RolandED U8 Users
JMEJAM
others who already use this piece of equipment. A friend of mine has one
and
he swears by it. I came across one for under $300.00 USD; I needed to
update my soundcard anyway and this came up right on time. I'd like input
from any users there might be in this forum, both good and bad.
Compaq PIII/933mhz, 256MB Ram, Cubase 5/VST, Korg N5EX
Peace,
James
Mel M. El
Here's my story:
Short version:
I can't really get the U-8 to work with XP, possibly due to the
convoluted path by which I acquired my software. I have sent emails to
tech support at Roland and Cakewalk, and gotten zero useful responses.
The potential LOOKS tremendous, but so far, to no avail to me.
Long version:
In December I bought a package, from an on-line vendor, consisting of
a U-8 and Cakewalk Home Studio 9 (HS9). The ONLY CD that came with the
package was evidently a specially prepared package consisting of HS9
and what I believe is the RolandED software -- the controller, effects
manager and tuner applications that you see advertised at numerous Web
sites.
Unbeknownst to me (my fault; I didn't check close enough), the package
of HS9 and RolandED software only ran under Win98. I had just bought a
screaming new computer to use this stuff on, which runs XP.
So I asked Cakewalk tech support if Home Studio 2002 (HS2002), which
does run under XP, also supports the U-8. The answer was "yes" so I
paid more money to get an upgrade from HS9 to HS2002.
The HS2002 CD that came with the upgrade has zero Roland-specific
software on it. I could install HS2002 just fine, and run it under XP
just fine. But HS2002 doesn't "see" the U-8, doesn't recognize it as
an audio input or audio output option, and doesn't manifest any of the
U-8 specific software features that are talked about in the on-line
HS2002 help/documentation.
(I did finally find the U-8 drivers for XP, at the Roland Japan
Web-site. I installed those drivers, and now XP recognizes the U-8, as
far as that goes. So I can for example use the Sound Recorder to
record audio from the U-8, or use the Media Player to send audio to
the U-8 (and then on to a connected amp/speaker setup), and that all
works like you'd expect.
But still HS2002 doesn't recognize the U-8. I've tried every path I
could think of in terms of re-installing the U-8 drivers and HS2002,
but to no avail.
I'm pretty convinced that what is missing is the RolandED software.
Without that, you can't really control the U-8, can't make use of all
its DSP capabilities, etc. (And you don't get their cool-looking tuner
application.)
I don't know if there is a version of RolandED that runs under XP.
If so, I don't know whether it would include the U-8 drivers (which I
managed to find elsewhere, anyway). And most importantly, I don't know
if that is the missing "conduit" that would allow HS2002 to recognize
the U-8. In any case, there is very little that I can do with the U-8
at this point.
That's my sad story. I doubt I've answered your question. If anyone
out there has any information about this, I'd sure love to hear it.
Has anyone successfully interfaced a U-8 with HS2002 under XP? If so,
where did you get the distribution CD(s), and did the RolandED
applications come with them?
... Rob Allen (kyb...@earthlink.net)
marek...@gmail.com
Marek