ROLAND VSynth XT Digital Synthesizer + modulation step sequencer

- INFO TEXT
V-Synth
a new software V2 (available for the KB,too!):
Sound Shaper function - some sort of "macro quick page like the fm7 has for fast tweaks maybe also cool for synth idiots (harhar) but also for simple having the most important parameters on one page! so it makes sense!

Roland VSynth XT Rack Synthesizer
enlarge Vsynth XT.. click

Multi-Step Modulator gives new life and movement to sound - THIS IS IT!!! since the vsynth has ADSR envs !!
its some sort of sequencer / LFO mixture..
it's been said: Rhythm Sets enables complex and highly expressive drum kit manipulation
analog modeling oscillator waveforms added: SuperSaw (you know it from the jp8000!), Polyphonic Feedback Oscillator, and X-mod (cross modulation) Oscillator

the D50 mode and the NEW (!) vcard voice modeller is also installed already as a plus to compensate the cool controls of the Key!.
so in fact the built in vcards are a plus of the rack.. they can be switched with no need to reboot the system

the Roland Vsynth - very "new school"-interesting sounds and control of elastic audio!..
Roland VSYNTH - synthesizer structure
click this to see it enlarged.. there are 3 structures (first one active now) - you can switch of all parts separately..
some people like to compare it to the neuron from hartman, to be honest: thats bullshit, they do not have much in common.. ok, they are both real digital synthesizers.. the neuron analyses samples and then works with this. the vsynth works with samples and can handle loops .. imo there is not too much to compare these 2. the neuron is more the instant synth, the vsynth is something to contstruct and de-construct samples and filter and "scan" around within a sample as you like.. maybe the coolest wavetable-resurrection but with samples.. and: a neuron will do other sounds but not this kind and vice versa.. just to stop the discussion about 2 different synthesizers.

english text:
the V-Synth is of course the latest "new school" synth that is able to "stop" samples and play them without mickey mouse effect and alos change the formant "timbre". so you can slow down the "sample" to get some wavetable-kind of sound.
the vsynth has lots of interesting features to even STOP a samples and reverse it make "wavetable"-kind of sound out of your samples.. 8-24 voices polyphony and very new way of using it at control of "position" in the sample.

transposing without mickey mouse effect and using fomant correction.. also you can use this to make real interesting synthetic sounds!.. the cosm filters are ,where normally the FILTERs are.. here you can use speaker /amp simulation,resonators, filters, and things like that.. also fm or ringmod can be used at the "mod" postition (eg osc1 and osc2 or same behind the filter set in the structure.. ok- you cannot make your own structures .. so you need to select from 3. but in fact you can do a lot with this using your own samples
the vsynth has lots of interesting features to even STOP a samples and reverse it make "wavetable"-kind of sound out of your samples.. 8 - 24 voices polyphony and very new way of using it at control of "position" in the sample.transposing without mickey mouse effect and using fomant correction.. also you can use this to make real interesting synthetic sounds!.. the cosm filters are ,where normally the FILTERs are.. here you can use speaker /amp simulation,resonators, filters, and things like that.. also fm or ringmod can be used at the "mod" postition (eg osc1 and osc2 or same behind the filter set in the structure.. ok- you cannot make your own structures .. so you need to select from 3. but in fact you can do a lot with this using your own samples

a 2D touchpad, 2 d-beams (control ANY parameter by the distance of your hands above the d beams controllers!)..

there is a "modmatrix" where you can set any parameter to be controlled by the touchpad, the dbeams, 2 assignable controller knobs, bender oder modlever (bow the bender up, typical roland control element..)

for the OSCs: you have an LFO for each OSC to mod formant,pitch or the timebase.. means: if you slow down the TIME parameter you can make "wavetable" sounds because you can even FREEZE a sample at any position or play it backwards very slowly!!.. the LFO is quite fast.. estimated 40hz..
alternatively you can have VA (virtual analogue) waveforms (even quite unusual ones) that can be moded using the PW control (and lfo for PWM) to control the symmetry of ANY waveform, so a triangle can be moded from tri to saw up and sawtooth down!!.. so you have lots of spectra just by ONE parameter!!!.. there is also "fat" parameter ("analog feel"), also lfo modable, and pitch of course.., you can sync, FM oder ringmod this OSC using the "MOD" section . only VA mode can SYNC, but FM, ENV-controlled ringmod and ringmod and simple "mixing" is possible here using different structures.. they allow to have "filters" (COSM - well its filters,resonators, bit reducers,amp simulators,combfilters,sideband filters, even dual filters (any type lpf,hpf,bpf,peak,notch at 24,12 or 6dB/oct..).. and you got 2 of them!!) behind the OSC and then filters (COSM!) or one OSC filtered the other one pure going through "MOD" and afterwards "filtered" (again "COSMed") another time and then passes the final TVA (amp / env). alternatively you can have these 3 structures..

any COSM section has 2 own ENV ( you can mod RESO and CUToff of a normal filter by 2 independent ENVs..) and LFO any ENV stage (ADR s not moded) can be modulated (say by velocity to shorten decay phase by hitting the key harder!).. if I count right its 9 ENVs, 4 LFOs.. ;)

Vsynth has a touch screen to change and select the parameters.. the env sliders can be used for any envelope if selected..

samples: can be xchanged via USB!! (built in!!)

latest OS is 1.5 and added subOSCs (same,1 or 2 octaves below main osc and level) to the analog section, also 2 LA waves (saw,square), a TB303 ftiler to the COSM section and some PCM waveforms, also..

it's 50MB sample RAM, you can use a PCMCIA adapter and add a microdrive for 1GB data.. but the vsynth can manage 50MB as one set. maximum.

and now: wavetables by playing the samples in slomo, moving around using the time pad:
any alternative?

of course, imo the good ol' sampler could be an alternative to create sample-wavetable micro loops. what do you need: a sampler that is able to move sample start/end and/or position.. there is one coming to my mind doing that job PERFECTLY: the ensoniq ASR10 and EPS16+ , both long term discontinued.. some samplers can not do that,thats why these do not work with "transwaves".. transwaves secret: is simple.. very short loops within a sample.. well, you can move around in some way ,to, but not really stop and go.. anyway.. thats the difference.. btw: you can set the vsynth to event mode to play slices of one sample at the next keystroke.. so you can have some soft of realtime-recycle or the slicer mode of eg. the electribe SX.

- INFO TEXT
V-Synth VC1 D50 Card
with this card (pcmcia card) the vsynth transmogrifies into a complete Roland D50

the VC-1 does not load some samples into the vsynth, it has another OS that makes the vsynth behave like the d50 with all of its features. you can NOT run them as a vsynth AND d50 at the same time!!

the d50 has 2 layers "upper" and "lower" that can be chained together with ringmod, it hass some ROM samples and 3 OSCs per layer with PWM and lots of LFOs. since it is a dual layer it has at least 4 OSC "audio lines" with filter and PWM, multi stage env for filter and amp and one env for all pitches.

minimum: 3 multi stage ENVs,3 LFOs,1VCF,
the OSCs can play a ROMsample or PWM/symmetry modulated saw/pulse wave

the difference? well it sounds quite close since both are digital, but the vsynths AD converters are different.. anyway it sounds very close..

Vsynth
vsynth has 2 dbeams

D-Beam is produced by Roland under licence from interactive light inc. - D-Beam allows to control any Controller or any parameter to be controlled by moving your hands. it seems less influenced by heat like on the alesis airFX, so the distance is always the same. imo it is very playable kind of controller. The Vsynth has 2 of it, the mc909, the GW7 Workkstation and the Juno-D, G .. etc.
d-beams stands for dimension beam. there are not many other products like it.
1)eyris by synesthesiacorp.com (sold out)
2) alesis x25 X49 etc. remote keyboard with sort of d beam..

Vsynth XT
VSynth XT Rackversion

Variphrase + the others
Roland VariOS variphrase module

can do this..
beside Variphrase arranging
it also has 2 emulation models: 303 and jupiter 8 with extended parameters.. see above.. and FX unit.


the more "new school" thing is to sync audio , some sort of v-synth's variphrase but on screen and a bit like todays audiosequencers, most close to ableton live.. you can TWEAK and adjust the samples .. means: you also have more than pitch.. you still got length with no change in pitch and formants just like on the v-synth or the VP9000, that started the VariPhrase technology..

the "waveforms" are just curve forms to change the formant,pitch,dynamics or velocity..! so you can just paste samples, change them or their pitch,formant etc..!! this is NEW!! the samples are waveforms in a window arranged as some sort of a drumgrid,so you can easily change the rythm or past and copy samples..!! so this is much more than available in cubase or logic.. it's more like ableton live but sample-oriented, not loop based!!
you can see, the jupiter is extended .. has more parameters and does not sound too bad its 9 ENVs, 4 LFOs....

as same for the tb303, you have a special FX section with dist/overdrive, chorus, compressor, delay and also another mode: the slider mode allows easier input of notes and sequences but you still have the traditional way of progging a bassline, of course..

variOS is NOT as noah (creamware) is.. but is is also an USB-engine that allows DSP things ,but they do not have much more in common imo.. also the idea of having an emulated synthesizer in both machines..

roland sites..
roland us / roland base / Roland variOs Site / also sites for boss and edirol..

variOS: 6 parts, 14 voices, 46MB RAM
v-SYNTH: 24 voices (max), 48MB ram
VP9000: up to 136MB ram, 6 voices

the variphrase tech can alternatively loaded as an OS to the Jupiter8 and TB303 emulation.. means: not at the same time..

live: you can use variOS somewhere else,becasue you can load from flash rom. but another "model" needs restarting.

it is NOT some sort of an audio interface! it is a RAM based sound generator / arranger!!


non-roland alternative / extensions: ableton live (software), celemony melodyne (also software) - live is more loop based, melodyne is for monophonic audio elestics .. so check 4 yourself what suits your demands..

video synth cg8
synchronize video to the vsynth? this is the video version with landing space for helicopters (the pad) and d-beams..
the XT is there.. most ppl already know my feelings abouit the vsynth / xt ;) I recommend it to everyone who likes fresh sounds .. more "new school" kind of stuff.. incl the new sequencer quite like the ms2000 and some more.. even beginners can work with it since the sound maker is very easy to use.. the XTs touch pad is made for a touch pad replacement.. the knobs are always used for the current page..
the CG8 under the Edirol Name is called "video Synthesizer".. well it looks like sort of a vsynth for video.. it can be used for simple video maniupulation on stage and can be controlled by vlink (vsynth again.. or mc909).. it isn't a synthesizer like really creating new pictures by sort of LFOs, VCOs etc.. but it is some sort of video sampling system which can also integrate animated pics to be changed by the controllers.. it also has d-beams and a landing space for helicopters (the pad) as the vsynth...
Roland showed the new Workstation GW7 with D-Beam, the VC2 card which was played by Ted Suo , Dave and Howard Scarr
Ted Suo made a nice Queen-Demo, Dave showed some scratching on the Vsynth.. it works..