Roland Gaia Sound Designer Software

Email I just got from Roland (bummer dude!):

Roland Product Support (Roland Corporation)

2 Dec 2020, 17:15 GMT-8

Sorry, we have been told that there are no more of these available. Originally this software was available on a CD-ROM, and they are all gone. It appears the copy protection on these discs was very good, as we were not able to reproduce them or extract the files on our side, so do not have any other option available.

Roland Customer Support

That's pretty funny that they can't access their own software... You would think they would have a master copy somewhere.

When Roland replied with, "It appears the copy protection on these discs was very good, as we were not able to reproduce them or extract the files on our side...", I just thought about an episode of the TV show Cheers, where Sam Malone is going nuts because of the actions of the manager of the restaurant above his bar, and he's trying to destroy a welcome mat, even by trying to set it on fire, and when it won't burn, he says, "Hey, this is a pretty good mat!"

they could always reverse engineer whats already out there...

as for the copy protection, , well, that was pointless, but thats Roland for ya... When Novation give out full blown editors for their mininova/ultranova and support it 10yrs later, while roland keep tryin to move people , it makes u wonder how long Roland are willin to support their own products. Its one of the biggest problems here, seeing as the JV editors and whatnot are already startin to feel that same pinch of inadequate studio integration.
All they need to do is send me a copy of the disc, and i can arrange someone to extract the ISO and have afew people 'look' at it...

Theyre doing a Canon here, by deliberately crippling gear and software...
I mean think about this for a moment,, if the Jupiter XM and Phantom is runnin on Zencore, and can model all these other oldskool units using that same engine, theres no reason why the MC707 cant be configured with (or provided with) a project template with the sound engine modelled (with appropriate modulation slot allocations) along those same lines... effectively allowing one to copypasta a 'clip' frm that template into their own, effectively copying that modelled synth over to their project. As the clip has its sound engine configured for that model, we then choose a preset or make our own patch in that engine... no different to the Phantom or Zencore management of these models... and uses no additional system memory.. its literally a customised clip...

Could be done easily...

So... Like canon, Roland's biggest competitor, is Roland themselves...

So with the editor, I been chasing this for ages.. even a generic Roland editor tweaked on NNRP and SysEx which any roland user can use for any of their roland synths, and also work as a filter or module which allows one to use their PC as a proxy to control gear from other gear, by simply selecting it from a drop down list, which loads up sysex commands to certain parameters based on whch system you have.
It can be done... and itd be quite easy if they just pull the JV editor or Zencore GUI and upon launch, it just says, which synth do you have?
You then select your synth, it loads up the sysex and NNRP commands for that synth and its appropriate parameters, and disables anything unrelated for that device.
This could be an ageless editing solution for all Roland gear... as its all the same interface

If they did that, then half the problems people have with their Roland gear would be addressed...

Hello, I made an account just so I could share software this with you. I have the physical disc and everything, so I assume that's what you're searching for. (If you meant for collecting, I'm not willing to part with my physical copy.)

Download Links:
https://mega.nz/file/YdRCxRzT#NvvLunIY8_OtNLNV59o-mcX_GC0HSyTsw-gMUBjTYhk
https://files.catbox.moe/i1sdfk.zip
(for Serial Activation Key see the included read me)

This download will include:
-installation files for Sound Designer
-pdf user manuals in EN and JP
-Roland's included pre-made patches.
-Windows / MAC system drivers (for your computer to detect your SH-01 via USB)
-SH-01 system update 1.04 (required)
-Grauw's GAIA tool

I also included the USB drivers for the SH-01 to be detected within Windows and MAC. For now they are on the website here: https://www.roland.com/us/support/by_product/gaia_sh-01/updates_drivers/
(The only driver that won't download is Vista 64-bit)

Here is a helpful YouTube video going over some of the installation and basic functionalities:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B9z9yig6Zg
Just remember you need to install the system drivers for the software to detect your Gaia via USB.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additionally I have included the installation files for Grauw's GAIA tool. This doesn't have anything to do with the official Sound Designer software, I just wanted to include it since it is a nice lightweight tool to get more out of your Gaia.
See more here: http://www.grauw.nl/projects/gaia-tool/

In the zip there will be a readme covering things like Serial Activation Key and other additional information.
If you have questions or if the links stop working just respond here and I will try to check back when I'm able.

Take care.

complexbanzai wrote:

Hello, I made an account just so I could share software this with you. I have the physical disc and everything, so I assume that's what you're searching for. (If you meant for collecting, I'm not willing to part with my physical copy.)

Download Links:
https://mega.nz/file/YdRCxRzT#NvvLunIY8_OtNLNV59o-mcX_GC0HSyTsw-gMUBjTYhk
https://files.catbox.moe/i1sdfk.zip
(for Serial Activation Key see the included read me)

This download will include:
-installation files for Sound Designer
-pdf user manuals in EN and JP
-Roland's included pre-made patches.
-Windows / MAC system drivers (for your computer to detect your SH-01 via USB)
-SH-01 system update 1.04 (required)
-Grauw's GAIA tool

I also included the USB drivers for the SH-01 to be detected within Windows and MAC. For now they are on the website here: https://www.roland.com/us/support/by_product/gaia_sh-01/updates_drivers/
(The only driver that won't download is Vista 64-bit)

Here is a helpful YouTube video going over some of the installation and basic functionalities:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B9z9yig6Zg
Just remember you need to install the system drivers for the software to detect your Gaia via USB.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additionally I have included the installation files for Grauw's GAIA tool. This doesn't have anything to do with the official Sound Designer software, I just wanted to include it since it is a nice lightweight tool to get more out of your Gaia.
See more here: http://www.grauw.nl/projects/gaia-tool/

In the zip there will be a readme covering things like Serial Activation Key and other additional information.
If you have questions or if the links stop working just respond here and I will try to check back when I'm able.

Take care.

WoW,
Thank You very much complexbanzai!!!

Historic post.
It has been what? 7, 8 years' wait...
You seem to have just solved what Roland couldn't do for long, if we read from their above cited message they did tried.

Just saw GAIA is still been sold at Sweetwater and understand such also happens at other large online sellers worldwide. it would be just great that users get to access this tool and apart from their advances with it, some of them later feel like to come and share in this community.
Best Regards to You.

Thanks so much. However I seem to be missing or overlooking any actual program install file. In the INSTALL folder all I see is a Setup.msi file

Just doublr click the MSI file. That's how Microsoft does it.

Download Links:
https://mega.nz/file/YdRCxRzT#NvvLunIY8_OtNLNV59o-mcX_GC0HSyTsw-gMUBjTYhk
https://files.catbox.moe/i1sdfk.zip
(for Serial Activation Key see the included read me)

This download will include:
-installation files for Sound Designer
-pdf user manuals in EN and JP
-Roland's included pre-made patches.
-Windows / MAC system drivers (for your computer to detect your SH-01 via USB)
-SH-01 system update 1.04 (required)
-Grauw's GAIA tool



Sorry for the, maybe silly, question, but...how to open the msi file on a mac?

The .msi file is for Microsoft Windows.

Mac installers are .pkg (or, less likely in this case, .dmg).

It is possible that complexbanzai could not see this file because it was marked as a
hidden file when the CD was browsed under Windows. It would therefore not have been
copied into the zips.

Thanks pehr,
so i ask complexbanzai if he can try to share the mac installer please!

UPDATE: If anyone has a MAC please download this and tell me if these are the installation files or something else. I can't see how it is structure (as it will appear on a MAC) so you might have to search around inside the folders.
LINK: https://mega.nz/file/ZFJzRIzA#Sng1TQzzfl_xamd7Ozdp9jR6-7nlxDudWymzIuU7smc
Please post if it does or doesn't work, either way so that way everyone will know. Thank you

Hi complexbanzai,

Thank you for uploading that file. When I download it and unzip it on a Mac, I get a folder called:
GAIA SYNTHESIZER SOUND DESIGNER.mpkg (2)

By renaming this folder to:
GAIA SYNTHESIZER SOUND DESIGNER.mpkg

I then have a valid Mac installer (Master PacKaGe) file.

However, trying run the installer eventually gives a "no software to install" error. After some digging around, it seems this error is because
the installer is for an earlier version of OSX. SO far the earliest version have tried it on OSX 10.12 (Sierra).

Looking at a picture of the DVD box (found on Reverb.com), I find that the original software requirement was for OSX 10.5 (Leopard).
I am currently creating a virtual machine for OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard) as that is the closest OSX version for which I have an install DVD.

I will report back if this works when I'm done!

So...

The installer works fine in the Virtualbox VM running OSX 10.6, and I can get the Sound Designer
running OK.

However, although I can connect my Gaia to the virtual machine, and I see it in the System
Report USB device list, I cannot see the Gaia in the Sound Designer MIDI Setup, so I cannot
interact with the Gaia using the Sound Designer.

My next task will be to dig out some old hardware and try installing the Sound Designer on that.
I will also attempt to install the Windows version with Windows running in the VM to see if that
will work.

I'm not sure how much time I'll have over the next few days to do all this, but will report back when
I have made any progress!