Roland Unveils the VK-77

Joey Defrancesco behind the VK-77

Boy, I always sound better in the shower. But, that's the way I felt after playing the new VK-77. Oh, I know, it's just another keyboard. If you've seen one keyboard, you've seen them all, right? At the NAMM show, believe me, I saw a lot of keyboards in four days. In fact, I was getting keyboard-itus. After viewing a mound of fake plastic keys surrounded by black painted steel or more plastic, I thought I had enough. The last thing I wanted to see was another keyboard. I had become jaded and frustrated. I have to be careful - I think I feel myself breaking into another song.

Then, I stepped into one of the largest booths at the NAMM show, the Roland display. There, I saw it. It looked like a VK-7, but it had two keyboards on it. An upper and lower set of ivories . . . um . . . I mean plastics. If you didn't notice the fact that it was perched on a stand, it looked an awful lot like the beloved Hammond B3 organ including the wood cabinet. I stopped my personal guide, Leanna Harshaw , in her tracks and exclaimed "What is That!". "Oh, that's the new VK-77", she states calmly and begins to move on. "Stop the Tour! Show Me This Now", comes my reply in excitement.

If you're a keyboard player and you're not familiar with the VK-7, get your tail out to the store and try one. The VK-7 is the current king of synth based B3 emulators. I've been wanting one since they came out a year or so ago. Now I don't want one anymore. The object of my desire has turned to the VK-77. The VK-77 is a very nice improvement over the VK-7 although I believe that Roland intends to keep selling the VK-7 as well.

OK, let's talk tech straight from the mouths of Roland's public relations department: