[ARTICLE]E-80 Version 2

[nielshs]

Hi

Roland releases E-80 version 2 with mp3 playback and a new gold style collection.

Regards
Niels

[adi matis]

when? where? ...how?
i reeeeeeally hope they have something bakeing for E60 in the oven. 

[Ironhill]

Roland launches a E-80 version 2 with mp3 playback and a new gold style collection.

....and perhaps dressed in white with wooden sides?  Any way, thank you for the Information, Niels. 
Regards
Hanspeter
   

[admin]

Se attchements

[admin]

Looking forward to hear those styles! When will the styles be released? Please share the styles here in the forum, when any of you receive them!

[reshmin]

This may be out of topic but Im surprised why Roland has not come out with something like SA or Mega voices equivalent. They seem to be concentrating on things like video output, karoke, mp3 playing,......rather strange.
This also adds up to the news that the E series will be future.

Rgds
George

[adi matis]

i might sound uninformed - i might very well be - but i suppose E80 does not have the hardware component for playing mp3, right?
that means one need to buy an extra card for that, isn't it?

[Ironhill]

Hi George,
they call it mp3-PLAYBACK. That may be more than a simple player. Perhaps they include a exceptionally 'Center cancel' feature, tempo change and transpose possibilities. This will be a very interesting accompaniment, a good completion for styles. Tomorrow, I think, we will know more about
when the Musik Messe Frankfurt starts. 'Video out' together with the 'Viewer' is a big help to show
leadsheets with text and chords linked to UPGs. (You don't need a Midi or Karaoke file). In all the E80 is a bid arranger improvement compared with the G70, but unfortunately without the G70 keybed and the second Audio Out.      
Regards
Hanspeter  

[Diki]

One can only HOPE that, along with adding some new features to the E80, Roland have taken the opportunity to correct some of the basic blunders in the OS that have been stubbornly clung to for years now.

Adding mp3 capabilities to a fatally flawed OS is NOT going to springboard Roland back to popularity, except to the few that simply want a karaoke machine, and don't need good arranger operation.

Chord 'hold', chord 'type' change, all of these do not work well (they all cut off the ACC, unlike the G1000), the EQ does not get 'Recorded', you can't sync style and SMF... these are just a few of the long-reported problems in our 'New Functions' forum.

UNLIKE the lack of mp3 playback (probably the least reported need).

Should Roland address this 'me too' feature, while ignoring basic playability (probably Yamaha's strength, NOT the mp3 feature!), this will not bode well for the future... Just who are Roland listening to? They sure NEVER post here, that's for sure!

[Keyplayer]

Here is a link with more info:

http://www.rolandkeyboardclub.com/v/E-80Version2.php

Gary



[Diki]

Apparently it is a paid (60 euro) update. The first from Roland in this entire series.

Me, I'd be happy to pay that for fixes to the OS that we have requested (just in case you are reading this, Roland!), but no fixes and an mp3 player...? Not on your life!

[Ironhill]

Thank you for the link, Gary. I'm curious about the availability.
Regards
Hanspeter

[Ironhill]

Hi All,
after reading the text about the mp3-player I'm very disappointed. No transpose function, no tempo change and no internal effects (e.g. center cancel) can be used. So the equivalent one will found with the styles. How many of the 15 are individual useable.  Four or five  It seems to me that Roland R&D would tell us they are alive, nothing more. 
Regards
Hanspeter 

[Diki]

Jeez... it just keeps getting worse, doesn't it? 

What use is it without tempo and key change? Or no Mark/Jump? Have Roland taken a look at their competition in the last five years? What can they be thinking?

Someone is asleep at the wheel, and no-one at Roland Corp. gives a damn.

Good job my G70 is built like a tank... I doubt I'll be getting a new Roland for a long time!

[adi matis]

i think this mp3 player is just that: a basic mp3 player, not meant to be used while singing, but just a mp3 player replacement - as they also said. simply, dont run your mp3s from a different hardware while you take a break, but use the keyboard...
if so, it's pretty weak.

[Peter]

Hi All,

Can the mp3 player also in the G-70? Or had the E-80 some unused hardware inside?

Greetings Peter

[reshmin]

Hoping to find an easter egg, i tried yesterday to place an mp3 file in the "Put new songs here" directory of the External card on my G70,  it does not work!!
I think it can be managed by a software update, esp when there are no additional functions for the mp3 player.

[admin]

Click here to read the article

/images/stories/e80V2.Roland releases E80 Version. Thanks to the OS version 2 you can play back MP3 files generated on (or downloaded with) your computer. You can also create playlists of several MP3 songs to be played back consecutively. The New E-80 Version 2 is also supplied with new Music Styles collection, called “Gold Standard Styles”. If you own already an E-80, you can upgrade it to the version 2 using the “E-80v2 Upgrade Kit”. Please contact your local Roland dealer to have the “E-80 version 2 Upgrade Kit “.

The onboard MP3 playback function represents a big improv. . .

[Fran Carango]

I for one sure hope the "version 2 kit" is made available for the G70..It is exactly what I want available to play immediately from the G70..without the added laptop...I do not need to alter tempo and keys...I need to be able to play specialty songs, or prepared band tunes....also as Adi mentioned...break tunes...

I hope Roland doesn't listen to the complainers here and pull the plug  on this feature before making it available to the G70..

So what if it does not have the frills...it is a software add on to our current boards[I think]..

Roland please send it to me...I will appreciate it..

[Ironhill]

I hope Roland doesn't listen to the complainers here and pull the plug on this feature before making it available to the G70. So what if it does not have the frills...it is a software add on to our current boards[I think]..
Roland please send it to me...I will appreciate it..

May be Fran, but I think your friendly words doesn't come to the right shop. The problem is,
there is no one listen to you. Neither to friendly customers nor to things competitors are able to
do. Arrogance seems to be the last (Roland)-method to feel good. If national agents TOGETHER
with their customers are helpless like they are at the moment, we have to bite what the big bosses
with their R&D department offer us. That's a little, IMO. Painful to see how the competitors passes
the formerly arranger star in the sky. I personally don't like to be a dreamer any longer.   
Regards
Hanspeter           

[Diki]

It is well known that there are considerable differences in the hardware architecture of the E80 and G70. For instance, Roland actually confirmed that the .bmp feature could not be implemented due to hardware differences, likewise the extra MFX capabilities.

I, for one, do not find it impossible to believe that hardware differences will make this feature unavailable on the G70, either.

Nor do I care. The well documented SOFTWARE problems, on the other hand, I believe are more than fixable with a G70 update. But first, we will have to see whether Roland has payed them any attention in this new update for the E80.

But the list goes on, doesn't it? Requested changes get ignored, while new and unrequested, barely usable features get added (Guitar Mode, MP3 playback). Makes you wonder whether anyone at Roland R&D can actually PLAY, or simply want a karaoke machine...

[Diki]

By the way, Fran, the 'complainers' on this forum are the reason your G70 doesn't have the crippled OTS system, from G70 OS1&2, and a myriad of other problems from the early days. I wouldn't dismiss them so lightly, nor imagine that Roland are angry at them. In fact, they are probably the reason why there are any E80 (and all the other models) sales at all!

But having seen how well Roland got the first batch of blunders fixed, it is frustrating to watch them falter at the finish line. But trust me, without those 'complainers', you would probably be playing a Yamaha!

[adi matis]

But having seen how well Roland got the first batch of blunders fixed, it is frustrating to watch them falter at the finish line. But trust me, without those 'complainers', you would probably be playing a Yamaha!

unfortunatelly, the chances that happen are not completely out of discution. 

[Fran Carango]

Diki, my " complainers" comment is about the features that they give us and are not appreciated..Complaints about  problems are not complainers...I think you see my point...

And Yamaha for me..fat chance..I have had a long run of experiences with Yamaha...They have always been thin sounds with many design problems...I will stay with Roland...even when you jump ship..

[Joe Rushing]

Hello Everyone,
Out of curiosity, has anyone heard what this version 2 Upgrade will cost?
Joe