Gaia Sound Designer Software

Is it not available? I thought we were talking about the editor right after the Gaia came out.

Just checked sweetwater and they have it for $89 w/free shipping.

I think you're reading too much into whatever the case may be. The sound designer is completely seperate from Gaia sound engine, just another interface, so it's not so surprising if there was a delay. They aren't integral to each other.

You're not into the "visual approach to sound design" thing too, are you?

@_@

Sweetwater sells it, but there's a note saying orders will ship only after Roland sends it to them but there's no guesstimate of arrival.

I know the unit is standalone, but I am basically a guitarist at heart, so for anything that has knobs and keys, I need all the help I can get.

You're right. I didn't notice the fineprint and can't find any more information off hand either.

It shouldn't be reinventing the wheel for them, other boards have editors, but there could be a list of possibilities. Software is generally a PITA, no matter how you approach it.

If you are really interested in the Gaia, I wouldn't let that hold you up tho. This is valuable time you could be learning the ropes. IMO, the editor might actually be more confusing than actually using the board hands-on. A positive note would be that you can see all three tones parameters on one screen. Other than that, the oscilliscope?

Hey, I come from the guitar as well. Don't let the knobs and faders intimidate you. The Gaia is really a nice tool to have for someone new and interested in synths. If you need help, stop back here and ask. Quite a few people know what they are talking about and willing to share.

From what I heard from different people who contacted Roland, Roland’s editor should be released sometime this month, but who knows.

If you don’t mind a somewhat more basic UI you could try my free GAIA tool, I plan to release a new version relatively soon that should sync all controls properly (the current version doesn’t yet so you need to manually reload). Hopefully in the future I will have some time to give it a little more visually appealing control readouts, right now it’s mostly just text.

Personally though I think actually the GAIA’s control panel is quite intuitive and easy to work with because everything is right under your fingers. That’s also why I didn’t really spend much time on improving that part of the tool visually; in the odd case you need an exact value, it allows you to see it, but normally you shouldn’t be needing it very often. At least, that’s what I think.

Thank you everyone for your replies.

FYI, one reason I got to thinking about a new version of the Gaia, is because at the Roland site for the Sound Designer software, at the bottom of the page, in a note, it says:

* Before using this product, you may need to update your GAIA SH-01 to the latest version. In order to perform the update, you will need a separately available USB memory device.

So, there are at least updates, somewhere, or coming...

Ah nice quote you found there, I was already hoping that the release of the sound designer would be followed by a firmware update… Maybe that was the cause of the delays? Anyway I hope that there will indeed be a firmware update, there’s a thing or two, or five, that they could fix :).

FYI everyone --

At the Roland US website they list a firmware update for the Gaia going to 1.03. It doesn't look like it does a great deal, but add support for Sound Designer and a GM parameter.

The page is: Roland US Gaia update page

Has anyone updated? Any big differences?