Tag Archives: Roland GO:KEYS

Winter NAMM 2019: Interfaces

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With 15 days until Winter NAMM 2019, no bombshell products other than unverified rumors on the forums. Here’s a few announced products which will be promoted at Winter NAMM 2019.

Inexpensive audio/MIDI interfaces

Readers of Sound On Sound may covet audio/MIDI interfaces with 4 figure price tags, but it’s the low end of the price spectrum for us punters.

PreSonus have a handsome product in the PreSonus Studio 2|4. Just the facts:

  • Preamps: PreSonus XMAX-L solid-state preamps
  • Sample rate: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, or 192 kHz
  • Resolution: 24-bits
  • ADC dynamic range: 108 dB
  • DAC dynamic range: 108 dB
  • Audio inputs: 2x combo front panel, +48V phantom power
  • Audio out: 2x 1/4″ TRS rear panel
  • MIDI: IN and OUT rear panel
  • Headphone out: 1/4″ TRS rear panel
  • USB: USB-C rear panel
  • Software bundle: Studio One Artist
  • Street: $149.99 USD

Front panel controls include input levels, mix, main and headphone out. One advantage over the Mackie (our next contender) is front panel metering: inputs and main.

Mackie are offering a pair of ONYX Series interfaces: Onyx Artist 1•2 and Onyx Producer 2•2. By way of comparison, specs for the Onyx Producer 2•2 are:

  • Preamps: Mackie Onyx mic preamps
  • Sample rate: Up to 192 kHz
  • Resolution: 24-bits
  • Audio inputs: 2x combo front panel, +48V phantom power
  • Audio out: 2x 1/4″ TRS rear panel
  • MIDI: IN and OUT rear panel
  • Headphone out: 1/4″ TRS front panel
  • USB: USB 2.0 rear panel
  • Software bundle: Traktion T7 plus 16 FX plug-ins
  • Street: $179.99 USD

Mackie claims that they are “built-like a tank.” Given that my old 1202 mixer is still in service, they mean it. Front panel controls include input gain, mix, monitor and headphone levels.

Given the price points and feature set, comparison is irresistable. For the money, I’d go with the PreSonus: USB-C, front panel metering and lower street price. I’ve been using the same trashed out MIDI and audio interfaces for a looong time. Maybe upgrade? The PreSonus does look nice.

Roland GO:PIANO88

My review of the Roland GO:KEYS is one of the most often viewed articles on this site. It’s a neat inexpensive keyboard and I’ll bet that the GO:PIANO is just as popular, especially with parents who want to get their kids started with a musical instrument.

Roland have extended the GO:PIANO line with an 88-key model — the Roland GO:PIANO88. It’s still quite portable (7kg), does Bluetooth, and runs on (optional) battery power. Roland are pitching this product squarely at the entry home and education markets. Street price is $399.99 USD.

Other GO:PIANO88 specs include: Four tones (piano, EP, organ, strings), reverb, 128 voice polyphony, 2 x 10W amplifier power, 15 x 6 cm speakers, pedal in, headphone out and USB Micro-B for MIDI. GO:PIANO88 also features Amazon Alexa voice control. What would Alexa say to a whinging kid who doesn’t want to practice? 🙂

My chief reservation about the GO:KEYS and GO:PIANO is quality and feel of the keybed. I hope that Roland has made improvements. Roland describe the keys as “Box-shape Keys with velocity.” Definitely not hammer-action.

BTW, what’s up with all of the punctuation characters in product names? Vertical bars? Dots? Colons? Cheesh.

Copyright © 2019 Paul J. Drongowski

Roland GO:KEYS is GONE:KEYS

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As I mentioned in my initial review, my GO:KEYS had a defective key right out of the box. The key was in a particularly bad spot: A below middle C. While practicing music for Sunday, the key was nearly dead and I just couldn’t live with it. So, I returned the GO:KEYS to Guitar Center. The folks at Guitar Center offered to get a replacement from Roland, but I didn’t want to take another chance on the first production run. I chose a refund.

Happy to say, the salespeople at Guitar Center (Nashua, NH) were very helpful and understanding. This is the first time that I received a keyboard with an obviously non-working key. Guitar Center handled the situation quite well and efficiently. It pays to be courteous and kind to the staff of your local musical instrument store!

I think Roland have a good concept with the GO:KEYS. But, even the best of ideas are thwarted by bad components, poor manufacturing, or ineffective quality control. Overall, this is a shame. The GO:KEYS clearly is a little brother to the JUNO-DS workstation. The basic sound of the GO:KEYS is quite good, especially its electric pianos.

After writing my review, I spent a few hours producing a demo track. (Here is the MP3 file.) The GO:KEYS is MIDI class compliant and I had Ableton Live Intro communicating with it in seconds. I pulled in a few ambient loops from Equinox Sounds Total MIDI: Funk and assigned MIDI channels according to the GO:KEYS’ convention:

Ch#  Part       Allocation
---  ---------  ----------
 1   PIANO      User/Panel
 2   ORGAN      User/Panel
 3   STRINGS    User/Panel
 4   BRASS      User/Panel
 5   BASS       User/Panel
 6   SYNTH      User/Panel
 7   FX/GUITAR  User/Panel
 8   Bass       Loop Mix
 9   Part A     Loop Mix
10   DRUM       User/Panel
11   Part B     Loop Mix
12   Part X     Loop Mix
13   Part X     Loop Mix
14   Part X     Loop Mix
15   Part X     Loop Mix
16   Drum       Loop Mix

Each of the GO:KEYS panel categories (PIANO, ORGAN, etc.) has its own MIDI channel. Each of the Loop Mix parts has its own MIDI channel. When sequencing in Live, I assigned tracks to the “User/Panel” channels.

The GO:KEYS tones follow the Roland JUNO-DS patch map. This is further proof that the GO:KEYS is directly derived from the JUNO-DS. I recommend downloading the JUNO-DS Parameter Guide which contains the JUNO-DS patch list. Finding the bank select and program change for a GO:KEYS tone is simply a matter of scanning the JUNO-DS patch list for the equivalent voice. A few of the patches have been renamed. See my partial tone list for examples. (I won’t be finishing the list now that I’ve returned the GO:KEYS.)

For example, here is a partial list of drum kits and patch select values:

    Hex            Dec
-----------    -----------
MSB LSB PC#    MSB LSB PC#
 56  40  03     86  64   3  HipHop Kit
 56  40  04     86  64   4  R&B Kit
 56  40  00     86  64   0  Pop Kit 1
 56  40  08     86  64   8  Pop Kit 2
 56  40  01     86  64   1  Rock Kit
 56  40  05     86  64   5  Dance Kit 1
 56  40  06     86  64   6  Dance Kit 2
 56  40  07     86  64   7  Dance Kit 3
 56  40  09     86  64   9  Dance Kit 4
 56  40  02     86  64   2  Brush Jz Kit

 78  00  00    120   0   0  GM2 Standard Kit
 78  00  08    120   0   8  GM2 Room Kit
 78  00  10    120   0  16  GM2 Power Kit
 78  00  18    120   0  24  GM2 Electric Kit
 ...

Mind the index of the program change values (zero vs. one). Remember, in Live, all indices start at one, including bank select values.

Additional experiments with MIDI OX show that the touch strip sends both modulation (MIDI continuous controller 1) and pitch bend messages. Like the JUNO-DS, the GO:KEYS “includes a GM2 compatible sound set.” Neither the JUNO-DS or GO:KEYS implement all of the CCs, NRPN, etc. required by the General MIDI 2 standard. The GO:KEYS does respond to the same CC messages as the JUNO-DS. Nice.

Once I had things grooving in Live, I went through the tedious process of exporting each MIDI track to a Standard MIDI File (SMF), and then importing each SMF into SONAR to form a merged SMF. Come on, Ableton, people have been begging for proper full MIDI export for years. Please implement this feature! It’s ridiculous that it hasn’t been done already.

Once I had a complete SMF, I used the GO:KEYS restore function to transfer the SMF to the GO:KEYS. Just to be safe, I named the file to “SONG02.MID” to keep the GO:KEYS happy. The GO:KEYS successfully played the (loaded) SMF and I recorded the audio output of the GO:KEYS on a Roland Micro-BR. (A handy little recorder, that.)

In the end, I’m left with considerable respect for the JUNO-DS sound. I wish that the JUNO-DS had built-in speakers as well as battery power, given its more robust build. The Roland GO:KEYS has potential to be a successful, portable, little brother to the JUNO-DS once Roland resolves its quality issues.

Copyright © 2017 Paul J. Drongowski

Roland GO:KEYS – First impressions

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I’m happy to write what may be the first end-user review of the Roland GO:KEYS.

The GO:KEYS is one of two new entry-level keyboards from Roland. The GO:KEYS has a street price (MAP) of $299 USD and is intended to inspire new keyboard players without a big out-of-pocket outlay.

The hook is the five zone, Loop Mix mode. The 61 keys are separated into 5 one octave zones: Drum, Bass, Part A, Part B and Part X. Each key in a zone triggers a two measure musical loop that repeats until the zone-specific STOP key is struck. The Drum and Bass zone lay down the basic groove while Part A and Part B add the harmonic bread and butter, like electric piano comping or a string pad. Part X adds variation with up to four phrase subgroups. Only one phrase can play in a zone at a time.

The preceding paragraph takes more time to read than it takes to set up a backing track. When you have the band grooving, you can switch to regular keyboard mode and solo to your heart’s content. Whenever you feel like it, you can switch back to Loop Mix mode and move the band to a different place.

There are twelve different Loop Mix Sets. Each set is a scale-compatible collection of Loop Mix phrases. The twelve style names suggest the musical genres and the target audience for GO:KEYS. No polkas. The Sets are modern sounding, however, I can’t speak to the authenticity of the EDM styles. The FUNK set sounds more like funky smooth jazz — no JB, no George Clinton, here.

However, don’t let that stop you. Please watch the GO:KEYS videos that Roland has posted on Youtube. (Search “Roland GO:KEYS”.) You’ll quickly decide if the GO:KEYS is for you or not. I certainly have had a lot of fun jamming away.

Many aspects of the GO:KEYS are well-thought out. It’s clear that the developers tried to play their own creation and added a number of convenience features like using the touch strip to step through the Function menu. The GO:KEYS can remember previous settings across power-off and it remembers the last patch selected in each of the eight categories (piano, organ, strings, brass, drum, bass, synth and FX/guitar).

Recording and playback are fairly rudimentary. Don’t expect a workstation at this price point! You can record an improvised backing and save it to a song file. Thanks to USB, the song file, etc. can be saved to a PC or Mac through the back-up function. The PC or Mac treat the GO:KEYS like a flash drive. You copy the back-up folder to the PC/Mac and you’re done. The directions in the user manual are simple and accurate, so I won’t go into those details here.

Windows 7 recognized the GO:KEYS when I plugged it in. Windows installed the Microsoft generic USB audio driver. Windows didn’t try to install the flash driver until I attempted the first back-up. The driver installation at first appeared to fail. When I unplugged and replugged the GO:KEYS, everything was fine and the GO:KEYS drive appeared in Windows Explorer.

My GO:KEYS arrived with version 1.04 of its software installed. There is a version 1.05 update on the Roland support site. Roland’s on-line directions are simple and accurate. The update to 1.05 went smooth.

The GO:KEYS sound set is a real bright spot. The standard “panel” voices are taken from the successful JUNO-DS series. In fact, I auditioned these voices by trying them out on a JUNO-DS88 before ordering the GO:KEYS. The GO:KEYS voices sound very similar, especially when you send the GO:KEYS through decent monitors. The built-in speakers are OK, but again, don’t expect super high quality in an inexpensive keyboard. The GO:KEYS is perfectly respectable through the Mackie MR5 mk3 monitors on my desktop.

Here are the sonic highlights:

  • The electric pianos are really strong. Many voices have tasty, appropriate effects (e.g., phaser) applied. If you need acoustic piano, try GO:PIANO instead.
  • There are a slew of synth leads and basses. I’m in love with Spooky Lead which is a classic fusion, R&B tone.
  • Organs are typically Roland — OK, but not tachycardia-inducing.
  • The strings are also typically Roland — darned good.
  • Acoustic sounds — few as they are — are decent. I like Soft Tb and Ambi Tp. Other acoustic sounds may be found in the GM2 sound set. (Don’t forget to enable them in the settings!) The woodwinds are surprisingly good for GM2.

I haven’t dug too deeply into the rest, but the voices triggered by the phrases sound good and are well-chosen. Clearly, the JUNO-DS is the original source.

At this price level, the GO:KEYS is a preset-only machine — no voice editing. The most you get is the ability to set the reverb level. Even the reverb type is fixed (a nice hall). There are decent multi-effects under the hood as heard in the electric piano and clavinet voices. Alas, everything is preset and fixed. Roland would still like to sell you a JUNO-DS.

The GO:KEYS includes a full General MIDI 2 (GM2) sound set. It sounds like an improved set over the much older RD-300GX for which I have produced many GM2 Standard MIDI Files (SMF). I have not tested GM2 compatibility. Roland are very careful about this and have not advertised full compatibility. This is not much of an issue for me as I have plenty of sequencing resources on hand already.

The GO:KEYS does not have conventional pitch bend or modulation wheels. The touch panel has two strips that apply pitch bend or filter/roll effects. The adjacent FUNC button selects the mode. The filter and roll are applied to everything, so you get a DJ-like effect that rolls the rhythm or squishes frequencies. Pitch bend mode also seems to include modulation. I hear the rotary speaker change speed on some organ voices. Unfortunately, attempts to change rotary speed also bend the pitch.

Hey, Roland! I regard this behavior as a bug. The documentation is really loose about what these touch strips do. In the next update, please make one strip pitch bend only and make the other strip modulation only. Punters everywhere will thank you!

The GO:KEYS is very light weight coming in under nine pounds. Power is supplied by either the included adapter (5.9V, 2A) or six AA batteries. The voltage rating is a little odd, 5.9V. I wonder if it’s OK to use a more common 6V adapter provided that the current rating is sufficient?

The GO:KEYS has two slots to accomodate a music rest, but doesn’t come with a music rest. The GO:PIANO bundle includes a music rest, not the GOKEYS. I want to use the GO:KEYS at rehearsals and will call Roland to see if I can buy a music rest. Of course, the Yamaha music rests that I have on hand do not fit the slots and cannot be easily adapted. (Arg. Put the Dremel tool away.)

As you might think, the keybed is not super stellar at $299 street. The keys are piano size and shape with a nice texturing (not plastic-y smooth). The keys don’t feel too bad although it’s more difficult to palm swipe piano-shaped keys with an edge.

Key response is OK, but not as good as a more expensive instrument. (Full disclosure, I played a $3,000 Yamaha Montage last night.) One key is a little dead and its response is quirky. I’ve encountered the same problem with a single key on the otherwise superb Arturia Keystep, too. It’s hard to make a keyboard at this price point that provides high quality and reliability. Even though the GO:KEYS’ case feels sturdy, I wouldn’t gig this machine too hard. You get what you pay for.

Overall, I’m pleased with the GO:KEYS. It’s a good starter keyboard and it looks (and sounds) to be a decent portable rehearsal instrument. The GO:KEYS is an attractive alternative to Yamaha and Casio products in the same price bracket. Definitely worth a look and a listen.

Update: After writing this review, I sequenced a GO:KEYS demo track in Ableton Live. The defective key became worse and I returned the GO:KEYS. Please read about my experience and listen to the demo track.

Copyright © 2017 Paul J. Drongowski