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Author Topic: Roland M5000 - any user views? Scene recall especially  (Read 3900 times)

Chris Eddison

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Roland M5000 - any user views? Scene recall especially
« on: December 17, 2017, 09:21:47 AM »

You join me on a long and slow journey towards replacing my console...

I currently own an M480 and am very well invested in to the Roland REAC infrastructure. I love the flexibility of being able to put a stagebox wherever I need it and the freedom that its’ patchbay brings (especially with the S-4000M up on stage).
My shows are growing though and 60+ channels is becoming a bit more common. Up till now I’ve stuck my M300 alongside and managed. I’m getting to the point though where I’ve really outgrown the smaller Roland’s. Especially with regard to the lack of scribble strips.

I don’t have to fulfil riders  - my desk is used by me alone.

Obviously there’s a lot of competition out there including DLive C Class, Digico S range etc. All of these are open to me but sticking with Roland means my purchase is purely a desk and flightcase - my current stageboxes just carry on working. Any of the others would involve a new investment in stageboxes and also probably some analogue snakes because I’d end up back with a single rack and having to bring mic channels to it over copper.
Roland’s pricing has also tumbled recently with all the competition, making it a very affordable desk.
So, some questions for any users out there;
How’s it been? Any issues or things I should know about?

Has it kept up with the competition? There don’t look to be any updates out recently. Is that simply because it just works and does everything it needs already (one of the things about the Digico S range that seems to be an issue - not everything works yet!).

Scene recall - just how long does it take to recall a scene? I played with one on the first firmware and it was super slow, but it was also brand new, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I do theatre so my scene recalls are sometimes pretty quick. Am I going to get frustrated? I know the DLive system handles scenes really nicely so this is something I’m watching closely.

Anyone fancy selling me one second hand? Ok, maybe a cheeky ask. Especially as I’m in the UK. They don’t appear to have a huge resale market or price, which I guess is simply because they’re not Digico, A&H or Yamaha. If somebody does have one that they’ve been trying to shift for a while though then do shout!

If you’ve any other thoughts then please do share.
Ultimately I know I need a demo of whatever I buy. I’m just doing my homework first.
Cheers
Chris
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Geoff Doane

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Re: Roland M5000 - any user views? Scene recall especially
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2017, 10:48:27 PM »

Most of my experience is with Yamahas (LS9 and CL) but I used an M-5000 at my old day job (I'm recently retired).  It's a very capable system, although there are a few quirks, and one of them is the speed of the scene recalls.  With an LS9, recall seems to be virtually instantaneous.  With the M-5000, I found I needed to anticipate the change in order for things not to be clipped.  It's not much, maybe half a second, but it is significant.  I'm pretty sure I had the latest firmware installed when I last used it in the summer.

Other than that, I was quite comfortable with the console.  The different fader buckets can be set up to do different functions (inputs, outputs, DCAs) like you can on a CL5, even without getting into custom fader configurations.

I did have one problem with MADI between it and an SSL Live Recorder, that was never resolved to my satisfaction, but that may have been a problem with the SSL, since it worked as expected with other MADI devices.

I had no complaints about the sound quality and flexibility of the console.  I mostly used it for live sound jobs, usually monitors from FOH.  But it was also used for a couple live broadcasts, and tracking a TV production in studio, and performed fine for all those tasks.  Being able to configure a channel for stereo, even if you weren't planning on it initially, is also easy to do.

GTD
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Al Torrance

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Re: Roland M5000 - any user views? Scene recall especially
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2017, 07:19:13 AM »

I do find the scene recall a bit sluggish too. But I do love the  sound of this board’s pres. I have gotten around this by using an external sound cueing system via midi control with my laptop. And a big bonus is that the The M5000 console is one of fastest boards to boot up and is ready to go in less then 10 seconds. Just like all of their consoles.

Al T
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Al Torrance
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Kevin Maxwell

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Re: Roland M5000 - any user views? Scene recall especially
« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2017, 11:26:37 AM »

I do find the scene recall a bit sluggish too. But I do love the  sound of this board’s pres. I have gotten around this by using an external sound cueing system via midi control with my laptop. And a big bonus is that the The M5000 console is one of fastest boards to boot up and is ready to go in less then 10 seconds. Just like all of their consoles.

Al T

What "external sound cueing system" are you using?
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Chris Eddison

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Re: Roland M5000 - any user views? Scene recall especially
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2017, 05:29:28 AM »

Thank you for your replies folks.
The sluggish scene recalls you describe actually sound much quicker than the one I saw - was at least a couple of seconds. I was asking it to change the console layout and DCA assignment so maybe it was just a lot to do in one change.
I'm just a bit concerned that there's not been an update on the software in a year. Does that mean it's now perfect and has full functionality, or is the support and drive behind the product slowing down?
Still weighing up my options between M5000 and changing desk system completely to something like DLive, Digico S31 or Soundcraft VI. I've enjoyed the M480 and it's been a great console, but as my workload grows maybe it's time to shuffle back towards the mainstream a little. The DLive seems to have huge forward inertia at the minute and has some great theatre features.
Some tricky decisions coming up!
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Al Torrance

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Re: Roland M5000 - any user views? Scene recall especially
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2018, 08:36:24 AM »

What "external sound cueing system" are you using?
I use two programs. Palladium (www.chsounddesign.com) and Sound Cue Systems. I’ve been using this setup for nearly 10 years. Palladium drives the whole setup. It triggers mutes and adjusts channel volumes (amongst many other options too numerous to mention) on the console through midi commands and can send triggers for audio or video cues in Sound cue systems.

The nice thing about this setup is it can move to different midi controlled consoles relativity easily.

The only console (that I know of) that doesn’t have full midi implementation is Digico. Not sure why!

Cheers Al T
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Al Torrance
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Kevin Maxwell

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Re: Roland M5000 - any user views? Scene recall especially
« Reply #6 on: January 17, 2018, 11:37:11 AM »

I use two programs. Palladium (www.chsounddesign.com) and Sound Cue Systems. I’ve been using this setup for nearly 10 years. Palladium drives the whole setup. It triggers mutes and adjusts channel volumes (amongst many other options too numerous to mention) on the console through midi commands and can send triggers for audio or video cues in Sound cue systems.

The nice thing about this setup is it can move to different midi controlled consoles relativity easily.

The only console (that I know of) that doesn’t have full midi implementation is Digico. Not sure why!

Cheers Al T

I too use Palladium. Have you sent CH Sound Design your Mixer file for the Roland M5000? I see your name on the Roland VM7200 mixer file. I did some work on the Roland M400 mixer file and I did the initial Midi mixer file for the X32/M32 mixers. There has been OSC capabilities in Palladium since some time in version 4, so now a lot more things can be controlled on the X32/M32 mixers then before because of the limited Midi implementation on them.

The Avid mixers don’t have Midi capabilities that are even worth talking about. The A&H dLive Midi implementation is missing the channel EQs, but the QU series has it. It looks like the Digico has OSC fully enabled. I would love to get my hands on one of them and write an OSC mixer file for them.

Are you using the latest version? A new one (5.1c) was just released today. I really like the changes that have been made starting in version 5. It just keeps getting better and better.
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richard_cooper

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Re: Roland M5000 - any user views? Scene recall especially
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2018, 07:23:41 AM »

The only console (that I know of) that doesn’t have full midi implementation is Digico. Not sure why!

Also the Soundcraft SI series have next to no MIDI. Scene recall only on Expression and Performer, none at all on Impact. No OSC either.
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CWRolfs

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Re: Roland M5000 - any user views? Scene recall especially
« Reply #8 on: November 24, 2019, 11:39:32 PM »

Is there an M5000 version that speeds up scene loading?
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Mac Kerr

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« Reply #9 on: November 24, 2019, 11:55:30 PM »

Is there an M5000 version that speeds up scene loading?

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« Reply #9 on: November 24, 2019, 11:55:30 PM »


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