Roland Teases 2 New Synths – What Do You Want To See Them Introduce?

Roland has announced that it will be introducing a variety of new products over the next month, ranging from guitars to synths to video products. 

Among the introductions will be two new synthesizers, to be introduced on June 20th.

Roland isn’t dropping hints about what they’re introducing – so leave a comment and let us know what you’d like to see them debut: a keyboard synthesizer, a new member of the Aira line, more Eurorack modules, a reissue of a classic synth…or something else entirely?

84 thoughts on “Roland Teases 2 New Synths – What Do You Want To See Them Introduce?

  1. Hopefully an entirely new synth and not another remake of a legacy product. I quite don’t understand why apparently so many artists nowadays try to revive the sound of the 80s rather than to create something new.

    1. The sounds obteneible with the synths are always the same since 40-50 years. It is not possible to generate something new.

    2. The reason is that most people can by a retro synth online because of the price, and a lot of them like myself never got the change to use one while they where in production.

    3. Its all about what your trying to create. Some people long for the music of there childhood, like us Gen-X’ers with New Wave, Synthpop sound. Most of these instruments have been unobtainable for the working class up till now and hard to get for the last 25-35 years. Thats why theres such a demand for them. New is nice too. ie. Korg Minilogue, Novation Peak. New & Modern forms of electronic music can be created with old instruments.

    4. Its not always about recreating the “same sound / patch” but about the quality, depth and tonal/timbre of the sound that those old legacy products made.

      Add to it the fact that companies are companies and they’ll do whatever it takes to make a profit, its a no-brainer that they keep making these re-boot devices as the originals are still highly in demand

  2. I’d love to see a SuperAria synth that has swappable modules from all the Aira line. Mix System 8 oscs with SH2 filters. That sort of thing. Don’t skimp on the modulation. Four LFOs and four MSEGs. Velocity., poly aftertouch, MPE, the works. Throw in a bit of that JD-XA supernatural engine. 8 voices. Module is fine. Just don’t make it shiny or green. I personally don’t care, but I’m sick of the posts on GearSlutz.

  3. One of them is an Autoscrampling keyboard. Short for Automatic Sample Scrambling Keyboard. That means it pulls samples from the whole internet and always plays a different sound on each key – also a reverb that redifines reverberation itself is at the end of the chain. This is exhilarating for live usage because that last note might be a goat or a tennis serve scream you just never know. The future is here.

    1. looks like Behringer have beaten them to it..see another recent Synthtopia post. Not that it would have been hard to beat Roland to anything these days

  4. I would LOVE to see a standalone USB type multi-track real time sequencer similar to the Roland XP-50 that would work with module units and other synths with limited sequencing but still have 8-16 parts, e.g. Roland Juno DS and can save songs to thumb drives. I haven’t quite caught up to the DAW software yet, still a little old school.

  5. What I’m hoping for (but I don’t think that this will happen): That Roland finally decides to release something with a true analogue circuit. Korg and other Companies are doing this for some years now and it seems to work both in terms of audio-quality and economically.

    What I think it will be (but I’m not hopping for): Some sort of digital emulation of another vintage Roland drum machine or synth with mini keys or mini encoders (“boutique”) that feels more like a toy or rubbish than a real instrument. Needless to say that it lacks the character that a real analog instrument has. Just my two cents…

  6. An analogue TB 303 clone with no step sequencer..midi playable.Slide time control knob.Accent envelope and four wave forms.Also envelope follower input.

    1. Like a Dj-70 mk3 with Variphrase , COSM effects and an analogue filter, maybe like the JD-XA filter.
      A nice app to go with it for editing samples and drawing envelopes whoo-haww
      An ability to load samples via wifi?

  7. Not very specific, but I’d like to see a cheap synth with great possibilities. Maybe not “Korg Volca cheap”, let’s say more “Minilogue cheap”…

    Unrelated, I would certainly buy those 808 shoes we saw prototyped recently.

  8. I want an 808 I want a Jupiter 8. I am not interested in digital. I am not interested in more gear that has proprietary linking issues. USB standard compliance please.

  9. You see, I, as I am sure many many others have lost faith in what used to be my favorite musical instrument company. in the past whenever you compared Roland products to other brands theirs always sounded more musical while models from other brands released at the same time while also sounding great because they were analog, still sounded more clinical, like they came from the place they make synthesizers for the sound lab in the physics department of the university. The sound was close but Roland also had this magical musical quality because someone there had ears to put that element in before the final version goes into production. That ear seems to have retired a long time ago and two accountants came in to replace that position. When dsp technology came in it suddenly cost 75% less to make a “virtual” analog engine that is wonderful not because it creates magical improvements to the sound, but likely magical improvements to the profits. By embracing a technology that pretends you can get the same rich sounds of a 90 watt unit of warmed up voice chips and transistors from a 1200mA USB powered computer software with keys attached to the front is missing the point of keeping the sonoric quality that took decades to achieve up to 1985 or so. What results is more like the ultimate evolution of video game audio instead of musical instrument sound quality, and no matter how many “oscillators” ,3,4,5, and “LFOS” you program into the software it’s still ones and zeros and sounds like a computer. When Roland states their motto “we don’t look back” it’s really sad because when asked about reissuing classics their reply is always “…we never look back”. And that is sad. It’s a let down for all the musicians that now wish they could have a Roland Jupiter 8. There is a reason that synth sells for 10,000 if you can even find one. Because Roland deserted that superior achievement and the decades of development that led up to that… To cash in. Cash in on trying to sell the name recognition attached to an inferior software version you can just as well load into a computer and add plastic controls to the software to make it seem like a hardware synth. That is exactly like a violin company switching wood to plastic to save 90% on manufacturing costs and painting it brown to look like a real violin. .. And then saying “we don’t look back” when someone requests a wood violin. This is why the excitement I would have had years ago about what new product Roland is coming out with has been replaced by watching what new product Behringer is coming out with. Because this company recognizes the brilliant amazing technology that has been deserted and is making that the basis of their product development. Good for them for listening to what musicians actually want. I am waiting for them to release their version of the Jupiter 8. Which Roland is willing to just keep in their synth museum and dust once in awhile. When they do it won’t sound exactly like a real one but it will be much closer than a box with software called the boutique Jupiter ever will. And I am also waiting for clones of those timeless drum machines also deserted and also priced out of range in the used market. Because those are incredible too. This is why I won’t be excited about Roland releases anymore and just turn the page. They have trained me to have extremely low expectations for anything good for a musician and I don’t want to bother reading product features that try to convince me it’s a good instrument when really the only thing great about it is it’s high margin of profit for the corporation. For me, if they would come out with a sign of appreciation for all the musicians that supported them for decades and just reissue a true Jupiter 8 I would believe again that Roland is a music company that truly values the word music in their products. If not, I will spend whatever they charge on a real Jupiter 8 made by another music manufacturer.

    1. Sad but true… I mean it’s fucking ROLAND, they made some of the best sounding synths and drum computers in music history. And now there is a company like Behringer that does nothing else than cloning whole lines of analog synths, just because Roland is unable (for whatever reason) to do it by themselves?!?!?! Come on…

      If I want to buy a drum computer that sounds like the 909 I would rather go after the E-licktronic Nava or the Acidlab Detroit than buying the tr 09.

  10. A re-issue of the original System 100 please – exact in appearance and function – and for a reasonable price. Give it loads of CV-Gate connectivity to act with the System 500 Eurorack.

  11. I’m encouraged to see so many users have out grown their “please make your old stuff again” thoughts and wish for Roland to stay focused on developing new instruments.
    (Including me)

    I think they’ve met a fantastic balance of reimagining classics that are designed to integrate into today’s musicians studios and live rigs… While developing new instruments with musicality and playability as their primary design.

    For everyone who wants a classic… Try your best to find an old one, buy it and love it for what it is, warts and all. And for those who want a Jupiter 8 or 808… Respect that those instruments were hardly attainable for most musicians when they arrived on the music scene.

    +1 on the Aira sampler.
    +1 on the V-Synth gen 3

    RIP Mr. K

  12. I loved the sound of Juno Alpha 2. Give me a remake of that with another envelope and an adjustable HP filter and maybe a little bit less noisy output and I’d be happy.

  13. I’d still like to see a Boutique SH-101, with arpeggiator and cv/gate outs. I’ll also read into one of the dates and say June 1 = something to do with the Juno 106 maybe?

  14. I’m not falling for this “future redefined” bullshit again

    I have zero confidence this actually be anything worth a shit

    More plastic nonsense

  15. Roland been stuck in virtual land for too long, most of what they are selling today are just VSTs in a box. From the boutique range to the system 1s, there all just expensive VSTs on weak computers maskerading as synths. I expect the same, something old, emulated in software form hiding beneather a flashy controller, possibly linked to more cloud rental shovel ware.

    I really do hope they prove me wrong though.

  16. A new SP sampler with better sample management/editing software (or a little screen on the unit!!), and larger SD card compatibility.

  17. I’d like Roland to dive into performance ergonomics. No more mini-keys. But more controllers. MPE compability is a must. Etc. I mean – trying to make new synth engines is futile. We already have all the sounds there is and we know how to tweak them. Realtime control on the other hand is still pretty bad. It’s kinda silly that the old Yamaha CS-80 still can be more expresssive during perfomance than most of the gear we’re presented with these days.

  18. I’d just be happy if they updated the iPad app for my Jupiter 80 so it runs on my modern iPads 🙁 Then what about a ‘Synth Legends Volume 2’ ? Or an editor librarian for it? You still market this synth and its still available new for 2499.00 at big dealers like Sweetwater, where is the friggin support Roland?! I like my Jupiter 80 a lot (as did I my Jupiter 8) But I think I’m done with you after 37 years. I’m not about to shell out more dough for one of your ‘new’ synths when you let ones you still sell new fall through the cracks like you did my Jupiter 80.

  19. Clearly a rebirth of the iconic LA synthesis : the D50. Looking at what happened last year with the 909… D50 was released in 1987. 2017 sounds pretty dawn good for a rebirth, don’t you think ?…

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