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The Time Trip pad is similar to the scrub wheel idea.

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The original V-Synth landed back in 2003 and was heralded as Roland’s most advanced synthesizer yet. That was certainly true, as its arsenal included analogue modelling, PCM waveforms, COSM effects and of course vari-phrase sampling. All in all, a fine selection of sound-shaping tools. Since then we’ve seen the XT rack version, and a pair of expansion cards to bolster the firepower, the D50 emulation and the Vocal Designer.

They say the more we get, the more we want, and this is certainly the case with the V-Synth. Roland are happy to oblige with the arrival of the GT. Like much of the current computer CPU technology, Roland have increased the power by going the ‘dual core’ route, namely putting two synth engines under the hood.

In a simple world, it’s a lot like having two regular V-Synths in one keyboard. But there are some important differences that seasoned users will pick up on, such as the redesigned operating system, built-in Vocal Designer and the brand-new Articulative Phrase Synthesis section. This feature allows users to program patches using parameters based on the expressive qualities of acoustic instruments including violin and sax.

Hardware heaven

The hardware design has been revised to accommodate the extra buttons and controllers needed for the dual synth engines. It retains the high standards set by its predecessors with a solid build and classy finish worthy of a top-flight instrument. It has a full compliment of knobs, dials and sliders, as well as Roland’s exclusive D-Beam controller and Time Trip touch pad for exploring sounds. The V-Synth has always been as much of a performer’s instrument as it has a sound designer’s tool.

The colour touchscreen sits it the central position and a row of eight editing dials are positioned below it. These dials are mapped to the main parameters such as the filter’s cut-off and so on, but they don’t have the kind of lightning-fast response on the sound that we’d expect. It can take the audio as much as a quarter of a second to catch up with the movement, with audible stepping.

This means that they’re not very good for performing with, and since they don’t kick out any MIDI information (neither do the envelope sliders) they’re not much use for sequencing either. There are a couple of assignable knobs that do behave well, and these (along with the D-Beam and TT pad) are highly configurable for controlling the synth, and can also be assigned to send any MIDI CC numbers from the global system menu.

Roll your own

The two ‘cores’ are referred to as the upper and lower tone on the keyboard and can be split into zones or layered in a mix and match way. The combination of both is called a patch.

The review model came loaded with just over 300 patches covering the complete spectrum from basic bread and butter analogue sounds, to complex futuristic soundscapes and back to acoustic emulations at the other end.