Roland EG-101 Groovekeyboard

Roland EG-101 Groove Keyboard. Groovebox, Synthesizer. Looks new, sounds fantastic. Similar to Yamaha DJX but has better quality sounds and a far superior keybed. This unit includes the power supply. These are perfect for creating 90s inspired dance music on the fly.

Specifications

• Polyphony - 24 voices
• Multitimbral - 11 parts
• Drums - 12 Drum Kits
• RPS phrases - 64Real-Time Effects - Reverb, Ring Mod, Filter, Resonance, Cutoff
• Memory - 448 presets,Keyboard - 49 keys (velocity sensitive)
• Control - MIDI In/Out
  

From Vintage Synth Explorer:

"Even with those built in speakers, this latest addition to the Roland Groove line is anything but low end. In fact the EG-101 is a hands-on sampling, synthesizing, groove making real-time workstation for singlehandedly generating entire dance tracks! Take some of the features of the MC-505 groovebox and the SP-202 sampler and you get the basis for the EG-101. It has a wealth of Roland-like sounds including everything from sub-basses to trance pads to 808 and 909 drum kits. Like other Groove products the EG-101 has a DJ/Remix or RPS (real-time Phrase Sequencer) for quickly generating ready-made grooves and beats - good for live DJ use or as a starting point for writing your own tracks! Unfortunately you can't program your own phrases. But you can alter the sounds, tempo and so on to give them your own unique twists.

Only the most important functions are immediately accessible and real-time controllable. These include the filter cutoff, resonance, ring modulator and reverb. A great new feature is an external sound input that can be routed through the filter and/or ring modulator. Borrowed from the MC-505 is the D-Beam for more control (or lack thereof)! As with other Groove products the EG-101 has a good sequencer / recorder implemented for creating your own arrangements. Only one song can be recorded at a time but it can be created in real-time by switching patterns and muting any of the eight tracks allowing you to build and decompose your grooves on the fly! And the built in speakers are actually quite nice allowing this synth a bit of portability and they make the EG-101 ideal for the home user or budding new techno producer!

The sampling section of this Groove machine is limited by most professional standards but still offers a useful stepping stone for most as well as a great tool for new users. A total memory of 16 samples can be created from any external sound source. There's a 7.81KHz sample rate (128 seconds at Lo-Fi quality) and 31.25KHz (32 seconds at Non Lo-Fi). Basic sample edit functions are also available such as pitch, time stretch, filters, effects, auto-looping and truncating. Although these specs may not be great, having any on-board sampler is a definite bonus for any synthesizer workstation. For you budding new Dance artists or those of you who just want a groove machine to play with on the road or in your kitchen - the EG-101 is definitely the biggest and best beginner to intermediate level synth currently around! And it's Groove Approved!!!"

From Sweetwater:

Only the most important functions are immediately accessible and real-time controllable. These include the filter cutoff, resonance, ring modulator and reverb. A great new feature is an external sound input that can be routed through the filter and/or ring modulator. Borrowed from the MC-505 is the D-Beam for more control (or lack thereof)! As with other Groove products the EG-101 has a good sequencer / recorder implemented for creating your own arrangements. Only one song can be recorded at a time but it can be created in real-time by switching patterns and muting any of the eight tracks allowing you to build and decompose your grooves on the fly! And the built in speakers are actually quite nice allowing this synth a bit of portability and they make the EG-101 ideal for the home user or budding new techno producer!

The sampling section of this Groove machine is limited by most professional standards but still offers a useful stepping stone for most as well as a great tool for new users. A total memory of 16 samples can be created from any external sound source. There's a 7.81KHz sample rate (128 seconds at Lo-Fi quality) and 31.25KHz (32 seconds at Non Lo-Fi). Basic sample edit functions are also available such as pitch, time stretch, filters, effects, auto-looping and truncating. Although these specs may not be great, having any on-board sampler is a definite bonus for any synthesizer workstation. For you budding new Dance artists or those of you who just want a groove machine to play with on the road or in your kitchen - the EG-101 is definitely the biggest and best beginner to intermediate level synth currently around! And it's Groove Approved!!!

Only the most important functions are immediately accessible and real-time controllable. These include the filter cutoff, resonance, ring modulator and reverb. A great new feature is an external sound input that can be routed through the filter and/or ring modulator. Borrowed from the MC-505 is the D-Beam for more control (or lack thereof)! As with other Groove products the EG-101 has a good sequencer / recorder implemented for creating your own arrangements. Only one song can be recorded at a time but it can be created in real-time by switching patterns and muting any of the eight tracks allowing you to build and decompose your grooves on the fly! And the built in speakers are actually quite nice allowing this synth a bit of portability and they make the EG-101 ideal for the home user or budding new techno producer!

The sampling section of this Groove machine is limited by most professional standards but still offers a useful stepping stone for most as well as a great tool for new users. A total memory of 16 samples can be created from any external sound source. There's a 7.81KHz sample rate (128 seconds at Lo-Fi quality) and 31.25KHz (32 seconds at Non Lo-Fi). Basic sample edit functions are also available such as pitch, time stretch, filters, effects, auto-looping and truncating. Although these specs may not be great, having any on-board sampler is a definite bonus for any synthesizer workstation. For you budding new Dance artists or those of you who just want a groove machine to play with on the road or in your kitchen - the EG-101 is definitely the biggest and best beginner to intermediate level synth currently around! And it's Groove Approved!!!

"For those who have a burning desire to enter the world of groove-based music, trying to decide exactly which gear to buy can be tough. Should you buy a keyboard, or sampler, or maybe a drum machine? Then you have to think about a sequencer and a sound system to plug your gear into. All this can be very expensive and confusing, particularly since there are so many choices available these days. Well Roland’s new EG-101 ($995 list) might just be the perfect all-in-one dance machine you’re looking for. The EG-101 uses the same sound set of the best-selling (and great-sounding) Roland MC-303 Groovebox. That gives you a total of 448 sounds ranging from ultra phat basses, funky synths, ambient sounds, traditional instruments, sound effects and lots more. Plus you get 12 classic drum kits including the all-important 808 and 909 sets (Editor’s note: Anyone else remember the days when those units were being blown out for $200? And you sure know what it would cost today to buy one!).

Like the MC-303 and MC-505, the EG-101 has ready-to-use onboard dance music styles, so you can start getting down with some great music minutes after opening the box. There are 64 Preset styles, and you can choose from six variations per style. The EG-101 will allow you to mute or solo individual instrument parts and even link them together with other styles to form complete songs. If you’re into House, Techno, Drum 'N Bass or anything in between, you’re sure to find exactly the style you're looking for. There are also 64 user slots where you can design and store your own creations using the onboard RPS phrases.

To add some samples to your mix, the EG-101 also includes a full-featured phrase sampler similar to that of the popular Boss SP-202 “Dr. Sample.” The EG-101 will allow you to record 16 different samples: Up to 32 seconds in Hi-Fi mode and up a whopping 128 seconds in Lo-Fi mode. These samples can then be tweaked using the built-in Pitch Shift, Time Stretch, Ring Modulation and Filter effects. You can trigger your samples from the 49-note velocity-sensitive keyboard. Sampled beats can be substituted for the drum tracks, and samples can also be used with the EG-101’s backing music patterns. The EG-101 even provides Auto Syncing capabilities between samples, onboard styles and real-time phrases so you know your samples will always be in sync with the rest of the mix.

This killer instrument also features a built-in Realtime Phrase Sequencer which allows you to trigger musical phrases assigned to different keys on the keyboard. These phrases can be triggered along with other phrases to create cool musical arrangements. Other live performance features include an onboard arpeggiator and control knobs that allow you to control the filter frequency, resonance, panning, and reverb level. But the ultimate live performance controller is undoubtedly the "D-Beam." The D-Beam lets users actually control cutoff, resonance, tempo and pitch by using hand and body movements through its infrared light beam. This is great to add visual impact to your live performance. You won’t believe how responsive this is, or begin to imagine all the potential variations you can achieve just by using this one controller. With the EG-101 there is no need for an external speaker system (unless you’re up on stage, of course) because it offers a built-in, fat-sounding 30-watt stereo speaker system with a two-way bass reflex design. There is even a mic input for singers and rappers. The Roland engineering team thought of everything!"