{"id":2048,"date":"2012-02-27T19:19:24","date_gmt":"2012-02-28T00:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/?p=2048"},"modified":"2012-02-27T19:19:26","modified_gmt":"2012-02-28T00:19:26","slug":"dear-roland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/audio-music\/dear-roland\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Roland&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I would love a new amazing Roland Rack-Mount Synthesizer that is a true successor to the XV-5080 or Fantom XR.&nbsp; My friends and I have written up some specifications for the ultimate Roland synthesizer.<\/p>\n<p>I believe the current direction of the industry beginning to leave hardware MIDI synthesizers\/modules behind in favor of crappy software instruments is a mistake.&nbsp; The quality is not there, the &quot;classic sounds&quot; are not there, and in my opinion the simplicity is not there.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, the main idea\/purpose of the unit is MIDI Performance playback \/ studio recording, not necessarily live\/gigging use.&nbsp; Essentially this one synthesizer would render about 20U worth or racked MIDI equipment I have redundant by providing a single powerful module that truly replaces that equipment sound for sound and adds new exciting functionality for the future.&nbsp; I also believe the fantastical specifications listed below are achievable with current technology.&nbsp; I would expect something like this to have a price point between $3,000 and $5,000, which I would happily pay.<\/p>\n<p>So without further ado, here are the specs:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Roland Expanded Articulation Legacy Synthesizer (3U Rackmount)&nbsp; &quot;REALsynth&quot; or maybe just Roland Legacy<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Polyphony:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;512 for Roland Legacy Engine;&nbsp; ARX and RLX Expansions have independent and varying polyphony limits.\n<ul>\n<li>Roland Legacy Engine handles all XV, Fantom X, SRX, SR-JV80, U-110, and GM\/GS sounds in any combination.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Effects:\n<ul>\n<li>Multi-Effects:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;32 independent systems, 78 Types;&nbsp; Chainable: up to 4 MFX per chain (IE: You can have 32 MFX for 32 Channels or 8 channels of MFX chains with 4 MFX each!)<\/li>\n<li>Reverb:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;3 systems to choose from 12 types total;&nbsp; GM\/GS Reverb Mode (taken from SC-8850), Fantom X Reverb Modes, A third all new Legacy Reverb Mode (Stereo Convolution Reverb)<\/li>\n<li>Chorus:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;2 systems to choose from 11 types total;&nbsp; GM\/GS Chorus Mode (taken from SC-8850) and Fantom X Chorus Modes<\/li>\n<li>Delay:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;10 types (Taken from SC-8850)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>MIDI Channels:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;64 for Legacy Engine when no expansions are in use.&nbsp; Channels will get claimed as needed by each active ARX and RLX expansion instrument.<\/li>\n<li>Audio Outputs:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Analog 10 TRS Balanced (5 stereo pairs); Digital: 1 Optical, 1 Coaxial, (44.1,48,88,96Khz)<\/li>\n<li>Audio Inputs:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;1 XLR, 2 TRS Balanced;&nbsp; Reverb, Chorus, and Delay can be used.&nbsp; 1 MFX Chain may be offloaded to be used.&nbsp; (XLR and Left\/Mono TRS port can not be used simultaniously)<\/li>\n<li>Audio Signal:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;24Bit\/96Khz (Actual sample frequencies vary depending on original waveform source)<\/li>\n<li>Display:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;320&#215;120-dot Graphic Backlit LCD (Similar to the great XV-5080 display, I can read it from across the room!)<\/li>\n<li>Front Panel Controls:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Preferably similar scheme to XV-5080.&nbsp; Please no touchscreens, for accessibility reasons!&nbsp; Roland rack units usually deliver in great controls so I&#39;m not worried here.<\/li>\n<li>Storage:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Compact Flash memory card (2 slots), perhaps Optional internal SSD option.<\/li>\n<li>USB Modes:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;MIDI\/Performance Mode, Disk Drive(s) Mode<\/li>\n<li>MIDI Ports:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;2x In\/Out, Thru.&nbsp; In USB Mode, operate as additional MIDI Interfaces for other devices.<\/li>\n<li>RAM:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;DDR3 up to 8GB (2 Slots)<\/li>\n<li>User Memory:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;128 Performances per CF Card Up to 128 Patches in 128 Banks per Card (Shared with Compact Flash Sample Storage)<\/li>\n<li>Sampling:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Up to 128 Samples and\/or Multi-Samples in 128 Banks per CF Card (Multi-Samples Consume 1 sample space for each sample used, limited by CF Card capacity, shared with User Patch memory)<\/li>\n<li>On-Board \/ Preset Sounds:\n<ul>\n<li>Roland GM\/GS Synthesizer (SC-8850 Soundset)<\/li>\n<li>Complete XV-5080 Waveforms &amp; Patches<\/li>\n<li>Complete Fantom XR Waveforms &amp; Patches<\/li>\n<li>Complete U-110 Sound Library (All Waveforms &amp; Patches, excludes consolidated waveforms from the included&nbsp; SR-JV80\/SRX Romset)<\/li>\n<li>Complete SR-JV80 Sound Library (All Waveforms &amp; Patches, excludes consolidated waveforms from the included SRX ROMset)<\/li>\n<li>Selected SRX Sound Library:&nbsp; SRX-01, SRX-03, SRX-04, SRX-06, SRX-07, SRX-09, SRX-10 (All Waveforms &amp; Patches)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Expansion Capability:\n<ul>\n<li>6 SRX Expansion Slots<\/li>\n<li>4 ARX Expansion Slots\n<ul>\n<li>New Card: ARX-04 Ultimate Strings<\/li>\n<li>New Card: ARX-05 Acoustic Guitar<\/li>\n<li>New Card: ARX-06 Electric Guitar<\/li>\n<li>New Card: ARX-07 Tonewheel Organ<\/li>\n<li>New Card: ARX-08 Vocal Designer (Clone of VC2 Vocal Designer)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>4 RLX Expansion Slots (All new Roland Legacy Series Expansion Cards!&nbsp; Complete Vintage Roland Synthesizers with full SysEx compatibility!&nbsp; More than one of the same RLX Expansion can be used if desired.)\n<ul>\n<li>RLX-01:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;TR-808<\/li>\n<li>RLX-02:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;TR-909<\/li>\n<li>RLX-03:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;TB-303<\/li>\n<li>RLX-04:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Jupiter 8<\/li>\n<li>RLX-05:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; D-50 Linear Synthesizer<\/li>\n<li>RLX-06:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;MT-32 Multi Timbre Sound Module<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>As a matter of note, I personally could live without any of the audio input and sampling capability, &quot;The Roland Sound Library&quot; is what I am interested in and love!&nbsp; Also, if it would be possible to include the entire SRX library on-board in the interest of simplifying the hardware (no need for SRX Slots then), that would be even more awesome!<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<\/p>\n<p>A Dedicated Roland User<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I would love a new amazing Roland Rack-Mount Synthesizer that is a true successor to the XV-5080 or Fantom XR.&nbsp; My friends and I have written up some specifications for the ultimate Roland synthesizer. I believe the current direction of the industry beginning to leave hardware MIDI synthesizers\/modules behind in favor of crappy software instruments [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[13],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEAl2-x2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2048"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2048"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2055,"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2048\/revisions\/2055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.synth-studio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}