hoggernick

Hah - I almost added the Rhodes as one example of long-lasting quality. My suitcase is just a couple of years shy of 40 years old, and still going strong. It seems indestructible. I've had a hell of a time keeping wurlitzers playing though.

Dave sticking to his guns on this has been great, and made for a pretty interesting thread. I've bought my share of crap over the decades, but I've also bought a few quality pieces of gear. The well-built ones last, the cheap disposable ones don't. My Roland VK-8 was built like a tank, and didn't cost much more than the VR-09. I think I paid $1500 for it about a decade ago. It survived a lighting truss falling on it, though the leslie "break" switch is kinda wonky now. That same truss cracked the bass player's head, it took stitches to get him right again (assuming there's such a thing as "right" for a bass player). I doubt that an all-plastic keyboard would have survived that incident. And then there's the action - the VK-8's waterfall keys are very very fun to play. I wish I had a 76-key controller with a keybed that nice. The keys/action on the <$200 controllers that seem to have flooded the market - they're just awful. They make loud noises when doing organ "rakes", they always feel like they're on the verge of falling apart. Folks on a very tight budget of course don't always have the option of buying high end stuff, but Dave's fighting the good fight here I think. After giving this a lot of thought, I'm feeling the need to support and promote quality gear. Just about everyone would be better off if they saved a tad longer, spent a bit more on quality gear, and sent upstream the message "we want quality gear".

The VR-09's organs (per the video that aellison62 referenced) sound very similar, if not exactly like, the ones on my 12-yr old VK-8. My only complaint about the VK-8 organs is the leslie sim, and a vent would probably do wonders for a VK-8. The VR-09's other sounds (AP, EP, clav) are light years beyond the VK-8. At $999, the VR-09 seems like a steal to me. I can't imagine a single VK-8 ever selling again once this hits the market. I agree with niacin about the organ demos - I wish they'd put a larger variety of drawbar combinations and styles into the demos. I'm pretty sure the VR-09 supports 3 separate organ parts, each with its own drawbar settings (upper, lower, pedal). Roland makes a very nice MIDI pedal board - Why not sit a real organ player down with a VR-09, some other 61-key controller MIDI'd in, Roland floor pedals connected to the "PK-IN" port on the VR-09, plug a Roland expression pedal into the "Exp In" for volume, and turn the organ player loose? Granted, the cheapest pedals (PK-6) are only $100 cheaper than the VR-09 keyboard. Still though, show us what it can do!

Running for me. I try to run 10-15 miles/wk. A mile per beer drank the night before is what I shoot for. My body would go to pot in no time otherwise. I sit at a desk all day programming, and sit at a keyboard about 4 nights/wk gigging and drinking beer. I'd like to keep doing this for another three or four decades (I'm 45).