Roland Gaia 2 - Wavetable Meets Virtual Analog! Let's Hear It!

[@tommyfoley]

Off topic, but please have Luke from Korg and Jack together again! Please demo their new SE products. The OPSIX SE and Wavestate SE sound amazing.

[@damonsiegiel7855]

I told you this was a blind by for me I wasn’t completely honest I did do some research purchased it today. I think a lot of people will sleep on this synth and regret it just because the price point is a couple hundred dollars more than what they think it should be, but I’m pretty sure most people don’t understand the capabilities and the functionality of the synthesizer and it’s worth every damn penny and I’m very glad I bought it and I haven’t even played it yet.

[@Taz-r8k]

HEUREUSEMENT QUE TOI TU COMPRENDS TOUT

[@NeonBluePastaChef]

Just got for $600 and it's amazing. Hours go by just messing around with all the customizing you can do!

[@ct6929]

Love the visual design of this. The motion recorder is really cool too, adds 2 hands on modulation sources.

[@talkboxerr4463]

I wish you would be able to loud your own samples in it Like in the Korg Modwave

[@kevrenshaw6177]

Although I love my ROland stuff.. I still think ill be buying the ASM Explorer.

[@DankePlace]

diff synth altogether, cheaper but has a mini PAT keybed, sound wise, well you will have to understand you wont get the warmth that the Roland can do. Zen core based VA is going to get that analogish sound, Explorer is well, you need to know your way around WT to get the best out of it. I sold mine because it just did not play well with my other analog gear, my Blofeld sounds nicer, just that the HS' UI is fantastic. Lacks any sequencer so GAIA 2 trumps it in this aspect. 2 entirely diff synths imo, you could own both and you would not overlap imo.

[@DankePlace]

@@djkanyon just because you don't uderstand what I am talking about, you know, 2 Zen core based OSC, so yes you will have warmth when compared to a Hydrasynth. Let me guess, JunoX and JupiterX both sound harsh like a buzzsaw right?

[@DankePlace]

@@djkanyon you should follow the conversation before posting what you did.

[@EchoKraft]

It’s like a cross between a Korg Minilogue and sounds like a ModWave.

[@rederickfroders1978]

Is it just me or does it look a bit like a bigger Minilogue?

[@dirkkeersmaekers4343]

Or Alesis Ion

[@rederickfroders1978]

@@dirkkeersmaekers4343 It does!

[@htechdance]

It's not just you. Copy city Japan!

[@RobertFisher1969]

Not only that, but a “kaos pad” and not the typical Roland pitch/mod stick. It’s like Roland wants you to think it’s a Korg at first glance. 😄

[@Jason75913]

Modwave with less features and improved build quality. At a higher price, too.

[@ChromosomeSyndicate]

This is the first Roland I like .

[@mrdavies7894]

It’s the Minilogue-Wavestate we’ve all been waiting for! 😂

[@giver8144]

Andy from Roland shredding the GAiA 2 - when? cannot wait ...

[@jasongray3337]

Saving for this, i almost sold my MC707 to get the money, but glad i have not, so going to save for 3 months, i had the Gaia, and i liked it, but no stepsequencer i ended up selling, but it was a solid assuring synth beside it being plastic the pots were firm and smooth and it had a unique sound of its own and looked good haha! so despite their being other gear i wanted this and it has jumped straight to my Priority. Very usefull interface etc, cant wait. Pity they did not also have a desktop version, i woud buy 2 haha!, now not that i make breakbeat these days, but i can imagine from the demo streams this would make an extreme play thing for the bass genre, as well as all else. Cheers for the demo as per usual, helps me as well as your piano/ keys personal tip the other week was a surprisong good way to look at it, nice one Jack.

[@Jason75913]

MC-707 is a must keep. Sequence your Gaia2 from the 707.

[@jasongray3337]

@@Jason75913 Nah was just a thought, but not going to part with it. 👍

[@MartinBaldock]

Hmm.. I had one of the original ones, and while I enjoyed it for a while, sold it on. I found other synths that continue to work for me. This one looks great, but sounds a bit boring to me. If it is to be someones first synth, that's a different matter, and would teach the owner a great deal about synthesizers

[@Reprogrammed_By_SEGA]

The motional pad that no one will use due to to fear of it wearing out and not being replaceable, which will effect the second hand resale-ability of the synth. I thought they would have at least used a touch pad with gorilla glass.

[@TheBebe666]

Cut a square piece of display cover for mobile phones and use it over. It works for me.

[@judddredd8617]

£770 are you having a laugh! No wonder jack didn't mention the price. A helluva lot better sounding synths for that sort of money like the Hydrasynth, Minilogue, Wavestate, modwave etc.

[@enochroot9438]

totally agree, there's a bit of a shilling feel about this one. I've watched quite a few vids on it and it seems Roland has gone all out with promoting using influencers etc. The controls look fun but it sounds very mediocre and extremely poor value compared to the Hydrasyth, Wavestate etc

[@jumpstar9000]

It's £599 now most places. And at that price it is a steal

[@TimMoney]

Seems pad could be better accessible on side w wheels?

[@Pyroja]

Kind of bonkers that it doesn't have aftertouch at that price point. Even my Ultranova has aftertouch! At $900 that puts it right in between the Hydrasynth ($1300) and the Hydrasynth Explorer ($600). That's stiff competition.

[@ChromosomeSyndicate]

I never used aftertouch .

[@soniklink-WKD4496]

This is a 'Pad Master' for sure. Well done Roland on this, but my Hydrasynth can do so much more aside from the motion control, we just have a shape-able LFO. But this is the best I have seen from Roland personally, for an long time. Imagine if they bothered to use 2 analog VCO's along with the wavetables. This would then be competing with the Sequential Pro3. Why Roland?, why no Analogue!! 😿💔 Sadge :(

[@mrdavies7894]

…that little illustration of the Motional Control on the left side of the screen… can we just go ahead and call it the Etch-A-Sketch view?

[@jretro7]

You should do a comparison between the Roland GYA and the GYA2 9:24

[@DankePlace]

No AT on keybed, which is sucky. The Motional pad is brilliant, you can record motion in speed and acceleration with someone saying 13 seconds. Another reports 20 seconds of record time. Now I don't see this as a synth, more as a playground to control my other synths. The bonus is, 2 VA oscs and 1 WT. I have 2 KOAS pads and have always wanted to be able to modulate w/e with long slow evolving drawn gestures. Roland finally made something I want, and I was about to get the Polyend Play. Price wise, this is really affordable, the sequencer seems really nice, has 4 lanes of motion 64 steps, add probability and sub steps, this will replace my KSP which I find a little cumbersome to use. Looking forwards to your indepth, it may really surprise you what it can do, it's lacking in presets, but I think you will be able to make some seriously nice patches minus all that horrible menu diving which has been on previous Roland synths.

[@kierenmoore3236]

Well, I agree with you that no AT on the keybed is sucky … ! You’re bang on there, my friend.

[@80ssynthfan48]

If there's no AT on the System 8, then it's not a surprise it's not on here.

[@tonylancer7367]

I really wonder why Roland leave out AT on their synths, seems to left out for their bigger boy synths?

[@synthsamuraiproductions]

Alesis Ion looks like to me.

[@zedudli]

So Roland makes minilogues now

[@DankePlace]

@@djkanyon 4 voice vs 22? wow you got him good there.

[@digitaldiezel5870]

Gaia was first…this kinda blows the Korg away.

[@davidz2016]

Two very important questions 1) can you record patterns in to it ? Like a song? 2) does it have any drums ? Love roland and wish they made a updated Jx 305 . It was awesome. My two are on there last legs. Lol .

[@enochroot9438]

Needs to come with a disclaimer *Other better sounding synths are available at a cheaper price point !!! there's a bit of a shilling feel about this one. I've watched quite a few vids on it and it seems Roland has gone all out with promoting using influencers etc. The controls look fun but it sounds very mediocre and extremely poor value compared to the Hydrasyth, Wavestate etc

[@alastairfraser8177]

Seems great for the price

[@Br00sta]

At a glance it looks like a Minilogue which is pretty average. And so far from all the reviews out there that I've heard it sounds ok-ish. So my conclusion is that unless I discover something drastically different and better about it I do not want one of these.

[@DankePlace]

I was almost about to get a Polyend Play, thing is I have a ton of sequencers or have owned. The main selling point here is that you can record the Motional pad for 13 seconds, but Roland says it's 20 seconds. That's a massive selling point to me, then add 4 lanes of motion recording for knobs. This seems more of a visual feedback sequencing dream. I have 2 KOAS pads and I hate there is such little record time for the gestures. I am wondering if you could use the surface of a KAOS and record it on the G2, if yes, then that would be brilliant, you would have much better accuracy with your drawings. So on top of this, you get a really nice hands on sequencer with all the extras, then add the sounds. For me it's a sequencer 1st, then synth. Given the Polyend Play is almost the same, but I feel you get better UI with the G2, and then 22 voices, I mean I am in.

[@Br00sta]

@@DankePlace Yeah fair enough, I haven't been looking into that aspect as I'm moving away from dawless more now. Dawless was a nice dream to me that never gave me the results I wanted, still great for jam sessions though. I think I needed to spend more time learning about how the hardware sequencers work but I didin't have the time. Sounds like it fits for you though dude. Nice.

[@DankePlace]

@@Br00sta Best sequencer I have is the Polyend SEQ, 8 lanes of 32 steps. It has the best UI ever let down by the lacking of specific functions, like probability, little things like that. NDLR is a fun live jam piece but it is a pita to program. KSP is pretty good but seems to be a little busy and that OLED is tiny. Squarp Pyramid, forget it if you're ever going to try piano roll. BSP, fun, one of of 1st, you need a cheat sheet to remember newer functions. Toraiz Squid, my oh my, awesome, let down by the same thing, you need a cheat sheet. I have a few others but the Akai Force, ffs they make this enormous surface control that can do it all, but forget the real sequencing aspects, like play longest sequence to end before playing new pattern selected. So you get my frustration when it comes to these live sets, I have had up to 13 bits running at once, I like to tweak, and I record everything with its own input. It may take me 4 hours to get a grove on, but these happy accidents work well. This is why that Motional pad is so unique, you're going to get some really nice movement with that when used properly. /end rant

[@MrClarkio]

Not feeling this one, the patches didn’t help. Too much reliance on the xy pad for me. Just seems a bit passé compared to the minifreak. I don’t know, why would you pay extra for this over say an argon 8?

[@atommachine]

It's like a sugar-free Magnum , not my cup of tea.

[@DankePlace]

Woop woop 1st!!!

[@plutostube]

from the moment synths are just a vst into a box with a motherboard, cpu and a soundcard they started to sounds sterile without a great personality and "stamp"

[@kiko1935]

That's where I'm at with this one - great layout interface, great build quality but the sound is very brittle and soft synthy.

[@dirkkeersmaekers4343]

Short video

[@htechdance]

The Ultranova did this 8 years ago. Nothing new.

[@Jason75913]

Minus the motion pad, and this likely doesn't have a filter as versatile as the Ultranova, it has no mod matrix like the Ultranova, no Fatar keybed with/or aftertouch, no second filter, less EGs, and no audio inputs or 5-slot post FX bus.

[@elcelim8150]

2nd

[@Justsobusy]

I just can’t like it, it sounds soo cheap and thin

[@kierenmoore3236]

Roland saving me so much money, putting out stuff that will never interest me! 😀🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@DankePlace]

we heard your same ramblings about the OBX8 when that came out, then you went and bought one, oh my.

[@kierenmoore3236]

@@DankePlace Not at all. I said the OB-X8 didn’t sound as good as the vintage OBs … which it doesn’t. But it is still arguably a good package/sound. The Gaia 2 doesn’t interest me at all … but then, I don’t think it’s meant to: it’s the kind of thing a beginner drops way too much coin on, new …

[@DankePlace]

@@kierenmoore3236 no what you did was continually trash the OBX8, saying it would never be as good as an OG, then you bought 1 and changed your tune. People like you, you're all about the negative aspects where you just have to post just because, well everyone needs a Karen right?

[@Br00sta]

WTF! You two know each other?! 😆

[@DankePlace]

@@Br00sta I know him from the OBX8 threads, where he would just not shut it, kept chest puffing abt his OG unit, then he bought an OBX8. Everything he says is a contradiction.

[@christianthompson1473]

These same old roland patches swamped with fx don't do this synth any favours. It sounds grating techno harsh

[@Jason75913]

None of the patches are the '80s sounds that Roland has been rehashing for 30+ years, unless you load one of the ABM emulations of vintage Roland synths. Harsh sounds are in style this century, so they got that right. Wavetables are also trending, and they decided to jump in. Extremely late, but better late than never, I always say. Most of the patches do sound modern, to my shock.

[@jumpstar9000]

​@@Jason75913and it sounds really good when you make your own. I am loving mine. I was a bit worried when I was watching some of the reviews. Turns out it is just crappy factory presets. Well maybe some people like them. Once you go Init it really is fun. Hope you are enjoying yours.

[@terrorbytez6537]

I was really hoping for this video..I wanted to see how a youtuber could hype this overpriced pile of rip off trash and sure enough you did it.

[@ChrisP3000x]

That thing sounds like crap. But I mean that in the nicest possible way.

[@cnfuzz]

First thoughts , this is way overpriced

[@FirstLast-nr6gf]

Terrible sounds, worse than industrial noise.

[@ChromosomeSyndicate]

Well I find this now one of the first Roland’s I like .

[@akdm82]

You’re so funny:”the screen is a big improvement over the last one!” 😂😂😂 Any screen is an improvement over no screen. LOL. I still love my GAIA1 but this does look pretty tempting. 🤔🫣😜