Roland E60 music workstation

by Gig Stig

The first thing that strikes you about the E60 is the incredibly realistic sounds that are contained within the patch banks. Check out the demo songs and you can’t fail to be impressed by either the sounds or the expertise of the programming.

This keyboard has plenty of features and sometimes having so many buttons to press can seem a little scary to potential purchasers, who’s fear is that they will have to spend too long reading the manual and not enough time being creative. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have to frequently refer to the manual during the first 24 hours in the company of this workstation, however by day two things were starting to fall into place and a basic understanding was well underway.

There are certain features that will be rarely used on this model – depending on how you plan to use it of course, however for me the E60 would be an experimental tool to find the best type of style and arrangement for original material. You could probably expand on this concept and produce some special arrangements of classic tracks in styles that have almost certainly have never been done before (Ace of Spades done in Big Band style?)

Anyone who has bought a midi keyboard in the last 20 years knows full well that there is always a painful and frustrating learning curve with modern day electronic synthesizers and workstations at the start of the relationship. Providing you are willing to embrace this learning experience you should have no problems with the E60, which is a great tool for experimenting and being creative with either original or existing material.

A definite one to check out for all the budding songwriters and arrangers out there …