphony is plenty and I never get lost tones. The keyboard action is the PA-4 used on a few of the 88 note keyboards now and I believe is the best feel to a piano of any other keyboard. It has a sequencer controller which I have managed to get working with Cakewalk. I hope then one day when I get a sequencer in one of my modules, I will be able to control it using this. The reason I brought this keyboard is so I will never have to replace it because I am going to buy modules. At the moment I'm looking at the Yamaha EX5R or the Triton Rack (when it comes out in October). I play mostly live and one thing I love in this controller is the way I can chain a gig worth of presets together so I simply have to hit next song and its sets of both the internal patches and my JV-90 secondary keyboard. Two keyboards completely set up for a particular song at the push of ONE button. I also like the way I have told the A90 I have a JV-90 with a session card and its knows ALL the patch names. There are also user patch lists just in case you buy modules or keyboards that arn't on the list.

I use the internal sounds on this keyboard for pianos, strings, vocals and organs which are all excellent. I use my JV-90 for the remaining sounds such as brass, effects and synth sounds.

Its quite heavy but I believe worth gigging around with for the use of a 88 weighted key. I had a few connection problems with the midi outs but I resoldered them and it was fixed. I also had some problems playing the internal sounds from a external keyboard but turning the local control off. There is a bug in the OS for this but a work around is to simply assign a midi out that your not using (MIDI OUT 4) to that internal zone and then turn on the MIDI OUT. I use to think you needed a cable attached from MIDI OUT 4 to MIDI IN 2 to make this work but this is not the case.

Customer support sucks. I wish Roland would get an email address for us to use. Also the manual completely sucks but thats okay because I've worked it all out now. There are a few bugs in the OS which I hope they may fix one day but it is unlikely

I would defitely get this keyboard again. A 88 note keyboard is something that everyone hopes to get one day but never really buys one because they are just a little bit mote expensive. Its bad for your technique to constantly play on that plastic key crap. This is defiantly the ultimate controller and combined with a sound module that has the fancy sounds, a sequencer, a sampler and an appegiator, you would pretty much have everything at your fingertips.

This machine give me REAL control over ALL other things!

I like the Start/Stop seq function a lot.
Is there any software for PC connectivety?

I can only take this one in my car and than its full!!!

never been there!!!!

Great machine, but i couldnt buy it twice

I have operated and owned the "A" series now for some 10 years. I had the A-80 and now I have the A-90EX - TREMENDOUS. It gives me instantaneous control over the modules I utilise and it's so easy to use.

Difficult to access all the sounds on the JV 1010 - don't seem to be able to access all the soundbanks

Feels beautiful to use. Igrew up as a "classical" pianist but have been using synthesizers for some 20 years now.

Yes - totally

I have been playing piano for 48 years, the last 20 on electronic keyboards, on local TV and overseas gigs. The A-90EX is just beautiful, although lacks in the accessing of mulitple soundbank modules.

I purchased my A-90EX 1 year ago. I'm a very part-time musician and have not spent a lot of time getting to know my equipment very well. I have however found my A-90EX to be user-friendly. It is easy to edit the sounds and I've been able to troubleshoot any problems that I've come across (mostly user error!) easily. The manuals are of practically no assistance. I've had to figure things out by searching the internet, and just problem-solving with friends' assistance.

The 4 midi in/out on the A-90EX has been invaluable, especially when I've worked on some home-recording projects with other players. I really quite like the internal sounds. Particularly those on the expansion card. I even regularly use the organ sounds, with some editing they're not too bad. As a classically trained pianist, one of the main reasons I bought the A-90 was because of the key action. It is like no other keyboard I've tried. The ability to layer sounds and edit them so easily on the spot has been invaluable to me. I use my Roland JV-880 sound module in conjunction regularly for gigs. I can easily access the sounds on my sound module from the A-90 during my performances easily. I can even read the patch names of my JV-880 on the A-90 display. Cool! I haven't used the performance section too much. But when I have, the temporary performance has been useful for the gigs I do. The only thing I've found dissappointing is I haven't been able to figure out how to control the volume of my sound module through the keyboard. Although, I have yet to explore fully the controllers. There are a number that you can assign functions to. But as I already indicated the manuals are USELESS and I need more time to figure out how I might use that part of the keyboard more fully.

Overall I have found it easy to use

I use the piano sounds regularly and don't mind them as well as the organ sounds. But have used an external effects on the organ which improved them. I use it mostly for rock. A lot of church use, and also secular. In conjunction with other sound modules it is ideal. I often which there was the ability to add another expansion card.

I take my A-90EX out with me approximately once per week. I have it in a soft gig-bag with two handles and can carry it myself (I'm a 5'2" female), but usually to be on the safe side, I get assistance or delegate. It fits in my car with the front seat down and I've never had a problem in the year I've owned it. I usually always have a grand or some sort of an acoustic at our gigs, and have never thought twice about playing places where I don't have a back-up. It's been extremely reliable.

Have never called.

If this were stolen, I definitely would replace it. It has been worth every penny for me. I have been playing for over 30 years, but with electronic equipment for approximately 13-15 years. I also own a Yamaha Clavinova PF100 which I used to lug around so I don't complain about the A-90 being heavy. I love the flexibility to layer sounds and I hate that I don't have more time to discover all of its capabilities.

I love playing my A-90EX and I did not realize when I bought it what a wonderful piece of equipment I had.

This is an update to an earlier review I did when I didn't know how to properly use my midi setup and partially blamed it on the A90EX. I was wrong. It was the way I had my midi interface programmed. Now that it is programmed correctly, it works flawlessly and easily.

The VE-RD1 board that converts the A90 to an A90EX is overrated and expensive (about $350). After using it for several months, I think I would have been better off buying a really good sample CD for my Akai S2000 sampler. The orchestral I and II boards in my JV-1080 sound better, were cheaper, and have more patches to work with. (You could even buy a Roland JV-1010 for just a little more and get a lot more for your money).About the only reason I am really glad I bought the internal sounds on the A90 is that I get to use some of the envelope parameters available in the A90. It would make sense to get the board if you are going to "gig" with this keyboard, but since I don't, it wasn't really worth it.

No problems after almost a year. But I don't move it around at all.

I couldn't afford to buy it again, but I am sure I would cry. I have gone back into the music stores looking around to see if I'd have buyers remorse when I played stuff that has come out since I bought it. Nothing compares to the feel. And all the cool new features in the world don't mean alot if the playability of your main controller isn't as good as it gets.

Editing controllers is a snap. All you have to do is hit edit then press whatever controller you want to edit. The piano sounds are okay, but need some eq'n. The manual sucks as usual, when will Roland get the point and decide to have the manual writers FIRED!!!

This was my first keyboard and I love the action on it. I think it has the best action. I think the PC-88 feels a little week, N1 and P-150 feels even weeker, however Yamaha improved on the P-200, the action is much better. Some will differ about the action between the PC-88 and the A-90, but I guess they have a right to be wrong. It's just a matter of preference.
The effects are okay. You can install it with a VE-RD1, VE-GS1, VE-JV1, or the new VE-GSPRO (1,117 patches). A very powerful controller. It has 20 assignable controllers. No on-board sequencer.

The sounds are okay, just basic acoustic piano and some electric pianos. Some ambient pads. Effects are okay. Aftertouch is heavy, but I like it better that way, so I don't accidently activate.

It's built like a rock. I would depend on it on a gig.

I called their number, they were actually really helpful to me. They were very curteous to me.

If it were stolen I'd get it again (given that I had another 2 G's. It's definitely worth it. It's a very powerful controller. I love the action, the piano is really good, but not the best. I wish it had more sounds to play with. I chose this board because I wanted a piano with powerful controller features. I want to get a XP-30 and XP-80 next, and maybe a TR-rack. Overall I think it's a 9

8 out of 10. The keyboard itself is easy to use, the sounds easy to access, and the midi control parameters and connections easy to set up. In fact, its the easiest device to comprehend that I have ever used. I only gave it an 8, though, and this almost goes without saying, but because the manuals that came with it are sparse and typical Roland garbage. There is a lot more to this device than the manual might lead you to believe, and I have only had it for a couple of days. For example, I originally bought it as an A-90, but then a few days later bought the expansion board because reviewers like me had said the sounds were so good. I accessed the sounds, loved them and had no regrets. The manual that came with the expansion board explained the simple installation procedure and had a patchlist of sounds, but said nothing about how you convert the operating system to provide all the preset performances. This wouldn't have been so stupid if the expansion board could be used on a variety of devices, but it can't. By dumb luck I found a reinitialization procedure at the back of one of the owner's manual that allowed the A-90 to magically transform its operating system to recognize the new board and act like it had been an A-90EX all along.

Polyphony is 64, 88 key weighted "hammer action", lots of control features, up to 8 zones, bunch of midi ports, pedal ports, and three sound out ports, one expansion board, but that's no big deal, its a controller not whizbang workstation sampler with 8 kinds of synthesis engines (think Yamaha Ex5 and you have the picture of what the A-90 is not intended to be). I bought this board strictly as a controller for the keyboard action. I didn't care about the sounds (I have several sound modules including a JV-1080), didn't really care that much about the controller features, and didn't care about any synthesizing features. I compared it to the Alesis QS8, Kurzweil PC88, Fatar Studiologic 880, and Korg N1. The action is sooooo much better, smoother, realistic and pleasant than all the others (I mean by an order of magnitude). The same action (called "PA4" by Roland) can be found on the Roland RD-600 stage piano. The problem is that the RD-600 doesn't have alot of the controller features of the A-90 and I don't need to have a stage piano so don't care if the A-90 is heavier (I don't have any Billy Joel type intentions). I've given it a 10 because of the action, and because it has a lot of cool other stuff that came with the action. I really believe I would have been disappointed if this keyboard did not exist and I had been forced to buy a lesser weighted action board. One feature that bothers me, but may be due to my own ignorance is that I cannot use the control features in conjunction to a midi setup using an Opcode Studio 64x midi interface. Evertime I send a midi message out of the out port connected to the 64x (except note on and off), the 64X freezes and all my other midi devices are overloaded. I don't know what to do, but I've written an email to Opcode (Roland has none as far as I can tell). Now that I have the expansion board, I may not send any midi messages out other than note on and off and just use the A-90 as a sound souce and keyboard controller (but what about the zones and sliders and control parameters that can be fed independently to any one of the four midi out ports--they're so fun and cool).

Very good, but haven't had it long enough to compare to other sound modules.

I have only a vague and smoky sense of what a gig is, wouldn't want to lift this thing without a dolly, but it hasn't created a depression in the floor so I don't much care. It will stay put except when I rewire stuff here. Its very heavy (it must be expensive). It seems solid, and I cannot believe it won't last for a decade or three.

Manuals SUCK, but are readable. They're just so sparse it seems they were an afterthought for Roland, and now that's just what they are for me--WHICH SUCKS. Does anyone know how to contact Roland by email after spending 2 grand for one of their pretty neat machines. I need to talk to them about midi compatibility issues with Opcode stuff.

If I can figure out midi compatibility issues (no problems with the devices connected directly to the A-90 but big problems looping in the Opcode Studio 64X--what if I really want to record some midi events in the $300 sequencer program I bought for my PowerMac called Cubase--then I will be humming at work thinking about a date with my A-90 (even when I am dating someone). Nothing Roland makes will ever get an overall rating of 10 from me until they actually read just three of these reviews and fire all the people that write the manuals for some of the coolest midi stuff in the world--so much cool engineering, and such little attention to helping us CUSTOMERS.

Manuals are decent, and show the basics how to get it running, but lack info on how to really tap the potential of the instrument. However patch editing/adding effects is brain-dead simple, and easy to do. But I have yet to find a SysEx editor for it I can put on the computer. =(

Keys are nice and heavy, allowing you to really get a good feel and express yourself. It has touch and aftertouch abilities, that you can link to onboard effects as well. I would suggest buying the RAM Expansion card when you get it, because it's a heartbreak to wipe out any of the preconfigured sounds. No on board sequencer, which makes it great for those that sequence via computer. Additionally, a sequencer can be start/stopped via the A90. 4 MIDI Ins / 4 MIDI out (or more? I forget..) make it really configurable to serve as the "mother station" for a live setup. My only rant is that it is incompatible with any of Rolands sound modules except the VE-RD1.

Very very very nice piano, and capable of some really loooow bass tones. (I once broke someone's video camera in the audience - shattered the mirror inside it, from the bass freq's.. hehe!) On board effects are good, with good amount of params to tweak.

Haven't dropped it or spilled anything on it yet, but i have moved it around quite a bit. Seems solid.. sure as hell is heavy enough. Takes two people to handle it safely. (one person can lift it though).

I love it. It probably has the most realistic sounds out of any studio piece I own so far. I would highly recommend it for a great MIDI controller, and a great keyboard for those who don't require a sequencer.

The stereo pinao sound on the Roland is Great. Only other better piano sounds are from the Korg. The manual is terrible as with most Roland manuals.

Polyphony is 64. Built in effects are adequate. Expansion is limited to a memory card. The expansion slot holds only one card at a time. As a controler its great. the screen however is very small. Aftertouch is good but requires a lot of force. No on board sequencer.

Excellent piano sounds. Good for classical. The heavy keys make it feel sluggish.

Never traveled with it so far. So cannt comment on ruggedness.

As with most English speaking tech support the people are rude, ignorant and impatient. Dont bother calling them. They would rather be at home watching their average 4.5 hours of TV then helping a customer.

I would recommend this product to a classical pianist. I love the sliders on the A-90. Makes entering values easy. I wish that the A-90 at least had a 4 meg GM Bank. As with most Roland products sold in the US the support is aweful. Either learn Japanese or ur on ur own.

VE-RD1 Sound Expansion, the presets are great. Usually the MOD wheel, aftertouch, sustenato, hold, velocity, etc. controllers are assigned to make every sound do many interesting things. Editing a patch is much simplified over normal synthesis, as this is a stage piano, and not a synthesizer. You can change attack, sustain, release, and decay rates in most sounds. There is really very little beyond that for editing a patch. No LFOs or oscillators to play with. The manual is horrid, with a lot of incomplete sentences and repeated sections for similar functions. No matter, if you use it as a reference, you can get the general idea. The board is very easy to use, though. After using synthesizers and MIDI workstations, the stage piano controller is a walk in the park. The LCD display has so few characters, however, that sometimes it's not obvious what screen you're in or what the particular function is that you're about to perform. For that reason, I detract points from the "ease of use" category.

64-note polyphonic. The keyboard action is beautiful, but 'deep.' What I mean is, after playing on a (admittedly cheap) piano for some time, the key travel from unpressed to fully pressed is a good 3 or 4 millimetres further than a normal piano. It's also pretty heavy. The built-in effects are three: Reverb/Delay, Chorus, and EQ. They're very easy to use. The expansion is basically NIL as far as I can tell. You can stick a memory card in to save performances, but as for adding memory/sounds/sequencer whatever, it looks like you'd have to REPLACE the VE-RD1 expansion board. The board is $500, so I get the feeling you won't want to do that. The MIDI capability is good. The aftertouch is fairly heavy. I do pushups on my fingertips, and I have a difficult time getting aftertouch to activate fully. You'd better have hefty fingers to get your channel aftertouch going on this. As a controller MIDI board, this thing is pretty nifty. A lot of ways to route MIDI signals. No on-board sequencer, but it DOES have on-board sequencer controls, so that you can control the external sequencer which may be across the room from you. I give this a lesser rating for features, which should actually be considered a good thing, since this isn't a music workstation, but a master controller with stage piano sounds.

The factory sounds are very expressive. I'd guess this would be a great board for Jazz, Rock, Classical, and maybe dance if you have a good drum sound source, although the percussive noises aren't many in this board, so stick with trance. On-board effects are very professional sounding. No chintzy reverb here, which could be bad if you're looking for that sort've sound. I've noticed that it is very reactive to my playing. There are a few different velocity settings, and they range from "I gotta pound this board to hear anything" to "Better tread lightly on these keys or watch your ears bleed." Whoah. One problem I have is that the factory presets don't use the various samples to their fullest extent in factory presets to get super expressive sounds. For example, there are about 30 grand piano samples, and a lot are obviously "forte" or "pianissimo." Yet they never layer these together with different velocity settings to get a super-expressive piano sound. I did such a layering, and it was fairly effective, but the way to set up the velocity curves/values for the various samples wasn't the most intuitive, so it took some time.

Unfortunately, I've got this hooked up in my little 'studio-like' music room. I will probably not take it on a gig for years, because I'm not gigging presently. It seems quite solid, but I've never drop- ped it, so I guess I shouldn't talk.

Never done anything with customer support. But judging from the manual, you'll probably get a non-English speaking person for the first 15 minutes of your call.

Overall? Great board. I got an incredible deal on it. I guess the seller was desperate for cash. I'd have paid the full $2500 from a store here in Sacramento without even thinking about it, though. Basically, the pros are: Awesome professional sounds and effects. Simple MIDI layout with (apparently) very powerful MIDI functions. Awesome keyboard action with some pretty nice 'bounceback' for quick trills or percussive hits. Cons are: You gotta have gargantuan fingers to get the aftertouch going. I compared this thing against the Kurzweil PC88, the Ensoniq KT88, the Korg Trinity stuff, and other 88-/76-key weighted controllers from Alesis and some other makers??? I chose this one because it had the most awesome sounds, the most 'complex' and 'rich' feel when you hit the keys, and the obviously professional layout of the whole piece of equipment. The only other board I'd suggest in the price range really is the Kurzweil PC88mx, which is slightly cheaper, but appears to have the same basic featureset, and the key action is a little less heavy. If I was still in the market for 88-key weighted, it'd be a tossup between these two boards for me.