From res0isa4@verizon.net Fri Oct 10 19:33:59 2003
Subject:Re: VR760 plus SRX board

> Hi all, Eric asked for some views on the VR760 with the SRX07 board installed
> and then suggested I post them to the group also, so here it is.
>
> In my opinion the SRX07 board should be installed by Roland as part of the
> board, it fill in so many of the gaps that the board has otherwise that I
> couldn't see how I could now use the VR760 without it.
>
> There are tons of sounds on the SRX07, nearly 500! So some of them have to be
> a bit on the poor side but there are surprisingly few that you can not use.
> Taking them by category:-
>
> Pianos;
> There is a stereo acoustic piano that is very good. A little different to the
> onboard concert piano but just as playable. I find layering the 'easy rocker'
> piano with the on board concert grand give it just a little top end
> sparkle. The Electric Grand is just out of this world, knocks the Electro's
> right out the window. I didn't really use this kind of piano sound till I got
> the SRX07 but now I'm using it for several numbers live and really
> getting off on it. Electric pianos are quite good, not quite up to the
> Electro standard but when playing live nobody would tell the difference. I
> like that I can change the velocity responses because I like to have a very
> hard electric piano sound and on the Electro I had to pound the keys so hard I
> ended up damaging my hand/fingers and I'm only just now getting full use back.
> The wurly on the SRX07 is much better than the on-board one and I
> have a patch where I layer the two because they seem to have different
> crossover/fade points within the samples so the two combined is quite good.
>
> Organs;
> 70 or more organs on the SRX07. Some are very good. There are several I use
> just for left hand bass and some for left hand organ accompaniment. There is a
> rotory sim as part of the synth section but it is not very good
> and can only be switched between fast/slow using the MFX knob. I've got used
> to this and to be honest most of my organ playing is right hand dominated, I
> play with bands and bass players etc. Some great Vox Farfisa
> organs that are a barrel of fun but don't really fit for most of the stuff I
> play.
>
> Bass;
> Loads of bass sounds from very real electric basses to thick and heavy synth
> basses ALA moog etc. Don't really use these but its nice to know they're
> there if I want them.
>
> Strings;
> Some very nice synthy strings that remind me of early Roland string machines,
> I love those synth strings much more than the 'real' samples, they often are a
> bit sharp. There's some great samples taken from Mellotron
> including strings, vox, flutes etc. I'm a bit biased as I love those early
> 70's kind of sounds, my band is a kind of 70's funk or acid jazz kind of thing
> and its great to see the folk in the audience smile when I throw in a really
> cheesy flute ALA 'Strawberry Fields etc.
>
> Lead/Pad sounds;
> Load of Roland lead and pad sounds that are all very usable but I don't use
> them much. Any of the sounds from the SRX07 board can be routed through any
> of the on board FX, the knobs in the synth section all effect the sounds as
> does the pitch bend. I have a fun five minutes now and again trolling through
> these and doing my best Rick Wakeman (YES) impression.
>
> Overall - I love layering a good pad sound behind the on board concert piano
> and control how the pad comes in using the expression pedal. I also can't get
> enough of layering the organ with a piano or even best an electric
> piano. I had an Electro which I hopped would be a 'one keyboard - one gig'
> kind of solution but the acoustic piano didn't cut it and the velocity on the
> piano didn't feel right to me (although load of others feel its great),
> organ and Leslie sim was great but didn't feel at home with button instead of
> drawbars plus with the VR760 you get all these wonderful
> synth/organ/pad/string etc sounds. I'm thinking seriously about getting the
> SRX09 World Instruments next because I like a good accordion sound, banjo
> sound and solo violin sounds for the bluegrass numbers that often creep into
> the set list.
>
> Get the SRX07. I can't stress that enough, it turns a fairly good keyboard
> into a real players all round giging keyboard, I'm very pleased with my
> purchase.
>
> Downside? - Not as light as the Electro, bit to long to sit width wise across
> the back of my car so it has to be flight cased and go with the van all the
> time. Not so easy to just carry into your hotel room to use with
> headphones late at night when you're touring. Leslie sim is not bad but the
> Electro is better, to my ears, but our sound guy can not tell the difference
> when live and he is a good engineer, we trust him so much he takes an equal
> cut with the rest of the band!
>
> Sorry if I've waffled a bit but hopefully there's some useful info here.
>
> Carl
Hey Carl.

Thanks Carl!

If I wasn¹t so damn content with my 73 Electro, I probably buy the V760
myself because of your review. I¹ve always liked the Roland sounds, even
though I dislike some of their approaches to products. The actual samples
they use are really pristine. This is going back since the inception of the
JV series.

Mark

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