Roland's new hardware instruments, Roland's Cloud

[Suganthan]

From Sept, 09 onwards, new hardware instruments from Roland - http://tfr.roland.com/us/

Roland cloud - http://rolandcloud.com/

[Guy Rowland]

I'm a little confused by this - I think it means that Sept 9 is a day of a lot of online Roland hoopla with announcements, demos, live performances and there will be something called Roland Cloud announced then too... am I close? (not sure how hardware in the cloud works, but hey I was born in the '60s).

[Marius]

Two of the events are being broadcast from Toronto, so if I can find a way in I might try to do that. Seems like an insane number of new products...should be quite a day.

[Suganthan]

I'm a little confused by this

Yeah me too, not sure what it is. Jeremy Soule(collaborator) said in an interview that they saw an opportunity of handful of talented sound engineers/programmers helping musicians make music very easy. He also said that anyone can have those powerful synths, etc which are similar to what AAA composers use(Yup, thats whats he said).

Just noticed Marius's post about Roland cloud in Spectrasonics thread which has more info.

[Marius]

It doesn't have to do with the Cloud product, but some of the hardware is beginning to leak...

[TheUnfinished]

As cool as the TR-09 looks, I just don't see the point if it's going to be non-analogue. Didn't they already create the TR-8?!

[Muziksculp]

I wonder if all the new products are boutique type ?

Will there be any new heavyweights ?

i.e. I would love to see Roland make a new Integra 8 Module, with all new PCM Samples., better effects, and more polyphony, with nicely designed VST Editor, or the next generation JD-XA II (crossover Synth Digital + Analog), or anything else that does not fall into their boutique line.

[Suganthan]

Hm, I see.

I also read this post (by Jeremy Soule) in which he seem to explain what is triggering him to develop such a concept. Most notably,

"I feel like I've really only been able to devote about ten percent of my life to my actual musical craft. The rest is just all of this overhead that seemed to avalanche onto me as I was about to make a downbeat. Having mentors would have helped me in my quest, but no world-class composers recognized my talent or stepped forward to help.
In a nutshell, we are working to create the best shortcuts to success and wisdom in the context of real experience. I'm a musician that has walked in your shoes while living with the same challenges. Roland Cloud is the home and community for musicians." !

sounds like there could be more than some bunch of vst's and samples.

Meanwhile, Roland Cloud uploaded this youtube video asking which piano performance (piano A or piano B) we prefer.

[Guy Rowland]

Do you think Roland will ever seriously go down the vst route? The D-50 is still MIA after all these years and they've jealously guarded it...

[Suganthan]

Do you think Roland will ever seriously go down the vst route?

Well, you predictled accurately, all of the new products seem to be hardware based.
http://tfr.roland.com/global/products

Well, still no update on the Roland Cloud - http://rolandcloud.com/