First gig with my V

[willo]

Played a little show the other night.
Damn this is an amazing board!

I only had a couple of weeks to prepare for the gig (a lot to do including prepping tracks and visuals).
I spent a chunk of time dealing into this unit, to tailor some sounds and effects for live use - we're covering a lot of different genres (but all original stuff).

In a nutshell, I was just blown away.

Really solid sounding, amazing real time controls adding everything from serious impacts to nuance and subtlety - great features, killer effects - and the keyboard felt quite good.

I've gigged with with this act using few other boards lately - a Radias, a Nord2X, an Ultranova - this thing trumped them all.

Really satisfied with my purchase.

[danielwolk]

Hej willo,

Your setup looking good ;)
Could You write more about difference between Roland GT, Radias, Nord and Novation?
What better Roland has in Your opinion? Filling, groove, sound...??

Regards
Daniel

[willo]

Hello Daniel,

As far as the differences between the synths - here's a quick overview...

The Radias sounded great, and has lots of knobs for live modification, but I had some problems with some of the deeper levels of programming - the data entry knob seemed to skip or have errors. I suspect it just comes down to the quality of their components. Not sure. It was the closest to the V in terms of flexibility of modulation, but had no after touch. The Nord is a great keyboard, but any of the older Nords have NO onboard effects, and do not incorporate PCM (sampling). Also, the display on the Nord Lead 2X, is VERY limited (patches have just numbers). The Ultranova was a very interesting keyboard I admit, but was more limited than the V, and doesn't offer the same range of sounds. The build quality is not near as robust.
You have to remember that the V Synth, with it's D Beams, XY pad, after touch, etc. offers much more options for real time modification, and thus I find it a much more friendly keyboard for live performance.

The real bummer about the V Synth, is that Roland has NOT supported Mac, OS driver upgrades, so the connection with a computer is really limited.

Hope that helps.


William

[Quinnx.]

Theres realy not any good reason to need drivers at all for the V.

Midi can be done with a standard midi->usb cable

usb storage mode is universal standard

Both of these require no drivers and thats the full extent of the vsynths connectivity so drivers should not be an issues.

[PauloF]

Theres realy not any good reason to need drivers at all for the V.

Midi can be done with a standard midi->usb cable

usb storage mode is universal standard

Both of these require no drivers and thats the full extent of the vsynths connectivity so drivers should not be an issues.

Fully agree with Quinnx!

The only problem is maybe the Librarian, that also does not run on the newer MACs, but there are ways to overcome it

[willo]

Theres realy not any good reason to need drivers at all for the V.

Midi can be done with a standard midi->usb cable

usb storage mode is universal standard

Both of these require no drivers and thats the full extent of the vsynths connectivity so drivers should not be an issues.

I'm strugglig to efficiently shuttle audio back and forth (V > computer > V)

[PauloF]

Theres realy not any good reason to need drivers at all for the V.

Midi can be done with a standard midi->usb cable

usb storage mode is universal standard

Both of these require no drivers and thats the full extent of the vsynths connectivity so drivers should not be an issues.

I'm strugglig to efficiently shuttle audio back and forth (V > computer > V)

Hi Willo,
I believe that you are having some difficulties regarding the Audio switching between the V and the Mac.
Can you be a little more specific?
how are you switching now? using the mixer? or other method?

Can you give me an idea on how you have your setup connected AUDIO wise?

Cheers,
PauloF

[willo]

I was expecting to be able to shuttle audio (samples, etc.) back and forth using only USB, and nothing else.

I don't seem to be able to transfer audio files from my mac (quad core, 16gb, MBP, running Yosemite) directly to the V Station. Maybe I'm missing some aspect of this concept. I've found it possible and quite simple with some other hardware.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

w

;0)

[hamburger_helper]

Speaking of the radias vs v-synth, they complement eachother very well, where the v is thick and grainy the radias is sharper and more digital sounding, in a vst sort of way.
Both are extremely flexible with the control interface.
Together they cover alot of sonic range and can create amazing textures.
A friend is borrowing my radias but i cant wait to get it back so i can layer them both.

[hamburger_helper]

As for build quality i have no qualms with the radias, the most annoying issue for me is that goddamn bpm knob. Never has it been harder to set the right bpm. I need to reread the manual cause there must be a better to set it. I cant spend 15 minutes just to sync a damn arp lol

[Makrotulpa]

Willo your setup looks great.

I have a quad core Mac Mini server with Yosemite and have had no problems using a USB to transfer samples. One thing is that i'm using a powered USB hub - depending on your Mac build I know some of the USB3 port have issues with USB2 connections. My new Macbook Air is a pain like that.
I also managed to get a 4gb Compact Flash card and a PC Card adaptor from eBay which allows me to stash loads of samples.
I've also been using the V-Synth with the digital i/o of a MOTU Ultralite. This way I can send audio to the V and sample it onboard. Sometimes this is more convenient.

[willo]

thanks for the insight. I just grabbed a PC card adapter and a CF card as well, for storage for keeping one of my specific projects (a theatre sound design gig) separate from my other audio. I appreciate you taking the time to write.

All the best

w

;0)