Just making conversation: What is missing and what will be n

[Synthtron]

Now that the Roland Boutique synthesizers are trickling into our hands and studios, what do we like and what do we miss? Also What could be next from Roland in the Boutique Line?

Classic sound and control:
I like the sounds and control on these Boutique synths which I am sure was the goal Roland was going for. It is worth the price of admission for me.
I have a Juno-106 and a JX-3p. so far in comparing with my Juno-106, I am able to create very close recreations of the patches I created on my Juno-106. These are by far the closest emultations to date on anything else that is not a Juno-106. One note: I the 2nd Chorus to my ears, is a bit deeper on my Juno-106 than on the JU-06.
I have not fully compared the JX-3p to the JX-03 but the Chorus function on the JX-03 sounds deeper than the JX-3p, which I always thought sounded a bit thin.

What I wish Roland had done with the Boutique synthesizers:

Polyphony:
At the least, I wish Roland gave the same polyphony to each Boutique synth as the one they were emulating through ACB. We all know you get four voices and can purchase more units to add more polyphony through a polychaining parameter. The Juno-106 and JX-3p were 6 voice polysynths while the Jupiter-8 had 8 voices.

Memory:

I am very thankful Roland gave use the number of patch memories they did. They could have given us 8 like on the initial rease of the System-1. I wish the JX-3p had its second memory bank D to allow for 32 patch memory locations instead of16. Also the JU-06 is missing half (Bank B) of what the Juno-106 held in patch memory. Not a major issue for me but would have been a nice addition and certainly no deal breaker.

Size matters, size matter not:

I love the size of the Boutique synths BUT I wish Roland had NOT put the ribbon controllers on the panel. Instead, it would have been really awesome (IMO) to have the controls span the entire panel with the optional K-25-m keyboard housing Roland's past standard pitch wheel and mod stick.


Aesthetically pleasing:
I am pleased to see no shiny glossy black pastic panel like the JD and FA series( now we do not have to hear people whining about finger prints). Also, I am pleased to see no brused aluminum panel like so many synth releases since the late 80's D-50. The Boutiques have this nice satin to matte black going on. The look of the panels on all of the unuts are great! They look really good when looking down on the panels but aestetically they are not as pleasing to look at from other angles. They look like they are made to fit into something else (which of course is what they do with the K25-M keyboard). I wish Roland angled the panels and made them look neater/cleaner around the edges especially the sides and lower front. If they had angled these Boutique synths they would sit much nicer on their surfaces and appear sleeker than they are. I only have one K25-M and hope to add another one or two so they all will have their own keys and look more complete.


I am curious what is next from Roland with the Boutique line and/or ACB. Maybe the Boutique line will be the three synthesizers we have now. Would have been interesting had Roland made an SH-101 like this or some other synth like the Jupiter-4 or Promars or another SH series synth.

Maybe Roland has a bigger, full size synth coming featuring many models in it.

What are you thoughts?

[cello]

I think it is an entirely logical and safe thing to presume that Roland will produce a large format keyboard before long (ie 2016/17).

What it'll be of course remains to be seen! But again logically, Roland has invested so much in both ACB (AIRA, Boutiques) and Analogue (JDs), I would not be surprised to see a large format synth (61 or more full size keys) with a more song-like sequencer (not necessarily a workstation) which has a separate analogue path with multiple ACB engines (System-1 and boutiques), supported by aftertouch and more polyphony - 8voices on the analogue part and 64 or 128 on the ACB side.

To make it ultra-complete, I guess it could also have the SN-S and PCM engines in the JDs.

That sounds like quite an exciting beast to me :) But it wouldn't be cheap... maybe £3,000 or more...

[Synthtron]

That would be a monster synth!

[kimsnarf]

I think it is quite certain that a bigger synth is coming, but I'm not sure Roland is willing to bet on an expensive monster. I suspect something with 61 (49?) keys and primarily based on Analog Circuit Behaviour (ACB) and/or analog.

I think they've stretched SuperNatural (SN) about as far as they can come without reinventing it, so if it is included it probably won't be a major feature. They have also done their crossover thing and they usually don't repeat themselves. I think it would be a mistake to include SN in their next invention, thereby raising the price and complexity, and losing focus.

So far they have used ACB only for modelling older synths. Now that they have modelled the analog circuitry, I bet they are exploring going in new directions with this technology. They might not even need to include an analog path if the ACB is good enough. Exciting times!

[mangepange]

A 4 octave good looking "system-1" version with velocity keys and able to buy poly plug-outs (boutique). No SN-S or analog parts. Just put lots of knobs/controls. Remove the scatter and put a simple sequencer onboard.

[Tom_1970]

I have the same doubts about a monstersynth as Kimsnarf.

I would like a ACB synth with multitimbral plugout capabilities and decent polyphony, with a drum part (TR-8 like) and sequencers on all parts, but on a more modest scale I think a 3 part multitimbral ACB synth with a 5 octave keyboard, contollers and the possibility to load the synths (plugouts/boutique) you wish in each part can be a very nice instrument.

[Synthtron]

I would like a ACB synth with multitimbral plugout capabilities and decent polyphony, with a drum part (TR-8 like) and sequencers on all parts, but on a more modest scale I think a 3 part multitimbral ACB synth with a 5 octave keyboard, contollers and the possibility to load the synths (plugouts/boutique) you wish in each part can be a very nice instrument.

I would like that too!

[apauw]

How about a normal sized keyboard with 4-5 octaves where you can put in two (or three) boutiques in chained mode.

But then again it all comes to how many boutique modules are actually made to make it financially worthwile, even for something as a kickstarter project.

[Synthtron]

How about a normal sized keyboard with 4-5 octaves where you can put in two (or three) boutiques in chained mode.

I just ordered two more K25-M keyboards though I wish they made a full size keyboard like that too!

[rsaintjohn]

If they were to do a "Boutique 2: Electric Boogaloo" release -- that is, 3 more in the same form factor, using ACB, based on popular vintage synths -- what would they be? We've now got emulations of the Jupiter 8, the 3P and the 106. Arguably, they probably wouldn't want to do anything that Aira has already done (100, SH-101, PROMARS, SH2). An ACB D50 doesn't really make sense. Have they covered everything, and now it's just down to hardware and form factor?

[my05]

one thing i think is missing is a way to have one engine "overflow" on to the chained sibling. Right now, to get 6 voices of jx-03, one has to have two units. Fair enough. But what if you've got one 03 and one 08 and want to be able to play 6 jx03 voices? That is not possible.

I would have loved to see some scheme where you can put one of them into a "slave mode" and do this. In principle, it should then be possible for one of the units to send a special sysex-string to the other, putting that one into slave-mode AND having the other one loading up a "model" of the first one into operational mode.

Sure, it would mean having some kind of operational flash + somewhere to store the three models -> driving up the price some. It would still be attractive boxes and would give far more flexibility than it does currently.

one can dream, right?? :-D

[Tom_1970]

I have the JP-08 for a couple of days now.
I love the sound and I am surprised by the build quality and the controls.
For such a small instrument it is much better than I expected.
The sliders and knobs feel firm and have a good resistance when touched.

The sequencer is a nice tool and easy to use and program.
An enhancement I like to see is the ability to transpose the sequence with the keyboard.
I think that would make the sequencer musically more interesting.

[dderuntz@gmail.com]

I have the JP-08 for a couple of days now.
I love the sound and I am surprised by the build quality and the controls.
For such a small instrument it is much better than I expected.
The sliders and knobs feel firm and have a good resistance when touched.

The sequencer is a nice tool and easy to use and program.
An enhancement I like to see is the ability to transpose the sequence with the keyboard.
I think that would make the sequencer musically more interesting.

This is a great one.
I also feel like they can definitely sneak in an arpeggiator.
Seems like there's room in the hidden menus and the sliders to fully set arpeggiator.
How about 1-3 when holding down DUAL? Even better if it can arpeggiate across more than 4 keys.