New Roland Go:Keys 3 and 5 with Zen core sounds

[AnotherScott]

1 hour ago, Fleer said:

Interesting that the Roland costs about half as much as the Yamaha. 

 

I think the Go is more a CT-S500 competitor than a CK61 competitor, both by virtue of the Yamaha features it lacks, as well as the Casio features it shares.

 

CK61 advantages (over either) include...

... 9 slider drawbar organ engine

... extensive front panel real-time controls

... 4 MIDI zones

... two split points for 3 internal sounds (vs. 1 split point for either 2 or 3 internal sounds)

... 5-pin DIN MIDI

... USB audio interface

... more effects capabilities

 

Casio/Roland features the Yamaha does not have...

... drums

... arranger/accompaniment functions

... MIDI recording

 

[Fleer]

Ordered the 3 and the 5. 
Heck, they’re cheap as chips. 
Loving my RD-88 but getting the Zen-Core at these prices is crazy. 
And I love that dark blue on the 3

[Paul Woodward]

Is that to evaluate which suits your needs, or do you expect to use both. Are all the Zencore sounds available for these?

[Fleer]

The 3 is in da house (while waiting for the 5). 
This is one hell of a machine. Solid, good keybed, nicely textured keys. Feels more like a piano than my Yamaha CK61 but of course less than my Roland RD-88. Same great sounds, though, absolutely top shelf. And good speakers too, more than adequate for noodling on the couch. Definitely loud enough. Screen looks fine, same as on the RD, knobs handle well with a nice feel to them. All in all a crazy package for the price. First time in many, many years I’ve seen this quality for so low. 
 

Not all Zen-core sounds are in there, Paul, about 1000 of them. The RD has over 3000. But you can download from the cloud if you’re so inclined. 

[Fleer]

1 hour ago, Paul Woodward said:

Is that to evaluate which suits your needs, or do you expect to use both. Are all the Zencore sounds available for these?

The 5 also downloads waveforms, the 3 doesn’t. 
And yeah, the 3 is for noodling on the couch, the 5 for more serious undertakings

[Paul Woodward]

They looked a bargain when I first posted. Not for me, but good to be able to give some credible advice to friends and family.

[Fleer]

The styles are actually pretty nice too, and I’m not a styles guy. Got ten or more synths and keyboards and this one definitely is the cheapest in a long time, but boy is it worth the while. It’s like having the history of Roland in a concise package with sweet keys and absolutely sufficient speakers. Been wanting such quality in this form factor for years. Got (and like) the Korg i3. Nice piece with a great chord function but no speakers and no really professional sounding. Got the Yamaha CK61 and love its Reface-ish format and sounds but it’s more than double the price. 
So, as for these smaller hands-on playing machines, Roland really hit it out of the park with their second generation Go:Keys. 
And they go well with my Sequential Take 5. But most interestingly they are compatible with the sounds on my RD. 
Great fun while waiting for that Fantom X and Kronos 3. 
I do have a Kurzweil PC4 but might also get a MODXF and an Electro 7 when they’re launched

[Paul Woodward]

Are you limited to the zen core sounds you can download, or just the number you can have (1000)? I need to do some research, but always better to hear from someone who actually owns one.

[Fleer]

3 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

Are you limited to the zen core sounds you can download, or just the number you can have (1000)? I need to do some research, but always better to hear from someone who actually owns one.

The way I understand it is you start with 1000 included Zen-Core sounds and then add more soundpacks through Roland Cloud, but only Go:Keys 5 allows you to add actual wave expansions. Haven’t received my 5 yet though. 

[JamieT]

9 hours ago, Fleer said:

The 3 is in da house (while waiting for the 5). 
This is one hell of a machine. Solid, good keybed, nicely textured keys. Feels more like a piano than my Yamaha CK61 but of course less than my Roland RD-88. Same great sounds, though, absolutely top shelf. And good speakers too, more than adequate for noodling on the couch. Definitely loud enough. Screen looks fine, same as on the RD, knobs handle well with a nice feel to them. All in all a crazy package for the price. First time in many, many years I’ve seen this quality for so low. 
 

Not all Zen-core sounds are in there, Paul, about 1000 of them. The RD has over 3000. But you can download from the cloud if you’re so inclined. 

The big advantage of the RD-88  is that it includes the SuperNatural sound engine in addition to Zen-Core.  For acoustic and electric pianos, I think Zen-Core stinks (SuperNatural is quite good). I would combine the Go:Keys 5 with the Casio CT-S1 which has several great acoustic and electric pianos. You can purchase both keyboards for $700 USD total. 21 lbs. (9.5 kilo) total weight. These are great times!    

[Fleer]

I find Zen-Core hardware sounds absolutely incredible, even those creamy pads and strings, while the acoustic and electric pianos sound pretty good. But I also believe the SuperNatural pianos in my RD-88 are at least as fine. Then again, I’d prefer running Pianoteq.

[Paul Woodward]

@Fleer are you able to connect an iPad/Phone or tablet to confirm the Go:Keys 3 and 5 can play the external sounds through the keyboard as you can with the Yamaha YC, CP and CK boards? Bit of a game changer at this price if so.

Also, I read a user review saying the keybed is not nice to play at all, but I think they were expecting to play classical pieces on it. I have long been a fan of Roland keybeds and was curious what you thought of it. I was happy enought with the Roland W30, FA08, A800 and VR-09 boards I owned 🙂

[RABid]

I bought a Go 3 for the purpose of giving it to a friend. Tried it this morning before passing it on. The keys are better than the MODX+ 6 that I have, but no where near the quality of my Fantom 7. The speakers are better than I expected and I wonder how the speakers of the 5 sound. I went through maybe 10 sounds. The piano is great for the price. Organ sounds nice but in my short time with it I found no way to control the Leslie effect. No mod wheel is probably the biggest issue for me.

[Fleer]

10 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

@Fleer are you able to connect an iPad/Phone or tablet to confirm the Go:Keys 3 and 5 can play the external sounds through the keyboard as you can with the Yamaha YC, CP and CK boards? Bit of a game changer at this price if so.

Also, I read a user review saying the keybed is not nice to play at all, but I think they were expecting to play classical pieces on it. I have long been a fan of Roland keybeds and was curious what you thought of it. I was happy enought with the Roland W30, FA08, A800 and VR-09 boards I owned 🙂

Can’t check that iPad connection now, Paul, but I can tell you I really like the keybed feel. Of course it’s nothing like my RD-88, which is weighted, but I do prefer it to the MODX I had and even to my CK61. I would call it joyfully playable, not too heavy (like the RD) and not too light (like the MODX). All in all the Go:Keys 3 is worth more than it costs, I’d say at least twice the asking price, while the 5 is in CK61 territory, and then I’d prefer the latter (although I bought both).
Hope this helps. 

[Eli K.]

On 4/22/2024 at 5:27 AM, Matt N said:

I just ordered the 5. I've got a Yamaha PSR-E473, which I love, except the super light key action. The keys on the Casio CT S500 feel much better, but the tone quality and speaker quality are inferior to the Yamaha. I'm hoping the Roland Go Keys 5 will be the best of both worlds. The chord sequencer on the Go Keys caught my attention. You have to spend close to $2000 to get chord sequencing on a Yamaha PSR-SX900.

 

On 6/6/2024 at 3:59 AM, Fleer said:

Can’t check that iPad connection now, Paul, but I can tell you I really like the keybed feel. Of course it’s nothing like my RD-88, which is weighted, but I do prefer it to the MODX I had and even to my CK61. I would call it joyfully playable, not too heavy (like the RD) and not too light (like the MODX). All in all the Go:Keys 3 is worth more than it costs, I’d say at least twice the asking price, while the 5 is in CK61 territory, and then I’d prefer the latter (although I bought both).
Hope this helps. 

I have a question, could you guys please share your thoughts on how the Roland Go Keys 3 or 5 compares to the Casio cts500? I'm not a beginner ( I've been playing on an acoustic piano for about 8 years) though I'm looking for this kind of portable keyboard Between the mentioned models is there a clear winner Specifically when it comes to key action and tone? Thanks! 🙏 

[Paul Woodward]

Neither of these boards would mimic the graded hammer action of a piano. They have basic synth keybeds with touch sensitivity, but not much else.

[Eli K.]

14 minutes ago, Paul Woodward said:

Neither of these boards would mimic the graded hammer action of a piano. They have basic synth keybeds with touch sensitivity, but not much else.

Yeah you're right. I understand that (I edited my question) Though is there a clear winner between the Casio CTS500 and Roland Go keys 5 Specifically when comes to key action and tone?

[Fleer]

Sorry, never tried the Casio. 

[AnotherScott]

I'm also curious about the the Go Keys 5 vs. the CT-S500... especially in light of the fact that, for piano, I'd take the CT-S500 over the Fantom-06!

[Ibarch]

I havent tried the new go keys 3/5 but I have used both the Casio CT-S500 and the Go Piano. 

 

There wasn't a lot to choose between the keybeds but given a choice I would choose the Casio (do you realise how hard this is to admit for a Roland fan?). 

 

Sound wise the Casio has a great piano, a few other decent electric pianos and synths scattered around and a lot of that 'classic' Casio sound. Aside from the piano , Zen Core is far superior to anything that the Casio can produce. The only reason I would see to choose it would be for playing piano only. 

[AnotherScott]

9 hours ago, Ibarch said:

I havent tried the new go keys 3/5 but I have used both the Casio CT-S500 and the Go Piano. 

I'm still not sure as to whether or not the 3/5 has a different action from the older Go models.

 

9 hours ago, Ibarch said:

Sound wise the Casio has a great piano, a few other decent electric pianos and synths scattered around and a lot of that 'classic' Casio sound. Aside from the piano , Zen Core is far superior to anything that the Casio can produce. The only reason I would see to choose it would be for playing piano only. 

Even assuming there's agreement there about the sounds, I think there are other reasons, because it's not all about the sounds, at least as long as the sounds you need out of it may be "good enough." As I think mentioned earlier, other Casio advantages include the ability to play 3 sounds at once (i.e. layer two sounds above a split point instead of maxing out at two sounds total), guitar strap pegs (meaning you may not need to bring a stand with you, making it the more portable option), 3 knobs (i.e. modulation and two other assignable functions). Though Roland has a nice screen and associated interface.

[Ibarch]

9 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

I'm still not sure as to whether or not the 3/5 has a different action from the older Go models.

 

Even assuming there's agreement there about the sounds, I think there are other reasons, because it's not all about the sounds, at least as long as the sounds you need out of it may be "good enough." As I think mentioned earlier, other Casio advantages include the ability to play 3 sounds at once (i.e. layer two sounds above a split point instead of maxing out at two sounds total), guitar strap pegs (meaning you may not need to bring a stand with you, making it the more portable option), 3 knobs (i.e. modulation and two other assignable functions). Though Roland has a nice screen and associated interface.

 

I need to amend my last post . In terms of wanting an instrument solely based on its sounds, the Casio Piano is the only reason to buy. 

 

The Casio has other features that may be compelling. It includes a sequencer and a sampler. It has arranger keyboard features. It supports 3 parts for layers and splits. It runs on batteries. It weighs almost nothing. For its budget price, it provides a lot. If you need any of these extras, it's a great keyboard. 

 

But in the context of just wanting a good keyboard to play with good sounds, I don't think the slightly better keybed and comparable/slightly better piano sound is enough. 

[Eli K.]

By watching some reviews on YouTube it seems to me that the actual keyboard interface/features and "fun factor" of the Roland go Keys 3 or 5 straight up "win" the Casio cts500 though I really haven't compared them in person. 

[Fleer]

Good sounds walkthrough: 

 

[Paul Woodward]

Looks a fun little budget board. As a youngster starting out in music, I would have been absolutely blown away by this but that was the 70's.

[Fleer]

22 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

Looks a fun little budget board. As a youngster starting out in music, I would have been absolutely blown away by this but that was the 70's.

Same here. But now that I’m slowly heading for my own 70’s I guess this still is where it’s at.