Support |
bIz Tellme. News. Stock quotes. Movies. Excellent. 1.800.555.Tell biz's house of fun is temporaily unavailable. In the meantime, say 'extensions' and '76255' to get to biz's secret Tellme game. >>My >>overall experience suggested that it was designed 'down' for easy >>accessibility and instant 'look Ma! I'm playing techno!' gratification, >>rather than trying to break new ground or really excite developed musicians. > >oh-oh... Well, that's Roland for you, pretty much. > >oh, drat. and there's no wayto upgrade the sounds I assume... > Nope. You could control an external sound module, but that kind of kills the point of having all that stuff on board. From my own point of view, I'm rather tired of 'lots of programming to get it to do what you want' instruments. If I want that, I can use reactor, which is what I'd probably use the handsonic to control, latency and all. >>b. The effects were likewise tame, nothing interesting or even very >useful >>in shaping the sound.. No resonant filters, which the instrument was >>practically crying out for. What's up with that? I'm supposed to get excited >>over a reverse reverb? Hey! It's not the eighties any more! >> >>Since you only have a single stereo out, you can't add effects after the >>fact, except to the whole kit. > >arg! I live off effects! It's pretty much a less than run-of-the-mill drum machine, with >excellent< hand drum sounds, tied to an cool controller surface but with a something to be desired UI and set up, and an unflexible architecture. It's still a lot of fun, but don't expect to be excited by anything but the hand drum/percussion emulations. >>b. The midi implementation, as far as I could see, was adequate. It had >>local off, which was my main concern, and > >... and? Sorry, I forgot. I think I was going to say something about external controllers, but you can midi all that in. >All in all, very glad to get this review. At least if I get it I'll know what >I'm getting! Like most Roland products, it struck me as lots of fun on the showroom floor, but after really banging it, I came up against dissapointment quickly. All I really wanted, apart from the usable control surface and the hand drum emulations, was some new sounds. It didn't deliver, unfortunately. I might get one anyway, especially if I can find one used, just to use as a controller in the studio. It doesn't seem like the kind of tool that will become replaced with newer ones soon. Definitely give it a good work out before you buy it, and remember what $1000 can buy you, outside of musical gear. As I said before, anyone who has one who can give me a different opinion >please< do so. I really want to hear from someone who's 'woken up with it in the morning' as it were. bIz