Has anyone here actually played the new Roland FA-07?

[pax-eterna]

Just asking for an impression of keybed feel is all? thinking of buying one and as I live a long LONG way from the nearest stockist, it'd nice to get a heads up on it.

Thanks

[Scramble]

I don't think there are many units shipping yet, but three people on the Music Player forum report playing one at Gearfest:

"Just played the FA-07 today at Gearfest. I will confirm that the action is a substantial improvement over the 06, which was set up just above it so I had an immediate comparison. It didn't feel as good as the action on my Jupiter-80, but it was very nice. Dare I say you could even play piano on it, in a pinch."

"I tried the FA-07 this afternoon. It's very playable, and quite smooth to the touch. The action is way ahead of the FA-06; it feels identical to the one in my Jupiter-50."

"The FA-07 action is indeed different from that of the FA-06. The FA-06 there was located directly above the FA-07. One of the Roland reps actually measured it for me, and we confirmed that the white keys are longer...and the black keys actually had a wider top surface than the FA-06 (e.g. less trapezoidal). These felt more solid to play on as well. Finally, the feel of the FA-07 action was slightly heavier than the FA-06. Playing it felt more natural, and triggering voices seemed even and consistent throughout the entire playing range. Definitely an improvement!"

Generally the speculation is that the keybed is the same or similar to the one in the Jupiter 50. It definitely seems to be better than the one in the FA-06. Someone else has claimed that someone at Roland said it was the Fatar TP/9S keybed, supposedly the same as the one in the Prophet 6/OB-6, NI Komplete Kontrol 25/49/61, Kurzweil PC361/PC3A6/PC3K6 and the Novation SL MK II, but I can't vouch for that.

(Still no aftertouch though, just like Korg and Yamaha, which is insane, seeing as many cheap lightweight plastic controllers have aftertouch these days.)

[pax-eterna]

Thanks scramble - good info there

[Dave B]

I see that Roland are now coming to Synthfest. As are Korg. We shall have to go down en masse, stare at them pointedly and ask where the aftertouch is....

[Folderol]

Or play them, look puzzled and ask why they brought broken ones

[Agharta]

Or play them, look puzzled and ask why they brought broken ones

They may throw their arms up in the air whilst shrugging and mutter something about Brexit; broken politics leading to broken keyboards as a tribute.

[Scramble]

Or play them, look puzzled and ask why they brought broken ones

They may throw their arms up in the air whilst shrugging and mutter something about Brexit; broken politics leading to broken keyboards as a tribute.

This is not the Lounge.

[Scramble]

Brief review in from a user on Roland Clan:

-----------------
Just got it the other day, and played a gig on it last night. It has better key action than my FA-06, and having 76 keys allows me to stretch out more. Of course, all the great sounds are there, and with the light weight, I've finally found the "happy medium".
-----------------

[The Elf]

Or play them, look puzzled and ask why they brought broken ones

[Scramble]

I had a play of an FA-07 at Synthfest last weekend. A big thumbs-up for the keyboard action.

First I played it with some synth and organ sounds. It was very good. I'm not putting it in the class of best-ever actions, but it was good, especially given that's it's not an high-end machine.

Then I played it with some piano sounds. This was a revelation. It was one of the best ever synth-style keyboards I've ever used for playing the piano. Things that are normally a struggle on a semi-weighted action worked really well on this, and I happily played away for quite a while while the crowds were all trying to get into the Doctor Who seminar, which I had given up on.

Of course these things are to some degree subjective, and I'm speaking here as proper piano player here, who has grown up on real pianos and who prefers weighted keys for piano parts. I can't guarantee that this action will work for those players like The Elf who prefer semi-weighted keys over weighted keys even for piano. Maybe you won't like these. But for me, it worked extremely well. And not because the keys were really heavy and more like weighted keys. They weren't, they were definitely synth-style, they just had the right sort of action and release for piano, as well as for other sounds.

For comparison, I also played a Kronos 6 in the Korg room. The synth action on that was a bit on the ordinary side, I thought. Not terrible, but a bit average, and disappointing given the price. I wasn't expecting it to be any good with piano, but surprisingly, it was pretty decent with piano, which made up a bit for it being average with other sounds. But it wasn't as good for piano, or other sounds, as the FA-07, and given that the Kronos is a high-end keyboard, whereas the FA-07 is a budget keyboard, Roland have really won out here.

Although I already have an FA-08 I'm happy with, in most circumstances I'd be happy to gig with an FA-07 instead (unless I was doing some really demanding piano parts).

[DanR]

Good to see Roland keeping the 76 size workstation going.
I used a Roland XP80 as my main board for years. Great machine.
I prefer weighted keys as a piano player but the XP80 was light, portable and had a very good semi weighted keyboard action.
I have a Nord Stage 2 HA76 now but may have considered the FA-07 had it been available
at the time I bought my Nord.
The Stage 2 is awesome but I prefer Roland piano sounds.
I tried a Jupiter 50 at the time and thought the action was excellent. If the FA-07 has the same then that sounds like a great board.

[Agharta]

This is not the Lounge.

Well spotted, free beer for you, in the lounge not the saloon bar.

[MarkOne]

So did anyone raise the lack-of-aftertouch issue with Roland?

It seems so odd that dropping well over a grand on a product doesn't get such a simple to implement feature when you can easilly get a novation, m-audio or alesis controller for a couple of hundred quid with that very feature. And it's not like there is a higher-tier workstation product available from Roland they need to differentiate from.

[Dave B]

Short answer : no.

The Roland bods know already. The ones that care can't comment. The best response I've ever got is 'well cheap Korgs don't have it either'. I won't repeat the insanity I got for the worst.

I'll stop now ...

[The Elf]

There's a whole generation of music producers now that just don't care about these things. The likes of us are no longer the target market.

[Folderol]

Interesting choice of words "music producers", so not "musicians" then?

[The Elf]

Interesting choice of words "music producers", so not "musicians" then?

Amma prodooser, innit!

[bill555]

Can anyone who's used these pls translate/fine tune this a bit more? "Better than the 06" is IMO not saying much. Like would you consider it half-way between the 06 and 08? Or-? I'd love something that is similar to the upright piano I grew up with.....not as heavy as the 08 or similar, but nothing like the "toy piano" feel of the "synth" keybeds either.

[Scramble]

would you consider it half-way between the 06 and 08?

Yes, in terms of the heaviness of the action. but it's a bit more piano-like than most other modern semi-weighted keyboards.

Or-? I'd love something that is similar to the upright piano I grew up with.....not as heavy as the 08 or similar, but nothing like the "toy piano" feel of the "synth" keybeds either.

It's not as heavy as the 08 (which in my opinion doesn't have a heavy action), but it's not a toy either. But for most people who grew up playing a real piano no semi-weighted action is ever going to feel right to you compared to a hammer action keyboard, especially if you're playing demanding pieces written for piano.

That's as much as I can say. I can't get into your head and play with your hands.

[Escapegoat]

That's as much as I can say. I can't get into your head and play with your hands.

+1 on that.

I liked the Juno DS-88 and now have an Oberheim MC2000, but I'm no pianist - I just like the feel that these weighted keyboard give, and the interaction and the expression that comes from that. Compared to a synth-action keyboard, I have to work a bit and the more I put in, the more I get out.

But a really skilled pianist might hate it.

[hellwoodice]

Key size comparison: