Roland Cloud Updates
It’s full steam ahead for Roland’s Cloud. Andy Jones checks out the latest four sound modules to reach for the skies
Roland’s Cloud service is becoming more of an attractive proposition thanks to the company’s continued additions to the service, of which we have four on test here. The Cloud delivers bone-fide Roland instruments and sound packs in software, within categories like Legendary (for classic synths), Aira (for the newer System-1 and System-8 emulations),
Anthology and SRX (for samplelicence. based instruments) and Drum (for soft drum machines including the TR-808 and 909). The instruments are expertly modelled using ACB and DCB (Analog and Digital Circuit Behavior) technology so you get everything from a vintage Jupiter-8 or TB-303 emulation to more digital offerings like the D-50, while other sampled-based categories give you all the tools for hip hop, orchestral and other genre production.
You subscribe for £18.95 a month and you’ll get to keep one instrument per year on a permanent While the instruments on the Roland Cloud have so far been mostly vintage ’80s and ’90s models, the latest sound module updates all break (just) into the 21st century with a trio of SRX expander instruments and the mighty XV-5080 rack module. The original SRX expanders were plugin boards of 64MB of sound ROM, released in 2000 for a range of Roland hardware including the XV modules and Fantom series of keyboards. You literally plugged them in and played extra sounds, with each board themed by genre or instrument category. They were successors to the likes of the SR-JV80 range, smaller 8MB boards that appeared in classic ’90s gear like the JV-1080 – also up in the Cloud, and another worthy addition to this particular sonic fog.
The XV-5080, also from 2000, was a hardware sound module that could be expanded by both the SRX and SR-JV-80 expanders. This was a Super sound module, packed with sample-based presets, effects, 128 notes of polyphony and 32-part multitimbrality, and most of the original specs are transferred to this software version.
So we have a new/old massive sound module and three expanders, originally designed for it, that now run as standalone instruments. And they’re all free updates as part of the current Cloud subscription.
Getting started
Installation is as easy as downloading each one (around 300-400MB each for SRX and 700MB for the XV-5080) via the Roland Cloud Manager software, and you then simply run each instrument within your chosen DAW as you would any software instrument.
You’ll obviously need an internet connection for the downloads, but then you just need to sign in online once a week thereafter. The process can be a little clunky, asking just one too many times for me to input my full email as it couldn’t recall it from the last time I ran it (and nor will it let me update said email). I also needed a restart for the latest XV-5080 to appear in Cloud Manager. Really, you want a service like this to be pretty invisible – having paid, I want the cloud to evaporate – and for the use of the instruments to be as painless as working with regular plugins. Nor does the Roland Cloud feel much like a community experience, but perhaps the recently announced Cloud Phase 2 will go some way to delivering that.
Thankfully, the new instruments more than make up for any quibbles you may have with the service. Both the SRX modules and XV-5080 have similar sonic structures, where a patch is made up of four Tones, the basis of which is a core set of PCM waveforms. The 5080 is packed with rhythm sounds on top of its huge
preset list, although there is also a set of drum and percussion sounds in a Rhythm Set within each SRX. There is a surprising amount of sonic tweaking to be had within the main Tone structure should you wish – see the boxout for more on this – but, really, these modules and expanders were all about playing presets based around PCM samples, so let’s hear how they stack up sound wise.
SRX modules
I’ll start with SRX Brass. I’ve had several run-ins with brass sounds that were awfully recreated by technology over the years. Every type of tech has had a go – hardware, software, modelling and sampling – yet it’s only been the last decade or so when orchestral collections from the likes of Spitfire Audio have made brass recreation truly believable. SRX Brass does a decent enough job in many areas, particularly the muted and extended trumpets. I’m not sure about some of the specific articulated effects – they can be a bit too ‘novelty’ for me – and transitions between notes often feel like you are transitioning between samples (which, of course, you are), but overall this feels far more modern than that year 2000 time stamps implies.
Better is SRX strings, which really does pile on some exceptional atmosphere right from the off and some great realism when it needs to, so it’s an excellent instrument for creating both proper orchestral strings and more evocative and fantastical strings. Many of the presets deliver realism and atmosphere, and you can charge the latter up further by layering on effects, particularly with its very usable reverb. There’s not a huge variation in sound, and while you get plenty of violins and pizzicatos, it’s the big warm and lovely strings you’ll stick around for. One slight word of warning: the more lush you go, the more CPU you will push and I was nearing my limits in Logic quickly.
Consider the sheer number of original Roland machines that are so gloriously rendered here
Most surprising is SRX Electric Piano. This has some lovely clean tones, with beautiful effects, but it’s the lo-fi ones that inspired me most. When these original cards came out, Roland sold them on the quality of their source samples, so it’s somewhat ironic that it’s these modulating and smoky sounds that work best for me here. Personally, this is the highlight of the three SRX instruments, but also, sadly, the one that pushed Logic to the max. But it’s a testament to how good it sounds that I was tweaking my Logic engine to get the most out of it.
XV-5080
Now onto the XV-5080 mothership, and it’s a pretty instant TARDIS journey back to the start of the century and many a genre from that time… or Roland’s take on them.
The XV-5080 was far more than a jack of all trades as it went for quantity and quality, so you get a huge number of presets and, fortunately, with this updated version, you can easily select sounds by category to audition them. There is an immense variety on offer, from loads of electric and acoustic pianos, through different keyboards, and large variety of effects and percussion. Understandably some sections are lacking – strings, for example – because, of course, you’d have bolstered these back in the day with the SRX expanders. The odd category is empty, like Accordion, perhaps suggesting there’ll be further SRX updates.
XV-5080 really scores on the more electronic side of sound. While some presets have obviously dated – the techno or ‘Tekno’ set rather more than others – the Pads and Synth sections still contain many a powerful and emotive wall of synths, and the basses still pack a punch. While some sounds inevitably tread on the JV-1080’s toes (5080 came out five years after that module, very much updated and with much more packed in), XV-5080 really is a varied source of both sounds and inspiration – a future classic in hardware, perhaps, and this software version is very definitely a worthy addition to the Roland service.
Cloudy, with a chance of synths
If you haven’t already signed up to the Roland Cloud service, then it’s clear that the vintage ‘analogue’ instruments already on offer aren’t enough of a draw for you, so it’s very possible that these PCM newcomers might be the digital wonders that tempt you to subscribe. Certainly the SRX Strings and Piano are great little units but, quite obviously, XV-5080 is the star of the cloud in terms of flexibility. It’s up there with software ROMplers like SampleTank for the sheer number of genres and applications that it can be used for.
Like me, you might be a little averse to subscription models – yes, I still like to hoard and keep stuff, and I’m secretly hoping that Roland might eventually offer these for sale as individual instruments or as a whole package like the Arturia
V-Collection (R-Collection, anyone?). That’s unlikely, though, so you simply have to consider the sheer number of original Roland machines that are so gloriously rendered here for you – and the extras that go with them – versus the price you are paying for that sub, and that ratio of sounds versus cash is getting better all the time. Yes there are still CPU-hogging issues, but perhaps I’d rather have one decent Roland Cloud Jupiter-8 running in my DAW than 100 substandard copies.
That aside, Roland have also certainly stuck by their promise to keep adding to the Cloud and that clever policy of allowing you to keep one plugin a year under the subscription means you’ll eventually get to own some of these outright. I may still be averse to subscription models, but the cloudy skies are brightening for me…