desmond wrote:
Possibly they are also holding back the "full" voice count for a later, better product, based on the JP-8 emulation stuff, at a higher price point, or at least, think that the Boutique with 8-voices might cannabalise another product.
However, everyone in Japan *loves* small and cute, and seeing as the trendy area of EDM production seems to have moved back to using loads of small boxes rather than a DAW
Good points there Desmond. I really do hope Roland release the Boutique synth engines in better implementations. There is no denying that the TR8, Plugouts and Boutiques really do sound good. Roland have 'nailed' the underlying virtual emulation engines. I've being playing the Juno 106 for decades and know it inside out - and I have to say, the JU06 sounds nothing short of uncannily like the original. There are particular quirks (good ones

) that come with a DCO-VCF combination as found on the J106 and I for one thought Roland would not be able capture those using virtual technology alone. But they did. The JU06 sounds, to my ears, essentially indistinguishable from the original.
Rather, it's the lack of controllers (and as you point out the lack of MIDI implementation control wise) that's SO frustrating - and means that many of the Juno106's unique capabilities cannot be achieved in this practical implementation. Furthermore - providing only 4 voices is just 'wrong'.
I take back what I say in the last post when I say it looks like Roland are trying to annoy (that was just me griping!). Rather - it really does seem that they are, genuinely, VERY disconnected from the likes of us - the users. They really do _never_ take on board user input, or desires, ever! Other companies, from Moog and DSI to Yamaha, warts and all, DO ultimately listen to their user base (to an extent). But Roland seem VERY disconnected and do not seem to know how to interact with today's musician desires or needs in so many of their products.
It seems that it's all insular, executive, corporate-market driven. They seem to me like the many Italian companies like GEM and others who always seemed to be one step out of sync with the user base and suffered accordingly; and I genuinely see a possibility that Roland will be gone within a few years. At least, I can't see them survive in the synthesizer market. They are too annoying to too many people, and seem to be perpetually out of touch. From the 4-octaves of the JD-AX to the Aliasing problems on the Jupiter 80, the lack of DAW connectivity of Integra-7 to the puny controls on the Boutique range; basically every product Roland releases these days has significant problems that critically inhibit them from gaining traction in the estimation of users. There are too many poor decisions in their products for it to be just 'griping' by us. The issues are real and tangible from within Roland.
They may sell bucket loads of junk today, but there's no longevity, customer loyalty, company loyalty, or vision - characteristics needed in a company banking on 'the future of music' as it's core business.