VS 700 vs Zo !!!

Ok i just got my VS 700 and my VS 100 .....

I had few questions before gettin in and i finally got my answers now !! :

First if you want to use anotha sound card (asio mode) you can but you loose the fantom and the ARX (cakewalker correct me if i'm wrong but just tried it)

The ARX drums is simply enormous !!

The console works really well , just need to be used to but is tart to really feeling it !!

The VSYNTH : the sounds are as you must know ,good , but here's what is killin me :

1- You don't have sevral outputs , 16 midi channel but not 16 outputs , i know this is the hardware limitation but comon !!

2- please a  next preset bouton please to got to the next patch (don't know if i just missed it witch i doubt) cause scrollin to go to the next patch is a pain.

ARX expension drums : you have crazy kits but only one midi and one output so to bounce sounds separatly : nightmare , you gotta mute in the ARX plugin all the unwanted sounds (cause no solo button !!) and then bounce it !! oh yeah and on the mixer you don't have the name of the sounds , so to know what i'm bouncin just select the tracks in the arx console to have the details (under the console)or hit on your midi controller the note and the track corresponding is highlithed ....

So my verdict is that Roland have some gold in its hand , the arx is close to perfect but please software update !! same for the fantom

On the hardware side , its build like a   tank , workin as adverstised, very low latency and havin 16 fantom track + and crazy beat from the ARX with 0 cpu is beautifull......

oh yeah the effects in the ARX and the Fantoms are topnotch (specialy inpressed by the ARX ones !!)

I would have appreciate like on my fireface , a dsp base freq and phase analyser

so day 1 only but my feeling is 8/10 !!! 2 points missing for the Soft side and the restriction in usin the ARX and Vsynth while usin anotha sound card in ASIO

will give my feelings after some more dayz !!

What is ARX?

it's an expension board to put on the V700R :

http://www.roland.com/products/en/ARX-01/

and the good thing is that this is a vst on it's own not in the Vsynth so you can use both without a problem....really a must have if ya go for a VS 700!!!

Thanks - I ordered the 700 but didn't know about this...!

Question: does it come with lots of presets? I don't think I'd want to get that deep into editing, but I do appreciate the possibilities.

 
I did some research on the three ARX expansions.  Am I correct that the 700R will only accept one?  Are they easy to swap?  I'm very interested in the Brass ARX-03.

yes it is easy to swap , only 1 card or add anotha vs700r!!

Can somebody give the vsynth editor version !!

i figure out how to program change , sound changes but the name of the patch doesn't update itself !!

Hi Zo, There is a work around with the Fantom and processing its outputs individually. Firstly I like to monitor the Fantom through the direct mixer. It has zero latency there. I pull the actual Fantom track fader down while doing this. You can create 16 part sequences there. I just freeze (real time bounce though) the midi parts one by one and copy the frozen tracks over to 16 audio tracks. Then you have full control over the 16 parts. If the virtual synths are internal Sonar ones then your CPU also gets the load removed after you have done this.

Its not a bad idea to turn any virtual synth parts into audio tracks right at the end of a production just prior to mixing. The reasons are for allowing you to export or mix material in another DAW if you need to. Its also a good idea to convert virtual tracks into audio tracks as part of the long term archive process.

In fact what I like to do with any project is turn every part of the music into a set of fully consolidated audio tracks all the same length (with all their processing) and have those in another folder all together. This way, you have a set of tracks that can be exported or played on any system at any later stage. Who knows we may not even be using Sonar in 5 or 10 years time! How are you going to load projects a long time into the future?

Jeff , this excatly the way i work , cause movin a lot i'm gonna mainly use my laptop so no vsynth with me !! so the consolidation preocess is a reflex for me but , it's more th long process that kills me , if we had 16 output it will be great just one bounce !! not 16 (solo track....)

for the patch change i just find on the sonic cell that you have Ins file with all the presets so gonna do a test by creating my own , if it works i will share it !!

thks again

Jeff Evans


Hi Zo, There is a work around with the Fantom and processing its outputs individually. Firstly I like to monitor the Fantom through the direct mixer. It has zero latency there. I pull the actual Fantom track fader down while doing this. You can create 16 part sequences there. I just freeze (real time bounce though) the midi parts one by one and copy the frozen tracks over to 16 audio tracks. Then you have full control over the 16 parts. If the virtual synths are internal Sonar ones then your CPU also gets the load removed after you have done this.

Its not a bad idea to turn any virtual synth parts into audio tracks right at the end of a production just prior to mixing. The reasons are for allowing you to export or mix material in another DAW if you need to. Its also a good idea to convert virtual tracks into audio tracks as part of the long term archive process.

In fact what I like to do with any project is turn every part of the music into a set of fully consolidated audio tracks all the same length (with all their processing) and have those in another folder all together. This way, you have a set of tracks that can be exported or played on any system at any later stage. Who knows we may not even be using Sonar in 5 or 10 years time! How are you going to load projects a long time into the future?

Great advice and common sense that I wish I followed a few years ago.  Now I try to re-load old, unfinished projects only to realize the dependancy on plugins I no longer have.

Say you make a project named " My project"

Save it first as My project

then when your're done with instrumentals, bounce everything to audio , make a quick level and pan then save it "My project pre-Mix

record vocals or what ever save it

Then start the real mix and save the projects mixes "My project mix 1"
ect ...