Leaks are all over the place, but we’re here in Berlin where you’ll finally get to see some of what you’ve been waiting for from Roland. (If you tuned in randomly earlier today, you might see someone speaking in Japanese about a guitar amp or something like that.)
That Which You Most Want To Know About should be starting at around 9:00pm Berlin time, or 3:00pm New York / 12 noon California. See the video below.
Important: If you have questions, let us know on social media or in comments here. We will have a full report tomorrow Saturday Berlin local time, once we’re allowed to fully share what we know – which leaves us extra time to get details.
Latest news will be posted at Roland’s site:
http://tfr.roland.com/
I hope what they reveal at 3:00 PM EST is more than what we already (unofficially) know about.
There’s definitely more than what you know about; our coverage will wrap over to Monday.
How is “the future redefined” now mean “Let’s bring back old devices”? Am I missing something?
At least the DJ808 seems relatively new and intriguing – even if its a bunch of old technologies put together in a box in order to play well together.
Are we expecting anything to drive synth / drums / performance forward instead of just being able to buy old sound making devices again? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against these being out, they should have done this years ago…but what about that is “The Future, Redefined”?
Parsing Roland marketingspeak … that way madness lies. 🙂
I’m ignoring that line and just focusing on the products, which are pretty cool.
That’s fair…I guess I’m just sort of over everyone re-releasing old gear. I’m not sure why the new 909 is here if we can do everything in the TR-8 and more? Obviously I’ll look more into it. The best thing – in my opinion – to come out of this is the System-8, though the price jump for that from the System-1 is a big deal…
I guess I was just more hopeful about new technologies. I remember when Roland introduced the V-Synth and VariOS – two devices that did something no one did before (and were quickly usurped by software…but it was original at the time)…
I really don’t get the point of releasing two digital emulations of 303 and 909 when they released TR-08 and TB-3, which are also capable of those emulations like… 3 years ago? These are WAY more limited and WAY less innovative than those two.
I’m not against digital at all if it sounds good (which TR-08 and TB-3 do), but this being digital and ACB based is like re-selling the same stuff with less features at a close price tag. If this is the ‘redefinition’ of the future… well, it SUCKS.
Yeah, although the TR-09 is smaller, probably cheaper, and quite a bit less ugly. If they’d done this last month (i.e., if it were an 808) I might have gone for it since I don’t really like the 909 sounds. The used price on the TB-3 makes the 03 a harder sell but I think that has more fetish-object appeal and will sell pretty well. I do get it but these don’t particularly tempt me, was hoping for a 606, 808, 909 line-up, I might have bought both of the other two there, even though the TR-8 would make much more sense.
But wouldn’t have had much more sense to release an analog recreation at least of the 303? I don’t know much about electronics, but that couldn’t be really too far in costs from a Mopho, or even a Volca Bass. I mean, they still could have sell that thing for 500 – 600$ perfectly. Has Roland forgot how to make analog things or what? Is like they have a gold mine in their backyard, everyone tells them… and they prefer to keep selling imitation jewelry.
Yeah, but they didn’t hit a $600 price point – they hit $349/$399, with a lot of internal functionality to boot (like USB and the effects, etc.)
So … wait. It sounds great, and it’s cheaper. What’s the problem again? 🙂
Seriously, I’m not one of those ‘release haters’ that throw shit over a product without trying it. But I’m having a really hard time trying to not see this as an absurd bet from Roland. I’m sure they sound great but… so did the TR-8 emulation, and the TB-3, even though the hands on control was different.
I honestly think that the Korg approach would have been way better for everyone, specially Roland. Smaller size but the real deal.
This said, I hope people make great tunes in these two.
In two months you have learnt a lot it seems. lol.
Ok dude…
Well… wait.
There’s still reason to get a TR-8, sure. But I don’t agree with “way more limited” – how? The “scatter” effect? 😉 To me it’s really just the faders you miss, mainly. And separate audio outs, though having USB audio outs is still pretty good, and the TR-09 is more compact. I also think the TR-09 sounds better, even with fewer sounds.
The TB-03 I have to disagree pretty strongly. Having dedicated controls here makes loads of sense for a 303. And you still get a separate step mode. Also, I wouldn’t write off the overdrive and delay, they sound amazing. So it depends on your idea of “innovative” – whiz-bang features, no, but exceptional sound I think counts.
Well, you have almost answered yourself the “how they are more limited” question in your own reply: faders, audio outs, more sound variety (and the same ACB technology, so if they have perfectioned the model, they could probably update the TR-8 with that so sound quality shouldn’t be noticeable), and more FX… including of course the scatter! I’m not even talking about size as limitation, because for some people it can be an advantage, but I think is pretty obvious that they are more limited.
Questions on TR-09:
– pricing?
– is there digital audio out over usb?
– is there just one trigger output? if it had a bunch, could use it to sequence analog drum modules with trigger input. just one feels not that useful. along with that, can it be used as a MIDI to trigger converter?
– midi implementation? is there a way to get better than 7-bit control of parameters via MIDI?
– i’d love to hear a side by side comparison with an actual 909. the one side by side comparison i heard between the aira and an 808 (sonicstate) made the aira feel very disappointing to me. the aira sounded fine on its own but next to an 808 it felt a bit weak and lifeless – which makes me just want to use nice samples instead. my guess is that the analog elements of the tr-09 will feel similarly weak in comparison to the 909, but i’d love to be wrong.
Questions on TR-03:
– would love more detail on how it can be used to sequence external gear, either via CV or MIDI. how does it deal with the unique features of the 303’s sequencer when sequencing other gear.
> i’d love to hear a side by side comparison with an actual 909
I’d love to hear a side by side comparison with the TR-8’s 909.
I just assumed it would sound the same. Same modeling behind both, right?
No, new models – see our writeup.
I think I pretty much got all of these. I do want some more specifics on MIDI … that should come soon. I want to try sequencing the MeeBlip [redacted].
I think you’ll like the new sounds.
Just make the digital sax thing not sound like crap. A midi out would be useful as well. And that accordion! It’s lie the other thing they’re releasing from the 80s is my musical career in school.
any new eurorack stuff?
Apparently not this time around, no.