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!!!

It's very easy to use. I havn't tried to edit and save patches yet. Basically you turn it on and it's ready to go for organ, piano & synth sounds. Where I've needed to use the manual it's been fine.

Polyphony is fine - no idea what it is but no notes being lost with the sustain pedal down. There are loads of knobs and buttons on this which is just what I like - easy control - I've got two EV5 pedals for this as well one for the organ rotary sound and one for expression on the synth. The keyboard is very good for piano and organ/synth - nice quality and I like the yellowish colour (unlike the bleached white of my other keyboards). I use this as a midi master keyboard as it's velocity sensitive with aftertouch (the aftertouch is very good as you have to apply reasonable pressure). It's got two expansion ports for SRX boards and I've got SRX-06 Complete Orchestra on order for it.

The presets are OK but using the controls to shape the sounds you're after it wins. I'm impressed with the piano and organ sounds and the string / pad sounds are very good. The bass sounds are rubbish. There's a little beat box in this but I only use it for something to keep time. The master eq is especially handy to get the sound you're after. Having said this for #1450 they could have put some more exciting synth sounds in - but I guess they want you to buy the expansion boards - That's why it gets a 7 otherwise it would get 8.

I would think so - I'd never gig with just one keyboard. Other than that no experience so no opinion yet.

Never dealt directly with Roland.

If it were stolen then I'd probably get another one. I've only started playing again after a break of about 8 years. I've still got a 20 year old Juno-1 & Yamaha FB01 which still come in useful (but not as solo instruments, always layered with something). I also bought a microKorg which I'm pleased with.

I all I'm very pleased with this keyboard and I think it's very good value. It's a performance keyboard more suited for the stage but I like the immediacy of change you get with all the knobs and buttons even when using it at home.

I bought this after playing by the VK8, and being convinced that the VR760 would be all that the VK8 is plus decent electric piano and synth sounds. Well, it ain't all the VK8 is, and in retrospect, the piano and synth are best found on other boards or modules. While the VR760 has some killer drawbar organ sounds and electric piano presets, the other presets are pure fromage. Don't even go near the drums. Impossible to change patterns without going through the entire array. Alright to practice with, but might do well to take the drum knob off for gigs. There are a number of annoyances which others have noted in their reviews above. I'll keep this one short.

Most importantly for one who works with untunable instruments such as piano, there IS NO MASTER TUNE! Very annoying. Also, there is NO TRANSPOSE!! How many times have you learned a tune only to find another member can only perform it in a different key? What do you do? Relearn the whole tune? Call me lazy or musically inept, but if guitarists can TUNE and TRANSPOSE with their capos without giving it a second thought, I insist on being able to do this with my boards as well. I had to sit out a couple of songs when our vocalist got sick and was replaced at the last minute by someone who sang in different keys. The guitars could negotiate this reality. Not my 2000 dollar Roland 760. I grabbed a 15 dollar tambourine and clanged along. Humiliating. Yamaha and most other keyboard manufacturers have caught on to this reality and installed TUNE and TRANSPOSE, often in even their most entry level models. Roland has it on the VK8 so why not the VR760? Damn, that's annoying.

Like many other users, I also find switching from presets may too awkward and time consuming for smooth transitions at gigs. Also, the default settings on effects don't appear until you tweak them. What's up with this? This is quite annoying.

Clearly they've bit off more than they can chew with combining all the bells and whistles of three highly idiosyncractic instruments (organ/piano and synth).

Haven't tried the expansion capabilities, though I'd recommend contraction instead. A trade in for separate components: VK8 or VK8m, on any decent digital piano/synth module. Something that does what I want. Not insists on me doing what it cannot. No sequencer. Easy to use? Sorry. Typical Roland combobulation here.

Organs are about as good as you'll get. Even though the Leslie is not the real McCoy, when hooked up to a decent 15 inch whoofer PA, it ain't bad. I can see this model being good for any type of Hammond Rhodes context from funk, jazz, gospel, blues and classic rock.

Stay away from the classical piano sounds. There are only three and they are each crap at all frequencies. I've tried to play with the EQ and effects but there is nothing that is the least bit convincing about them. Unless you jack the Reverb up to the point of mimicking an Indian Bollywood soundtrack. Add to the crap 3 piano sounds the fact that this is not a weighted keyboard. The feel of the piano is not there at all.

The harpsichord is perhaps the most convincing of the patches I've spent any time with there. Great news for all you baroque rockers out there!

For the untunable and untransposable organ alone, ok. And maybe the rhodes. But is it worth the weight and bells and whistles that never seem to work as you'd like them to? Hmmmm. The more I sit here and write on this thing, the more I'm resolved to call my dealer and downsize to the VK8.

I'm going to see them for a trade in.
Go small and go right.
Go Vk8.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd like to see the back of the bugger who lifted it. This thing weighs a ton. Did i mention that?
Although I'd lament the cash loss, there are more effective models for what I want. Just hope the guy i try to sell it to doesn't read this review. :)
Good luck.

Its a roland - some obvious functions won't make sense.
drum section being next to the master volume! I turned it on in the middle of a song!
Not being able to exit the drum part to change register patches without pressing the one touch pad for organ ect.

Turn on midi clock to avoid the drum problem. You don't want to hear how f*%ked up it sounds and the confusion it can cause other players.
If it happens to you, blame the drummer. I did.

would be nice if it were multi timbral with any of the sections. It will rx on 4 channels but its a waste to only be able to use one hammond patch or one srx expansion sound at a time via midi or on the keyboard.
Real time control is fantastic!
It reminds me of a moog opus 3 or crumar trilogy with the three dedicated sections. the drums are pretty much in there for good measure & to demo the thing.
Global multi fx would be nice. with all the technology in this unit
you would think the routing could be better. ie, being able to used the leslie sim on other sounds.
I have an xp 50 and wished I had all the controller features of the perfomance section on that synth. It hads a great 76 note keyboard
that I could really put to use with just a few extra editing parameters.

I can feel it! like a rhodes or hammond or piano. Much better than any other combo board I have played. The rhode is one of the best I have heard. It barks like my old suitcase and the tremelo fx are dead on. The organ is great, nice tone even without fx. the overdrive is very good and leslie sim good. Leslie sim can be much improved with some tweaking in the register edit section. springverd would have been
a nice option. Piano sounded weird at first but is growing on me.
the middle range was the worst but came up with some patches with the mic/amp fx that sound great. Synth section sound great, but have a limited amount of sounds

knobs seem a little cheap. plastic posts that are sure to break if not handled with some degree of care. Other than that it seems to be
very well built. and my xp50 has been on the road for 4 years of rain,
dirt and drops off stands.

answered all my pre sale questions.

I hope roland does a software revision to address some issues that I like other players have with this board. You should be able to hard pan piano and organ to L an R outs, but you can"t. seems like roland relesed it forgt about it. Where is the update?

I really was thinking on a cx3 before I played the 760.
It packs alot of bang for the buck if you need a keyboard that gets the job done with vintage sounds.

Most of the techie info has already been stated so I'll just give my impressions.
If you have any knowledge of synths you could probably pop this out of the box and play. The manual is well done and explains things adequately although there are a few typos The knobs and buttons are located conveniently with controls for the organ piano & synth sections located in easy reach close to the keys while the display, preset buttons and global functions such as EQ and reverb are on a higher tier where they wouldn?t get changed accidentally while playing.

The keys themselves feel good and you can adjust how quickly the keys will trigger. The buttons light up when pressed and once you know how the different knobs and buttons work, it?s easy to know what functions are active when you?re playing. There is a built in drum machine that is fine for individual practicing - about two dozen patterns (even 5/4 and 7/8 time) where you can adjust the tempo. I use quite a few keyboard splits and they are easy to set up.

I think the variety of organ sounds obtainable is very good and the fact that you can change the parameters on the fly makes them fun to use. I have a Roland RS70, which has some of these sounds but you can?t change the rotary speed without changing the setting ? here you can use the D beam controller or the fast/slow and brake to make changes. Some people say that the Leslie sim is not that good but the audiences I play for wouldn?t know a ?Leslie sim ? from ?Lulu?s gym? so it?s more than adequate for me. The piano sounds are fine for what I need ? acoustics, Rhodes, Wurly and even a clav. You can play with the mic/amp modeling and add some FX to get the sound you want or at least close to it. The synth section has what I need (brass, strings) to do the job. The bass sounds are passable - Hefty Bass sounds like an episode of ?Seinfeld? while the Acoustic + Fretless bass sounds are OK. The lead synth sounds are not that great but I don?t use them much anyway. The fact that there is a master reverb control to add liveliness to the sound is a nice touch.

I?ve owned multiple Rolands and never had a problem. This is built like a tank so I?m hoping that it would be around for a while.
I would & do use it without a backup.

Never had to call them about anything and from what I hear it?s a good thing I never tried to.

A good investment - I'd buy it again. In my band, I switch off between keys and rhythm guitar so I need a real efficient setup. With the VR 760(V-Combo) I carry only one keyboard and it has the ?meat and potatoes? sounds that I need. If you?re a purist you may want an additional module or synth but for me less is more.
I wish:
1. I was able to download the manual online before I bought it so I could see what this baby could do
2. The synth section had more choices ? especially for lead synth and bass
3. There was a 61 key version but judging by all the controls, there would not be enough room on the machine
4. The price was bit lower (wishful thinking)
Bottom line:
You get great organ & piano but the synth section leaves a teeny bit to be desired. You could always get an expansion card.

I purchased this keyboard in hopes of finding an all-in-one general use keyboard with easy to use editing. I found it...This is a very cool keyboard. I haven't stored any registrations (presets) yet because I haven't had too. If a sound needs modification simply change it using a knob or a drawbar. The master 4 band EQ is global and cannot be stored in the registrations which I thought (at first) was a negative feature BUT I actually like it because the EQ is doesn't change from patch to patch and the knobs are the actual value shown. Both the VR-760 and the Nord Electro can be confusing when using presets as the value of the knob (on the preset) may be different than the value actually shown on the knob (as the knobs don't phsically move as you change patches BUT the values change). As far as the drawbars, Roland has included a VERY handy, H-Bar Manual button that switches the electronic drawbars to the the manual settings (of course moving a drawbar also does this)
The manual seems straight forward and not too bad for a Roland product. It covers all the basics anyway. The keybard is divided into 3 sections. One sound out of each section can be used simultaniously as well as the rhythm section. Very striaght forward, easy to use....

I like the action of the keyboard. Actually it's the best I've ever had in terms of dynamics. The VR-760 has numerous effects and the are all editable in real-time. Easy, the way it should be. I haven't tried any of the expansion cards but I'm considering the orchestra card. It has midi, but I have no experience with that either. It has XLR outputs that can be used to go directly to the PA and 1/4" outputs that go to the amp and both sets can be used at the same time. The Master volume/individual volumes does effect both sets of outputs. No on board sequencer. It does have a built in drum machine that has all the bread and butter beats necessary for practice (and perhaps some performances). The drum machine is very handy. A definite advantage over the it's main competion, the Electro.

One thing I have observed about sampler based keyboards, is that the sounds are often variations of the same basic sample (i.e one sound, countless variations of EQ, Effects, etc.) With the VR-760, you have the basic samples and you can tweek and save as you like. It cuts through the BS. The effects are great and can be added or subtracted as you like. At first, I was somewhat disapointed by the piano, but by boosting the upper mid and lowering the bass, I was able to get a piano I am quite pleased with. I have no problem with the rotary effect. Sounds good to me and beats lugging around a Leslie.....and synth brass is synth brass...always has been...always will be...Orchestra String patch is great...And Roland calls a Rhodes a Rhodes, not a 'dyno-tine' or a 'rhodz' or some other such nonsense.

so far...so good...I will use it without a backup.

I have dealt with Roland in the past but not regarding this product. Personally, I think their website could use considerable improvement as far as information. I would have liked to have downloaded the manual prior to buying this. IMO, that actually would have speeded up my decision and would have been to their advantage.

In closing, I like to say this is an excellent product and I'm not overly fond of Roland and their products. I'm very glad I purchased it although it is expensive. I also have a Nord Electro and a Yamaha Motif 6 which I like too, for different reasons. If could only take one to a gig, this would be it. I'd buy it again....

Very easy to use. I've only looked at the manual for things I couldn't do without help (which as it turned out, couldnt be done). The presets are fair, but can really be adjusted to your liking quite easily. You don't need a patch editor for this thing at all.

There is plenty of polphony. The keyboard action is excellent for Hammond-y playing. The built-in effects are adequate. The leslie sim needs some tweaking, and I'm not sure that after tweaking its all that much better. There is an inherent thinness to the sound that doesn't become apparent until used live. Takes 2 SRX expansion cards, but scrolling through the sounds is ardulous work: there is an Up and Down button, and that is it; no numeric key punch, or bank select or category search for the expansions. Very rudimentary midi implementation.

This is hard to evaluate. It's fun as hell to play, but live the organ just tends to appear and disappear. I much prefer the non-tweakable Electro leslie sim by far. The electric pianos in the Electro smoke this. This has more organ sounds than the Electro (because of the tonewheel selection and the amp modeling you get a variety of Hammond organs, as opposed the "one" you get with the Electro), but frankly the Electro sits better in a mix. In reality, when you buy a Hammond, you inherit that organ's quirks (not that model's quirks); each Hammond is individual, and that is the concept at work with the Electro. So, in this respect the Vcombo has an advantage. But again, the Electro just sits better. The Vcombo does react to your playing. Its keyboard will inspire some animated playing. The electric pianos on the other hand are VERY static and thin and really lifeless and are completely smoked by the Electro. At this point, I'm not sure that the acoustic piano here is all that much better than the Electro. But, the Vcombo is "multi-timbral".

Its a Roland; these things are indestructible, and this machine is a very well built and sturdy 37lbs. No worries.

They're fine if you have a day to wait on hold.

If it were stolen, I'd have to rethink the purchase. As it is, I'm rethinking it. The Electro is not as tweakable, but sounds better out of the box for organs and for electric pianos. The Acoustic piano edge is held by the Vcombo, but just barely. SRX Concert Grand card didn't really help that much. I love the way this thing plays, but am disenchanted with the way it sounds. If it sounded like the Electro and played like this, I would pay $500 more. I compared to the Electro (which I own) and liked the fact that I could do splits and have organ AND pianos playing. I just wish it had better sounds. It is inspiring to play, but not inspiring to listen to. So whether it helps or gets in the way of making music is VERY subjective. This is a very tough call, and can only be made by you.

By the way, to the reviewer after me, the SRX Ultimate Keys DOES in fact have a CP70, the BEST CP sound of any keyboard I have ever owned or heard. It's #4: Stage Grand. Guess you didn't look too far did you.

Nonexistant.

Great idea, LOVE having 76 semi-weighted keys, sturdy and roadworthy, nice sounds. A few flaws, though:
1. The yellowed keys are about the ugliest thing I've ever seen on a keyboard.
2. Isn't the wistful age of the faux-retro wooden end-cheek over? When will sleek and lightweight come back into fashion?
3. No CP70 sound? "That's OK, I'll shell out for the SRX vintage card. It's got hundreds of electromechanical keyboard sounds on it!" But no, not a single CP70 there, either. Criminal.

This keyboard is very user friendly, take it out of the box and play. This is a great live performance keyboard, big knobs, big lighted switches and drawbars. The three main sections of this keyboard are, Organ (same as a VK-8), Piano ( also Rhodes, wurly, clav, harpsicord) and Synth( 18 basic internal sounds and 2 SRX board slots). No need for the manual, it's very easy to split and layer sounds from the three sections.

The VR 760 has a vey well built steel case with wood end caps, everthing feels solid, a good road keyboard. There are stereo balanced XLR outs and 1/4' outs as well. The polyphony is 128, keyboard action is very nice, snappy Hammond like waterfall keys. The effects and EQ are great and easy to tweak, just grab a knob. 2 Roland SRX boards can be installed for more sounds. Can't split the organ for 2 different drawbar settings, but I found a good organ on a SRX board I could use for that.

The organ sounds great, same as a VK-8 but leslie needs a little tweaking. The pianos are very good, can be used solo, mike placement and attack and release can changed. Rhodes, Wurly and clav very real and can be tweaked. Of the 18 synth sounds, about half are useable. The synth can really be tweaked, Attack, Release, Cutoff, Resonance and Effects have there own knobs. It also has a D beam controller that you can assign to organ, piano or synth. A VERY simple drum machine is built in for practice or if the drummer is late. All settings can be stored in memory and saved to Compact flash cards. Overall this keyboard plays great and sounds great, the Leslie and piano need a little tweak out of the box.

This one of the most heavy duty keyboards I have owned, built like a tank. I have been giging without backup.

I have never had to call Roland.

I would replace it if stolen, nothing else like it. I've been playing 36 years and presently use a Yamaha Motif 6, P-120 and a Nord Lead. This keyboard is perfect for gigs you don't want to haul a lot of stuff to, one keyboard covers most sounds. I don't like the wood end caps because they scracth and ding so easy. Not being able to set different drawbar splits is my major complaint. I didn't compare it to other keyboards, nothing else was this easy to play live and could cover any gig on its own.

The keyboard is pretty intuitive to use (not including editing) for performance. It's all knob based so if you want to change something just turn a knob (or pull out a drawbar) and forget about menus, which is a great feature. Scrolling through menues to change a simple parameter like the depth of an effect is not my idea of a good time, so hats of to Roland for making this very easy to use. I haven't edited any patches yet (I just picked up the baby yesterday) but I've read through the manual on how to do it and it looks all very straight forward.

The keyboard action is a little light. When I first played it I thought the action was the perfect compromise for piano and organ, but as I've played it more I wish it was a little stiffer. Onboard effects are very good except for one major flaw: As others have noted the leslie simulation SUCKS! Well it is sadly true. I might have to pick up a Motion Pro now.

Organ is very good, but not earth-shattering. I give it a 7 out of 10, but this may be because I don't care for the leslie simulation.
The acoustic piano sounds are absolutely fantastic - 9 out of 10. Rhodes are good but I'm no expert there. Wurlitzer is a solid 8 out of 10 and when you add tremelo and chorus it is a 10 (I know I own the real thing). Now for the synth section, quite frankly Roland forces you to buy the SRX boards because the section is basically useless otherwise. Well you get some strings which sound okay and thats about it (okay you also get scat singing, basses, cheezy pads, and horrible brass ... none of which I will use). So do yourself a favor and buy an expansion card ... it's an absolute must. I picked up the SRX-07 Ultimate Keys which all I will say here is that it helps out a lot. I will also be buying the Orchestra card which has got good reviews.

I don't have a lot of experience with Roland gear but this thing is built like a tank! I will gig without a backup!

N/A

If it were lost or stolen I would buy it again as it is the only keyboard of it's kind. I think it is a little expensive for what it does, but hey there's no one else making a keyboard like this. Some of you might say Nord Electro does what this keyboard does and here are the reasons why it does not:
1. Nord Electro does not have real drawbars (a big big downfall).
2. NOrd Electro's acoustic piano is joke and was only added as an afterthought.
3 Nord Electro has no synth section. I guess you can just buy a module
but now that's not "all-in-one" is it.
4. Even if you did want to play synth parts with a module, Nord Electro does not have a pitch bender.

With all the stuff I don't like about this board, it still is the best live board I've ever had - and I don't see anything out there that compares.

As it has already been said, three sections to this keyboard:-

Organ - Killer Hammond sounds, drawbars, amp sim etc. All very usable but the onboard rotor sim lets it down. I sold an Electro to buy this and the Electro sim is so much better.

Piano - Absolutly stuning, I agree you have to tweek it a bit and you end up with one setting for playing quietly at home and another for giggin as the qualities of the piano sound undergo some sonic changes as the PA starts to realy give it some welly. Electric painos are OK but not as good as the Electro but I don't realy use them so thats not a problem for me.

Synth - Why they couldn't have included an organ bass alingside the very nice acoustic bass and fretless bass instead of this mushy thing called hefty bass I don't know. Not being able to split the organ sound either side of the split is a bit of a downer - more of this later.

Keyboard action is a dream. I have owned synths and organs for just about forever and this action suits me very much. It is a bit light in comparrison to many of the serious acoustic piano boards out there but try playing organ on a piano weighted keyboard, hello hurt fingers! I'm going to try a SRX07 board to boost the synth section and its nice to see there are a whole bunch of these cards available.

Back to the organ - On nearly every organ clone I've owned I've been able to split the keyboard and play organ bass in my left hand and go for it with my right with each side of the split being adjustable. You can do this on the VK7 and VK8 and these have the same engine so why can't I do it on the VR760? Yes, its lovely to have a fretless bass in your left hand when muching about at home but my band has a bass player and I want an adjustable organ sound for my left hand for a bit of comping and a louder organ sound in my right. This is the main reason for opting to get a SRX07 ultimate keys card. As this is assigned to the synth section I should be able to select any of the hammond sounds on the card and assign it to my left hand of the split. If anyone had done this let me know?

Roland gear is built to last. I just sold a Roland EP10 that 30 years old and still going. However it is just as well they build them well 'coz you'll never get them on the phone to talk aout it.

I bought this to replace a Nord Electro 73 because I had issues with the Electro's velocity response plus I found it hard to play organ (smeers, slides etc.) on the semi weighted Electro keys.

I found the VR-760 to be extremely intuitive. Lots of knobs on the faceplate which make tweaking the different sections (organ, piano, synth) easier, although once you begin editing the registrations (analogous to "combis", etc. on other make synths) you can dig deeper into the menu-driven tweaks. Some idiosyncracies in terms of nomenclature and how one navigates the menus, saves files, names files, etc. but pretty easy to learn. The fundamentals are consistent with what you've probably grown up with in terms of synthesis and sound creation - ADSR filters, resonance controls, etc. The manual is satisfactory but a bit thin - more on that later.

Exceptional features for live performance. As I stated, there are three basic sound generation sections - organ (as in tonewheel or "Hammond" organ), piano (including EPs, clavinet, harpsichord) and synth (voices, strings, brass, synth tones). Each section has its own controls, including volume, and there is a master volume, EQ and reverb. The sections can be layered across the 76-key keyboard, or "registrations" can be made which store your tweaks into files. The keyboard can be split at any point - one minor beef is that each "half" of the keyboard can only accommodate one tone generation section - i.e. you can have piano on the left side and organ on the right, but you can't add synth to the piano on the left. Bummer. I expanded my VR with the an SRX-07 expansion board (classic keys, synths), which greatly expanded the possibilities for the synth section. The keyboard can accommodate two expansion boards - I plan to also add the symphonique strings board. Installing the expansion boards is a snap - four screws on the bottom of the instrument and you're in. The keyboard is very professional - stereo outputs (1/4 inch and XLR), damper, expression and control pedals (with myriad parameters that can be controlled), MIDI in/out/thru. 76 antique ivory waterfall style keys - great feeling keyboard. Playing slides and glisses on the organ is a blast on this axe. The instrument also has a rudimentary "drum machine" - a couple dozen drum beats of varying time signatures and feels, with adjustable tempos. Certainly not a sequencer or drum machine and not editable (can't get rid of the annoying ride cymbal), but enough to help give some sense of context when experimenting with tones and wondering how they'll cut through the band mix or blend with the rhythm section.

Most instruments are very rich. In my opinion, this instrument is built around the organ section (9 drawbars are prominently featured in the upper lefthand corner, it has a very satisfactory rotating speaker effect, and lots of tweaks like amplifier type, mic distance, distortion, etc.) The organ section sounds very convincing. The piano section is very good, some are exceptional, such as the Rhodes tones, and it has a good Wurlitzer sound, too. The clav is a bit thin, but the expansion card has a killer clav sound. The synth section with the expansion card is adequate - decent string tones, a really cute scat vocal sound that is fun to play with, some brass and synth tones... all are highly tweakable through the editor and you can make some real improvements, but if you are considering this axe to play synth tones, I highly recommend the expansion card. I got one off Ebay for about $200 - they retail for $300. I don't think I'd say (other than the organ) that the sounds are the best I've ever heard from a synth, but taken as a whole - very good sounds, very flexible, tweakable on the fly, easy to learn and program - this instrument is very formidable. The organ section is as good as I've heard on a synth with an electronic Leslie, and the keyboard is butter - wonderful feel. I'm currently using two Korg 01-W pros, a Voce Hammond organ module, a Roland JV-1010, a Motion Pro Leslie unit, and a six-channel mixer. My goal is to ditch everything in favor of the VR-760! For an old guy with a bad back, this thing is a Godsend!

I've only owned this thing for three days, so time will tell. I plan to gig with it immediately and the proof is in the pudding - I will take my 01Ws as backups initially, just in case! I'm not sure I'd ever gig with no backup whatsoever - I know Murphy and he's alive and well!

I've dealt with Roland regarding my JV-1010 before - not in support of the VR-760 yet. I have found Roland telephone support to be less than extraordinary. The company web site is a pain in the butt to navigate (if you look up the VR-760 from the main page you won't find it - you have to execute a separate search, and even then there's a whole paragraph about the instrument - some marketing approach!), they do not put PDF files of owner's manuals online, and getting a live knowledgeable person on the phone is trying. I would have to say that the operator's manual is pretty comprehensive and yet simple. However, I could see a novice having some difficulty as every parameter is not defined to the nth degree - you have to infer some things and just experiment to figure others out. In my experience of purchasing gear and receiving support, I'd put Mackie at the top of the list at about an 8 - Roland is nowhere near Mackie in terms of customer/technical support. They know how to build 'em - from there, you're largely on your own.

I'm only three days into my love affair with this axe so time will tell, but its pretty much love at first sight. I'd put the sounds up against most anything else out there, especially anything in a comparable price range. I would like to see a bit more in terms of onboard synth tones in this axe, and perhaps better choices (I don't know about you, but I don't need a doo-wop chorus very often, but a killer MiniMoog patch would be real handy.) Also, it would be nice if multiple tone generation sections could be layered in keyboard splits. Having said that, this is a very fun instrument to play - 80% of the tones on the instrument and the expansion card spark some creativity and make me want to play something with that sound, and if something about the sound bugs me I have pretty good success tweaking it to my satisfaction. Anybody looking at this axe needs to consider it in context - it could very well free you up of one or more instruments you're presently using in a live situation. I could also see recording with this instrument, particularly with the organ section.