From ynottnaro@yahoo.com Mon Jan 20 17:41:32 2003
Subject:Nord2 problems....Roland's entry

Hey Mark...

The first Nord shipped to me had a loose "something"
rolling around inside it, and had a dented chassis
(right at the center of the keyboard, just below the
keys). I was shipped another one, but this one had
sticking keys that wouldn't actually go down. Unit
#3, the one I use, showed up fine, and has been in a
flight case since delivery, flown around the world,
and done well...until this weekend, when a key decided
intermittently it wasnt going to be played. Now the
problem has corrected itself (got me!) but the seller
has been alerted. And I've had it less than 90 days.

Your comments regarding Roland are dead on. But in
the intial posting, they sounded pretty harsh. Roland
generally puts out a good product, but like many
corporations, have decided that it's better to keep
re-issuing redux technology...or at least more
cost-efficient for them. Does the Phantom really
sound all that different from the JV1080? A little
yes, but seeing as there have been like 7 models in
between them, the differences have been incremental at
best. (The sequencer on the other hand is where they
have been doing the real improvements.) Most of us
are concerned with the sounds first and foremost.
While I was never a big Yamaha fan (except for the
CS80) I liked the EX5 and bought it. The next model,
the Motif, made serious strides, and convinced me it
was a worthwhile purchase (which I still believe). I'm
not that knowledgeable about their NordLead products,
and how great the advances were from the Lead to the
Lead2 to Lead3. But hopefully the strides made were
worth investing from one model to the next.

So, you and I are in total agreement. As for the "me
too" thing, well, kind of off-base there as Roland was
doing organs back as far as the VK-09 (drawbars, but
"eh" tone), VK1000 (better), and of course the
VK7/77/8. So they were doing it before anyone, with
the exception of maybe Korg's CX3 (can't remember, but
I think the VK09 came first, but it wasn't as cool).
But if they manage to make all three sections work
simultaneously (but so far the on-site reviews aren't
exactly wowwing us) they're going to have a hot
product on their hands. But the bottom line is no
matter how impressive the hardware, if it doesn't
sound good, we don't CARE how well it doesn't sound
good. (That was my problem with the K2000/2500...
impressive capabilities, but the soundsets just didn't
inspire ME.)

Construction/shipping issues aside, I think the
Electro is a great product, and I use it all the time,
and only for half of its capabilities.

T
--- Mark Zyla wrote:
> > I'm sorry, but Clavia has some issues
> > there quite frankly. I'm afraid I may be in the
> > middle of obtaining unit #4 precisely because of
> that
> > issue.
> >
> > What kind of problems did you have?
> >
> > but where acoustic
> > pianos are concerned, Clavia is way back in the
> > running on that one....after all, this is Roland's
> > true strong point.
> >
> > Roland does have very good piano sounds ­ I have
> used the acoustic samples in
> > the my A7-70EX¹s Expansion board for over 4 years.
> It does does the job.
> > I¹ll probably look into another Roland product if
> I ever move up. However,
> > the Electro was designed to emulate
> electromechanical keyboards, and it does
> > that job admirably. The acoustic pianos are a
> bonus feature that have been
> > improving in quality with newer downloads because
> a fair share of Electro
> > owners have voiced their interest and need for
> one.
> >
> > This new Roland product, however good it might
> sound, is not a huge feat for
> > Roland. Clavia has been the pioneers in this
> small, and I mean small, portion
> > of the market in engineering and bringing to
> market an innovative product in
> > the Electro. Roland has simply made a decision to
> enter this market with a
> > minimum of engineering investment on their part
> using DSP and samples from
> > previous engineering endeavors. While it may be a
> good sounding keyboard, it
> > is simply a ³me too² product that has excellent
> branding with the Roland name.
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>

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