Roland G-70

I am using version 2 of this keyboard. In my opinion, most of the presets sound absolutely amazing, better than the Yamaha tyros, but some voices, including some brass sounds dont sound as good. This keyboard has many more sounds to choose from than the Tyros, e.g. this has about 17 pages of synthesizer sounds as opposed to the tyros's 5.
The touchscreen makes choosing presets astoundingly easy, and the physical faders make editing sounds in real time a breeze.
The manual is also very clear and concise.

I dont know were to start on features, there are so many!
The vocoder and voca harmoniser give extremely realistic effects, and are better souding than Yamaha's. The 76 semi weighted keys make piano playing a pleasure. I just got this keyboards so still have to learn ow to use it, but there are so many features in it, including D-beam - controlling a customisble function (eg. pitch bend, etc.) by waving your hand over a sensor!

I love the sounds on this keyboard. The piano sounds are out of this world. I am not too impressed with saxophone and brass sounds but they still beat the Yamaha Tyros's sounds any day. The styles are concise and sound really good, and the choice of 3 layers for the left hand rather than the tyros's 1 is amazing!
The aftertouch and initial touch is good and especially brings realism to my piano playing.

I can definitely depend on it and have used it on gigs without a backup. It is quite heavy though.

I had to ask Roland a question about how to perform a certain function and the person who replied within a couple of hours laid it out very clearly.

I would definitely buy it again if it was lost or stolen. It is the best arranger keyboard there is, Roland even admit its their best keyboard.
I have been playing keyboard professionally for 2 years (im 16) and i have used the korg pa1x pro, the tryos 1 and 2, and even the roland e80, and the g70 beats all of them for quality.
I love the touchscreen, and the faders, the styles the voices, the vocal harmoniser, and hate nothing!

I do not own this keyboard but have tested one out extensively at a friends house. It didn't have the version 2 software update but that is something I would certainly recommend to all G70 owners and its nice that Roland are adding new features to what is already a great keyboard rather than bringing out a new model every 6 months! Korg are doing the same thing with the PA1X qne that is great! :) I didnt edit any patches but I found getting around the G70 extremely easy thanks to the large colour touchscreen. I liked that fact that the keyboard has alot of dedicated clearly labelled buttons to make getting around the instrument more intuitive. I didnt see the manual but I can only assume that its a typical Roland manual!!!!!!!!! :) LOL.

it has 128 notes of polyphony but this amount is cut down fast with layered patches. The keyboard has a nice unweigted action (Roland says its a beautiful seminweighted action but it is NOT semiweighted IMHO!). It responds to velocity and aftertouch and has a nice action especially for playing hammond organ parts and laying down drum tracks. For piano I prefer a weighted action but this would do the job for a live gig because at least there are 76 keys! There are up to 7 built in multi fx available for different parts of the keyboard, including the dedicated mic input with a harmonizer effect. I didn't try this out but have heard it is very good. It can be expanded by adding an SRX board (I wish it had more SRX expansion slots). Apparently Roland are brining out a dedicated SRX board for the G70 with completely new sounds and styles. It has up to 50mb of flash memory onboard which allows you to retain all your edited sounds and styles for instant recall. The G70 IMHO would make a fine midi controller and I LOVE those 9 dedicated drawbars. It has an onbard 16 track sequencer plus an 8 track backing sequencer for getting ideas down fast.

I find the piano sounds to be very good (but very 'Roland' sounding!) The acoustic pianos IMHO are a bit better than those in the Korg PA1X and about as good as the Tyros 2. The electric pianos remind me of those in my XV3080. They are very good! I know Roland has put some great acoustic guitar sounds into their newer workstations but these sounds IMHO didnt quite make the grade compared to in some of their other recent instruments. Don't get me wrong! They were still decent and miles ahead of what an old JV or XP instrument could do but apparently that new expansion board and the new guitar mode in version 2 will fix things up a lot. I also wasnt overall awed by the electric bass sounds. Organ sounds are terrific and I do come from an organ playing background meaning im fussy about my organ sounds! I wasnt overally impressed by the orchestral string sounds although I liked the choir sounds and the solo saxes were great!!!! The drum kits were also very good with heaps of playable sounds. Overall Im not sure if I was having a bad day but I was expecting better string sounds from a Roland instrument. I played through alot of the styles and found them to be mostly excellent and very easy to vary in real time thanks to all those dedicated buttons! I like the 4 preset instant factory settings where you can switch between 4 different registrations for each style- excellent for live playing and doodling around for new song ideas! Perhaps version 2 has fixed up some of the weaker instrument sounds?????? If not then I would certainly get the future expansion card for the G70!!!!!

The instrument is built like a tank. It looks very solid I would have no problems using it at a gig and it is a great looking instrument both in the studio and on stage!

Roland always gave good customer support in Australia:)

I don't own it but I shall be very insterested to see what Roland does with the next model (whenever that is released!). Apparently an 'E80' (with 61 notes and built in speakers) will be released later on this year- perhaps that could also mean a G80??????? LOL:) I have been playing for over 25 years. I love that fact that the G70 seems to be quite straightforward to operate and thats saying alot for a Roland instrument which is generally more complicated to use than something made by Korg! I don't like that fact that IMHO some of the sounds that should be top notch for Roland didnt cut it when I tried the instrument- strings, acoustic guitars and electric basses. Yes Ive tried both the Korg PA1X and Yamaha Tyros 2. IMHO if I had to buy an arranger keyboard today, Id choose the PA1X as I found its sounds to be very consistantly good accross the boaed. Its styles IMHO were also more 'real' sounding than those in both the G70 and Tyros 2. I also tried the Tyros 2 and whilst its acoustic sounds are absolutely top notch, I found it very complicated to get to grips with and IMHO its styles were often too complex and got in the way of my playing! This is obviously just my opinion! I will be very insterested to see what Roland will continue to do with the G70 or the next improved model! If you buy a G70, you won't regret it and you will be very satisfied for years to come especially if you play live and want a workstation keyboard for getting ideas down fast.

I bought a new G-70 with version 2.0 of the OS. The presets are drawn from the Fantom-X library, and sound fantastic. The new 'guitar mode' is phenominal -- it maps six white keys to the six strings of a guitar, and then provides several strumming macro keys. By far the most realistic way to play guitar from a keyboard I have ever experienced (and I am a guitar player as well). I have not edited any patches so far. The manual is decent -- above average for Roland.

I sold my Fantom-X8 for this synth because most of my need at this point centers around live performance. The G-70's physical controls are really well thought out; the organ drawbars, the song selection finder, the beautiful color touch screen. I don't miss the X8.

The G-70 has 128 voice polyphony; I have yet to experience note drop-out, even with all backing parts and organ slurs. It includes a single SRX expansion slot, a PC-Card slot for memory expansion, and a USB interface for PC/Mac transfer of song data. A 16-track MIDI sequencer with full support for lyrics and harmony tracks makes this a decent controller. The 76 weighted-synth action keys are a nice blend between synth and organ actions. I like having a piano action for playing piano parts, but love this action for all other instruments.

The added bonus of the complete vocal harmonist and mic input is simply awesome. The harmonies can be controlled in real time by the chords you play with your left hand, or can be triggered by the MIDI harmony information in a sequence. It even comes with a detachable plexiglass music stand! Lyric and chord data can be sent to any TV through the built-in composite video port; instant karaoke.

I find that the pianos, guitars, wind instruments, and drums are very realistic. I was not as fond of the built-in electric pianos, but I had the SRX-07 Ultimate Keys expansion from my Fantom. The onboard effects are very nice, though need to be toned down a bit in some of the presets. The keybed reacts very nicely to my playing; velocity and aftertouch sensitivity is excellent. The D-beam, touch screen, and organ drawbars help provide a lot of real time control. And there are also programmable switches for features like leslie effect.

The G-70 is built like the proverbial tank. I bought a gigskinz semihard case for it, and do not fear for its safety. It sits nicely on an Ultimate V-Stand, making for a very portable system. I gig with it without backup.

I've had occasion to deal with Roland's customer support, and have found that it has improved considerably over the past year or so. The web site has a lot more downloadable content (manuals, quickstarts, etc...), and the people have been friendly and helpful.

The G-70 has completely changed my preconceptions of 'arranger workstations'. It is a professional keyboard with most of the Fantom-X's features (sans sampling, of course), but with an interface that is designed from the beginning for live performances. It sits as easily in a band as it does by itself for those solo situations. A Shure wireless headset mic, Roland KC-350 amp, and Ultimate V-Stand work beautifully with the G-70 to make for a VERY portable and flexible system. The G-70 is quite a bit of money; but my Fantom-X8 did not have video out, built-in vocal harmony, organ drawbars, or a color touch screen. In head-to-head comparisons with the Korg PA1XPro and Yamaha Tyros2, the G-70 came out the clear winner on all fronts, based on my needs.

This arranger is extreemly easy to use....Very intuitive and the manual is very well written, but easy to find your way around even without it....I previously owned a VA-76 and so maybe that helped in being able to get up and running very quickly but this board is definitly superior to the VA series in all ways....more buttons for immediate access to functions without needing to page through the touch screen...I am using the latest software version 1.10. As for the presets I think they sound great especially the Fantom piano and the stereo piano....Also great to have the VK series tone wheel organ sounds complete with the ability to tweak them real time with the drawbars (mechanical sliders) or the touch screen...Same great tone wheel sounds as the VK-8....Haven't edited the patches yet...They're so good (to me) that I doubt that I will....The Voice Harmonizer is absolutly AWESOME....Very easy to use and sounds better than my TC Helicon Voiceprism Plus....

128 voices of Polyphony....Don't need more!
Built in effects for both the patches/sounds and separate effects for the voice harmonizer...They sound GREAT.
Expansion capabilities for both memory with card slot on the back and also sound/patch expansion slot for use of optional Roland sound cards (see www.rolandus.com site)
Full midi capabilities as you would expect
Sixteen track on board sequencer with plenty of memory and great features based on what I read...haven't used it yet but I have used the arranger and one addition track recording (simple method) which was a snap. Will try to review this issue in the future once I have tried the full 16 track sequencer.

All the sounds are fantastic to me....wouldn't change a thing.
Styles are great and there are more options for intros, fills and endings, plus fade in and fade out, than the previous VA series. Plus it will still play Roland styles from the previous series which are available for purchase on the net....
The 76 key synth weighted keyboard feels GREAT!...aftertouch and velocity sensitive.

Seems dependable so far.
Would use it on a gig.

Roland support is reasonably good but could certainly be better at least they ought to have an 800 toll free number and email support which they don't so I rate this only at a 7.

I would run, not walk to the closest place I could get one and buy it immediatly....
I have been playing professionally for 35 years.
It makes all of my music and vocals sound great and it really inspires me to create....I love it.

sounds are good
you have the same parameters to edit sound like the va X series

128 polyphony

I wish it has the ability to make your own drumkits- user drum kit
i wish it's has more oriental sounds
i wish that it s styles were better than what they are
Icompare it to the korg pa1ax ,the yamaha tyros and finaly to the sd1
my rate is: 1. solton sd1
2.g 70
3. korg pa1x
I'm very disappointed from roland at the past 5 years I've had the g600, the xv 3080, a37, va7, now i have the fantom x7 but for me the g 70 is just va7 with color diplay & more friendly interface

Version 1.06
Preset sounds from Fantom X and VK series, Fine. Manual is very clear, may be you don't need to use it because it is very simple to use, very ergonomic.

The keyboard action is very great. 76 notes. Effects are well built.
With the expansion board, you can add or change easly the sound.
I like the emulation of Hammond, very great sound that you can change it easely when playing. Not like in other keyborad arranger with button click!!!!
The LCD tactile screen is cool. The D-Beam use is a good idea for changing Fill in/out, etc...
Black color of keyboard, beautiful and world class look.
Internal memory and PCMIA memory are enough to store data (midi files and styles, etc...).

The sounds are the compilations of sounds from other keyboards. The great thing is the expansion card. The styles are neutral. I like this because I don't want the styles from known music. Too near the original music make you play only one music. This is not the objective of the arranger keyboard.
The piano sound is very great from fantom X!
SRX-03 card could be the best choice to expanding sounds.

Never had problems with Roland.

Everything work so Never use it.

If you like the neutral styles, go for it.
If you like Hammond emulation, go for it.
If you like Piano sound with arranger, go for it.

If you like to play only commercial music, don't go for it.