More middle-of-the-road offerings from Roland and company I see. It seems to confirm our suspicion that Roland has decided to abandon the workstation segment altogether. Reality has hit home and the fact of the matter is Roland has been losing money 'hand over fist' in the last few years. So I guess they don't have the resources to invest heavily in R&D. The result is middle-of-the-road products that are obviously targeted toward people who don't make a lot of money and who don't necessarily make pristine sounds or high-end features a top priority when choosing a keyboard or some other musical product.
We are witnessing a company that is losing ground to the competition and may soon become irrelevant in an otherwise sea of change. Other companies are breaking new ground with new technologies and integrating greater sound realism. Roland, on the other hand, seems quite content with a 'business as usual' strategy and recycled sounds. I guess Roland doesn't mind eating the dust of their competitors because that's what's happening in my opinion. Losing direction, losing vision, losing money and losing out to the competition. What kind of strategy is that?? A losing strategy unfortunately. By choosing to release a slew of mediocre products, Roland has once again demonstrated a lack of vision and they will continue to lose ground to the competition if they keep going in the same direction.
The VR-09 seems to be the only somewhat bright spot in an otherwise dim showing of products by Roland at NAMM. Although I have to say the sounds included in the VR-09 demo sounded very familiar. So I'm guessing it will have rehashed sounds and probably nothing new in the way of groundbreaking features either. And a dinky LCD screen to boot. I will reserve final judgment until after playing one. But the demo was unimpressive if you ask me. We keep getting our hopes dashed and I think Roland might even take pleasure in it. A sadistic keyboard company? That would be a first. :D LOL
We'll have to wait to see what shows up at Musikmesse and/or summer NAMM. Another let down most likely. Sorry for being so negative. But this is becoming a routine occurrence. It's like watching a boxing match where your favorite boxer keeps getting KO'd in the first round. After a while it becomes too sickening to even watch, knowing that your guy (company) keeps getting pummeled by the competition. :(
Hopefully there will be brighter days ahead for Roland and company. As it stands now Roland seems to be in a time warp... stuck in the past... and down on their luck. Which is not hard to understand when you see all the mediocre products rolling off their assembly lines over the last few years. :(
By the way, sorry for the lengthy post. I had a lot of venting to do. :) I feel a little better now. Which is of little consolation after seeing Roland's meager showing at NAMM. Oh well. I'll get over it eventually. Keep those prayers coming. :D
Last edited by keysme on 21 Jan 2013, 13:16, edited 4 times in total.