Another letter to Roland

[Mahobe]

Dear all,

It has been a while since I wanted to write this, but never had the time. Thank you for the many advices and lessons I have learned from all of you during the past months. It was really amazing to learn every day more and more about my keyboard.

I want to tell you about my previous process before buying my JP50, the reasons for which I bought it, and my relationship with it. I think that maybe could be of help for others, and, particularly, I would be happy if someone from Roland reads it (I know I will not know about this).
I have had many Roland and Yamaha keyboards before. I am not a professional musician, but I did have my bands when I was younger, and I took “organ” classes for several years when I was a teenager. The life took me to other non artistic destinations, but I kept playing since then from time to time. From Roland, I have had a JV80, an XP60, and now a JP50 and a TR8. But just for you to know, I am not a fundamentalist, and I also have a couple of “machines” from Korg. I mention all this just for you to have a quick approach to the place where I am talking.

I have always considered Roland a very responsible brand. None of my products have ever had a single fail. To tell you the truth, I remember that when I first considered having a new board after the XP, I was a little surprised to see the build quality of the new Junos. It was the first time I looked Roland with different eyes. I decided not to go with those. And the Phantoms were out of my reach, so I kept playing my XP. Regarding Junos, I later confirmed they had many problems (sensitivity, screens, key failures, etc.).

But my “commercial” relationship with Roland (my brand perception) was still very high. In my opinion it is one of those brands that develop a special relationship with its customers. Not because they give you feedback, but because they have a history, the were game changers, the build good stuff, etc. I guess something similar happens with watches, or sometimes with cars brands. You stick to one brand, and you need to think vey seriously before moving to another.

This said, last year I travelled to USA and I decided I would buy a keyboard that could somehow quickly connect to the PC. I knew there were DAWs, loadable songs, etc., but I had never entered that world with my XP. I was being victim of the anxiousness that technology and speed generate in these days. The truth was I did not need a new board, but I wanted something that changed, that could open new possibilities, with new sounds, with the possibility of sampling. I wanted to have new and flexible things. Flexibility and speed are the most important things of our era, right. Ok, I wanted a keyboard that reflected that.

So even knowing about the Junos failures, and considering they had dropped their price a lot, I decided I would buy one of them. However, one day I entered J&R and I saw they had really good price drops (they were about to move) and I started to think about the JP for the first time, as I had not considered it before given it was out of my reach. Short story: as I had not time to “study” this keyboard or enter forums considering I was in NY for a couple of days, I bought it. You might think it was an irresponsible buy (it was considerable money), but I did it. And to tell you the truth, it was a very irresponsible buy. I could be one month reading reviews of a $200 juice maker, but I got this board just like that. The thing is that in my country any board is marked exactly twice than in the States. And My very simple approach was: if the Juno is $700 and I like it, this $1700 keyboard has to be much much much better. If the Juno is flexible, it quickly connects to the PC, it has 16 midi channels, it allows to record audio and somehow sequence, I do not want to imagine what the “flagship” keyboard could do. At the end of the day, there was an USB port, and there was another USB port, and there Record and Play buttons. At any point should I thought about not having 16 midi channels (all my previous keyboards had them). So I totally trusted Roland.

Before coming back to my country, and before having played and spent time with it, I had a really sad time. I was already out of NY but far from my country, and I discovered all these noise at these and other forums. Things like the extremely high price for what it was, the comparison to Kronos, the lack of midi channels (this one was really bad for me), the lack of knobs, the lack of good screen, the aliasing problems, and all that. It was already late for me, as I was far from US, and there was no coming back, I had to keep it. My feeling was that I had really made a bad choice, and I should have gone for a Nord, or even the Kronos (later, with more money). I felt really bad. I mean: it is not the end of the world, but I do not buy a keyboard every year, and I felt stupid for not having investigated, which is what I do everytime with everything I buy.

The whole story has two sides: if I had had more time and I had entered this forum, I would not have bought the JP. It was the time of the “highly disappointed with it” theme at this forum, etc. Reviews were not good.. There was a lot of noise, and clearly, knowing myself, I would not have bought it.

The B side: this keyboard brought me again to playing music. It is been more than one and a half years, and I still come home and want to play every single day, at least for a while. It takes me to places I have never gone from the musical and ideas point of view. Everytime in front of the JP is a journey, and I do not know where or when it will end. Of course I play “regular” songs, too (and I sing badly over them), but it also led me to improvise, to find things, to tweak, to produce moods and things really unbelievable. Never had an experience like this. It even took me to wanting more, to experiment even close of my 40s. The JP is what it is and what is is not. But it is something really different, very hard to explain, like those women…

The reasons for which the JP generated that to me are really difficult to explain. It’s a keyboard that you simply CANNOT measure in the music shop. You can go there three times a week and spend time with it, and you will not realize about its possibilities, its sounds, its creational engine, its absolutely strange structure. Nothing of this is affected by the lack of midi channels, or sequencer, or its non workstation nature. The JP is unique. I repeat: unique. And you need to have it many, many hours in front of you and experiment and exchange with it.

The reasons for which it failed commercially are in my opinion related to the bad marketing (I give you that), but also because young people dominates the internet, and are the main source of reviews, tendency and styles setting, etc. They also have less money (in general), and they want to have more (of anything) before spending considerable money (if they had it), it just one single thing. Many of these young guys create awesome things. But even many of those who do, they don’t play instruments. The play DAWs, trigger pads, samplers, etc. I am not saying they do not know about synthesis, just that they have other structures. They do not want to spend hours with an instrument. They prefer (at least many of them) a colorful screen, and doing something quick. A nice loop, overdubbing, etc. If an instrument gives them 2000 sounds (absolutely changeable, twickeable, etc.), they will prefer more libraries. Gigabytes of sounds. Just in case. And even in this sense, the large screen of the Kronos, the knobs, and all that, will be preferable (if they jump the computer barrier).

The comparison I have made with the Kronos (I knew about it after coming back to my country) is simply unfair. Of course this is my opinion, but I do not feel in front of something that looks like an instrument, it does not look trustable, it does not look like well built at all. It’s flimsy. It does everything but does not generate trust. To me, it is not more than a computer with keys. From this point, do not compare it with the made in Japan JP. The JP looks exactly as solid as my XP. It is something meant for decades.

HOWEVER: Roland should change. It should maintain its principles, but adapting them to current times. If A LOT of people complains about the lack of librarian, they should produce it. Or at least they should explain why they cannot. But silence is not an option anymore in 2014. Even us, mid aged men, got used to the permanent feedback from those brands we like, from everyone, or even the brands that we don’t like but we consume. And not only feedback, they have to be quick responses. It is not acceptable anymore for someone to spend 2000 or 3700 US dollars and not having any news from those who sold you that. Twitter, Facebook, forums, tons of social media apps, and Roland does not answer.

And there are many things to do regarding JP, because they could be better. We are happy with it, but we want more things, more doable things, we want to be involved, we are part of this crowdsourcing times, we like it, we feel we know it, we feel we are part of something really cool that you Roland built for us, but you ignore us. You ignore our opinions, you ignore our requests, and we do have the right to those requests. Because we paid a lot, because your competitors do it, because we want changeable products, because times changed. It is not essential for me, but I would really like to download those sounds that you prepare for us, but also to understand how the structures of the others are affected. I need to have that app at least available. And it is perfectly possible (as everything in this era) to be done, and we know it, and we tell Roland, and nothing happens. How can that be? How could it be that with all these new channels through which competitors are out there available for us, trying to look nice, to catch us, trying to let us know they are there in order to sell us something, you Roland are hiding?

The “instant” philosophy that covers everything in our realities during these times, give us also the right to make these requests. And we have the right to your answer. At some point it is curious, because I can clearly see the “ephemeral”, the “instant” essence of things reflected in the JP. It is subtle, but it is amazing to understand that someone caught this essence that well. For the same reasons, you Roland, need to answer us. Don’t lose us!

[flyingace]

Hear, Hear! :)

I feel the same way about my Jupiter 50 that I was unable to walk away from back in May due to it's amazing playability and sounds that led me to sell it and buy a Jupiter 80. Even better with two live set sounds on the board at all times! But that lack of support, librarian, and their focus on everything BUT their flagship boards really ticks me off. I love my Jupiter. Built like a tank, biggest synth sounds I've ever heard. I'm okay with it not being a 16 midi channel multi-timbral machine like the Juno Stage (which I loved as well), this thing sounds better than any keyboard I've ever owned and I was looking for a performance keyboard, not a workstation. I detest the FA models for how badly they are built. I love my 76 key keyboard as it feels the best of any board I've ever played. I love semi-weighted synth keys, I don't like playing "piano" keys unless I'm playing an actual piano. I fell in love with synths in the 80s and there is just something about the feel of a great synth action!

I would do it all again, I surely would but I will always have my reservations about what Roland is doing by cutting the Fantom line, neglecting it's flagship model and focusing on a plastic-y "do-all" machines like the FAs all the while excommunicating it's current user base. Every few weeks I write them to ask about the librarian, they tell me every time: "it's out of our hands and up to the engineers in Japan". Way to go Roland US. ugh.

[troggg]

Agree with the previous posters yet want to add that my JP50 is irreplaceable simply as a keyboard controller because I too am a semi-weighted 76 key man and there is no better alternative (outside of Roland's own keyboards). I get happy just looking at the thing; yes, I'm a sucker for the lighted buttons and the vintage vibe.

Yesterday, after owning this thing for the better part of a year, I stumbled upon the Theremin variations -- in particular Theremax 1, the magically numbered Live Set #1073 (as in the legendary Neve module). There are two songs on my 3 CD rock set I've been working on for a year that have been begging for a Theremin, meaning I've been shopping around for one and getting lost in the variations. Well, guess what -- the shopping's over, my quirky yet endearing JP50 just saved me $300 and a steep learning curve!

So, yeah, Roland's support has been a suckfest, the limitations are kinda daffy, I don't trust the never updated USB driver at all, and so on. But I'd be surprised if the JP50 isn't the last hardware keyboard I'll ever buy.