Roland Cloud 4.0

Forum to discuss all aspects of Roland's Cloud
mimoid
Posts: 151
Joined: 19:20, 3 January 2016

Re: Roland Cloud 4.0

Post by mimoid »

Yes, they are a bit demanding, but I would not say that they are excessively so. My Windows computer with 16 GB of RAM and an i7 processor running Cubase 9.5 can handle multiple instances of Jupiters, Junos and System-8's without major discomfort. And to be honest, if I needed to choose, I would pick top audio quality before a low processor utilization any day - even if that would mean that I would need to freeze every track.

I find it a bit strange that you cannot remap the MIDI controls. Surely it would not be too difficult to implement? Just a translation map to reroute the MIDI commands... However when using the System-8 as master keyboard, it is perfect - everything is premapped exactly where they should be.

By the way, running the virtual System-8 from a physical System-8 is just awesome. The virtual one sounds 100% identical, but cleaner than the physical one (why, no noise or artefacts from cables and interfaces). Don't think I will ever use the audio from the physical System-8 again in the studio... so that's now just one expensive master keyboard!

The only thing that bothers me is the poor resolution of the GUI of the synths. Particularly the System-8 and the Jupiter 8 look like a fuzzy mush when enlarged to like 150% on a HD screen. Comparing it with the Arturia JUP-8V is like day and night. Roland say that they are working on this - I sure hope they will end up doing separate graphics for each size (like u-he and Arturia have done). Also, that should not be too difficult to implement, right?
Skijumptoes
Posts: 681
Joined: 11:08, 21 June 2010

Re: Roland Cloud 4.0

Post by Skijumptoes »

Graphics/GUI's can be a little tricky, as if you look at the Arturia redesign they are calling on different graphics libraries than before, and this also caused their customers issues when the plugins were updated.

I think most of the arturia GUI is drawn/rendered within the graphics hardware (i.e. it's handed off to the GPU), so while it looks and 'can' run better, software drawn GUI's are less attractive, but more reliable. But obviously, if you're relying on CPU time to render a GUI you can't really devote too much into the quality of scaling etc.

I have a similar spec machine to yours, but i'm using Mac, i'm curious how many Jupiters/Juno's you can run before glitching, at a low audio buffer rate. Because maybe this could just be a Mac thing the CPU usage?

3-4 instances and it was glitching for me, for example. Sometimes even one on it's own can glitch.
mimoid
Posts: 151
Joined: 19:20, 3 January 2016

Re: Roland Cloud 4.0

Post by mimoid »

Skijumptoes wrote:Graphics/GUI's can be a little tricky, as if you look at the Arturia redesign they are calling on different graphics libraries than before, and this also caused their customers issues when the plugins were updated...
You obviusly know more of programming than I do, so I guess it is more difficult to create a nice interface than what I would think... Still I hope Roland will improve the looks of their software synths - although slightly irrational, the visual feedback is more important for the feel of a musical instrument than what developers may think. A boring or poorly defined interface will just not be as fun to call up to use in a project and can take the fun out of editing your own patches.
Skijumptoes wrote:I have a similar spec machine to yours, but i'm using Mac, i'm curious how many Jupiters/Juno's you can run before glitching, at a low audio buffer rate. Because maybe this could just be a Mac thing the CPU usage?...
I just tested using several ACB-softsynths in a project. Actually you are right, they are quite greedy little creatures. I can run someting like max 25-30 ACB voices in parallell before the processor hits the roof and things turn nasty. That is like 4 Jupiters or System-8's with 8 voices each. If I lower the voice count to 4 on each Jupiter, I can run 7 of them. Or 14 2-voice Jupiters. BTW I can also run 28 monophonic SH-101 in paralell, so the equation seems to add up.

Well, I am pretty used to freezing and unfreezing tracks while working, so that's why I am not too bothered, I guess. You can have as many frozen Jupiters as you like in a song. (Hm, frozen Jupiter, that's a term you don't use every day).
Skijumptoes
Posts: 681
Joined: 11:08, 21 June 2010

Re: Roland Cloud 4.0

Post by Skijumptoes »

Oh totally, the look and feel of a soft synth is critical, as an Arturia user also, i find the new look interfaces an absolute joy compared to previous ones. Likewise, Togu Audio Line, who do their own Juno emulation - i always enjoy their interfaces as they're nice and large, easy to grab hold of controls etc.

And yes, like you, i prefer to bounce out to audio where i can anyway, purely as i know you can recall a project in 5+ years and not be at the mercy of a soft synth loading up (Even more so crucial with a cloud service like this!). Plus i'm a larger fan of hardware vs soft synths so i'm more used to dealing with audio regions.

But when i had my month with Roland cloud, at times i was unable to even load a single instance of the Juno or Jupiter without it causing artefacts, which was really dissapointing.

They could do with a low-CPU switch on those plugins, as i'm more than happy to bounce to audio on high-quality settings if that means i can easily load up a plugin.

Good (In a strange way) that it's not just mac users that are experiencing heavy CPU use, and also shows how well the boutique range deal with the ACB emulation in such a little box.

Are you a cloud subscriber by the way? Or are you in the month trial period? Curious if you've used it for more than a month if you're still going back to the plugins and getting good use from the service?
mimoid
Posts: 151
Joined: 19:20, 3 January 2016

Re: Roland Cloud 4.0

Post by mimoid »

Skijumptoes wrote: Good (In a strange way) that it's not just mac users that are experiencing heavy CPU use, and also shows how well the boutique range deal with the ACB emulation in such a little box.

Are you a cloud subscriber by the way? Or are you in the month trial period? Curious if you've used it for more than a month if you're still going back to the plugins and getting good use from the service?
Yes I am a regular subscriber now and so far I am pretty happy with the content and the cost.

Being a HW synthetist myself, lately I was finding myself moving more and more over to software. Having the originals to compare with, the JU-06, JX-03 and the Aira SH-101 are spot-on replicas as far as I can tell. I have never played a Jupiter-8, SH-2 or Promars, so I don't know about the accuracy of the software reproductions, but given how close the Boutiques and the plugouts are to the original, I would be surprised if they were any different.

Anyway since there is currently no way to purchase the new poly plugouts from the Content Store, if you don't want to subscribe, you can't have them. And they are simply too good not to have. I hope that Roland will honor the promise that there will be a loyalty campaign where one plugout may be kept indefinitely after each year of subscription, but we'll see.

BTW I had a minor issue with my cloud subscription, so I contacted Roland support, expecting them to take ages to respond. But they replied back with a personal email in less than 24 hours, telling me that they had fixed my issue. That's pretty impressive! So, yes, so far I am more than pleased.
Skijumptoes
Posts: 681
Joined: 11:08, 21 June 2010

Re: Roland Cloud 4.0

Post by Skijumptoes »

Really pleased to hear you're having a positive experience, honestly, it's brought a smile to my face as i've been hugely sceptical with it all and didn't have a great experience in my 30 days, and have read very little positive on the service other than your experience.

It's certainly made me consider trying another month as a paid member, shame they don't do a referral scheme! ;)
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