We might forgive SC VA's interface for looking a bit dated, given the background of the product, but it also has some serious navigational issues. Obviously, the global EQ isn't hugely useful, unless Sound Canvas VA is only generating a single timbre. The separate chorus, reverb and delay effects, however, are on auxiliary busses, with a send control for each part. It's just a shame you only get one insert effect per instance, switched on or off for each of the 16 parts. Happily, some of them are surprisingly good, especially the choruses. The list of 64 insert effects includes a selection of EQs, distortions, modulation effects, reverbs, pitchshifters, lo-fi effects and processors that are really just chains of some of the other effects in the list. To mix the parts separately, you have to use multiple instances - and with Roland warning that each instance can take around 15 seconds to load, you can expect your project load times to be extended by an additional minute for every four Sound Canvas VAs used. In other words, you can use multiple MIDI tracks assigned to the 16 parts, but the sounds they make can only come out of a shared output in your DAW's mixer.

'The layout of the pages is poorly conceived, requiring more clicks to access certain features than should be necessary.'

For example, the plugin is 16-part multitimbral and uses up to 64 notes of polyphony, but it doesn't support multiple outputs in the host DAW. However, we're perplexed by some of the needlessly restrictive design choices, several of which clearly come from the original hardware. In an attempt to bring the Sound Canvas platform into the modern world, many of Sound Canvas VA's parameters are available for host automation. As well as the SC-55 sound map, Sound Canvas VA includes maps for the CM-64, SC-88, SC-8820 and top-of-the-line SC-88 Pro, for flawless playback of MIDI files made for those modules. It boasts all the classic Sound Canvas timbres for just about any acoustic instrument you're likely to want, plus 64 insert effects, and global reverb, chorus and EQ - all with pretty basic editing functionality by today's standards. Sound Canvas for iOS was released in early 2015 and now a similar offering is available to Mac and PC users in the form of Sound Canvas VA (VST/AU).

Load roland sound canvas in mainstage