Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Nice, Roland wouldn't even answer my emails.

Giving the only unit bound for Europe to a guy that hashtags the word SWAG speaks volumes
;);););););););););););););););)

Hahaha.

Oddly enough, I've realised that if this does have ind. outs, a xox sequencer, and is well priced with midi then this product would technically be something I've actually asked for... Those things with a decent price is enough for me to be interested.

All of this things have been hinted at so far, so roll on next weekend I guess, which coincidentally I have as a holiday from work. So now I can spend my time watching drum machine reviews. What a perfect valentines day.

Of course, it's main audience will make whatever Roland has planned it to make but many people will find other amazing uses for it. Roland have only ever had hits by proxy with these type machines anyway.

Small footprint - the size of an Electribe maybe?

well I'm in the market for a hardware drum machine soon... if it sounds good I may be interested - I certainly aint paying £1500 for a 909 or more for an 808

You'll get both in one machine here, Pro. Let's hope it sounds good.

commodorejohn wrote:

moremagic wrote:what exactly is 'style in a box' ? all that comes to my mind is limited 90s digital tech. the sort of goofy crud like the mc-303 and sp-202 which were just really cheap limited versions of more capable products, so they marketed them as entry level stuff and whatever.
were the korg electribes 'style-in-a-box'?
what about the 808?

Yeah, the MC-303 and company are good examples - you can usually tell these because the advertising is focused on "dance music! In a box!" or "hip-hop! In a box!" handy-dandy-touch-a-button-does-it-all-wonderbox hype. The 808 I wouldn't classify in that way because A. it's not some kind of all-in-one prefab-sound-in-a-box box, and B. as much as it's strongly associated with certain styles now, that only happened some time after its release, when pioneers of those styles decided they liked it for what it was - it wasn't created as a one-touch rap/hip-hop/etc. machine.

edm and hip hop were way too underground for any mfr to market to them; the tr 808 is way more limited than most things sold as grooveboxes, but since rolands PR dept was even more clueless 30 years ago it gets a pass?
it seems like your gripe is with the PR folks and the ad firms, not the R&D teams making new instruments.

Well, I can't really afford the new Elektron box and I'd like to get a drum synthesizer with more controls than an ER-1. So if this is done right and priced right, sounds just fine to me. Don't even care if it's VA instead of analog, it actually just means that it's more likely to be in my price range.

And quite frankly, I don't think that having another option could possibly be bad thing. Who cares how they want to market it. Will it be useful for what I want to do? I am cautiously optimistic and I think it is an amazing and exciting time right now. Because even if this doesn't turn out to be for me, I can always pick up a Volca Beats.

somebedroomdj wrote:Well, I can't really afford the new Elektron box and I'd like to get a drum synthesizer with more controls than an ER-1. So if this is done right and priced right, sounds just fine to me. Don't even care if it's VA instead of analog, it actually just means that it's more likely to be in my price range.

And quite frankly, I don't think that having another option could possibly be bad thing. Who cares how they want to market it. Will it be useful for what I want to do? I am cautiously optimistic and I think it is an amazing and exciting time right now. Because even if this doesn't turn out to be for me, I can always pick up a Volca Beats.

I will remain open-minded about the new Roland drum machine, although I'm so impossibly in love with the Elektron RYTM, it'll be hard to do that. It's just hard to get excited about something new that isn't analog, because, oddly enough, VA feels like "old" technology now. It's been done. It feels like the '90s. Sure, analog's been done to death, too, but at least there are all these fresh, new analog machines coming out, which, truth be told, are far better (not to mention more affordable) than many of their counterparts from the '70s and '80s.

And for what it's worth, somebedroomdj, the Volca Beats is a perfectly fine drum machine that almost anyone can afford. I like mine a lot.

New info on ROLAND AIRA. Apparently it's new form of VA called ACB (Analog Circuit Behavior).

salwa wrote:New info on ROLAND AIRA. Apparently it's new form of VA called ACB (Analog Circuit Behavior).

modeling the behavior of the circuits? no one has *ever* done that before!

Ashe37 wrote:modeling the behavior of the circuits? no one has *ever* done that before!

Analog drum machine? No one has *ever* done that before!
Jokes aside, it's not the concept that matters, but execution of it. Maybe it's something like U-he Diva, but they need to put some powerful processors inside...

Well, even current off-the-shelf DSPs are much faster than the ones used in *many* instruments. A good f'rinstance is the ones in the Virus Ti 2- 150 mhz or so single-core DSPs when the 'current' ones are 250 mhz dual-core DSPs... so the additional power is out there...

I just like stuff that inspires me, and for that reason I like my Dr. Groove 202 as much as I like my 808.
The TR-08 seems like it will be just as fun, and if its not, no worries!!!
Roland don't owe me anything and I'm not obliged to buy it if I don't like it.

Who really cares how it's marketed or who to?

I don't know if I'm missing something, but so many comments in all the synth forums I read make it seem like Roland is like a life long friend who has decided to bang your wife, run over your dog and then s**t on your pillow. I just can't fathom how some people get so worked up over it!!!