Roland Cloud

[WatchTheGuitar]

as a big fan of Roland synths and especially JD-800, I'm also interested in the reasons and stories behind everything, like why there are any differences at all.

Presupposing Brian knows all. Which he probably doesn't.

[Captain]

Presupposing Brian knows all. Which he probably doesn't.

I'm sure he doesn't But there's also nothing wrong in saying "I don't know" or "I'm not sure" or "I'm just as puzzled as you are" or "I'll try to find some more info, but can't promise anything". At least that would be better than giving these polite-looking corporate answers with no real information...

[WatchTheGuitar]

Presupposing Brian knows all. Which he probably doesn't.

I'm sure he doesn't But there's also nothing wrong in saying "I don't know" or "I'm not sure" or "I'm just as puzzled as you are" or "I'll try to find some more info, but can't promise anything". At least that would be better than giving these polite-looking corporate answers with no real information...

Yeah, but in your other post you seemed to say they were being opaque about the reasons and all I’m saying is he probably doesn’t know and is it really something that’s going to have a funny story behind it other than for copyright reasons?

[Captain]

Yeah, but in your other post you seemed to say they were being opaque about the reasons and all I’m saying is he probably doesn’t know and is it really something that’s going to have a funny story behind it other than for copyright reasons?

That’s the thing, I don’t know. I can understand changing Rhodes and Strato for copyright reasons, but Sci-fi Groove? Sunday Best? Probably not a funny story behind those changes, but intriguing at least. But the patch names are really not that important, I’d really like to know more about the patches themselves and the apparent differences from the hardware JD-800.

(Anyway, in the grand scale of things, none of this really really matters of course...)

[WatchTheGuitar]

Not 100% comparable, but I'm a dev (at a boring council not a sexy music software company) and when I change stuff the support guys know nothing about why it's been changed, only that it has, so none of this strikes me as odd.

[Shiek927]

Reminds me of EastWest sounds and their upcoming Hollywood Opus Library. They announced it in January and said everyone should hop on a subscription while their was a deal throughout the month. But here we are in March and the library still hasn't been released. People have been getting upset because it feels like they got roped into a subscription with nothing to show for. The 'deal' has been rewritten on the website and, on Facebook, they're just copy-pasting that they're still working on it. It's only a little while ago that the veil broke and there was an actual real answer that there will hopefully be more info at the end of this month haha. I personally thanked them for their honesty and asked them to please be more transparent in the future: even if they can't say much because of internal reasons or because they genuinely don't know, it's much more meaningful to come across as honest about it than simply copy-paste a short-handed boilerplate response that doesn't feel genuine.

[Brian.McClelland]

Hey, Captain! Brian from Roland Cloud here. To answer your question about patch names, yes, a few of the names have been changed, but the sounds are still the same. Thanks!

This reminds me of the joke involving guys in a hot-air balloon getting lost and asking where they are, and a guy on the ground telling them they are in a hot-air balloon, leading the guys in the balloon to deduce he must be a mathematician (because the answer was 100% correct and completely useless). We must be talking with GPT-3 here?

On a more serious note, I understand that some companies wish to keep certain things to themselves, and have a sort of buffer between the core teams and end users. Nothing wrong with that. I'd just wish slightly more transparent and less "big corporation" -esque communication to us users. You don't have to go all u-he where we can actually talk with the guys who make the synths, but we are also not stupid, and we can handle some tech talk and serious low-level discussion. I don't really mind if the Zenology JD-800 sounds slightly different from the HW JD-800, or if some patch names are different... but as a big fan of Roland synths and especially JD-800, I'm also interested in the reasons and stories behind everything, like why there are any differences at all.

Hey, Captain! I am not a robot, ha. Not the first time I've heard that. There's a guy on twitter that enjoys calling me a robot once a week it seems.

The reality is that there are some things I can discuss, some things I cannot, and some info I just do not have available to me. My admittedly brief response about patch names was a result of all three of those situations. I do want to provide everyone here with as much transparency as I can, because I believe that that makes everyone's experience better, but I am limited on addressing some things. Some R+D and design elements are difficult to address, but I am always available to help with accounts and talk about new releases.

[bluesawsq]

The delay effect in JD-800 Model Expansion has feedback control that can be set to positive or negative feedback.
But the sound output from the delay seems to be reverse to what is shown in GUI. Negative feedback values in GUI produce normal feedback sound and positive values in GUI produce inverted polarity feedback sound.
Is this a bug in Roland Cloud?

[midi_transmission]

I have to read this thread from time to time, because I'm still hoping that something changes...

It makes me sad to see that very interesting products are so messed up by everything around them that I lose interest buying them (just the idea 7 days offline use only says everything about their mindset) .

I think there are probably the wrong people in important positions, otherwise I can't understand what's going on.

I even like the System-8/TR-8 controller idea, but when I see all the problems here I have to keep strong to stay far away from it. I'm really willing to give you my money in exchange for the products, but the environment is stopping me.

Roland, what about to do a fresh start with your platform in a user friendly way? From a technical point of view, like the messed up license system and technical problems.

But also from the sales side, with a rent to buy option in addition or at least getting a permanent license per year or something? Pure subscription is not working for me at this price point for 200$ a year.

[Brian.McClelland]

I have to read this thread from time to time, because I'm still hoping that something changes...

It makes me sad to see that very interesting products are so messed up by everything around them that I lose interest buying them (just the idea 7 days offline use only says everything about their mindset) .

I think there are probably the wrong people in important positions, otherwise I can't understand what's going on.

I even like the System-8/TR-8 controller idea, but when I see all the problems here I have to keep strong to stay far away from it. I'm really willing to give you my money in exchange for the products, but the environment is stopping me.

Roland, what about to do a fresh start with your platform in a user friendly way? From a technical point of view, like the messed up license system and technical problems.

But also from the sales side, with a rent to buy option in addition or at least getting a permanent license per year or something? Pure subscription is not working for me at this price point for 200$ a year.

Hi, midi_transmission! Brian from Roland Cloud here. The community here is just giving us feedback. We work everyday to continually improve the user experience and several of the issues have been addressed here. Our most recent version of Roland Cloud Manager (2.5.10) has seen an improvement in stability, and we've released many new sound packs and patch collections. Feel free to try it out and let me know what you think. If there are specific issues that you're experiencing, or issues that you'd like addressed, let us know through the Contact Us link at http://www.rolandcloud.com/support. I usually track community feedback there and relay info when it becomes available. Thanks!

Oh also, we do have Lifetime Keys available for each instrument now. This is a great option for those that are hesitant about membership, or are interested in one instrument at at time. A Lifetime Key is a single purchase license that includes all future updates, is always attached to your account, and can be signed in on up to five devices. For more info, follow this link, scroll down and click on Lifetime Keys. Thanks!
https://www.rolandcloud.com/roland-account/memberships/

[midi_transmission]

Hi Brian,

much appreciated that you're present here and thanks for your answer. Sorry when it sounds a bit harsh what I wrote , I really do not want to insult anybody, but there is a lot of disappointment accumulated on my side, because I like the products but the whole cloud offer in the current form is not working for me. As said, the licensing system, the idea to use it 7 days offline, is far beyond anything that I will every accept as a restriction. That being said, it's not just the 7 days, I would also not accept 30 days or some more as a limit. It's the whole approach to restrict a product so much that it's feeling more like being in a prison than buying a synth that you can use.

When you think that you need this high security level, I would much prefer using a usb device, be it a dongle or one of your synth/system-1/8, as a licensing system, were you can store everything and that needs only be connected to your computer without any online connection to use the software. Could be used as an alternative system, so that everyone can decide.

Or even go one step further, let's say I'm buying the TR-08, the 808 plugin software could be included to be used more easily without any synchronization/audio input issues in the daw. The TR-08 could act as an controller and as a licenser at the same time. Just plug the Tr-08 in, install the software plugin and no other hassle. That is something I would like to buy.

The amount you get for 200$ per year is fine when you want a subscription ( I don't), but all the offers below that make no sense to me, frankly speaking.

Anyhow, I wish you all the best, but without a major change I will probably never use the Rolands software, unfortunately. There are many other other competitors that offer a better overall experience, better interfaces, better price point and have a similar sound quality.

Even tough it's negative feedback, I'm only writing this down because I like Roland for the amazing legacy and would actually like to invest in their software product range. Otherwise I would not take the time writing all this down.

[Caine123]

hey Brian, i know you may not tell and plans etc but it is a MUST to release a proper JD800-990 boutique plugin... thx

[fmr]

hey Brian, i know you may not tell and plans etc but it is a MUST to release a proper JD800-990 boutique plugin... thx

We have been telling this for ages. When we started requesting it, Zenology didn't even exist.

I guess this says everything about their intentions.

[Caine123]

hey Brian, i know you may not tell and plans etc but it is a MUST to release a proper JD800-990 boutique plugin... thx

We have been telling this for ages. When we started requesting it, Zenology didn't even exist.

I guess this says everything about their intentions.

hopefully not
zenology is nice but doesnt replace individual instruments at all!

[fmr]

hey Brian, i know you may not tell and plans etc but it is a MUST to release a proper JD800-990 boutique plugin... thx

We have been telling this for ages. When we started requesting it, Zenology didn't even exist.

I guess this says everything about their intentions.

hopefully not
zenology is nice but doesnt replace individual instruments at all!

You know that, I know that, pretty much everybody knows that... except Roland, or so it seems.

What instrument was released AFTER Zenology? I don't recalll any. And they put Zenology OUT of the choices for free to choose instruments.