Roland Cloud

[midi_transmission]

Why not offering an option to use actual Roland devices connected via USB as an dongle for your account/all lisences? When you buy an boutique synth for example, add a software license to the bundle.

Or make a small system 8 device that acts as a controller and dongle.

This is just one idea. There are so many good possibility which can be consumer friendly too compared to the current system. When it's broken find better solutions and not just stick to it. After all you want to sell things and there are so many people pointing very friendly on the part that hurts that's practically a gift for your product management team.

[jasonekratz]

But this last quote from him gets me to ask him to clarify if the "Lifetime Key(s)" do or do not have to do these periodic checks?
I understand if it checks once during the install. But I already have enough Roland lifetime keys from their previous schemes that require authentication from an abandoned venture of theirs. So is Lifetime, Lifetime? Or a lifetime of periodic checks until they get another idea they like better?

I'm not Brian but Lifetime keys aren't any different. You own a license to the instrument(s) but it still has to check that you paid for it. Would love to be proven wrong by Brian but I don't think I will

[Echoes in the Attic]

But this last quote from him gets me to ask him to clarify if the "Lifetime Key(s)" do or do not have to do these periodic checks?
I understand if it checks once during the install. But I already have enough Roland lifetime keys from their previous schemes that require authentication from an abandoned venture of theirs. So is Lifetime, Lifetime? Or a lifetime of periodic checks until they get another idea they like better?

I'm not Brian but Lifetime keys aren't any different. You own a license to the instrument(s) but it still has to check that you paid for it. Would love to be proven wrong by Brian but I don't think I will

Yeah that's correct. I have lifetime keys but am not actively subscribed. I need to have the Cloud software installed and so it checks every month now for the license. It's like being subscribed but only for the licenses you own permanently. Servers go down when it checks, sorry can't use your "lifetime" plugins.

[Jeezo]

I doubt they’re going to change now, it’s becoming more normal and for obvious reasons is seen as a way to protect their income.

How does it do that? From my perspective it is reducing their income, as I would have contributed to that income without the periodic connections needed.

Hey, Echoes in the Attic! This authorization structure prevents piracy. Periodic checking of licenses is normal in most cases to make sure the same program isn't being used by or shared to multiple users. We've had permanent authorization request before, but we do require some form of piracy prevention to be to keep producing new instruments and content, and permanent authorization is unlikely. We do offer Lifetime Keys for those that would like a single purchase license option, as opposed to a monthly or annual membership. For more info on Lifetime Keys, follow this link, scroll down and click on Lifetime Keys. Thanks!

https://www.rolandcloud.com/roland-account/memberships/

Roland, let us use these without constantly having to be online. Just give us a challenge/response and I'll buy many more of these plugins.

Hi, Echoes in the Attic! We have changed this recently, actually. Previously, the authentication process would check every seven days, it has been changed to check once a month. An internet connection is only required to authenticate instruments once every 30 days currently. Thanks!

Hi Brian , are we supposed to launch the roland cloud app or it s handled in the background ?
Any Eta on EDU prices ?
Thks

Hi, Jeezo! Great questions. If your instruments need authorization, simply connect to the internet, and open Roland Cloud Manager. That will authorize everything all at once, and you'll be good for 30 days. Roland Cloud Manager always has new content and updates for your favorite instruments, but it doesn't need to be running in the background all the time. There is a menu in the lower left corner of Roland Cloud Manager that allows you to toggle the Run on Startup and Auto-update My Instruments options.

Our EDU program is rolling out to a few schools currently. If you would like to see Roland Cloud EDU in your school, let them know, we'd be glad to work with them. Some schools have Roland Cloud EDU built into tuition and some offer a student discount, so please consult your instructor for pricing information. Thanks!

Thks , i really hope Roland gonna make it right for the perpetual licences for real !!

As for School , i'm a teacher at AbbeyRoad Institute , could you handle a discount for my next purchase or do i need to organise the whole thing with roland and school witch i don't feel like so for now ... (feel free to PM , i sent you a message at cakewalk by bandlab forum by the way few weeks ago )

Thks , Roland Cloud has an enormous potential , be sure to push and lobby in the right direction , licence management should be the subject here , but incredible sound quality and fun !!!

[BBFG#]

But this last quote from him gets me to ask him to clarify if the "Lifetime Key(s)" do or do not have to do these periodic checks?
I understand if it checks once during the install. But I already have enough Roland lifetime keys from their previous schemes that require authentication from an abandoned venture of theirs. So is Lifetime, Lifetime? Or a lifetime of periodic checks until they get another idea they like better?

I'm not Brian but Lifetime keys aren't any different. You own a license to the instrument(s) but it still has to check that you paid for it. Would love to be proven wrong by Brian but I don't think I will

This has been my understanding as well. It's just that "official" bot Brian responses have continually taken the scripted approach to ambiguously implying it's somehow different without ever stating specifics.
Roland's main purpose has been in trying to generate residual income rather than innovating anything really new. And all in blade runner replicant fashion. i.e "4 year lifespan". Zenology is already the push towards the new marketing with all these "lifetime keys" being little more than the bait to switch from and to lock in their cold call email list under that.
What seens to be lingering the most to me from my previous comment is the idea they seem to think there are more pirates than potential customers though. This level of paranoia is generally indicative of deeper issues.

Still, I watch for any sign of them returning to being a lead to innovation rather than followers of bad billionaire marketing strategies.

The scripted bot responses continually tell me that's doubtful though.

[WatchTheGuitar]

I'm so bored of these complaining-about-how-roland-cloud-works bots on the Roland Cloud thread

[Examigan]

I haven't had problems with the Cloud service in general over the last few months. But like I mentioned earlier here, I never received an answer to my question I sent them about the D-50.

That was January 4th, then they sent me a reply saying they had an issue with their system so they didn't see all the emails that had been sent in, or something along those lines...but it didn't answer the question. It was like an auto-reply type of message. Part of it said "We hope this information is helpful. To reopen this request, please reply to this email." So I did.

I've had no reply now (again) for 18 additional days.

[chroma]

It’s been hit or miss with me.... lately, about half the time, I open one of the Roland cloud plugins, and Live just hangs - I have to kill it and start over. Definitely a workflow killer, I’ve started avoiding them just to make sure I can keep going.... other times, they open right up. No obvious differences....

[chroma]

On the other hand, I had a question about lifetime keys from rewards, and they answered my initial request in a day, and I had new keys a couple days later, so I’ll give them props for that. Seems not everyone is so lucky...

[Aloysius]

We all love iLok.

+1 on this.

Yeah! iLok is the way to go.

[BBFG#]

We all love iLok.

+1 on this.

Yeah! iLok is the way to go.

[Benutzername]

This authorization structure prevents piracy.

How? Users of pirated versions just use patched dlls that don't require the cloud to run at all. Only legal users are fighting this overly paranoid madness all the time. As it stands now all users of the illegal versions get a much better product without paying anything at all. How can this be any good for your paying customers?

This kind of authorization paranoia creates a lot of support cases, needs constant development to fight increasing privacy countermeasures in the latest operating systems and it prevents many users to buy into your system. How can this be any good for your company?

[davidka]

Recently a number of System-1/8s appeared on the marketplaces I follow, and they look wonderful.
I thought - the investment would also justify adopting the plug-out infrastructure. I remember from a trial month that they (vst) sound great, but the juno/jupiter8 are also well covered by others now.

Question is, how likely do you think additional plug-outs (hopefully ACB) will follow in the future?
Do you think Roland would phase-out ACB and plug-out technology in favor of Zen:core? Do you have any news, or hints in this topic?

[epiphaneia]

This authorization structure prevents piracy.

How? Users of pirated versions just use patched dlls that don't require the cloud to run at all. Only legal users are fighting this overly paranoid madness all the time. As it stands now all users of the illegal versions get a much better product without paying anything at all. How can this be any good for your paying customers?

This kind of authorization paranoia creates a lot of support cases, needs constant development to fight increasing privacy countermeasures in the latest operating systems and it prevents many users to buy into your system. How can this be any good for your company?

+1000.

I´m so tired of Roland Cloud Manager telling me that I have "no internet connection", popping up in the middle of my screen every few hours even when I am not running any Roland plugin. No, I don´t want to keep opening and closing the RCM whenever I open or close a Roland plugin (and once the RCM figures out it can´t connect, it gets kind of stuck and I couldn´t even close it anyway, have to shoot it down with the task manager). Oh and have I mentioned that even with the newest RCM version I still have to enter user/pass every time I restart the computer?

I admire the effort of Brian ("I´ll take that back to the team") to talk to and listen to everyone, but it´s also obvious that he can´t change the strategic decisions - the job /is/ to defend whatever strategy your employer has as a good one with a bit of template rhetoric, and not publicly state: "I know it´s stupid, but they pay my bills".

I digress... anyway, I own a bunch of full price licenses (yeah, the regular licenses which have been converted into "lifetime keys" a while ago, sh2, system100, yadda yadda), and I don´t use the plugins anymore, because of the RCM. Sunk costs, basically.

So yeah, the bad guys get the better product here, and Roland can´t want that.

[Echoes in the Attic]

This authorization structure prevents piracy.

How? Users of pirated versions just use patched dlls that don't require the cloud to run at all. Only legal users are fighting this overly paranoid madness all the time. As it stands now all users of the illegal versions get a much better product without paying anything at all. How can this be any good for your paying customers?

This kind of authorization paranoia creates a lot of support cases, needs constant development to fight increasing privacy countermeasures in the latest operating systems and it prevents many users to buy into your system. How can this be any good for your company?

Exactly. There are pirated versions out there where users don't need to deal with this cloud manager nonsense. And those of us who actually paid and want to do the right thing get punished by having to be online and are subject to thee whims of this software and the cloud connection. I don't see how this software prevents piracy.