What do you think of the Roland VK-8 or VK-8M

[TrogL]

I'm thinking of getting one 'cause my old Farfisa's just too heavy to carry around anymore.

[TrogL]

1. I rented one and absolutely hate it

It has preset organ sounds, but if you use a preset it messes up all your settings that you just spent half an hour fiddling with to get them sounding right. Turning on percussion drops the relative volume of everything else so when you turn the percussion off it blasts you.

I finally got the manual to download. Maybe that will help.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Not A Big Fan Of Roland Stuff

Their earlier synths always had an annnoying nasally sound, and their programmers have never figured out that some sounds need to be designed for live applications. Not everyone plays 100% of the time in a perfectly tuned studio lab.

What you mentioned is also symptomatic of Roland gear, IMO. It was never all that user friendly, again, especially for live appliations.

Their later piano stuff (digital) is pretty darned good, but the multipurpose stuff always left me cold.
The Professor

[TrogL]

3. I read the manual and I'm even less impressed

There is a way of fiddling with some of the stuff that annoys me but you lose most of your changes when you kill the power.

There are more presets but you have to switch banks to get to them.

I've got a rehearsal tonight. If I still really hate it, I may trade to a Korg for the gig.