ROLAND ZONE - Online resources for Roland & Boss electronic music products Roland-Boss Zone Read about new products in. See the for discussion on Roland music products. Roland have now made many available online. Roland/Boss - Company Web Sites. Features latest products from Roland / Boss.
Roland GP-100 Librarian for Midi Quest iPad Developed specifically for the Roland GP-100, Sound Quest's Midi Quest multi-instrument editor/librarian protects the GP-100 from data loss, provides an intuitive graphic interface to display the instrument's settings, and includes unparalleled editing, organization, and creative tools to maximize the sonic potential of the GP-100.
The Boss US site featuring product news and interactive demos. Roland US official website with product info, user group details and also check the pages for software, OS & driver updates. Also provides online product documentation and Turbo Starts for many synths. Older documents may be found at this of Roland's website. Roland is now providing online for current products. Roland/Boss - General Resource Sites. A newsgroup for Roland discussion in general.
News and user reviews of Roland products at Audiofanzine. Forums for creating styles for arranger keyboards including Korg, Roland, Yamaha, Ketron, GEM and Mediastation.
A small but unique collection of documents describing some Roland & Ensoniq disk formats and also some Oberheim & Alesis sysex charts. E-Music have some technical documents for a number of older Roland synths and controllers.
Harmony Central provide a large database of user reviews of Roland gear. Also see their. An archive of the old Intermusic reviews on Roland gear.
An archive of patches for analog synths stored as.WAV & sysex files to allow you to load then into your synth. The list of patch files includes MOOG, Roland, Korg, Crumar, Oberheim, Sequential Circuits & Oxford.
A Dutch website with keyboard forums. There are also styles archived for Roland, Korg and Yamaha arranger keyboards. Use to translate it from Dutch to English. A German electronic music site with some synth & drum machine overviews plus some patches for the Roland JD800, JD990, D-10/D20 and Yamaha SY-77 synths in the Equipment & Record section in. A synth info site with some coverage of many Roland synths.
Pictures and resources for a wide range of synths including Roland. This forum for Roland arranger keyboards grew from the old G-70 User Club Denmark. Provides links and information about all known user communities. Bill Hillman lists a number of Roland guitar synths with info and pictures.
Lists the features of most Roland sound cards over past years. Provide an archive of patches for a variety of synths including Access Virus, Roland JV-80 & U220, Korg M1, Yamaha DX-7 and SY-77 and others plus softsynth patches. SOS magazine provides excellent articles on music electronics including Roland. Also be sure to read these articles and outlining the history of the Roland company. Info, pictures and some documents for many Roland synths. Provide service bulletins for 80s Roland gear.
Only intended for techs servicing older Roland equipment. Good Roland page with a lot of user's reviews of many Roland synths.
Discussion page also. Forum for arranger keyboards. Info, sounds and pictures of many vintage synths including Roland. Plus a good page showing each of Roland's that were created to program synths like the Juno 60, Alpha Juno 1/2/MKS50, JX3P, JX8P/JX10/MKS70 and D50/550. Info on a variety of pre 1990s Roland synths at Roland/Boss Resources. Chris Carter's Sound-On-Sound retrospective article on the Roland 100M Modular synthesizer. Includes many other SOS reviews.
A new Yahoo forum for Roland A-series controllers. See the for downloads and turbo start documents for A-Series controllers. Marc Schreier's freeware JX8P editor software for Windows now has Alpha Juno support. Info and MP3 demos of the Alpha Juno. An archived site with links, sysex, and a Cakewalk INS file to download. A Yahoo group for Alpha Juno 2 users to exchange info and ask questions. A Yahoo group for Alpha Juno / MKS-50 users to exchange info and ask questions.
Includes an archive of some patch sheets and manuals for gear including the SCI Six-Trak, the Roland Alpha Juno 1/2, CSQ-100 and PG-300 programmer. A great BR-8 info site including a very good to 250MB with instructions and pictures.
Resources and support for the Boss BR-8 studio. Also read a guitarist's. BR-8 FX patches with diagrams and descriptions. Undocumented info from Mark Lakata. Windows patch editor for the D5/D10/D20. Download from Harmony Central. WMW is a Win3.1/Win95 MIDI monitor, arpeggiator and D110 tone editor combined and is free to download.
PC midi editors for GS & LA synth (MT32,D110 etc). Patches for D-series synths including D50,D20, D10 and D70. The Lugnuts (Linear User Group) is an online forum presented by Gord Braun for all L/A synths including D-50, D-10, D-20, D-5, D-110, D-70, MT-32, CM32L, CM64, LAPC, GR-50, and RA-50. Freeware Macintosh universal system exclusive librarian with some added features for the Korg Wavestation and Roland D5/20/10/110 synths. Yahoo group for users of the D2 groovebox. Archived site that provided patches for the D50/D550.
D50 soundbanks in sysex format. A good archive of patches, links and resources for the D50.
Roland D50 LA Synthesizer Service Notes and circuit diagrams. Sound-On-Sound take a look back at what made the D-50 such a success at the time and now. German language web site with D50 sounds, MIDI implementation chart plus tips and tricks. Archived site with Tim's patches for the D50 in both MIDI Quest and sysex format.
A beta Windows editor for editing patches on the D50. D70 file archive that you can download from. Schematics and mods that can be performed on the Boss DR-110 drum machine.
A message board dedicated to the Boss DR-5 drum machine. Mailing list for users of the Boss DR-5 drum machine. Dr5Edit is Windows DR-5 librarian software with basic editing features included. And you can download DR5Doc, an evaluation version.
Mac software that allows you to upload standard MIDI files to your DR-5. User support site for the E-600 featuring styles to download and links to E-600 resources. Luiz Flavio Vieira presents Brazilian GM/GS midi files produced on his E86. Some E-86 styles available to download, plus the page is available in both Russian and English. A Windows editor for the EM-2000 and G-1000.
Links to online resources for the EXR-3 and EXR-5. Roland Fantom Club at Yahoo. A great Fantom user site with tips, related files, live chat and discussion. Fantom-S & Fantom-X info, tutorials and resources.
Sound-On-Sound magazine reviews the Roland Fantom. Yahoo group for users of the Roland Fantom FA-76 Keyboard.
Group is open to all synthesizers lovers and users. Yahoo group dedicated to Roland Corporation's Fantom S and Fantom S88 Keyboards.
Yahoo group dedicated to the Roland Fantom X Series Synths. X8, X7, X6 and X Rack or XR. Info, tips and links to style sites & resources for the G-1000. Also has a list of Roland keyboard clubs including some newsletters online. Roland Keyboard Club Antwerp provides downloads for the G-1000 including styles and OS upgrades. Also support for other arranger keyboards as well.
Dutch language option only. Info, tips & resources for the G-1000. This an archive of what was once Bob Richie's G800, G1000 & RA800 users forum.
The download files are no longer valid. Dutch website that provides resources for the G-70, PA1x, VA7 and G1000 and an archive of files to download. Home of the G70 Session Manager software for Windows. This forum for Roland arranger keyboards grew from the old G-70 User Club Denmark.
Discussion group at Yahoo for G-70 users. Styles, hints and tips for the Roland G-800. Styles available to download for the Roland G-800 & E-series, Solton MS-series and Korg i-series synths.
Sysex, info and related links for the GI-10 guitar MIDI interface. Windows control panel allows you to control the GI-10 parameters and save & load your configuration. Free to download but you need to fill in a request form. Presented by Also AWE32/64 bank manager software and AWE32/64 Cubase mixermap available. Roland's FAQ and manual download page for the GK-2A pickup ( for use with a GK compatible Roland module ).
A guitar oriented page with patches and info for the GP-100. Patches, info & other related resources for the GP-100 processor.
Patches, reviews & links the GP-100. A Windows patch editor for the GP-100. Discussion and resources for GR-09 users.
Resource links for the Roland GR-1 synth. Resource links for Roland GR synth users. Lots of useful information, reviews, links, midi & instrument files for the GR-30 guitar synth. Plus links to Mac editing software.
A Yahoo Group with discussion on the GR-30. Nicely laid out website with links, resources and forum for GR-30 users. A site dedicated to the GR-300 guitar synth with mods and links to resources. Windows software for managing system and patch data on the GR-33 guitar synth.
Featuring GSPanel, a Freeware Win95 panel for control of Roland GS & GM synthesizers (including the RAP-10) from Anders Korsvall. (Thankyouware actually - if you use it let him know you appreciate it & support him!!). VBSYX is a a sysex utiltity plus librarian editor.
Plus other great features. From which has other interesting utilities as well. Boss GT-5 guitar effects editor software for Windows. Boss GT-5 guitar effects processor site with files to download, info and links. Boss GT-5 guitar effects processor resource and info site.
Boss GX-700 guitar effects processor site with files to download, info and links. Fan site with links to online resources for the JD-800. Patches and software are available for the JD-800 and JD-990.
A German JD-800 site with tips and tricks in German. Martin provides patches for the JD-800. Info and Cakewalk instrument definition files for the JD-800.
Archive of Stephen Drake's JD-800 page with patches & other resources. Stephan Dargel makes some JD-800 soundbanks available for you in MIDI file format at Synrise. A Yahoo group for JD-800 users.
Sounds in sysex format plus other assorted files for the JD-990 found on the web. Yahoo Group for JD-990 users. Patches and software ( a modified version of the JD-800 patch tool ) are available for the JD-800 and JD-990. Brian presents his own patches & performances plus hints and tips for the JP-8000. Sounds and service documents for the JP-8000. Martin provides patches for the JP8000 in Roland's JP8K Librarian format. Info, downloads and resources for the JP-8000.
A patch librarian for the JP-8000/JP-8080 from Roland. Although Roland US has removed it, it is still available from some European company websites.
A review of the JP-8080. Yahoo discussion group for ALL Juno series synths.
presents a shareware Juno librarian for the Mac plus 140 patches in HQX format to download. Factory patches available in.WAV format plus links and other resources like the. Good tech info on the Juno 106. Some patches available to download for the Nord Modular, Roland Juno 106 and Access Virus. Info page with midi implementation details. Juno 106 update providing MIDI and other features.
Provides patches and manuals for a number of older synths. Windows program with a very unique approach to patch creation. Available for the Roland Juno 106. Factory patches, brochures and test procedure info. Better control of your Juno 106, MKS50 & Alpha Huno 1 &2 through sysex. From the website. Daredevil presents useful technical info & resources for the Jupiter-6 and Juno 106.
Midi upgrade available now for the Jupiter 6 from. Manual for the Jupiter 6 available. Offers resources, samples and patches plus other info for users of the analog Jupiter 8 synth. makes some of his original patches for the Jupiter 8 available as WAV recordings of the tape save output that you can play/load into a Jupiter 8. Encore make MIDI retrofits for the MOOG Source as well as the Oberheim OBX/OB8 and Roland Jupiter 8. Norman Zeb presents a support site for JV1000, JV80, JV90 users.
Freeware librarian that supports the JV-1010. Robert Weigl's Cubase Studio Module Driver for the JV-1010 is available to download. Freeware editor for PC and Mac. Realtime Win9x/NT editor for the JV1080/2080 synth modules. English and Hungarian language options available. Sounds for the JV-1080 and a Roland Impressions bank for the Yamaha AN1x.
Sound banks, drumkits, midifiles & links for the JV-1080 from IMP. A complete Windows editor for the jv1080, jv2080 or xp50, xp80 synthesiser. Kostas's JV1080 page with midi files specifically for JV-1080/XP-50 synths only. Plus other JV1080 related files & links. Free Acid Experience bank to download, plus Inspiration Banks to order online. Sounds, software & other resources for the Super JV/XP range.
Home of the ChangeIt JV & XP series editor librarian. Sounds available as well as the software installation info. Songs and patches available for Roland JV/XP synths and the Yamaha EX5.
A private archive of JV/XP patches. JV-XP Patch & Performance editors. Very intuitive editors for the Roland JV-XP series. They also work great with the JV1010 or XP30. Sounds & resources for the JV/XP series and also hosts the. Some MIDI songs for the JV-2080 are available to download. A collection of sounds to emulate the TR909, TR-808, TB-303 and other analog machines as well as natural sounds.
The Super JV / Super XP mailing list maintained by Mark Vitek. Archive search available.
Nir provides some original XP80 banks for you to download. Norzes' Windows software that helps create analog sound on JV/XP synths. A selection of JV1080 and XP patches available for you to download.
General info on a number of recent Roland synths plus some patches and songs for the JV/XP synths. Also has the available. Links to JV/XP/XV resources onlines. Information about the XP series of Roland, including the Expansion Boards, Patch & Wave lists and downloadable patches in.SYX and.SVD format. Also a large midifile collection.
Andy Slater provides patches for the JV/XP series synths as well as being the home of the. Page with patch lists for the JV1080 and TD-5 plus many useful utilities and lots of midi info. A shareware Windows JV/XP editor. JV/XP resources with an emphasis on Acid sounds & grooves.
Win9x editor for the JV/XP family of synths JV-1080, JV-2080, XP-50, XP-80 etc. Should work with the JV1010. Trial version available for download. The old mailing list is going to migrate to this new list at Egroups. Patches & resources for the JV80 & JV30. Tommi Rotonen's JV-80 page with info, links & tips. Sysex files of JV80/880 patches to download.
JV90 info & patches as well as some info on the A90-EX. Yahoo discussion group for JX series synths. A hack of the original ROM. This firmware allows editing of the currently active tone via midi.
Provides MIDI editing that the Roland engineers weren't able to provide themselves. This requires that you know how to burn an EPROM and replace it in your JX-10. Windows System Exclusive Librarian for the Roland Super JX-10. Features the Super JX-10 / MKS-70 synth.
JX-10 Sysex details. Plus expanding RAM cartridge memory.( converting an M-16C into a M-64C. Information on the TR-909 hardware including a schematic & a circuit description for each TR-909 instrument.
present an online version of the TR-909 drum machine manual. Info, tips, links and some samples of the TR-909. Patches, software, programming tips plus other relevant info for the U-20/U-220. Sounds to download and links to resources for U-20 owners.
Provides info in Dutch for G-1000 and VA-7 users as well as styles and variphrase samples to download. Eyal presents his observations and links for the VA-7. Subscribe to the VA-7 mailing list for discussion with other VA-7 owners. Styles and resources for the VA-7 keyboard. The unofficial Vdrums site featuring info, new and links related to Roland's VDrum technology. A Yahoo mailing list for the Boss VF-1 FX processor.
V-Guitar System page with downloadable patches and info. Another example of Roland's COSM physical modelling technology. Subscribe to the VG-8 mailing list for discussion with other VG-8 owners.
An archived page that had info and links for the VG-88 guitar system. Provides related info and for the VG-88. Brad Coates' review of the Roland VK-7 digital organ. C-Mexx make Win9x/NT4.0 software to control the Roland VS-1680 recorder. Mailing list for VS-840/880/1680 studio users. Documentation in PDF files as well as Excel files for the VS-880EX. VS Pro software lets you control the power of any Roland VS series Digital Audio Workstation from your computer.
Mailing list for blind users of Roland's VS digital recorders. An active mailing list for VS-840 users. An archived site with info & links available. Resource site with news, info and discussion for Roland VS Studio users. Roland's website for the V-Synth. Worldwide community of users of Roland V-Synth series synthesisers. Commercial sound design company sell exotic waveform libraries for the Roland V-Synth.
Some W30 disk images available to download. PC/DOS software that allows you to write W30 disks on your PC. Also convert between W30 songs and MIDI files. A Yahoo group for users of the W30 sampler. The unofficial homepage of the W30 offering info, sounds, OS download and links for the W30. An archive of the old W30 users page with links, sound disks, FAQ plus other info for W30 users.
But of course the mailing list is now dead. Mailing list for W30 discussion. Roland Sampler Users' mailing list, archive OS, samples & utilities for the S50, S550 & S770 and W30. Synth Editor and Librarian for the Roland XV Series Of Synthesizers. Includes the Roland XV-5080 / XV-3080 / XV-88 and XV-5050. Trial version available for download. presents tips and hints on using XV synths.
A Yahoo Group for discussion on any of the XV-Series synths from Roland. presents Ben Kraft talking about and demonstrating the XV series and SRX expansion boards. Provides some synth sounds and OS updates for the Access Virus, Roland XV-3080 and Novation Nova plus other synths. A Yahoo group with discussion and files for the XV-5080.
Links, info and lots of audio demos in MP3 that exhibit Rolands new XV-5080 synthesizer. Roland Patches & Files. Roland Software. Read. Roland Related Products.
Roland 12 bit & 16 bit.SDK import support. Converts between over 100 different file formats plus Sample Dump Standard supported. Style disks & software for the Roland G 600, 800, 1000, RA 800, E66, 86, 96, & RA95. Allows you to read Roland S-7xx sample disks from your PC's SCSI CDROM drive. Also works under Virtual PC 3.0.
Commercial patches for the E-Mu Proteus 1 & 2, Korg 01W & Wavestation, Yamaha SY85 & TZ81Z, Roland JD990 & D50/550, Ensoniq ESQ-1, SQ-80 & VFX series. Professional shareware sound editor for the Mac. Import/Export Roland S330, S550 & S50 disks and MIDI sample transfer support Fully working version can be downloaded for a 15 day trial period. Now runs native on a Power Mac. Robin Whittle's Real World Interfaces offer an extensive mod workover for the TB-303 providing many including CV & Gate inputs, much improved bass response and many other sound programming improvements.
A wide range of sample CDs in audio, Akai S3xxx, Roland and Kurzweil format covering all types of sounds including classic synths, drum beats & grooves, Roland TB/TR sounds, sound effects etc.
Roland GP-16 Digital Guitar Effects Processor Today I picked up a used Roland GP-8 and Roland GP-16 guitar effects processor for a total of a hundred bucks over at the music second hand shop. They were just brought in today and were in excellent condition. The GP-8 was in very good condition considering the age of the unit. The Roland GP-16 was in mint condition which was very surprising. I didn’t get any manuals or foot controllers, but I do already have an FC100 so that should work fine.
The GP-8 is mostly an Analog Effects Processor with basically 8 Boss stomp boxes in one unit. The Roland GP-8 Guitar Effects Processor is one of the earliest (1987) multi-effect racks with 8 effect blocks that included Dynamic Filter, Compressor, Over Drive, Distortion, Phaser, Equalizer, Digital Delay and Digital Chorus. The digital delay and chorus are both 12-bit. There is a slight bit of noise with this unit but nothing that a Noise Suppressor can’t take care of.
There also is no reverb, but I can always get that out of the GP-16 or somewhere else. Roland GP-8 Guitar Effects Processor The GP-16 is a Digital Effects Processor that contains a Compressor, Distortion, Overdrive, Picking Filter, Step Phaser, Parametric Equalizer, Noise Suppressor, Short Delay, Chorus, Flanger, Pitch Shifter, Space-D, Auto Panpot, Tap Delay, Reverb, and Lineout Filter respectively. I heard a rumor that the Space-D is the same as the Boss DC-2 although that I believe was analog and not digital. So that’s probably the only difference between the DC-2 and GP-16 Space-D. The Parametric Equalizer, Chorus, and Flanger are really good on the Roland GP-16 as well. I already have the Boss GT10 and GT8 pedal boards. I didn’t need the Roland GP-8 or GP-16, but for $100 together, I couldn’t pass them up.
I’m really glad I bought them. Of all my pedal boards now, I think I like the Roland GP-8 Distortion the best. It really reminded me of the boss distortion pedals in my room when I was a kid in the 80’s. It’s really fantastic in my opinion.
The Dynamic Filter, Compressor, and Phaser are also really good. With the Roland GP-16 (1990), I particularly liked the Dimension Space-D, Chorus, Flanger, and Phaser effects. Just about all of the modulation effects are fantastic.
The distortion is not as good at the GP-8 to my ears but still usable. The GP-8 sounds fatter and more full, while the GP-16 is a bit thinner, BUT, not as thin as my Boss GT-10 when I first plugged that in. The GT-10 I thought was really really tinny and had a lot of fizz.
The GP-8 had no fizz at all in the distortion department and the GP-16 almost nil as well, but it did have something a little fizzy which I can’t quite put my finger on but not so bothersome as with the Boss GT-10. Overall, I am pleasantly surprised by both the Roland GP-8 and GP-16. I didn’t expect to use them much for guitar, but rather for my older synths and keyboards. However, I think I’ll be taking the GP-8 for it’s wicked distortion the next time I’m out playing. I think the GP-16 should sound great with my keys and even my guitar synth. It’s pretty cool too. I should also note that both the Roland GP-8 and GP-16 worked perfectly with Midi Quest Sound Librarian and editor.
I tested them both today and I was able to transfer all Patch banks for editing. So effectively, I can now edit patches on the computer very easily for both processors. I also have the older Emagic Sound Diver for PC and noticed there is an instrument file for the Roland GP-8. I’ll have to try and see if that works, but for now Midi Quest is good.
Both the GP-8 and GP-16 came with the original patches as well, so I didn’t have to go looking for them. Manuals were found on the UK Roland FTP site. I STRONGLY recommend the Roland GP-8 for a great all around and cheap effects processor if you can find one in good condition. I would also recommend the Roland GP-16 but only after you get the GP-8.
I also think both make great effects processor for synths too. If anyone can confirm that the Boss DC-2 is indeed inside the Roland GP-16, please comment. I’d love to know if this is true as I’ve never heard a real DC-2 to compare. The Roland GP-16 Space-D sounds sweet though.
In conclusion, the Roland GP-8 and GP-16 are still very good effects processors despite their age. The Roland GP-16 has some very unique patches and effect combos in it which I can understand bring some people back to them.
The Roland GP-8 is just warm and friendly. I’m still curious if the Boss DC-2 is inside the Roland GP-16. In the Roland GP-16 manual on page 37 is the following info. ( Note that the Boss DC-2 had 4 presets just like here in the GP-16 ). SPACE-D Produces a natural sounding digital DIMENSION with little wavering of the sound. It’s impressive breadth easily surpasses that of chorus. MODE The mode should be set to match the mood desired for a song.
Mode 1: A slow, light dimensional effect. Mode 2: A slow, deep dimensional effect. Mode 3: A fast, light dimensional effect. Mode 4: A fast, deep dimensional effect.
Another note. If correct the Boss DC-2 is an analog pedal while the Roland GP-16 is a digital rackmount effect. Also, the Boss CE-20 twin pedal is know to have a spot on version of the Boss DC-2 as well.
I’m definitely interested in teh Boss DC-2, but the prices here in Japan are really high. I may play with the Roland GP-16 more and possibly pickup a Boss CE-20 when I see one. I also noticed a guy in Japan selling a Boss DC-2 for US $499.99! At that price I don’t think I would ever want to use it.
To me the Roland GP-16 and possibly the Boss CE-20 are the best bets at emulating the DC-2 sound or getting close to it. Unless I find one on the cheap, I don’t think I’ll ever pay the price of a vintage Boss DC-2. I’m not sure it’s worth paying US $499.99!!!