The 101 and 707 have a few bugs, but overall they are very stable, the voice stealing, clip chaining and weird random click which sometimes occurs definitely need attention though, it is a shame that Roland don’t seem to have a proper and clear dedicated channel for communicating these bugs.
I think a lot of users probably don’t notice some of these issues, I get the impression that a lot of youtube review guys only scratch the surface - they sometimes go deep on features, and explanations, but rarely on stability and performance issues, unless they are blindingly obvious ones.
I think it’s true that there’s a lot to cover on the 707, and I can see users being happy with it until / unless they hit one of the issues - there’s a lot to like - but I’d hit the LFO and chain problems within two days of light initial use, and if I’d been reviewing it they’d definitely have been mentioned. The LFO limitations preclude certain synth techniques and the clip chains are just unusable outside of very specific scenarios. It’s dispiriting to see people (who otherwise seem like good sources, not just random uploaders) talking about the clip chaining, for example, without raising the audio cutoff - it just suggests they’ve read the release notes and left it at that.
Of course there’s nothing stopping me from making a video about these problems, and I may well do if they’re not fixed in the next update, because I think it’s stuff potential buyers need to know. I have essentially zero reach, but at least then I can say I’ve put my money where my mouth is. At any rate, looking at the 707’s profile on Youtube I think Roland have done pretty well - I don’t want to say they’ve gotten off lightly, because it’s clear they have put a lot of effort into adding features, and there are parts of the 707 that are excellent. But at the same time, it’s not a cheap device and people should be able to make an informed decision.
It is interesting that there is much more discussion here than in the Roland clan forum. I don’t think it is an official company forum but I see posts from Roland folks there when I search.
I agree that a device like this is very complex and that various issues are going to pop up. We see the same thing with the Akai Force, which I also own but have set to the side for a while. Akai keeps fixing bugs and adding stuff, including the new drum synth that was announced right after I pulled the trigger on the MC 707 which I don’t think anyone requested but is still cool. The built in VA “plugins” still have pad triggering issues which I encountered in my first week with the unit and Akai hasn’t implemented disk streaming. I am starting to think they have decided it is impossible to do within limitations of their OS and hardware design. Yet somehow a tiny outfit like Synthstrom figured it out ages ago in the Deluge.
Apparently there is some disagreement on the AB forum about whether the free Zen-Core packs I could get for my MC-101 will remain free after the year has expired, or if I will have to pay to keep using them. One person is insisting the packs will remain unlocked permanently.
Damn, so glad I did not pay for a membership, I did buy 14 soundpacks though, oh well, still good that previously registered hardware still qualifies, thanks for the heads up @Unifono
No need to wait for email.
go to roland cloud enter email & password, serial no then DL the roland cloud manager click on name in top right corner click on account then you should see in your subs the PRO edition.
Hmm, I registered and unlocked the offer but none of the packs I had not previously purchased are unlocked in the library, only the ones I bought, Zenology Pro is working again though, it had gone into demo mode as expected, when my trial finished but working unlocked again now.
Ok, I emailed Roland support, they suggested signing out then in again (which I had already tried) but after shutting down then getting the reply, I tried again and now they have appeared, so if you get this issue try that.
Pro sounds so pro