I just upgraded my Roland RD-300sx piano to a new VR-730, which is, supposedly, a 'live performance' keyboard.
First of all, I love the sounds and the action. No complaints there. The 73 keys are less than the 88 on the RD-300sx but perfectly usable. It's also more manageable to lug around being considerably lighter and shorter.
Now for the negatives. As a musician playing in a live situation, I don't want to have to go through copious amounts of menus to change registrations and to make simple transpositions. On the RD-300sx, to change to a different key, all that is necessary is to hold down the transpose button and hit the key in question. Elegantly simple. On the VR-730 it is a matter on holding down the transpose button and pressing up and down arrows or rotating a dial. Try doing that without missing a beat!
There are 100 registration slots, which is a commendable 25 banks of 4 slots. Getting to banks 1-4 can be done with three button presses, which isn't too bad but when you go beyond that, it's back to the up and down arrows and hit and miss dial. I like to have a registration per song so the 16 easily accessible ones are just not enough.
Taking a leaf from the RD-300sx transpose function, one button and one key, I don't see why they didn't implement this for registrations too - one bank button, one key of 25 keys - instant.
It makes me wonder if Roland engineers are working musicians. It is unacceptable that basic functions should be so hard to get at - without missing a beat!
First of all, I love the sounds and the action. No complaints there. The 73 keys are less than the 88 on the RD-300sx but perfectly usable. It's also more manageable to lug around being considerably lighter and shorter.
Now for the negatives. As a musician playing in a live situation, I don't want to have to go through copious amounts of menus to change registrations and to make simple transpositions. On the RD-300sx, to change to a different key, all that is necessary is to hold down the transpose button and hit the key in question. Elegantly simple. On the VR-730 it is a matter on holding down the transpose button and pressing up and down arrows or rotating a dial. Try doing that without missing a beat!
There are 100 registration slots, which is a commendable 25 banks of 4 slots. Getting to banks 1-4 can be done with three button presses, which isn't too bad but when you go beyond that, it's back to the up and down arrows and hit and miss dial. I like to have a registration per song so the 16 easily accessible ones are just not enough.
Taking a leaf from the RD-300sx transpose function, one button and one key, I don't see why they didn't implement this for registrations too - one bank button, one key of 25 keys - instant.
It makes me wonder if Roland engineers are working musicians. It is unacceptable that basic functions should be so hard to get at - without missing a beat!
