Roland Announces New V-Bass VB-99 !!!

I think you're probably right on that Stef - i'll put it on my "wouldn't it be nice if Roland made..." list next to wireless 13-pin connectors

 

Yeah, i agree, ... however wouldn't it be nicer if someone (Roland? / RMC? / ......?) made it possible to implement this in a (let's call it: GK-4B-Digital) with only ... uhm ?7? wires (one for the digital signal, 3 for the powersuply (including the shield?), 2 for S1/S2 and 1 for GK-vol), this way the connector and cable could be maybe cheaper and more reliable, even though the GK-4B would be way more expensive, but that's a customers choice.

So much more to whish for .... for now i will be very satisfied with the new VB-99 so far!!!

 

Available only in January in Canada.....

 

Anybody had some time to work on it ?

We need some critics.......

 

If i'm very lucky, the unit will arive tomorrow!!!
... so perhaps, if i can make some time without the unit , i'll be posting my 1st findings this week ....

But hey, it's not a promis ... i'll have to stop VB-99-ing ....... so it may take a few days ...

 

The unit arrived today. I plugged it in and recorded the first 107 presets. Cut the mp3 into 12 parts:

http://www.utapia.nl/sound/eerste-probeersel1.mp3
http://www.utapia.nl/sound/eerste-probeersel2.mp3
http://www.utapia.nl/sound/eerste-probeersel3.mp3
http://www.utapia.nl/sound/eerste-probeersel4.mp3
http://www.utapia.nl/sound/eerste-probeersel5.mp3
http://www.utapia.nl/sound/eerste-probeersel6.mp3
http://www.utapia.nl/sound/eerste-probeersel7.mp3
http://www.utapia.nl/sound/eerste-probeersel8.mp3
http://www.utapia.nl/sound/eerste-probeersel9.mp3
http://www.utapia.nl/sound/eerste-probeersel10.mp3
http://www.utapia.nl/sound/eerste-probeersel11.mp3
http://www.utapia.nl/sound/eerste-probeersel12.mp3

 

Thanx a lot for taking the time to do that !!!!

Two little questions ;

Do you play with a pick ?
Just wonder about all the sounds with a big attack.....

And what do you think of the tracking ?
Any noticable latency ?

 

Thanks for recording and sharing.
But I could not download the 9th part, how many times I tried. Anybody else?

 

Maybe this instead of a GT-10B...????...

 

The pleasure was all mine

I always do fingerstyle. The attack can come from my fingers: Sometimes I hit the strings gently like using a whip. The unit responds beautifully to any dynamic. Unlike most midi devices.

The tracking is perfect. Didn't notice any latency at all while playing with the default settings! Even the B-string!
Pretty amazing isn't it?

The ninth part is corrected now.

 

Comparing the GT-10B to the VB-99 is like comparing a (sweet) sports car to a frickin F-18! Both good but when you add the ability to process each string separately it opens up a whole new dimension!

 

I think I like the pitch shifting presets most. Most of those synthesizerish sounds seem pretty useless to me though. With midi conversion and software synths there are much better sounds available IMHO. But I guess since they are all factory presets there are probably lots of possibilities for creating your own sounds and presets.
Is the mutron effect usable?
How is the midi conversion working? Is there more latency than with an axon interface?

 

I needed 80's synth bass sound for my live band, so I went with the whole Graphtech kit + a GI-20 to try softsynth but the latency from the pitch to midi conversion is un-Playable , that's why I'm interested in the newer v-bass....
If it's a bit tweakable , and I can have a Minimoog type of sound , without latency , I'll be very happy.....

My guess is that it's gonna be the same as a GI-20 ; bad.

PS; the Axons has the same latency as the GI-20 , I did a A/B test.....

 

Okay, I agree that the latency of midi bass is quite annoying. But there are ways to make it work anyways. If you don't need the same pitch to sound simultaneously midi and audio, you can pitch down the midi, so if you play it an octave higher, you can get that same low note with much less latency. If you do want to play the same note audio as midi it's a good idea to choose sounds that don't have a strong attack. Sounds that creep in slowly can be pretty awesome!

 

Yeah I know , doing pads and sweep is very nice , but since I'm a bass player , I need to groove with a drummer , so latency is a no-no , for me anyways......

Bass synth sounds mostly have strong attacks , minimoog , Prophet5 type....

 

For my own needs and having used pitch-to-midi conversion a lot in the past and programming synth patches especially for that, I prefer the lack of delay and the greater assured tracking of using the V-Bass internally-modelled sounds - and the additional interaction/nuances that they provide without having to program synth/sampler sounds with Continuous Controllers to have that control over nuance. One's hands on the bass can make so many subtle and varied changes in a basic sound that I don't want to throw this expressivity away...

But yes, even the best "synth pedal" won't sound like whatever analog or digital synth or sampler - just read some of the synth bass pedal threads to see what users with anolog synth experience have to say about the issue. But the COSM "synth" models are very powerful and varied. They may not be the best sounds if someone has something specific in mind that's originally coming from a real synthesizer, but they could be the best bass-guitar-driven synthy sounds around (if programmed to the user's desires). Note also my earlier link to an article about the classic Roland guitar synths - they seem to have that nailed in the new VG-99 and I would assume the VB-99 as well.

Anyway, it's all a subjective call; I know I've got a lot of synthy V-Bass patches that ace the factory sounds as far as my own preferences are concerned, and they all interact with my technique. But though the V-Bass opens up a universe of new sonics it isn't going to open up the SAME universe as __name_synth_or_sampler_model_here__. But then, there wouldn't be so many synth and sampler models in use if they all had the same sonic territory. My perspective is that what the original V-Bass does can't be found elsewhere in one package, so it's very good in the "horsepower per pound and inch" view. And the VB-99 manual indicates that more yet is possible with the new unit.

 

Also: without appreciable latency, the COSM synths blend much easier with the host bass's magnetics so one doesn't typically have to deal with comb-filtered/phase-related cancellations. Since LF content suffers the most obviously from this, I appreciate this when layering.

 

Thanx for that comment , I was looking forward to a point of view from someone who has expenrience in both v-bass and virtual synths.

It kind of confirm what I thought.
I had only limited time on a first gen. VG-8 to see that COSM can be very low latency and from the clips I hear from Wiro , the basic is there.
With tweaking , I'm sure a lot can be done ....

Thanx again

 

Has anybody who has one of these baby's tried out the D-beam yet?