Well, besides all of the issues described in INTEGRA-7 page, there are some new thing, that got notably fixed, but far from completely or even really usable.
It is kind-of supposed to be an evolution & revolution over
Fantom-X and Fantom-G, and fixed misdesigned issues of Integra-7, but
it's really not yet there at all. So many years of Roland R&D
should
have yielded some dazzlingly awesome stuff. But it did not.
Some things mentioned below were fixed for the FA, but just in a half-assed way, so realy need (bug)fixing.
Most importantly:
‣ Old Fantom-X effects were ported to it to one additional insert fx block (IFX), and that is superb, but it misses the control assignment page. Meaning, currently piano sympathetic resonance pedal control cannot be assigned to a pedal... Problem is, the piano desperately needs it. Even the SuperNeutered one could have been made somewhat better with it.
‣ Annoying thing is that the most useless - SuperNeutered patches are
always first, not User ones. This is just patch dialing&sorting
issue, and should be solved.
‣ Also a deep design flaw is that for some dim witted reason, User
patches are separate for normal (good) extended-JV architecture and
superneutered ones as separate banks... That could have been easily
avoided, since all superneutered (including synth) do have less
parameters and therefore data amount than the classic patch, and so fir
in the fantom patch data block footprint perfectly well. Why
would it matter to divide those - user patches should just be a
monolithic block where each can be whatever it needs to be - "PCM",
"SNA", "SNS" or whatever.
‣ Don't expect SuperNeutered patches to be any useful in anything
serious - they are not. There is no editing, no real parameters or
options, besides stupid few preset variations (for no reason, since
mostly those are way too different to even be a in a single patch, with
nothing in common like legato, pizzicato and staccato strings as
variations in a single patch) and a macro parameter at best.
SuperNeutered Synth is just an extremely limited subset of JV voice
features, besides adding supersaw (oh, glory...). To be useful, all
"acoustic" SuperNeutered patches would need their parameter pages not
hidden, so stuff can get tailored to at least something useful.
Currently, you cannot tailor anything at all, so those cannot be used
in any production - only to play at weddings & funerals.
‣ Regarding the point above, I can tell you (and I do know everything
in it in tiny details) that ARX superneutered patches and "technology"
is entirely the same old SRX. It uses everything the same, same samples
(a lot from old collections, and better if so, since new sampled ones
are not realy good, or even low-grade licenced with huge watermarking
holes as the horrid "environmental effects" in INTEGRA-7), occasionally
abysmally processed (improper use of FFT-iFFT denoise to split sample
sets into main and residual parts) and all that there is about the
"technology" is that actual JV patch parameters get adjusted through an
extremely limited preset macro-parameter (or a few - like for drums),
and sometimes there is some awkward software addon that switches over
samples or enables portamento and stuff based on playing - which, in
fact, is that "super modeling" the ads are referring to. ARX was such
an absolute fail even in its idea, and then even worse -
implementation, that there's not much that can be fixed about it. In
synths that has that, those things should get moved far away even after
GM patch banks, and waveforms (all ordinary, there is no modeling or different synthesis involved whatsoever!)
should be selectable for the normal extended-JV architecture patches
(intentionally named as "PCM" to make you think superneutered ones are
not) so you can make smoething useful out of them and that's it.
On a positive note: I still have it, and there are definitely some good
aspects to this. As a sound module for custom patches with
classic-jv-based stuff, it can be used.
‣ IFX shoud definitely get (bug)fixed, though.
‣ Keybed is horribly godawful.
‣ Encosure is more flimsy, bendy and quickly loosing its looks (gloss
scratches even from fingers and fingernails, rubberized parts
deteriorate etc) than you'd expect from Roland.
‣ It is, just like Integra-7, based on the dreaded Roland SSC chip
(essentially Super Sound Canvas, developed for use in home organs!),
which don't realy sound that good - nowhere near Roland WX chips from
Fantom-X and all the high-end goodies from those years. Haven't yet
pinpointed exactly what's up with it, but there has clearly been some
"optimisations" in its design that affected something. So don't expect
it sound anywhere near anything WX-based. It kinda sounds flat and lacking any splendor and liveliness.
‣ Loading old SRX boards is just for the waveforms (which is still
great) but patches cannot sound the same (because of completely
diffferent fx stuff, and not only that) so if you are after some exact
SRX patch sounds, just get an appropriate old box that can fit a real
one or something.
‣ Again, there's something wrong with how SSC renders the waves. Don't
expect the effervescence, sizzle and sparks of the XV and WX sound,
despite seemingly better specs.
Stuff below this line is still unchanged from the INTEGRA-7 page, but most of the stuff still relates to the FA as well. I'm going to edit it someday probably.
-✂------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fantom XR has excellent sampling system integration, allowing to create user multisample sets and use them along rom waveforms. Integra-7 - FAIL
Since JV, XV and Fantoms, there should be much more interesting MFX algorhithms, right? Wrong. Reusing all old stuff plus removed some - EPIC FAIL
Fantom XR can hold 6x SRX plus half a gigabyte user waveform data. Integra-7 can only hold 4x SRX and zero bytes user waveform data - FAIL
Surprisingly, most roland synthesizers miss Vocoder effect. Roland has has some of the best nailed down on DSP as early as 1993. Still not there - FAIL
Fantom-X and many other WX-chip based synthesizers had a very good multiband mastering section. Integra-7 has only master EQ. - FAIL
Sympathetic resonance was a new good stuff in Fantoms for a realistic piano sustain simulation. Can you find it in Integra-7? No. - EPIC FAIL
On all older synths, that had more than one MFX block, you could cascade them. Integra-7 has a plenty of MFX blocks yet no cascading. - FAIL
While SN Synth
is kind-of supposed to be equivalent to, it does not hold par with the
old JP-8000 (introduced in 1996) or even simple XV structure - FAIL
XV-5050, Fantom X, XR and G had a poor visual appeal with all that silver, plastic and wild western styled parts. Integra-7 looks great. - WIN
On older gear, preview phrases were fixed for respective categories.
For some weird custom sounds you sometimes need them differ. Integra-7
- WIN
Polyphony is the same. Still the same like in XV-5080 or even EMU Proteus 2000. It's not bad, though - NEUTRAL
Oops...
There is not only much room for improvement, but also a lot has to be done to even just be on par with Fantom XR.
The added Motional Surround is a good thing, but not extremely
useful. Those virtual 3D things (virtual speaker, phones) are not usable for real productions,
while 5.1 channel music is not realy a necessity. In
films, center channel should never be used for music, and therefore two
Individual / Aux outputs on any usual sound module is enough for adding special rear
sounds if ever needed.
Good that it has most of the SRX boards available for loading. But how about SRX-99, SRX-98 and SRX-97?
Yes, those were kind-of-demo kind-of-promotion boards that in most
cases had only a few megabytes of waves for some extra fun. But why not
to include them, especially if all of them together would take less
space than a single normal SRX card?
SRX-98 "Analog Essentials" manual states that all waveforms have been
newly sampled (including some 92-note multisamples), making it a member
of the SRX collection. Not including it clearly brakes the "all
included" claim.
I personaly would be happy to see all SO-PCM and SN-U110 card waves
available as well. Many of them are classic after all. And I don't mean
patches or oldschool "timbres" - just waveforms available when editing
a usual JV/XV/Fantom type 4-partial sound. SN-U110 cards do take only
512kilobytes in their original 8bit logarhythmic form, and when
converted to uncompressed 16bit would take only 15Mbytes for all 15
cards. SO-PCM uses floating point style compression, packing about
24bits into approximately 8.1bit. There were about eight SO-PCM cards,
each being 1 or 2 Mbytes compressed. So here we get about 20Mbytes
uncompressed. Add some classic synthesizer ROM waves, say D-50
(512kbyte), D-110 (1Mbyte with all MT-32 waves and more), U-220
(3Mbytes) and MC-303 (why not?), maybe even throw in all SR-JV80-xx
boards in unaltered forms and this sound module will have a dazzling appeal for any synth zealot.
Having an option to load four additional SRX boards is
nice. But why only four and not eight? Is DRAM so expensive these days
that 256Mbytes even matter? Address space of the synth chip wavebus is
not filled up as well, so no excuse there either.
The six slots in Fantom XR were appealing for a reason. For example,
for some soundtrack work you might want to fit Orch, World, Brass, a
pair of electronic music related ones as well as an additional piano or
strings board. Along with Fantom XR waves and editability this is more
than enough, even not counting the massive sample loading capabilities.
Four slots instantly shows up to be a pain.
Secondly, the whole point of ROM wave expansion boards is to have all
of them instantly available, simultaneously playable and browsable
through at any time. While load time of about 4-5 seconds per one SRX
is quite ok, a need to plan and choose only four of them or less is an obstacle to creative flow.
Why do I call the SN Synth a SuperNeutered one? Because it's essentialy what it is.
First look gives us the (marketing targeted) impression of it being
somehow a JP-8000 or a classic box equvalent. That it might somehow do
great stuff like KORG R-3 or Alesis ION/Micron does, for example. No, it can not. Not even come close.
Oscillator SYNC? No.
Is there a Feedback Oscillator like in JP-8000? No.
Are there any means of True waveshaping or Driving
(like in a prehistoric KORG 01R/W and all their later analog modeling
ones) for oscillators? Even though simple waveshaping, quantizing or
decimation doesn't realy eat up any DSP resources - No.
Seriously? No SYNC and no nonlinear driving? Roland, is it the best you can do?
Preset "sync" waveforms does not count, because they are not
controllable and cannot behave in any interesting way. Waveforms with
sync are as much a substitute for real hard sync, as there were
waveforms (in old simple romplers) subsituting for a lack of filter.
Ring modulators are present and available in all usual four-partial voices
(since JV), so there's nothing special. Additionally JV, XV and Fantom classic voices have
FXM cross-modulators and simple driving-waveshaping distortion (Booster) blocks that are
not present in SuperNeutered Synth.
How come a specific super-über-natural "Synth" mode in almost every
aspect be inferior to the most usual structure since JV-1080?
Oh glory, it has a supersaw.
Unfortunately - no there isn't much. For some reason, even Sympathetic Resonance is gone. It seems to pop up here and there among SuperNeutered sound parameters, but I don't realy care about them. No vocoders (see below), no PSOLA-based harmonizer/pitchshifter for dramatic electronica stuff. Almost all effects are mundane and usual, since they are from XV-5050 times.
There are some electric piano combination effects added, but it's just a recycling with small alterations.
Some glitching and stuttering effects
(sometimes called "grain shifters" or whatever) that essentialy
are a short or medium length delays with a different control would have been a good thing to make the
sound module more appealing in todays dubstepped glitchcored market.
Even though such processing takes about a tenth of resources required
by a simplest chorus - No.
You can make some grainy effects when cascading two or more
pitchshifters with extreme settings. Oh well - you can't cascade MFX in
Integra-7. Facepalm.
Essentialy anything besides channel/part insert fx looks like Sound Canvas
88. And not even 88Pro, as there are no additional AUX or Insert effects.
SC-88 actually had a bit more than Integra-7 - it had an aux Delay
processor besides Reverb, Chorus and EQ. Yet another facepalm.
In my opinion, Roland has best vocoder DSP algorhithms - ones
that combine outstanding intelligibility, transient response and no
modulator leakage (leakage is a problem present in all FFT vocoders as soon as they
are set to high band counts necessary for them to sound with any
intelligibility). They have significantly better intelligibility than
reorganized simple synth banpass filter banks used in all KORG-s like
MS-2000, Radias, microkorg, kaoss stuff or R-3.
Vocoder is an interesting tool for a synthesizer to have. Impressive
and immersive pad textures, synthesizer sounds and dirty electro
madness
can be achieved by using it. Even old synth workstation KORG Triton,
introduced in 1999, had vocoding available for it's insert effects. So
it shouldn't be considered something unusual or weird. It actually can
be considered as a kind of necessity.
Roland had nailed down a very good vocoding DSP algorhithm in Boss
SE-70 back in 1993. The old JP-8080 has one. In 2005, the VP-550 had
awesome sounding one. So where's the problem? It have been successfuly
made/ported on most of their synth chip architectures, including their
major chips like ESP and WX (these sound engines behind variphrase, VP, JP,
VSynth, Fantom e.t.c). Code is done and working - why not to use it?
Pitch Synchronous OverLap-Add algorhithm based pitchshifters and
harmonizers maintain formants in place, or allow shifting formants
without altering pitch. These effects sound great for electronic music
and unusual soundscapes.
Again, Roland already has it available since mid and late nineties -
remember VT-1, VF-1 effects processors and VS8F expansion cards? DSP
code is done and working, and could easily be ported to any of their
newer chips. So what's the fking problem?
Imagine a formant shift as an insert effect, steered via matrix
modulation - for one component of a complex pad/motion sound... Or a
rhythmic pulsating stuff that alters formants for some partial(s)... Or
a drum kit. PSOLA is also useful for surreal violin, woodwind and brass
sounds. A lot of Variphrase-feeling effects can be obained with this one.
It is a realy good tool that allows instant finishing and polishing of whatever you are creating.
Outside of the part instert fx blocks, Integra-7 realy looks like Sound
Canvas 88. Not even SC88Pro. I mean - entire processing section is just
Reverb, Chorus and EQ..?
There is some confused forumer (or just a troll) with a nick EvilDragon,
that posted in several forums a nonsensical claim: "And what's even
dumber - only 59 user slots". Nobody even wondered what the f does a user slot mean anyways. People are so easily goalable (trollable).
[Shot1] [Shot2] [Shot3 "Still not stupid enough for you to believe"] etc
However, as I started to check around for user patch, program and
perfromance amount, I was surprised to see that it is never ever
mentioned anywhere... including Integra-7 manual and specifications.
Not even where user patch saving is describled, and in no screenshots
do you get an idea of a range. This gave me a strange feeling that
there actually could be something terribly wrong with it. The only excuse I
could think of might be that it was not yet known at the time of
writing of a manual and web release stuff.
Everything got cleared up by taking a close look into midi
specifications book for it, where exact numbers should allways be
found. There is a plenty of user patches and performances after all:
USER PERFORMANCES (called studio sets) - 64
USER SN ACOUSTIC PATCHES (super unNatural acoustic) - 256
USER SN SYNTH PATCHES (super Neutered synth) - 512
USER SN DRUM KITS (super reNamed drums) - 64
USER PCM SYNTH PATCHES - 256
USER PCM DRUM KIT - 32
As you can see, there is a plenty of space. Though not more than in
previous modules, like Fantom XR. Actually much less because Fantom X
did directly address patches and kits off PCMCIA cards with 2000 or
maybe even 5000 spaces available.