Juno GI Editor Software?

[mgmg4871]

Yamahaforum did you get my email? I wouldn't blame Japan. I blame the company who's name is on the product. If you name it Rolandus or Rolanduk you have to protect your countries consumers.

[mgmg4871]

Interesting fact about Rolands name origin.
Kakehashi founded Ace Electronic Industries in 1960, a manufacturer of numerous combo organs, guitar amplifiers, and effects pedals. He was also contracted by Hammond to produce rhythm machines for the company's line of home organs. In 1973, Kakehashi cut ties with both companies to found Roland.
As with many Japanese start-ups of the period, the name Roland was selected for export purposes as Kakehashi was interested in a name that was easy to pronounce for his worldwide target markets. Rumour has long circulated that he named his company after the French epic poem La Chanson de Roland. In reality, the name Roland was found in a telephone directory. Kakehashi opted for it as he was satisfied with the simple two-syllable word and its soft consonants. The letter "R" was chosen because it wasn't used by many other music equipment companies, therefore it would stand out in trade show directories and industry listings. Kakehashi didn't learn of "The Song Of Roland" until later.[2]

All about the dollar. No personal attachments to the product or the foreign consumer. Just another number.

[yamahaforums]

Yeah got your email. Been busy today so trying to grab a bit of time to sit down and get something together. I did write to Roland UK to inform them we were not going to go away and that we were beginning a campaign to highlight their lack of interest in their customers. I think it got their attention but we'll keep the pressure up. If I can I'll construct that letter tonight then we can start posting around the forums :)

Interesting info there on the history of the Roland brand by the way. It's actually quite disappointing but going by current events not altogether surprising.

[mgmg4871]

I guess we're on the same page because I sent them another email expressing that we are here to pursue this to the end. I believe they understand the adverse effect this can have on future sales. I've been posting on comments on youtube warning potential buyers of any Roland products of their carelessness and disregard for foreign consumers.

[Mystic38]

Have Roland ever advertised that an editor would be available?..

[mgmg4871]

It's just an industry standard. Pay over a grand for a keyboard and it's expected. The fact that the Juno G an Di both have editors and are of less value, it's just expected.

[yamahaforums]

Have Roland ever advertised that an editor would be available?..

It's completely irrelevant whether they advertised one or not. Had there not been one for the Di which is basically the same keyboard minus the audio recorder then perhaps the picture would be different but that's not where we are and the audio recorder has nothing at all to do with an editor/librarian so it can't be a reason why there isn't one.

The Di has an editor/librarian and the more expensive Gi doesn't. Even the Juno D had an editor and that was an entry level synth! Also look at the competition. The Yamaha MOX has an editor, the Korg M50 has one and there is absolutely no reason why the Gi should not have one either. It's almost like Roland just couldn't be bothered.

[Mystic38]

While i sympathise with your perspective, to be honest i do not think you can get upset about the manufacturer not delivering something that was not promised... If an editor was splashed on the press release you would have a case for complaint... but if there was never any representation of an editor you can complain..but it really has no rational validation...

compare that to Yamaha..who had promised a motif xs arp editor from last summer.. for release August 2010...and now? still crickets... and i am stuck with crappy arp presets on my S70xs (which was only purchased based on that press release).

So ultimately each company needs to compare the effort of delivering something not promised, to making good on promises unfulfilled, or making bug fixes for major products... or making developments for new products.

poop, working on the JP80 is more important, working on an 0S2.0 for the fantom G is WAY more important, and even fixing the click out on the Gi is more important for Roland to fix.. :)

[mgmg4871]

Our battle is with Roland not you. We'll save our energy for what we're focused on accomplishing.

[yamahaforums]

Mystyc38 I appreciate your entitled to your point of view but do you own and Juno Gi and if so are you saying you don't want an editor/librarian for it ? Never mind if one was promised or not, your saying you would rather not have one?

Any decent business will listen to what it's customers want and accommodate there wishes where possible. So far Roland have not told us why it's not possible to produce a Gi editor or adapt the Di editor for the Gi.

As I keep pointing out. The Juno Di is almost identical in every respect to the Juno Gi. If they can produce and editor for the Di then obviously things like a OS upgrade for the Fantom G and bug fixes for other keyboards are not the major priority you think they are.

Roland stuffed up by not adapting the Juno Di editor for the Gi. I doubt the code changes would take any time at all and they would then have a bunch of happy Gi owners instead of a bunch of angry customers who's opinion of Roland is now somewhat diminished. Keeping your loyal customers happy is one of the major rules in business and it's about time Roland woke up to that fact.

[DJ RAZZ]

Gentlemen this is all useless energy I am afraid. Roland will do what it will do and UK and US distributors are really resellers that is it.

[junoguy]

Naaah, none of this is useless energy. If you think this is useless energy, then why not just sit at home and play with your juno GI and let the others do the action?

To all the guys fighting the good fight, keep it up. Roland HQ (Japan) will hear us eventually. It is true that Roland does not have well-developed channels like Yamaha or even Korg. Yamaha has the best international support, period. They are not perfect like anybody else but their support of their instruments has been better than average.

Now the main issue I have with Roland is lack of proper channels to the geniuses in Japan who make it happen. It is true US and UK are just sales depots with product specialists and salespersons so they can't really 'make it happen'. But Roland should take advice as someone said in this economic climate, it will be suicide not to support customers.

I don't have 1 grand to spend on Juno GI right now but I am collecting up for it; I absolutely love the sounds that are in it, esp in Live mode with effects. I have tried all of them: M50, MO XS, etc. But I love the warm, organic, bitey rich sounds of Juno GI. I owned almost all Junos, and ever since the analog alpha juno, Juno GI is the only (digital) synth that I like for inspiration.

That being said, I refuse to buy one until I can get a software editor because it is indeed preposterous to not have one considering the Juno GI interface sucks more than the Juno G's: you can't even change oscillator wave forms in edit mode lol.

Roland has killer sounds but I often wonder why they take many steps back when they upgrade from a product. Is it because they think that improving on an existing product to create a new one would kill the overstock profit margin of existing products? That is a ridiculous way to think. It would be better to not release a new model until majority of their existing units have been sold.

[yamahaforums]

Gentlemen this is all useless energy I am afraid. Roland will do what it will do and UK and US distributors are really resellers that is it.

If everyone took that attitude we would all live in dictatorships! Things WILL change if people make a big enough noise about it. Just have to reach critical mass. The point at which it becomes cheaper to fix the problem than ignore it and alienate too many customers.

We will keep up the pressure on Roland until they either give us an editor or give us a damned good reason why it "cannot" be done!

We have quite a few resources at our command here. We are not just a few disgruntled Juno Gi owners or potential owners. Apart from this forum we have my own yamahforums.co.uk which as a Roland section in the forum and I can use the front page to promote our cause. Yamahaforums has been in existence over ten years and anything posted to the site appears in the search engines within 12hrs. I could also leverage my other two sites www.antiscam.net and www.pcmaczone.co.uk

I also run a web hosting company so we have a lot of resources at our disposal. We are NOT going to roll over and take this. As I said before. Had their not already been editors for the cheaper Juno Di and the older and even cheaper Juno D it might not be such an emotive issue but it seems the Juno Gi has been singled out for some reason to be left without an essential part of the package and we as owners and potential owners would like to know why?

I have spent a fortune on Roland gear over the last few years. I have had two Fantom X6's a Fantom XA a Fantom G and my current Juno Gi. If Roland want to continue to keep my custom and many others they better wake up and get with the plan!

[mgmg4871]

Well said guys. We have a voice and we will use it.

[Yatris]

Guys,
If you have a look at midi implementation specs you find that SonicCell, Juno-G,Juno-Stage, and Juno-Di are actually almost of the same structure. That is why it was relatively easy for Roland to release editors. It was change of skin and implementation of few functions only.
But...Juno-Gi has completely different structure. Can assume that Juno-Gi is trial derivative of Jupiter-80 engine (logic). This engine was probably developed by Roland some years before Gi and Jupiter-80.
So, in my understanding, you have chance to pester from Roland editor for Gi, if:
- Roland will release editor for Jupiter-80
- Juno-Gi tones data are located in rewritable memory. However, it may happen so that Roland applied unrewritable memory in Gi's for cost reduction purposes. Check up type of memory in service manual, if it available.