Roland SYSTEM-8 - Sound Design with Scott Tibbs

[@ME-ru4hv]

with this finally roland re-did a no compromise quality analog style synth that sounds like a real roland. worthy of their legacy! good job!

[@nikodimson]

It's amazing 21.20 - 21.50. the most gorgeous sound i've heard from synth!

[@Marta-nl1xe]

whoaaahhh, outstanding!

[@machinesoulrecords]

Anyone know what patch that was?

[@anthonybrett]

A-3 Synth Edge. I remember hearing this for the first time when going through the preset list after I bought mine and getting stuck on this sound for 10 minutes...fuckin mind blowing. Really enjoy this synth, cheap and full of great possibility.

[@manij6849]

Dmitriy Shakhov r

[@manij6849]

Please rs

[@104fingers]

I'm 5 days in. I own Moog and Dave Smith. Is the S8 better? It's really different! I find that it brings a lot to my rig. I find the sound a little on the "Extra Crispy" side, but in a really good way. I love weird modulation possibilities, and I've been exploring the modulation of the "Color" parameter with OSC 3. This thing can go BONKERS really fast. To me, that's the mark of a good systhesizer. I like a machine that can become crazy, driven and mod-heavy. The S8 has a really broad palate of "crazy". It's quite the sound designer's dream. Side band filters? S8's filter "3" is the System 1's ladder filter. Really nice! The Juno side is off the hook. I've always felt the 106 was charming but thin. The 60 has more heft and and diversity to it's sound. I think the System 8 Juno makes a few nods to the 60. The Pulse/Saw balance is variable like the 60! This one is a daily driver for me. I thought the Prophet 6 was entirely too polite and even a little boring. As for analog gear in general, it's always fun...until you try to record it. Now were dependent on the quality of my preamps, avoiding grounding problems. My audio from the S8 is coming in clean over USB. I'm pretty happy about that. Yeah, it's light. 3 DSP chips and 4 memory chips just don't weigh much. The S8's LFO has a few tricks. It's number 2 variant acts like two LFOs mixed. Not quite two real LFOs but interesting. Pardon my rambling, but I think this is one of those things that are greater than the sum of it's parts. I don't know if it's a classic, but it is a "secret weapon".

[@kajata7]

Ramblers, lets keep rambling...

[@solomonjenkins9505]

i cant afford a jupiter 8, is this my best bet for a good poly?

[@Jobotubular]

@@solomonjenkins9505 -- well it's certainly you're best bet for anything like a jupiter -- but I'm guessing you already made that decision, since it's been eight months :)

[@jeftombala1011]

Mr Tibbs, the coolest guy in the industry., thanks for the demo

[@_EightySix]

I don't know how they pulled it off man but this thing somehow manages to be hideous and beautiful at the same time in terms of aesthetics.

[@shadowhenge7118]

I think it's gorgeous, personally. Just wish it came with the classic synths instead of the lame subscription model they do.

[@SPAZZOID100]

Shadowhenge ??? I comes with a Juno & Jupiter, plus the awesome native engine.

[@st0rmchild]

It also includes the JX-3P now too.

[@machiwoomiapoo]

I think I'm going to take a drink every time he says, "It takes it to the next level". :)

[@solomonjenkins9505]

just from a layout standpoint this really does look like the funnest synth that is being produced right now for under 2k.

[@kevinbirge2130]

Digital gone horribly horribly right. The Aira line is just amazing.

[@tragicbeatzs8183]

Just bought this and the Rev 2 along with the akai mpc live. Cannot wait to see how these things work together. I've never been able to understand what people meant when they said "two different beasts" or "they compliment each other but one isn't better". Maybe now I'll be able to understand. Gonna upload videos soon on recreating sounds on one synth and doing the same sound on the other synth and see how different the sound is.

[@Rhuggins]

can you please compare the two now that youve had them for awhile? in terms of sound i mean and your persona opinon? do you prefer one over the other?

[@moralrevulsionLive]

I think r/and match better with a nord but thats just my ears i guess. How did u like the system so far? Any issues?

[@musicthattouches17]

The best from Roland! makes fun, to watch videos with this guy!!

[@mariolondyn50]

11:45 - 12:10 and 22:57 - 23:30 Ideal sountracks for next part of " Escape from New York " .

[@mistreme8341]

I like that it’s four-in-one. You can condense your stack if you want to play live rather than use as just a controller.

[@djandreezer]

7:30. That shimmer does sound really great

[@Teeb2023]

21:23 That is one cool sound.

[@nano7586]

Frequency modulation (FM) is the coolest sort of modulation in my opinion

[@laurajohnson4086]

I waiting for the next ROLAND synth with BLUE LEDs !

[@coscrupi]

Christmas tree of Roland keys. Red, Green & Blue

[@robb4340]

Yes Laura, Blue is my favourite colour so i prefer of my lights of synths and gear in Blue! Have it on the Komplete Kontrol and Power Switch in SSL X-Rack but i don't mind to have every light blue.

[@natanunorthodox]

Red or blue would have been better.

[@Its303AcidBass]

Get the S8 and mod it. You need this synth.

[@slartybarfastb3648]

Green is the most friendly for low light conditions. Or amber, but everyone seems to amberphobic.🤔

[@Dt3kno]

How the vocoder work on the system 8? No one is showing that.

[@CaidicusProductions]

Frankly, it sounds fantastic. And for a sub $2000 synth, it's even nicer.

[@xlucioflavio]

OMG, I just need one!

[@FrancisMaxino]

Why people are paying huge prices for old Jupiters and whatnot when they can get modern synthesizors like this to do so so much more is beyond me.

[@ChesttRockkwell]

Francis Maxino nostalgia

[@st0rmchild]

Bingo. I mean if you have money to burn and somewhere to put it, by all means get a real Jupiter-8. I would love one. But the System-8 sounds pretty much exactly like it (and also a Juno-106 and JX-3P), has its own killer synth engine, and doesn't need expensive maintenance to stay in tune or keep working. This is the synth I always hoped Roland would make.

[@jittisoolt5927]

Excellent demonstration - thanks!

[@555ontario]

I have a JP8000 and it's great but have to say this synth sounds, big, warm and amazing. I'd welcome it into my rig in a heartbeat. I'm reading the comments about same old sounds and plastic casing (yes, that's not ideal for travel) but my guess is these comments stem from that noisy, less playing, more knob turning, turn knobs while arpeggiator plays, type thing. Ya, some cool new sound textures out there but the System 8 sounds like it will do enough of that along with being a real 'players' synth. Would be great to have 61 keys of real estate to work with but aside from that, this thing rocks.

[@Jobotubular]

I'm wondering if I should run a 61-key MIDI board through it. So far, though, 49 has been sufficient

[@wilcandou]

Only beef I have with this board is that all the filter section should have been infinite rotary encoders. Because as you will note in this demo when Scott goes to another patch then starts to edit, the sound spazz's out and instantly locks to whatever the value was on the last edit point was on the knob. A rotary encoder when programmed into the firmware would eliminate this because the encoder would be reset when recalled to whatever the stored patch was and just pickup where it left off. No more spazz's sound jumps. Still... nice product.

[@SPAZZOID100]

Wil nearly every vintage synth on earth “jumps”.

[@DigitalMusicXpress]

I got one and I LOVE it, so versatile, like a JP-8000 on steroids. Anyone calling this thing a "sampler" is cooked in the head, this thing's Virtual Analogue sound is damn accurate, go put it on a oscilloscope and see what I mean :) The only complaint I have is the lack of 2nd LFO, but then again I never use the 2nd LFO anyway, but hope they can somehow get around the HW limitation (maybe assign LFO dial to be dual personality) - Probably not gonna happen.

[@Jobotubular]

funny you should say that, I found myself comparing it to the JP-8080. But it has its own character, don't you think?

[@st0rmchild]

Yep. I use it every day. It might look complicated but it's actually incredibly easy to use. I've already replaced most of the stock presets with my own patches. Absolutely love it.

[@jeandista]

Please make a desktop version!

[@danielmartucci8711]

The BEST demo!!!!!! thanks

[@KurtFuller]

I prefer the sound of any digital synth of the late 80s or 90s ( CZs, K4, D-50, DX7, AN1X, VFX, CS2X, JP-8000, etc, etc, etc) to all digital synths actually.

[@vinniecaule2773]

J'ai bien fais de conserver mon Juno-6 !!! Tous les sons du système-8 sont dedans !!

[@des-extremedeextremede4407]

4 built in synth in one ... , Nice !!!

[@ZoeSummers1701A]

Why didn't Roland use those 'rings' that fill up as you turn the knobs like on the Novation keyboards. They're be so handy to see what the settings were. :(

[@the80386]

That would be more expensive. People are already quite touchy about spending money on anything that's not analogue, which is a shame because both JDXA and system-8 are excellent machines.

[@jan-martinulvag1962]

If you think the sound is not good just use it as a hardwear controller for omnisphere

[@natanunorthodox]

This is how the jd xi should have been designed, or they should have put alot of the knobs and other capabilities onto and into the jd xi. It looks very familiar. This thing sounds crazy good.

[@ThisisRends]

Well you should look at the JD-XA

[@jeandista]

In my opinion, this is the best digital synth available today.

[@esoteric6178]

Gianluca Di Stefano You must have not had the chance to play very many hardware digital synths then. Virus T I 2 blows this away. Novation Peak sounds better by a long shot too. Most of the higher end Waldorf synths sound better as well. Hell, the king korg sounds better than this.

[@esoteric6178]

Ksus Susk digital can be very good. Most of my synths are vco or dco but my virus t i 2 is amazing, However this synth is capable of sounding pretty decent but you aren't going to get anywhere close to satisfactory sound with the presets. They are atrocious.

[@itsreal1971]

I have my dark Virus TI2 limited edition and sounds way better than this! sorry

[@Rhuggins]

lets not forget the prophet 12

[@555ontario]

To Ksus Susk: It's an opinion, pal and in my personal opinion, your comment is probably much further from the truth lol. I say take a chill pill and just play.

[@leiruagetro]

Here is my personal opinion: I bought one of these system 8s last year when they came out, it was a great sounding synth, very capable, however for $1500, you get cheap plastic housing. I loved the Juno 106 plugout, however I ended up selling mine to get a prophet for about $1000, (Prophet rev 2 is $1500 new, all analog) and with the DSI synths you get a solid road worthy board that is all analog. Get the prophet instead

[@matthew_thefallen]

gee, too much for a Roland like this. For the material, i thought it was around 800$ or less! :/

[@dbjungle]

The idea is really cool imo, but these seem to have no low end. The DSI Pro 2 is digital and has great bass sounds. DSI seems to have extra care to make sure it has a formidable low end.

[@davidmichael4054]

Couldn't agree more. I did the exact same thing. I check these videos out from time to time to revisit my decision, then I remember the horribly cheap hardware. If they stuck all of this ACB stuff into a Jupiter-80 type "tank" then I'd reconsider... but then Roland would charge $4k for it.

[@machiwoomiapoo]

I agree with Jason Kratz. It's pretty sweet! Of course, I'm a Roland junkie, so don't listen to me. :)

[@looneyburgmusic]

I will never understand why people think synths like the System-8 are not "road worthy". Plastic body synths are perfectly fine for touring. If you need an all metal synth to go on tour you are doing something wrong. Are guitars made out of metal? Drum kits? It's called buy a decent case, and don't treat your instrument like a football.

[@letMeSayThatInIrish]

Excellent demo.

[@LohPro]

Are there differences between the System 1 Supersaw vs the original (ie is it still 7 detuned saws per OSC?)

[@Орбит2Орбит2]

Фантастические возможности. И главное всё под рукой не надо не куда залезать не в какие проги. Супер аппарат!!!! Мне бы такой и я был бы счастлив.

[@neoseyes]

If you cant understand how great this is, listen to this: ROLAND SYSTEM-8 DEMO by gattobus

[@niklaswallin9478]

hmm no.. I love the fa, i dont get this one YET :-P

[@natsyessam9749]

hey scott your a magician. wow i just like u play that system -8 gr8 love it

[@scooby3030]

hi scott i cant activate my system 1 without the origanal details how can i activate it wthout them as if i cant this makes the system 1 a total waste of money?

[@garyturner5204]

The System-1 is a great deal and flexible. Make sure you upgrade the synth OS to version 1.3.

[@ronbrideau8902]

I think it would be interesting if each note could have its own position in the sound space as then the notes would be doing the dancing instead of the stereo effects.

[@st0rmchild]

Yeah that would be a great feature. The Oberheim OB series has a "spread" parameter that distributes the voices across the stereo field. The System-8 chorus effects are really good though.

[@freenfinity]

Amazing machine👌

[@Syberdemonn]

great video my friend!

[@cruz6294]

Can someone tell me if it can be used as a midi controller with ableton?

[@vileguile4]

Oh please please update System-1 with a step sequencer and add additional effects/replace that crusher effect!

[@looneyburgmusic]

The System-1 has been abandoned. There will be no more updates.

[@laurentiucatalin5271]

Oh boy, I could play with this for hours..... ^_^ !

[@w.sankey8848]

This is My All Time Favorite keyboard,Just Incase If It can't be Special Ordered Or Custom Made, Can You Guy's possibly Upgrade the design With An Extended Key bed?

[@neuron05]

Not bad sounding in the digital domain but what is up with the build quality and design Roland?

[@SPAZZOID100]

danron sounds 98% like the originals.

[@sonicaids]

So we heard you like knobs

[@danaadalaide5648]

Creates that creamy sound

[@HiGlowie]

Knob per function, please :)

[@fakedgsg4847]

so in the end the cutoff always rules?

[@tuncbilekmedya]

You should have finished a maxi house single just with this video

[@ems-project6508]

Nicee sounding gizmo.

[@johndongen5636]

Some mid tuned soundy towards the last is seriously Boards of Canada

[@Nivenization]

Thank you.

[@Cluless02]

Nice synth!

[@MikkeMan]

So much nice!

[@lucasthelemur7606]

huge sound. i like!

[@zibbezabba2491]

I want one of those

[@esoteric6178]

Is this synth all plastic like the jd xa? For the cost this synth should have aluminum housing.

[@104fingers]

I have a Voyager XL...It's a heavy 67lbs. I bought this and I'm perfectly OK with it's weight. If you look inside, it's 3 dsp chips and 4 memory chips. It just doesn't need to be heavy. If you want weight add end cheeks. Roland does sell aluminum cheeks and the control panel appears to be black brushed aluminum. I have a ton of analog gear and after a while you realize how much noise (the bad kind) they pump in.

[@SPAZZOID100]

Pernett Media plastic

[@st0rmchild]

Because it's all DSP it doesn't need to be heavy. The panels behind the controls are brushed aluminum. They look great.

[@w.sankey8848]

What's up, Is It Possible to Make A 76 key Version of the System 8? Or Can The System 8 Be Special Ordered for 76 Keys or 61 key?

[@w.sankey8848]

Also Could you Guy's add A Bigger Screen Program feature,This is Way too Awesome Of A Product.

[@nandinihari8092]

There is an edit mistake in the video! At 26:40 the video stops...and then at 26:47 it restarts!!!!

[@187onasimp]

I played with this at guitar center and I didn't even know what it was. Felt very cheap though when I saw that it was $1,500 I was stunned. It had to be the cheapest feeling synth in the store and believe me I played with everything they had there. Would of never known it could do all these things now I want to try it again.

[@SPAZZOID100]

Ameretsu Shidori do some basic research.

[@blib3786]

James Reeno You’re a jackass, you know that?

[@SPAZZOID100]

Ameretsu Shidori build quality is not great, but it is a fantastic synth.

[@SPAZZOID100]

Zane for stating a fact?? Get over it snowflake.

[@Judaspriestfan86]

Are the Jupiter and Juno plug-outs included out of the box or are they a separate purchase?

[@garyturner5204]

The System-8 out of the box includes 3 plug-outs: Jupiter-8, Juno-106 and the JX-3P. Get your System-8 now! :)

[@KegPatcha]

Shut it and take me money! 💰

[@mylogify]

KegPatcha Give me

[@adrianfundescu5407]

Can do all this and more on a lot of ''old''keyboards.Korg extreme,Ensoniq.....etc.

[@Jobotubular]

sure, now just go out and buy them. (oh my!!!)

[@onathanj]

If it was 1995 I´d be impressed. The unreasonable high price would still pull me from buying it. These days, when analog synths are so cheap and sounds so much better, System 8 just seems unnessesary.....

[@maccagrabme]

If it was 1995 your jaw would be on the floor. One of the best sounding synths from Roland since V Synth.

[@klaasj7808]

no it wouldnt, its not like 1995 was in the stone age.

[@DKTronics70]

My AN1X is from the 90s, and sounds much better than this thing. And, it cost me 4x LESS than this.

[@herrweiss2580]

@Django Fett VIRTUAL???? WT...!?!? 😁 😀

[@SPAZZOID100]

DKTronics70 terrible interface

[@solomonjenkins9505]

i wanna hear filter with resonance turned all the way up

[@ruloboii]

17:38 this is roland

[@fluxincmusic]

good synth cant wait to try, but we still like our virus though

[@viv30406]

Thanks for the demo! Does it come with the Jupiter-8 Plug-Out option in-built? Or was it programmed that way for the purpose of this demo?

[@jaycrall69]

comes with

[@Skyisnotalimit]

The dislikes are probably from yamakorg owners that just realized they made a mistake by buying a toy instead of a real instrument for real music making.

[@Povelitelburi888]

nice!

[@mfb5642]

Does it have sequencers?! Groove box?

[@roblewis5044]

love mine.

[@PrinceWesterburg]

Plug-Out - Does that mean I could bring in the D-50 and not have to pay a monthly license to use it? This would at least save my actual D-50 from having to go to gigs anymore.

[@ПётрСолнцев-ъ8к]

а есть версия без комментариев?

[@hedegaard8]

Scott aged since his V-synth demos!!!!

[@SPAZZOID100]

hedegaard8 and so will YOU.

[@DWR3CKK]

that ending lol

[@djdatkidd9859]

Ripsquad brought me here

[@2nightofficial]

fucking awesome....! genius..........

[@cdanny74]

vu le prix c le top non? ty,mr scott

[@PhilAndersonOutside]

This thing sounds quite good, and all the knobs are very helpful, but Roland has a relatively proprietary way of navigating and programming here with the plug-out idea. I also find this synth a bit overpriced considering it has a bit of a plastic feel to it, if you see and play one in person.

[@AudioReplica2023]

when the hell we came from system 700 to system 8?

[@XPJV]

V Synth GT is still lot more powerful in all dimensions

[@SPAZZOID100]

xpjv ??????

[@khajub]

😊 I was about to say the same 🍻🔥

[@Bonsyoer]

omg 9:40

[@pcuimac]

If only I could load the damn good SYS-8 engine into one or more of the Plug-Out slots! Damn idiots at Roland didn't think about that. I don't want ONLY 64 patches per engine and four different engines. You can only load external engines bought from Roland or Roland Cloud! What asshole came up with that "solution"?

[@evtonic3]

Is efficiency in creating sounds not a priority with synth companies?

[@JairajSinghPatil]

That saw thicc

[@maydaygoingdown5602]

This or the Matrixbrute??? Which would you guys and gals go for.

[@brianeibisch6025]

MayDay GoingDown!! Hi, I see Matrixbrute as more of a sound design synth for getting some unique sound in your song or track and that's a really good thing if you can pull it off. But that's pretty hard these days when you think back over all the interesting sounds that have come out over the years and even decades, especially in eighties music. If you want and instrument to play then I'd choose the System 8. Why? Because you can have up to four synths in one and the Jupiter and Juno 106 have some of the best sounds ever made on a synth for straight music or song backing or musical interlude. The system 8 to me seems to be a grown up Gaia and the Gaia is a fantastic concept in synth with all the knobs on the surface and no menus. System 8 is very much like this. More expensive but yes more musically powerful too.

[@maydaygoingdown5602]

Brian Eibisch Nice, These days I'm leaning more to actual sound design over creating music tracks. I've listened to a lot of the Matrixbrute but I'm not that impressed. I've owned much better sounding Anologue synths back in late 70's and 80's than it and sold them later. The Frequency changes are typical Arturia also ie..just not good and the overall tonal quality is really crap when compared to 70's and early 80's Anologue synths.

[@brianeibisch6025]

MayDay GoingDown!! If you want analogue synths there are plenty of those around too. I really like the Bass Station II as it has a great sounding filter and has lots of modulation capability too. Novation have also done an outstanding job on the presets AND placed related sounds together for ease when performing. Check it out...it maybe just the thing. Cost is modest as well.

[@mattlogue2657]

I have a matrixbrute and its a different beast in its own right . Perfect for weird soundscapes and monophonic and duophonic but not this. its hard to compare. save up and get a korg kronos or Yamaha montage.

[@esoteric6178]

MayDay GoingDown!! They are totally different. The matrixbrute is a full analog synth and is mono/ paraphonic. That alone should helo you decide. Also unless you are comfortable with modular style sound design you will struggle to get the most out of the matrixbrute. One thing is for sure the matrixbrute is nicer to look at.

[@Telstar2Nite]

The "Variation" LEDs on Oscillators 1 and 2 only have 1 and 2. What a waste of space and a waste of LEDs. I returned mine because I was not impressed. The effects aren't as "drastic" as I like and the total "wet" effects are pretty bland. I returned mine and got a Behringer Deep Mind 12 for $500 less! I just wish Roland would bring back the original Jupiter-8 and Juno-106 like the original full-size Arp Odysseys were recently re-released by Korg. If they re-release those, I'd probably purchase them.

[@esoteric6178]

Jon Remy yeah and the deepmind 12 is really a great synth. Its like having a juno 60 in steroids with awesome onboard fx. The effects are by one of the biggest pedal makers out there. TC electronics.

[@SPAZZOID100]

Jon Remy The DM12 sounds like shit next to the System-8. The Juno & Jupiter models sound 98% like the originals.

[@michaelkoumbas7064]

BLown Away

[@miguelrejas5034]

I have nothing like this coz I play a stage piano, but when I listen to it as the video is running, I recall of all that crazy music The Prodigy does.. and I like it! BUT not interested on paying more than $600 In fact the Nova Novation II and an old Virus Access do most (if not all) the things I heard here.

[@neoseyes]

I dont know what it is but ios plugins sound more fractured. Like broken.

[@jimmythegent9190]

its an actual SYLENTH1 lol

[@esoteric6178]

COMET212 except sylenth1 sounds better.

[@SPAZZOID100]

Danielle Scribbins nope

[@SPAZZOID100]

Eso Teric no

[@RobOnTheKeys]

little bit of resonance

[@Quant-Beat]

Why not a beautiful rack version?

[@esoteric6178]

Luciano Drossi there is a eurorack module. I can't remember the name for sure. I think its called system 1 M.

[@anthonybrett]

Danielle Scribbins, well technically the 1M is a rack mount version of the System1, not the System 8. You can get the System 8 now as a VST, so thats about as close as you can get I suppose.

[@st0rmchild]

It has way too many controls to fit in a rack module (the thing would be 8U). I wouldn't want to sacrifice any of the controls. The ability to quickly modify any aspect of a sound or make new ones from scratch is a big part of what makes this a great synth.

[@vikramsubramaniam6699]

does this keyboard have patch memory?

[@SPAZZOID100]

Vikram Subramanaiam ?????

[@LoFiFreq]

presets noodles vol 1

[@EvilDragon666]

"Incredible LFO section", my ass. There's just one of it. And no, the "variation" mode for the LFO doesn't substitute two fully assignable LFOs which would be much better. The sequencer is really well thought out, on the other hand.

[@samfield5924]

No 5th octave...