VC cards loader

[suenio]

Hi,
I'm not sure whether this was not already discussed here but did you guys work on clonning VC cards using regular Compact flash cards. I'm asking as I'm from Poland and cant buy any of VC-1 VC-2 cards in the shops as they were discontinued and this is probably the only way get it working.

I know this is probably what Roland will complain about but not seeing other option to get VC cards

Thanx,
Wojtek

[kokocalamar]

Hello Wojtek,

Here's a friendly advice:

You better take your business elsewhere...

[Artemiy]

Many people tried this due to the extreme lack of VC-1 and VC-2 for the V-Synth keyboard, but it doesn't work. Roland seem to use some special PC cards which cannot be cloned.

[suenio]

Artemio,
I dont want to give up so easly

Does anybody tried to split rom for VSynth XT and extract VC1 and VC2 from it. I did some digging and looks like it is divided to VAPP1, VAPP2 and VAPP3 sections that reflect vc cards and regular vsynth functionality. Additionally it contains bootloader. In one of the old posts I have seen note fom you that somebody did versions of the roms on the flash cards that booted alternativly with patches 1.5 or 2.0. Does it mean somebody alredy succeed with creating bootable flash card manually with regular v-synth rom. This would be helpful.

Thanx,
Wojtek

[Artemiy]

First and foremost, it's illegal.

But anyway, even if you make a 100% binary copy of a VC card, it won't boot. There is something special in the card hardware itself.

[suenio]

Hi Artemio,
I went trough license agreement for Roland downloadable software and you are right. It is illegal so I will probably stop trying this but anyway the way Roland discontinued production of VC cards for V-Synth shows for me lack of professionality in customer relationship.

Thanx,
Wojtek

[Artemiy]

Well at least we can't blame the developers and engineers, they always do an excellent job. Now we need to think how to eliminate the marketing section... hmmm... tempting... then we can make them re-issue the TB-303 and TR-808!!!

[Silver Dragon Sound]

I guess you can always get a D50 or the Roland SVC-350 and get the original thing. I do feel your frustration though. I can't find a VC2 card. I saw one on Ebay but it sold for $545. Roland is trying to push sales of the New v synth GT as well as the XT so I doubt that they will ever re-release them. Its a real pity!

[seamonkey]

There are plenty of VC1 D50 cards available.
I just picked one up at American Musical Supply.
They are available at other Online suppliers as well such as Sweetwater.
Many are discounting them so I would hurry because I would bet they are in limited supply.

Many V-synth users are finding VC2 unavailable which I think is a shame that Roland is not supporting it's loyal V-synth customers.
There are many V-synths floating around out there on ebay and none have the VC2 installed.
If this were an older synthesizer I could understand Roland not supporting add ons but come on this is still new technology.

Here's a link to American Musical Supply:

http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-ROL-VC1.html

[johnny]

Hi,

I bought my (original) VC-2 years ago and tried (just for fun) to copy it. Its impossible, even with some hints. Roland know exactly how to make software copy save.

And right, they do a great engineering-job (mostly) and
its absolutly worth the money.

I'm sure, there is a possibility to get a VC card somewhere.

The only point about roland, what makes me mad is,
that the vsynth had only one major software update (v2).
Even the new product is not really a great improve. We payed a lot and i would be fair to implement some small improvements like osc-panning or things like that. Or a new VC card. That can't be so hard to implement. If there is no change and no improvement, the products beginn to get "boring". So ideas like "lets copy a vc-card" and
"lets install linux" come up. Its not illigal to have ideas and dreams to make something better.

lg. JayT.

[DodgingRain]

I'm sure somebody could reverse engineer the hardware in the card.

For the prices the VC-2 goes for it's really tempting to sell mine and put that and the cost of my v-synth towards a GT. I do really like the VC-2 though, even given it's strange way of creating new patches.

[jsepeta]

what's even more disappointing is the fact that Roland was really onto something when they produced the VC1 and VC2. had they expanded on the idea and created more roland classic gear on pc cards, they would have continued to grow in popularity. i mean, come on, who wouldn't want to load a TB303 or JD990 or JP8080 into their VariOS?

[wigworld]

I started with a Varios, then later sold it and moved on to a V-Synth XT. It might seem strange, having an the power of the XT, but I miss the 808 and Jupiter emulations of the Varios. It would be great if they could somehow be made available for the V-Synth range - perhaps as a download that could be transferred onto a compact flash/PC-card.

[Brokebeat]

Hello all,

I, too, would like to see more support from Roland for my Varios, and for those who bought the original V-Synths. If Roland is not about to support these products any more, I hope that they would release SDKs for these machines. Therefore, nobody would have to reverse-engineer anything, and the community could create new instruments for these pieces of kit (pun intended). After all, the Varios has audio inputs that aren't very useful without the VC-2.

I'd even be happy if Roland released some guitar/vocal/bass effects software for these machines, so at least my Varios could be used as an effects box for my bass, or I could use it as a USB recording interface, at least.

[dysamoria]

now, see, that's a great idea. Since Roland gave up on the VariOS, why not enable users to develop more on it themselves?

Why?

Because Roland marketing realized that the product development people were making products that made competition for themselves. Why produce something that can continue to see development, selling small expansions, when you can entice the market to buy entirely new products all over again?

Marketing will ALWAYS ruin products.