NAMM 2013 Rumors

[simajanpa]

Well I figured that rumors are just that...."rumors"

And I've got this GAS thing going on RIGHT NOW!

So I just bought a NIB Kronos 61 for a price I just couldn't resist

Seems I can get used to "less keys" after all.

Out goes my TEX76..it will be sorely missed

[bsbsantos]

The JUPITER Synth Legends Package is great.

And WOW, Roland is not selling them for US$250!!!

[zzz]

If Roland stick Rapture, Dimension, Z3ta+2 in something like an Akai MPK 25, even without a newer engine, I'd be very tempted. Just that would be powerful kit, and nicely complement the K. Also, notice the integra module comes with ipad editor. Pad control seems to be turning mandatory... lets hope they remember windows/android, too.

[jimknopf]

The JUPITER Synth Legends Package is great.
And WOW, Roland is not selling them for US$250!!!

The synth legends stuff contains really nice sounds: there's a lot I like at first glance in the demos. The whole subject of providing "synth legends" patches is a key feature for selling modern synths and workstations (see Arturia with their synth hero patches). The vintage sounds requests in this forum show the same user interest.
JP 80 users report some really bad aliasing from the new synth patches though.

And yes, of course every freee gift is fine. But frankly, to me the free Kronos user streaming update has ten times the value of such a sound package: it does allow me to resample all sounds I like, according to my own purposes and choices, in a short time, and then use them on the Kronos to my liking.

And one more thing: as far as I know about the JP80's rather bad selling ranks, Roland has all reasons to support this synth with some free stuff. To be able to use it in a proper way, and not just have the original JP80 banks overwritten by it, they should have provided a librarian for that job in the first place IMHO.

I'm really curious if Roland dares to reenter the workstation area at Winter NAMM. Yamaha will make their next move there, as far as I heard.

A Roland software solution with the Sonar softsynths would not impress me too much, though: they are ok, but even as Sonar X2 user, I don't have most of them installed, simply because there is better VSTi software out there for each of the purposes. It would be MUCH smarter from Roland IMHO to build real VA modelling synths of their legends for use in a workstation, like Korg already did. The Kronos synth engines MS-20 and Polysix, just as the modern VA version AL-1, are one of the main reasons I enjoy the Kronos so much.

[LivePsy]

It would be MUCH smarter from Roland IMHO to build real VA modelling synths of their legends for use in a workstation, like Korg already did.

It really seems Roland is embarassed by the legends of the past. They just don't get it - there are musicians who want the entire history of acoustic instruments on the keyboard, and there are synthesists (also musicians) who want to make music out of the sound of analog circuits. Roland has a great ability to polarize and divide and they judge what is acceptable rather than cater to everybody.

So bizarre,
B

[Jan1]

At the moment Roland is under-represented in the workstation market.
They only have 2 old Fantom-G models and the Juno Gi at the lower end.

Yamaha has the XF, the MOX and the MX range, and KORG the KRONOS, the Krome and the Microstation, so I consider it to be very likely that Roland will come up with a new workstation in 2013.
It simply does not make sense that they surrender the marketshare for workstations to the competitors, especially considering the effort they put in developing the supernatural modeling technology.

In the light of the versatile platform of the OASYS/KRONOS both Yamaha and Roland have some catching up to do.

[EXer]

I was told they plan to differentiate themselves with there new workstation. This would be with a focus on psychical modeling or what roland like to call "supernatual". How It was explained to me was, mastering psychical modeling would allow them to skip over what has becoming mainstream now, big sample library's. psychical modeling is what they have been focusing on and plan to do so.

Psychical modelling? That would be shear madness!

[BillW]

Haven't heard any rumors, but I'd love to see more of the "Legacy" collection ported to the Kronos, especially the Wavestation.

[GregC]

At the moment Roland is under-represented in the workstation market.
They only have 2 old Fantom-G models and the Juno Gi at the lower end.

Yamaha has the XF, the MOX and the MX range, and KORG the KRONOS, the Krome and the Microstation, so I consider it to be very likely that Roland will come up with a new workstation in 2013.
It simply does not make sense that they surrender the marketshare for workstations to the competitors, especially considering the effort they put in developing the supernatural modeling technology.

In the light of the versatile platform of the OASYS/KRONOS both Yamaha and Roland have some catching up to do.

Roland might have financial constraints- we discussed their recent large losses on the Integra 7 thread.

The workstation market is small. I would imagine Roland , since they are behind the curve on workstations, lost share to Yamaha and Korg. With the Kronos and Krome , Korg is doing great and has revitalized interest in the workstation market.

[justin_havu]

Haven't heard any rumors, but I'd love to see more of the "Legacy" collection ported to the Kronos, especially the Wavestation.

I believe Kronos offers wave sequencing, just like the Wavestation. It'd be a matter of converting the original factory soundbanks from the WS to the Kronos format.

[Saxifraga]

At the moment Roland is under-represented in the workstation market.
They only have 2 old Fantom-G models and the Juno Gi at the lower end.

Yamaha has the XF, the MOX and the MX range, and KORG the KRONOS, the Krome and the Microstation, so I consider it to be very likely that Roland will come up with a new workstation in 2013.
It simply does not make sense that they surrender the marketshare for workstations to the competitors, especially considering the effort they put in developing the supernatural modeling technology.

In the light of the versatile platform of the OASYS/KRONOS both Yamaha and Roland have some catching up to do.

There is/was also the GW-8 in the low price segment which came with a sequencer on par with Kronoss, meaning: no piano role editor.
Was marketed as a entertainer keyboard but was also a workstation, but only with a ton of fixed sounds. But it sounded really good. Te keybed was a bt cheap in comparison to my JX-305.

[sani]

The workstation market is small. I would imagine Roland , since they are behind the curve on workstations, lost share to Yamaha and Korg. With the Kronos and Krome , Korg is doing great and has revitalized interest in the workstation market.

I'd say that the workstation market is actually the biggest one for the most simple reason that workstations are the most versatile keyboards. You can use them anywhere, be it in the studio or on the stage. Live players who don't need a sequencer simply don't use it.
As an owner of the Jupiter 80 I can say that besides the sound, everything else is pretty purely thought out. At least IMO and based on my experience with it so far. So, Roland failed to present a performance keyboard that would gain some more serious attention. It certainly failed on the market. The JP50 failed even more. The Integra is a module (again with some more then weirdly implemented specs) and modules are definitely not top sellers these days.

And maybe I or we are completely wrong because this is what Roland created for the NAMM 2013:

http://rolandconnect.com/product.php?p=vr-09

http://rolandconnect.com/product.php?p=rd-64

http://rolandconnect.com/product.php?p=bk-3

[1jordyzzz]

The workstation market is small. I would imagine Roland , since they are behind the curve on workstations, lost share to Yamaha and Korg. With the Kronos and Krome , Korg is doing great and has revitalized interest in the workstation market.

I'd say that the workstation market is actually the biggest one for the most simple reason that workstations are the most versatile keyboards. You can use them anywhere, be it in the studio or on the stage. Live players who don't need a sequencer simply don't use it.

I think GregC is right. professional workstations are only for pro musicians.. And there are not much of pro musicians out there scattering in the world.. Not saying that i'm a pro musicians because i had kronos.. Well maybe not a pro musician.. but a serious musician who gigs and create music a lot..

The true big seller is hobbyist and home keyboards / arranger workstation.. They may not mean much to us, but they are great seller (at least here in indonesia). Let me draw you a picture.. Almost every keyboard students, or one man band accompanist, owns a home digital piano (like yamaha dgx series) or an equivalent of my yamaha psr s910 (like psr s950, s710, korg pa50, pa500, pa600) on my city (palembang, south sumatra).. a few rich dads with kids who love music and some PA rent companies had a Roland RD-700 series.. Kronos owner?? only ME AFAIK... only the capital city (jakarta) where many pro musicians and producer (and only a handful of it) has kronos or more other fancy keyboards / workstation (motifs, fantoms, and nord stage )

If i were on the board of a musical instruments maker company, i would focus the R&D and production line to produce product that has the most promising market.. Pro Workstation?? nah...

[DocBambs]

And maybe I or we are completely wrong because this is what Roland created for the NAMM 2013:

http://rolandconnect.com/product.php?p=vr-09

http://rolandconnect.com/product.php?p=rd-64

http://rolandconnect.com/product.php?p=bk-3

A 64 note piano... and people suggested that 73 instead of 76 was an odd decision. It actually looks like quite a practical instrument.

The VR-09 looks interesting... It looks like a direct competitor to the Krome.

DB

[xp50player]

I like the VR-09. It looks like a much more versatile live board than the Krome, though I'm sure it will be closer to the JP-50 in price.