ARX boards

How many expansion boards can be used at once? Can I have the Fantom synth running at the same time as a SRX-02 piano?
When you use a board such as the SRX-02 with the V-Studio, what kind of user interface does it have?
Why do the V-Studio specs say ARX expansion yet expansion boards have SRX names?

Too bad Roland has (in classic Roland fashion) promised but not delivered on the ARX technology. They always do this: release 2 boards when the product is new (Fantom-G) and then we wait years for more versions. Many of us were quite disappointed when the third ARX board turned out to be a brass expansion. I mean come on. ARX is actually a complete synth in itself. They could have done a V-Synth, SH-201, or many other configurations. I don't know what marketing geniuses came up with this, but they ought to be fired. And with Roland don't look for mid-year announcements. It's once a year at NAMM and that's it. So the best bet on another ARX board is January, 2010. Shameful.

do keep us posted :)

I think the ARX-01 drum board is going to be the best choice for anyone doing song production. We all need drums, right? The sounds are actually great and useful. The editing features are very useful and deep.

You get 30 preset kits and 10 menus (programs according to kit parts - like all snares - all kicks etc..). About half of the presets are natural sounding kits and other half are processed/electro kits.

Here's what I like: The coolest thing about this product is the ability to edit each kit piece in detail. In the Tone section of the plug in you can shape things like cymbal size and sustain, shell depth, snare buzz, mic position, muffling, and tuning. You can make the same kit go from a jangly open punk or folk rock sound all the way to a tight, up front Disco kit without all the gaffing tape, paper towels and a drum key. That's more work than you should do, but when you do pick a kit from the list, and you need a slightly tighter or looser sound, it's very easy to do. Most drum plug ins have a fixed sound set. You have to pick another sound set or at least another snare hoping you have something that fits.

What I wish it had: You don't get the over head, room mic or bleed controls with ARX. These are handy and can get some good results, but again you're stuck with the preset sound which may or may not work for the tune. Half the time I end up using Perfect space and Channel Tools on a bus to get these sounds anyway. I get more control and better room sounds. ARX 1 in combination with Perfect Space or your favorite convolution reverb is going to give you a very realistic drum tracks.

The ARX board plugs into the VS synth & functionally is a separate expansion VS synth - so I'd guess that it will have the same 64bit issues the VS synth editor/librarian VST has.

No actual experience with the VS here though