Roland Cloud

[MillerSam]

Hey, here is my review of the Zenology Pro Synthesizer. Great sound quality, tons of presets, but not powerful on the synthesis side as Omnisphere 2 or Falcon 2. It's more a workstation for bread and butter classic synth sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-18kpUQSZ8&t=527s

[Brian.McClelland]

...We have listened to those that requested the Lifetime Keys and provided that option...

I do appreciate that you offer lifetime keys instead of solely focusing on subscriptions, but I find the cloud manager authorization to be very tedious (I generally don´t like the idea, plus the cloud manager just doesn´t work too well for me).

Please consider making different authorization options available, e.g. a simple serial, a key file, one-time C/R, or even iLok (yeah, I know that a bunch of users would flame you for that, but if it was "just another option", why not?). I really want to buy Zenology Pro, but that would require another authorization method.

Hi, epiphanieia! I understand the frustration with the authorizations. Thanks for letting us know. One thing that we recommend to anyone using Roland Cloud is to connect to the net, and open the Roland Cloud Manager once every seven days. This will authorize all of your plug-ins, and we don't ask again for a week. That should smooth out the process for you a bit more. I'm always available if you need support as well.

Although it's good that you now offer lifetime keys, I think the issue many people always had with the subscription model (aside from indefinitely recurring payments) was having to be online in case of when the license manager does it's license check. When I had a sub for a year, I also had the licenses fail to connect (no fault of my connection), so I was stuck for a while without being able to use the synths I had licenses for. And even now that I have some lifetime keys, I usually don't have the license manager installed and just chose alternatives instead. If you guys actually used a different license system for lifetime keys like most software, such as C/R (like you did for the Roland Content store), I would probably purchase more Roland products.

Hi, Echoes in the Attic! One thing to note here, all Roland Cloud products require the Roland Cloud Manager to authorize. I recommend the solution above to keep everything flowing. If you are having issues with the Manager, there are settings change notifications or to control open upon startup in the lower left hand corner of your Roland Cloud Manager. If there are other technical issues, please feel free to Contact Us through the support link at: http://www.rolandcloud.com/support

I promise I didn't come here just to complain about this, but since I'm here...

I actually really loved Roland Cloud. I mean, the synths themselves sound GREAT, to my ears. I love the patch designs, for the most part. Covers a lot of sonic territory, and really well.

I'm heading toward the end of my first year of Cloud subscription, and when I saw the sale they were having on Zenology with all of the emulations, I thought "oh, hey! That's worth buying." (It includes another year of subscription, too.) I had the money ready, and bought it (you MUST buy it through the app, there is no way to do it in a browser, but that's not problem. Just noting.)

The purchase failed "for security reasons" going through PayPal. ...No big deal, I thought: I'll just use my bank account directly.

...

My answer: "Thanks for your response, that tells me what I need to know. You may want to tell your manager that [middleman] is responsible for a lost customer."

f**k THIS. I delete Roland Cloud within minutes of receiving that email.

I wish them luck. I do. I'm sure my bank is just some weird one-off problem that no one else will ever deal with and it's not worth their time to get my $500. ...but... f**k ME, it's annoying as hell, and I don't have to take it. So: good day to them.

Apologies for the profanity. I feel strongly about this. I really liked those synths. (But I don't need them.)

Hi, Introspective! That sounds frustrating. Xsolla is the payment processor, and for whatever reason, rarely, but sometimes they have difficulty processing PayPal payments. I'm not sure why this happens, to be perfectly honest. There are times when everything appears normal in our system and a community member will reach out and let us know something is not right with their account, because that part of the payment is not visible to or controlled by us, and we have to tag Xsolla to sort it out. They are very friendly, and will definitely assist. Apologies about that. I will reach out with a PM and see if I can help.

Having taken a look at the sale webpage once more, they manage to have three kind of different conditions for the ultimate deal within one page:

1) "As a bonus, this collection includes one free year of Ultimate Membership for new subscribers, giving access to everything in Roland Cloud. "

=> new subscribers implies that everyone gets ultimate who is not paying for a subscription. In my book "free" isn't a subscription, but just an account.

2) "New customers receive one year of Roland Cloud Ultimate Membership for FREE ($199 value) "

=> This implies you only get ultimate if you are not a customer. I'm not sure how they want to figure out whether I have a Roland device in my rack that I have bought 30 years ago. Maybe they have an odd understand of what counts as a customer.

3) "Not a member of Roland Cloud yet? Get one-year of our Ultimate Membership for FREE when you purchase the Analog Icons Lifetime Key Collection."

=> This implies you get ultimate if you are not yet a member of the Roland cloud, i.e., if you don't have a Roland Cloud account yet.

Pretty confusing if you ask me. When I get the refund, I'll ask before whether I qualify for the deal before I spend the money.

Hi, bnz! Great question here. These points are all saying the same thing. To use the Roland Cloud whether you want a Lifetime Key or a Core/Pro/Ultimate Membership subscription, you need a free Roland Account. These offers are saying, if you've never had a subscription with us, and you purchase the Analog Icons bundle, it includes one year of the Ultimate Membership subscription. And yes, please feel free to reach out to me if you ever have questions.

Thanks!

[BBFG#]

Wow, what "good" and rather deaf responses...

[Zookes]

...We have listened to those that requested the Lifetime Keys and provided that option...

I do appreciate that you offer lifetime keys instead of solely focusing on subscriptions, but I find the cloud manager authorization to be very tedious (I generally don´t like the idea, plus the cloud manager just doesn´t work too well for me).

Please consider making different authorization options available, e.g. a simple serial, a key file, one-time C/R, or even iLok (yeah, I know that a bunch of users would flame you for that, but if it was "just another option", why not?). I really want to buy Zenology Pro, but that would require another authorization method.

Hi, epiphanieia! I understand the frustration with the authorizations. Thanks for letting us know. One thing that we recommend to anyone using Roland Cloud is to connect to the net, and open the Roland Cloud Manager once every seven days. This will authorize all of your plug-ins, and we don't ask again for a week. That should smooth out the process for you a bit more. I'm always available if you need support as well.

You say "please schedule this inconvenience for our benefit once per week after you give us your money" as tho it is normal and good.

No. It is not normal or good.
Deaf response such as this is very very bad please

[Echoes in the Attic]

Thanks for responding Brian, but I'm not really interested in remembering to open a software manager once every seven days. I don't have to worry about this with other software.

[epiphaneia]

Thanks for responding Brian, but I'm not really interested in remembering to open a software manager once every seven days. I don't have to worry about this with other software.

+1

[SoundHunterrr]

“ open the Roland Cloud Manager once every seven days”
You mean manually open? It is not automatic system? Sure this also demand to stay online.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Maybe he means open it every once in a while so it doesn’t ask you to authorize at a bad time like when opening a live set. Not sure. Either way, don’t like it.

[abernathy]

Maybe he means open it every once in a while so it doesn’t ask you to authorize at a bad time like when opening a live set. Not sure. Either way, don’t like it.

I have plugins from dozens of different developers. Roland's system is by far the most annoying. I hope Roland gets this and is working to make it more convenient.

[zvenx]

And I thought refx's once a month or avenger's once every four months was bad.
Wow. And it has to be manually done too?

Ridiculous.
rsp

[Brian.McClelland]

Maybe he means open it every once in a while so it doesn’t ask you to authorize at a bad time like when opening a live set. Not sure. Either way, don’t like it.

Yes! This is what I mean. This method works to prevent unwanted authorization issues. Open it once a week when connected, and it makes sure everything is authorized, and then it won't surprise you when mid-session. It's a little thing that helps run everything just a bit smoother.

And I thought refx's once a month or avenger's once every four months was bad.
Wow. And it has to be manually done too?

Ridiculous.
rsp

This doesn't have to be done manually, it just helps if you notice the plugins trying to authorize at odd or inconvenient times.

Also, for notification issues, there is a menu in the lower left corner of the Roland Cloud Manager. In the preferences section, there are controls for desktop notifications, run on system startup, and auto-update instruments. Checking those will fix it if it keeps popping up too much. Hopefully that helps!

You say "please schedule this inconvenience for our benefit once per week after you give us your money" as tho it is normal and good.

No. It is not normal or good.
Deaf response such as this is very very bad please

Hi, Zookes! I'm just offering these methods to help the community get the best results. If this doesn't work or you are experiencing other issues, we at the tech support team are always available. Please feel free to Contact Us at: http://www.rolandcloud.com/support

Thanks!

[bnz]

For me personally, my gripe isn't so much the Roland Cloud Manager running in the background or the reauthorization in regular intervals (although I do get the point that others are trying to make and would absolutely prefer ilok protection or so as well), my biggest gripe with the RCM and the vstis is the plugin loading times which is really just quite plainly much too long and just frustrating. I hope this is something Roland currently works on.

[Brian.McClelland]

For me personally, my gripe isn't so much the Roland Cloud Manager running in the background or the reauthorization in regular intervals (although I do get the point that others are trying to make and would absolutely prefer ilok protection or so as well), my biggest gripe with the RCM and the vstis is the plugin loading times which is really just quite plainly much too long and just frustrating. I hope this is something Roland currently works on.

Yes! I understand that load time has been a concern for some. That's also why I'm here, to find issues that we need to work on, and compile that feedback. I know that there have been faster load times with the most recent roll outs of the 303 & 606 plugins, so we should see some improvement in that department with upcoming releases.

[WatchTheGuitar]

If you're taking feedback then I'd like to ask why Zenology (Pro included) doesn't have any built in arpeggio or sequencing functionality and consequently neither do the thousands and thousands of presets we have in the library. Also the strange decision with the effects engine to limit it to one effect (or two constrained effects), but with nearly a complete lack of reverb. I would have thought at the very least we'd see something like options for a RE-201 Space Echo and an SRV-3030 Reverb.

I have loads of those sorts of plugins to be able to add them in my DAW, but it just seems strange how limited the effect chain you can save with the presets is.

Maybe you could suggest adding a full effects chain to the Ultimate level even if you're not making it available for Pro subscribers? If you're familiar with Rob Papen's Explorer he makes a multi engine named Prisma available for people who buy the bundle so they can create kind of 'super presets' that are multis containing layered presets from other synths with effects chains defined. What about something like that (and also making it available for purchase for those who want to buy these things outright?).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3j5w08gKp0

[epiphaneia]

Yes! This is what I mean. This method works to prevent unwanted authorization issues. Open it once a week when connected, and it makes sure everything is authorized, and then it won't surprise you when mid-session. It's a little thing that helps run everything just a bit smoother.

I´ve got a few hundred plugins by some 30+ companies installed. Now imagine if each of them told me to "just open our authorization tool once a week and you´re good to go" and/or I´d have 30+ background services running just for different authorization schemes.

I understand that you´re not coming here with the mandate to change the authorization method just because there´s a bunch of unhappy users, and you´re trying to help within the fixed technical frame, but I am not convinced, and I hope Roland HQ consider once more whether they´re striking the right balance between troubling legit users and keeping pirates in check.

Hi, Zookes! I'm just offering these methods to help the community get the best results. If this doesn't work or you are experiencing other issues, we at the tech support team are always available.

Here´s one, just for fun: When I tried it, I kept the RCM running in the background and, as is my good habit, kept my studio mac offline. When I opened the wifi connection for the usual weekly update checks, RCM did not detect I was back online nor could I open RCM at all anymore. I had to force-close it and open it again. That wouldn´t be a pleasant weekly routine.