Roland Cloud - early access beta

[Jan Schultink]

Here: https://www.rolandcloud.com/

Subscription service for all of Roland's VSTs, 1 month free, then $20/month

[proteus-ix]

Here: https://www.rolandcloud.com/

Subscription service for all of Roland's VSTs, 1 month free, then $20/month

Yeah I signed up and downloaded a few already.  Sound pretty good to me, although I don't have much experience with the originals.  Worth $20, although I'm holding out until they get their Jupiter 8, 106 and JX plugins.

It's a shame the Sys9 isn't built to a higher quality, otherwise I'd happily get one to give hands-on control and dedicated processing power for those sounds.  But for $1500, I expect better quality construction, especially for a digital instrument where they've already cut a lot of production corners.  I'm hoping they make a System 8 module soon... come on MusikMesse! 

[Jan Schultink]

Here is a somewhat sobering comment on Matrixsynth http://www.matrixsynth.com/2017/02/roland-cloud-anthology-1987-versus.html
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It's just a plugin with the D50 presets sampled (between one and three velocity layers) and some limited tweaking of the overall sample., it's really not exiting.)

The plugin supports other libraries as well, including the piano, and likely, more Roland classic synths over time.

It's not a virtual D-50, it's not an emulation, and it's not made by Roland, hence no D-50 branding. It's made by the third-party company that Roland has partnered with to offer their "Roland Cloud" thing. Yes, it gives you the D-50 presets, albeit limited in playability as everything is baked in - so no modulation or the sensitivity of the real instrument. A bit meh, imo...
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[proteus-ix]

Here is a somewhat sobering comment on Matrixsynth http://www.matrixsynth.com/2017/02/roland-cloud-anthology-1987-versus.html
--------------------------------
It's just a plugin with the D50 presets sampled (between one and three velocity layers) and some limited tweaking of the overall sample., it's really not exiting.)

The plugin supports other libraries as well, including the piano, and likely, more Roland classic synths over time.

It's not a virtual D-50, it's not an emulation, and it's not made by Roland, hence no D-50 branding. It's made by the third-party company that Roland has partnered with to offer their "Roland Cloud" thing. Yes, it gives you the D-50 presets, albeit limited in playability as everything is baked in - so no modulation or the sensitivity of the real instrument. A bit meh, imo...
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If you're only looking for the D50 emulation, ok.  But Roland Cloud is currently offering all their System1 and System8 plugins, including Jupiter 8, SH-101, Juno 106, System 100, Promars, SH-2.  I didn't see the Jup before, but I will be testing it ASAP.  If it sounds as good as my JP-08 but has more polyphony... it's a done deal for me.

[Jan Schultink]

Ah, this is V4.0, it was released yesterday. I just tried the Jupiter 8 and the System 8, they both sound amazing. I don't own the hardware instruments so can't compare to that. All in all, very promising.

[Jan Schultink]

I experimented a bit more. I am evaluating these VSTs as something that I would be willing to pay $20-30 per month for to use. The official, Roland-branded, approved reproduction of the original is worth something, but:

The performance stutters now and then even on a less than 1 year old high-spec iMac, the graphical user interface can be stretched to a big screen but looks very grainy, it just does not feel like a go-to VST synth somehow.

I think a Roland branded/approved collection of reproductions of "legendary" synths can work, but it needs to be 99% perfect for $20-30, 90% is not good enough. Also, maybe Roland should considering integrating with Native Instruments NKS. I think this could be a great business model for Roland, but also for Yamaha, Korg, etc.

[Jan Schultink]

I gave the Roland Cloud another try to check out the new D-50. Since last trying Roland Cloud, I bought a Juno 106, so I could the compare the 2 side by side, conclusion: absolutely and totally no difference at all. VSTs may have (some) pros and (many) cons, but with sufficient CPU power, sound quality might no longer be an argument in the debate.

[Jan Schultink]

After adding the 808 and 909, Roland now finally upgraded the graphical user interface of the Jupiter-8, Juno-106 etc. This is now rapidly becoming my virtual synth environment of choice to quickly jot down some musical ideas without the need to fire up all the analogue gear. (#2: u-he's P5 clone)

I own an original 106 and 808 and cannot hear the difference with the real thing.