Roland RD88 Editor Panel

Roland RD88 Editor Panel


This is a free stand alone editor built using CTRLR. Tested on Mac 10.15 Catalina and Windows 7 and Windows 10. Users tell me that my editors also run on later M1 Macs. Let me know in the comments if you can confirm this. I found a post on VI.Control from a user saying it works fine on his Mac running Sonome. Good to know!

Features:

  • Fast recall of all Scene parameters including Common, Tones, Zones and effects
  • Rename scenes - you still have to remember press "Write" to store on RD88
  • Handy buttons for creation of Splits and Layers
  • Mute buttons for each Tone
  • Over 3000 tones are accessible from the Tone Tabs
  • Standalone versions for Mac and PC 




Here's a link to the video demo.




Download Links


RD-88 AU Plugin does not run in Logic 10.6


RD88 editor running as AU component


You can edit all the 90 MFX effects BUT I have only added the parameter names and ranges for the ones I use - about 10 effects. Sliders for each parameter are there when you recall an effect but many are just labelled Parameter # and the range is set to 0-127. It would be a massive undertaking to program each one. There are 3 MFX + IFX = 360 possible effects, then there can be 20 parameters for each = 7200. It would be a lot of lines of code.


Location: Calderdale, UK

Comments

Maartmaart said…
Hi There.... is the Ctrlr panel file also available? I would like to try to adapt it for the Roalnd FP-E50. Thanks a lot for replying!
February 18, 2024 at 4:43 PM
Chris_toph said…
It looks to be great job you offer here. But for a novice like me, I wonder how this work with the RD-88 ?
Is it to get a better handling and view of all paramters of the keyboard?
Is it simply enough to connect the RD-88 to the computer via USB the default driver? Should anything be required, like the Roland Cloud ?

Could you explain how to use the effects: DJFX Looper or BPM Looper ? I wonder if it can be use as a simple looper; to play on top of a repeatitive bass line ?
Regards,
February 9, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Charlie Griffiths said…
It works on Windows with the RD88 Roland driver. You can access all RD88 parameters and effects. You can create splits and layers and easily access all the banks of sounds. You must set the RD88 to Midi Channel 16. Watch the demo videos for more info. I have never used the loopers.
February 12, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Mr.T music teacher said…
Are you planning to create a Windows 11 update? If so, I would be very interested (and willing to contribute financially for your efforts). Thank you
April 25, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Charlie Griffiths said…
I am hoping the standalone version will run on Windows 11. Last time I tested it on Windows 10 it worked. Microsoft say that most apps work because they share the same kernel. The current Roland driver says Windows 10/11 so that is compatible. So the short answer at the moment is no.
April 25, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Mr.T music teacher said…
So far, I have been able to run the RD editor successfully. Thank you for your reply
May 14, 2025 at 11:42 AM
MarkB said…
Standalone version runs smooth on my M1 Macbook Air with Sequoia 15.5.
May 31, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Charlie Griffiths said…
Great! Thanks for letting me know.
May 31, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Antony Samuel Sam CD said…
will this work with the rd 08 considering a lot of references just say its just the rd88 without some knobs and stuff?
July 29, 2025 at 4:35 AM
Charlie Griffiths said…
I have a had a quick look at the RD08 MIDI info and it seems to be the same as the RD88 so my guess is it will work.
July 29, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Imperfect Drummer said…
I can confirm it works with Sequoia 15.6.1, but it does have a few issues. For one, it doesn't show the User tab (should go after Common-I've loaded several Zen-Core tones I exported from Zenology Pro) and for some reason, when I switch to 129-256 and click Dump, it caps out at 193 until I change the patch on the RD-88 manually. I'm still messing with it, but I figured I'd post my results here.
September 2, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Charlie Griffiths said…
Thanks for the info. I have just checked the editor and you are correct I have left out the USER Tab. Can't remember if it was ever there. I have also imported patches from Zenology into the RD88 so the USER tab would be useful. I'll add the USER tab in the next few days and upload it again. I won't be able to test it though because I don't have an RD-88 anymore :(
September 2, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Crox said…
This seems to be a really useful app for the RD-88. It has obviously taken a lot of effort to make. Doing a bit of research I believe the original software used to be downloaded from ctrlr.org, but this site seems to be redirected to GitHub. Do you have any suggestions on how I can get started and make a panel for a different midi keyboard?
December 3, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Charlie Griffiths said…
Hi - here is a link to an archive of CTRLR files including the last stable releases and also some panels.
https://ctrlr-org-achiv.jimdofree.com/ctrlr-download/
December 3, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Crox said…
Thanks Charlie, I will have a play. I am also playing with your RD-88 Editor ver 4.1 which is so much easier to use than the Roland interface on the RD-88. I can't believe it is not more well known.
December 3, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Eric P said…
Hello Charlie, I was almost at the point of getting rid of my RD-88 and then saw your RD88 Editor page here. THANKS so much for this!!!!

I just tried it and it seems to work very well (on Sequoia 15.7.1, Macbook Air M3 2024). Your videos really help to get started. Although, it took me a few minutes to remember how to enable the MIDI Sysex in & out configs (System -> MIDI -> right arrow). I also wasn't sure if I needed to configure the RD's System/General settings to the Generic or the Vendor driver (the latter is right). I had already installed the Roland driver on my Mac. Once that was sorted, the magic started happening for me. THANKS again!
December 20, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Charlie Griffiths said…
Hi Eric thanks for your comments. Yes it's a little tricky to find the system settings and great that you have got it working. There is so much 'under the hood' of the RD88 - it's a pity Roland didn't release an iPad app like the one for the VR09. I guess Roland don't want to damage sales of it's bigger sibling the RD2000. The RD88 is 6 years old next month!
December 21, 2025 at 10:14 AM
John Rollins said…
Hello Charlie, I don't normally comment on websites but felt I should as this is so good and much easier to use then the RD88 buttons, which don't even have a rotator dial for editing! I have the RD88 as my second keyboard which I use infrequently and haven't learnt to program. This makes it so much easier. To confirm, I'm using Windows 11 with the Roland driver installed and it just worked!
More people should be made aware of this software!
Thanks again.
January 31, 2026 at 12:33 PM
Charlie Griffiths said…
Hi John, that's great. Glad it's all working well. The RD-88 is fine keyboard - such a pity Roland didn't make it with a larger (colour?) screen. But I suppose that might have affected sales of the RD2000. Cheers
January 31, 2026 at 5:20 PM
John Rollins said…
Now that I've had a play with it the biggest frustration I have with the keyboard is finding tones within the ridiculous random set of tones within the banks. I don't know if you're still developing this but is it possible to add a search for a phrase across all banks? For instance I was looking for a string tone to layer up and spent far too long looking through the list of tones to find one that said "string". (Found a couple in PR-B). I don't understand the random list but I assume it makes sense to someone.
January 31, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Charlie Griffiths said…
Yes finding a sound when there are >3000 tones to choose from is not easy, IIRC there is a category function on the RD-88 which is accessed using cursor [<] [>] - it will be in the manual. I stopped gigging a while back and sold most of my live gear including the RD88 to concentrate on other stuff. So no more updates unfortunately. Cheers Charlie
February 2, 2026 at 11:26 AM
John Rollins said…
Thanks for letting me know. Is it possible for you to share the Ctrlr xml for us to extend it. I don't know much about Ctrlr but I am a software developer and might get round to doing so. How hard can it be?!
February 2, 2026 at 11:59 AM
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