The point of this thread is to seek information as to Roland's plans with future ARX cards. Excuse me for asking what a manufacturer might be planning regarding equipment that costs thousands of dollars.

deswind, as I explained many times, the vast majority of companies keep their development in secret. Let's work with what we have, after all, just a few years ago we did not have even this.

Artemiy--I was already satisfied with your response. You responded that there will be more. I am just responding to someone who did not understand the -purpose of the thread. Certainly, if there is something public about the cards, I just wanted to make sure I knew about it. I thought maybe this forum would be the best way to find out.

I repeat - IF THERE IS SOMETHING PUBLIC ABOUT IT, I would like to know when it is made public.

We are discussing the discussion... I am falling asleep ;-)

I debated whether to even respond to the last couple of posts.

But in case anyone is reading this thread - the only substantive response is THAT THERE WILL BE MORE ARX CARDS according to the best inforrmation Artemiy has.

I've spoken to a Roland rep and told him the consensus regarding ARX boards ... too narrowly focused on a specific instrument for the cash outlay and number of expansion slots available ... Basically, for $800 or so, your only get two new instruments (that do allow for wide tweaking, but still ... )

He seemed genuinely surprised at this info ... which genuinely surprised me in return ...

Perhaps Roland is coming grips that they cannot implement an ARX card that people want ... For example, it seems an orchestral card is high on many people's list ... But it's possible the format would only allow some string models AND NOT ALSO the various wind instruments, brass, orchestral drums and vox most would expect ...

Considering there's already a dedicated brass card, I think that could be the case ...

Personally, I don't think ARX is done ... but then again, if the format cannot be dramatically improved -- I think most would consider the first offerings a fiesta del failure -- maybe Roland is going to cut their losses ...

I wonder how much $$$ Roland has invested into this format ... ???

Not too much, I may say... from watching demos of ARX-03 it kinda reminds me of AP synthesis from V-synth GT. From what I see it's mostly "refurbishing" their technologies into newer, more marketable products - so no losses from R&D (or too little to mention at a corporate level). That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with this tactic. Other synth manufacturers are even worse, at least Roland gives each product a touch of uniqueness... although this is not always appreciated.

ARX-03 is far, far away from AP-Synthesis on the GT. They do use the physical modeling for articulations, but it's much different on the ARX-03, and the sample content is completely unique. I have heard raving reviews on this board from most of the users.

Although I admit the "raving" character of my previous post I never intended to describe it as a "review". It's simply something based on hearing and intuition - and you're right, the ARX-03 articulations made me think of AP synthesis in the first place. I also do not know anything on AP synthesis - other than what I've seen in the demos. Since they both sounded similar (to me) led me to conclude it's - arguably - the same stuff. At least at a R&D level.

No more expansion boards please!
Just give us everything you can in the board to begin with and then some Sample additions later. Keep it simple...aka Yamaha and Korg, etc.

Roland is still my choice for now, but very irritating that with 8 faders, no organ modeling was included, for example. The G-70 has it.

I say wait until January 2010 and see what announcements are made at Winter NAMM.

That's about it ...

LOL I had a dream about Musikmesse today ;-) They introduced a V-Synth GT with 76 and 88 note keyboards, and Fantom-G sized display which was built-in vertically, as well as a V-Synth XT with a white body and red monochrome display. Nothing out of these makes sense except in my dreams of course ;-)

Art: talk about dreams! The other day I dreamt that I bought a G7, only to realize that the lowest octave (it was a 6 octave one, from C to C, weird, huh!) was placed vertically. And in my dream I was scratching my head, wondering how to play a full keyboard gliss!!!! LOL!

I had a dream of a holographic ARX card that you could just reach in and change any paremeter with no menus.
You could also reach in and choke the Roland Assistant if you got frustrated!!!

Sorry Art. I would not choke you...maybe the secret Roland agent, however. ;-)