The Roland G-800 arranger workstation keyboard
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- The Roland G-800 arranger workstation keyboard was introduced in 1995 - so this year is its 20th birthday. That means: it's vintage now! But the design and the sound quality of the keyboard are still very "up-to-date".
The G-800 offers incredible 689 sounds, 128 music styles (with 4 variations each) and 192 full performance memories.
In this video I present some of the voices of the keyboard, like the 3 sampled organ sounds, piano, strings, clarinet, saxophone, synthe brass, overdrive guitar, vocal and some synthe sounds.
In addition the arranger auto play adds up to 5 different voices, too.
The Roland G-800 was and still is a great instrument. But it's a keyboard, not an organ. So you need wires, loudspeakers and an amplifier - not really a good choice for a living room.
The quality is superb - there was not a single defect in 20 years of operation. None of my electronic organs worked for such a long time without a problem.
The recordings were done "live" - that means everything you hear is played in real time without programming or multiple recording tracks. There were connected a Roland MIDI pedal and a Yamaha DX11 (but only as an additional keyboard, the sounds are all created by the G-800).
I was lucky enough to buy one very cheaply a few years ago. It's an amazing machine.
Yes, although it is almost 25 years old now, it still sounds very nice. And I like the huge keyboard.
Ive been freaking out over how cool this is after i got it for a steal price
True. Although the keyboard is about 25 years old it still is very versatile. The styles are great. The many ways how the sounds can be tweaked are great. Just some of the orchestral voices sound a little outdated.
@@auronoxe i love it soooo much!! 😸 im struggling abit with the 170 page manual....
Cant get the chord sequence too loop..(it only plays once) 🥲
It would have been easier if the manual was searchable 😅😅
The G800 was the first keyoard I bought in 1996, then I had all next Roland models, G1000, VA7, G70 (a real weightly monster) before switching to Korg (Pa2x, Pa3x) and then Yamaha Genos. But a couple of years ago I went into an opportunity and bought a BK9 at a good price to have also the "Roland sound" and remember old days... The BK9 is lightweight and has all previous generation models sounds included, and can play all styles of previous models. The only missing in BK9 is aftertouch and has a complicated interface with its dual display!
Older equipment is often really cheap... if there just would be more space in the appartment 😉
@@auronoxe Yes, really... organs take a lot of space, I still have a Farfisa Pergamon bought by my father around 1983... it has some issues andI I'm not able to repair it. By the way, I stumbled across some offers of used organs that were my dreams when I was a kid (Yamaha FX-20, D-85) but could not get them due to lack of space and transport costs, also probably these needed to be fixed. My dream is still to find a Roland AT900P but I think there are none in Italy and since it's the last of the line of Roland Ateliers it probably still has a high price.
@@DavideMoretti A Pergamon? Oh, that‘s a great organ. I had to choose between a Louvre (one step below the Pergamon) and the Yamaha C605 when I was a teen - both the portable version. I took the C605, because it did not need a real additional Leslie speaker. But I liked the organ sounds of the Farfisas more. I also had a dream organ - the Hohner D200 - that I could not afford. They are very cheap now, but mostly need some repairs, too. Yes, the Roland AT900 is still way above 5000€. So I decided to take a smaller Roland. They sound great, too.
I just became the lucky owner of this highly underrated intelligent arranger workstation (technically a synth in my opinion) (64-note polyphony) in mint condition that was sitting on a second hand store shelf for nearly 8 years! It has a waveforms from the Sound Canvas SC-55,
PC-64, MT-32, TR-808, TR-909 (modules & drums) basically built into it. I also discovered a synth-tac-u-lar way to tweak the variation effects to turn it into a very powerful ambient pad monster with JP-8000 saw-waves , just like my JD-800! It's like having the little sister to the JD-800, and they pair nicely together and seem to be meant for each other! Even if you never use the auto arrangement system, it has great potential to become a synthwave production star that hasn't aged a bit in my opinion!
Yes, the sounds can be parameterized a lot and the drum variantions are great. I think for many applications there is no need to spend 50 times more for a current Yamaha Genos.
What? It's MT-32 compatible?
@@eluberimabib4070 Correct, it can play any midi file that is GS / MT-32 format, utilizing accurate instrumentation =)
@@dj-kosmixofkosmixproductio2140 No fucking way! Wow that's a good investment. Especially considering the price that I bought it for. It's an amazing machine.
@@eluberimabib4070 Feel free to check out a new set of sounds I designed that was featured on Gearfacts YT channel here, basically turned it into a pad monster, so inspiring for a 90's synth..powerful engine =) : th-cam.com/video/1j-uZuo4vTM/w-d-xo.html
I own a Roland G800 and while this has now been replaced by a BK9 it still does pretty much the same job if one knows how to use it. The sounds are still up to date.
+alfredo zotti Yes, many voices alreay sounded very real. Many listeners won't hear the difference to todays sampled voices.
This is still a fantastic keyboard, and one of few arrangers that's actually usable for music production whereas more modern
arrangers like Yamaha Tyros 5, Yamaha Genos and even the Korg PA-5X are more for intended for one man bands rather than
producers ( I would also put the Roland Vima in that catagory, Vima is definitely more at home in the living room or something
your grandparents might have if they were rich! ). The older Roland arranger keyboards from the 90s also had really good styles.
I also have these same sounds in my Roland SC-88 Pro.
Yes, really great machines - given their age of almost 30 years now.
Sound Canvas with accompaniment
Same sounds as the SC-88/88vl's native map. I'm not sure if it also has SC-55
map sounds as GS variations.
This is the G-800 reborn, with a new soundbank I am currently working on, since last year...in hopes to sound like nothing else heard on this beast, utilizing its amazing synth engine: th-cam.com/video/1j-uZuo4vTM/w-d-xo.html
I was looking for you, after gearfacts ambient G 800 ;)
But you don't have patches for sale? :(
@@montazownianr1 correct, when I finish the soundbank it will be freeware, because this synth deserves to be heard with its inner beauty 😎
My G800 works well, all lights, button etc. works. But no sound. Two rep shops had a look but no one could repair.
I live in the Philippines, so I`m affright that's the end of this wonderful workstation
Oh, what a pitty.
@ariebakker1135• have you tried the headphone jack to check for any sound?
I owned on back in 1998 new, user interface was horrible, (At least for me) and wad too heavy to carry, but sounds and beats were awesome for that time among all arrangers.
Yes, it is really heavy - and stable. I just set mine up again ... and it is still working fine after more than 25 years.
How can I find other beats i see 8 beats And how do I make my own Bcz I have a Roland g-800
You can search the internet for dealers that still sell G-800/G-1000 styles. Or you can create them yourself, but this is very very complicated on the G-800 directly without computer program. Here is the link to the french version of the Owners Manual. Starting on page 105 it is explained how this works. I have never done it myself.
medias.audiofanzine.com/files/g800-fr-475775.pdf
How do I create my own
auronoxe I don’t know french
i looking to bye one from uk london if is posible oriental if someone have please tell me
I have one here in Holland
Hi, I have one for sale in extremely good condition with manual and lots of discs, I'm in Birmingham West Midlands
Can i connect it to phone in midi?
The G800 has standard MIDI sockets. So you would need some converter hardware to USB MIDI or „Bluetooth“ MIDI.
i love rolands 👍👍 ...better than korg keyboards...👎👎.........forever roland...
+Mr.T-klas -74 Also the Roland organs were great. A pitty they stopped producing them.
I own both Roland and Korg and I love both. They are not better than each other, but a tad different. My Korg I3 is at least similar to the G800, with some better tones, and less keys (only 5 octaves). They are my good old workhorses, always reliable, never had a glitch