Why I won't be buying a Roland after all

[JerryPH]

Firstly, I do not consider you to be a friend.

That is your prerogative, seems you take offence easily and often. If that is the case, be ready to be offended often in forums, where emotions, intent, language and interpretation is not easy to relay effectively all the time.

"take the good and leave the bad" sounds like something from an old Robin Hood movie

No, you are mistaken. What you are looking for is "Take FROM the bad and GIVE to the poor". What I wrote and clearly meant are entirely different.

If I was really keen I'd go to Italy or China, or wherever Rolands are made these days and tell them to make one I liked.

You would get the exact same copy that was in the store 100 miles away from you as Roland does not make any customizations. You mean perhaps the Bugari Evo. Even then, there is zero sound difference between it and any other Roland on earth, the differences are tactile and visual only.

The various disciplines of Oriental martial arts reinvented in Germany..

Oh good lord, where are you pulling this from??? If that is how you interpret words on a page, some things are being missed and some things you are replacing with I don't know what nor from where. Perhaps this is why you are so easily insulted. I do not know, nor shall this be of great concern to me in the future.

I'm fast approaching senility...

This is now obvious. Had I been aware of this earlier, I would:
1 - not bother to post in the first place
2 - not bothered to reply later either

Fear not friend, I will give any and all of your future posts great latitude and silence.

Have a nice day.

 

[Glenn]

I consider this subject closed. Let's talk about something else please.

 

[Jim the box]

I consider this subject closed. Lets talk about something else please.

Seconded :tup:

 

[blisterpeanuts]

Hi JerryPH,

Can I just point out that the original post was put on over 18 months ago, and I took several rebukes silently on the chin from one or two long standing forum members, who appear to have been of a similar mind to yourself. I was brand new to forums at that time and probably a bit naive despite my advancing years. I've already been crucified for this post, and I can't work out how to roll away this big stone that somebody has recently put across my front door again!

There are no Roland dealers within 100 miles of my home town, so country hicks like us need to make decisions regarding try before you buy. If you read my posts regarding the purchase of a Hohner Fun accordion from the US, you might get where I am coming from. I decided to buy that instrument after reneging on the Roland, and probably made yet another wrong decision.

Maybe it's time I finally left the forum for good, as things have obviously changed of late.

I started a thread here "Just tried a FR-3X - not super-impressed". After some discussion and back-and-forth, I ended up buying one, but I just am a tech junkie and wanted a great toy.

You have the perfect right to start a thread "Why I'm not going to buy one" and if others don't like it, they can simply move their eyeballs on to the next thread, problem solved!

So, after having said all that, I'd suggest you not give up on Roland just yet. I can tell you, my FR3x has been a joy! It's got a rich set of sounds, it's very easy to amplify, with the built-in audio out and midi, and I find the action buttery smooth. It took my left hand a while to adjust to the slightly different spacing versus my older Bugari accordion, but now I'm used to it. I would also point out, you have to play through an amp. The built-in speakers simply don't do justice to the excellent synthesizer, and for me at least, when I plugged it into my keyboard amp in my living room, the difference was night and day. Get the accordion plus a quality amp (I just got a Roland Cube EX, see other recent thread for details) and you will be in heaven.

I will say this -- I picked up my old Bugari and played a bit, and was stunned to notice what a vastly richer acoustic sound it puts out! It's so much easier to hear myself (although, on stage I have always had trouble hearing myself without a good monitor, even so). NOTHING can compare to a well made acoustic accordion with well tuned, hand-made reeds. Problem for me is that the reeds have drifted out of tune, probably have accumulated dust or rust which has caused them to go flat. Bummer. I used to have the most righteous A-440 when someone asked for a note, and now I have "one of those damned out of tune accordions". My game plan is to re-tune this old boy -- I've located a guy in New York who claims to do this -- and will probably then sell it or trade it and try to get another "Junior" model Bugari for my acoustic needs -- the sweetest accordion I've ever played, that I had the stupidity to trade away.

But, that's in the future when I have a few thousand dollars to basically throw away. For now, my Roland is paying for itself over time and it's just so much fun. The drum can be turned on with one quick keystroke, and then especially if you are going through a PA, it's a blast. The bagpipes are phenomenal. I play for a lot of Scottish country dances, and once in a while I turn on the pipes, and everyone starts looking around, wondering where the piper is!

But seriously -- you should play what you want to play and not listen to anyone else. Music is a conversation with yourself, and sometimes a conversation with other musicians and with an audience as well, but first and foremost you have to get along with yourself!

Keep on squeezing,

Blister