C'mon guys. Roland is still in the business of making keyboards and they still have a thing or two up their sleeve so don't get disheartened just yet. The Jupiter-80 in my opinion was a 76 key hybrid synth experiment gauging how well Roland's next full blown workstation might be received in the marketplace when it comes out at an, as yet, undisclosed point in time. Hopefully be in the not too distant future.
Winter NAMM 12' is probably too early since it would encroach on Jupiter-80 sales. Summer NAMM '12 is not really a keyboard oriented trade show (mostly guitar stuff) - but you never know. Winter NAMM '13 or Musikmesse '13 shortly thereafter could be the ideal opportunity for the unveiling of Roland's highly anticipated new Flagship workstation keyboard. It will no doubt include the usual 61/76/88 key versions with 256 note polyphony and a host of other highly advanced features and technologies you'd expect from Roland's highly regarded sound and design engineers. I would expect it to also have an on-board Sampler, although since Roland now owns Cakewalk they might nix the Sequencer in the hope that more people would purchase Cakewalk Sonar, etc. to use in conjunction with the workstation, since computers are becoming more and more an essential part of music production. Plus it would cut down the cost somewhat most likely also. Sonar is a much more comprehensive sequencer than can be found on your typical on-board keyboard sequencer, needless to say. Time will tell.
I expect Roland's new workstation to also have an SSD storage drive with the ability to stream content off the drive like the Kronos. Since both Yamaha and Korg have expansion capability on their latest workstation keyboards i.e. the Motif XF and Kronos, it is highly likely that Roland will also include expansion capability on their next Flagship workstation as well. It will no doubt also have Roland's new SuperNatural synthesis engines and Behavior Modeling technology plus a comprehensive full-color touchscreen display most likely too. Additionally, it will likely also have a comprehensive array of input/output connections combined with other unique innovations in Roland's arsenal of high-end feature rich technologies, such as V-Link and D-Beam controllers and perhaps nine physical Drawbar sliders to use in conjunction with Organ patches and as a way to control various other features within the Operating System menus on the keyboard, similar to the way the Fantom G can. Prices for each version i.e. 61/76/88 models will likely be quite a bit higher than the Fantom G series was when it hit the market. As an example, the 76 key Jupiter-80 goes for $3,499 so I'd expect the new 76 key flagship workstation to cost around the same or slightly more than a Jupiter-80. 61 key probably around $2,799 - $3,000 and the 88 key probably around the $3,999 - $4,199 range. In the event Roland nixes workstations altogether and indefinitely, there will always be good ole' Yammie and Korg to meet your workstation keyboard needs. But since Roland likely relishes competition (keeping up with the Jones'es) I would expect them to continue producing Flagship workstation keyboards into the foreseeable future as a way of countering Yamaha, Korg and Kurzweil's high-end market share piece of the pie. It would be foolish to lose highly prized market share to the competition and Roland would likely be eating the other companies dust if Roland didn't stay on the cutting edge themselves. Time will tell.
