Looks cool as - works in a very similar way to the 606, especially that synth!

I think people are gonna love this unit - perfect hybrid of all the best bits of the 404 and 606

Except it isn't portable, and by that I mean battery operated. Dang.

There's only so much battery power can manage. It would have to run on 20 D cells, like my old ghetto blaster used to!

Besides, this thing is obviously aimed at the club scene - and there's no shortage of power in a club..

You could always use a small generator if you wanted to use it outdoors

Bah! Why should that stop them? Like I said, it could've used a lithium-ion battery, mayble like the kind used in laptop PCs. Heck, several years ago there was a portable MiniDisc recorder (MDP-500) that had balanced XLR and optical digital mic/line inputs with phantom power, and it ran on 8 AA batteries.

Years ago there wasn't a half-dozen DSP chips under the hood...

Laptop-style battery would be expensive (that's why laptops are so overpriced and underpowered; all the money goes into portability).

What Roland could do is make a separate 'battery pack' for those who wanted/needed portability - then the cost would only be borne by those who actually need the feature...

if it runs off a DC power supply people could make their own battery packs using something like high performance RC car batteries & chargers..

unfortunately its a little chunky still!