Roland opens its ZenCore engine with the Zenology Pro Synthesizer for all plugin only users, with access to all legendary hardware emulations
The Zen-Core is Roland’s new sound engine, which you can find not only in the current hardware instruments (Jupiter X/Xm, MC-707/101…) but also in plugins. Instead of offering individual vintage-inspired plugins, the ZEN-Core has many elements of the well-known Roland synth history built-in. This includes oscillators, filter types, effects…
So far, plug-in users have only been able to enjoy the Zenology plug-in, a slimmed-down version compared to the engine available in the hardware. This has now been equated with the new Zenology Pro plugin. With this, Roland now opens its ZenCore technology for all plugin-only users but is also an editor for hardware devices.
In practical: if you have designed or tweaked your sound in Zenlology Pro, you can use that sound in your DAW, and ZEN-Core equipped hardware instruments (Fantom, Jupiter-X & Jupiter-Xm, MC-101 & MC-707 Groovebox, AX-Edge, and RD-88).
Details
Zenology Pro core is based on four oscillators or partials, each with 9 virtual analog waveforms plus supersaw and noise to choose from. Plus it comes with 1840 PCM waveforms (expandable to over 7000), 10 filter types (Jupiter…), and 11 LFO shapes, including tempo-synced Step LFOs with 37 curves per step. On top, it comes with a huge selection of ready-to-use drum sounds, including famous Roland rhythm machines, and over 90 classic and new effects to inspire your next track or production You can expand your library to over 7000 ZEN-Core sounds with the Model Expansions, Wave Expansions, and ZEN-Core sound packs, all available in Roland Cloud.
But if sound design is more your workflow, then ZENOLOGY Pro gives you the deepest access to the ZEN-Core Synthesis System for producers who want to heavily modify existing sounds or design custom sounds from scratch.
I really like the concept of Zenology Pro. Mainly because you can take a part of a Roland emulation and combine it with another one. A PCM oscillator with a Jupiter filter is not a problem. But what scares me off a bit of the Roland Cloud and Zenology Pro is the subscription model, which I’m not a fan of. I don’t like to loan plugins and sounds.
Roland Zenology Pro is available now as a download as part of the Roland Cloud Pro ($9.99 per month) & Ultimate ($19.99 per month) membership.
More information here: Roland
A good way for non hardware users to get the 7000 Zencore sounds and synth engine. Not a huge fan of subscription software personally, but I think Zenology Pro will be a top notch VST for those who are using mainly software. Even via subscription, it’s a lot cheaper than a Jupiter XM
Agreed. This is pretty deep. I have this and didn’t take to it until they released the model expansions.
I like it a lot more now that I can deep dive. One issue is that the ui seems to be stuck at 125% as other users have mentioned which makes it hard to read and dial in patches. Before the update it would go up to 150%. Now 150, 175 & 200% are greyed out.
I’m on a large monitor and this really hampers work flow. Also the preset browser needs to be within the same window not a separate one. Sort these two things out and you’ll have a real winner Roland.
You do know that if you really don’t like subscription you can buy this outright for USD $229 so long as you maintain a free Roland account