Roland Lucina AX-09 37-Key Synthesizer

I use this instrument in a home studio setting with midi and for live performances using the on board sounds.The instrument is incredible. The sounds that it comes with are perfect and easy to adjust and work with. The USB input is the best part--getting to practice playing songs with a backup track before having a full band with you is a great plus. It's really light and easy to get around. It's very easy to play and sounds great once it's plugged in. The headphone jack is another great plus--I don't need an amp or to leave my room to practice. The filters available through usage of the D beam sound awesome, especially for the synth bass. Both soloing and playing chords on this instrument are easy and fun. The placement of the instrument buttons are perfect--most keytars I've used have them above the keys but because they are below the keys on this instrument, it's easy to make quick changes to the instrument midway through a song. Everything on it is easy to adjust to get exactly the sound or effect you want. It has three full octaves so it can still be used as a keyboard on a stand if you want.The only cons I can think of right now are that the D beam is in a somewhat awkward position. You have to reach all the way across the instrument to get to it. Also, because the neck is closed off (even though that's what makes this keytar unique), your hand can feel somewhat trapped when using the touchpad pitch bend or the modulation pedal.And if those are the only cons I can think of, that's pretty awesome. I highly recommend buying this if you're serious about getting a shoulder synth but don't want to spend a crap-ton of money.The only issue I have is that Amazon essentially robbed the person who sold it to me. For a different product he was selling, the man listed it in the wrong category. Because of this he had to perform a few returns. Amazon terminated his account just after I purchased the Roland for $422 and did not pay him for my product. After doing some research, I've found that this is a very common occurrence. IF you decide to buy a high priced product like the Roland from Amazon and want to ensure that your money gets to your seller and Amazon doesn't steal it from them, make sure to stay in contact with your seller and complain to Amazon if they don't pay the seller.

Funny, 2 weeks ago I pre-ordered mine and the cost was $199.00. I never got mine because Roland has discontinued the item.Funny part is it was $199.00 two weeks ago and as soon as they discontinued it the cost is now $750.00Haha...go figure!

So let's make something very clear here: you're buying a keytar. It's more of a novelty thing than a hardcore/professional synth.It has MIDI, a ribbon strip, a pitch bender, 3 octaves, space to plug in a foot pedal, can run on batteries or included power chord. It also has this novelty "d-beam" which I never use because it doesn't work very well and it doesn't seem to do much even when it works. It has some other fancy features that I'm sure you've already seen in the specs, other reviews and demos. It is very easy to navigate among sounds, octaves, volumes and other options despite its limited screen display. It looks REALLY nice in person (I have the black model) and you're 100% guaranteed to get interesting comments on it if you choose to take it live.It does have some negatives though... The included sounds aren't that great. There's some cool/fun ones but ultimately they're not going to blow you away. If you have a synth with good sounds that you dig then maybe grab a MIDI cable with this and use those. The only other major complaint is that it's very light and rather fragile. Mine tipped over while leaning against my bed one day and the volume knob got messed up (this, for some reason, prevented any sound unless it was on maximum volume) which prompted me to have to send it for repairs by Roland. $40 shipped there, $80 in labor and another $40 shipped home and Roland put the wrong address on it (thankfully my neighbors that received it figured it was our package and gave it to us).If you want a keytar and don't mind very basic sounds roll with this. I love mine but from a critical stance it isn't going to blow your mind as much as just give you a new way to play live.

Good:Broad range of patches availableAudio file player built in, so you can play (and sing) with accompaniment tracks3.5mm input so you can merge MP3 player tracks with your live performance. Saves you a channel on the mixer, or if you're going wireless, one wireless systemBattery poweredSmall sizeFull size velocity sensitive keysBuilt-in Vocal Scat patchBad:Difficult to quickly change audio track playback volumePatches are only slightly modifiableYou can only store 12 commonly used patches for quick access. All the others are available, but time consuming to recall. Not something you'd want to do on a gigDisplay is limited to 3 quasi-alphanumeric digits. Could make it difficult if you're scrolling through long lists of audio files.How I use it:* Single entertainer, playing it through a wireless, along with bg tracks while singing and strolling through small to medium sized restaurant for customers.* Horn player, using AX09 as second instrument in band, w/kbd on X stand. Much lighter and smaller than full sized synthVery bad:In daylight, the mod bar will false trigger. I contacted Roland, who knows about this issue. Their only solution is to shade the kbd. This is specifically not an overheating problem: you can momentarily shade the mod bar, and the problem will go away (until you take your hand away.). Important to note that any stage lighting will NOT trigger this problem: only bright daylight.This kbd is not for everyone: if you need its features it's a godsend.

Better than expected. Really great Sounds. Nice weight. Batteries. Quick learning. Very nice, fun but useful.

enjoyable piece of equipment. dosn't take up a lot of room and fun to play. lots of difference sounds and usb for adding music to play with is a bonus