Roli: Equator 2 is here !

[himalaya]

I love how the FXpansion and Roli synths make good use of mpe even for mono sounds.

We do our best. I love mono MPE sounds too. It's all about having all that control under your hand, as opposed to having to reach to the pitch and mod wheels.

I also love duophonic sounds, Cypher2 has them as it has a proper duo-phonic mode. However, I like playing these fake duophonic sounds in Equator, where I play only two poly voices in a lead and it is so nice to play. Here is an example. This is a preset from Equator2 based on the Korg mini700 triangle waves. A very sweet, vintage and lush sound:

https://soundcloud.com/electric-himalay ... le-lead-5d

[Echoes in the Attic]

I love how the FXpansion and Roli synths make good use of mpe even for mono sounds.

We do our best. I love mono MPE sounds too. It's all about having all that control under your hand, as opposed to having to reach to the pitch and mod wheels.

I also love duophonic sounds, Cypher2 has them as it has a proper duo-phonic mode. However, I like playing these fake duophonic sounds in Equator, where I play only two poly voices in a lead and it is so nice to play. Here is an example. This is a preset from Equator2 based on the Korg mini700 triangle waves. A very sweet, vintage and lush sound:

https://soundcloud.com/electric-himalay ... le-lead-5d

Beautiful sound!

[himalaya]

Thank you.
In fact, let me post more demos below. It's difficult to get an overview of the range of sounds Equator2 is capable of, so I thought that maybe having some demos here in this thread will be of benefit to the interested users. All demos below show the factory content.

As mentioned several times in this thread, Equator2 is a whole new instrument, much removed from Equator1. The new wavetable and granular synthesis engines are top notch, and there are a few twists here or there, like for example dynamic modulation of samples in the granular engine, where it is possible to almost wave-sequence a bunch of samples. Listen to the second demo below to hear it.

There is also a whole new sample library from detailed acoustic samples to a huge collection of vintage analogue samples. Stuff like Arp Solina, VP-330, System-100, OBXa, Super Jupiter, Juno-6, MS20, Mini700, etc. And there's more to come... This is a huge list of sounds that can be so easily mixed in those 6 oscillators for some truly huge sounds.

Anyway, below is a selection of demos, showing some deep sounds, from granular to wavetable to analogue and hybrid. Equator2 introduces a new sonic quality that ins't available in Equator1, or Cypher2, and in some cases matches Omnisphere for the cinematic depth of sound.

Here is a preset that uses one of the new dulcimer samples, however, it is layered with a new santoor sample. There is also a granular dulcimer layer plus granular pads carefully layered as not to be obstructive:
https://soundcloud.com/electric-himalay ... dia-preset


Here is a granular sound that uses the new granular engine to the full. As you listen to this, keep in mind that this is only ONE oscillator. The complexity of sound and all the changes are created with this new real-time sample modulation, where a mod source is triggering lots of samples (of your choosing).
This is one for horror film movie scoring musos:
https://soundcloud.com/electric-himalay ... -cinematic


Here is a deep cinematic preset that layers an acoustic piano, granular samples, pads, for this very deep, moody, but yet understated sound. Great for slow, cinematic passages:
https://soundcloud.com/electric-himalay ... is-turmoil

Something for fans of analogue sounds. Here is a preset that layers several vintage synths for this huge, dynamic pad. Synths layered: Roland Juno-6, Oberheim OBXa, Arp Solina, Roland SH-2, and the Roland Super Jupiter:
https://soundcloud.com/electric-himalay ... -of-analog

Speaking of analogue samples, here is a short track made with raw Juno-6 samples, not presets!. Just a small selection of the available samples (there are 16 or so Juno-6 samples including various raw oscillators). So warm, no processing:
https://soundcloud.com/electric-himalay ... no-6-house

From all this analogue warmth (I might post more analogue demos later, since there is soooo much analogue content in Equator2), to some more contemporary sounds that use the new Wavetable engine. From vocoded vocal sounds, aggressive basses, harmonic pads, and plucks, this is just a tiny selection of some presets that use the wavetable engine:
https://soundcloud.com/electric-himalay ... -wavetable

Something more soothing now. A hybrid 'pluck' that uses wavetable, granular and VA sound sources. So organic!
https://soundcloud.com/electric-himalay ... ght-in-the

And something even more soothing and peaceful. This is one of the MPE presets. This preset uses all 6 sound sources. One preset, but such depth of sound. Played live on a Seaboard RISE 49:
https://soundcloud.com/electric-himalay ... ranulation

Hope you enjoy the demos. Cheers.

[BONES]

Very nice demos, yet they barely touch the surface because none of it is anything like the sounds we use Equator for. It's such a versatile beast, it can be anything to anyone.

[LoveEnigma18]

Wow, awesome demos. Very versatile indeed.

[zvenx]

Hi, can you authorize and use this on more than one computer?
Thanks
Rsp

[spektralisk]

Hey himalaya, thank you for insightful information.

I couldn't find info in manual so here's my question. Is there much effort required to export a preset library for other users. Does end user need to manually copy presets/samples coming from such third party library into correct locations. I would like to make some sound libraries for this synth so I'm really interested on how well it handles stuff like that.

Side note: I really like how Pigments handles this. You can assign your presets to some bank and then you just export this bank to a single file - all samples referenced by presets are included in the bank itself and then it's just a matter of importing it on the end user side and everything is immediately set up for playing. I wonder how the process looks for Equator 2.

[himalaya]

Hi, can you authorize and use this on more than one computer?
Thanks
Rsp

yes, you can.

[himalaya]

Hey himalaya, thank you for insightful information.

I couldn't find info in manual so here's my question. Is there much effort required to export a preset library for other users. Does end user need to manually copy presets/samples coming from such third party library into correct locations. I would like to make some sound libraries for this synth so I'm really interested on how well it handles stuff like that.

Side note: I really like how Pigments handles this. You can assign your presets to some bank and then you just export this bank to a single file - all samples referenced by presets are included in the bank itself and then it's just a matter of importing it on the end user side and everything is immediately set up for playing. I wonder how the process looks for Equator 2.

For now, it's a manual process, but I'm hoping that in the future it will change.

[zvenx]

Hi, can you authorize and use this on more than one computer?
Thanks
Rsp

yes, you can.

Thanks
rsp

[spektralisk]

Hey himalaya, thank you for insightful information.

I couldn't find info in manual so here's my question. Is there much effort required to export a preset library for other users. Does end user need to manually copy presets/samples coming from such third party library into correct locations. I would like to make some sound libraries for this synth so I'm really interested on how well it handles stuff like that.

Side note: I really like how Pigments handles this. You can assign your presets to some bank and then you just export this bank to a single file - all samples referenced by presets are included in the bank itself and then it's just a matter of importing it on the end user side and everything is immediately set up for playing. I wonder how the process looks for Equator 2.

For now, it's a manual process, but I'm hoping that in the future it will change.

Thanks.

[himalaya]

Very nice demos, yet they barely touch the surface because none of it is anything like the sounds we use Equator for. It's such a versatile beast, it can be anything to anyone.

Absolutely, this is just a tiny, tiny selection from the huge factory preset list. Also, Equator1 was only about MPE (even if one could use it in a non-MPE manner). But Equator2 caters to both, the MPE and 'standard' preset types. The demos above mostly show the non-MPE sounds so far, that are meant to be played on normal midi controllers.

And of course, the fun starts when people dive in and start making their own sounds. It's so easy in Equator2.

[p1afff]

Hi guys, sorry it's probably not the right place, but can't find another way on their web site. What's your experience contacting ROLI sales ? I mistakenly bought Equator 2 at full (launch) price instead of the upgrade (from Strobe 2). I submitted a ticket 8 days ago for a partial refund, no answer yet. Is there a better way to contact them ? What do you suggest ?
TIA

[DanROLI]

Hi. My name is Dan, I work with ROLI in support.

DM me with your email address you used to register your ticket and I'll ensure it gets addressed. Alternatively reply here with the ticket number.

With the launch of Equator 2 and LUMI Keys SE, we have been inundated with technical questions so our response times are slower than usual. As I said though, get in touch with the above info and I'll make sure we will get you back on track.

DanROLI

[Echoes in the Attic]

I have a question about this phoning home thing once a month. Does it prompt for your roli account sign in to check the license, or does it do it automatically?

For the record I'm not really ok with either. If I have authorized a product, I think I should have a right to use it on a machine that does is not online all the time. And if it prompts for a sign in that is even worse. Strobe does this and it is ridiculous.

Roli - You do understand that we have other VSTs and software right? Many of us have hundreds of licensed plugins. Can you imagine if every one asked us to sign into our account once a month? We'd deal with a few every single time we opened our DAW. Nobody wants to deal with that. You might get away with it because hardly anyone does this (only Roland I think), but it would never be tolerated if more companies did, not from any studio. So do the decent thing and don't do something that you know would not be acceptable if everyone did it.