Roland Gaia Sound Designer Software

[complexbanzai]

MAC installation files (filename fixed): https://mega.nz/file/NMB2GDrB#Y66-5yGg- ... MtIAdmroqw

Thank you for testing. It seems they only offer the driver up to MACOS 11/12. Listed here: https://www.roland.com/us/support/by_pr ... s_drivers/

Also I just want to add that I've only ever interacted with this software via USB (from the Gaia to the computer) from that port that says "USB to computer" on the back of the Gaia. I have no idea if the software supports interacting with MIDI, but I suppose it possibly could. Just remember for USB you need to install the additional drivers posted above (or included in the original download zip.)

Good luck. I will fix the upload to removed the "(2)" Thanks again for testing.

[pehr_torsten]

Hi complexbanzai,

I have no idea if the software supports interacting with MIDI...

I believe that some of the more advanced features of the Sound Designer require
the use of the USB interface.

Mac Install UPDATE...

I installed the Sound Designer on an old Mac Mini running Snow Leopard and had the same results
as with the VM - neither Sound Designer or the Audio Midi Setup app can find the Gaia, although
it is listed as an attached USB device in System Information. I'm thinking this is a GAIA USB driver
issue with Snow Leopard.

I will be looking for a work around for using Sound Designer on OSX - probably trying the Windows
version in a VM under Virtualbox.

[Padre]

Hey mate,
I have not tried this yet, and I will be testing it out on windows7 and 10 machines once i reset the studio (literally doing the carpentry as i procrastnate)

I forgot all about this thread, but I came back coz Ive nearly finished the the desks and lookin to see if Im wanting to keep the Gaia or sell it off... so i thought best way to do that is to re-test the unit and see how it plays with the rest of my gear.. hence my return...

But thank you for the effort in putting this package together.
I will provide a follow up when i get a chance !!

Thanks again

Hello, I made an account just so I could share software this with you. I have the physical disc and everything, so I assume that's what you're searching for. (If you meant for collecting, I'm not willing to part with my physical copy.)

Download Links:
https://mega.nz/file/YdRCxRzT#NvvLunIY8 ... -gMUBjTYhk
https://files.catbox.moe/i1sdfk.zip
(for Serial Activation Key see the included read me)

This download will include:
-installation files for Sound Designer
-pdf user manuals in EN and JP
-Roland's included pre-made patches.
-Windows / MAC system drivers (for your computer to detect your SH-01 via USB)
-SH-01 system update 1.04 (required)
-Grauw's GAIA tool

I also included the USB drivers for the SH-01 to be detected within Windows and MAC. For now they are on the website here: https://www.roland.com/us/support/by_pr ... s_drivers/
(The only driver that won't download is Vista 64-bit)

Here is a helpful YouTube video going over some of the installation and basic functionalities:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B9z9yig6Zg
Just remember you need to install the system drivers for the software to detect your Gaia via USB.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additionally I have included the installation files for Grauw's GAIA tool. This doesn't have anything to do with the official Sound Designer software, I just wanted to include it since it is a nice lightweight tool to get more out of your Gaia.
See more here: http://www.grauw.nl/projects/gaia-tool/

In the zip there will be a readme covering things like Serial Activation Key and other additional information.
If you have questions or if the links stop working just respond here and I will try to check back when I'm able.

Take care.

[pehr_torsten]

Hello again,

Sorry for the long delay in reporting back - other things got in the way!

Using Gaia Sound Designer on a Mac

Note - if you have an M1 Mac running Apple Silicon then you might need
to use alternative VM software (such as Parallels, UTM or Docker).
Oracle are adding support for the M1 to Virtual Box, but you may also
need QEMU as well. I'm afraid these options are out of scope of this post
and things are moving fast in the M1 space right now!

I have now had the Sound Designer running in a virtual machine
on a Mac in two ways:

1. Under OSX Snow Leopard (10.6)
2. Under Windows 10

Both of these virtual machines used the free Virtual Box software:
https://www.virtualbox.org/

IMPORTANT
However - and this is crucial, you must not have the Gaia USB driver installed
on the host system.

If you install (or do not uninstall) the Gaia USB driver on your host Mac (the one
running Virtual Box) then the Gaia's USB connect cannot be passed through to the
Virtual Machine and so will not be accessible from within the VM. This means that
the Roland Gaia Sound Designer will not be able to connect to the Gaia.

You do have to install the Gaia (SH-01) driver inside the virtual machine!

Setting up your VM on Virtual Box
You will need a relatively recent machine with a decent amount of ram for
this to work well. However, in the 10 years since the Sound Designer was
released, computer power has increased manyfold. Any Mac from the last
few years should be fine. Check the Virtual Box system requirements to
be sure.

Download and install Virtual Box from the link above. You should also install the
Virtual Box Extension Pack.

You will require install media for either Snow Leopard or Windows 10.

I used an install DVD for Snow Leopard that I had from way back. I used
Disk Utility to make an ISO image of the DVD so I could attach it to the
VM. I have not been able to find a downloadable installer.

You do not require a license key for Snow Leopard.

The Windows 10 installer is available online:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/softwar ... ndows10ISO

For Windows 10, I would allocate a couple of CPU cores to the VM if you can.

You do require a license key for Windows 10. You may have one already
somewhere, or they can be bought online quite cheaply. I had one already.

If I remember correctly, Windows will run OK for a while without a license
key - handy if you just want to try this out.

Note - When you have installed the operating system you should also
install the Virtual Box Guest Additions from within the VM.

Installing Roland Gaia Sound Designer
Copy the GAIA software that you can download above into the VM, along with
the Gaia USB driver installer that matches your operating system version.
I used a USB drive for this. You have to use the VM tools to attach the USB to
the VM.

Run the Gaia USB driver installer (which will probably involve restarting the VM).

Run the Gaia Sound Designer installer.

Attach your Roland Gaia to the host Mac system using a UAB cable. Then attach
the Gaia to the VM using the Virtual Box USB tools. Remember - this will not work
if you have the Gaia USB driver installed on the host Mac system! Instead, the host
Mac will 'grab' the Gaia USB connection and you won't be able to pass it through
to the VM.

Known Issues
Aside from the need to uninstall the Gaia USB drive on the host Mac, I did get it
working on a Snow Leopard OSX and also a Windows 10 VM. I did have a minor issue
with starting the VM on Snow Leopard at first. I fixed this by changing the VM CPU
count to 2, restarting (it crashed), reducing the CPU count to 1 and then it all worked.

It pains me a little to say that the Windows 10 VM worked first time. In fact, what with
the issue with trying to get a Snow Leopard (or Leopard) install image, installing on
a Windows VM is probably a better bet!

For a better user experience when using the Gaia Sound Designer, run your VM full
screen (rather than in a window within the host's os) if you can. In particular this
will make the mouse pointer and window re-draws behave much more like a native
app.

Good luck! And thanks again to complexbanzai for posting the install files!

[vhkeyz]

Does anyone know if this can work for Mac OS 10.13 and above?

[complexbanzai]

Does anyone know if this can work for Mac OS 10.13 and above?

I don't have a MAC to test it myself, but see the above posts for instructions. Seems you might need to run a virtual machine. The software is fairly old at this point.


Thanks again to the MAC users testing the files and installation. If anyone has Windows related questions or needs general information about the software just post here or private message me. I'll check in every once in a while. Good luck to everyone, share and preserve this software for all GAIA users!

[pehr_torsten]

Does anyone know if this can work for Mac OS 10.13 and above?

I'm afraid it won't. There were some big changes in OSX after Leopard
(10.5) which is the version current when the software was released
that mean it won't run. As fas as I can tell, Snow Leopard (10.6) is
the latest version it will run on.

However, see my posts above for running it on later versions of OSX.

[kitsune]

I apologize if there's been another thread on this, I didn't notice one.

Has anyone on here used this editor?

https://roland-gaia-sh-01-sound-editor.jimdofree.com

For about $8 USD, maybe a replacement for the official software that Roland thinks it is OK to not provide or support...

I can't give much opinion since I have never used the Roland product or this linked product.

But I've seen multiple people asking about the official software so I thought I'd see if anyone has used this?

[pehr_torsten]

Has anyone on here used this editor?

https://roland-gaia-sh-01-sound-editor.jimdofree.com

Yes I have used it. It's not as fully featured as the Roland software but still pretty useful.
And lets face it - it's inexpensive!