the new Juno-Stage, although a very different board, seems to be a good proposition for what I need to do, and the keybed has 76 keys and, according to the reviews, "seems" to be better than the G6's (need to try it first).
The keys on the new Juno Stage, as mentioned, are a little longer than those on the Fantom G6 but it has yet to be determined if the keybed itself on the Juno Stage will have a better action and feel than the Fantom G6/7 keybed action.
If you play mainly Piano or are a Pianist at heart the Juno Stage could be a better option for you than a Fantom G. I heard the NAMM demos of the Juno Stage and I must admit that the piano patches that were played in those demos sounded very good and dare I say, they sounded even better than any of the stock pianos on the Fantom G. But of course the Fantom G pianos take on a new life of their own when they are layered and or customized through editing.
The Juno Stage will NOT have aftertouch though, but if you play just mainly piano and or electric pianos not having the aftertouch feature should be no big deal for you.
I wonder if Roland isn't just a little bit embarrassed by the fact that the Juno Stage out shines its new flagship workstation "the Fantom G" (which costs over a Grand more than the Juno Stage does), regarding the out of box stock piano sounds. I think I would be somewhat embarrassed if I were Roland. OTOH, I'm not Roland.
Who knows.. maybe they're taking it all in stride, even though the Stage may cut into the Fantom G's overall sales after the Stage is released because of the better out of box stock Piano sounds on the Stage. But again, maybe Roland is okay with that I dunno.. Maybe they're thinking "a sale is a sale" regardless of whether it cuts into another, already existing, (and much more expensive) product like the Fantom G.
It should be noted that the Fantom G, which is a high end product, results in bigger profit margins for Roland on each and every sale of a FG. If Roland is comfortable in the possible prospect of the Juno Stage taking away those higher profit margins because of the Juno Stage cutting into Fantom G sales, then all I can say is Roland must have a morbid sense of humor.
Maybe Roland has got it covered though. Maybe right now as we speak they're in the process of creating an "Ultimate Piano" ARX card that will cover all the bases for the Fantom G regarding AC. Pianos. Something so astounding that it will blow the Juno Stage or any other Stage Piano and/or any other Workstation out of the water by comparison. And then again, maybe I'm just dreaming...
