A ZENOLOGY alternative for synth sounds you build yourself

What ZENOLOGY costs

ZENOLOGY is Roland’s plugin for its ZEN-Core synth engine on Mac and Windows. ZENOLOGY Lite is free with a Roland Account. The standard ZENOLOGY comes with a Roland Cloud Core membership, and ZENOLOGY Pro with the Pro and Ultimate memberships.

ZENOLOGY GX, the newer version, is free on iPad through a limited launch period. Roland says that after it GX will need a Roland Cloud membership or a Lifetime Key. On Mac and Windows GX comes with the Ultimate membership.

What ZENOLOGY gives you

Roland lists more than 4,000 tones and 200 drum kits in ZENOLOGY. Its Model Expansions turn it into Roland’s own versions of the JUPITER-8, JUNO-106, SH-101, JX-8P and JD-800. If Roland’s sounds are what you’re after, ZENOLOGY Lite is the free way in.

What Studio 56 does instead

Studio 56 has none of Roland’s tones and does not open ZENOLOGY sounds. You describe the sound you want in Studio 56 in your browser and the AI builds it there. You might ask for “a 70s string machine with a little chorus” or “a wide pad that slowly opens up over each chord.” You can also build one by hand. Either way you can play it in your browser the moment it’s made and change any part of it.

When it sounds right, send it to your DAW. Every sound you make plays inside the Studio 56 plugin, a VST3 and AU, so there’s nothing new to install for each one. It works in Ableton Live, Logic Pro, GarageBand, FL Studio and most other DAWs except Pro Tools.

Sounds it does best

Basses, leads, pads, plucks, keys and bells come out best, along with organ and string-machine textures, and the synth guide shows what to ask for. They are sounds you make yourself rather than Roland’s own.

When ZENOLOGY is still the one to get

• You want Roland’s own tones, drum kits or Model Expansions.
• You own ZEN-Core hardware such as a FANTOM, JUPITER-X or JUNO-X and want the same sounds in your DAW and on your keyboard.
• You make music on an iPad. ZENOLOGY GX runs there, and Studio 56 plays in a DAW on a Mac or Windows computer.

How to try it

Open Studio 56 in your browser and describe a sound, or build one by hand. To play it in your DAW you need a Mac or Windows computer and a DAW such as Ableton Live, Logic Pro, GarageBand or FL Studio. Download Studio 56, add it to an instrument track and sign in, then send the sound from your browser. The guides for FL Studio, Ableton Live and Logic Pro have the exact clicks.

What is free and what Pro adds

Building a sound by hand is free with no limit, and your first 3 asks to the AI are free. Your first 3 sends to your DAW are free, and Pro sends as many as you want. Pro is $10 a month, and the AI builds about 70 sounds a month on it.