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Winter NAMM 2014 Reports


Geoff Grace

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I really love many of the excluded SN sounds, and can't imagine why they weren't included in the FA.

 

It´s because you shall buy ´em later !

I think it is ...

 

See, you get a fully fletched workstation keyboard for about the price of a Integra-7 rack module.

 

Up to now, I still favourise the Integra-7, but eventually only until I touched the FA´s weighted action.

I´m also not sure if the FA models will be upgradable w/ all the Integra-7 sounds because I have no idea what the "virtual expansion slots" really means.

 

... but don't believe I'll be buying one without having a chance to play with it first.

 

Yes,- it depends on how the action feels and works for me.

 

A.C.

 

 

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The FA has the virtual expansion slots and can load tones from the axial site (for now the integra synth downloads) or any of expansion boards built into the Integra (starting at the end of February).

 

Can you elaborate a bit more on these "virtual expansion slots"?

Loading tones form axial site,- does it mean, you download tones, swap over to FA model and then these downloads are permamently stored into the FA,- or is that a temporary storage ?

 

What´s the capacity of these "virtual expansion slots" ?

 

Isn't that the equivalent of the Yamaha flash card?

 

No, the Yamaha flash cards are real hardware and not "virtual expansion slots".

 

A.C.

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(I was going to mention Hammond/Suzuki as well, but it looks like their much advertised leslie pedal may be vapourware, there certainly don't seem to be any out there!)

 

The Leslie pedal from Hammond/Suzuki has been shipping since last summer. There are two of them at the booth at NAMM this year as well as two smaller, more guitar-pedalboard friendly versions. Not sure why you think it's vaporware.

 

 

Thanks for the correction Jim, it's appreciated. The reason I thought they didn't actually exist is that they were announced, and then for a long time, nothing seemed to happen. I do keep a close-ish eye on the pedal market, and have never seen or heard of anyone who had one.

 

Various sites have them on special order, but when I clicked on them, there were never any prices, and they were always out of stock or otherwise unavailable.

 

I'm glad to be wrong, they obviously slipped under my radar. They don't seem to be as well advertised as other Leslie sim pedals, but I will check more closely.

 

I assume you have experience of them, given your connection with H/S. Would you mind giving us your opinion of them compared with the Ventilators? I understand if you are unwilling/unable to do this, just thought I'd ask. Don't want you to feel compromised.

 

Thanks again, regards,

 

 

SSM

Occasionally, do something nice for a total stranger. They'll wonder what the hell is going on!
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I don't get the impression that you will ever be able to download new FN acoustic instruments into the FA. The sounds at the Axial site are all synth tones.

 

Busch.

 

Correct,- up to now.

Anyway,- do you have any idea what "virtual expansion slot" means ?

 

In theory, to me, it means there is some way to expand the sound palette of this keyboard instrument w/o the need to insert a real expansion card.

It could be some kind of reserved (flash) memory already built into the machine,- so, when you buy a soundset later, may it be pure program data (for synth patches) or a combination of program/ PCM data for the ROMpler stuff,- that would be stored into the FA permanently on users demand.

Just only speculation, but it could work and possibly is what they have in mind and realised already.

 

A.C.

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What's the point of this? Are we to assume that someone at Roland ultimately decided that they had PCM versions of many sounds that were preferable to the new SN ones?

...I really love many of the excluded SN sounds, and can't imagine why they weren't included in the FA.)

They left them out to get the price down (also creating product differentiation), not because they though XV5080 sounds were better. The entire XV5080 sound set is only 64 mb, so they can provide a large library of sounds with minimal resources (i.e. lower cost). I don't think people would have expected the full Jupiter 50 SN sound set and a whole lot more in something that sells for far less than a Jupiter 50. Although little is available in specific figures, it seems clear that SN sounds take a lot more ROM. For example, assuming that the Integra SN virtual expansion cards use up the same 64 mb that one of its SRX virtual expansion cards would use, the Integra SN acoustic guitar set alone takes about the same 64 mb that the entire XV5080 sound set takes.

 

The FA has the virtual expansion slots and can load tones from the axial site (for now the integra synth downloads) or any of expansion boards built into the Integra (starting at the end of February).

I hadn't seen the reference to "any of the expansion boards built into the Integra", that's interesting.

 

It sounds to me like the virtual expansion slots might be 128 mb of flash memory, into which you can install up to two virtual 64 mb expansion cards (again, under the assumption that all of the Integra virtual expansion boards are 64 mb, which would be the amount that corresponds to the SRX cards that comprise most of those virtual boards).

 

Isn't that the equivalent of the Yamaha flash card?

Yamaha's flash cards are either 512 mb or 1024 mb; and you're not limited to loading a selection or Yamaha libraries into them. The format is open, there are 3rd party libraries, or you can create your own sample sets. I haven't seen any indication that the FA's virtual slots will be available for anything but Roland content.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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AC I edited what I had posted above. The virtual slots appear to be a new thing for Roland and they haven't detailed them yet. Feels like a nickel and dime scheme.

 

Busch.

 

Well, no need to edit your post.

These "virtual slots" might be the most interesting feature the FA series of keyboard instruments offer.

To me,- as a german not speaking native english,- "nickel and dime" means a cheap way to do something,- so, it could be a way to expand these FA keyboards w/ the Integra-7 library (or other upcoming libraries) step-by-step, on user´s demand and possibly for relatively small fee.

 

To me, it appears, Roland follows some strategy they also did w/ the developement of the XV rack units which also went into keyboard instruments like the XV88, which was a XV3080 built into a keyboard.

 

Now, when they have found a way around buying expansion which cost several hundered bucks,- that would be very clever.

 

I hope they did !

 

A.C.

 

 

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Yamaha's flash cards are either 512 mb or 1024 mb; and you're not limited to loading a selection or Yamaha libraries into them. The format is open, there are 3rd party libraries, or you can create your own sample sets. I haven't seen any indication that the FA's virtual slots will be available for anything but Roland content.

 

Agree. This is arguably the biggest difference between the two systems. That it is hardware based RAM does tend to give one a better sense of security as well imo.

There is no luck - luck is simply the confluence of circumstance and co-incidence...

 

Time is the final arbiter for all things

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Mike demos Casio's new voices for the Privia PX5S:

 

[video:youtube]

 

Best,

 

Geoff

 

Impressive - almost makes me want to give up the MOXF!

There is no luck - luck is simply the confluence of circumstance and co-incidence...

 

Time is the final arbiter for all things

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I was just going by what he says around 2:15 in this video:

Ah, thanks for that. It's not *all* the Integra expansion modules, he only mentions the SRX ones (not the SN ones), though who knows what the future may bring. Still, the idea of enhancing the soundset with your favorite two SRX cards is valuable.

 

To me,- as a german not speaking native english,- "nickel and dime" means a cheap way to do something

The idiom refers to charging you for every little thing until what started as a small purchase ends up turning into a big one, sometimes "nickel and diming you to death."

 

It is vague, though, based on the video, as to whether Roland will actually be charging anything for those additional SRX sounds. (While free would be cool, I also wouldn't necessarily begrudge them the opportunity to make something extra on it either. People have paid $300 for those sound sets, and Roland arguably does need to look for opportunities to make profit where they can... we'll see.)

 

That [the Yamaha flash card approach] is hardware based RAM does tend to give one a better sense of security as well imo.

It is probably the same kind of memory in either the Roland or Yamaha; either a fixed 128 mb (configurable in 64 mb increments) or an optional 512/1024 mb (configurable any way you want).

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Three cheers to Geoff Grace for tirelessly posting all of this product info!

 

Big +1 here ...It has been well appreciated.

There is no luck - luck is simply the confluence of circumstance and co-incidence...

 

Time is the final arbiter for all things

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I was just going by what he says around 2:15 in this video:

Ah, thanks for that. It's not *all* the Integra expansion modules, he only mentions the SRX ones (not the SN ones), though who knows what the future may bring. Still, the idea of enhancing the soundset with your favorite two SRX cards is valuable.

 

 

Oooops. I didn't even realize the Integra had SN expansion modules. Sorry for confusing the whole thing.

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the assignable out [...] I'll be curious to see whether the Ocean Beach drawbars can be made to work on it and whether you can send the organ out the assignable out to a Vent.

 

Wow! Where did you read about this? I do a lot of LH bass gigs, and if I could route the bass patches to a separate output I'm getting one of these.

It's mentioned at 21 minutes in. He talks mostly about using it for click, but refers to being able to use it for other things as well.

[video:youtube]

Also, elsewhere on the web, there is reference to it possibly being a stereo out despite Nick's reference to mono (perhaps merely an observation of the single jack that went uncorrected), that would be cool. With panning, you could conceivably send your LH bass out where you want, your organ sounds out to a Vent, and still have your main stereo out for everything else. Or maybe not. ;-)

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Three cheers to Geoff Grace for tirelessly posting all of this product info!

 

Big +1 here ...It has been well appreciated.

My first source for NAMM news. Thanks, Geoff.

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Three cheers to Geoff Grace for tirelessly posting all of this product info!

 

Big +1 here ...It has been well appreciated.

My first source for NAMM news. Thanks, Geoff.

 

+1

 

Year after year. Thank you Geoff.

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