Hey folks,

This is a confusing one. I had never heard of the Roland E line until someone pointed them out to me, but for those who didn't know either they're Roland LA synths on keyboards, E-5, E-10, E-20 and E-30.

The basic E-5/10 appear cut down versions of the MT-32 and D-110, so aren't of particular interest to me.
The Roland E-20 (and possibly the RA-50) have the patch list from the MT-32, but the 128 instruments are arranged in a different order for 2 banks of 64 sounds. Unsure if it takes SysEx like the MT-32/D-110.
The Roland E-30 (and possibly the Pro-E) appear to have the CM-32L sound effects, mapped the same way, although they omit the Crash, Horse and Bubble sounds and add in 4 special SFX that are combinations of SFX programs- Storm, War, Thriller, and Wonderland. Again, unsure if it takes SysEx like the MT-32/D-110.
Additionally, its default map is slightly different from the MT-32/CM-32L map, my best guesses being (guesses as not every patch has an identical name, even though most do):
- 47 of the first 64 MT-32 programs being represented on the E-30's default map
- 50 of the second 64 MT-32 programs being represented on the E-30's default map
So roughly 97 of the 128 instruments are the same, with about 31 new ones, with some generic programs that aren't LA standards like "Brass Piano", and some I can't find on any other LA synth like "Fun Balls".
Forgive me if my maths isn't exactly right, corrections on that and anything welcome.

What I'm *really* curious about is whether the E-30 is basically a CM-32L in keyboard form, minus the 3 default SFX patches (which I have in Roland GS anyway), and excitingly with the extra 4 combi SFX patches (which some of appear to be on the D-20), and different 30-odd default patches. I guess that depends whether it takes SysEx like the rack LA synths. The manuals reference 'user programs', but isn't clear, at least to me. Maybe someone else can take a look or knows more.

Links to the manuals with patch lists below:
E-20 patch list: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/695776/Rola … ?page=71#manual
E-30 patch list: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/680094/Rola … ?page=96#manual