Roland 50 Studio

by risktopark • 4 years ago

326 77 4 years ago

risktopark2• 4 years ago

In celebration of 50 years, Roland have collaborated with sound designer Yuri Suzuki to create Roland50 Studio, a digital reworking of some of their most famous and influential devices.

It's a 808/303/101 in your browser.

nonrandomstring• 4 years ago

Wonder how it compares to "Rebirth", an earlier Steinberg (later Propellerhead) take on the classic analogue production deck? Surely the Roland version is the most accurate to date?

risktopark2• 4 years ago

Sometimes accurate is good, but my vst favourite 808 clone of recent times was this one: https://rc-808.com/ which is similar but more with a focus on a more flexible drum synthesis engine than the original.

I think the joy of the roland 50 is how approachable the sequencing is though, with the sounds everyone is familiar with

S_A_P• 4 years ago

Long time 808/606/303 owner and the Roland emulations are ok. The best 303 emulation I’ve used is the Audiorealism bassline. https://www.audiorealism.se/ Keep in mind I’m not a huge 303 fan personally.

I’ve got a Roland cloud subscription and I definitely think it’s useful and way more convenient than vintage gear approaching 50 years of age. I also have the arturia v-collection and think this last update made the Roland synths (Jupiter and Juno’s) sound way more alive and better imho than the Roland versions. They are both pretty good though. You can get the same dsp emulation in the Roland boutiques/Aira as well if you want hardware knobs to twiddle.

Iirc the 808 and 909 in rebirth were sample based. The 303 was nice and squelchy but not quite a perfect emulation. Lots of fun to play with though. I remember spending hours in college playing with rebirth.

tomc19856• 4 years ago

VST or bust

jasoneckert• 4 years ago

And just like that, I said goodbye to all job productivity today. It looks like Roland took a cue from Google's Blob Opera: https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/blob-opera/AAHW...

yitchelle• 4 years ago

Thanks mate, I took your hint and purposely avoided taking a look. I will wait until I get home. My work productivity says thanks.

systemvoltage• 4 years ago

Isn't it the other way around? Google took a hint from Roland perhaps? Strange thing to say either way. Roland has been around for decades making synthesizers, arrangers as well as sophisticated software. Moreover, Blob Opera has very little to do with Roland 50 besides "they both make sounds".

samjanis• 4 years ago

"Time you enjoyed wasting, wasn't wasted" ... Well, that's my excuse. What's yours?

0xcoffee• 4 years ago

Damn this sounds so cool. Accidentally clicked the red clear button and deleted score though :(

Would love a way to ctrl-z to save myself from myself.

misthop• 4 years ago

Looks like they also have countdowns to add 4 more units to the interface - check out the lock tabs on top or the Countdown link in the hamburger menu. Looks to be they will have new interfaces in about 1, 3, 4, and 6 months. Guesses as to what will be added?

po• 4 years ago

TR-909 for sure

dimatura• 4 years ago

Their picks for the boutique treatment are likely good guesses - TR909 for sure, maybe TR606. On the synth side, Jupiter 8, Juno 106 & D50 seem like good candidates.

tomc19856• 4 years ago

Wonder how good the emulation is compared to some of the other commercial solutions out there. Usually software implementations of this hardware don't sound right

My current fav is Image-Line's Transistor Bass

nobleach4• 4 years ago

I did SO much with Rebirth-338 back in the day. Its emulation wasn't so bad.

I've tried getting it to run on Windows 10, but even after all the hacks I could find online, it just doesn't run quite right. It was made in the era of 800x600 resolutions. And even though there's a pixel-doubling patch available, it looks like hot garbage.

Even still, this was a huge part of my music experimentation phase of life. (My youth)

tomc19856• 4 years ago

There is a free VST version of Reason that includes the RB-338 core

nix0n• 4 years ago

The original 16-bit version will run in Wine without any additional patching, but I'm not sure what options that would give you for resolution problems.

bityard2• 4 years ago

I played with Rebirth on and off pretty much since it's been around and my opinion is that its sound is an homage to the real 303, at best. The spirit is certainly there but it's hard to make Rebirth sound exactly like a real 303 or hardware clones. I haven't played with any of the newer (as in, made in the last 15 years or so) 303 software implementations but I would suspect most of them are more faithful recreations.

mikelevins• 4 years ago

The TR-808 and TB-303 sound pretty good to me. I was in an electronic rock/pop/avant garde trio throughout the 80s and we used those two devices (and a Sequential Circuits Pro One) a lot. I still have pattern notes I could use to reproduce our old patterns with these emulations. They sound pretty close to me, though you have to allow for the unreliability of memory.

tomc19856• 4 years ago

I always look for how the filters sounds with Res set really high. Good analog filters have a sort of fuzzy quality to them, which I suspect (not an EE here, just guessing) is extra harmonics from how that circuit behaves under those conditions. A lot of software emulations just sound thin, this included.

I'm not an authority on the 303, though. I just like to play around with analog gear sometimes.

bityard2• 4 years ago

I just played around with it and the emulation isn't bad. What's really missing is any way to mute/solo instruments. Without that, you can't even do an ad-hoc performance. The instruments have been stripped down to their bare capabilities and are not even close to a full recreation, UI changes aside. And of course there is no way to save/load sequences or settings. And I found several bugs where certain parameters didn't seem to work or toggling one thing changed the parameters of something completely unrelated.

So for anyone who dabbles in these instruments, it's a fun toy for about 5 minutes and that's it. I suspect you can't expect anything more out of a promotional piece.

throw_m2393395• 4 years ago

phoscyon is really good. I've been using it for 15 years. Roland Cloud has its own TB303 plugin I believe.

blub3• 4 years ago

For those that prefer something with buttons, Roland has issued desktop module versions of some of their iconic machines under the name Roland Boutique. The equivalents of the devices they have in this online tool would be the SH-01a, TB-03 and TR-08.

E.g: https://www.roland.com/us/products/sh-01a/

throw_m2393395• 4 years ago

Or just buy the cheap Behringer clones which are fairly accurate and full analogue like the originals, unlike the boutiques which are digital.

https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DG6

https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DTD

https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0DG5

kabes• 4 years ago

Yeah. I've got both the boutiques and Behringers. And if you can live with the behringer ethics and cheap plastic feel, the sound is definitely just as good if not better

blub3• 4 years ago

Or that, but I thought that advertising the products of a competitor with dubious ethical standards would be poor form.

motohagiography• 4 years ago

Super fun. I use a 303 clone in some of my stuff. The physical interface is just a big gumption trap for composing, and this web interface is actually 100x better. I will likely use this to compose and hack around, and then plug it into my physcal 303 for its part. The extra fun is modulating with the knobs.

I use analog synths to get away from screens. Fun thing I've discovered that is specifically useful for the 303 is that loops and melodies with a prime number length against composite number beats are a source of free constant movement in otherwise repetitive loops. A 4 on the floor beat vs a 7, 11, or 13 step melody only cycles every 4 x n bars. I've been mulling one of the an 808 re-issues, or even investing in a collectors item, and playing this in my browser is removing my excuses for putting it off. Thank you!

oceanghost• 4 years ago

+1 for ZAMM reference.

willis936• 4 years ago

If you like playing with virtual synths and are on iOS: I recommend checking out the open source Synth One app if you haven't already.

IYasha• 4 years ago

Happy birthday, Roland! Coincidentally, the whole winter I was striving to get one of their synths. With no luck, sadly (thanks, politicians! >:( ) The one thing I noted throughout Roland's history - is that their products suffer from underappreciation for some time until they stop being produced :D And shortly after some jump right to being legendary. ))

marban2• 4 years ago

I bought 4 boutiques last months. Gotta start somewhere.

sklargh• 4 years ago

I haven't had this much fun with a random find on HN in a long time. So pleasant. Such a treat. Thank you Yuri & Roland!

ushakov• 4 years ago

the sound is cracking on my iPhone

throw_m2393395• 4 years ago

the sound is cracking on my iPhone

Webaudio has pretty poor performances in general on mobile.

lolski• 4 years ago

Out of the 4 instruments that are still locked I'd reckon three would definitely be Jupiter 8, Juno, and TR-909. I can't confidently guess the last one though.

I'll try them later at home. Do you think they'll sound as good as the analog counterparts? Hahahaa

tgv3• 4 years ago

I hadn't noticed the locks. Wow.

kzrdude3• 4 years ago

I've learned piano using my dear Roland FP-30, but now looking for an upgrade. Probably a kawai or Yamaha with warmer, more natural sound and more high end action.

Anyone have recommendations? P515? CA59? Other? Clp 745?

Johanx644• 4 years ago

You're not going to get a "natural sound" out of pretty much all of the digital pianos out on the market. Even the pretty pricey ones.

What you can do however, is try hooking up Roland FP-30 to a computer and using the computer to generate sounds (so called VST).

I'm visiting relatives for a few weeks, and they happen to have FP-30X (same action), the built in sounds are absolutely god horrid (they are so bad I consider them useless, outside of maybe the rhodes sound), but I'm hooking it to my laptop which has Garritan CFX Concert Grand (full version), Ivory II grand pianos and Pianoteq.

Garritan CFX being the overall most realistic. But you can't go wrong with Ivory II either as it will be a massive upgrade compared to any built in digital piano sounds.

So the full stack would be:

1. The best action you can get (the built in DP sounds don't matter since they are all going to be some gradient of suck anyway)

2. PC with audio interface with very low latency drivers

3. Garritan CFX

mh-• 4 years ago

I don't disagree with you for the low-mid end of the market, but I don't think this question can be answered without a price range, haha.

I have a YDP-184 [1] that includes the CFX you mentioned. I actually think the weak point in its sound is the acoustics of my room, coupled with the inboard speaker placement.

Then of course there are the Hybrids [2], which I haven't tried myself (and are considerably more than I'm looking to spend as a hobbyist.)

1: https://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical_instruments/pianos/a...

2: https://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical_instruments/pianos/d...

kzrdude3• 4 years ago

Thanks for your thoughts. Do you have a lot of acoustic piano experience? Is that why you have this taste?

I understand and really will think about your suggestion, but I think I will want to choose something that's easy to just sit down and play at.

elihu• 4 years ago

I have a Yamaha MOX-8 that I like for the most part. I find the interface generally overcomplicated and confusing. I think it sounds pretty good as a piano, but there are probably synthesizers out there that do piano better. The weighted keys feel good. I don't know how it compares to the FP-30.

fedreg• 4 years ago

Really, really well done!!! Was up and running with some cool music in just a few minutes. And being in the browser meant that I could do some unconventional things, such as playback a song in multiple tabs for some neat syncopation/polyphony effects. Fun.

Looks like they partnered with the Counterpoint team on this (https://ctpt.co/)

uxp100• 4 years ago

Any web midi support? For clock sync at least? I'm going to look into this more after work.

rajangdavis• 4 years ago

I don't think there is MIDI support given that the browser has to ask for permission and I didn't get that dialog; however, I could be wrong.

tgv3• 4 years ago

I couldn't resist taking a look at the code, because, well, the sound generation should be in there, and I found this:

    function qt(n) {
        return n !== n
    }

xcambar• 4 years ago

It really looks like `isNaN`, doesn't it?

tgv3• 4 years ago

So would it be compiled from C or so?

heavyarms• 4 years ago

If you inspect the network traffic you can see what the "hidden" additional devices behind the countdowns are.

SP404 2022-04-04T12:00:00.000Z

TR606 2022-06-06T12:00:00.000Z

TR707 2022-07-07T12:00:00.000Z

TR909 2022-09-09T12:00:00.000Z

ben174• 4 years ago

Yea those are the expected devices. I think that pretty mimics their botique line which are adorable little synth replicas of the original. They're so cute I had to collect them and have them displayed on shelves in my living room.

Damn, I really wish they would have given these away as VSTs instead. I'd love to bring an official Roland 303 software synth into my setup without paying their ridiculous subscription fees.

NackerHughes• 4 years ago

Check out AudioRealism Bassline 2 (ABL2). It's the closest 303 soft synth I've ever used and no subscription BS.

tomc19856• 4 years ago

That's probably why they aren't free VSTs, this is just for tinkering and nostalgic normies. All the artists making music for public distribution knows its faster and easier to do it all in their DAW

But! FLStudio has Transistor Bass. I don't know if it's available as a VST but IL has posted comparison videos online and I can't really hear any difference through my studio monitors.

blub3• 4 years ago

They’re charging 150+€ for each of these as VST… giving them away doesn’t seem like a sound business decision.

marban2• 4 years ago

If you're a Roland fan, this doc is insanely well-made. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcbpRMZIQ8g

josh64• 4 years ago

Excellent ! Thank you!

racl101• 4 years ago

To this Day Rebirth-338 is still the funnest 303 clone software I've ever played with.

lostgame• 4 years ago

Reminds me - of course - of ReBirth, from 'back in the day'...when the iPad first came out I was incredibly pleased to find ReBirth had a port to it. (Edit: I'm sad to see it's since been removed. Damn.)

I wanna say I first played with ReBirth in 2002/3(?) - I was 12/13 - and that was my introduction to - at least - the 303/808/909.

What's great about these pieces of software, is that just by playing around of them, they are great tools to learn about the fundamentals of synthesis.

The Roland JD-XI is a more recent multi-layered synth that features a whole drum machine, an analog monophonic bass synth, and two polyphonic synths, all attached to a fantastic sequencer. I highly recommend checking that out if anyone is interested in a nice modern hardware equivalent to something like this.

skrebbel• 4 years ago

I love this, and also its predecessor https://808303.studio which was this but without the SH101 and with a less celebratory tone. The audio quality is absolutely splendid.

However, I really wonder why they don't have any URL auto-sharing mechanism. Given that there are no patterns, no sequences whatsoever, it's just one single 16 position loop per "device", an entire song could easily fit on the URL. Eg the TypeScript playground live-updates the url as you type: https://www.typescriptlang.org/play?#code/FAYw9gdgzmA2CmA6WY...

That "record" feature is neat, but it'd be way neater if I can just share an URL with my composition with a friend and they can remix it.

throw_m2393395• 4 years ago

Reminds rebirth on desktop and audio-something, an app made in Flash.

The Flash app in the browser had better performances and stability though. This app panics as soon as one pressed the random button.

The Flash app had effects and more powerful synthesizers and it was 15+ years ago.

droidist2• 4 years ago

Audiotool?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulWz9_Oe_oI

wolpoli• 4 years ago

Anyone know why the Tempo control looks like a knob, but works like an up and down slider?

clawlor• 4 years ago

Most DAWs work like that, it's the expected interface for the target audience.

pschuegr• 4 years ago

This is great. Too bad it doesn't allow you any control over the individual sounds, at least as far as I can see.

ddaalluu2• 4 years ago

Side question, what are some good free VSt or LMMS resources?

It has been a while since I last did music production, but I'm currently so bored of the web development process and it's the year of the tiger so might as well pick up my teen and early 20s love again. My soul demands it

Roland 50 Studio

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