How can Roland improve their image?

[keysme]

What would be a sure-fire way for Roland and company to "win back" the hearts and minds of currently disaffected and disgruntled Fantom G owners?

Well, everyone realizes that Roland has, to a degree, left Fantom G owners "high and dry" when they took us "to the cleaners" by 'decapitating' Fantom G development i.e. by cutting off future updates, add-on's or anything else for that matter and basically leaving Fantom G owners 'up a creek' with no paddle to speak of.

Sure we have a relatively nice workstation under OS 1.50 but things could still be improved upon and/or added to, to make things even that much better. ARX is more than likely "dead" even as we speak after Roland realized ARX wasn't selling well enough (because of its extraordinarily high price and less than stellar sounds no doubt) and because technology is changing so rapidly e.g. Yamaha's new "flash" storage solution on the Motif XF and now Korg's monster Kronos workstation with a 30GB SSD hard drive that can be "streamed" directly and the Kronos also has "nine" distinct sound engines, plus Karma, etc., that basically makes the Kronos the new 'pinnacle' in keyboard technology achievement and at a price point to please just about everyone most likely too i.e. it's basically the same price as the previous generation. Kudos to Korg by the way.

Roland realizes they are having to play "catch up" to Yamaha and Korg and because of that fact they have had to make a choice (the wrong one in my opinion) by a "drastic" move in production policy in trying to play 'catch up' so they have essentially "ditched" their flagship Fantom G and many Fantom G owners feel Roland "abandoned" them and that's why, in many instances, Roland customers are seething mad and frothing at the mouth in anger at Roland's decision to "ditch" further development on the Fantom G and withdrawing communications and many of their customers are ditching Roland altogether too because of their actions, or rather in-actions, on their part. So how can Roland "restore" the relationship with their loyal user base (and/or former loyal user base) i.e. you and me as well as all those who headed off to "greener pastures" running into the arms of Yamaha and/or Korg and/or any other company that doesn't have the word 'roland' associated with it? ;)

Here's a "plan" for them to successfully "mend" not only the relationship with disavowed customers but for them to once again "take the lead" in the workstation technology and in the sound quality department and to become "king of the hill" again.

First off, Roland should revamp their "entire" sound set in my opinion. Build a new sample recording studio, if need be, with state of the art recording technology and then build an entirely new library of sounds from the ground up. No more re-hashed sounds beating a dead horse to a pulp. NEW! REFRESHING!! INNOVATIVE!! REALISTICALLY SUPERIOR SOUNDING!! INSPIRATIONAL!!! Need I say more? ;) Secondly, give the new workstation = USB 3.0! No other workstation on the market has USB 3.0 as of yet. The speed "increase" will give Roland a HUGE leap over of the competition and it will be a 'major' draw for increasing their sales. With the introduction of USB 3.0 into the mix, recording will become a relative breeze, with virtually little chance of annoying hiccups in the process of recording and/or the playing of virtual instruments from a computer. Performing Live with VSTi's will no doubt be seamless as well, as the extra bandwidth headroom that USB 3.0 provides will be far superior to the now obsolete USB 2.0 specification. FWIW, the Korg Kronos will only have USB 2.0 which was a HUGE mistake on Korg's part, in my opinion. Roland can "seize" the opportunity to bring new cutting edge technology to the forefront with their next workstation by giving it USB 3.0.

Thirdly, more polyphony. NO other keyboard on the market today has 256 note polyphony - across the board. By doubling the standard, which is currently set at a paltry 128 notes, Roland will have once again brought major "excitement" into the keyboard arena again. Keyboardists have been urging keyboard manufacturers to "up the ante" by giving keyboards (especially higher end keyboards) more polyphony. What a great opportunity for Roland to 'inject' awe and wonder into people's everyday lives by finally giving keyboardists and the general public what they have been yearning for for several years now i.e. a "doubling" of the current 128 note polyphony standard. With each successive generation of keyboards rolling off the assembly line every three or four years and with each new keyboard still having only 128 note polyphony, people are having their hopes dashed every three or four years since the same o' same o' 128 polyphony keeps staring them in the face each time. UP the ante Roland! That feature alone would garner many additional sales if everything else on the new workstation also passes muster.

Keep the keyboard portable - by making them lighter - yet still retaining that durable, solid, quality feel of construction. If you make an 88 note workstation but it's too heavy to easily lift and transport read: Fantom G8, it will be perceived as a negative in the eyes of many keyboardists who want a portable solution. If you keep them light enough so people don't throw their backs out when lifting or moving it, it will be recognized as a "positive" implementation and will garner even more additional sales to Roland's bottom line.

And next time, don't ridicule and demean your customers by axing (cutting off) support on a keyboard during the "middle" of its life cycle. When you do that you're alienating your entire user base (except perhaps Secret Roland Agent) ;) - by axing support prematurely and constraining your loyal customers (and those not so loyal) to jump ship to other keyboard companies who hopefully won't treat them as badly as you have. Sorry for speaking so abrasively but the truth needs to be spoken.

There are many additional things Roland could add to their next workstation to send shock waves throughout the keyboard community. The Kronos has a 30GB SSD hard drive. Give Roland's next workstation a "60"GB SSD with faster read/write speeds. Also giving it a more comprehensive, fully functional Sequencer would really help too. If not initially, then during its 'long' life cycle by way of OS update(s). And don't charge "an arm and leg" for add-on's that aren't worth the cost. Dismal ARX sales proves that very point. We don't mind spending generous amounts of money - if the add-on is actually worth the price you charge for it. If it's not up to snuff people will hesitate forking over big bucks for sub-par products, or technology, needless to say. Again, sorry for being so blunt. I have never been accused of being a company "yes man" by the way. ;)

Direct and open dialogue is sometimes necessary for needed change to occur. Just ask the new Roland U.S. President and CEO Chris Bristol, or for that matter, Hidezaku Tanaka of Roland Japan. Having people always say "yes" to everything you propose is not necessarily a good thing needless to say. Roland's recent staff personnel rearrangement is probably going to "stir the pot" and hopefully it will lead to better products and more satisfied customers. Because without better, more substantive products rolling off the assembly line at regular intervals you will no doubt continue to lose market share to companies that do do those things. And without large quantities of people who would be willing to buy your products you will then seize to exist as a viable option to the very same people you seek to sell your products to i.e. consumers.

PS: Roland will do what ever they want to do. But nobody can say I didn't try to warn them, if indeed, the status quo "business as usual" persona doesn't change things for the better. ;) Hey, if I didn't care I wouldn't say anything and would just let them be. >> Which is probably what they really want me to do right about now, right? :D lol

[AK-Jake]

Interesting ideas, and I'd be for any and all of them. Unfortunately, Roland is going to have to do a LOT more than just putting out a "badass new product" to repair their tarnished reputation. They're going to have to make a deliberate, public acknowledgement that they know where their flaws are and that they're going to address them. Then they're going to have to back their words up with definitive action: customer outreach in as many ways as possible (including regular participation on this forum), offer product clinics at Roland dealers, open a channel of direct communication to the company so users can directly interact with the Engineering team...and then implement those improvements, etc. They're also going to have to commit to a development/support schedule that sees OS updates and bug fixes coming out at regular intervals---even if it's only one every 3-4 months. They're going to have to overhaul their customer support department as well. Of the 10 times I've had to call Roland Support, only 3 (THREE!!!) times did I feel the Support Rep actually cared about helping me. The other 7 times I felt like I was being bothersome to them, and I shouldn't feel that way as a Customer.

Avid Technology--parent company of Digidesign and M-Audio--had to do this a few years ago. An entire executive management shakeup and a complete redesign of the way the company operates was executed. And guess what? They got their devoted user-base back and picked up a whole bunch of new business as a result. It took them about 2 years, but they're rocking today like they haven't done in 15 years. Roland needs to do the same thing.

I'm very frustrated at Roland (the company) for what they've done to me as a Fantom G owner. I have a synth that I love sitting in my studio that's hampered by some shortcomings. If Roland would address them (as opposed to having abandoned the product in its mid-life cycle), the Fantom G would still be a damn impressive machine as it stands now. And let's face it, of all the "OS Updates" they've put out, how many have REALLY added meaninful functionality to the G? Most of what I've seen are lame-ass "Fantom G Connects" packages that proclaim themselves as OS Upgrades but are filled with fluff and other "content" that I have no use for. Instead of giving me new arp patterns, how about giving me an actual programmable arpeggiator? Instead of giving me yet another 4 piano patches I have no use for, how about adding in the missing sequencer functionality we've been asking for and also giving me the ability to octave-shift external gear via MIDI without having to use the Editor software? Nome sayin?

Korg has definitely raised the bar in the workstation market. Kronos has effectively made the uber-awesome OASYS a relic of the past. Yamaha didn't do anything super-amazing with the Motif XF, except add in Flash RAM. The rest of the improvements XF has over XS are minimal at best. XF, in my humble opinion, is little more than a rehash of the XS and is Yamaha's way of saying "this is what the XS should have been 4 years ago." I suspect--and sincerely hope--that the XF is merely a temporary product to tide over older Motif (ES and Classic) users until they launch a new super-Motif next year.

I'm not saying that I'll never buy another Roland product again, but until I see a geninue change of attitude at the Big-R, it's gonna take an awful lot on their part to get me to purchase another workstation of theirs, no matter how awesome it is.

My $0.02.

[gospelone]

Love My G, more and more each day, it's a joy to play it, the acoustic guitars are off the hook, the rock guitars lick butt and a lot of the sounds are really really great BUT....

But with all their great ideas and innovative approach Roland has made some decisions that show absolutely poor business sense, dismal public relations concern and pathetically poor marketing strategy.


Aside from that, despite the sincere development intents which motivate their creative innovations in the G line, Roland just has not used common sense from the perspective of a professional keyboardist in making file management as close to a nightmare as imaginable and completely setting back the standard of arpeggiators back to the pre-workstation stone age

[ScoobyDoo555]

Wouldn't look at USB 3.0 imho. Next year, Apple & Intel are starting to put Lightpeak (10Gbps compared to USB 3.0's 4.8Gbps) in their machines.

Stick THAT in a workstation and you'd have something interesting imho.

BUT I think the main thing Roland can do to improve their image, is to leave all the frankly childish developments to one division.
Focus on Roland Professional - products that they're willing to support and develop. Actually listen to their buying public rather than develop stuff they think that "we" want to buy......

Simple really.

[kenchan]

first thing they can learn from Korg and Yamaha is to have a forum that product managers will read and reply to.

use the forums as gateway to gather info...and apply what to build next.

[G-Man]

Hmm... I'd say that there is a much more simple solution: they should just hire Quinxx :)

[PauloF]

first thing they can learn from Korg and Yamaha is to have a forum that product managers will read and reply to.

use the forums as gateway to gather info...and apply what to build next.

I couldn't agree more !!!

[Atlas5]

best way is for Roland to avoid the RolanClan Fantom G forum, as they recieve less respect here than anywhere else even on forums deticated to other mfg's.

i.e. they aren't customer compliants if you don't read or hear them.


HAHA

[MauroR]

Hey guys. Reading your comments I really understand your disappointment, but at least Roland hasn't released an 8000 euros workstation promising support for "MANY YEARS TO COME" (as always said Steve Mcnally) and discontinuing after 4 years and releasing a clone (with added features and synth engines) costing less than a half of the O. Believe me, that is a disappointment and a slap in the face. If you think that Roland hasn't respect for his users just check what Korg did to his loyal customers. I don't want to say that all of you are less important and that 2000 - 3000 euros aren't a lot of money, but just to tell you that there's worse. Anyways OT, I still own a Roland XP-80 and it still rocks. Me I want Eric Persing back to do the sound design and programming for Roland.

[Artemiy]

I want Eric Persing back to do the sound design and programming for Roland.

I am afraid Eric Persing is now having much more fun working in his own company and doing what he wants.

[velocifero]

The Kronos is a fine keyboard but nothing new. Played it at NAMM and sort of shrugged my shoulders -- its a re-packaging of the last ten years. The latest Motif is essentially the same thing with a paint job and a few additional features taken from their home pianos. Speaking of NAMM this year, the Yamaha "room" on Sunday was dead, their staff looked bored and where checking their watches. At Korg, it was their usual set-up where you could barely see or touch anything. At Roland's booth, it was packed, there was live music every where and the staff was genuinely nice and frankly hipper and less of the usual corporate automatons of most companies. So I really don't see much of an image problem with Roland compared to the ivory tower of Yamaha or obvious lack of innovation at Korg who have been reduced to making synth-toys and iPad apps. I don't know what the author of this post is taking about in regards to a Roland re-org. Korg lost Vox/Marshall, fired almost all their outside sales people and have no more field product specialists. The suggestions so far on this thread leave me a little underwhelmed. Essentially, adding more polyphony to a rom based engine isn't very innovative. Adding USB 3.0 is too obvious and not very timely when as was rightly pointed out, there are other protocol on the horizon. For me the Fantom is a great center piece for how I make music -- which I think is the way most people do -- in conjunction with a computer. So I haven't any real complaints about the Fantom-G. I don't like to post to forums, I read them to get tips, but everything said in this thread is opinion IMO and should be taken as that.

[Jan_nl]

So I really don't see much of an image problem with Roland compared to the ivory tower of Yamaha or obvious lack of innovation at Korg who have been reduced to making synth-toys and iPad apps

You got to be kidding!
The ivory tower award definitely goes to Roland with their completely absent customer interaction!

And as far as the KRONOS is concerned: I don't understand why people have to be so condescending to this workstation. It definitely is a breakthrough at that price level, featuring several different synthesis engines plus streaming from disk (finally!) in one package. Sure, the OASYS also featured this kind of technology, minus the disk streaming, but that was at a price most of us cannot afford.
At least give some credit where credit is due.
If I were shopping for a new workstation I would look no further than the KRONOS because both Yamaha and Roland do not have a real alternative.

[mojkarma]

Funny how people register to a forum to talk competitive products down with some personal subjective arguments.
Guys, it's perfectly ok to say that you like either your xp80 or your fantom, without pulling out some ridiculous arguments.
Put simply, is there any fantom user here on forum who would be unhappy if Roland had put all those srx cards into the fantom g, and on top of that their v-technology (drums and the vk hammond model), their d50 model and some virtual analog of their popular analog keyboards from the past? Would anybody of us complain how Roland repacks 10 years old technology?
Please, stop with this silly arguments. Especially, don't tell fairy tales here about how you played the Kronos at the NAMM. Nobody played it there besides Korg employees. Even if you had play one, I would wonder how you were able to create an opinion about it by trying it out there for a couple of minutes in that noisy environment.

[ScoobyDoo555]

Hey guys. Reading your comments I really understand your disappointment, but at least Roland hasn't released an 8000 euros workstation promising support for "MANY YEARS TO COME" (as always said Steve Mcnally) and discontinuing after 4 years and releasing a clone (with added features and synth engines) costing less than a half of the O. Believe me, that is a disappointment and a slap in the face. If you think that Roland hasn't respect for his users just check what Korg did to his loyal customers. I don't want to say that all of you are less important and that 2000 - 3000 euros aren't a lot of money, but just to tell you that there's worse. Anyways OT, I still own a Roland XP-80 and it still rocks. Me I want Eric Persing back to do the sound design and programming for Roland.

This is true, however, over the same amount of time, you've pretty much had the Fantom S, X & G...... all adding up to a similar amount of money......

[jabberwocky]

And if you take the Fantom G -> it's about 3000+euro's .... and NO customer support at all after the Beta release of day 1!!
Tell me, which is wurse :-/