I wish Roland would mingle with the community and produce some VST version(s) of their hardware legends.

Take the INTEGRA-7 for eg.
"All of the sounds from the XV-5080 are onboard, plus all 12 titles from the SRX Expansion libraries... "
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2012/08/31/roland-intros-integra-7-supernatural-sound-module/
http://www.roland.com/synth/integra/
http://www.roland.com/products/en/INTEGRA-7/

Korg did it (Legacy collection Wavestation, M1), Waldorf did it (PPG) and others have done it, with great success.

"A New Era of Spatial Sound Design — "Motional Surround"
- Not really necessary with outboard VSTi effects processing but Korg did it so why not
- Who needs it in a rack unit these days anyway?

"The tone Finder wizard lets you organizes the 6,000-plus onboard sounds into logical categories for quick location"
- Give me a break, organise 6,000+ on a tiny rack display?
- That design went out with the 1990's digital synths!

Mega hardware workstations (Jupiter-80, Korg Kronos etc.) are lovely but $$$ out of reach for the masses, who might prefer to keep their hardware simple ie. MIDI controllers and their software flexible ie. VST and/or iPad.

We should start a movement to urge Roland to go 'soft' !

M.

 

Well, Roland's software devision is basically Cakewalk. And there you have the Roland GrooveSynth.

You cannot take a VSTi on stage an you don't need another software sampler in your DAW.

It's easier than with some software. Besides, it has USB.

An XV-5050 also has the sounds of the XV-5080 and isn't that expensive these days. Plus USB as well for easy connection to PCs/Macs and controlling/programming with the XV Editor.
But again, you don't really need a synth like that in a software-based environment.

 

well spoken Olaf! ..and to me the XV sounds nowdays a bit mediocre.

 

i luv roland i wish it had a fire wire port though

 

Code:

An XV-5050 also has the sounds of the XV-5080 and isn't that expensive these days. Plus USB as well for easy connection to PCs/Macs and controlling/programming with the XV Editor.

Totally agree! Bought an XV-5050 a few months ago and I'm really impressed with its selection of factory waveforms and samples.
And I'd use it for what it is.
After listening to *all* the SRX expansion demos I would even go as far as to say I woulnd't even bother adding any of the SRX expansions. Why?
Because considering today's standards of sample libraries, you get little bang for a lot of buck.
Sure the idea of having all srx sounds available on stage sounds exciting at first, but how many different sounds do you really need live??
Also, I know Roland, they've always economized with their CPU's so I doubt that you can really use many sounds simultaneously.
And for studio use, there' s no freeze function, which brings us back to: Why does Roland offer no VSTi version(s)?

Maybe Cakewalk will rather silently include more and more classic Roland sounds into their VSTi products as time goes by and competition gets stronger.

 

The drums (SRX-01) are pretty cool, but just as you say, you could also get a great (and much bigger) software lib.
It's a completely different story 'on stage', where a synth like the XV-5050 might come in useful.

 

dont forget the edirol canvas crap

yes, they cost a lot, but hardware is a good copyprotection ;)
(i mean the full hardware synths, not software with hardwarecontroller like NI Maschine, Arturia SPark, Korg Legacy Collection)