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I’ve had several requests to post a review of the new Roland Atelier AT-900 Platinum Edition. First of all, I don’t understand why Roland didn’t give this a new model number. There are certainly enough new features and modifications to warrant it! I should note that I am biased towards Roland. I sold organs for 20 years back in the late 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. My experience was mostly with Lowrey and Wurlitzer, with a few Conn thrown in for good measure! I started my Roland adventure with the AT-90R followed by the AT-90S. A couple of years ago I purchased the AT-900 Artist Edition and just recently received my AT-900 Platinum.
Note: My system includes the Roland CM-220 Satellite/Woofer speaker system.
General Highlights:
Roland has added a couple of features to the operation of the instrument that are very helpful. First, and maybe the most helpful is that whenever you choose a preset tab voice, the screen changes to display that section of voices. You can accept the preset voice or change it. For example, pressing Theatre 1 will bring the ORGAN section of voices up displaying the available theatre voices. If you choose another voice, say Lyric Theatre, the OTHERS button will automatically light and you’re finished. This eliminates the need for going through pages and pages of instruments to find the one that you want. Very helpful!
The Sound/KBD screen has been modified to allow the changing of the octave pitch without the need to select Upper, Lower or Pedal. Very handy! Also, they have moved the rhythm beat counter (lights) to the right-hand margin so that they are always visible.
There is not a new owner’s manual for the instrument, just a supplement. For some reason, Roland has chosen to make these manuals unavailable on the US and UK web sites. However, if you go to www.roland.com you can download the manuals from there. The supplement is quite good and very informative.
Previous models have had support for external speakers. The previous AT-800/900 series had a choice of Ambience or Ensemble. The new Platinum adds a third choice called “Satellite”. This is mostly effective on true “organ” voices, such as theater or classical. The tone is mixed into the RSS reverb and selectively “spread” across the sound field. This is a startling realistic effect, especially on pipe organ sounds.
Hammond Voices:
The technology in Roland’s famous VK series of combo organs has been added to the Platinum. The Vintage Flutes of all previous Roland models is still there and now called “Jazz Flutes”. The new Hammond voices are labeled as “Rock”. There is also a new Leslie simulator. The previous Leslie version is called Type 1 and the new one is Type 2. This new Leslie sounds so real that you can almost hear the sound spinning around the room! This section is customizable in many ways. I’ve always been confused when I hear people talk about the “Hammond Sound”. What is that? A B-3 doesn’t sound like an H-100 and neither of those sound like a T-200. Roland has added enough variables (key click, leakage, overdrive, tweeter types, Leslie woofer and tweeter speeds, etc ., etc.) to allow you to “dial in” the type of Hammond sound you’re looking for. And, of course, all of this can be saved in your registration presets. Very impressive indeed!
New Rhythms & Styles:
The new rhythm unit is basically the BK7m module. The new styles range from “very impressive” to “just OK”. Of course, that is very subjective. What I like may not be to the next person’s liking. The rhythm unit has been modified to use the V-Drums voice library on a couple of drum sets. This is user configurable. The new sounds indeed sound VERY real… with full dynamics of a real drummer. If you aren’t used to playing with a real drummer, which I am not, this can take some getting used to. For the most part, the styles are more realistic. A wonderful new feature is the ability to change the volumes of the instruments in the style. For example, if a style includes piano, guitar and trumpet, you can turn down (or even eliminate) any or all of the instruments. We’ve all had songs where a blaring trumpet just isn’t appropriate… now we can do something about it!
Another change, which I consider “major” is that the Arranger now uses what Roland calls “Adaptive Chord Modeling”. What this means is that when you change chords, you no longer hear the “chopped” off effect in the instrumentation. Each instrument changes smoothly from one chord to another. This is immediately apparent in something like “Piano Night” which is basically a series of arpeggios. The change from chord to chord is smooth as silk on this new model.
New Voices:
There are about 150 new voices on the organ. Around 40 of those are the new SuperNATURAL voices. One the previous models (AT-900, AT-800) there were 4 Articulated voices. These have now been changed to SuperNATURAL. The voice listings on prior models were listed with the prefix of “art”. That has been changed to the prefix “n”. Example: art.violin = n.violin.
When you choose a preset voice from the SOLO section, it will default to a SuperNATURAL voice. All of the previous voices are still there if you want them.
These new voices are quite amazing in their realism. Another major change is that these voices can now be played on any ORCHESTRAL or SOLO section. They can also be played in multiples (up to 4). These new voices use what Roland calls Behavior Modeling. This means that you don’t have to use any foot switches to make the voice sound real. In my experience, this is true for the most part. However, if you really want realism you’ll need to learn to use the left and right foot switches. You’ll notice in the supplement that there are many, many effects available dependent upon the voice you’re using.
Another section of new voices is in the Classical section. Most of the voices of the Roland C-330 have been brought to the Atelier. They are quite simply, fantastic. If you are into classical organ you will really appreciate these voices.
Conclusion:
In my opinion, the new Platinum model is absolutely worth the additional cost. My initial hopes were that Roland would provide a software upgrade path for the new model. However, once you hear the new sound system and spend some time with the instrument, you’ll realize that it is much more than just a simple upgrade. It is truly a new model. There are so many other features that I haven’t covered and indeed I find new things almost daily! All-in-all this is a wonderful organ! I can’t think of any other brand or model that I’d rather own.
Note: My system includes the Roland CM-220 Satellite/Woofer speaker system.
General Highlights:
Roland has added a couple of features to the operation of the instrument that are very helpful. First, and maybe the most helpful is that whenever you choose a preset tab voice, the screen changes to display that section of voices. You can accept the preset voice or change it. For example, pressing Theatre 1 will bring the ORGAN section of voices up displaying the available theatre voices. If you choose another voice, say Lyric Theatre, the OTHERS button will automatically light and you’re finished. This eliminates the need for going through pages and pages of instruments to find the one that you want. Very helpful!
The Sound/KBD screen has been modified to allow the changing of the octave pitch without the need to select Upper, Lower or Pedal. Very handy! Also, they have moved the rhythm beat counter (lights) to the right-hand margin so that they are always visible.
There is not a new owner’s manual for the instrument, just a supplement. For some reason, Roland has chosen to make these manuals unavailable on the US and UK web sites. However, if you go to www.roland.com you can download the manuals from there. The supplement is quite good and very informative.
Previous models have had support for external speakers. The previous AT-800/900 series had a choice of Ambience or Ensemble. The new Platinum adds a third choice called “Satellite”. This is mostly effective on true “organ” voices, such as theater or classical. The tone is mixed into the RSS reverb and selectively “spread” across the sound field. This is a startling realistic effect, especially on pipe organ sounds.
Hammond Voices:
The technology in Roland’s famous VK series of combo organs has been added to the Platinum. The Vintage Flutes of all previous Roland models is still there and now called “Jazz Flutes”. The new Hammond voices are labeled as “Rock”. There is also a new Leslie simulator. The previous Leslie version is called Type 1 and the new one is Type 2. This new Leslie sounds so real that you can almost hear the sound spinning around the room! This section is customizable in many ways. I’ve always been confused when I hear people talk about the “Hammond Sound”. What is that? A B-3 doesn’t sound like an H-100 and neither of those sound like a T-200. Roland has added enough variables (key click, leakage, overdrive, tweeter types, Leslie woofer and tweeter speeds, etc ., etc.) to allow you to “dial in” the type of Hammond sound you’re looking for. And, of course, all of this can be saved in your registration presets. Very impressive indeed!
New Rhythms & Styles:
The new rhythm unit is basically the BK7m module. The new styles range from “very impressive” to “just OK”. Of course, that is very subjective. What I like may not be to the next person’s liking. The rhythm unit has been modified to use the V-Drums voice library on a couple of drum sets. This is user configurable. The new sounds indeed sound VERY real… with full dynamics of a real drummer. If you aren’t used to playing with a real drummer, which I am not, this can take some getting used to. For the most part, the styles are more realistic. A wonderful new feature is the ability to change the volumes of the instruments in the style. For example, if a style includes piano, guitar and trumpet, you can turn down (or even eliminate) any or all of the instruments. We’ve all had songs where a blaring trumpet just isn’t appropriate… now we can do something about it!
Another change, which I consider “major” is that the Arranger now uses what Roland calls “Adaptive Chord Modeling”. What this means is that when you change chords, you no longer hear the “chopped” off effect in the instrumentation. Each instrument changes smoothly from one chord to another. This is immediately apparent in something like “Piano Night” which is basically a series of arpeggios. The change from chord to chord is smooth as silk on this new model.
New Voices:
There are about 150 new voices on the organ. Around 40 of those are the new SuperNATURAL voices. One the previous models (AT-900, AT-800) there were 4 Articulated voices. These have now been changed to SuperNATURAL. The voice listings on prior models were listed with the prefix of “art”. That has been changed to the prefix “n”. Example: art.violin = n.violin.
When you choose a preset voice from the SOLO section, it will default to a SuperNATURAL voice. All of the previous voices are still there if you want them.
These new voices are quite amazing in their realism. Another major change is that these voices can now be played on any ORCHESTRAL or SOLO section. They can also be played in multiples (up to 4). These new voices use what Roland calls Behavior Modeling. This means that you don’t have to use any foot switches to make the voice sound real. In my experience, this is true for the most part. However, if you really want realism you’ll need to learn to use the left and right foot switches. You’ll notice in the supplement that there are many, many effects available dependent upon the voice you’re using.
Another section of new voices is in the Classical section. Most of the voices of the Roland C-330 have been brought to the Atelier. They are quite simply, fantastic. If you are into classical organ you will really appreciate these voices.
Conclusion:
In my opinion, the new Platinum model is absolutely worth the additional cost. My initial hopes were that Roland would provide a software upgrade path for the new model. However, once you hear the new sound system and spend some time with the instrument, you’ll realize that it is much more than just a simple upgrade. It is truly a new model. There are so many other features that I haven’t covered and indeed I find new things almost daily! All-in-all this is a wonderful organ! I can’t think of any other brand or model that I’d rather own.
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