Roland VS is not popular here, and we know why. Now I have a new reason. OK, it’s personal, but I’m happy to share it with you.
I only have a few of their plugs, with perpetual licenses. One of them is the JV-1080, because the original was with me for many years (itself and the XP-80 keyboard, same family sysex product).
Yesterday, while cleaning up old files, I found two midifiles specifically made for the JV-1080, playing J.M. Jarre Chronologie Pt. 2 and Pt. 4. I found them on a JV synths mail list in the mid-90s.
The first versions were made for JV-80 plus a Sound Canvas (like the SC-55) because of the 28 notes limited JV-80 polyphony. I had the JV-80 before the 1080, but not the GM generator, so I never heard those files. Then the 1080 came out and the guy who made the midifiles reprogrammed them for this synth.
So yesterday I thought… wow, I can play them on the VST. Wrong, how naive!
The VS JV-1080 does not work in multitimbral mode. Performance mode in Rolandian slang. Also, the files require one of the SR-JV expansion cards, the #01 Pop, to be installed. Roland has never implemented these exp cards in the VST instrument.
I was curious and managed to load & play them on my real JV-1080 (although it has a dead RAM backup battery, but the synth works after a full reset).
Note: GM mode not used. Sounds are temporarily generated by sysex strings at the beginning of the files and not stored on the user slot.
Respect to Jean Michele Jarre and the guy who created these sequences. I have no more information about him. Pity, he achieved a very good thing using such a small synth, compared to the French musician’s hyper studio.
. Need to find a way to integrate it into Cantabile after hearing your wonderful music!