Roland GW-7

This is easier to use than most boards I've had. The large, well lit screen is a real bonus, and operating sequences are fairly logical.
I like the "wheel" system. Huge amount of unnecessary presets.

I play mainly a Wurly 200 and a Rhodes live, and this was bought only for occasional live organ and strings etc. The action is very cheap feeling, but works well. Built in effects are average, except for the Leslie. When using the effect, you push the modulator to ramp the speed up or down. This, coupled with the organ sounds available make this almost worth buying for organs only. I don't use auto accompany so I won't comment on that stuff.

Most sounds are average. There are some beauties hidden amongest the 600 odd available though, you just need to take time to find them. As mentioned some of the organs are fantastic, as is the built in leslie effect. Strings are ok, nothing special. As I play mainley organ on it, I have the touch sensitivity turned off. This is a bit of a pain, as you have to turn it off every powerup (and reset effects etc.). You can get a midi unit for settings storage, but I think this should be built into the board.

Dropped it twice, still going strong. Two years live without a problem.

I like this, it's great for the price, but it has a lot of stuff I don't need. I wish it would store my settings. I had a sound guy kick my power supply mid gig once, and had to reprogram during a song. Not good. I would consider buying another one, but would shop around first. I would not use this for a "one and only" board, most of the sounds are not up to a professional level. But, if you want a budget board to do most things, it would be hard to beat.

Really good

Lots of good sounds, strings are bit weak, the need to access edit perform EVERY time you turn it on to switch off key sensitivity is annoying.............

A very good well priced unit, I use it for the studio only and its fine..............

My Bought this for are church and even i can use it, and I'm a want-a-be-sound guy! My dads the keyboard player and his old school and he can use it. One problem though, if your using it in midi as a slave to another keyboard, you must set the master keyboard on midi channel 4.

Are great. With the keyboard helping you play songs with drums& bass, combo,full are great!

They sound are almost as good as real sample. It's better then the korg xd5 and x50. and blow away the mm6.

Had it 7 months with no problems

When we couldn't fingure out the midi channel 4 problem we call them and they help us!!

If your looking to add great sounds to your controler or old 88 keyboard, this is for you.

This is a great first timers board, as well as an experienced pro looking to add a user friendly board to the aresenal. Some excellent presets, I gravitate to the horns, sax, and some very good organ sounds. Very thoughtfully presented. Easy to set presets of your favorite sounds to quickly call up for live situations. Easy to edit, and incorportate midi files. Use of a USB port makes file transfer a breeze. The manual is easy to use, and not a phone book thick! Simple, straightforward.

Action is what can be expected from an electronic KB at this price range. Effects are easy to use, and change since they are "analog" knobs. This board has 99 user presets for midi files/songs which can also be altered on the fly for live performance. For example, you can download a midi song into the board in its entirety, and delete the drums and bass on the keyboard itself to use for a three piece, the next night, you could use the same file and song as a one piece, push a button, and voila, theres the drums and bass back in the track! Nice touch, made and tailored for live performance. The 99 user file spaces is the only memory capability on this board, no floppy, no data storage cards etc, but, it is a breeze to hook this up to your computer and transfer data/midi files back and forth. If you think about it, 99 songs is more than enough for a live performance, and can cover several situations.

Some of the presets are great, others, well, how many chinese sounds does one need? This board prides itself on the "world" settings which incorporate many of the worlds instruments. Other than an educational function for my kids, doesnt really serve much purpose for me. I can see this board as very versatile for all kinds of music, theres enough in here to suit every taste. Touch isnt bad, there are analog knobs that you can use to adjust cutoff, resonance, attack and release, once again, easy to do on the fly. nice chorus and reverb to color your sound with. Roland has a very nice video piece on this keyboard at the website, I strongly encourage anyone looking to buy this to view that video.

I am using this at the gigs without a backup, no problems yet, dont expect any.

No experience with the Roland folks yet.

I bought an Alesis QS 6.2 to do some midi encorporation into our band, big mistake, costly mistake. Is the Alesis board a good board? Yes, but not at all designed for midi or midi file usage, at least easily. This Roland leaves the Alesis in the dust as far as ease of use, and heres the biggie, it does what I need it to do. It suits my needs perfectly, which is more file oriented than live play oriented. It all depends on your needs, but if you are looking for a versatile keyboard, with good presets and easy to use out of the box features, you have found your keyboard!