mrk7421 Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 OK....I have an appointment to look at this today at a bargain price. First....I actually really like the Roland organs from this period (VK8 etc.) though I have had MORE than my fair share of Roland haters whenever I have tried to discuss Roland organs. I had a VK8m module I absolutely loved but foolishly loaned it to someone who did not return it. I also had a RD,300 GX piano that recently failed on me but after 15 years of solid service! So you could say I am a Roland fan of this era. I have rarely ever even seen a VR760. I liked the keybed from this period......probably more so than the recent Fatar on the Mojo/ Viscount/ Electro and such. I have heard though that the VR760 does not do lower/ upper manual split unless you buy an expansion card....???? And I have never heard the AP/ EP set it has though I like some of the piano modeling from this period. One of the uses I might have for this would be as a controller for the collection of organ modules I have..... Viscount, Mojo and HX3. So....if anyone has had experience with the VR760 I would like to hear from you. I thought the VK8m had some of the best chorus vibrato I have heard to this day.....and I miss the EP from the RD300gx. I also may be looking at a RD700 GX.....does a board have to be new to be good? Roland had a lot going on back in this period.....your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 17 minutes ago, mrk7421 said: OK....I have an appointment to look at this today at a bargain price. First....I actually really like the Roland organs from this period (VK8 etc.) though I have had MORE than my fair share of Roland haters whenever I have tried to discuss Roland organs. I had a VK8m module I absolutely loved but foolishly loaned it to someone who did not return it. I also had a RD,300 GX piano that recently failed on me but after 15 years of solid service! So you could say I am a Roland fan of this era. I have rarely ever even seen a VR760. I liked the keybed from this period......probably more so than the recent Fatar on the Mojo/ Viscount/ Electro and such. I have heard though that the VR760 does not do lower/ upper manual split unless you buy an expansion card....???? And I have never heard the AP/ EP set it has though I like some of the piano modeling from this period. One of the uses I might have for this would be as a controller for the collection of organ modules I have..... Viscount, Mojo and HX3. So....if anyone has had experience with the VR760 I would like to hear from you. I thought the VK8m had some of the best chorus vibrato I have heard to this day.....and I miss the EP from the RD300gx. I also may be looking at a RD700 GX.....does a board have to be new to be good? Roland had a lot going on back in this period.....your thoughts? I have the VR-700, there’s also been a 730 since then. These are great bread and butter boards for the basic get-the-job done band gigs. The 760 and 700 have Roland’s premium semiweight keyboard actions which are a pleasure for switching between organ, piano and synth playing. The 730 has a shorter key length and is more springy with little to no weighting. The biggest advancement on newer instruments has been the Leslie simulation. More realism in current offerings, but that still requires (for the most part) software or a dedicated piece of hardware. For me, this makes the most difference in solo or trio playing. Less so with full band, ymmv. Anyway, maybe you can share what price you are getting on the 760 and what condition it is. Since there have been several similar instruments released since the 760 came out, each with incremental improvements, the condition of the board and price it is being offered should be deciding factors. As a side note - there is also a VR-09 in smaller and lighter form factor which is most similar to the 730. It is already a highly affordable instrument so you may compare that into your thinking as well. Quote Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEMcCut Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 I have both the 760 and 730. I agree with Elmer, I prefer the VR760 keybed to the 730. The 730's springy action bothers my hands. The 760 is a much nicer to play in my opinion. My 760 is a stay at home keyboard due to its weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 28 Author Share Posted July 28 I have ZERO interest in the VR09. I don't want to sound like a hater but Roland SCREWED UP the chorus vibrato on the VR09.....the percussion is not separated from the vibrato...so you get vibrato in the percussion...Yuck....don't tell me it doesn't matter. The price on the one I am looking at today is far below some of the options you mentioned and most VR09. The VR09 also does not have the 760 keybed.....one of the better keybeds out there IMO.. The thing I remember about the 760 is that it doesn't split bass.... unless you get an expander card. I also have no idea how good pianos are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 28 Author Share Posted July 28 Just now, mrk7421 said: I have ZERO interest in the VR09. I don't want to sound like a hater but Roland SCREWED UP the chorus vibrato on the VR09.....the percussion is not separated from the vibrato...so you get vibrato in the percussion...Yuck....don't tell me it doesn't matter. The price on the one I am looking at today is far below some of the options you mentioned and most VR09. The VR09 also does not have the 760 keybed.....one of the better keybeds out there IMO.. The thing I remember about the 760 is that it doesn't split bass.... unless you get an expander card. I also have no idea how good pianos are. Does the 760 split lower and upper manual? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 8 minutes ago, mrk7421 said: Does the 760 split lower and upper manual? Roland - Support - VR-760 - Owner’s Manuals I don't see anything about controlling lower manual from external midi keyboard or splitting manuals of the organ engine. The VR-700 let's you control lower manual from external midi. Quote Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 28 Author Share Posted July 28 Thanks Elmer..I am hoping it splits upper and lower organ and not some other instrument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wineandkeyz Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 5 minutes ago, mrk7421 said: Thanks Elmer..I am hoping it splits upper and lower organ and not some other instrument. I owned a VR-760 for a long time and regret selling it. As I recall, the only splits it can do are between sections (organ/piano, piano/synth, synth/organ). So a workaround was to use an SRX card organ tone for one side of the split and the VR’s organ engine for the other. Not ideal. 1 Quote Live: Yamaha S70XS (#1); Roland Jupiter-80; Mackie 1202VLZ4; IEMs or Traynor K4 Home: Hammond SK Pro 73; Moog Minimoog Voyager Electric Blue; Yamaha S70XS (#2); Roland Integra-7; Wurlitzer 200A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenner13 Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 20 minutes ago, mrk7421 said: I have ZERO interest in the VR09. I don't want to sound like a hater but Roland SCREWED UP the chorus vibrato on the VR09.....the percussion is not separated from the vibrato...so you get vibrato in the percussion...Yuck....don't tell me it doesn't matter. The price on the one I am looking at today is far below some of the options you mentioned and most VR09. The VR09 also does not have the 760 keybed.....one of the better keybeds out there IMO.. They fixed the VR09 perc in an early firmware update and it does NOT go through the C/V now. You are correct about the keybed, though. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Motif Max Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 The VR760 can use the SRX (2 slots), so you could conceivably expand the sound palette that way, depending on how you like those pianos etc. Funnily enough I had just been randomly reading a bunch of old threads on the 760 while recovering from an illness here. Quote Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000 Kurzweil: PC3-76| Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT, Kurzweil PC4 (88) Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRK Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 ciao, just for comparison, here I put some examples of the various sounds from that great instrument! Roland VR 760 & other (old and new ones)... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 29 Author Share Posted July 29 6 hours ago, KRK said: ciao, just for comparison, here I put some examples of the various sounds from that great instrument! Roland VR 760 & other (old and new ones)... All I can say is WOW....I was able to pick up this 760 at a very stupid price. The first thing I want to say is....there are some members who have been saying for YEARS that Roland makes crappy clonewheels DONT BELIEVE it. The chorus vibrato on this is excellent!!! The people who dis the Rolands are generally Hammond Suzuki die hards.....it's been awhile since I have been able to re visit Rolands since mine was ripped of by someone I loaned it to. I love the CV on this.....also the COSM overdrive and the Leslie sim is better than some other very popular clones that seem bent to destroy the basic organ tone with " cabinet simulation " and mic distance etc etc. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radagast Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 23 hours ago, BEMcCut said: I have both the 760 and 730. I agree with Elmer, I prefer the VR760 keybed to the 730. The 730's springy action bothers my hands. The 760 is a much nicer to play in my opinion. My 760 is a stay at home keyboard due to its weight. I read somewhere that one of the two had much more real time editing controls, but the other one had better sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 29 Author Share Posted July 29 Also...the keybed.You don't have to fight it. The keys feel excellent because there is a lack of resistance that some of the "other" brands seem intent on. I will say I am struggling a bit trying to Edit things like percussion volume and it's not apparently obvious how to get upper and lower manual split. The owners manual is somewhat overly wordy. I am sure I will get there but at this time when I hit edit button it is saying....press edit group. Not exactly sure what that means. Anyway.....lot of people have been chasing that clonewheel carrot on a stick while Roland gave us a pretty damn good clonewheel sound over twenty years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 IMO, the older Roland waterfall actions (VK8, VR-700, VR-760) are some of the best organ actions ever made. And somehow, they're still above average for piano as well (as non-hammer actions go). 4 Quote Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 29 Author Share Posted July 29 I did get percussion volume editing figured out.When you press edit it says Press Edit Group. So what could that be? In this case it is the percussion functions ..second third soft and slow. So eventually I figured out which cursor affected it... But the manual does not tell you in an understandable manner. So now that I have percussion volume right I can hear how good the Leslie sim is. This thing has very nice chorale.....when mixed with the sim does not dramatically affect the organ tone the way some sim and percussion combinations do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 I have been trying to work with the manual to resolve this split thing..... it's very difficult to navigate. Having upper lower organ manual seems more like an afterthought on this board unless I can somehow come up with another solution. Which would be too bad because the organ sound is just excellent....possibly my favorite of all of them. Which is why I can't understand why there would be all kinds of bitching at the mere mention of Roland organs in past threads. There is just excellent fidelity and clarity from this sample. The Leslie sim also sounds better than what I remember from the VK8m module. If the VR09 is anything like the 760 it is definitely worth consideration...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 The VR is a Swiss Army knife all purpose board as opposed to a dedicated organ clone. There are limitations on all of them, but the 700, 730 and 09 addressed the user base wanting more as far as dual manual and pedals capability. it was suggested earlier in the thread that you consider sticking an SRX board into the 760 and do a split with an organ timber That’s a similar as possible to your lower manual setting. ————— In the first few minutes of this video you can see how they do it on the 730. There’s a split button and then a switch between whether the drawbar settings are for upper or lower manual. Quote Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan_evett Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 I had a VR-760 about 20 years back. Sounded great, and I liked the action a lot. Perfect 2nd tier keyboard to have on top of a digital piano - especially for local and and road, country gigs. But eventually I needed MIDI control functions, so I went with a VK-8M - MIDI'd from a Triton Extreme 76. The lack of a L/R organ split was limiting, and IIRC the VR-730 I tried in 2017 was similarly limited. The deal breaker on the 730 was that there was no way to split organ to the left side/piano to the right - with rotary effect assigned to left side, which I needed for smaller, single-keys gigs. I even looked into putting a Ventilator on the organ section, but the VR had no section-to-separate output option. So began another Nord Stage journey... Quote 'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo. We need a barfing cat emoticon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokely Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 I owned a VR700, my buddy had a VR760 that I recorded for him and also tried out myself. The live recordings sounded great IMO. As old as that organ emulation is, worked just fine in a rock band setting. Just my 2c. I loved and disliked some things. I never needed any kind of split and basically had two patches--one "regular" one for every song except Blue Collar man, which had its own due to wanting a completely different organ tone I got good at finding the ensemble sound I needed and didn't change patches except for that one song. Good: action (fantastic) drawbars Organ sound was good, at least in a rock setting. I compared his VR760 to a CX3 v2 I had for a bit, very different in tone. No idea which was more "authentic", but I liked the woolier sound of the VR760. Not so good: drawbars don't send channel midi, maybe sysex...which is bizarre since iirc the Vk8 did. This didn't matter for me live, but made it not useful as a home controller if I wanted it to control a software organ. IF you tune down as I did, this is per-patch, I don't think it has a global one. Not a killer as (see above) I mainly used one patch! Big and heavy compared to something like an Electro or SK pro. The big part bothered me more than the weight and was the main reason I sold The ensemble sounds are just ok. Piano I didn't care for at all. That said, I used the strings and horns and rhodes and they worked fine for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 Yes now I am seeing that I missed a couple posts about SRX expansion boards for the 760. I am not sure which one I would need....checked e bay and there is a whole slew of them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 SRX-07: Ultimate Keys Exp. Board: This board includes hundreds of organ, synth, and keyboard sounds, as well as bass and drum loops. SRX-97: Jon Lord's Rock Organ: This board contains 12 organ patches recorded by the rock organ player Jon Lord. Here’s a list of all of them. http://www.rolandus.com/flash/demos/rd700gx/SRX.html Quote Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 I have to say if I haven't already this does not sound like the same Leslie sim as what I had on the VK8m module. This one has much better clarity . It could be the defaults are different..I really like the clarity overall of the upper manual settings of the tone wheel section. I think I had been missing my VK8m module which had chorus vibrato like this. My VK8m had Leslie sim bypass feature. That did not come stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJoB3 Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 sidenote: just picked up a good used VR730 and Roland gig bag for a song because the 09 has proven so useful (casuals, etc gigs). May as well have a backup and make it 73key, waterfall. Even hauling both would still be a pleasure (feather weight is rare here but I'm taking it when it's given. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 The srx cards look interesting. Which would be for organ? I would be interested in some of the piano ones depending on what they are. I miss Superior Grand and Stage EP from my RD300 gx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 And I am also becoming more interested in the VR09 since I heard they fixed the chorus vibrato percussion 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJoB3 Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 13 minutes ago, mrk7421 said: And I am also becoming more interested in the VR09 since I heard they fixed the chorus vibrato percussion A guess but me thinks yer gonna pref the 09 or 730 over the older 760. Just know the 09's keybed is 'get r done' at best but very light n ez and just as power packed. 730 waterfall is far better so I hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 34 minutes ago, JoJoB3 said: A guess but me thinks yer gonna pref the 09 or 730 over the older 760. Just know the 09's keybed is 'get r done' at best but very light n ez and just as power packed. 730 waterfall is far better so I hear. Nice improvements in every way, just frustrating they ditched the premium action that was so nice to see on the 760 and 700. But they are lighter to carry. Quote Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 The weight doesn't bother me. I was surprised when I carted it away from the sale.And if this thing doesn't do split it has a shallow case so I may do a dual manual thing. What I would like to know is.....is this 760 the same organ engine as the VR09. I mean....this thing sounds Outrageous!!! It really has a live CV sound....3rd harmonic slow percussion. I walked away from the VR09 when they had that silly vibrato in the CV. Plus I don't think they skimped on the electronics in this it's very clear sounding compared to.....some others. I have Viscount Mojo and HX3 modules here. Not going to say which are mud. I just can't believe the people who bitched about Rolands in years past.I got called some ugly names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk7421 Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 One time as a joke I hooked up a VK8m to Casio and hid the module under a blanket. I was renting a Hammond to Dr. Lonnie Smith and I had the Casio in the dressing room. So said to him to come check out the Casio. You should have seen the look on his face when he tried it. I waited till the end of the night to show him what I did. He said it was the best non tonewheel thing he had ever heard.....this was 2010 or so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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