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Roland 50 Studio
- risktopark 5y agoIn celebration of 50 years, Roland have collaborated with sound designer Yuri Suzuki to create Roland50 Studio, a digital reworking of some of their most famous and influential devices. It's a 808/303/101 in your browser.
- nonrandomstring 5y agoWonder how it compares to "Rebirth", an earlier Steinberg (later Propellerhead) take on the classic analogue production deck? Surely the Roland version is the most accurate to date?
- risktopark 5y agoSometimes accurate is good, but my vst favourite 808 clone of recent times was this one: https://rc-808.com/ https://rc-808.com/ which is similar but more with a focus on a more flexible drum synthesis engine than the original. I think the joy of the roland 50 is how approachable the sequencing is though, with the sounds everyone is familiar with
- S_A_P 5y agoLong time 808/606/303 owner and the Roland emulations are ok. The best 303 emulation I’ve used is the Audiorealism bassline. https://www.audiorealism.se/ https://www.audiorealism.se/ Keep in mind I’m not a huge 303 fan personally. I’ve got a Roland cloud subscription and I definitely think it’s useful and way more convenient than vintage gear approaching 50 years of age. I also have the arturia v-collection and think this last update made the Roland synths (Jupiter and Juno’s) sound way more alive and better imho than the Roland versions. They are both pretty good though. You can get the same dsp emulation in the Roland boutiques/Aira as well if you want hardware knobs to twiddle. Iirc the 808 and 909 in rebirth were sample based. The 303 was nice and squelchy but not quite a perfect emulation. Lots of fun to play with though. I remember spending hours in college playing with rebirth.
- nobleach 5y agoI had been eyeing that Arturia V collection. The cost isn't too bad at all! I had a demo a few years ago and I really only messed with the grand piano and the DX-7. I'd love to do some nice warm pads on a Juno-106!
- thereddaikon 5y agoI can't speak to the accuracy, I only have a few bits of hardware, but V collection sounds really good on its own. As for the DX-7, Dexed is really popular.
- nobleach 5y agoI've owned a couple DX-7s. I just can't get into the original. The DX7 mk2 was a really cool instrument and I'm glad the V has some of those sounds. I messed with FM7 a bit too. I've seen mention of Dexed for years but haven't tried it out.
- Roboprog 5y agoIf you have an iOS device, KQ Dixie is a pretty good DX7 emulation. It’s an audio unit, so you can load it into a host (“DAW”) and add an effects chain, even though it’s on a mobile device
- owenfi 5y agoI picked it up on Splice starting around Christmas. Great low-cost way to try it, seems fairly catch-free. (The only real downside I could tell, was if you stop subscribing, and they no longer offer it, then you could lose out on your "investment" vs completing the purchase. Perhaps licensing across computers or running their software, but it doesn't seem worse/more invasive than any typical audio DRM.) The Vocoder is so fun to play with! A lot of great sounds in there, I gotta spend some more time with it!
- tomc1985 5y agoVST or bust
- jasoneckert 5y agoAnd just like that, I said goodbye to all job productivity today. It looks like Roland took a cue from Google's Blob Opera: https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/blob-opera/AAHWrq360NcGbw?hl=en https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/blob-opera/AAHW...
- yitchelle 5y agoThanks mate, I took your hint and purposely avoided taking a look. I will wait until I get home. My work productivity says thanks.
- systemvoltage 5y agoIsn't it the other way around? Google took a hint from Roland perhaps? Strange thing to say either way. Roland has been around for decades making synthesizers, arrangers as well as sophisticated software. Moreover, Blob Opera has very little to do with Roland 50 besides "they both make sounds".
- samjanis 4y ago"Time you enjoyed wasting, wasn't wasted" ... Well, that's my excuse. What's yours?
- 0xcoffee 5y agoDamn this sounds so cool. Accidentally clicked the red clear button and deleted score though :( Would love a way to ctrl-z to save myself from myself.
- misthop 5y agoLooks like they also have countdowns to add 4 more units to the interface - check out the lock tabs on top or the Countdown link in the hamburger menu. Looks to be they will have new interfaces in about 1, 3, 4, and 6 months. Guesses as to what will be added?
- tgv 5y agoI couldn't resist taking a look at the code, because, well, the sound generation should be in there, and I found this: function qt(n) { return n !== n }
- tomc1985 5y agoWonder how good the emulation is compared to some of the other commercial solutions out there. Usually software implementations of this hardware don't sound right My current fav is Image-Line's Transistor Bass
- mikelevins 5y agoThe TR-808 and TB-303 sound pretty good to me. I was in an electronic rock/pop/avant garde trio throughout the 80s and we used those two devices (and a Sequential Circuits Pro One) a lot. I still have pattern notes I could use to reproduce our old patterns with these emulations. They sound pretty close to me, though you have to allow for the unreliability of memory.
- tomc1985 5y agoI always look for how the filters sounds with Res set really high. Good analog filters have a sort of fuzzy quality to them, which I suspect (not an EE here, just guessing) is extra harmonics from how that circuit behaves under those conditions. A lot of software emulations just sound thin, this included. I'm not an authority on the 303, though. I just like to play around with analog gear sometimes.
- nobleach 5y agoI did SO much with Rebirth-338 back in the day. Its emulation wasn't so bad. I've tried getting it to run on Windows 10, but even after all the hacks I could find online, it just doesn't run quite right. It was made in the era of 800x600 resolutions. And even though there's a pixel-doubling patch available, it looks like hot garbage. Even still, this was a huge part of my music experimentation phase of life. (My youth)
- nix0n 5y agoThe original 16-bit version will run in Wine without any additional patching, but I'm not sure what options that would give you for resolution problems.
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- blub 5y agoFor those that prefer something with buttons, Roland has issued desktop module versions of some of their iconic machines under the name Roland Boutique. The equivalents of the devices they have in this online tool would be the SH-01a, TB-03 and TR-08. E.g: https://www.roland.com/us/products/sh-01a/ https://www.roland.com/us/products/sh-01a/
- throw_m239339 5y agoOr just buy the cheap Behringer clones which are fairly accurate and full analogue like the originals, unlike the boutiques which are digital. https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DG6 https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DG6 https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DTD https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DTD https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DG5 https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DG5
- kabes 5y agoYeah. I've got both the boutiques and Behringers. And if you can live with the behringer ethics and cheap plastic feel, the sound is definitely just as good if not better
- blub 5y agoOr that, but I thought that advertising the products of a competitor with dubious ethical standards would be poor form.
- throw_m239339 5y ago> Or that, but I thought that advertising the products of a competitor with dubious ethical standards would be poor form. Show me where are Roland's analogue TR808,TR909 or TB303 in retail? That's right, there are none. The patents on all these circuit designs have expired long ago. Behringer is just offering a cheap analogue alternative to unaffordable used gear. The boutique devices you listed are not analogue so they aren't more authentic to the original than Behringer devices. If anything, it's no less of dubious marketing.
- motohagiography 5y agoSuper fun. I use a 303 clone in some of my stuff. The physical interface is just a big gumption trap for composing, and this web interface is actually 100x better. I will likely use this to compose and hack around, and then plug it into my physcal 303 for its part. The extra fun is modulating with the knobs. I use analog synths to get away from screens. Fun thing I've discovered that is specifically useful for the 303 is that loops and melodies with a prime number length against composite number beats are a source of free constant movement in otherwise repetitive loops. A 4 on the floor beat vs a 7, 11, or 13 step melody only cycles every 4 x n bars. I've been mulling one of the an 808 re-issues, or even investing in a collectors item, and playing this in my browser is removing my excuses for putting it off. Thank you!
- oceanghost 5y ago+1 for ZAMM reference.
- willis936 5y agoIf you like playing with virtual synths and are on iOS: I recommend checking out the open source Synth One app if you haven't already.
- IYasha 5y agoHappy birthday, Roland! Coincidentally, the whole winter I was striving to get one of their synths. With no luck, sadly (thanks, politicians! >:( ) The one thing I noted throughout Roland's history - is that their products suffer from underappreciation for some time until they stop being produced :D And shortly after some jump right to being legendary. ))
- marban 5y agoI bought 4 boutiques last months. Gotta start somewhere.
- sklargh 5y agoI haven't had this much fun with a random find on HN in a long time. So pleasant. Such a treat. Thank you Yuri & Roland!
- ushakov 5y agothe sound is cracking on my iPhone
- throw_m239339 5y ago> the sound is cracking on my iPhone Webaudio has pretty poor performances in general on mobile.
- lolski 5y agoOut of the 4 instruments that are still locked I'd reckon three would definitely be Jupiter 8, Juno, and TR-909. I can't confidently guess the last one though. I'll try them later at home. Do you think they'll sound as good as the analog counterparts? Hahahaa
- tgv 5y agoI hadn't noticed the locks. Wow.
- kzrdude 5y agoI've learned piano using my dear Roland FP-30, but now looking for an upgrade. Probably a kawai or Yamaha with warmer, more natural sound and more high end action. Anyone have recommendations? P515? CA59? Other? Clp 745?
- elihu 5y agoI have a Yamaha MOX-8 that I like for the most part. I find the interface generally overcomplicated and confusing. I think it sounds pretty good as a piano, but there are probably synthesizers out there that do piano better. The weighted keys feel good. I don't know how it compares to the FP-30.
- Johanx64 5y agoYou're not going to get a "natural sound" out of pretty much all of the digital pianos out on the market. Even the pretty pricey ones. What you can do however, is try hooking up Roland FP-30 to a computer and using the computer to generate sounds (so called VST). I'm visiting relatives for a few weeks, and they happen to have FP-30X (same action), the built in sounds are absolutely god horrid (they are so bad I consider them useless, outside of maybe the rhodes sound), but I'm hooking it to my laptop which has Garritan CFX Concert Grand (full version), Ivory II grand pianos and Pianoteq. Garritan CFX being the overall most realistic. But you can't go wrong with Ivory II either as it will be a massive upgrade compared to any built in digital piano sounds. So the full stack would be: 1. The best action you can get (the built in DP sounds don't matter since they are all going to be some gradient of suck anyway) 2. PC with audio interface with very low latency drivers 3. Garritan CFX
- fedreg 5y agoReally, really well done!!! Was up and running with some cool music in just a few minutes. And being in the browser meant that I could do some unconventional things, such as playback a song in multiple tabs for some neat syncopation/polyphony effects. Fun. Looks like they partnered with the Counterpoint team on this (https://ctpt.co/ https://ctpt.co/)
- uxp100 5y agoAny web midi support? For clock sync at least? I'm going to look into this more after work.
- rajangdavis 5y agoI don't think there is MIDI support given that the browser has to ask for permission and I didn't get that dialog; however, I could be wrong.
- heavyarms 5y agoIf you inspect the network traffic you can see what the "hidden" additional devices behind the countdowns are. SP404 2022-04-04T12:00:00.000Z TR606 2022-06-06T12:00:00.000Z TR707 2022-07-07T12:00:00.000Z TR909 2022-09-09T12:00:00.000Z
- ben174 5y agoYea those are the expected devices. I think that pretty mimics their botique line which are adorable little synth replicas of the original. They're so cute I had to collect them and have them displayed on shelves in my living room. Damn, I really wish they would have given these away as VSTs instead. I'd love to bring an official Roland 303 software synth into my setup without paying their ridiculous subscription fees.
- tomc1985 5y agoThat's probably why they aren't free VSTs, this is just for tinkering and nostalgic normies. All the artists making music for public distribution knows its faster and easier to do it all in their DAW But! FLStudio has Transistor Bass. I don't know if it's available as a VST but IL has posted comparison videos online and I can't really hear any difference through my studio monitors.
- tartoran 5y agoDAW are indeed technically superior but the biggest problem is that they thwart creativity. They’re not good for exploring but they’re excellent for executing once you know what you want to do.
- tomc1985 5y agoTo some. I have always produced music in the box. In fact I can't play an instrument beyond what is needed to input MIDI data into the computer. If musicians study their software like they study their instruments, they would realize that the two are closer than they think
- deleted 5y ago
- marban 5y agoIf you're a Roland fan, this doc is insanely well-made. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcbpRMZIQ8g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcbpRMZIQ8g
- josh64 5y agoExcellent ! Thank you!
- racl101 5y agoTo this Day Rebirth-338 is still the funnest 303 clone software I've ever played with.
- lostgame 5y agoReminds me - of course - of ReBirth, from 'back in the day'...when the iPad first came out I was incredibly pleased to find ReBirth had a port to it. (Edit: I'm sad to see it's since been removed. Damn.) I wanna say I first played with ReBirth in 2002/3(?) - I was 12/13 - and that was my introduction to - at least - the 303/808/909. What's great about these pieces of software, is that just by playing around of them, they are great tools to learn about the fundamentals of synthesis. The Roland JD-XI is a more recent multi-layered synth that features a whole drum machine, an analog monophonic bass synth, and two polyphonic synths, all attached to a fantastic sequencer. I highly recommend checking that out if anyone is interested in a nice modern hardware equivalent to something like this.
- skrebbel 5y agoI love this, and also its predecessor https://808303.studio https://808303.studio which was this but without the SH101 and with a less celebratory tone. The audio quality is absolutely splendid. However, I really wonder why they don't have any URL auto-sharing mechanism. Given that there are no patterns, no sequences whatsoever, it's just one single 16 position loop per "device", an entire song could easily fit on the URL. Eg the TypeScript playground live-updates the url as you type: https://www.typescriptlang.org/play?#code/FAYw9gdgzmA2CmA6WYDmAKABsK94BoACAMwEsAXKE0ieAQmGAGEAJQwedIOvPvffOeA3sADybQEQEhSdMJSuM+XMlKVzAJoqFMrZtna5zAEK7l+07pOFmABUuKd++wYBKAZV08zep5eAsAKnZeQbrAALKBwVEWXsAAMpExSY6xrgAiISnJqoYZnFkynnL53vrAAIJMmSrV0sCYAJQA3EA https://www.typescriptlang.org/play?#code/FAYw9gdgzmA2CmA6WY... That "record" feature is neat, but it'd be way neater if I can just share an URL with my composition with a friend and they can remix it.
- throw_m239339 5y agoReminds rebirth on desktop and audio-something, an app made in Flash. The Flash app in the browser had better performances and stability though. This app panics as soon as one pressed the random button. The Flash app had effects and more powerful synthesizers and it was 15+ years ago.
- droidist2 5y agoAudiotool? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulWz9_Oe_oI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulWz9_Oe_oI
- wolpoli 5y agoAnyone know why the Tempo control looks like a knob, but works like an up and down slider?
- clawlor 5y agoMost DAWs work like that, it's the expected interface for the target audience.
- pschuegr 5y agoThis is great. Too bad it doesn't allow you any control over the individual sounds, at least as far as I can see.
- ddaalluu2 5y agoSide question, what are some good free VSt or LMMS resources? It has been a while since I last did music production, but I'm currently so bored of the web development process and it's the year of the tiger so might as well pick up my teen and early 20s love again. My soul demands it