Roland SonicCell

Strongly recommended to go to version is 1.20, operation is smooth even if a certain finger ability is requested, due to the evident lack of knobs and buttons, which are limited to essential. Editing is quite hard on the Sonic cell itself. For me it is no sense to go without the software editor.

It is a MIDI module and an audio card. Polyphony is 128, more than enough. Effects are studio quality, an effect can be used also for voice input. Can accepts 2 cards of SRX series. More than 1.000 sounds, with good audio card capability. Latency is small enough on my 3Ghz PC with Vista, you can reach 3ms.

Midi is OK, and good is also MIDI player functionality, makes it easy to play midi and MP3 background files. Quite a disappointment it only has stereo out, a supplementary out pair could have been the magic touch.

The sounds are wonderful. It shines much more as a sample player than an audio card. It is a Fantom based machine, with lot more than the price should deserve.

Pianos are brilliant and the best thing of Sonic cell, I think Roland Pianos are unbeatable.
ePianos I do not like.
Guitars surprisingly good.
Basses wonderful either electric or synth.
Brasses could be better.
Pads and Strings OK, not stellar, but without issues.
Drums outstanding, do not need any expansions.
Synth sounds are less interesting to me, but should be OK (after all it is a Fantom based machine).

Seems OK, still I have to heavily test it live.

Don't know, everything works fine for me.

Definitely a thing to be purchased. A big value, it responds well, very dynamic, with a lot of useful sounds to play.

If you are a little bit used to operate with keyboards you will have no problem to use the SonicCell. It is incredible what you can tweak in this box with just that small screen - nearly everything. But: there is also a nice Editorsoftware which commes with the SonicCell, and here you can edit everything quite comfortably. The manual is very in depth and sufficient with the exception of the Audio-Input. Here you have to read the soniccell workshop http://www.rolandus.com/uploads/CMS/Downloads/2222/SCWS02.pdf
where you learn how to connect things right ...

The capabilities of this box are numerous: you can use it as an expander for your keyboard with lots of voices and even more with SRX-expansion boards. You may use it as an audiointerface and as an USB-Midi- Interface too.
Some more details:
Sound Generator Section Parts
16 parts
Maximum Polyphony
128 voices
Wave Memory
128 M bytes (16-bit linear equivalent)
Expansion Slots
Expansion of waveforms and patchs for the internal sound generatorSRX expansion boards: 2 slots
Preset Memory
Patches: 896 + 256 (GM2)
Rhythm Sets: 32 + 9 (GM2)
Performances: 64
User Memory
Patches: 256
Rhythm Sets: 32
Performances: 64
External Memory
USB Memory
Effects
Multi-Effects: 3 systems, 78 types
Chorus: 3 types
Reverb: 5 types
Input Effect: 6 types
Mastering Effect: 3 bands Compressor
Audio Interface Section Number of Audio Input/Output Channels
Input: 1 pair of stereo (MIC, GUITAR: Monaural/LINE: Stereo)
Output: 1 pair of stereo
Signal Processing
PC interface: 24 bits
AD/DA Conversion: 24 bits
Sampling Frequency
AD/DA Conversion: 44.1/48/96 kHz
Nominal Input Level
Input jack (MIC/GUITAR/LINE (L) )
Mic: -50-- -30 dBu
Guitar: -30-- -10 dBu
Line: -30-- -10 dBu

Input jack (LINE (R) )
Line: -30-- -10 dBu
Nominal Output Level
Output jacks: -10 dBu
SMF/Audio File Player Sectioin File Format
Standard MIDI File: format-0/1
Audio File: WAV, AIFF, MP3
Others Display
128 x 64 dots organic EL graphic display
Connectors
Output jacks (L/MONO, R)
Headphone jack
Input jacks (MIC/GUITAR/LINE(L), LINE(R)) (MIC: 1/4 inch phone type or XLR type(phantom power) / GUITAR: 1/4 inch phones type(always Hi-Z) / Line (L): 1/4 inch phone type, LINE (R) (1/4 inch phone type))
MIDI Connectors (IN, OUT)
USB Connectors
: COMPUTER (supports USB MIDI and USB Audio; Hi-Speed USB port required)
: MEMORY (supports USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Flash Memory)
Power Supply
DC 9 V (AC Adaptor)
Current Draw
800 mA
Accessories
Startup Guide
Manual
CD-ROM (Sound Editor, Librarian, Playlist Editor, USB Driver)
CD-ROM (SONAR LE)
Wrench
AC Adaptor (PSB-1U)
Power Cord
USB Cable
Options
Wave Expansion Board: SRX Series
USB Memory: M-UF128
SonicCell stand and PDS-10 bracket: BKT-S
Pad Stand: PDS-10


SonicCell Editor System Requirements
Windows PC:
Operating System
: Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition/Professional
: Microsoft(R) Windows Vista(TM)
* This does not work with the 64-bit Edition of Windows(R).
CPU/Clock
: Pentium(R)/Celeron(R) processor 1.4 GHz or higher
RAM
: 512 MB or more
Hard Disk:
: 160 MB or more
Display/Colors:
: 1280 x 800 or higher/24 bit Full Color or more
Others:
: A USB connector that supports USB Specification Revision 2.0 or higher
* Intel chipset is recommended.
* SonicCell may not perform to its full specs when used with an added USB 2.0 interface card.
: CD-ROM Drive

Macintosh:
Operating System
: Mac OS 10.4.3 or later
CPU/Clock
: PowerPC G4 1 GHz or higher/Intel processor
RAM
: 512 MB or more
Hard Disk
: 160 MB or more
Display/Colors
: 1280 x 800 or higher/1670 million colors or more
Others
: On-board USB 2.0 port
: CD-ROM Drive

Notes:
* Although Roland has tested numerous configurations, and has determined that on average, a computer system similar to that described above will permit normal operation of the SonicCell Applications, Roland cannot guarantee that a given computer can be used satisfactorily with the SonicCell Applications based solely on the fact that it meets the above requirements. This is because there are too many other variables that may influence the processing environment, including differences in motherboard design and the particular combination of other devices involved.


Compatibility of the Plug-in Version
* The following host applications have been verified to work properly with the plug-in version SonicCell Editor.

VSTi version
- CAKEWALK SONAR LE (Windows)
- CAKEWALK SONAR 6.2

The sounds of this box are overwhelming and very flexible. You can use them right out of the box or tweak them as much as you want. There is a special manual for this, the fantom tweakbook, which describes how to use the SonicCell like an analog-synth:
http://www.sinevibes.com/fantom-tweakbook/
I also bought the SRX-Expansion 08 "platinum trax" with lots of synth-voices and some more usersounds from "sinevibes" with even more synthvoices. I am using it esp. for Electronica.
So if you use this box as a synth-expander it is top.
I am using it as an expander for my PSR-S700 keyboard and it gives me more synth-voices as any tyros3. For its price it gives you a lot of impressing sounds (which are mostly the same as in the Juno-G synth). With the SRX-Expansion boards you can build your own voice preferences up, f.i. if you play a lot epianos or organs. The epianos in the box are fine, the organs not, but you can expand them with SRX-board "Ultimate keys" and then you really have VK-8 quality sounds in your box.

This box is ideal for the gigging musician or the studio-musician with a small studio. It is very easy to transport and you can program and save all your performances in it.

There is nice support from the Roland Clans website from a nice guy named Artemiy. He can give you advice to everything you want to know:
http://forums.rolandclan.info/index.php?p=show&action=show_all&fid=28

In addition to my PSR-S700 and my Tenori-On stepsequenzer this box gives me the expressiveness of a real synth. I am playing electronic music with it and it gives you a lot of analog sounding voices.
For me its an ideal expansion for my setup and there is nothing compareable on the market with all those features mentioned above.
It gives me a lot of inspiration with all those sounds, esp. the Synthsounds.

Using v 1.1 of the OS and v1 of the editor. I have to say it's fairly easy to install and get up and running in Live 7, except there are some really stupid things about the editor and the front panel. The front panel is very button/wheel menu guided so there's no fun or ease of use there, but it's fairly clear on how to get to most things. I'm also used to Roland's mindset so to others it may be a bit hard to get. The SonicCell VSTi editor is a bit better, but frankly even that is confusing at times and it took me a bit to realize that to actually get sound into the DAW you had to have a second audio track running to bring in the audio. Why doesn't it route to the same track the VSTi is in? No idea.

The other issue I have with basic use is they did not put a simple next/back button anywhere in the software so you could scroll through patches. I'm pretty sure every single VSTi I own has this, even stuff by Cakewalk/Roland. Most Roland hardware even has it on some degree. So you can scroll with the wheel on the device, but the VSTi doesn't update itself. Dumb dumb dumb!

Editing sounds is fairly straight forward, but really the strength of Roland boxes are they come with tons of great usable patches and mostly you'll already find what you're looking for. Mostly I find myself tweaking effects a bit and that's it. Note, another point lost for not having all patches with a rhythmic component automatically sync to the host clock.

Another point lost for the fact that when you launch a project that has SonicCell in it as a VST it won't make a sound until you "wake it up" by launching the interface. Then it goes into a long handshake with your computer and a bit of small talk before it decides it's time to be a synth.

I'm giving it a 1 because of something I find to be almost criminal. What's the point of SonicCell? Their marketing dept. would like you to believe it's going to be your low latency audio interface as well as all the synth sounds you'll ever need. WRONG. First of all, the latency blows. I've got a fairly fast laptop and every time I tried to go lower than a 288 buffer size the thing clicked and spat. I'm a guitar player who uses Amplitube as my amp modeler and if i don't get down to at least 256 I can feel it. My M-Audio Firewire Solo does better and sounds better too. Roland should be ashamed of itself for this.

But that's not the only reason the audio interface aspect of this box is useless. Oh no. It's worse. Much worse. THE SYNTH DOES NOT HAVE IT'S OWN OUTPUT CHANNELS. What does this mean? Say you've got some synth tracks running on SonicCell triggered by your DAW's sequencer. Now you want to put voice or guitar on another track while you monitor your synth tracks. Drumroll please... YOU GET THE SYNTH TRACKS MIXED IN YOUR INPUT TRACKS! WTF Roland? Did anyone there wake up to that? I'm dumbfounded. How is it even possible that this thing left the drawing board with this issue? Sure, maybe if it were a budget box but Roland wants quite a bit for it. So for features I'm giving it a 1, but I'll up it to 3 because it's got tons of polyphony and built in effects. I'll give it another point for having a VSTi editor.

Well, here's why I may keep it. It does sound good. At one point I was demoing sounds on headphones (as to not drive my wife crazy) and I had to take my headphones off to make sure I didn't have audio going to my main monitors. They do some psychoacoustic processing that gives a lot of the sounds a great "3D" kind of sound.

One thing I'll say too is that one of it's strengths is it's great effects. You lose these to some degree when you use it as a multitimbral synth. If you run it in "Patch Mode" and use one sound at a time it sounds a lot better.

That said, you have to like the "Roland" sound and not everyone does. I've demoed similar ROMplers from Korg and Yamaha and I don't like them at all. I guess I'm a Roland fan. Realistic? In a mix you could fool a lot of people. For instance, if you want a good piano in a R&B mix, the SonicCell is fine. If you want to feature piano in a classical piece keep looking and stop when you find a really nice sample based piano. For me I like it for the the fact that they make patches that will at first sound almost silly but then become the stuff of great hip-hop mixes. All the sounds have a kind of gloss or sheen on them. Kind of hard to describe but it's all subjective. Go listen to the demos and you'll get the idea. Mostly what I like about it is the odd stuff in the presets that's great for ambient and experimental stuff. I've also added to SRX boards, the World and the Supreme Dance (Spectrasonics) cards. Can't go wrong with either of these cards and you could spend your life having no other sounds and probably be happy.

Probably. I've never had a piece of Roland gear go down ever.

Honestly, if it were lost or stolen, I don't think I'd get another one. I'm still up in the air about keeping this one! I may sell it and buy a few true software synths instead. I'll say one thing, if I'd paid full price the thing would have been returned in a heartbeat. To make it work with my system I have to use it as a USB/MIDI controlled synth. That's it. The audio interface is worthless to me. Luckily I have a MOTU 828 that works great giving me the extra inputs and better sound quality and lower latency I need, but I have to take the analog audio out of the SonicCell. Crazy eh?

So, I'm still going to give it a six but here's the deal. If you want a hardware synth with tons of good sounds that you can use like a VSTi and you're willing to take it's audio output and put it in a multi-input audio interface this could be your box. I'll give it an 8. I'll probably use it most when I have a mix that needs another instrument but I've got my CPU pegged. Running my ELS Vocoder'll will do this as can Amplitube 2.

If you are really looking for someting you can use as an audio card then I'd downgrade my answer to a 2. Can't monitor your synth sounds on different channels than the input gets passed to? Really Roland?

The preset sounds aren??t up to date. My ROLAND E 86 sounds better in some E-Pianos, saxes and specially guitars. The Piano 88 sample ist sampled to short, this is no grand piano, this is anything else but not to use as a piano grand solo. The sound from the old ROLAND RA 90 is classes better. The strings have no life-feeling, they seem to be very static, not organic. The brasses are also not realistic. The guitars aren??t warm. The synthesizer sounds are static, not flowing, there is no new sound. In Notes: Grand pianos: 4, saxes: 6, brass: 6, guitars: 6, flutes: 5-6, organs hammond: 5, organs church: 5-6, Synthesizer Sounds: 3-4.
Editing is via USB and Computer and SonicCell istself fully possible. But editing via SonicCell ist a little bit difficult cause leck of knobs.
The manual is good written.

128 polyphony, the keyboard action is via a graded hammer keyboard poor in the presets, also via Yamaha DX 7 II. There are 3 totally programmable mfx-effects, a Chorus and a Reverb and a masteringtool, but difficult to understand the structures!
2 SRX boards can be built in.
Wav-filex, standard midifiles and MP3 can be played via a USB-Stick. But you can??t record on it, only via USB to Computer. There is a stereo in to record the signal via USB to Computer, the effects are then available too.
The Sound-engine is from FANTOM, but the sounds are not so expressive. They seem to be cutten and not good mastered.

The aren??t any instruments very realistic. I don??t understand other opinions. There aren??t any good velocity switches such as by the old E 86. The SonicCell is only suitable for an Computer enviroment for amateur beginners. The onboard effects are good but not excellent. There is a hearable noise on the headphone output at higher levels.
The sounds are very static with bad reaction to velociy and aftertouch.

don??t know, gave the SonicCell back.

I have tested the SonicCell 12 hours, I am playing since 27 years synthesizers and keyboards. The idea of the SonicCell is good, a full programmable Synthesizer with FANTOM-Engine, 128 note polyphony, onboard multieffects, EQ, Masteringtools, a MIDI-FILE-Player and WAVE-Player via USB-Stick and a AUDIO to USB-Interface.

But why you can??t directly record to USB-Stick? My Laptop and my Computer couldn??t recognize the SonicCell for recording. Although editing was possible.
The Preset-Sounds are poor and for editing you need a Laptop, but the few knobs on board are intelligent setted. You can built in 2 SRX-boards, but they have their price.
For all the functions, there aren??t enough sliders and knobs.