I made the biggest mistake of my life!!

[Chummy]

 

....by buying a  VR-09.

 

I am an 80s fan, and my dream synth would be a JP8. Lliterally, if the shop would sell me one I'd get it any day.  So seeing the VR has alot of JP titled presets I said heck why not?

The pianos are decent... so are the E. pianos, but there isn't enough variety for my taste. The FM piano sounds are lacking big time, and some sounds are the same just with or without a certain effect. So that's a waste IMHO.

 

Synth section, the biggest letdown in this machine so far. My Plugins in Cubase do by far a better job. not enough tweaking options!! And no I don't want to buy an Ipad I hate apple lol and I'd have no use for it other than the synth so why bother? synth sounds are overall bland and weak.

 

Organ is good actually! I like it.

 

As to mod/pitch knob it has pros and cons. It's easy to manipulate but sadly you don't get the option to edit what it does (how much and how long the mod and the pitch).

 

Key action is surprisingly good for my needs.

 

Why Roland Why???

 

I don't mind plastic preset machines, my plugs are decent. Obviously I'd muchly prefer an analog but c'mon.... I don't need a looper and a d-beam and what not. Just a rich warm sound and losta buttons and tweaks to manipulate. What is your answer for this big R?

 

 

[plaid_emu]

I don't think any single piece of gear is going to completley satisfy your wants.

Enjoy the Roland for the things it can do well, and/or save up for a real synthesizer and a dedicated ROMpler.

I do wonder, have you tried the Kronos? That might get in the ballpark for what you're wanting.

[Bernard]

---

Chummy wrote:

....by buying a  VR-09.

 

 my dream synth would be a JP8....

 

Yep, a lot of people want a JP8...

[AnotherScott]

If this turns out to be the biggest mistake of your life, count yourself lucky.

 

Anyway, the VR-09 is a budget instrument, and there will be compromises. For a stronger synth in the same price range, depending on your tastes, you might like a KingKorg or a Dave Smith Mopho x4, or maybe a Waldorf Blofeld or for a bit more, a Studiologic Sledge. Though you're not going to get the Roland's organ, for example. Whatever you get will be a compromise somewhere, it's just a matter of determining your priorities.

[keybdwizrd]

 

If you're looking for top-notch synth sounds, the VR-09 ain't it.

Not to be ornery, but how much research did you do?  I am sure there are plenty of VR-09 reviews and demos available online.  I think there's a massive thread dedicated to the VR-09 on one of these forums.

 

As has been said, these things are always compromises, especially with budget gear.  For a lot of people, instruments like the MOX6 bring a good balance of sounds and features, although you won't get a drawbar organ with it.

 

[Bernard]

 

[Kevin T]

No the biggest mistake was this thread and the giant can of vr09 whoop ass ur about to receive .

[jvckey]

 

I think that the title of this thread is very exaggerated. Could have been something like "my experience with the VR-09" or whatever.

 

Anyway, you should have done some research before buying the VR-09, according to your needs. Supposing that your budget is not so big, you should have gone for the Juno Di/Gi, these have a lot of presets, many similar to the JPs. Another option is an used Fantom. If you want to be able to tweak a lot, King Korg is a good option, as you'd have seen in the video posted by Bernard.

 

As its name says, VR-09 is a "combo" of pianos (electric and acoustics), strings, leads, a great organ section with drawbars and some plus. The great thing is the onboard effects; you won't see for this price many keyboards like this. The D-Beam is a nice "toy" to play with, if you don't like it, just turn it off. It is expected sometime in the future that Roland release new downloadable sounds through the Axial website. It can be seen like the little cheap brother of the Nord Electro (although this last can't split and layer like the VR-09). For its price it is a very nice instrument.

 

It's better to dig a lot before buying, so you can find something good for your budget and needs. I've been researching for a month and I'm almost decide for the VR-09, but won't buy it until I'm completely sure.

Here you have information about the VR-09, videos included:

http://www.rolandus.com/blog/2013/05/13/v-combo-vr-09-made-for-live-playing/

[Bernard]

 

 With external ''Lexicon MX200 effects''

 

[keybdwizrd]

 

Here's the conversation about the VR-09 over on the Keyboard Corner forum:

 

http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2464120/Roland_V_Combo_VR_09#Post2464120

 

As of this writing, the thread has more than 2,000 responses.  It began over a year ago.

 

I haven't read it, but it would probably be a good idea for any potential buyer to do so.

 

 

 

[TIMKEYS]

VR-09 is a "combo"    Very true.  Its intended use is to be a bit of a swiss army knife board to act as a stand alone board for a wide variety of player driven rock and roll, country/ americana music.   Its much like the VR 700 only in a less expensive platform.   I play a VR700 and love it for the kind of music I play in the two acts i play keys for.  I have not had the chance to play a VR-09 but am looking forward to playing one one of these days when I find one in a music store on the floor.   I think its more a matter of the VR-09 being a bad product , but more a matter of it may not be the best product for the OP intended use.  For guys who want to gig one board , that does a decent job of covering the typical set list ,, the VR series do a good job of that.  For keyboard players its pretty nice to not have to drag a ton of gear to turn a bar gig or a hour concert/ Festival  show..  My load in is simple and i can be set up in a matter of minutes.    One other thing I think you also have to consider when choosing a board is that when you look at factory demo videos of all the keyboards one thing in common.  They all have very skilled top pro factory  players and they are going to make the board in the video look like a bazillion bucks.  When you get them home and fire them up ,, you are going to be the guy playing ,, not that factory pro that was in the video.