| In January 2004, Roland announced a new 20-track/24-bit workstation, the VS-2000CD, shown in Figure 1.11. This was the first VS workstation to support the new VS8F-3 Plug-in effects expansion board, and it included a number of features not found on any other VS workstation. Figure 1.11. Roland VS-2000CD Digital Studio Workstation  Highlights of the VS-2000CD One of the new features found on the VS-2000CD was a USB 2.0 port, allowing users to transfer data quickly and easily between the VS-2000CD and a computer. Another new feature was the Harmony Sequence function, allowing vocalists to add instant harmonies. The VS-2000CD also included a built-in chromatic tuner, and the Rhythm Track feature included onboard drum sounds to allow users to create their own drum tracks. Other features included: -
Eight simultaneous recording tracks, 18 simultaneous playback tracks -
Up to 4 onboard stereo effect processors, two pre-installed -
Eight analog ¼" balanced inputs and 8 XLR inputs with phantom power -
Internal 40GB hard drive -
Hard drive usability: four partitions, 10GB per partition -
Dynamic processing and 4- band EQ on every channel Software Upgrades In 2004, Roland released the V2.0 software upgrade for the VS-2000CD. This software upgrade, in conjunction with the optional VS20-VGA Output Board, allowed for full VGA editing and control. What the VS-2000CD Didn't Have While the VS-2000CD introduced a number of new features, there were a number of things Roland chose to omit on this particular VS workstation. The most notable missing item on the VS-200CD was Roland's R-DAC compression scheme. Given today's low cost of hard disk storage, R-DAC certainly isn't necessary anymore, but its exclusion from the VS-2000CD does limit its ability to import data from older VS workstations. The VS-2000CD also lacks the ability to record at sample rates other than 44.1kHz. Since audio must be at 44.1kHz in order to create an audio CD, this isn't necessarily bad, but it is the first VS workstation to limit the sample rate to 44.1kHz. Also missing are optical S/PDIF digital connectors and a SCSI port, which have been standard on every VS workstation since 1998. | |