Did you read what I wrote? I'm not saying it's best or worse. I said that what Roland is doing is not new (far from it). It was attempted in the past, and it failed. It has advantages and disadvantages. The question is how much customers will find it advantageous enough to invest on it. And the fact that Roland is not "updating" it doesn't help.beely wrote:Sure, but for any money, you can buy other things. You could spend that money on a car, or a radio controlled helicopter, whatever. Someone interested in a System 8 probably already has a computer system and various plugins - they're attracted the to S8 because it gives them a standalone synth they can play live, and because you have a dedicated synth control surface that adapts to the different synth models, with correctly labelled and setup controls etc - that is a *big* win for synth programming.fmr wrote:For that price, you are able to buy a decent spec'ed laptop and a decent controller keyboard. Add a good audio interface (let's say another 1.000) and you already a much more powerful system, and with potential to grow "ad infinitum". And that system is upgradeable, since you can replace the laptop with a more powerful one, and you immediately have a newer and updated system - which is not the case with the System-8. That's the weakness of systems like the "plug-out" one.
And with a system like what I described, you aren't locked to plug-outs - you can use ANYTHING.
With something like Komplete Controller Keyboard you have labels and several controllers for specific parameters (with some limitations, of course). Again, it depends what the aim is, what exactly is it that you want, and what exactly do you accept to give up. And System-8 IS a computer. It simply doesn't look like one. NeKo also allowed you to do music away from the computer, as did Noah... and they had customers. Yet, as products, both failed.beely wrote: Buying a laptop and plugins gives you more sounds, but it doesn't give you a control surface, or a way to make music away from the computer. Different things.
This is the kind of argument that can't be denied, althoug it also doesn't add anything to the subject in discussion.beely wrote: These are silly arguments really - products are what they are, and appeal or don't appeal to individuals, and they live and die in the marketplace.
The business POV is not in discussion. About whether Roland did abandon it or not, that's what we are SPECULATING. The fact is that Roland has an infamous track of abandoned products and technologies, and the fact that it is not updating doesn't help either.beely wrote: As for Roland abandoning it - we don't really know yet if the whole thing *had* been "abandoned", whatever that means. Some people have said that Roland have abandoned the concept foolishly because it didn't do well in the market. Well - if it didn't do well, it means it's not appealing to people so why should they continue to invest in something that "failed"? Invest in the next thing that might be way better - or find out why it failed, and create new products that address those issues to make it more appealing. The idea that Roland should blindly keep making these things when no-one is buying them is stupid - they will adapt, and move forward, just as they have always done.
And it's not just discontinuing the products. They could discontinue the manufacturing, if there isn't enough people buying, but keep supporting the products already sold, honouring the commitment they assumed with their paying customers. Many companies keep supporting products that are no longer being sold. That's not what usually happens with Roland, though. Customers are left with TOTALLY abandoned products.
Time will tell, as you finished in your post... except that I already watched this movie and several sequels. I simply pointed it out, and tried to give some answers as to why this concept, although apparently logical and looking good on paper, did fail several times. Which seems to point that there aren't so many people interested in it as you may think. But times change, and what was true ten years ago may not be true anymore. We'll see.
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Sure, of course I know it, but that's because the argument was that people wanted to be "away" from the computer. Buying a System-8 to be "away" from the computer seems like fooling oneself, IMO 
