[rodgersorgan] Re: Roland


At 02:06 PM 07/09/2002 -0700, you wrote:


>As someone who was present both before and after the Roland
>acquisition, I have to echo Paul's recent comments.  I'd also
>like to offer my impressions of the magical transformation which
>occured at Rodgers after the Roland acquisition.
>
>Roland's leadership has been a tremendous asset for Rodgers;
>without a doubt, this has contributed to the development of what
>is the most powerful and user-friendly MIDI system in the organ
>market.  Rodgers has also picked up on Roland's desire for
>standadization and sharing of philosophies between company; this
>has resulted in Rodgers embracing the GS Format, furthering the
>GM standard and pushing for SMF file formats - - - all of these
>things allow for greater flexibility and compatibility between
>brands.
>Above all, Roland is a company filled with vision, integrity and
>a desire to further the cause of music making in a wide variety
>of arenas.  Rodgers has been lucky to join them in this cause.
>The Roland Group, of which Rodgers is a key player, has become
>an international company which provides great instruments to all
>reaches of the world.
>
>Pretty amazing for a company which started in a crowded backroom
>in 1958!
>
>Mark
=============================================
Mark:

Well said.

I snipped portions to make my reply more compact.
We have "graduated" from the 790 that we had when you were still
at Rodgers to the Trillium 927 -- the biggest console that we could
get down the stairs to the basement level recreation room!

"Smart MIDI" by Allen is really "dumb MIDI" with only miniscule
capability as compared to Rodgers.  But Rodgers is still missing
an opportunity by having the PR300 as the MIDI device of choice.
I elected to NOT buy the PR300 since it had the GS/GM voices
and NO pipe organ voices.  Instead I bought the Allen MDS Expander II
box.  What Rodgers is still missing is a box, similar to the Ahlborne-
Galanti boxes in concept such that one can configure presets of
any combination of stops and save them in the box, to be called
up by the Rodgers organ via the MIDI channels.  The stops that
should be in the Rodgers box, in my opinion, are additional classical
stops, such as salicional, voix celeste, etc. and theatre stops.
With the capability to select via presets inside the box, one could
configure tibia16, vox8, and tibia 4 as a preset and then call that
combination up via a Rodgers MIDI piston.  Similarly for classical
combinations.  Even with only one MIDI bank in the box, there could be over
100 stops available.

That others see the marketing potential of such a box is evidenced by
Johannus offering a box that contains both classical and theatre stops,
although the box is of minimal capability.  I like the versatility of the
Ahlborn-Galanti boxes, although we didn't buy one because we didn't
care for the sound as compared to Rodgers.  I will not highlight the
shortcomings of the Allen MDS Expander II box here, but if someone
wants my opinion, I will be glad to express them in a private Email.

Mark, best of success in your new career.

Sincerely,

Jack Cormack
Potomac, Maryland

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