Never thought I’d see the day when Behringer was kicking Roland’s ass in the synth department.
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kinda weird now Sweetwater has the pre-order for 199$ soooooo its not 150.
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For me the question is:
- Do i buy just another mono synth that does one thing well or do I just get a good synth that does everything I need?
Go buy a DN or an A4 people.
You could use the 150 bucks for a fancy dinner instead.
I really like the 303 sequencer. Amazing tool for ‘happy accidents’. I can imagine that can also be a major encumbrance for some 
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Except that they aren’t, at best they are doing uninspired “tributes” of Rolands original 30+ year old designs, but if you think that constitutes kicking their ass then fair enough. No midi cc control is hardly ass kicking, for example.
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This does look pretty cool if you need a cheap little box for doing 303 stuff. I picked up a tb-03 earlier in the week and the battery power, step sequencing and decent sound and build quality means I’m not too upset about this announcement - GAS is under control.
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I think I may be on the same path. I have a tb-03 and now at $199 us for the TD-3 its not worth the jump. I’ll stick with the Roland tb-03 for now.
We’ll see on that.
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midi cc control on a digital re creation of an analog circuitry is just as special as 303 presets in a DAW.
the whole boutique range is Virtual Analog except the coop minimoog clone and the chiptune thing.
It’s just the name and a few who don’t understand the difference between analog and digital especially when both techniques are boxed similar like “real” hardware.
It’s a microcontroller! No Control Voltage needed. tzzz
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the Bass is deeper the Highs are more crispy. It has pressure and it’s alive.
it will pump and not recreate the pump.
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The thing that really works for me with the Boutiques is that you can use them standalone in the exact same way as the originals, and that you can plug them into your computer with a single USB cable to do stuff like this:
And sure, you could also use a plugin, but a major benefit for me is that I can still use it “hands on” when it’s plugged into my computer.
Not to say that cheap fully analogue recreations aren’t great if that’s what you’re after, but I do appreciate the different approach Roland has taken.
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They are not VA, they are ACB which is different, it models the synth at circuit level, which is why for example the Boutique TR-08 decays and sounds like a real 808 and the RD-8 doesn’t, because modern analog components are not going to be the same as those used back in the 80’s, no matter how much the marketing tries to convince you otherwise.
If you don’t believe me and your ears can’t tell, then look at a scope shot of a TR-808, TR-08 and RD-8 bass drum, the decay on the RD8 is much more linear than the exponential decay of the TR-808 or TR-08, does it matter? Depends if you want to buy a clone that sounds accurate or one that is cheap.
Also the Boutiques are based around FPGA not microcontrollers.
Sure they are not perfect, but if the sound is important then they are definitely closer than the Behringer offerings, based on my experience of owning most of the original Rolands for many years.
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VA is an umbrella term, ACB is a type of VA. There are different types of modeling that are used for different types of virtual analog, and component modeling is one of them.
ACB was Roland’s brand of VA technology/IP and it is good. I’m not complaining about my SH-01a, but it is a virtual analog synth.
I have yet to see an official source that can definitely verify this. If you can link me to one I will be a happy camper.
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This video around 7:20 mark
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I love Markus Fuller but he is speculating ing this video. I would refer you to this reddit thread where they actually bring up the video you linked to as having no official verification.
I guess you could say it’s another consideration between VA and analog is you know what you are getting with analog. There aren’t a lot of closely guarded secrets in the analog synth world anymore but, unless you are working with an open source code, VA synths with custom chips will remain a black box.
TD-3 on the other hand can be dissected and modified by anyone with enough expertise in electronics. So I think it’s safe to say we will be seeing some tricked out Behringer units that will sound VERY close to the ACB version.
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Akai Timbre Wolf? 
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Does it matter if it’s fpga /va … there’s enough bullshit between analog vs digital , now it’s time time argue of the type of processor / architecture , demand evidence to prove a pointless claim .
Why not discuss which is the best coloured plastic on a patch lead ?
Or even claim that using left hand to dial encoders is better than right hand ?
All my synths sound better when they’re about 1 meter off the floor, facing north while I’ve got my left eye closed, you can hear it on my soundcloud compressed clips, it’s the reason I have 10 million streams… nothing to do with melodies/tune/structure… it’s all about the processor in 2019.
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It doesn’t matter to me, all that matters is if I like the sound or not.
Edit: my mention of FPGA was in response to @JohnnyEgo saying it was microcontroller based, it is debatable whether it is FPGA or DSP though it seems, but either way it definitely isn’t a microcontroller
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Any colour plastic is fine, but never those braided ones
Surely this is suitable for a new thread ?
Maybe an entirely new forum.
Geek and they shall come , as someone must’ve said.