• Videos • The Roland GW-8 keyboard is the next generation of Roland's GW-series workstations with intelligent backing-track functionality. With its fresh, contemporary sound-set and expressive musical styles from pop to rock, plus authentic ethnic styles and a multi-format USB Memory Player feature, the GW-8 workstaton will bring a world of music to your fingertips.The Roland GW-8 is especially well-suited for one-man-band performances. Flagship Sound Engine with Easy User Interface Having Roland's renowned sound technology at its core, the GW-8 rivals its peer workstations with its rich, expressive sound.
Only at Sweetwater! Current Updates and FREE Shipping for your Roland GW-8 61-key Arranger Workstation! The styles on the Roland GW-8 range from rock. View and Download Roland GW-8 quick manualbook online. Roland Workstation GW-8 Supplementary Manual 48 pages. Let’s try one of the GW-8’s Music Styles.
The GW-8 comes loaded with hundreds of the freshest and most essential sounds culled from Roland's top sound modules. In addition to its authentic sound set, the GW-8 is equipped with many user-friendly control devices, such as the expressive D BEAM and the Analog Modify knob, which instantly adjusts sounds to suit your taste. The GW-8 is perfect for live entertainers who play multiple roles in their performances. Intelligent Backing Styles The GW-8 is packed with a huge collection of styles, representing a broad range of music genres, from contemporary rock, pop, dance, jazz, and beyond. The excellent library of contemporary sounds and styles is accompanied by ethnic instrument sounds and authentic regional musical styles. Each backing style has four intros, four main patterns, and four ending progressions for you to craft your own arrangements live.
USB Memory Player Feature The GW-8 also has one of Roland's most popular features is built into it-the Multi-format Song Player that allows song data to be played directly from USB Flash memory (accepts MP3, WAV, AIFF, and SMF format). It also has a Center Cancel function that minimizes main vocals from pre-recorded songs for karaoke-style performances or music practice. Style Converter & Playlist Editor Bundled with each GW-8 is Roland's Style Converter software for PC, which lets you convert your own MIDI data into GW-8 backing styles via commercially available USB Flash memory devices. Also included is the Playlist Editor for customizing the order of songs. Users can easily create a dedicated Playlist for each gig. Comments about Roland GW-8 Keyboard Workstation: I have faced mainly three vital problems.
1] In style composer Ending division, EZ converter is not working. It is unable to change the chord into minor and 7th. I could save the data in a 2 micro SD card.
But it could not export the right instruments in the 'Song'. If I play it by USB player on the GW8, playing wrong instruments with wrong balance! 2] USB back up is poor. It can't deal more than 2GB pen drive.
But today a pen drive starts from 4GB. In near future it may start from 10 GB. 3] USB connection to computer is unsuccessful even after downloading drivers from Roland's web site and installing it to my laptops. Unless I can backup DATA, how can I formate to 'factury reset'?
I am now realy frusted. Comments about Roland GW-8 Keyboard Workstation: I have owned the Roland Gw-8 for over six months now. Tweet southern hummingbird zip. I use the gw-8 to play at live Mexican Music Performances in styles such as Tierra Caliente, Cumbias, and Grupero. I love this roland keyboard for Grupero music, because it has all of the best Vintage Roland sounds used in the grupero era. This eliminates me from carrying my Roland d-50 and Jv-1000.
The weight of this thing is incredibly light. The 'JP pads' sound great when playing in contemporary pop music. The default Latin rhythms are awesome!
It has some awesome Mariachi rhythm, and over 14 different type of Cumbia/Sonidero Rythms (a lot from la Sonora Dinamita)! For people that are into Tuba sound, the Tuba sound does not have that beefy/bassy sound, but the sound sounds great. The Guitarron sound is okay, I just wish it wasn't very scratchy at times. I could spend a lot talking about the great sounds it has, but I would suggest you to check it out for yourself Now, I have never used a keyboard as a workstation, because I usually use my computer for that deal. I am n00b on this part.
With that said these are the features I dislike. I dislike that the Sequencer's User Interface is not user friendly. It has taken me almost 6 months to finally master the 16-track sequencer on this beast! The Roland Manual was not very helpful, and I used a lot of youtube videos to help me on this. Also, with the GW-8 one has the feature of composing your own style.
I have not been able to accomplish the style composer. Once again I have checked the manual, and the manual is not user friendly. I wish Roland would not assume we are all Roland professionals, and write their instructions for 'inept people' like me.