Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Roland stay OTB please.. groove boxes tethered to a PC/laptop is not cool

Cerebral Infect wrote:Given the title of the product, Aira, it could be a pun like : Roland enters into a new era... i.e. the VST era. I think this Aira thing will be a VST product with a controller / dongle. TR-808, TR-909, TR-606, TR-505, TR-707, TB-303, SH-101 and so on....

Kinda of a Rebirth on steroids.

Percivale wrote:Roland stay OTB please.. groove boxes tethered to a PC/laptop is not cool

Cerebral Infect wrote:Given the title of the product, Aira, it could be a pun like : Roland enters into a new era... i.e. the VST era. I think this Aira thing will be a VST product with a controller / dongle. TR-808, TR-909, TR-606, TR-505, TR-707, TB-303, SH-101 and so on....

Kinda of a Rebirth on steroids.

In the second video (909) it looks like the new machine has USB and external power supply. Maybe that means, that it's standalone?

Percivale wrote:Roland stay OTB please.. Anything tethered to a PC/laptop is not cool

fixed, for my tastes at least

monolith wrote:

Percivale wrote:Roland stay OTB please.. Anything tethered to a PC/laptop is not cool

fixed, for my tastes at least

...and then the fight started...

Why are we still talking about this? Elektron is releasing a new analog drum machine! Who cares about Roland!

Kenneth wrote:Why are we still talking about this? Elektron is releasing a new analog drum machine! Who cares about Roland!

Um... because it's the thread about new Roland gear?
It looks like Roland and Elektron machines will be in different price leagues. Which means, that maybe in few years I could buy used TR-8 (if it's any good, of course)

Kenneth wrote:Why are we still talking about this? Elektron is releasing a new analog drum machine! Who cares about Roland!

I think the Roland machine could actually be better than the Elektron machine.

I think Roland are a lot farther removed from the electronic music industry than we would have hoped. I've got a feeling they really have no clue how to reach this market, and any attempt they make to jump on the analog revival will fall short of other companies who have had more experience developing analog hardware, or at least synthesizers in general. Remember the last synthesizer they came out with? The Gaia? You think a company who came up with a piece of c**p like that can oust Elektron in the rhythm department? Did you forget that drum machines happen to be Elektron's forte? Yes, I am aware that Roland developed the TR-808 and 909, but that happened 30 years ago. No one is left at Roland who knows how that stuff works. They are a mega-corporation who will create something that seems to them a valid entry in whatever market they are trying to sell to, without taking the time to study and understand the aspects of modern electronic music and the hardware that is used to create it. That is how they come up with things like the Gaia.

You may be right but it still deserves discussion.

Of course, this is all just speculation but I think it is not impossible for Roland to put out a good product. Just because they haven't lately doesn't mean they never can again.

Who knows who they have hired or who the design team is for this new machine?

I"m not expecting anything fantastic from them but I'm not ruling it out either.

Roland probably makes more profit on 1 new $129 Boss pedal than a $899 new synth percentage-wise. They could make a new $500 SH or whatever, but they're in this business to make a profit for their shareholders. I work for a large car company and similar decisions are made about what and what not to build everyday. A niche vehicle that only sells 15000 units a years cost just as much to develop and tool as a new vehicle projected to sell 100s of thousands of units a year. Roland probably doesn't believe it's worth their corporate time, energy and money to develop niche retro analog devices.

What that said, I would love to buy a modern version on the 909.

The Gaia? You think a company who came up with a piece of c**p like that can oust Elektron in the rhythm department?

Firstly, Elekton isn't tops anywhere in that area besides in the passionate minds of their devoted user base.
Secondly, you guys need to make up your mind. If you use this forum's search and look up the Roland gaia, you will see glowing reviews alongside the hatred. How much of that is anger at the they-released-something-that's-not-a-monster-analog crowd, I don't know. But the jury is certainly not out. And I also don't know why everyone thinks every company is releasing products for exactly them. Damn, they released something keytarish, I can't even remember it's name but it was like pink (I'm exaggerating) and had a little girl playing it and DUDES were losing their mind over it.

Yeah, the same guy who pulls up next a Saturn and guns his engine.

Anything by Roland has a chance since it will be in stores and easily available.
In my opinion, the NI Maschine is king. A lot of people want Maschine's abilities in a standalone box.
Everyone wants both. Who's going to be the first to deliver something that Tethers and can still Wander off on its own? I'd take something tossing around analog samples with proper sequencing and effects over a limited fully analog box that takes me back to the 80s.

And I'm not even sure this is really going to be a shootout.

Latest update at the USA Aira site:

First public showing February, 2014

So guess nothing for NAMM, but that way they avoid getting buried in the noise of all the other announcements.

griffin avid wrote:In my opinion, the NI Maschine is king.

I agree...

Elektron is a premium price product line. OT plus A4 plus this new drum machine is $3500 out of the gate!!! That limits how many units they will be able to sell.

Seems to me the battle lines are drawn between increased hardware/software integration and more standalone boxes (esp. analog) due to a software backlash. Software keeps the price way, way down...Maschine Mikro is cheaper than buying all 3 Volcas for pete's sake!

After using integrated solutions for almost a decade already (Roland SP606, Yamaha AI, Virus TI, Launchpad, APC40) I don't see them going away soon, just getting better. Akai's hybrid MPCs, Ableton Push and M-Audio Trigger Finger Pro all have Maschine in their sights.

So NI is consolidating with the new Studio controller and adding more content packs as fast as they can. Wait until they port Maschine to the iPad, game over

As someone on MW pointed out, NAMM isn't technically "public" so they could still debut it... I'm curious but I'm not going to lose any sleep until Feb.

Oh what the h**l? Stupid marketing ploy if we don't hear anything decent soon, people will be gassing for other companies stuff and forget about this

OT: were Maschine to be fully integrated with the iPad, I'd be back in an instant.

If they made a memory-expandable stand-alone ... oof!