hints for the potentially emerging new roland workstation...

You said it all Parsifal
I couldn't agree more

Apart from the sounds and flexibility, the only way to take full benefit from a complex workstation/synth (or any other piece of equipment for that mather), is having a good **User Interface**, thing that sadly, most manufacturers seem to consistently forget about...

except for Korg. their interfaces are nice. (and I'm not just saying that because of Kronos)

Back in the day when I tried Korg's N series and Triton, I actually didn't find them easy to use, Roland's XP-80 was much better.

The Triton was much much easier than even the N. but even more so than that... I think the Triton may have even been easier to work around than the XP series. (and it sounded better!!!! LOL)

At that time, 14 years ago, I preferred the XP. Triton sounded kind of cold to me.

I was not referring to nice interfaces, but to user friendly ones.
Of course if on top of that they are nice, even better

I have an example of a Roland where the USER FRIENDLY interface is written with Capitals. At least IMHO.
The mighty V-Synth, and even better the V-Synth XT (color touchscreen).
That is really an user friendly Interface.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFXawYyMIPo (OMG starts at 11:00)

-vs-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzG2vGwSYic

Korg Triton's (and M3/OASYS, etc) weren't too hard to use once you got through the "steep" learning curve. The Fantom G, however, really didn't have a learning curve to me. It was simple, straight-forward, and logical. Korg has definitely taken a page out of the Roland handbook with the new interface of the Kronos. Or so it would seem.

AK-Jake, I agree with you, but I think the Kronos has just too much power/functions to not have a steep learning curve.

I just got done watch the 54 minute youtube video from NAMM Kronos announcement. Korg raise the bar on workstation expectation for the next few years. I've got to get me one of these!

I am NOT even considering selling my Fantom G, or even my M3 for that fact!

I think the Fantom G was a required step in workstation evolution and is still a powerful contendor and viable instrument in it's own right. It sounds good, it's easy to operate and it meets most all of my needs as a sequencing workstation. (but don't tell my wife)

I do believe Roland will have to step up in the next year or so with a new workstation, and they had better study the Kronos very carefully. Memory technologies have made great advances and the Kronos took advantages of that. ( we're now expecting gigs not megs and solidstate drives)

I don't believe the computer DAW regardless of how many plugins or MIDI controllers you plug in will ever really be an instrument for performance. But taking the power of the PC and putting it into a traditional keyboard is definitly the way. This does make PC DAW's less it just some of us play keyboards not keyboards.

Roland has a new little app for my iPad, just a Juno Gi document, while it looks great and I'll probably only carry it around for a month or two, I happy to see them start to embrase this thing, And yes I have the Boss App., oh and I don't even own the Gi.

I would like to see Roland (or Korg, or Yamaha) utilize the iPad as a file/song/sequence/phrase/Sample magement tool for the workstations. File Management is such a not musical thing, yet it tends to be the issue that prevents us from being confortable with the Fantom G, more than any issue. Imagine using the iPad as a librarian or even an editor. with your workstation. To hell with little usb memory sticks, I want to load and manage "Projects" from my iPad. I been carry my iPad every where for the last year and this thing is excellent, I no long need a laptop. I have every pdf Manual instantly at my fingers, that's right when I go to the dentist and sit there waiting or even go to the bathroom at work, I read my synth manuals, I LOVE THIS THING.

@ art Back in the day when I tried Korg's N series and Triton, I actually didn't find them easy to use, Roland's XP-80 was much better.


I'll co-sign that!

Roland's ideas and technology have been far beyond the years. My Fantom-X6 and GT-8 (Which are both light-years ahead of most comparable devices to this day) still continue to serve me very well, and Im sure the G would do so as well, had I bought it.

We are in the 21st century though - and gone are the days of custom hardware, slow expensive memory and micro-kernel based operating systems.

IMHO, this is the singular proverbial thorn in Rolands side, hindering its forward progress (with the work-station market i.e.). KORGs foray into Open Source (Linux)and the usage of an off-the shelf x86 platform with the OASYS, IMO was simply genius. There's a wealth of tried and tested technologies that one can leverage once that path is chosen . Processors will continue to get faster as time goes by. You can practically open up the development team by allowing users to create user-mode apps, if you were so inclined. Imagine an Open Source community developing the next generation arpeggiators, copying it onto a USB stick, and loading it into a work-station .

This is far more difficult with a closed system . While I have not lost confidence in Rolands ability to deliver, I simply think that it will not be in the form of a work-station (as much as we all would like). Im sure Roland sees this as well - I find it very hard to believe that a company that can conjure up something like the VSynth or the Fantom fails to see around the corner. I, for one will wait and watch what the future brings.

The iPad and Android based devices might very well be the next platform for a live performance instrument.

We live in exciting times - lets enjoy them. I cannot wait for the day when some hacker out there figures out a way of putting the KRONOS on a $400 netbook , now that would be something, wouldnt it?

Manish.

I find it very hard to believe that a company that can conjure up something like the VSynth or the Fantom fails to see around the corner.

Damn right.. I'm thinking they had already looked around that corner when releasing the G... As a cooperation you'd think they are quite a few steps ahead of what the public can imagine... I'm sure of it... That's why I don't think they'll make another WS.. but who knows?

I want to believe that over the next year a product like the Korg Kronos will revitalize the Keyboard workstation market. But only the almighty dollar will decide that.

I still think the Fantom G was a step forward, it may have been release before it was ready though.

"I still think the Fantom G was a step forward, it may have been release before it was ready though. "

No. The hardware is there. What's missing are competent software desingers/developers with a little knowledge what makes sense and what doesn't.
It's disastrous that we, the buyers make a emotional connection to keyboards we use, and Roland is unable to find programmers who have the ambition to create features which makes sense and have a logic.