Roland Cloud has been updated to version 4.4, adding Anthology Orchestra and a software Roland D-50.
Anthology Orchestra offers variety of realistic sounds for classical orchestration, originally released by Roland 25 years ago.
Features:
- Sampled strings, woodwinds and brass sounds, plus orchestral percussion
- 255 patches
- 4 velocity layers per note
- ADSR resonant filter for lush sustains and harmonic decays
- Multiple instruments supported per plug in instance via separate MIDI channels
- Advanced multi-threaded loading and streaming for fast and smooth work flow
- VST and AU compatible
- 48khz stereo .ogg format (VBR)
- Adjustable key sensitivity
- Fine and course tuning controls, both manually or via midi control for coarse tuning
- Convolution Reverb with 8 impulse responses, decay and wet/dry mix controls
- Per instrument limiter toggle
- VST parameter automation
Roland has also added a software version of the Roland D-50 Linear Arithmetic (LA) Synthesizer, one of the most influential keyboards ever made.
The D-50 helped to define the sound of the late 80’s with its mix of sampled attacks and synthesized sustaining waveforms, plus chorus, reverb, and EQ.
Details are available at the Roland Cloud site.
As good as the D-50 VST is, I hope everyone boycotts the Roland Cloud to force them to change there mind about there sales model. Sure, have it as an option, but you have to sell them as well for people who don’t want a subscription.
I wonder how long they will keep backing this model, I wonder how many subscriptions they have- it seems top be almost universally hated.
I suspect if they weren’t doing the subscription model they couldn’t afford to develop the software.
You don’t have to subscribe to Roland Cloud to get their soft synths, they’re available for sale in Roland’s Content Store. Should you choose to subscribe to Roland Cloud, each year their YOURS program grants you a permanent license for the synth of your choice.
Hadn’t heard this before so I went to check it out. The only VST under software is Sound Canvas VA, at least in the US. (15 second VST load time according to the details page! Come on Roland! Stuff like that makes me think they shouldn’t be playing with creating VSTs.)
If I am not mistaken. Roland said that they will not develop the Roland’s Content Store anymore, (but it will stay there as what it is) and new products will all be released trough the Roland cloud. Roland can write a lot of software in the cloud but is unable to complete (sysex) MIDI implementation in their ACB/DCB products. Please reassign some software programmers to fix this. The cloud is probably a clever to promote/try things before buying the hardware or when you need access to sounds/synths only for a limited time.
Purchase the PLUG-OUT. The VST/AU is included in the purchase. The AU/VST does not require a SYSTEM keyboard, although SYSTEM owners are given a discounted price. Roland does not use the keyboard as a dongle.
I’d rather there were buy AND subscribe options as opposed to subscribe only. Also they probably should have started it off at a lower monthly price point to suck people in until they had enough content to make it worthwhile. I guess if you do the math you get one instrument a year to keep, plus the on demand use of the others at the cost of $240…Nah. Just sell me the instruments. Plus if the cloud tanks you instantly have no access to all of your cloud instruments so… hope you enjoyed your last mixdown.
subscription model blows
it is Roland though: big company & world-wide reputation…I’d imagine they would have the professional decency to announce a heads-up and alternatives should a scenerio as described by Steve above. They should have a flat out, paid in full purchase option for sure though.
Come to think of it, Roland and Korg failed me regarding updated drivers/support (Mac OS) for my FAVORITE PCR-500 & gorgeous MicroKontrol respectively…so yeah, the potential for being burned is there even from the big companies.
I still feel kinda crappy about the little guys who left me or pulled the plug on their products: Camel Audio (Alchemy sandboxing through Apple acquisition), Linplug by dropping developement for RMV (shitty interface, banging drum sample selection), Linplug Octopus (sexy FM synth that lacked integrated midi cc assignment)
Screw the Cloud model… I won’t pay into that.
The cloud model has never looked like anything but a way for a company to keep its hooks in me. Oddly, I may buy the D-05 module. There’s plenty of depth to it and I’ll own it outright. I like the software I have, in part because there are no clouds or iLoks to clog things up. Its all from companies who back me up as a registered customer, such as G-Media. That’s the model that works for me.
Subscription makes sense if you’re a pro. You get the latest updates, write off the monthly fee, and it’s all pretty much hassle free. I’m not a professional musician but I use a few subscription based services in my work and they’ve been a pretty good deal overall. It’s nice that I can get access to a tool and if it doesn’t work out, I’m only out a couple of months subscription. Roland has a nasty habit of dropping support once a product is out the door, so I’d probably be suspicious even if I was a pro though. People can still easily run VSTs that are 10-15 years old. I have some doubts that Roland will support this cloud thing that long.
For a hobbyist subscriptions don’t make as much sense. If you’re a serious hobbyist (almost pro) it might but for the rest of us it’s a hard cost to justify. I don’t want to start paying and then have to continue if I want to open old projects. Or pay for things I have no interest in ever using but are included. Or pay for support I never use.
Like many have said Roland should offer both options. Maybe offer some additional perks for those who use the subscription model, like an online patch library, support you can chat with, etc. But Roland would probably have to price the standalone VST at $200+ for it to make sense, and we’re right back to trying to justify spending $200 on an 80’s digital recreation with no new bells or whistles. They kind of put themselves between a rock and a hard place.
I have a couple of rhecroland VSTs for ny system 1 from back when you could just buy them…
The simple fact is that the VSTs Roland have produced so far are not that good. They sound pretty good, but the gui is small (and fugly when scaled). Primitive patch management and ridiculously high cpu usage (I only use them in my system 1)
If you are gong to go subscription you need to be the best of the best, something people realy need ….Roland hast done that yet, maybe the V Synth or god forbid something original would rip the scales, but I doubt it, there are far too many realy good developers producing great instruments for fair prices with great support for this to work.
The good thing is they’ve made the plugins already. If the subscription model doesn’t make them money they’ll probably just sell them as normal.
Isn’t the D-50 plugin also the editor for the D-05?
I mean there has to be _some_ editor software, impossible to create patches on the small box interface. But in that case the essential software for a hardware synth would also depend on that famous cloud thing?