Still trying to figure out the value proposition for this

Forum to discuss all aspects of Roland's Cloud
Post Reply
zombietactics
Posts: 251
Joined: 21:51, 12 July 2016

Still trying to figure out the value proposition for this

Post by zombietactics »

Roland makes a lot of bold claims regarding what an incredible value this cloud thing of theirs is.

By way of contrast, it cost me about $199 to outright buy/own a perpetual license to Arturia's complete suite several years ago. (It's currently $249 on sale). They've updated it several times, and steadily increased the number and quality of VSTs. Updates are free, regular and automatic for bug-fixes and enhancments. Generally a new version comes along every year-and-a-half, with new features and new instruments, and I wind up updating every 2-3 years for $199.

So, for 17 world-class VSTs, emulations of a wide swath of classic synths, as well as EPs, Pianos, etc. ... it costs me less than 100/year to OWN it.

Similar story with Native Instruments. I think I bought in initially at about $300 for the complete suite at rev 5. I think I've updated every 2 years at a cost of $99.

So, for 33 world-class VSTs, classic emulations and amazing Pianos, EPs, Bass Guitars, Drums ... tons of effects including a complete Guitar Rig Pro ... jeez it just goes on and on ... about $50/year.

For less than the cost of Roland Cloud per year, I get all of this ... what is Roland thinking?
mimoid
Posts: 151
Joined: 19:20, 3 January 2016

Re: Still trying to figure out the value proposition for thi

Post by mimoid »

As I was under the impression that Roland would in the next few years produce virtual representations of all their hardware, I thought that the subscription was an incredible value for money. I even ended up selling my Boutiques and eagerly awaited whatever may be trickling down through my subscription. But after the initial exciting deployment, only the D-50 appeared, and only as a direct spinoff from the D-05. Truly amazing, I admit, but still... nothing else. Not even the long overdue update of the low-res user interfaces of the old VSTi’s.

So as of now, the Roland Cloud pretty much looks like a virtual reproduction of selected Boutique units. But I am asking, where is the Cloud version of the TR-08, TR-09, TB-03 and JX-03? And where are the other outwordly cool things like JX-8P, JX-10, Jupiter-4 and Alpha Juno? A virtual JD-XA or V-Synth could easily make the subscription be worth every cent for years to come. But now...? Not so sure any more.

Seriously, the Flavr and the Anthology series are just a handful of samples packaged in a proprietary format to avoid being possible to load in Kontakt, Alchemy or other sample players for further audio mangling. Surely that cannot be of any serious interest for anyone, can it? I mean, there are other, similar, and much more extensive sound sets that can be purchased online for far less money.

I still haven’t fully given up on the Roland Cloud, but if nothing new comes up until January or so, I am afraid, I will.
Post Reply