Roland Cloud

[ENV1]

...it must be coming up to a year now- any early cloud adoptors got there free perminent licence yet?

Maybe we'll see a resolution as the first Cloud year happens (anyone know what month this would be, out of interest..? I feel like the Roland Cloud has been going for more than a year at this point...)

The opening post is from December 2016 so its going at least one-and-a-half years now.

(Including the Beta phase.)

[SLiC]

I am only 6 months in, but someone should send the email and see what the reply is!

[lotus2035]

companies troll too,

Yep, its called advertising, they've been doing it for decades AND making a fortune, how much more can Shampoo and Washing Detergent be improved on really?

*NEW AND IMPROVED*

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I didn't get a Roland Cloud survey, but wish I did. I'd certainly love to share my feedback with someone outside of customer support, and I'm not going to sign up for Facebook just to get a post to Roland deleted.

I'm currently signed up (just started month #2) but I own the SH-101 Content Store version AND the origina/current owner of a System-8. There was talk of doing something for System-8 owners, and the same for Content Store owners, but so far nothing has been offered to either group. It's certainly been enough time for Roland/Virtual Sonics to work something out.

The cynic in me suspects that no one is actually working on offering any kind of special offer to these groups, or a decision was made not to [that they don't want to communicate for fear of bad PR], and they're just going to move forward with the subscription as-is. Then again, they could just be waiting on figuring out a solution to the "12 months = perpetual licecnse" system and plan on rolling everything out at once. But even then, they've certainly been dragging their feet on that.

Knowing Roland's history, I wouldn't be surprised if there was no "special offer" at all. I wouldn't even be surprised if one day this whole subscription option disappeared entirely and the plug-outs just faded out of existence. Roland certainly has a reputation for abandoning products and leaving users in the lurch, and that history works against them here. Would be nice to see them follow through on something. And the shame of it is, if Virtual Sonics was the hold-up, it doesn't matter, these are Roland branded products so Roland will ultimately get the blame.

[electro]

Permanent Cloud x0x drums license with Hardware TR-8S

Roland Cloud Software
https://www.rolandcloud.com/Catalog/Legendary/TR-808
https://www.rolandcloud.com/Catalog/Legendary/TR-909

Roland Hardware Control Surface
https://www.roland.com/us/products/tr-8s/
http://www.roland.ca/products/tr-08/
http://www.roland.ca/products/tr-09/

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

One relatively small thing that I haven't seen mentioned with the Cloud versions of the System-8, Juno, and Jupiter plugins: the System-8 hardware has an entire set of "Patch Effects" Settings that aren't available in the plug-out versions. You can edit things like the frequency of the cutoff filters in the delays, or the damping levels, etc. Would be nice to get those options in the Plug-Outs too via a back panel.

[RobGee]

One relatively small thing that I haven't seen mentioned with the Cloud versions of the System-8, Juno, and Jupiter plugins: the System-8 hardware has an entire set of "Patch Effects" Settings that aren't available in the plug-out versions. You can edit things like the frequency of the cutoff filters in the delays, or the damping levels, etc. Would be nice to get those options in the Plug-Outs too via a back panel.

Those parameters are available in Cubase if you switch to the generic plugin view and they are automatable too. I agree though it would be nice if they were editable from the main gui somehow.

[jbuonacc]

Permanent Cloud x0x drums license with Hardware TR-8S

Roland Cloud Software
https://www.rolandcloud.com/Catalog/Legendary/TR-808
https://www.rolandcloud.com/Catalog/Legendary/TR-909

Roland Hardware Control Surface
https://www.roland.com/us/products/tr-8s/
http://www.roland.ca/products/tr-08/
http://www.roland.ca/products/tr-09/

is that true? you get the Roland Cloud versions when buying the TR-8S? i don't see that it says that anywhere in the links.

...or are you saying to buy the TR-8S, then you'll have "permanent Cloud x0x drums license"?

[SLiC]

I think it’s a wish rather than a fact - I hope I am wrong as I own a system 1m, maybe all plug out hardware owners will get the promised ‘something special’ but I am not holding my breath, it was promised a year ago...

If someone who has subscribed for over 12 months cancelled their subscription now, what would happen? I don’t believe Roland can yet issue perpetual licences?

[ghettosynth]

I think it’s a wish rather than a fact - I hope I am wrong as I own a system 1m, maybe all plug out hardware owners will get the promised ‘something special’ but I am not holding my breath, it was promised a year ago...

If someone who has subscribed for over 12 months cancelled their subscription now, what would happen? I don’t believe Roland can yet issue perpetual licences?

I don't think that they care. The promise is as good as the real thing from their POV.

[Echoes in the Attic]

As a plugout owner I don’t want “something special”, I just want the updated and fixed version of the damn plugin I own (which they provide on the cloud) so that it isn’t full of problems.

[fmr]

As a plugout owner I don’t want “something special”, I just want the updated and fixed version of the damn plugin I own (which they provide on the cloud) so that it isn’t full of problems.

THEY don't provide ANYTHING in the cloud. As has been said and written several times, Roland Cloud is ANOTHER company, a joint venture, of which Roland is just a part. Roland is NOT Roland Cloud, and I am convinced that Roland Cloud has no legal obligations towards Roland customers, which bought their products from ANOTHER company.

It's the same as if another companhy had bought the asets from Roland and released new versions of the software. Legally, they don't have to offer any kind of special prices to previous owners. That doesn't mean they don't do that.

So, I agree that customers who bought the old products should have some kind of compensation since the new products are clearly based on the old "plug-outs". But maybe that's something that the new company has to establish some kind of agreement with Roland itself on, before.

[electro]

Permanent Cloud x0x drums license with Hardware TR-8S

Roland Cloud Software
https://www.rolandcloud.com/Catalog/Legendary/TR-808
https://www.rolandcloud.com/Catalog/Legendary/TR-909

Roland Hardware Control Surface
https://www.roland.com/us/products/tr-8s/
http://www.roland.ca/products/tr-08/
http://www.roland.ca/products/tr-09/

is that true? you get the Roland Cloud versions when buying the TR-8S? i don't see that it says that anywhere in the links.

...or are you saying to buy the TR-8S, then you'll have "permanent Cloud x0x drums license"?

How it should be done, don't you agree? TR-8S is an awesome looking machine, but I will never buy it at $600 then pay another $240 to access the identical synthesis in plugin form.

[Echoes in the Attic]

As a plugout owner I don’t want “something special”, I just want the updated and fixed version of the damn plugin I own (which they provide on the cloud) so that it isn’t full of problems.

THEY don't provide ANYTHING in the cloud. As has been said and written several times, Roland Cloud is ANOTHER company, a joint venture, of which Roland is just a part. Roland is NOT Roland Cloud, and I am convinced that Roland Cloud has no legal obligations towards Roland customers, which bought their products from ANOTHER company.

It's the same as if another companhy had bought the asets from Roland and released new versions of the software. Legally, they don't have to offer any kind of special prices to previous owners. That doesn't mean they don't do that.

So, I agree that customers who bought the old products should have some kind of compensation since the new products are clearly based on the old "plug-outs". But maybe that's something that the new company has to establish some kind of agreement with Roland itself on, before.

Yeah I don’t care about getting anything from the Roland cloud. I want Roland to update the plugout that I own to fix its problems that’s have been fixed in the cloud version. Or did not a single Roland engineer Who worked on the original plugout continue to work on the cloud version? Did they just hand over the code to their new partners and say here you go use this, we’re done? The point is, the GUI and sound engine were done, then they only fixed annoying things in the cloud version. That’s ridiculous.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

As a plugout owner I don’t want “something special”, I just want the updated and fixed version of the damn plugin I own (which they provide on the cloud) so that it isn’t full of problems.

THEY don't provide ANYTHING in the cloud. As has been said and written several times, Roland Cloud is ANOTHER company, a joint venture, of which Roland is just a part. Roland is NOT Roland Cloud, and I am convinced that Roland Cloud has no legal obligations towards Roland customers, which bought their products from ANOTHER company.

It's the same as if another companhy had bought the asets from Roland and released new versions of the software. Legally, they don't have to offer any kind of special prices to previous owners. That doesn't mean they don't do that.

So, I agree that customers who bought the old products should have some kind of compensation since the new products are clearly based on the old "plug-outs". But maybe that's something that the new company has to establish some kind of agreement with Roland itself on, before.

But it's not like Virtual Sonics went out and bought out the Roland assets and took over the properties ,it's a partnership between both companies. These are still Roland branded products (it's "Roland Cloud" not "Virtual Sonics Cloud"), and Roland IP. Virtual Sonics seems to be acting as a vendor here by offering plugin development (they probably developed the original plugin implementation of the Plug-Outs if I had to guess) and the Cloud service.

There's two big issues at play with the current implementation of the Cloud Service: 1) hardware owners are being asked to pay for Plug-Outs/The Cloud, and 2) older Roland Content Store plugins have been abandonned and replaced with the Cloud versions without any path to upgrade. I imagine Roland could fix both issues and come up with some kind of solution, but as of yet has been unwilling to.

For both groups, the solutions are obvious. If you own tthe hardware, Roland could have the hardware act as a dongle for the Plug-Outs. As long as you have the hardware connected to the VST Plug-Out (via the already existing Ctrl functions), then the Plug-Outs for that hardware synth could be coded to be treated as "perpetually authorized." If the hardware isn't attached to the PC, then an active Cloud subscription or perpetual plugin license (which you can only get now via 12 months of the Cloud) is required. Then, if you own the Content Store versions of any Plug-Out, Roland should either offer 1) a free upgrade to a perpetual license of the Cloud version, or 2) a reasonably priced upgrade cost (say $19-29).

None of this seems like rocket science to me, and this would 1) earn Roland some much needed goodwill, and 2) encourage the sale of Roland hardware. I have little hope though...