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I had the RS 5 for about a week and took it back in order to save for a higher end synth like, perhaps, a Motif. I already have a QS 8, a Korg module, and a bunch of gigasampler and soundfont libraries. I found that the RS 5 didn't do much to augment my setup. That said, I rate it very highly in price/perfromance and as a starter keyboard for someone who is just getting into sequencing and synths. The realtime control implementation is terrific -- 6 triple function knobs that are very easy to navigate and switch between. The arpegiator is excellent and the effects are excellent. The limitations have been well described here -- no aftertouch, no expandability, very limited deep editing or programming. After my week with it, I just decided it was wiser for me to save up for a more advanced addition to my studio.
The sounds: overall, not bad at all, as I remember them. The keys didn;t bowl me over, esp. the organs. Piano is fair to middling, EPs standard fare. Some of the real sonic strengths here are in unlikely places. The solo brass sounds, for example, are excellent. Synth sounds are well represented, and tons of fun to play with because of the excellent real time control and effects.
My overall impression of the sound is that it is very clean, a bit thin.
Even though I took it back, I give this instrument good marks. I don't think there are many alternatives in this price range. An Alesis QS 6 would have different strengths in terms of sounds, much more programmability and expandability, but not the state-of-the moment real time control that everybody seems to want these days.
Good job by Roland, I'd say. Excellent bargain. Great for beginners and not a bad soundset for more experienced users by any means.
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