Roland Cloud

[IvyBirds]

Why has there been nothing for 2 years? What are the engineers doing? Are they stuck in an endless cycle of fixing Mac OS/Silicon bugs?

Where's the JX-8P ACB?

They just phone it all in and continue to get subscribers to pay them the money. That's the business model

For years now we have been told over and over and over again that new stuff is coming, we have been promised by Rolands reps who post here that they will be happy to answer any questions but then they refuse to say what is coming and when it might arrive

Despite the fact that some of their competition has zero issues letting us know what is on the horizon. Right now for example, anyone can download public beta versions of the new U-He synth for example

The Roland Cloud is a subscription service, other subscription services like Netflix, or HBO have zero issues letting you know what they are working on, and when it will be coming out

It's a shame Roland can't seem to do the same

[mdx4ever]

Why has there been nothing for 2 years? What are the engineers doing? Are they stuck in an endless cycle of fixing Mac OS/Silicon bugs?

Where's the JX-8P ACB?

They just phone it all in and continue to get subscribers to pay them the money. That's the business model

For years now we have been told over and over and over again that new stuff is coming, we have been promised by Rolands reps who post here that they will be happy to answer any questions but then they refuse to say what is coming and when it might arrive

Despite the fact that some of their competition has zero issues letting us know what is on the horizon. Right now for example, anyone can download public beta versions of the new U-He synth for example

The Roland Cloud is a subscription service, other subscription services like Netflix, or HBO have zero issues letting you know what they are working on, and when it will be coming out

It's a shame Roland can't seem to do the same

Good analogy to Netflix, I’ve unsubscribed recently
Looks like Roland Cloud is next…

[vulpes777]

Devil's advocate: the marketing/communication strategies of small companies Vs. large corporations are vastly different. As I mentioned in a different thread, Korg is also generally silent, as in: not-a-peep, until they have something to release and I seem to understand very few (if any) here are complaining.

That said, companies that are trying to keep a subscription model up and alive, have some sort of a roadmap, or one or more public events throughout the year where they showcase what's coming next (in the case of Netflix, the "what's coming next" is pretty much all the time but that's a different story).

And this is where Roland IMHO is doing a terrible job: their answer to "Why should I stay subscribed?" sounds an awful lot like "Because new stuff is coming; trust us bros" over and over*, to the point that many in this thread, myself included, have decided to just get the lifetime keys they REALLY want and then peace out.

tl;dr Some more transparency would do a lot of good, and just to be clear, I'm not putting any blame on Brian or Jon.

Just my 2 cents, I'm mostly staying away from this thread while I decide IF I want to pay for another year of P4L when it runs out next July.

--
Marco

*while pushing out near-weekly [music genre] ZENOLOGY BANK/SAMPLE PACK/PACK FOR ZENBEATS, as if the "kickstart your next production" market wasn't saturated enough.

[ChamomileShark]

To play Devils Devils advocate.

If you've come to the party relatively late and you only go for Pro P4L with the intention of picking up one lifetime key it's a great deal.

You avoid the trap of subscribing and hoping for something new to come along that way.

You have a year to pick the key you want (I thought for me it would be the JP8 but I preferred the JP4), and a year to record with a huge selection of instruments and FXs which mostly sound really good.

If in that year you find something else you like then simply extend the P4L sub and pick up another one or two.

Repeat until you hit the lifetime key limit or decide there is nothing more you want and unsubscribe or go down to core.

For me I got my JP4, I've renewed with the intention for getting the Juno 106 and probably next year I'll get the XV 5080. At that point I'll go to core unless something new appears or I find something else in the current catalogue I like.

[cptgone]

I wonder- does anyone subscribe when there isn't a Play4Life deal?

Elton John, perhaps?

[IvyBirds]

Devil's advocate: the marketing/communication strategies of small companies Vs. large corporations are vastly different. As I mentioned in a different thread, Korg is also generally silent, as in: not-a-peep, until they have something to release and I seem to understand very few (if any) here are complaining.

Korg doesn't sell subscriptions. You buy it outright, the entire Korg collection is on sale right now for $299 a one time purchase not much more than a single year of an ultimate subscription.

You can't compare a rental service with a non rental service

I cancelled my subscription to the Roland Cloud, I am very open to starting it again but would need a roadmap of what is coming and when, I don't think that is to much to ask for. It's music software not the launch codes for a weapons system

[vulpes777]

Devil's advocate: the marketing/communication strategies of small companies Vs. large corporations are vastly different. As I mentioned in a different thread, Korg is also generally silent, as in: not-a-peep, until they have something to release and I seem to understand very few (if any) here are complaining.

Korg doesn't sell subscriptions. You buy it outright, the entire Korg collection is on sale right now for $299 a one time purchase not much more than a single year of an ultimate subscription.

You can't compare a rental service with a non rental service

I cancelled my subscription to the Roland Cloud, I am very open to starting it again but would need a roadmap of what is coming and when, I don't think that is to much to ask for. It's music software not the launch codes for a weapons system

To be fair, Roland Cloud hasn't been subscription-only for some time, even though it started that way. Jon has said time and time again that nobody should feel forced to stay subscribed, HOWEVER, since the subscription model is still there (it is not by chance that the very last product they released is only accessible with the Ultimate tier), I stand by my point that it's not fair to ask for the subscribers' money in advance without giving them a tangible idea of where RC is heading.

No roadmap = they might as well drop the subscription model, because nobody is going to be happy when their year's worth of content turns out to be mostly patches and sample packs.

Or, they could open P4L to all paid plans, so at the end of the year everyone would at the very least have one or two instruments to keep.

--
Marco

[IvyBirds]

Or, they could open P4L to all paid plans, so at the end of the year everyone would at the very least have one or two instruments to keep.

One of the things that never makes sense to me is why they don't have play for life as a year round promotion and for monthly and yearly plans. Where you get a lifetime key on your one year anniversary with the service

Because of you are a monthly subscriber you pay more over the course of the year and can do so for year after year and get nothing

[thenumber23]

Bump! (This thread requires bumping once every 30 days, or it will become de-authorized)

[D-Fusion]

Bump! (This thread requires bumping once every 30 days, or it will become de-authorized)

[ChamomileShark]

You also need to reload the page several times or it makes a horrible screeching noise when you open the thread.

[dblock]

I demo'ed using Studio One and the biggest issue I had was the app itself. Sometimes it didn't want to open. Sometimes I would shut down the app to reinstall but then I'd find out I couldn't re-install it because in checking task manager the app never really shut down. I had this issue multiple times. Sometimes plugins would be very slow to load. I wanted to like this thing because I thought it could work for me ...when it worked, but just no. I spent too much time messing with it. Too inconsistent for me.I don't mind contacting support to report a bug here and there but this thing just seems to have been shoved out the door to me. Support is good though. Quick,courteous reponses. I'll give them that.

[ChamomileShark]

It is slow and if you have projects with Roland Cloud stuff in it then projects tend to open slowly. I usually can't open it from the "hidden icons" and then going "Open app". It usually just spins, so I click on the three dots and "exit" and then re-open it from my pinned apps. Windows 11.

[Caine123]

a little stop by by me, anything new since i unsubscribed begining march? i guess not. another month another nothing. ok imma be back a month later.

[IvyBirds]

a little stop by by me, anything new since i unsubscribed begining march? i guess not. another month another nothing. ok imma be back a month later.

Come on man they had a new plugin 22 months ago what more do you want?

If you were on an Ultimate monthly sub that was $440 Dollars ago

But don't worry they have been saying they working on new plugins for 22 months now, I am sure we will get something new at some point in 2025 or 2026

By that point Roland will abandon Zencore hardware and have something new. The good news is it will be new, the bad news is it will be yet another Jupiter 8 variant