Roland GO:KEYS 3 vs Controller with Roland Cloud?

[Fleer]

While still waiting on the 5, absolutely enjoying the 3.

[Saul]

While still waiting on the 5, absolutely enjoying the 3.

That's a good sign Anything you don't like, perhaps that you think they could have done better? Bearing in mind the low price point of course.

[Saul]

To stay on the subject, it seems to me the biggest upgrade of the 5 (except the slightly better speakers) is the dedicated output jacks in the back. If you don't care about these, the 3 is a fine choice.

I had considered the outputs on the 3 and the 5. I would much prefer the quater inch outputs but, it is easy enough to use a dual 6.35mm to single 3.5mm Stereo Audio Cable

[shelly0624]

To stay on the subject, it seems to me the biggest upgrade of the 5 (except the slightly better speakers) is the dedicated output jacks in the back. If you don't care about these, the 3 is a fine choice.

It would be great to get a comparative opinion. After I saw how much the Roland Go 5 cost, I'm happy with what I'm getting. That's a BIG jump in price.

[Saul]

The Go Keys 5 has these extras over the 3:

Mic Effects:
Auto Harmony (9 types)
Voice Transformer (Octave: -1--+1, Formant: -12--+12 semitones)
Compressor (Type: Soft, Normal, Hard)
Noise Suppressor (Threshold: -96--0 dB)

Connections:
Control pedal jack (Capable of continuous detection when optional pedal connected)
Input Stereo jack: Stereo miniature phone type
Output (L/Mono, R) jacks: 1/4-inch phone type
Mic Input jack: 1/4-inch phone type

And of course the improved speaker system.

Go Keys 5 here in the UK is £445

Go Keys 3 is on average £330

So that is £115 difference. Is the mic input, effects and extra connections worth that price difference? To some it will be. For me, it isn't.

[mx49]

I haven't played the GO so can't compare, but I was very impressed with the Casio CT-S500 for the money. (Which, BTW, does three sounds at a time, to get back to the first question of this post... and also feels more playable for piano than that CK61, though the CK61 has a lot of advantages of its own as well.)

Casio has some nice affordable keybeds. If they would make a CDP-S110 or CDP-S360 with 73 keys, then that would be very high on my shopping list.

[anotherscott]

It depends on whether a dealer is buying from a distributor or directly from the manufacturer.

A distributor will typically buy in at 50% cost and sell to a dealer at 25-35% depending on the numbers etc.

Dealers buying directly from the manufacturer, which is the case with Yamaha, Roland and Korg, will often pay the same as a distributor at 50% but that depends on a lot of factors.

I agree with the basic scenario of most of what you describe, i.e. if something sells for $1000, the distributor is probably paying around $500 for it and selling to to the dealer for around $700; and big companies like Yamaha may own their own distribution channels in various countries, rather than working with some existing local distributor. But no matter who does it, local distribution has costs associated with it. Small companies pay a local distributor to do these things, that's what justifies the $200 they keep on that $1000 item. A company like Yamaha sells enough product that they may set up their own distribution channel/company for a given country. But my understanding is that they do this to keep that $200 spread for themselves, not give it away to the dealer, who still pays the "post distribution cost" price. To incur the local distribution expenses themselves for the purpose of giving more profit to the dealer is unlikely, I think. But as you say, there are probably "a lot of factors." and the particulars may vary by company and by country, etc. I don't know enough to be able to speak to all scenarios definitively.

[shelly0624]

I haven't played the GO so can't compare, but I was very impressed with the Casio CT-S500 for the money. (Which, BTW, does three sounds at a time, to get back to the first question of this post... and also feels more playable for piano than that CK61, though the CK61 has a lot of advantages of its own as well.)

Casio has some nice affordable keybeds. If they would make a CDP-S110 or CDP-S360 with 73 keys, then that would be very high on my shopping list.

We went to a church that had an 88 key Casio CDP-S360 and it had a really beautiful sound. I had my eye on one for awhile, but decided to go for a keyboard with a mic input. It is considered a digital piano but has 700 tones and a lot of the features found in an arranger keyboard. I just remember how it sounded. It was hooked up to a speaker, but still. It is the slim design and about 24 pounds. It's a mid-priced keyboard at about $550.

[sonic2000gr]

Casio still creates VFM pianos, and some quite expensive and premium one (and with stunning looks like the new PX-S line).
They seem to have completely abandoned the more premium arranger lines though, and it's a pity.
Their highest priced arranger is the CT-X5000, at around 400 euros and this is from 2018. The user interface now looks quite dated. And no 76 key versions either.
I used to have the CTK-5000 back in 2010 and I enjoyed it a lot. The keybed was better than many pricier Yamahas. I wish they would make a comeback in the premium arranger or even the synth market. But I doubt. Many people regard Casio as a 'watch / calculator' company.

[shelly0624]

I bought the Casio MZ-2000 24 years ago and it was really ahead of it's time, but the keys are "clacky, a confusing thing they did since they went to so much trouble on the other things. And now the current keyboards are miles ahead, in size, capabilities, price, and sound, but back then it was considered a more serious keyboard (compared to other Casio offerings). It even had something close to a synth function, however limited. You could model the sounds. It was discontinued after only a year or maybe a little more because of the price point. It didn't do well. It's a BEAST, big, and weighs a ton. I'm going top sell it because some people collect old keyboards like that.

[Fleer]

The Go Keys 5 has these extras over the 3:

Mic Effects:
Auto Harmony (9 types)
Voice Transformer (Octave: -1--+1, Formant: -12--+12 semitones)
Compressor (Type: Soft, Normal, Hard)
Noise Suppressor (Threshold: -96--0 dB)

Connections:
Control pedal jack (Capable of continuous detection when optional pedal connected)
Input Stereo jack: Stereo miniature phone type
Output (L/Mono, R) jacks: 1/4-inch phone type
Mic Input jack: 1/4-inch phone type

And of course the improved speaker system.

Go Keys 5 here in the UK is £445

Go Keys 3 is on average £330

So that is £115 difference. Is the mic input, effects and extra connections worth that price difference? To some it will be. For me, it isn't.

The 5 loads wave expansions from Roland Cloud.

[Fleer]

While still waiting on the 5, absolutely enjoying the 3.

That's a good sign Anything you don't like, perhaps that you think they could have done better? Bearing in mind the low price point of course.

Not really. Even the speakers sound full and better than I would have expected. The sounds are top notch. The keys have a great touch. If I hadn’t ordered the 5 first, I maybe wouldn’t have now. That’s how much I like the 3 (without having played the 5 yet).

[Saul]

The 5 loads wave expansions from Roland Cloud.

Odd that it doesn't mention this in the features, only in the spec and in the Roland Cloud user guide. It seems to me that this is something that would be mentioned because it is misleading to let people beleive that apart from the mic input/output and better speakers the two keyboards are identical It is not a deal breaker but it may be quite important to some.

[sonic2000gr]

It's even more confusing as both have roland cloud capability and there is the same text for both in the product pages. The difference is only mentioned in the Roland cloud manual as you mentioned.
For someone who already has a subscription, the 5 is one way street.

[Saul]

These are the wave expansions that are NOT availalable to the Go Keys 3.

Not really a great loss. The Go Keys 5 is not worth the extra just based on being able to load the wave expansions, although I suppose it is a nice feature to have. The sound packs and style packs available for the Go Keys 3 are more than enough to keep most people happy