# Roland Boutique Modules



## synthpunk (Sep 25, 2015)

Probably going to be about as exciting as the Reface, but ?

http://www.engadget.com/2015/09/21/rolands-boutique-synth-line-leaks-ratchets-up-the-nostalgia/


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## Marius Masalar (Sep 25, 2015)

I dunno...getting 4 voices of Jupiter 8 and the other classics in an affordable desktop module with hands-on control sounds pretty nice to me, especially since the keyboard is optional.

I mean I won't be getting them cause I've sworn off hardware, but these seem pretty compelling. I like the trend...small, accessible hardware synth boxes are good. Reface, Aira, Boutique, Volca...I say bring it on.


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## FriFlo (Sep 25, 2015)

I am not to thrilled by these TBH ...
1) It is not analog, but digital. So, there is a chance those could be decent emulations, but it cannot be something that your computer couldn't do.
2) They are tiny and by that I mean tiny, not small! Faders of that size cannot be controlled precizely, where it comes to exact settings ... there is not enough distance between knobs, etc
3) At that price range, they cannot have a high quality DA-conversion. Integrating those devices as propriatary soundcards doesn't make much sense in a professional studio environment. According to rumors, there is only a 44.1 kHz conversion.
4) Being in the digital/emulation domain, it would make much more sense to follow the Aira concept and improve on that, as it could be possible to have different synth emulations with a hands on control. I don't own it, but it looks way more apeeling to me, despite some faults on that concept, I won't go into here ... I'd rather buy one great (and more expensive) performance controller for a bunch of synthesizers, instead of having lots of small stuff like that for cheap.
5) They only have four voices, which is kind of half baked stuff again ... can't call it a Jupiter 8, if it has 4 voices, if you ask me.

All the little information (maybe partly speculation) and the pictures we have tells me already enough. I am pretty sure, I won't be interested. But I am willing to wait and see!


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## Kralc (Sep 25, 2015)

Marius Masalar said:


> I dunno...getting 4 voices of Jupiter 8 and the other classics in an affordable desktop module with hands-on control sounds pretty nice to me, especially since the keyboard is optional.
> 
> I mean I won't be getting them cause I've sworn off hardware, but these seem pretty compelling. I like the trend...small, accessible hardware synth boxes are good. Reface, Aira, Boutique, Volca...I say bring it on.


+1. I don't think I'll buy, I just like looking at them. I'm the same way with modular synths. And basses. And weird guitar pedals. And...


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Sep 25, 2015)

No portamento. Mini-keys for playing chords. JP08 sliders too small. 1/8" audio out. Pass.


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## chimuelo (Sep 25, 2015)

At the end of the day it will still sound like a desktop synth.


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## synthpunk (Oct 23, 2015)

nothing special at all from what I hear

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2015/10/23/roland-boutique-ju-6-and-jx-3-factory-patches/


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## EvanArnett (Nov 11, 2015)

Something else to be aware of:

If you are hoping to hook up an external controller or fader for better control of the synth paramaters, the boxes currently do not support that. So you are stuck with dialing in the sounds using those tiny sliders. 

I hope Roland makes these into plugins. Also interested to hear how they sound against the Diva, which has Juno and Jupiter modeled components, and has thus far become a sort of gold standard for analog emulation.


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