ALTHOUGH I had fooled around more than any gloriously amateurish fool had a right to with top-notch analogue synthesizers, the first keyboard synthesizer I ever bought was a digital machine.
The Yamaha DX7, for which I paid the princely sum of RM2,700 (plus brown faux-leather case) in 1986, was the first keyboard that allowed me to indulge in long-held Tangerine Dream fantasies to my heart's content.
But I wasn't totally sold on the thin-sounding analogue-type sounds, so when I started recording my first album -- a typically foolish vanity project -- I rented a Roland Jupiter-8 for RM10 a day and ended up using it more than the DX7. I also had to fork out RM700 for the Roland TR-707, one of the best programmable drum machines available at the time.
What's the point of this piece of personal history? Well, what I'm trying to say is that I wish a do-all analogue/digital keyboard like Roland's RS-70 (no relation) had been around at the time because not only would I have saved a lot of dough, I would have also got an incredibly versatile machine into the bargain.
Roland's "forget about MIDI and focus on playing" pitch for this close-to-entry-level machine may seem like an empty boast at first. But once you start digging into the RS-70's offerings you'll realise that the claim is not totally unwarranted.
Light, bright and loaded
The first thing you notice when you pick up the RS-70 is how incredibly light (5.8kg) and plasticky (woe betide should you drop this thing!) it is. This is probably the lightest 61-note keyboard synthesizer I've ever held in my hands. Boy, I wish my road bike could be this light.
But extremely portable as it is, this is no lightweight machine, at least where performance is concerned.
With a 16-bit linear, 64MB Wave Memory synth engine that offers 64-voice polyphony and 16 multitimbral parts, the RS-70 is built to please right from the get go.
And that's not all. Besides an impressive 767 preset memory patches (original: 512, GM2: 256) including 128 user patches, 16 rhythm sets, 47 multi-effects types, eight chorus and eight reverb settings, the machine comes with a multi-chord memory (16 sets x 12 chord forms; User Chord: 8 sets x 12 chord forms) and a phrase/arpeggio generator.
A 3.5-inch floppy disk drive (2HD/2DD) is built in for storage and MIDI-file replay.
The sleek front features a pitch bend/modulation lever at the bottom on the right and Roland's now ubiquitous D-Beam controller at the top. Somewhere in the middle are the patch-select buttons and a backlit 20-character LCD.
Next to these are value-control/tempo buttons, the Quick Sequencer and Patch Modify controls, including five knobs that let you tweak traditional analogue synth functions like attack, decay, release and LFO rate and depth.
The floppy disk drive is at the extreme right.
The butt-end has stereo outs, jacks for phones, hold pedal and control pedal, MIDI In and Out, and a USB port (USB-MIDI). Power is supplied via a 9V adaptor.
Tool for the fool
Like the previous RS generation of performance keyboards (the RS-5 and RS-9), the RS-70's sound library is conveniently grouped in categories like Rhythm & EFX, Piano, Guitar, Orch, World, Brass, Synth and Bass.
That makes it easy for you to zero in on exactly the sound you're looking for and start cooking.
As for the patches themselves, they range from crisp-sounding piano, Rhodes and organ approximations to not-too-shabby Oberheim, MiniMoog and ARP flavours and a whole range of classic Roland originals.
The Multi Chord Memory function is great for one-finger amateurs out to impress their friends and family with complex-sounding chord progressions.
By choosing any of the genre-specific rhythm patterns, you can do a whole gig just about anywhere. The Loop Sequencer lets you choose a sound and record a sequence in real or step time and overdub until you drop dead or the memory runs out. And you can screw up as much as you want as the micro-editing facility lets you correct your mistakes with clinical precision.
Being an old-school melody-maker, I decided to forgo to auto-correct mode and record two original synth tunes track by track on my Korg D1600 hard disk recorder. It wasn't fancy stuff, but I did manage to fill up the 16 tracks on the Korg with ringing electric pianos, swishing synth pads (tweaked to my taste, of course), buzzing basses, chatty percussions.
After mixing down to stereo and giving the tracks a final polish, I was more than satisfied with the results, though as always, I despaired over my pathetic skills.
The clarity of all the sounds used was for most part undiminished, and the drum kit samples were realistic enough to fool listeners who're not savvy about electronic music-making.
The pitch bend lever is pretty easy to use and while the D-Beam will be quite useless for serious playing, I'm sure party animals would find great ways to abuse it.
The floppy drive will be useful for one-man-band performance-type situations where you have to back yourself or singers who haven't progressed beyond songs like 'I Just Called To Say I Love', 'Unchained Melody' and 'One More Night'. Just load up GM/GM-2-compatible MIDI files and you're in business.
But the drive can also be used to trigger video clips if you have a device like Edirol's DV-7PR Digital Video Workstation. And the USB port makes it easy for downloading software updates and sound library transfer.
The final word
OK, so serious synth cats won't be bowled over by the RS-70, which can seem rather unexciting and utilitarian.
But if all you want is a fairly affordable synth that will let you have a small taste of a wide variety of classic keyboard sounds, this is the toy for you.
Figure in the fact that it comes with an up-to-scratch (pun intended!) drum machine and the RS-70 (opt for the cheaper RS-50 if you don't need the floppy and USB) starts looking really desirable as a self-contained, take-anywhere gigging keyboard.
PROS: Loads of features; great analogue-synth simulations and usable drum sounds; patches easy to edit.
CONS: No distinctive sonic character; the plastic chassis is hardly confidence-inspiring.