V-Synth

VC2 Card

Re: VC2 Card

25 Jun 2006, 14:46
Okay, will do when I get a couple extra hours in my day... *gasp*

Re: VC2 Card

4 Jul 2006, 04:41
I have tried for the past few weeks to get one and no dice, same old story, I guess it is a conflict of interest what with the VP550, even though the official reason is an environmental one.

Has anyone who owns the card tried it in a laptop to see if it is just a flash card with some code on it? Because if it is then it should be made available as a download from Roland (if it is as they say due to restricted materials in the hardware.)

Or Roland could even sell it on a CD, I'm sure that could be done unless the environmental reason is baloney and they want us all to buy an XT or VP550.

I bought my VariOS 6 months ago and the VC2 card was a major influence in my decision, up until 2 weeks ago I was planning on buying an MC-808, but I will reconsider now as the speed with which the VC2 card was dropped has lost my confidence in their commitment to their users and their products.

The first time I heard about the VC2 was October 2005, 9 months is a very short lifespan for a product.

Re: VC2 Card

7 Jul 2006, 17:10
I was thinking that, it is just a PCMCIA card after all. But I'm sure there's some restriction.

Anyway, I ordered one from http://www.pmtonline.co.uk

They told me they have 2 on the way and mine will be one of them :)

Re: VC2 Card

7 Jul 2006, 18:43
Jeez, I only phoned them last week and was told they had none on order, none at Roland and would not be getting anymore.
FWIW I also tried:
Digital Village
Andertons
Sound Control
Turnkey
Thomann
Eddie Moors
Emis
EMS
Advanced Sounds
and loads more, all said the same thing, none in stock, no more available. Anyway so then I tried all the chains in the US Guitar Centre, Sweetwater, etc, still no joy, finally I decided to try a few european shops and found one in Austria which is on its way.

:)

Re: VC2 Card

12 Jul 2006, 07:06
Well PMT have just sent the VC2 to me :) I get it tomorrow.

Hurry up, they may still have the second one they received from Roland.

Re: VC2 Card

13 Jul 2006, 18:01
Well, I got my VC2. I shoved it into my laptop against the advice of the manual, it is a flash card with files on it readable by laptop. I'm not going to say anything else in this climate of DMCA nonsense.

Re: VC2 Card

13 Jul 2006, 18:15
Hi gilesjuk.

Interesting info. Though the DMCA is rather draconian, there's nothing in it that I'm aware of making it illegal to publicly state that you didn't follow the instructions that came with your software. :-) Besides, even if you were to copy those files to a different flash media card which you put in a PC card adapter, it would likely not work. I say this not from having tried it, but from having tried something similar on my Fantom-X. I purchased the Fantom-X when it was first released with OS 1.00. When the Audio Expansion was released in OS 2.0, I bought the expansion kit. I put the PC card that came with that into my computer to see what was on it. It was a 128 MB flash media card (probably similar to the VC2 though perhaps larger capacity). I copied all the files to my computer then stuck in a PC card adapter with a 128 MB CF card in it to which I copied all the files. I put the PC card adapter and CF card into the Fantom-X with those files on it and powered-on the unit. It said the upgrade was invalid (this was a card I had used in the past). Putting the original audio expansion kit card in worked perfectly to update the OS. My point is that, at least on the Fantom-X, Roland probably used a check to see the model and/or serial number of the media device inserted in order to validate it as a valid upgrade device (either that or a quick checksum of some sort). I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same thing on the VC cards to prevent pirating. I'd be interested to find out (I can't test it myself as I no longer have a computer with a PC card slot). Now, if there is copy protection in place, circumventing that would probably be considered illegal by the DMCA. Sharing information on how to do it would also be illegal. And if the license agreement that came with the VC2 card states that you cannot make copies of the software in any form, then the simple act of copying it would be illegal, but not by the DMCA, just a violation of your license agreement with Roland.

Regards,

Nathan Sheldon
http://www.nathansheldon.com/
Regards,

Nathan Sheldon
http://www.nathansheldon.com/

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