Roland Verselab-1 Or Roland MC-101

[MeteoXavier]

I've never looked into grooveboxes or MPC-style workstations before, I'd always been a keyboard/rackmount enthusiast with limited horizon, but with this topic question that begins to change. I only just now learned that both the Verselab-1 and the MC-101 have thousands of sounds in them, much of them I recognize as I scan through as sounds from the elder Fantom series, XV-series, maybe even the FA-06/Integra/Jupiter 50 and such.

Has anyone used/played with either unit's factory pianos, strings, bass, choir, synth pads, bells, ethnic, etc.-stuff-besides-the-drum-samples enough to give me an idea on the sound quality of them? Like instead of getting an FA-06 (about $700 which was my budget here) or an Integra (the unit I'd really want but can't justify the $2,000 it still goes for) would I be able to get one of these for like $400/$500 and hook it up to my piano and have that be my ultimate little Roland sound module unit? I wouldn't expect it to sound as good as a flagship Fantom-8 or a $4,000 piano or anything, but having them sound as good as a second-hand Fantom-X or G or FA-06 or whatever would be good enough for me.

LACONIC VERSION:
How good does the non-drum sounds in either unit sound? Sound quality of these units specifically is all I'm asking about.

FURTHER CONTEXT:
This is for a specific niche-kinda music need I have. I have loads of software with the best synth and piano and orchestral sounds on the market that I use for my main music output, so I don't need "the best sounds" on the market altogether, I already have them. This is more of a personal sideproject as I'm in love with the whole "late-90s/mid-2000s ROMpler MIDI" music era as "my thing" and I want to complete its acquisition with one last hardware purchase in that area. I only have a Yamaha Clav, Roland XV-5050 and Roland XV-5080 as my hardware and I'm doing it with the least amount of gear acquisition and studio space as possible, which is why I'm looking at these little boxes now instead of a keyboard. I do not plan to be performing outside my home but I might like to learn how to make synth groovebox jams streaming to Youtube in time.

Thank you!

[FranklyFlawless]

LACONIC VERSION:
How good does the non-drum sounds in either unit sound? Sound quality of these units specifically is all I'm asking about.

Exact same. Both use ZEN-Core as their sound generator. What is ZEN-Core? Basically interchangable patches between all Roland hardware and software that use it.

Thanks for the educational trip.

[MeteoXavier]

Ok, it's useful to know either unit sounds as good as the other (don't know how to write that where it doesn't sound sarcastic, but I am genuine there), how good does one/either sound as a sound module? Like, I see there are patches from the Fantom X series in there, do they sound as good coming out of the MC or Verselab as the original Fantom X/XR? About 70% of the reason I want to get one is as an Integra alternative to hook up via MIDI to my Clavinova and enjoy the pianos, strings, organs, etc. in addition to the drums and Zencore synth sounds.

I am just now finding some Youtube videos that show off a lot of these instruments where I wasn't finding them last night (buried in the algorithm I guess) and I'm checking them out without my studio headphones. I do not have a way to try one for myself as the nearest brick-and-mortar that would even have one is more than an hour's drive away.

[Stefken]

It is like this, more or less....

Roland first developed ACB (Analog circuit behavior) which err... models how analog circuits behave. I believe the first Roland Cloud emulations used that technology (some aira too). This gave good emulation results but was quite cpu intensive, limiting the number of voices.
After that they released ABM (Analog Behavior Modeling). This uses a simplified and more generic model where different models can be derived from by 'configuring' the generic model in a different way. The emulations are more approximations then that the emulation is specifically tailored to sound like a specific synth.

To make a comparison. The Repro-5 from U-he (released around the same time ... ballpark ish) was tailored to a very high degree to sound exactely like the Prophet using extended circuit modelling.
That is not what Roland did. ACB could not handle enough voices, so to create a platform that could drive enough voices and instruments at the same time to implement a groovebox, they stepped the authenticity down a notch with ABM. (To compare: if i am correct, the Roland JU-06A Boutique uses ACB, but it can handle only 4 voices. Roland fased out their devices with ACB in favor of ABM. )

Now, this ABM is what drives the ZEN core instruments. Instruments that use ZEN core (MC-101, MC-707, Jupiter-X, Fantom, ...) sound the same. (There are differences though as to what hardware can use the derived models; MC-101 and MC-707 can only use the standard ZEN core model, as i understand it). They sound good, but someone who is really picky and puts them next to their analog counterpart might find the emulation not good enough.
When the first videos came out comparing the Jupiter-X to the analog Jupiter, I was like : hmmm, pretty good but not exactely the same. That doesn t stop people from loving their Jupiter-X though.

Conclusion: All Zencore products have the same engine (ABM) driving it so there is no apparent reason that they would sound different (when using the standard ZEN core model). Zencore is optimised to deliver a large number of voices. The emulation is certainly good and will deliver for anyone but the most picky analog enthousiast.

[MeteoXavier]

Also useful info, thanks Stefken. I'm not a picky analog enthusiast, I expect Zencore will take care of my synth needs in a hardware package right off the bat. This is more about the other samples it has apparently collected from Roland's entire history of workstation samples and stuff.

Maybe I should ask it like this:

It appears neither box allows bigger Roland Cloud model expansions or the Wave Expansion stuff, but the SDZ stuff they are compatible with may be the answer there. SDZ126 Awakening alone sounds like it has piano and organ stuff that is useful to me. Let me ask this: if I got Roland Cloud and purchased the lifetime keys of some of these expansions for the Verse/MC-101, would I be able to use them offline, or does the Verse/MC-101 still have to be hooked up to my computer/internet to use it?

[Stefken]

would I be able to use them offline, or does the Verse/MC-101 still have to be hooked up to my computer/internet to use it?

Can t give you a definitive answer to this, but the MC-101 was conceived to take along with you in your backpack, so ....a internet connection needed after activation kind of defeats the purpose, right? Roland support can easily answer this though.

[FranklyFlawless]

Let me ask this: if I got Roland Cloud and purchased the lifetime keys of some of these expansions for the Verse/MC-101, would I be able to use them offline, or does the Verse/MC-101 still have to be hooked up to my computer/internet to use it?

You can use either offline.