Yesterday the SH 101 plug-in for the System 1 (Roland's AIRA series) has been released. I watched a bit of the presentation online, there was an interesting part with some veterans going over old stories and their favourite classic equipment - obviously focusing on Roland stuff, but not only.
Well, the advantages for such a platform are as follows:
1. Software you can use without the hardware.
2. Hardware control of the software.
3. Software automation (recording and editing) from that control.
4. Preset storage and management in software.
5. The ability to swap models on the keyboard itself, effectively turning the same hardware into different instruments.
Number 1 is where this product seems a lot different to the likes of the Virus ti. To most people this would mean that the sound is generated within the computer, and that the hardware is but a controller for it. But the hardware actually allows you to load one of this synths (currently just the system one default and now SH 101, both fairly simple architectures) and take it anywhere and use that as you would any hardware instrument.
Reason I'm mentioning this is that I was under the impression that Software and DSP based instruments are two different things when it comes to coding.
I remember one thread where I debated the idea of something within these lines with MBTC, some time ago. Main idea was that you could have some hardware instrument that could load other instruments into it, sort like the Nord Modular did.
I think they have a somewhat similar approach with this, even though it's a closed platform and one that seems fairly limited from the get go. I would lie if I say I don't like the concept though, and would like it even more if the hardware had a better interface that would allow the use of more complex instruments, something like the Nord or Reaktor or Sonic Core, with ready made blocks and modules for user assembly would also complement such an idea very well. I wonder what Native Instruments would come up with if they took this path, or Access Music...
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