VS8F-3 Plug-in Expansion Board
Roland opens the V-Studio Platform to third-party plug-in developers!

By Tom Stephenson

Since the original VS-880, Roland’s award-winning V-Studios have time and again broken new ground for users of dedicated recording workstations. This year, Roland has “upped the ante” again by announcing yet another major breakthrough - �the new VS8F-3 Plug-in effect expansion board with third party plug-in support. You heard right! Third party plug-ins will now be available for Roland V-Studios going back to the VS-1680!

Just like the popular VS8F-2 effects card, the new VS8F-3 is user-installable into any or all available expansion slots in supported V-Studios. You can run a VS8F-2 in one slot and a VS8F-3 in another, or use VS8F-3s in every slot. When used with a VS-2480, for example, you could have up to four cards installed with up to eight stereo or 16 mono third party effects running at once! These powerful new processors will work in the new VS-2000, VS-2400, VS-2480 and even in the VS-1680, VS-1880 and VS-1824CD.

Inside the VS8F-3
The VS8F-3 is based on a powerful, 56-bit and up to 96kHz DSP engine. Development for this processor has been opened up to the public, and many of the top plug-in manufacturers have already begun porting their best-selling plug-ins for the VS community. Every great chef knows that having a wide range of spices at your fingertips helps you create great masterpieces. And that’s what the VS8F-3 will provide to VS users: a wide range of processing tools for their music.

Every VS8F-3 comes with five Roland plug-ins out of the box. The new algorithms include some of the most requested effects from the VS user base - �like a brand new 56-bit stereo reverb that’s perfect for drums and vocals. The new Tempo Mapping Effect lets you sync a delay to the tempo of your song - great for dance and rhythm-centric music. The preamp modeling effect gives you more options for warming up vocals and acoustic instruments. You can choose from some of the most popular mic pre’s on the market, or create your own. It also includes a 56-bit compressor/expander, a 4-band EQ, and a de-esser for use with vocals. There’s also an enhanced Mastering Tool Kit with multi-band dynamics, plus a new Vocal Channel Stripâ€â€�complete with a compressor/expander, enhancer/de-esser, EQ, pitch-shifter, chorus and delay.

The VS8F-3 operates just like the VS8F-2, allowing you to run the effects in an insert or loop configuration. The preset patches can be used “as is” or edited and stored with your song. Most insert effects can be used as stereo or dual mono inserts with different settings on each channel. This also applies to the third party effects, so the user interface will be a piece of cake for any V-Studio owner. Third party plug-ins are sold separately, and come on a special CD used for loading them into your V-Studio. So make a note - �you do have to have at least one VS8F-3 card to load and operate these plug-ins, and of course you’ll need a CD drive for installing them.

What optional plug-ins are available?
Glad you asked! Most of the world’s leading plug-in developers are already creating some powerful processing options for every step of the V-Studio recording and mastering process. How about some help recording that bass track, a kick drum or vocals? Universal Audio is offering both their legendary LA2A and 1176LN vintage dynamics processors (code named the VS-LA2A and VS-1176LN). The VS-LA2A brings warm compression and limiting effects designed by the same manufacturer that created the original classic hardware version. The VS-1176LN offers ultra-fast attack time and analog “warmth” perfect for a variety of dynamics processing applications. And like the original, the VS-1176LN supports the secret “All Buttons” mode.
Having a trouble with your lead singer? Or maybe you’re not such a great singer, but want to produce professional-sounding demos of your tunes. Just insert Antares’ world-famous Auto-Tune plug in! Auto-Tune VS corrects intonation problems in vocals or solo instruments in real time, without distortion or artifacts, while preserving all of the expressive nuances of the original performance. You can program in custom scales or even input target notes via MIDI. It will also do phase-coherent pitch correction of stereo tracks.

Every mixing professional has their “secret weapon” for making tracks sparkle and sound great. I’d wager that one of those is Massenburg DesignWorks’ High Resolution Parametric EQ, now available for the VS8F-3. This high-end EQ is known for giving professionals a precision EQ with the smoothness of analog. Try it on just about any kind of track you have recorded, or use it to touch up some of your older mixes before you got the VS8F-3.

And there’s more - much more!
Cakewalk is now offering two great-sounding reverbs for the VS8F-3 - �SoundStage and Sonitus:fx. (Remember, great chefs need lots of spices to choose from!) SoundStage allows you to design the perfect acoustic environments for your audio, resulting in unique, realistic reverb. This ultra-cool plug-in allows you to control a room’s wall positions and heights, then place microphones and performers anywhere in the room.
Mastering your music is one of the most important parts of creating a CD, and IK Multimedia is now offering their professional mastering algorithm, T-RackS, for V-Studio owners. This software suite offers physically modeled analog sounds from rare vintage mastering equipment including dynamics processors and EQs. It’s also very easy to use, making T-RackS arguably the most popular mastering software in use.
And this is just the beginning of the exciting possibilities offered by the VS8F-3. So if you’re a V-Studio owner, run - �don’t walk - �to your nearest Roland dealer, get a couple of VS8F-3 cards, and load ‘em up with some incredible-sounding third party plug-ins. Now you can take advantage of the stability and portability of the V-Studio platform, and also have some of the greatest sounding plug-in processors available today!

Buy a VS8F-3 today!