VR-09's Major Advantage Over NE5d

[Big Jock]

I have been using a VR-09 for over 3 years and recently upgraded to the NE5d. I have no doubt it sounds and feels better than the Roland BUT I am bitterly disappointed in two aspects of the NE5. Because the Nord is nearly 3 times the price of the Roland, and described as having 3 engines the same as the Roland, I took it for granted it would be able to match the capability too. Wrong! As you all know the NE5 can combine any two of the three engines plus upper & lower organ. I can also do that on the Roland. The Major Advantage of the Roland is I can also combine any two sounds in the Synth engine or two in the Piano engine. I believe the Nord Stage can do this but I need a 61 note keyboard with physical drawbars. If I had known this limitation on the NE5, I might not have bought it. My other gripe is in my post "NO Piano/String.npno- WHY?" .There was no good news from the forum so I contacted Nord but as yet no reply.

Do any of you think the VR-09 capability over the NE5 would have influenced your decision when you purchased your NE5?

Cheers,
Big Jock Munro. Favourite Scottish Quote: If we had a fire, we could have toast but we've nae bread.

[maurus]

Well your first point is clearly stated in the manual, available for download on the Nord website (and it has been mentioned in the forum many times). You could easily have known about it before buying.

Concerning the second point, see your other thread...

[Big Jock]

Reading specifications and manuals before a purchase (if you can't try the instrument personally, which is best) is a too often overlooked good practice

[Big Jock]

I tried the Roland as I was hoping to buy this keyboard because its much cheaper But I ran into the major disadvantage for the Roland. The fx are always on both sounds. So if you combine a pad and the organ and turn on the Rotary it also is on the pad sound. And this was e real dealbraker for me. I stepped to the NE5D and fell in love instantly.
Before I even try a new instrument I always download and read the manual. It helps a lot.

[Big Jock]

In my opinion, the keyboard action and overall build quality on the NE5D is reason enough to consider it over the Roland.

[Big Jock]

Watch out, you cannot use external midi controller to change the Roland VR-09 organ, synth and piano engines. Exteternal midi control only works on a separate sound engine. The only thing you can control with external midi is the second sound engine. For instance you cannot call up a patch with external midi. All you can do is use extra midi controller for performance (secondary keyboard). You get what you pay for here. Roland's midi implementation is really bad. With that said, it is still a good value and I'm glad I bought mine. It has nice sound and yes it is way less expensive than any Nord product. It is also light weight (and yes plastic). I haul it around with me with headphones to do practice when not at home.

Oh and it requires rechargable batteries (not alkaline). The VR-09 is a very nice inexpensive keyboard with good organ, piano and synth sample sounds.

[Big Jock]

Yes, I agree, I should have read the manual.

[Groovy]

If I had known this limitation on the NE5, I might not have bought it.

I have a VR-09 which was my primary keyboard before I got my NE5D. I was completely aware of the limitations of the NE5 sound architecture, but after considering it carefully I thought that it would be a relatively small problem. Yes, the NE5 expensive, and yes, you could probably expect a more flexible architecture form a keyboard with this price tag. But still I never regretted the buying of the Nord for just one second. Compared to the VR-09 I get these advantages:

- It looks better
- It feels better
- It sounds better
- The internal rotary emulation is a lot better which means that I no longer need my Neo Ventilator II external rotary (which simplifies my setup considerably)
- Effects section is much better (the 'drive' effect on the VR-09 is a joke)
- The Setlist function saves me a lot of time and effort - now I no longer need to have a printout of all my songs and their bank and register numbers

I will also point you to the fact that the synth section of the NE5 is perfectly capable of doing piano sounds (except for string resonance, of course). So the only real problem is that you cannot have two synth sounds at the same time. But is case that is important to you, go buy a small and cheap synth second hand

[Alev66]

I also have the Roland VR 09 and an Electro and I have to say that the Roland is a wonderful unit....for a third of the price of a NE5 you get a very nice organ with more options tweaking the parameters, a good sounding Rhodes, Wurly and even some nice Grands.
I believe the Leslie is as good as the NE4´s rotor..
Distortion is a joke, yes!!
The dynamics of the Rhodes are a little reduced and the Grand maybe a bid too "plinky" for solo performance but otherwise I love this keyboard more than the Nord.
The sounds may be more "HiFi" but in band context they are still useable, even a mono piano.

Also:
the looper
the easy recording to an USB stick
the rhythm machine (very nice and groovy)
the joystick
some funny and even useful effects
very fast keys, very exact
Line in (not only to the headphones)

and more...
I think the VR 09 is a VERY underated keyboard (good for Nord)

[jjo205]

I bought a VR-09 before switching to the 5D. I had them both for a time to put them head to head. The two main things I still prefer about the VR-09 are 1) the simplicity of the interface -- I don't find the Nord very intuitive and feel like I spend way too much time looking things up repeatedly in the manual -- and 2) the mod wheel and pitch bending on the synths. It sucks to pay this much more for the Nord and lose some seemingly basic functionality.

BUT: I decided to keep the Nord. The two decisive advantages of the Nord for me: 1) the feel and 2) the quality of the organ, piano, e-piano. The quality of the sounds head to head was really no comparison to my ears. Less important was the sheer number of patches available and the ease of switching them in and out. Not decisive but nice.

That said, the VR-09 is indeed a nice and extremely practical instrument.