The Roland E-A7 quietly enters the market... So how does it sound?

The specs of the E-A7 are impressive. Masses of sounds, synth and sequencing options, an innovative layout and even sampling. So what's not to like about the E-A7? Welllll....

[@RESISTAGE]

this baby is far more advanced than fa6 or juno ds. I have one and after years tweaking and playing it I appreciate it even more then when I just bought it. no one seems to know this beast well enough and that's the reason why it's underrated.

[@gearfacts]

Yes, I would like to have had more time with it to really understand its synthesis :)

[@heliotron8042]

I'm looking for an like "E-mu Emulator" style keyboard sampler that has good internal memory or can accept USB sticks, but can upload samples without slowing down the performance. Can this keyboard record voice from the mic to serve as samples for choirs, or any sounds picked up by the microphone input? Could you use chromatic scales with samples? I've heard that it only accepts external 16bit .wav files at 44hz. I'm in doubt between it and the Casio Ct S-1000v, which also only accepts this format for samples. Thank you very much!

[@donmason8328]

This arranger is very deep, and deeply editable. You have to spend some time with it to explore all its capabilities. Some sounds are great, others not so much. It has great traditional styles and styles for almost every country in the world. There are tons of options to let you customize it.

[@gearfacts]

Yes indeed. I wish I'd had more time with it!

[@AnupamEnosh]

Sounds are not that good, I believe.. spending some extra bucks will get you Roland X6 & Xa & Fa

[@donmason8328]

@@AnupamEnosh X6, etc., are not arrangers. Sounds on EA7 can be edited and it has a sampler as well. Enjoy what you play. :)

[@AnupamEnosh]

@@donmason8328 I know they ain't arrangers, but come on, are we talking about rhythms here ? If not, then all the points go to synthesizers, hands down.. I've played the BK-5 and found that Juno DS was much better

[@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene]

Half of all the tones do not have an edit option. You will need to build your own tones from the waveform list and use 1 to 4 oscillators (partials) and create from a blank tone.

[@JosephCsikos]

Sounds like Roland e-16! Nothing changed!

[@johnduffy7108]

Shagadelick Man Heavy Vibes Dude...

[@Lee-vo7dl]

After their Flagship arranger the BK 9 debuted in 2013 which was discontinued within a couple of years, why I don't know, but it was superior to the E A 7. It seems they have dropped out of the arranger keyboard series altogether. The only Flagships out there now are the Yamha Genos 2 and the Korg PA5X .

[@gearfacts]

It's all out of my price range :)

[@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene]

I don't think we should judge the sound quality from this video, it sounds like you recorded the speakers of the E A7 with the microphone of the camera????

[@gearfacts]

Nope, it's direct-recorded, for real.

[@kimthompson5871]

It sounds pretty decent but I’ll bet it’s pricey !

[@gearfacts]

Over-pricey if you ask me!

[@gefthetalkingmongoose]

Reminds me of my Korg Triton TR61 which didn't sound great 15 years ago

[@ajakz2561]

I have a Korg Karma(same engine) and I managed to get some really good sounds out of it. I think it's still great for pads. The main thing it lacked was a good reverb. Try putting it through a NightSky.

[@gearfacts]

I thought your avatar was a picture of me for a second then...

[@mastercylinder1939]

Why does it have two screens? Seems to be an added expense. Never mind the quality, look at the screens!

[@gearfacts]

Yeah I should have mentioned that the left one is all about rhythm and the right one is all about the sound being played.

[@mastercylinder1939]

@@gearfacts yeah, but those two functions are just one button press away, seems a bit gimmicky to me.

[@radnet7695]

It has internal sampling, right? I think it's Roland BK5 with some modification

[@gearfacts]

Yep, you can sample internally or import audio files.

[@ajakz2561]

Serious question: who do you think the market is for this? If you want a digital piano, there are plenty of better options. I don't know what it is...is it the filter? Or the DSP? or is it a lack-of that makes it sound really thin? I remember demo'ing a Roland VA around 2008 and it had similar character to this. You can't even really say it sounds dated, as my Korg Prophecy sounds better than this. The EA-7 just doesn't seem to have any guts.

[@gearfacts]

Fair points, well made. It's all true.

[@MrIcelander]

Well, using a less than stellar external mic to record from the less than stellar external speakers certainly didn't do this instrument any favours here, you know :/

[@torstenH78]

There is a market for arrangers. Real live musicians as one man band on stage need an arranger, free programmable. With a digital piano you cannot make party music here in germany. I have a E-A7 in my setup. But this demo here is not good played. It sounds much better.

[@MrIcelander]

@@torstenH78 Precisely the points I was trying to make! I'm starting to think that this "reviewer" just doesn't know all that much about what the conceptual characteristics of the Arranger sub-genre of keyboards are about, let alone what to look for when evaluating them (e.g. that all important "sum of the whole being greater than the individual" concept). At any rate, they most certainly can _not_ be measured against digital pianos, a totally different sub-genre of keyboards! That's almost as pointless as pitting a Steinway grand piano against the Hammond B3 organ :/

[@pianokeyjoe]

Lol, First thing I did was look at your sales page to see if I found this.

[@gearfacts]

haha nooooo sorry!

[@crealityk1]

2 LCDs??

[@gearfacts]

Yep, one for the beats and one for the tone.

[@Dvd7111]

Roland E series of 2005 especially the E-80 has better sounds and options like the 16 track sec.. and the micro edit, the function of srx is also nowadays still interesting. The ea7 has some interesting features but the sound and a big innovation is missing. Roland don’t have great keyboard nowadays than only good synths. Curious when they will came with their newest flagship

[@Dvd7111]

But even though it’s not bad for the price but on marketplace you have an E-80 for €650

[@tomoquads3975]

yep not even close the sound quality of korg PA or the yamaha SX and yes not even touch screen

[@gearfacts]

Yep, I was really hoping to be more impressed.

[@DilanthaPerera]

Hi Guys, Does anyone can help me with the key "punch weight" of this model ? does it feels like a professional synthesizer / Piano or is it generic key press without any weight on keys ?

[@gearfacts]

It felt quite generic to me. I was disappointed. Cheaper models like the Roland Go:Keys and the new Yamaha PSR-E373 have much nicer keys.

[@geofff6671]

The E-A7 is a current generation instrument. The V-A7 has a 3.5 inch floppy drive which tells you how old it is. I can’t comment whether the V-A7 has better sound but it seems unlikely.

[@gearfacts]

Actually I reviewed the VA-7 recently, and for 1/3 of the price I think it offers better value and some of its sounds are definitely superior. Certainly a more 'creative' keyboard anyway. Totally different generations on keyboard though of course, so it's a tricky comparison. You've certainly raised a good point there :)

[@dddddddd9870]

korg pa 300 sounds are better do you think?

[@gearfacts]

I never really bonded with the Korg PA series, I'd choose the Roland. Personal opinion :)

[@aseomg]

Sounds of a $200 keyboard but in a $700 keyboard body…ouch!

[@gearfacts]

haha I wasn't going to say it, but... you make a point :)

[@stratcat4461]

The sounds are dated. From an older generation of keyboards. There are much better choices out there.

[@gearfacts]

Agreed. I seriously thought about forking out the heavy cash for this keyboard and I'm glad now that I got to borrow it first. I would have been able to get some good music out of it, but overall I'm sure I would have been disappointed.

[@stratcat4461]

@@gearfacts I'm curious... Do you keep all the keyboards you review or do you sell them after doing a review?

[@gearfacts]

@@stratcat4461 I sell them on the Gearfacts Facebook group

[@AnupamEnosh]

Well in my opinion brother, EA7 is not as good as Juno DS, to my understanding, EA7 pretty much falls into the league of those arranger Keyboards (E09, BK-3,5).. and the synthesizers of Roland are pretty much better than what its arrangers offer..

[@gearfacts]

Yeah I think any Juno model takes the audio quite a lot further than the EA7.

[@penponds]

Roland always seems to struggle (certainly at this level) with solo brass. Terrible compared with the Yamaha PSR series of even 5 years ago (I had a PSR-S 760). But pianos, strings, pads, saws, the arranger backing and interface - all superior to Yamaha IMHO. I’ve got a BK7M, FA07 and a venerable VR 700 Combo ;-)

[@MrIcelander]

As an actual owner of this keyboard I feel it's been rather shortchanged here. I mean, of all the varied saxes to pick from, he just had to go with the _worst_ one? Just to make a point?! And since when does it put any of these instruments into any sort of decent light to record the audio with an _external_ mic - from their _external_ speakers?! - Go watch the Bonners demo instead, that guy knows how to get the _best_ out of instruments.

[@gearfacts]

I’m not saying it’s bad, I’m just saying that for the price (really expensive here) it was a little bit disappointing.

[@MrIcelander]

@@gearfacts And I'm saying you jumped to predisposed conclusions based on very little examination invested, then used "tactics" like mentioned above to back it up - almost as if you were _trying_ to make it look as bad as you could! And that's what triggered my comments of shortchanged. p.s. I don't know what is pricy in your book, but over here this model is actually one of the cheaper ones. In fact, you're the first I've seen to say otherwise, regardless of location.

[@gearfacts]

@@MrIcelander Didn't mean to insult people who like the product. Roland have made lots of things that I've praised hugely in my 10 years on KZbin. I was excited to try the EA-7 but there are keyboards that simply provide more initial inspiration.

[@MrIcelander]

@@gearfacts That may be true, though obviously a very objective notion (which you annoyingly still stated as fact just then, for some reason). And it's not about people taking offence, which I certainly haven't, it's about you as a self-proclaimed seasoned reviewer, in your "10 years on KZbin", not giving a production any sort of fair treatment. But ok, just to get some sense of what does appeal to you in this particular category, can you name a couple of _arrangers_ that have given you this obscure thing you call "initial inspiration"?

[@joeblow593]

I think this has been around a few years. Is this a new model?

[@gearfacts]

I think it was released in 2018.

[@donmason8328]

@@gearfacts It was released in 2015. Tremendous sales in Europe and Asia.

[@gearfacts]

@@donmason8328 Oh ok. It's had virtually no presence here in Australia, even though it's freely available in the stores. It's very much in the Yamaha PSR-SX shadow.

[@ДисторшнИгорСаган]

Инструмент Бомба.Но звуки все надо обработать.После этого он звучит очень хорошо.

[@gearfacts]

Я согласен. Требуется время, чтобы довести его до совершенства :)

[@xcavata]

My Korg PA4X blows this out of the water lol

[@gearfacts]

Generally I'd agree, the only advantage the EA-7 has is sampling

[@xcavata]

@@gearfacts like live sampling or like I can import a sound and have it sample across the keyboard

[@doordedeur]

The EA series seems much more low tech than the VA series.

[@gearfacts]

Yep this is a comparison that a lot of people have raised, quite rightly.

[@Am71919]

I love using keyboards like this but only as pianos, the features are meaningless to me

[@gearfacts]

Ah well you could certainly save a lot of money by avoiding this one! There are plenty of others with equal or better piano sounds.

[@montazownianr1]

I bought recently roland va 7 for 300 euro, much better than this one.

[@gearfacts]

Yeah I think you got much better value that if you had paid the 800 (thereabouts) Euro for this model.

[@montazownianr1]

@@gearfacts only 300€

[@montazownianr1]

@@gearfacts But sound is warmer, fuller and for me more interesting ;)

[@gearfacts]

@@montazownianr1 Ah well that's an undeniable bargain

[@adastra123]

Yuk awful sounds. Roland take the finger out.

[@gearfacts]

Yeah I was really disappointed. I'm sure it can do more with some tweaking but where are the decent presets? Was so excited to try it :(

[@adastra123]

@@gearfacts Great video as it saved people buying it and it showed Roland areas they can do better in. First World problems in the greater scheme of things.

[@gearfacts]

@@adastra123 thanks heaps 👍