Thanks for renewing this thread. I believe the JD-XA was developed by a different Roland organization than the Aira group. That other group's products seems to support SYSEX and provide quality documents. That is in stark contrast to the Aira products.
The System 8 VST provides a librarian/editor can transfer one patch from and to the S8, ut it's Roland cloud is subscription based. Not really favorable.
Comparing the S8 with an REV2 (8 voice, same price) the S8 still seems overpriced, specially if u consider Roland has huge economies of scale. I understand some may argue sound is 'priceless; :-)
- Keybed quality (compared to REV2 semi weighted excellent feel)
if it would be equal or better to the key-bed of a D-10, I would accept it, but not for this price.
Roland also took out the aftertouch out of it compared to the JD-XA
Nord has the same or worse crappy keybeds on their Lead synths.
- No SYSEX/NRPN to load/save individual patches/programs and sequencer patterns
- No JX plugout (a mistaken expectation)
- No 4 voice poly SH-101 plugout (while Boutique SH-101 has)
- Adding all plugouts adds up a lot to the total cost.
- Latest Firmware update took 14 months. (S8 on the way out ?)
- Plastic case (compare that to the sturdy REV2)
- External power supply
- Only 64 patch locations (per plugin/out) and then backup/restore from SD/USB needed.
- Editor/Librarian via Subscription based Roland Cloud System 8 plugin only
- Bi-Timbral sounds cannot be played independently
(REV2 is two 8 voice independent poly synth in one)
- Just one LFO (Rev2 has 4 for each layer)
I do not have hopes for the S8 SYSEX support. After 1.5+ years probably better to wait for something new. Hopefully we see Roland combining the Boutiques and Cloud plug-out VA's into one hardware rack-able box (like an Integra 8 :-)) or a System16 with the mentioned features added.
A concern is that Aira products do not have much of an evolution/update/grade path. Released with big fanfare creating huge expectation then not using the hardware to it's full potential and then slowly let them die. A bit scary this abandon-ware policy. The S8 is not alone in this. Sorry for the bit negative rant.
Understand many like the S8 a lot. if it would be under $1K and nothing new will be released anymore which can load the plug-outs, then might consider it. YMMV.
