{"id":248,"date":"2021-08-13T04:22:36","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T04:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/?page_id=248"},"modified":"2023-03-25T00:05:50","modified_gmt":"2023-03-25T00:05:50","slug":"system-1m","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/system-1m\/","title":{"rendered":"Roland AIRA System 1m \ud83e\uddfb\ud83e\uddfb\ud83e\uddfb"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Everything\u2019s Gone Green<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Roland, roland, roland. It grieves me, it really does. Let\u2019s make this short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You put the power switch on the back of a rack. Perhaps you had some fool idea about Eurorack something or other, but precious, professional people are going to rack this thing in a real cabinet, and they are going to find that power switch is not reachable and they are wonder if you have been on the sake. Which you obviously have. Just about every computer interaction involves cycling this power switch. Leaning into the back of the fucking rack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then you put the USB socket on the top right of the faceplate. So that the cable drops down to cover the effects controls. Now, you could have seen that very early in the design phase and perhaps moved it to the bottom? Or at the back like every other rack? Yes I understand you put MIDI at the back, very good, but the USB is needed for Plug Out, for backup, it carries audio and MIDI \u2026 why did you think this was a good idea to put a crucial connector somewhere where it has to be pulled out to operate the machine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, one criticism of the System 1 keyboard is no velocity. That\u2019s not due to lack of velocity sensitivity in the synthesis oh dear no, there\u2019s plenty, a sheer goddamn plethora of velocity sensitivity and NO WAY TO ADJUST IT. You\u2019ve managed many other other weird three fingered pinches to control everything else \u2013 how about it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh yeah. The pinches. You knew that eventually you\u2019d have to have menus. C\u2019mon you did. So you may as well have labelled these buttons with some small indication as to their secondary function, because Lord Above how the hell does anyone remember that LEGATO plus LFO RESTART plus Filter Env adjusts the Breakfast Dispenser? They have to go to that pitiful excuse for a manual printed on a dinner table sized piece of paper and try read it with a magnifying glass. That sort of manual was bearable on the Volcas, they are bare bottom toys, but this is actually an expensive piece of kit so give us either clear labelling or a FUCKING MANUAL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also difficult to read the button names on a deep black case with INTENSE EYE SEARING GREEN LIGHTS that are carefully arranged everywhere they are not needed. Oh yes, also can I bring up your \u2018screen saver\u2019 idea? Please take whoever thought that up and drown them. One is bad, two AIRA devices doing the Mexican wave is totally nauseating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does the TEMPO light blink and the LFO not? What does this rack have to say about tempo, it not having any sequencing or arpeggio features?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sensible Review<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK, now. This is Roland\u2019s first go at a patchable rack in a long time, and I find it interesting to first see how it compares to KORG\u2019s idea of the MS20<\/a> as a table top unit. Roland wins handily on innovation, and on form \u2013 the S1M is a teeny thing, 2 rack units tall and slim. Just on versatility it\u2019s smarter than the KORG. But it\u2019s not a classic, because it seems ambivalent about purpose, it is a vessel for Plug Outs and coy as to its own personality. As a patchable thing it\u2019s indifferent \u2013 the MS20 patch points have importance, in general the S1M patch points have little use in the system itself, they may make sense in a modular system, but then would you want this monolithic slab in a eurorack? I have no experience there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering it as a 4 voice virtual analogue the comparison might then be with the MS2000<\/a> or MicroKORG. It\u2019s definitely closer to my analogues (Moog, Korgs, Kawai) than the MS2000 \u2013 it often sounds like something needs turning down. An achievement when you remember that it\u2019s really only a VST in a box. The sound doesn\u2019t have a particular style to it. It\u2019s all Barbecued Roland Sound. The MS2000 lacks the burning smell and warble \u2013 I can think of many places where I would prefer it, others maybe not \u2013 a near thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The S1M might play a role in doing what the SH101 used to do \u2013 be a snare drum, a electronic clank (there\u2019s a cowbell wave for that), a bassline. I\u2019m not sure what else it would be useful for, but seeing as I\u2019ve made whole albums on such sounds it could find some familiar territory. But actually once the System-8<\/a> showed up it became unnecessary. It has been moved on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everything\u2019s Gone Green Roland, roland, roland. It grieves me, it really does. Let\u2019s make this short. You put the power switch on the back of a rack. Perhaps you had some fool idea about Eurorack something or other, but precious, professional people are going to rack this thing in a real cabinet, and they are […]<\/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":[30,18,4],"class_list":["post-248","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-aira","tag-sold","tag-virtual-analogue"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/248","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=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}