At the recent 2007 NAMM Expo, Roland announced an Oriental-themed keyboard, the EXR-46 Oriental Arranger.

The EXR-46 OR offers dozens of authentic sounds, drum kits, and phrase samples from a wide range of Arabian Gulf-region countries. In addition, authentic Music Styles have been preprogrammed into the EXR-46 OR, making it easy to create song arrangements.

The EXR-46 OR was designed in collaboration with musical masters from each stylistic region. Combined with the EXR-46 OR’s high-resolution sound engine, these custom-made waveforms and patterns are very realistic to the ear.

Performing and programming drum/percussion parts is made easy on the EXR-46 OR thanks to its automatic Drum Pad mapping capabilities. This handy feature instantly reassigns the highest range of keyboard (F6-C7) to function as dedicated “drum pads.”

I didn’t have a chance to try these out at NAMM - but I’d be interested in anyone’s input on them!