New Roland Boutique

jimknopf · Post by **jimknopf** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 6:33 pm

It all depends on the sound quality of these low end modules.
At least the whole concept is not as flawed as that the Yamaha Reface.

Anyway: if they don't sound closer to a JP8 than than to a a JP8000, I would rather save my money to get something real, even at a multiple price, than toy around with one of these. And yes, I fail to understand a four voice design, unless for the kind of EDM kids who are happy to use three or four fingers for a chord.

But if the VA sound is modelled well, they would get some attention for a good reason.

NuSkoolTone · Post by **NuSkoolTone** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 6:51 pm

jimknopf wrote: But if the VA sound is modelled well, they would get some attention for a good reason.

Wait, so somewhere in this thread I thought we were saying these were ANALOG which would give excuse for the low polyphony? I mean if these are VAs, that that's just some kind of sick joke!

Maybe's that's snobbish on my part, but I would never support such a product by purchasing them and encouraging this "trend". I don't care HOW good they sound.

Now if both of these companies are using these mini modules as groundwork for a full professional synth, than I'd buy the pro board. Of course provided it sounded up to expectations.

jimknopf · Post by **jimknopf** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:12 pm

You can bet both companies are working on a pro synth and try to generate income along the way.

They probably gain more from many cheap synths, with still a nice profit margin per unit, than from a imited amount of flagship synths.

The flagship synths are more important in another way: they represent how smart a company works and how good and flexible their synths can be, impressing even lot's of people who don't buy them, while getting the basic reputation, spreading from the pros.

And yes, it is probably wise to wait for the more matured products, if you don't want to live with severe compromises, or want to spend money for just toying around.

Post by **Sharp** » Tue Sep 22, 2015 1:22 pm

ACB "Analog Circuit Behavior" = They are VA's

I thought these were Analog?

Oh well, makes no difference to me as the Integra 7 has all I want from Roland at this moment in time.

Regards
Sharp.

Broadwave · Post by **Broadwave** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 3:39 am

Kevin Nolan wrote:@Broadwave
Anyway - what do you mean by professional musician - one that earns a living from music? Do you know one these days?

Yes plenty, myself included and many others on this forum.

I didn't say that they were NOT for the "professional", I said that they weren't EXACTLY AIMED at the "pro" market - there is a valid difference, which I still hold to be true.

Kevin Nolan wrote:I'm also not sure where you're coming from in criticising a desire for more DSP power. Let me ask you - do you have a computer? IF so - tell us what spec it is. Did you buy the lowest speed CPU, and load with with the minimum RAM? If not - why did you add those extra resources? I'm all ears on that.

When I build a PC I go for the best CPU, RAM, MoBo etc. I can within the budget I have - I'm still using the same PC I built years ago, 1st Gen i7 3.4, 8Gb RAM, by today's standards it's almost prehistoric, but it's still more than powerful enough for my needs. When I build a custom synth for a client, I discuss with them what quality components they want - yes, I give them the option - and then cost the build accordingly within the budget they have.

I'm not criticising a desire for more DSP power, but Roland have built these to sell at a low price and therefore have used appropriate components to keep the price down - What they've achieved for $300/400 is pretty amazing. It's possible (and I certainly hope) they may produce a JP-08 "XL" (DSP for 8 or more voices, full size keybed etc) and yes, I'll pay whatever Roland ask if it's good enough, and if it's not good enough (like several recent Roland products) I won't.

skinmechanic · Post by **skinmechanic** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 1:10 pm

Apart from the tweaking factor, will the JP8 module give me anything more than the Arturia JP8 Plugin? probably not. Will the J3XP module give me more than my J3XP and J8XP plugins from UVI? Maybe not and I have more than enough Polyphony than these can offer, if they were more of a substantial piece of outboard hardware there maybe a case of having these but for me there not offering anything more than what I can get from plugins.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 2:26 pm

Well JP-08 is probably gonna sound much better than Arturia considering Roland's latest efforts with ACB tech. As for JX3P, you can't really compare it with UVI which only has sampled presets with limited tweakability - with these you actually get full flexibility with regards to creating patches as you had on the original - you're not limited to the sampled content. It's not really a sound comparison.

Bachus · Post by **Bachus** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 4:17 pm

EvilDragon wrote:Well JP-08 is probably gonna sound much better than Arturia considering Roland's latest efforts with ACB tech. As for JX3P, you can't really compare it with UVI which only has sampled presets with limited tweakability - with these you actually get full flexibility with regards to creating patches as you had on the original - you're not limited to the sampled content. It's not really a sound comparison.

Arturias JP8 sounds pretty convincing on the right system, with just a tiny bit of distortion in Logic, it blows you away..

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 4:46 pm

Alright, it never blew me away. And yes I know those distortion tricks. Diva, on the other hand... Nailed it! Without any "tricks".

shefu · Post by **shefu** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 4:58 pm

I'm not impressed with these synths. They look like toys just like the Yamaha Reface

Bachus · Post by **Bachus** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 6:57 pm

EvilDragon wrote:Alright, it never blew me away. And yes I know those distortion tricks. Diva, on the other hand... Nailed it! Without any "tricks".

Thats true, Diva is just plane awesome... And the latest VST of my collection. But Diva has its own sound and does not want to copy any of the vintage analogue synths..

In general U-he is doing a great job.. With all their VSTs.

Kevin Nolan · Post by **Kevin Nolan** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 7:55 pm

Bachus wrote:
EvilDragon wrote:Well JP-08 is probably gonna sound much better than Arturia considering Roland's latest efforts with ACB tech. As for JX3P, you can't really compare it with UVI which only has sampled presets with limited tweakability - with these you actually get full flexibility with regards to creating patches as you had on the original - you're not limited to the sampled content. It's not really a sound comparison.
Arturias JP8 sounds pretty convincing on the right system, with just a tiny bit of distortion in Logic, it blows you away..

I like Arturia synths a lot - especially Minimoog V and CS80V - but - the Jupiter 8 doesn't sound very 'Roland' to me. I own a Jupiter 6 so I suppose my comparison is not exact.

I'm curious as to whether you just like Jupiter 8V because it's a good VA, or whether you feel it does genuinely sound "Roland-like" and if so - whether you have any pointers on to make it sound Roland?

I do like it - it's a great all-rounder - but as said - I just don't hear "Roland" in it - while for most other Arturia synths the do sound more closely aligned to the originals.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 9:22 pm

Bachus wrote:But Diva has its own sound and does not want to copy any of the vintage analogue synths..

...except it CAN copy them, quite scarily realistic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSQ6vzKMaKQ

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Thu Sep 24, 2015 11:17 am

I thought that was kinda the point of Diva. Not model a specific analog model, true, but be as "analog" as possible and versatile enough to model all of them.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Thu Sep 24, 2015 4:08 pm

Precisely.