New Sonic Lab video

[Jan_nl]

Here's a lengthy discussion of the Integra-7 over at the SonicState site.

[piaknowguy]

Hmmm . . . They both appeared to 'dodge' the USB for IPad or USB for comp. audio streaming question posed at the beginning. Straight answers are much appreciated. YES or NO for example! lol

[SoundworldA.D.]

Thanks for the link Jan_nl!

Well it's a good informative video and all, but this thing cost more than a good gold plated toilet stool, only has a few thousand sounds, only has 12 SRX boards included and also only the JV/XV/JD legacy waves. Even worse, Roland had the temerity to include RSS technology, 16 dedicated EFX's, all of the SuperNatural tones from the Jupiter-80 and then some and to top it off made it so it doesn't even require a smokin' CPU! What was Roland thinking?!

A Casio has more bang for the buck, and when is that new KRONOS module coming out!! ;-)

[bluesplayer]

Yes that's two vids where Gareth is gushing over his iPad more than tech info for the unit. Maybe Roland is offering rebates for iPads if you buy this unit?

also if you can write an App for Apple (ROLAND!) you can write one for Android

[Leh173]

Good video. A few murky areas, like why no Effects editing on the iPad app? The unit really does seem like and JP-80 crossed with a Fantom or XV5080. They mentioned the MFX include multi-fx chains. I wonder if they have expanded on the ones in the Fantom G, such as a Chorus>Overdrive>Rotary. That would have solved a lot of issues on the Fantom G. I'm curious to see how the SRX expansions work. Seems weird that you have to load them on boot up. Surely it could remember which ones you last had loaded? Anyway looks like a powerful unit. They need to stick this into a new Fantom! LOL

[Leh173]

OK had a flick through the manuals. There are a number of new FX algorithms, which include overdrive>rotary and serveral amp>tremolo or chorus etc that look like they're from ARX02. There are also some new phasers. Your choice of expansions can be setup to auto load at startup. USB is 2 channel audio only, at 24 bit various choice of sample rates to 96k.

[Jan_nl]

When you think of the price of the original JP80 and the fact that with this module you do not only get the same synth engine but also a lot more in terms of sounds, then this module is very appealing, especially when you consider the quality of the sounds.
Furthermore, the yet to be released legacy pack also will be made available for the Integra-7.

I agree that it's a pity that the effects cannot be edited by the App and you have to interact with the module, which (from past experience) is something I hate.
An editor for Windows also would be nice; right now there's only a VST editor for the surround sound.
Maybe this can be solved by an update of the App and by releasing a future editor for Windows?

Also, the limitation of the 4 slots architecture is something which could be cured by a software update: simply create 4 'user expansion cards' and allow the user to select sounds from the database of all the onboard expansion boards into these user expansion cards.
Just an idea.
It keeps the idea beneath the current structure intact while allowing for a much greater flexibility in terms of selecting sounds from different expansion cards.

I appreciate Nick's efforts in the video to avoid PR marketing language from Gareth and get down to exact specifications and details.
That's what I'm always interested in, the cold hard facts so that you know exactly what you're buying.

Still, even though I really like Roland's SN engine -and I think this module is very tempting-, I'm holding off for a couple of months to see if a new workstation is forthcoming which may integrate the Integra into its architecture.

[PauloF]

Hmmm . . . They both appeared to 'dodge' the USB for IPad or USB for comp. audio streaming question posed at the beginning. Straight answers are much appreciated. YES or NO for example! lol

Exactly !! Gareth seems to run away from difficult questions... ;-)

He says something that is not exactly right and could lead into confusion: "the iPad App controls everything in the unit".

The iPad app only controls very basic functions like:
- Motional Surround
- The Studio Set Select
- The TONE Select
- Browsing of Tones by Category or by Tone and Bank
- The EXP board Select and Load
- The Volume, Mute, Pan and EQ of Each Part (No MFX...)
- Allows the Editing of SN Synth Tones parameters (a la JP-80/50) only (No PCM Tones Editing...)

and that's it...

He should have been more specific

[JunoJohn]

OK had a flick through the manuals… There are also some new phasers…

Thanks, Leh173. I was wondering about that when I heard this demo:

http://soundcloud.com/rolandcom/sns0146

It looks (and sounds) like the new "10: Phaser 2" is a model of the Electro-Harmonix Small Stone phaser.

[PauloF]

A few bad and good things that I captured from the Sonic Lab Video:

Bad:
- No Arpeggiators nor Harmony Intelligence
- On startup, although it holds the previous EXP info, it would be necessary to LOAD up the sounds...
- The iPad App does not control everything. Editing only for SN Synth Tones
- Controlling/Editing the SN Acoustic, SN Drum, PCM Synth and PCM Drum, MFX, Keyboard Splits, etc only by means of the i-7 front panel... (this really deserves an iPad/Mac and PC full Editor).
- Switching from a Studio Set to another, there will be a 20 seconds (or so) waiting time, needed to load the EXP tones into Memory
- Only two channels of Audio supported on the USB audio

Good:
- Lots of INTernal sounds/Tones to choose from on each Studio Set:
--> 512 SN Acoustic Tones (256 preset + 256 User)
--> 1621 SN Synth Tones (1109 preset + 512 User)
--> 90 SN Drum Kits (26 Preset + 64 User)
--> 1152 PCM Synth Tones (896 preset + 256 user)
--> 46 PCM Drum kits (14 preset + 32 user)
- Lots of EXPansion sounds/Tones to choose from on each Studio Set from the up to 4 SRX, ExSN, or GM2
- The Legacy Collection will be available also for Integra-7 ! (not only for JP-80/50)
- Each Part can be assigned to any of the 8 OUTs (if Motional Surround is OFF)
- Any Part could be driven by any MIDI channel (not a surprise here as it is a 16 part multitimbral device)
- Simple front Panel operation (although Display seems very small, like the Kurz one...)

Keep these lists growing guys...specially the good one ;-)

[Leh173]

OK had a flick through the manuals… There are also some new phasers…

Thanks, Leh173. I was wondering about that when I heard this demo:

http://soundcloud.com/rolandcom/sns0146

It looks (and sounds) like the new "10: Phaser 2" is a model of the Electro-Harmonix Small Stone phaser.

Well that can only be a good thing! I have a small stone for those jarre pads and electric pianos and it's wonderful. The Fantom g can do one if you set it 4 pole, but a proper emulation sounds good.

[Leh173]

A few bad and good things that I captured from the Sonic Lab Video:

Bad:
- No Arpeggiators nor Harmony Intelligence
- On startup, although it holds the previous EXP info, it would be necessary to LOAD up the sounds...
- The iPad App does not control everything. Editing only for SN Synth Tones
- Controlling/Editing the SN Acoustic, SN Drum, PCM Synth and PCM Drum, MFX, Keyboard Splits, etc only by means of the i-7 front panel... (this really deserves an iPad/Mac and PC full Editor).
- Switching from a Studio Set to another, there will be a 20 seconds (or so) waiting time, needed to load the EXP tones into Memory
- Only two channels of Audio supported on the USB audio

Good:
- Lots of INTernal sounds/Tones to choose from on each Studio Set:
--> 512 SN Acoustic Tones (256 preset + 256 User)
--> 1621 SN Synth Tones (1109 preset + 512 User)
--> 90 SN Drum Kits (26 Preset + 64 User)
--> 1152 PCM Synth Tones (896 preset + 256 user)
--> 46 PCM Drum kits (14 preset + 32 user)
- Lots of EXPansion sounds/Tones to choose from on each Studio Set from the up to 4 SRX, ExSN, or GM2
- The Legacy Collection will be available also for Integra-7 ! (not only for JP-80/50)
- Each Part can be assigned to any of the 8 OUTs (if Motional Surround is OFF)
- Any Part could be driven by any MIDI channel (not a surprise here as it is a 16 part multitimbral device)
- Simple front Panel operation (although Display seems very small, like the Kurz one...)

Keep these lists growing guys...specially the good one ;-)

As far as the bad goes, yes the iPad app is not fuly featured. Another "file under dumb" from Roland. They'd need to make it a full editor. I can't believe the MFX can't be editing from it. That is a major omission. We know they can do great user interfaces! The Fantom G interface is outstanding! come on guys!

I dn't thnk that 20 second boot up time is big deal the Fantom takes about that long loading from internal memory giev or take. I did have a funny moment the other day when I booted the d-70 and Fantom at the same time. The d-70 was ready in a split second! The g seemed to take forever even though it was under a minute.

[PauloF]

Your Fantom boots up in 20 seconds? With no samples, I guess ;-)
My Fantom took 9 minutes to boot up...

Apart from the Part/Tone/StudioSet select and part volume, EQ, Mute and Pan, integra-7 iPad app seems designed around the JP-80 SN Synth toned Editor, that Also doesn't give much more than that.

I really hope that Roland extends the app functionality or create a Mac/Windows app that does it all. The device deserves it (and the potential customers too).

Or maybe they are planning to launch a paid Editor, like they did for the Gaia SH-01

[Quinnx.]

At around 6:15 in the vid its kinda confusing

when he is asked about preloading the srx library, he says you can save your sounds from the srx lib to a studio set but when you boot up you have to manual load the associated cards????

Is he telling us we have to remember what card we had loaded so our studio sets will work! ?????
(not loaded with studio set selection??)


Realy !??

[PauloF]

At around 6:15 in the vid its kinda confusing

when he is asked about preloading the srx library, he says you can save your sounds from the srx lib to a studio set but when you boot up you have to manual load the associated cards????

Is he telling us we have to remember what card we had loaded so our studio sets will work! ?????
(not loaded with studio set selection??)


Realy !??

It seems that yes, my understanding was that on boot up, i-7 remembers the selection, but we will have to press the LOAD button to actually load the Exp slots into memory