Roland Cloud

[WatchTheGuitar]

At the moment, it's kind of stagnating... I've been looking for a new computer for a while now, but, I'd want one with 32 GB of RAM, and, the prices for those, along with the other components I'd want, are just too high for me ATM. I would have the money, but, I'm not willing to pay such prices... better wait until that whole buying frenzy thing has cooled down a bit. Just a question when that will be really...

Depends what type of RAM you are after, two DDR4 16GB DIMMs can be had for £120.

[qube123]

Often when you get CPU spikes its down to insufficient I/O on your drive so the CPU is waiting for information. Make sure the drive the project is on is decently quick and isn't the main drive on the computer.

No, that's not the case. That may happen when you are loading samples "on the fly" (Sample disk Streaming). That's not what happens here. These instruments perform many calculations in realtime, and if the CPU doesn't handle the data in time, you hear spikes. This is CPU overflow, as is indicated by the CPU metering. The error message displayed by Logic indicates the same thing.

Good news for those heralding the M1 More RAM may help, but I have my doubts.

But the CPU spike can be caching of that data. CPU overflow is a misleading term. Sure if everything else is fast enough and it can't cope then that's the bottleneck but if it's swapping and recording audio to disc then you can hog a core as it waits for the system to catch up. I have this when using a slower drive.

[fmr]

Often when you get CPU spikes its down to insufficient I/O on your drive so the CPU is waiting for information. Make sure the drive the project is on is decently quick and isn't the main drive on the computer.

No, that's not the case. That may happen when you are loading samples "on the fly" (Sample disk Streaming). That's not what happens here. These instruments perform many calculations in realtime, and if the CPU doesn't handle the data in time, you hear spikes. This is CPU overflow, as is indicated by the CPU metering. The error message displayed by Logic indicates the same thing.

Good news for those heralding the M1 More RAM may help, but I have my doubts.

But the CPU spike can be caching of that data. CPU overflow is a misleading term. Sure if everything else is fast enough and it can't cope then that's the bottleneck but if it's swapping and recording audio to disc then you can hog a core as it waits for the system to catch up. I have this when using a slower drive.

But that's not the case, IMO. These are SYNTHS, there are barely any samples involved (the D-50 has a ROM, but it's a very small one). The sound is produced in the moment, through calculations performed in the CPU cores. That's why virtual synths can be very CPU intensive.

This said, I think even the underpowered M1 should be able to cope with these two instruments alone. Maybe there is something wrong in the native ARM compilation done by Roland (I assume it is native already?)

For the records, over here, using REAPER, these two reach, at the top, 16% CPU, running in a Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz with 16 GB of RAM. OS is Windows 10 21H1.

[chk071]

At the moment, it's kind of stagnating... I've been looking for a new computer for a while now, but, I'd want one with 32 GB of RAM, and, the prices for those, along with the other components I'd want, are just too high for me ATM. I would have the money, but, I'm not willing to pay such prices... better wait until that whole buying frenzy thing has cooled down a bit. Just a question when that will be really...

Depends what type of RAM you are after, two DDR4 16GB DIMMs can be had for £120.

Thanks. I'm mostly looking for complete systems. I guess it's not only the RAM which drives the price, but also the other components I'm looking for. Most often, they build 32 gigs only in the upper mid tier models.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Yeah prebuilt systems are a con IMO, would much rather build my own and know what’s in it and be able to swap things out later if necessary.
Think that’s why I’ve not bought a M1 Mac yet as the hardware options seem a massive ripoff, especially things like the internal SSD. Plus knowing you’re stuck with the options you select, can’t later upgrade RAM or CPU.
That said, a definite pro for Mac is it’s much easier to sell a Mac on after when the next gen come out than a no name partscaster PC you’ve built yourself.

[fmr]

Yeah prebuilt systems are a con IMO, would much rather build my own and know what’s in it and be able to swap things out later if necessary.
Think that’s why I’ve not bought a M1 Mac yet as the hardware options seem a massive ripoff, especially things like the internal SSD. Plus knowing you’re stuck with the options you select, can’t later upgrade RAM or CPU.
That said, a definite pro for Mac is it’s much easier to sell a Mac on after when the next gen come out than a no name partscaster PC you’ve built yourself.

Maybe, but then, if you assembled it yourself, you'll hardly need to resell it, right? I mean, I had my previous desktop system for ten years. Recently I assembled a new one, and I plan to have it for the next ten years. And the previous one is still there, ready to run if I need it to.

My laptop already turned one, and it's serving me as well as in the beginning. Having so many options to choose from, if you choose wisely you'll hardly need to resell anything. Buying something to resell it shortly after is a dumb option, IMO.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Yeah I just get issues with windows drivers regularly, mainly USB hosts that having a fast Mac would probably circumvent. I did buy a cheap old Mac Mini, but it's way too slow to get away with using that for anything more than running stuff like the TR8-S editing software that just won't run on my PC.

[epiphaneia]

@Brian: The Zenology Pro lifetime key bundle still comes with 1 free year of ultimate membership for new users, correct?

1) Does this "free" ultimate membership also include the two lifetime keys in line with your play4life promotion, so that one would basically get the zenology bundle + 2 more lifetime licenses + a year of ultimate membership for 499?
2) It says "for new users" - does that mean "totally new account", or "no active subscription"?
3) ... and is there any way to open a friendly side door for current users? Of course it would be totally legit to just register via a bandmate etc, but that´s so tedious.

(Yeah, I still hate the RCM dearly because it refuses to play well on a Mac that´s usually offline, but the current deals look to good to pass on)

[Chrisk-K]

I hope the JX-8P is going to be released as a separate software synth like the JD-800. I will buy a lifetime key in a heartbeat.

[chk071]

I'd get a Pro year subscription with a lifetime key in a heartbeat if they had a JP-8k emulation in their portfolio...

[fmr]

I'd get a Pro year subscription with a lifetime key in a heartbeat if they had a JP-8k emulation in their portfolio...

I can't see what's so special about it. If it's the supersaws, you get plenty of those in several other (much better) synths. As a synth, it is VERY overrated instrument, IMO.

[chk071]

Opinions shmopinions.

Fact is that it's one of their most famous digital synths, and pretty incomprehensible why they didn't yet make a Cloud synth out of it.

And, in my opinion, it's sounding great.

[JonSolo]

@Brian: The Zenology Pro lifetime key bundle still comes with 1 free year of ultimate membership for new users, correct?

1) Does this "free" ultimate membership also include the two lifetime keys in line with your play4life promotion, so that one would basically get the zenology bundle + 2 more lifetime licenses + a year of ultimate membership for 499?
2) It says "for new users" - does that mean "totally new account", or "no active subscription"?

I would like to know this as well.

[Examigan]

Opinions shmopinions.

Fact is that it's one of their most famous digital synths, and pretty incomprehensible why they didn't yet make a Cloud synth out of it.

I think it had it its 25th anniversary this year since it was originally released.

[chk071]

Yeah, all the more reason for Roland to finally do it.