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Roland System-8


ElmerJFudd

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http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/pichosterforme/9D70F781-E38A-4CE5-A685-088256D7FB6E.jpg

 

Leaked via Sam Ash catalog. Not a reliable source. Being scrutinized at Gearslutz. But I'm pretty confident there is an imminent System-8.

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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Marketing 101, borrowed from the computer world but applies here for the most part. When bringing a new product into a crowded marketplace it needs to be either cheaper, better or faster. Faster doesn't really apply to MI, but the first certainly do.

 

Busch.

 

 

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Impossible to say if it's overpriced without hearing what it sounds like (and seeing what it feels like).

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Roland's System 1 is VA, but if this particular item incorporates analog from the JD series ... one could see it being appropriately priced.

 

It beats me how the heck anyone competes with a 12 voice real analog at $1000.

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This is really cool - I have the System 1 and I really love the sound-engine and all the knobs and buttons.

 

However, the picture of the Sam Ash ad shows the price $1499 near the keyboard. Yikes! That's close to the JD-Xa pricing.

 

I figured this new System 8 would be a replacement for the Gaia?

 

I would not be interested at that price, otherwise I would already own a JD-Xa. But, if Roland can give us a full sized keyboard with a ACB SN-synth engine in it for around $1000 I would be in.

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I don't think there's extensive debate on Roland's ACB engine sounding like crap, I have to admit it sounds pretty good even at the sample rate they are running it at. The only issue I have with it is their desire to control polyphony. There's no reason it has to be limited to 4 or 8 voices. The only reasons I can think of for them to limit polyphony are:

 

A) They don't want to offer too capable a synth under $500 or even under $1k. But if the System-8 actually turns out to be $1499 - that's a bit of a rip IMHO, especially for a VA. The King Korg is a 24 voice VA for $999 (even with their added cost of including a vacuum tube stage - gimmicky or not).

 

B) They are maximizing profits by using really low end processors which can only handle limited polyphony at 44.1k.

 

C. They don't want to undercut their Jupiter-80 or whatever price point they intend to set for a future high poly VA.

 

There better be a heck of a lot of plug out models included at $1499.

 

 

 

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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But, if Roland can give us a full sized keyboard with a ACB SN-synth engine in it for around $1000 I would be in.

 

They probably could do that even if there wasn't much profit in the keyboard it itself, as they make bookoo bucks off the plug outs, which go for $150-$200. if you bought every plug-out for the System-1 , you would be in another $850 on top of the $500-$600 you spent on the hardware.

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The blogger over at Synth Anatomy had these observations:

 

"Pretty sure, System 8 will have three oscillators or 2 oscillators + 1 sub oscillator. This is already an upgrade from the System 1 Synthesizer. There are also the section for filter and amp. I can't find any information on the picture what kind of filters this time, this new synth will have. For me, there will be more some more filters than in System 1 because you have in the filter section also a little screen where you can switch the variation. Also interesting to see is the fact that Velocity can be activated on different places like on the filter. For this, the developers of Roland have redone the entire keyboard and build finally a much better keyboard in this Synthesizers. Some rumours speak about the same keyboard as the JD-XA.

 

In the middle of the System 8, I can spot 4 different engines. On the left you have the standard System 8 engine and also three slots with Plug-Outs. Now, the question is: Can we activated them all together to combine different plug-outs? Or maybe only one. For me, a next improvement is the on the right side. There is finally a step sequencer included. A lot of users ask Roland to bring a step sequencer to the System 1 but now you can find it in the System 8.

 

There are also significant changes in the Mod-Wheel department. In my observation, they killed the Mod-Wheel from System 1 and replace it. Now it seems that they use more a joystick Mod-Wheel. "

 

System8-xlarge-1.jpg

 

Busch.

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That looks gorgeous! I see a vocoder button as well, which makes sense given the leaked VP-03. I would be very surprised if it didn't come with the JP/JX/JU models too. I see a Performance and Lower/Upper buttons too, I wonder if it allows layers two different plug outs?

 

Next question, what does "System 8" mode sound like?

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In the past Roland was notorious for overstating polyphony. I had the SH-32 for a while which was supposed to play 32 parts. A patch with 2 osc's was considered 2 parts. You could layer 4 parts, meaning a single layered note was 8 parts. When doing this, I could play a 4 note chord (4 x 8 = 32) and listen to parts come in one at a time over a 3 second span as the processor struggled to crunch all the numbers necessary to play 32 parts.

 

I much prefer that they give us a real number, even if it is only 8, than overstate usable polyphony like they did with the SH-32 and other devices.

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I much prefer that they give us a real number, even if it is only 8, than overstate usable polyphony like they did with the SH-32 and other devices.

 

Didn't the original V-Synth have extremely limited polyphony? I seem to recall several gripes about that... quite disappointing.

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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Didn't the original V-Synth have extremely limited polyphony? I seem to recall several gripes about that... quite disappointing.

 

Yeah. I had one. It was listed as 24 voices, but if you started loading it up with supersaws and COSMs it would drop to as few as 5... with latency issues. If you hit a block 5 note chord, it would sound like it was coming from the next room. This was a monotimbral synth too - no layers.

 

So let's see how the System 8 does.

 

Another test for me will be to hit a raw sawtooth C6, modulate it with a sine wave LFO, and listen for birdies. This is not what I call much of a stress test at all, but every Roland VA I've ever used has revealed aliasing with this simple test. On the V-Synth, it could be quite obvious (and annoying) when playing high register leads and applying thick vibrato. I have not tried any of Roland's Boutiques, but there was a post in another forum complaining about aliasing issues with a JP-08... so we'll see.

 

It's been almost 20 years since the JP-8000. Hopefully Roland has solved it's recurring VA aliasing issue with the System 8.

 

I just counted the knobs and sliders: 76! That's one knob per function almost to a fault, and beats the slider festooned JD-800 by quite a bit. And that brings up another issue: The JD-800 hardware did not age well. I will be paying close attention to the quality and feel of the System 8's front panel controls.

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Having watched the video all the way through I'm cautiously optimistic. Yes, it's digital but it sounds plenty nice enough so far. Obviously I'll wait until someone's done the standard aliasing checks on it (pet peeve: why when demonstrating the filter sweep do demoers insist on doing it by hand? Hook it up to an EG on full depth, then you get a nice steady sweep) but it sounds like a Roland polysynth and that counts for a lot for me. Maybe it's because subconsciously I miss my JP-8000 but this thing screams "PLAY ME" far more than the Deep Mind does.

Cephid - Progressive Electro Rock

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If you click the embedded link in the video to take you to the product description page on sweetwaters site, it ain't there

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Nice demo, looks like a good piece of gear.

Live: Nord Stage 3 Compact, Nord Wave 2, Viscount Legend

Toys: Korg Kronos 2 88, Roland Fantom 08, Nord Lead A1,Roland FA08, Novation Ultranova, Moog LP

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