Roland VR-760

i stopped programming after i bought this. awesomely immediately user friendly.

great feel. amazing polyphony.
i never hear note stealing on the piano, the organ has infinite polyphony and reacts nearly as quickly as a real hammond.
the synth section is great for layering on top of piano(i use an ernie ball volume pedal with an insert cable because roland expression pedals last about 6 months).

a big beef is that there is no way to do split organ. on a real hammond, the lower keyboard is set to a mellower, quieter comping sound, but there is no way to do this. i had to buy two of them to get two manuals.

i wish there was an ADSR for the synth section, too. 'WHY NOT?', i wonders.

the programming/menus is/are not intuitive at all.

i used a qs8 as my main board before this, and a kurzweil pc88 before that.
i've used a yamaha p90, an fp8, a k2000, etc., and this is the BEST SOUNDING KEYBOARD by far. (i haven't used the nord stuff, mind you).
it cuts through the mix with no thin sounding ranges in the piano. it sounds fat, not shrill.
the synth section has good versions of the sounds 'we' need 90% of the time. OB brass, OB pad, jp8 strings/pad, choir, horns(sound good with a volume pedal for expression)...the moog bass can be programmed as another analog synth for more percussive synth sounds.

some heavy hitter FOH sound dudes have mixed this thing, lots, and they ALL LOVE IT's big, fat, pristine sound. i have never had so many compliments on my sound.

once tweaked to my liking, this board is as close to sounding like a real hammond and grand and wurly and rhodes and clav as is humanly possible for something that doesn't cost anything extra to throw on a plane(even with the roadcase).

awesome. protect the knobs, though. get a hard case.

nada, zilch, , zippo, nothing, no idea

i have two. there is no other keyboard, despite it's shortcomings. i will always have one, until something better comes along.

This board is very easy to use, almost to a fault. Everything on the board is so simple and straight-forward, but for the 2000 dollars I payed I would much rather have some more depth as far as what is editable.

There are features that are totally unnecessary- such as the the "v-link" (I still have no idea what it's supposed to do), also the d-beam seems rather unnecessary. And the lack of an organ split or a separate Leslie out doesn't make any sense. The polyphony is very good though, nothing has ever cut out on me. The organ has full polyphony and the pianos and synths never drop.

The organ itself is very accurate, and in my opinion is the strongest element of the VR-760, but the Leslie transition from slow to fast and vice-versa could be worked on. It's not perfect but is still overall one of the best leslie sims out, and is exactly the same as Roland's VK8. The Rhodes and Wurly sounds are also very good, even though the onboard amp simulation I didnt really like to use. The acoustic piano sounds were not that great but they are good enough and definitely are as good as most of the other roland digital pianos.

It was very dependable, and as I play a lot of gospel it was nice to have a decent hammond sound for when we might not be somewhere with a real organ, and it was nice to have essential keyboard sounds on the same keyboard. When I might have to have a hammond sound and still want to play some keys at a gig i loved being able to bring this one board. When I know all Im going to be playing is piano I still choose to go with my Motif Rack and M-Audio Keystation 88 though...

Everything works great and it's so simple, you'll never need support.

If it was stolen today i would get a Hammond XK-3 because when I bought it I didnt have a Motif Rack yet, so all of the piano sounds on the VR-760 aren't as essential for me. I dont like not having a leslie out or split drawbars on the VR-760 If I needed organ and piano sounds for the same gig I would just control my motif rack with the XK-3.

This is a great intuitive keyboard and lighter than the RD's(hurrah). I like being able to change synth in real time andmixes. I agree the editing is limited and I hate not being able to set up zone ranges.However nothings perfect.

I love the polyphony. Ive had rolands for the last 15 years or so and I even found I used up all the tones on the XV88. the XP80 was fantastic but note priority drives you to distraction. the VR has unlimited on organ plus 128 on keys and synth. I haven't Maxed it yet.I use the D beam all the time on leslie fast/slow. the rgistrations good but nedds at least 16 buttons per bank. I've put in a 256MB card to try to store more settings.

I have a baldwin grand and I reckon the piano is nearly as good. Then again I'm prepared to give up the piano weight and I think the X7 and RD700SX pianos suck.roland pianos always cut through with a band(compared TO YAMAHA OR KURWEIL)It is the first real keyboard since the RD500.the Eps are great.

Its a Roland. Made of rock like all of them.

Ive had untold over the years.Once some bozzo spilt a glass of wine on my roland KR33 at a gig(back before the boer war) and roland had a new control board fitted and back to me before the next weekends gig.

I really enjoy this board.It has the same character as a fender rhodes without the weight and hassles.It is a muso's boa as opposed to a triton or x7 which have a plastic dj sort of feel and sound.I just nned to get a module to do the sample sounds nd I'll be set.

Very easy board to use. Not much of a learning curve on this one. You can become an expert operating this board within a week. The trouble is that the editing options don't go very deep. So yes, the board get's a "10" for ease of use, but only at the expense of severe limitations in functionality. So what good is "ease of use" I ask if the end result is poor performance?

Features??? I can think of a few key features that are missing!!!! I can also think of a few features that are included which are total gimmickery from Roland, the big corporate giant that has obviously lost touch with their customer base. Who exactly are they marketing this keyboard to???? If you are going to offer a keyboard with organ, piano, and synth, then wouldn't you consider the likely musicians who would purchase this instrument. Most keyboardists who want this type of board want seperate outputs for each instrument so that they have the option to use a real leslie. I think we need this feature more than a v-link control!!! Organsists like to perform music not control video presentations. Likewise, throw in an organ split option and take out that stupid d-beam control. And make it a multi-timbral instrument for sequencing and take out the silly drum patterns. Do you see where I'm going ... stop giving us a bunch of gimmicks Roland, wake up!!! Give us what we really need and nothing else. I personally will never purchase another piece of Roland gear unless they shape up. But alas, the gimmicks keep coming from Roland, just look at the new Rotary pedal they released, it has some silly little
visual effect on the top of the pedal making it look like some children's toy not a proffessional musical instrument.

Pretty good sounds in general. Not mind blowing, except for maybe the rhodes and organ sounds are great. Don't know how well it compares to other clones. Playing the keyboard feels good for organ. For some light styles of piano playing the keyboard feels good and for heavier playing it's terrible. It's a mixed bag playing this keyboard, somedays you love it, and other days you hate it.

Seems pretty reliable. Had it for a year and 1/2 with no major problems. One word though about the SRX expansion. Roland really should do a better job with the slots on these things. I tried several times to lock in brand new expansion boards and the boards never lock in properly. The locking screw is all plastic and I believe got stripped pretty easily.

N/A

It it were stolen or lost I would never in a blue moon replace it. As it stands I've already sold it and am working on a new keyboard rig. The day I sold it was the happiest day in my keyboard rig history. The next happiest day was the day I got me a Yamaha S90 (a real instrument!) to replace it.

Very Easy to use, has all of the EQ settings out in the open for easy tweeking and use, settings for Organ, Piano, and Synth are at the top, the board has all you need for the 3 varous boards up front laid out easily. I love the ease of the edit functions, you can get to the menus you need pretty quickly. No need for me to use the manual as the board IMO is pretty intuitive.

The board has great polyphony - 128 and the keybed is very usable for EPs, pianos and synths even though it is designed with organ simulation in mind. I use the board with my Kurzweil Micro piano module as i feel that is the best piano module around. The board is expanable with 2 SRX boards, which I plan on using the Ultimate Keys board. The board is really a performance players dream. The organ cannot be beat and the effects for the EPs are GREAT. I choose this over the Nord Electro and VK8 because the YR760 had it all.

Bottom line the sounds for the organ are deal on my Hammond, I even played my Hammond organ side by side the VR760 and yes Roland has gotten it right, this is my first roland board as I was not too pleased with other roland boards over my Motif ES, Korg Tritons and Kurzweil boards. I do have a couple of roland XV racks (3080 and 5050) and the VR sounds are comparable with the XV sounds.

The organ sounds are great for gospel music and the EPs perfect for R&B, Soul, Blues and Funk music. The onboard effects are not bad either a little thin but not bad.

The only disappointing sound is the pianos they are not realistic IMO, they are okay with some editing and tweeking.

Just purchased it but we will see!!!

Have not used them yet but the rolandus.com site is pretty good.

I would DEFINATELY buy this board again if it were lost or stolen God forbid. Over my primary gigging board, I used to use the Kurzweil PC2 for gigging but the EPs and organs were not what I wanted. I only liked the pianos, so now the VR760 has taken center stage for me. I still use the Motif ES (BEST EPs all around) and Triton (Best all around supplement sound)but the foundation is the VR760.

Using out of the box.
The Organ is great.
Some say the "leslie" sound is weak but i quit haulin one of thoses around in 77.
I've be using a Korg tru a Yamaha (RS-90 I think)with a rotary horn.
This "leslie" is a lot better and i can run it thru a PA without a mike and get the bass.
The oragn selections can give a howl like the old B3.
Manual seems comprehensive but pages 85 & 86 are french in an english manual (this is the page on installing an expansion card which I am likely yo do).
Is the manual available on line? Others say it's not , this concerns me.

If this was stolen I'd buy the Hammond (looks good from audience, a hard name to compete with) and buy a good sequencer/programming unit to get various sounds.

I have less regrets with this keyboard then with marriages I've had.

Polyphony on organ is great especially for organ (blues) songs.
I use a Roland piano (RD-300 i think) for string sounds and piano.
Both of which stink on this machine.
Looking at getting an expansion card for accordian and tin whisle, both of which have poor sounds when working with the synth part.
If anyone has mastered them please let me know.
Strings are ok. (my roland piano and old Korg have better)
"Touch sensitive/weighted keys" here are hard to work with.

Synth parts are not good.

Midi is good but again the touch sensitive keys are limited.

ORGAN IS GREAT

Read above.
Some say the Rhodes and Wurlitzer sounds are good but I found them weak, even after playing with effects.
The alterations between pratice amp and performace are so different you need to record and adjust the settings.
Again I find the synth cababilities are limited.

I find the touch awkward, touch is either hard or soft no median, hard to adjust when playing more then one board you need to be able to trigger your brain to the touch difference before playing.

Glissado's on organ are great.
The organ accounts for the high rating here.

I would never gig with one keyboard.
I'm old and like to have em stacked and looking powerful.
(See Rick Wakeman)
Also too big a risk; does the bass player show up without stings or the drummer without sticks and heads?
I have had a Roland piano for 5 years and have abused it tremendously.
(Played almost a year without a case) Good solid instrument.
This is built solidly.
Bring it home every week in a padded case (not a road case) with no damage.
I challenge anyone to find a better built road dog.

Calling tonight after i get off line.

I desperately need an accordian and tin flue sound.

I can make the synth sound like an ok bagpipe. (Copperhead Road)

Playing it about 3 months.
The drawbars and buttons make it look cool and people think I know what I'm doing.
It both helps and hinders.
The organ sound rocks the other parts are weak.

Easy to use. Set up nicely for stage performance and for a non-techy person.

Nice to have piano, synth and organ on one keyboard but key action doesn't feel right for anything but Organ. Over priced.

Organ sounds good, strings week. Piano touch is wrong and sounds aren't as good as other roland instruments I've owned

2'drawbar doesn't work when percussion presets are on.

Poor customer service dealing with problem with 2'drawbar. Replaced board and returned still not functioning. Offered to loan me a demo while mine was being worked on but the demo had the same problem. I believe this is a sloppy designed keyboard.

Have purchased Roland for 25 years. All my Roland keyboards still work and have served me well. I am disappointed to say the least with the VR-760.

So far I've had an excellent time with this keyboard, with a few drawbacks. The organ is really the reason to get this one, as it is by far this keyboards strengths. I prefer the actual pull-out drawbars to the Electro's "digital" drawbars. Also, though the preset patches are somewhat limited, since you can layer sounds and tweak each layer, you can get some pretty interesting self-made patches. Try layering some reverb-heavy strings over a nice gospel organ, or a phase-clav with some tweaked out fretless bass. The preset rhodes and clavinet are pretty sorry. I only like the clav when it has lots of phaser on it, and the rhodes with lots of tremolo. Otherwise they are pretty thin and don't cut through well. The Korg Triton smokes this thing as far as rhodes and clavs go, but again, the reason to get this axe is the organ.

Fully polyphonic. One of the things I like most about this board is the action. Not too heavy, not too soft. Its got a great bouncy action that comes back to your fingers but can be played with dynamics for those rhodes songs. The action on the electro is a bit heavy/stiff, and I think the Roland is just more fun to play.

As you'd expect from Roland its got tons of features and capabilities.. Midi, SRX expansion slots, a video-link feature etc etc

Its got a great little onboard drum metronome with about 20 different drum styles. You can adjust tempo, volume, reverb on them, and it is GREAT for helping you keep time and seeing how your compositions will sit in a mix... this is a wonderful feature that I really think helps the songwriting process.

This is where I get a little bit unsatisfied. The rhodes on this thing are pretty second rate. Thin, not a lot of bite. Some of the rhodes presets will have absolutely booming low end and thin, uninspiring high end. A definite letdown. I mean don't get me wrong, for a $1600 keyboard you get professional sounding rhodes, I've just heard better on boards like the Triton, Electro etc. However ,this thing wins hands down in the organ department. You can get any Hammond tone you've ever imagined out of this thing. Plus I'm going to grab the SRX Ultimate Keys expansion which I've heard adds some great clavs, synths and EPs... fingers crossed on that one.

Its a Roland keyboard, absolutely no worries about this thing. It'll outlive me.

My experience has been nothing but wonderful. When I first got the board I called up with some questions. The guy on the phone sat down in front of his own VR-760 and walked me through everything I needed to know. Very helpful and friendly.

The organ on this thing screams. You will be noticed when you play this organ. The EPs, Clavs and Synths arn't anything unique, but they get the job done. If it was stolen I'd probably get another Roland, but just an organ model (VK7 or VK8). And for EPs, Clavs, Synths I'd do some research and get something different. This keyboard tries to cram all these patches into one "all around" model. It succeeds on the organ, but the other patches leave some to be desired.

Bottomline: dependable, great organ, passable clavs and EPs, incredible action, handsome looking

Preset s sound really good except for the brass, Patch editing easy,manual pretty straight

polyphony is very good,effects are easy to use,haven't expanded as I would like to hear from someone on#11 as piano and theultimate keys for top 40 brass sounds

pianos are good ,keyboard is really expressive,good with country or blues good velocity

If like other rolands very dependable

na

would replace love the organ,been playing 40 yrs,I like have organ and piano togather in one unit noe if I can get some good brass sounds I'll be happy

The presets sounds are very good, specially for Hammond & Rhodes. The control panel is simultaneously easy to use and complete. Patch editing is easy to do but not very powerful. The manual is good but improvable.

Polyphony is great (full on Hammond emulation). The mechanical KBD action is very good for people coming from synthesizers, too much soft for pianists. The electronic KBD action is very good for "fast" Hammond trillos and glissatoes. It accepts 1 to 2 SRX-series expansion cards. MIDI capabilities are poor, but it is not the main feature for this instrument.

EXCELLENT Hammond and Rhodes sounds (IMMO better than Clavia Nord Electro or Voce).
GOOD acoustic piano, but to install a SRX-02 Concert Grand card is a great idea.
GOOD Wurli, synth sounds, basses, strings, but not very comprehensive.
BAD clavinet sound!!!

Over 100 live concert in the last 9 months...
NO problems on it...

Installed new OS.
The procedure works correctly, but Roland hangs some word in the upgrade manual...

Very good for "base" KBD, for blues/jazz/fusion music.
The keyboard action is GREAT for me.
If it were stolen, I will take a new one immediately!!!