Roland has released Zenology 2.0, a major update to their advanced software synthesizer for Mac & Windows.
Zenology is Roland’s plugin version of their Zen-Core synthesis platform. It lets you edit and share sounds between Zenology Pro and Zen-Core hardware instruments like FANTOM, JUPITER-X, JUNO-X, RD-88, MC-101, MC707, and others.
Zenology 2.o features hundreds of new presets, an improved user interface, updated effects and more.
Features:
- Over 4000 tones and 200 drum kits, easily expandable to over 10,000 total selections
- Compatible with Sound Packs and Wave Expansions available on Roland Cloud
- Advanced tone browser to explore sounds, tag favorites, and create custom banks
- Powerful synth architecture with up to four partials per tone, each with flexible oscillator, filter, amplifier, dual LFOs and equalizer
- Layer multiple synthesis types including advanced virtual analog and modern PCM
- Four oscillators with nine virtual analog waveforms, Supersaw, noise, PCM, and PCM SYNC
- Includes 1840 PCM waveforms, easily expandable to over 7000
- Ten filter types, including JUPITER and other iconic models
- Eleven LFO shapes, including tempo-synced Step LFOs with 37 curves per step
- Over 90 lush Roland effects, including pristine reverbs, JUNO-106 and CE-1 choruses, SDD-320 Dimension D, and DJ-FX Looper
- Modern resizable user interface for smooth workflow in any production environment
- Edit and share sounds between ZENOLOGY and ZEN-Core hardware like FANTOM, JUPITER-X, JUNO-X, RD-88, MC-101, MC-707, and others
See the Roland site for more information.
i really wish Roland would have stuck with the Aira stuff instead of this modernized rompler crap
@ Sabazios
JD-800 Model Expansion for Zenology was from the early nineties…what are you on about?
It doesn’t sound like you have really explored Zenology or a Fantom. The primary mode is a virtual analog with the option to use PCMs.
whereTF is my AI synthesizer!
Only needs Variphrasing.
I cannot understand why Roland chooses to not use it.
Throwing more emulations of old subtractive synth engines into their platforms would be a nice bonus, but with glaring structural deficiency in the platform, keeping adding basic subtractive engines has hit point of diminishing returns.
The Variphrasing would greatly increase Zenologys sound design capabilities, and the Fantom Platform is in dire, DIRE NEED of it; the whole Fantoms central structure, the Ableton-esque sequencer, is INCOMPLETE without Warping, which omission Variphrasing would perfectly fill.
Hit it out if the ballpark
Roland tries to sell patch portability (create a sound here and play it on your Juno-X!) as if it is something people need. I’d just like to go on record saying that for me, it actually detracts from the value of a product. I want each synth I own to have its own character – any synth I buy is an instrument, not a platform. This whole “patch compatibility across Zen-core line” just reminds me that my synth is a hollow shell with a DSP, and serves to distance me from it.
Much of the joy of setting up my sounds for live gigs is approximating (or improving upon) the sound I used in the studio using the gear I’m travelling with. So, maybe I used a Juno bass in my recording, and I’m not performing with a Juno, so I might create a similar sound on my Hydrasynth, for example. And as part of that process maybe I end up adding some overtones or ambience in the Hydrasynth that really brings the part home.
If I desperately need a sound I developed somewhere to be available to me on a different keyboard, I’ll sample it and call it a day.
Dammit Roland. I want so badly to love you again, but you are on the wrong path. If you want to go digital so badly then create something new. Personally, I’d love to see a new analog Jupiter that isn’t a replica of a legacy instrument – maybe the synthesis philosophy of something like a Prophet-12 with a Jupiter-style slider layout and classic Roland analog filters.
@Nebula
….just reminds me that my synth is a hollow shell with a DSP, and serves to distance me from it.
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That describes every digital synth ever produced by anyone since the 1980s, not just Roland.
Not sure why you are expressing that kind of sentiment in a Zenology discussion thread…but to each his own.
Personally, I’m happy that Roland are continuing to improve their lineup…yeah it’s digital….yeah it’s cross platform and there are advantages to that as well.
If you want what you describe then you have to go analogue.
It is nice. But when will Roland complete their transition to Apple Silicon? Still no vst3 support on mac, except for JD-800 and Zenology… 🙁