I do have the advantage of owning most of the good hardware<\/a> and software and will keep running the free version to keep them. Maybe if you joined up recently it makes some sense. Maybe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But surely Roland could try<\/em><\/strong> come up with something past the turn of the century? I’d already paid for most of these as \u2018plug outs\u2019 and was annoyed to have to rent (such an ugly word when \u2018subscribe\u2019 sounds so charming) them again to be able to have others. Like Adobe, Roland have found that holding their customers by the balls is rather warm and comfy \u2013 not for the customer mind you. And like Adobe, Roland\u2019s cloud has some things you want mixed with wiffy leftovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t really get some of the priorities here \u2013 a software PRO-MARS<\/em> doesn\u2019t offer that much over other mono-synths and the SH2<\/em> is as dull as ditch water (as was the hardware). The JUNO-106<\/em> is fair enough I guess, but the JX-3P<\/em> was originally designed for people who didn\u2019t care much for synthesisers, and it has maintained that distinction since. A collection should be based on sonic versatility, that each component has a virtue not covered by the others. The Roland \u2018sound\u2019 is here ad nauseum<\/em>, and you end up using only a few of these instruments for actual music. They\u2019re trying to sell breadth, where breadth isn\u2019t their strong point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best deal in the box is the D50<\/em><\/a>. It\u2019s such an odd machine when you try program it yourself, but the people that made the original patches included here did an excellent job. The sounds are varied and useful, they complement the analogue sounds so popular at the moment. Yes, it\u2019s \u2018legendary\u2019 but it\u2019s also useful and you will use it. It comes with a reproduction of the original programmer which is a pity, that was a confused monster which was later improved upon by third parties – and the V-Synth<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I own a real XV5080 and the emulation is quite good – except here there are no samples allowed and that’s what makes my particular hardware shine. Omnisphere<\/a> can do it!? Perhaps why no V-Synth<\/a> either? I paid for this one, for when I am too lazy to plug in the zip disk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The JUPITER-8<\/em> is fine. Arturia\u2019s JUP-8<\/em> has recently been updated and some ways (for example in oscillator drift) outshines Roland’s version but with adjustment they are close. Other virtual analogues like the SH101<\/em> seem spot-on. I own both the SH101<\/em> and the Jupiter<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I almost forgot to mention the TR808 and TR909. They\u2019re fine. They sound like the old drum boxes, as do a thousand other replicas out there. Not going to miss these as I have som<\/a>e<\/a> hardware<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The System-100<\/em> is OK I guess. Almost bought the hardware once but didn’t have anywhere to put it. When it comes down to it, it looks more fun than it sounds. If I was going for that I would instead go for this<\/a>. It’s another one I already owned as a Plug-Out, currently in the System-8<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that’s about it. I don’t want any of the patches, or their sampler library or whatever else. The SRX boxes are OK but how many 12-bit horn sections are you going to use? There’s nothing coming up on the radar. It’s up to them to bring some excitement back into their audience, and maybe they should<\/em> be Korg<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UPDATED 13 NOVEMBER 2021 When cancelling my Ultimate Roland Clown Subscription I was asked to pick one reason. The pity was that I couldn’t pick ALL OF THE ABOVE. That seems cruel but it’s true – I don’t use the plugins that much, I didn’t see much range of sounds, the constantly updating App is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-137","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-virtual-analogue"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
W<\/strong>e A<\/strong>re N<\/strong>ot K<\/strong>org isn’t much of a sales pitch any more.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSo I’ve edited this article to speak more of what I got out of the deal, past tense.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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