Roland and Bandcamp are teaming up this time. They’re planning various collaborations, but today the lead is, you can get three free months of their Ultimate Software Suite – 808, 909, 303, RE-201, and a lot more. Here’s how it works and how to grab it.
Roland promises various collaborations here: Listening Parties with Roland artists, a Roland x Bandcamp Q&A session, and discounts on both software and merch. The Roland Ultimate Suite here is the full Ultimate tier of Roland Cloud, so you over 50 virtual instruments. JD-800, JUNO-106, all the drum machines (even TR-727 and CR-78), Zenology, now the RE-201 Space Echo, D-50, Zenbeats app, etc.
It’s a pretty complete backcatalog of all things Roland. And some of the models are exceptionally good. I dig into a lot of these regularly, including the JX-3P, JUPITER-4, SH-2, SYSTEM-100 — even lesser-known stuff like the XV-5080 or SRX banks. The recently added Space Echo works exceptionally well, and has proven a good balance even with a couple of other RE-201 models lying around.
Here’s how the whole thing works:
- Claim the deal, and it’ll send you instructions.
- It’s okay if you have a Roland Account already; you’ll log in with that. (If you don’t have one, you’ll create one.)
- You’ll need to download Roland Cloud Manager, which is also how you install the software you want (you can pick and choose).
- And then get running with the plug-ins. (Roland also has their own super-instrument/host, which now also runs as a plug-in, Galaxias, even though that sounds like some kind of 50s pulp space villain.)
https://www.roland.com/bandcampfriday
Now, the fine print does say this is for new customers, but an existing Roland account is fine. It also looks like if you don’t have an active plan (or cancel a plan), you can use the three free months. So this isn’t quite like those app delivery deals in that you can go ahead and enjoy even if you already installed the app for some reason.
As I’ve written before, Roland also includes some great patch content, including from some major techno names, so it’s worth investigating.
Once you’re ready to get started, I’ve written a few tutorials for Roland on the software – which include some places you might not think to look. There are even some downloadable presets in a couple of these. I’ve kept using this stuff since I wrote them, too – including some tricks with ZENOLOGY FX.
Secrets of Squelch with the Roland Cloud SH-2
Mastering the Roland Cloud ZENOLOGY FX Plug-in
Modulation Secrets with the Legendary SYSTEM-100
This is Acid: Exploring DJ Pierre’s Phuture Collection
And you might want to review a few of the stories I wrote on Roland history, too.
Alongside the Bandcamp announcement, Roland has published some tips on making Bandcamp work well for you:
How to Get the Most Out of Bandcamp
I wrote a guide to Bandcamp, too, all of which I think holds up – though I will be regrouping to cover what’s been happening on the platform lately and what’s coming. That’s on Riemann Kollektion:
Bandcamp can save us all over again [Guide]
More on Bandcamp coming soon. I recently had a chat with Songtradr’s CEO. One big spoiler – they’re philosophically strongly against generative AI, in case anyone was concerned. (That checks out, as Songtradr’s licensing business would be threatened by genAI, too – and anyway, anyone who’s a musician may not really much like the idea of big AI companies replacing human creativity by just training on our work.) There’s more to say about the company’s future post-buyout, though, so stay tuned.