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Another Roland Countdown!


flat earth

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The Masses: Hey, you invented the groovebox (MC-303) and arguably made the best one (MC-909). What's next?

Roland: What about the MC-808? No? Then we give up. Grooveboxes are soooo 2002.

 

 

I really like my MC909 so far - it would be nice if Roland would just release an OS update that fixed the common quirks on the unit.

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Only 8 Days 17 Hours 23 Mins and 3 seconds to go

 

 

Tack another 30 years on to there for all I care. Every time I buy a synth I check out Roland's stuff and every time I walk away disappointed. Not only do they not do anything ground breaking, but they can't even follow other company's leads competently.

 

Hell, the only things you see people talk about with real enthusiasm are their old analog stuff and the AX-1 or AX-7. They had such an opportunity to appeal to the already niche market with the AX-7 successor, the AX-Synth and they made that thing the size of a surf board. Even this excessively large of a man is dwarfed by the AX-Synth:

 

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

 

They could shut their doors for good and the only thing I would be thinking is there will be more room in the music shops for quality gear.

 

-Mc

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They had such an opportunity to appeal to the already niche market with the AX-7 successor, the AX-Synth and they made that thing the size of a surf board.

 

 

I know. That is so sick. I can't for the life of me understand how they managed to do that. I'd like to meet those people and ask them what the f

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If they were to re-release the AX-7 at a controller keyboard price, I'd pick one up... and I *HATE* keytars. Luckily, my band thinks they look lame also so I'll never have to "need" one.

 

I'd love to see a demo of the AX-synth with a 5'10" guy who weighs 160 pounds. It'd be like a MAD TV skit...

 

-Mc

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I just had a thought on the future of workstations:
The next big thing will be the incorporation of VST/RTAS hosting much like the Muse Receptor.

Imagine being able to load the softsynth of your choice right into your Fantom... :eek: It seems like the logical direction that workstations will go. Anyway, it's just a thought.

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I've been asking for that for a while now. I see it as the next logical step in synths. If Roland is the first to do it, I'd probably pick one up DESPITE the fact it would have a Roland badge on it.

 

The V-Machine proved it could be done cheaply. Let's see how much we gouged for it when it comes out though. If SM Pro Audio were smart, they'd expand the line to a full synth.

 

-Mc

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Not only do they not do anything ground breaking, but they can't even follow other company's leads competently.

 

 

V-Synth. V-Piano.

 

 

Hell, the only things you see people talk about with real enthusiasm are their old analog stuff and the AX-1 or AX-7.

 

That's because the CS80 was a beast out of financial reach for everyone and Korg never made a proper analog polysynth - all possible candidates you name have some kind of stupid gimmick.

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and Korg never made a proper analog polysynth

 

The Trident was pretty close. A few very slight changes here and there and it would have been 'the' alternative to the JP8 (imo :D)

 

..Polysix was a proper analogue polysynth....no? :idk: (although at the lower end of the market, but 'proper' none the less).

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That's because the CS80 was a beast out of financial reach for everyone and Korg never made a proper analog polysynth.

 

 

The mono/poly and PolySix were pretty decent and are still sought after today for a reason. According to John Bowen at PNW 2006, Sequential Circuits lost a LOT of sales on their Prophet 5 due to the PolySix and scrambled to get something out to compete.

 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8990390251294637022&ei=7LORSqqCEYWyrgK8w7HOCw&q=john+bowen+sequential+circuits&hl=en

 

And I wouldn't call Roland's V-line groundbreaking. It was great by Roland standards (but they high 5 themselves when they decide on a new color so that doesn't say much), just gear in the grand scheme of things. If the V-line was so awesome, either you would see them everywhere or they would be priced so high you wouldn't. You don't see them ANYWHERE (videos, live performance) compared to Motifs or M3's and it's not because of price.

 

All Roland has left is cheap gimmicks to sell gear. They can't compete in any other category. Thus, the countdown to mediocrity this thread is supposed to be about.

 

-Mc

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What groundbreaking product that's not software-based has been released in the last ten years? Anything? Nekos and Receptors obviously don't count.

The Nord Lead, the Yamaha VL-1, Karma... Those are the last ones I can think of. Variphrase and the V-Piano aren't exactly groundbreaking but what else is, ya' know?

The only stuff I get excited over these days is software-based.

And if the new review of the V-Piano in Keyboard magazine is any indication (yeah, yeah, I know

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