Roland Clan Forums

So Namm is here. No new poly plugouts for the system -8. I think this is now going the way of many of Roland grandiose ideas. All big talk at the launch then nothing.....While I love the system-8 there is so much potential for additional synths - it what it was designed to do!!!!!! Why did I allow Roland to suck me into another one of their bullshit schemes.

The lack of any sort of activity on the System-8 front is starting to get a bit worrying. By now we should have had poly mode for the Sys-1 plugouts, a JX3P (or JX8, JX10) and maybe a Jupiter 4 or 6.
In all honesty, having very good re-creations of a Jupiter 8, Juno 106 & ProMars in front of me, as well as the System-8 itself, is still some serious noodling power, but more is always better. Especially given the hype around this synth when it came out.

I am not sure what Roland is doing with the Cloud and it's relationship to the System8?
I am a Roland Cloud subscriber but am thinking about canceling, I can't make sense out of what they are doing with the Cloud? There have been no plug-outs on the Cloud for the System8 and what Roland is putting up on the Cloud that they feel is important is beyond me.

I saw this coming has soon as the Juno and Jupiter synths were made as plugins along with the system 8 itself. devaluing the System 8 is a mere controller and not a good one at that. With its rather short key bed, plastic chassis and no after touch i sold mine before prices came down.

The least Roland could do for us (if, as I fear, the Plug-Out concept is now dead) is to release an SDK so we can create our own. Roland promised further ARX cards for the Fantom G, which never happened and I feel stung again... and yet, 6 years later Korg are still supporting and improving the Kronos.

andyr1960 wrote:The least Roland could do for us (if, as I fear, the Plug-Out concept is now dead) is to release an SDK so we can create our own. Roland promised further ARX cards for the Fantom G, which never happened and I feel stung again... and yet, 6 years later Korg are still supporting and improving the Kronos.

I believe that the PlugOut concept is now completely abandoned. There are just a few instruments that can be managed from the front panel of the S8, so Roland is instead focusing on the Boutique + Cloud concept. The same machine code: one with custom hardware, one with a VST wrapper.

I think since they do focus on the cloud, I expect that there will come more polyphonic instruments in their legacy series which are NOT sample/pcm based, which will be suitable to plug-out to the S8. I can't imagine they will release a Jupiter-4 on the cloud WITHOUT plug-out support. People would be enraged then.

I was told directly, in-person, at NAMM, that there are more plugouts in the works. They will likely be available only through the Cloud service, however. Aside from that, I was told that the System-8 is "not dead", and that Roland has only begun to explore ACB technology.

zombietactics wrote:I was told that the System-8 is "not dead", and that Roland has only begun to explore ACB technology.

I'll believe it when I see it - There's no reason why they can't put us System 8 owners minds at rest by bringing out poly versions of the mono plug-outs. The Boutique SH-01A is 4 voice poly, yet we're still stuck with a single monophonic voice on a synth that has 4X the DSP capability of the Boutiques.

zombietactics wrote:I was told directly, in-person, at NAMM, that there are more plugouts in the works. They will likely be available only through the Cloud service, however. Aside from that, I was told that the System-8 is "not dead", and that Roland has only begun to explore ACB technology.

So did they go as far an explain what plugouts would be developed - a hint of a product roadmap?

I'm real happy with the VA synths I got with my System-8.

Now that does not mean I wouldn't like more poly engines. And I am still wondering if they can make more voices as they said that the System-8 is very powerful? If I remember correctly from Marcus Fullers examinations everything is done within the chips and then ported to a pair of DACs, so it is not like there is 8 DACs and that is why there is no more voices.

Why more; well I just want to be able to use my sustain pedal at times, or have pads with long releases without being cut off.

So an engine that sounds as good but have less going on, might that be enough to bring more voices. Or is the chips not as powerful as marketing would like us to believe..... hmm... marketing.... selling.... fooling.... Ooops......

This discussion reminds me a lot of the whole hype around the Varios.
I still use a pair of them, one running the D-50 emulation and one running the Varios-8 (sorta like a Jupiter 8).
However, Roland at the time announced it as an "open platform", that would grow over time.
Well... didn't happen. My two Varios didn't grow at all, and are still doing the same thing they did decade and half ago.
At least they don't have the same lack of quality of the Fantom XR or Juno G I had, which quickly had dead LCD displays, replaced then dead again right after.
Same lack of quality which gets me suspicious of pulling the trigger on an Integra or on the System-8 itself for that matter.

mockba_the_borg wrote:This discussion reminds me a lot of the whole hype around the Varios.
I still use a pair of them, one running the D-50 emulation and one running the Varios-8 (sorta like a Jupiter 8).
However, Roland at the time announced it as an "open platform", that would grow over time.
Well... didn't happen. My two Varios didn't grow at all, and are still doing the same thing they did decade and half ago.
At least they don't have the same lack of quality of the Fantom XR or Juno G I had, which quickly had dead LCD displays, replaced then dead again right after.
Same lack of quality which gets me suspicious of pulling the trigger on an Integra or on the System-8 itself for that matter.

The Integra is from 2013, it's WYSIWYG. Great build quality. Comes with all sounds from the XV or JV and is a great rompler - but a lot more - if that is what you are looking for.

The System 8 was released in 2016, they promised to release the Juno plugout and they did. They released a free System 8 engine update which in itself is amazing and then after almost 2 years they released the JX3P upgrade, again for free. Not much more to ask for. I think this is a complete synth now (and was before), I am ok with the build quality, keyboard is not too bad. All plugout slots are loaded and it sounds incredible and is a joy to play and edit. My wife hates that thing because I spend so (too??) much time in front of it.... :-)

It's a pity Roland won't see sense and make the Plugout standard open source. Allowing third parties to develop plugouts would be a terrific boost for System-8 owners while sparing Roland the embarrassment of copying other manufacturers' designs. Unfortunately, Roland's keenness for built-in obsolence means they'd rather see us throw the synth away and buy a new one a few years down the line when it's no longer supported.

SoundReverend wrote: Not much more to ask for.

I think it's fair to ask for better allocation of voices across splits. Why not let me load an SH-101 and keep 7 voices on a poly? Or just have 4 voices on the 101 like the System-1? Or imagine if you load 2 monos - you lose 75% of the voices... why? There is no justification for this I can think of other than to preserve sales of the Boutiques.