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    Roland D50 Right Now Vol. 1 (Dan Walker) PDF

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    Tiago Ramos

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 49
    - Roland © Memory Management © Data Transfer © All 32 Reverb . ! Settings Explained Right Now! | siscio Settings Explained © 10 Studio Quick VOLUME | . Operations, MIDI, © Moving Tones ta Sound Editing, Make Your Own Reverb, EQ Dual Patches and Chorus © Moving Tones to Make Your Own By Split Patches Dan ker ¢ Much More The Best Learning Systems in the World for the MIDI Musician THE ROLAND DS0 RIGHT NOW! by Dan Walker Copyright © 1987, Alexander Publishing - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Published by Alexander Publishing, 3537 Old Conejo Rd., Suite 101, Newbury Park, CA 91320 No part of this book may be copied for any reason without the written permission of the publisher except in purposes of critical reviews Roland and D-50® are registered trademarks of Rolandcorp. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Chapter 1 - MEMORY MANAGEMENT Calling Up An Internal Sound The Rom Card The Ram Memory Card Saving And Storing Master Tune Chapter 2 - READING THE DISPLAY Hierarchy Of Sounds Bailing Out With The Compare Key And The Undo Key Key Mode Split Point Tone Balance And Partial Balance Chapter 3 - LEFT HAND CONTROLS Volume Aftertouch Key Transpose Chase Setting UL Portamento Pitch Bend Modulation Hold Chapter 4 - REVERB Three Reverb Parameters @ VRwUN Ww Hee wo BB 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 24 25 Chapter 5 - CHORUS AND THE EQ Chorus EQ Chapter 6 - TWEAKING Chapter 7 - MIDI 4 MIDI Screens Control Change Numbers Now In Use The End 29 29 31 33 37 37 40 42 INTRODUCTION REETINGS! Welcome to the Roland D-50. The D-S0 is an Geexciting instrument to say the least. Through Roland's L\A synthesis it can sound like the mega-buck systems it takes years to save up for and to learn how to use. Even though it seems com- plex and unfamiliar at first glance, it’s designed to be very user friendly. Ifthisis your first synthesizer, the methods will become second nature inno time. Ifyou're an oldtimer, you'll recognize many of the functions as those you've used before . This is the first of several books planned for the D-50. The purpose of this book is to get you into some of the real useful stuff right away. Imagine you picked up the instrament at your local dealer and had to do a gig with it that night, This could be a scenario that nervous breakdowns are made of, right? Well, think again because it’s easier than it seems. I'll show you how to access the most.important performance functions and do some custom set-ups fast In this first volume we'll cover operations ranging from simple patch changes to selecting a reverb type and balancing the out- put. You'll be able to choose different effects and combine them to create your own individual patches. I'll take you through key modes, basic editing, MIDI implementation and a rather unique form of effect called chase play. Sound good? Great, ler’s get started! Chapter 1 MEMORY MANAGEMENT jhe very first thing I'm sure you're anxious to do is get right into ‘Thiaying the instrument. There are 64 sounds, or patches as we will refer to them, already in the memory. To hear and play these sounds, all you need to do is call them one at a time from the memory. Calling Up An Internal Sound You call the patches by first selecting a Bank number, and then a Patch number. Look at the face of the machine. Under the dis- play you'll see arow of buttons labeled Patch Bank and numbered from 1 10 8. To the right is another row labeled Patch Number. 1. Push button 1 under Patch Bank and you gain access to the eight patches in the first bank 2.Push button 1 under Parch Number and the display shows the name of the first patch number 11, Fantasia. 3.Select buttons 2-8 under Patch Number and you hear all eight sounds in the first bank. 4.Move to the second bank by simply pushing button 2 under Patch Bank and you get a new set of eight patches to listen to. Go through all eight banks to enjoy the highly usable sounds the folks at Roland programmed into the D-S0, When you play these sounds, don't release the keys right away because some of them change as you hold them. Try patch num- ber 21, Digital Native Dance to hear what I mean. The Rom Card ‘The DS0 comes with a credit card-sized ROM cartridge. ROM (an acronym for Read Only Memory) means that the patches on the cartridge are permanent and can’t be erased, The patches on the card are duplicates of the patches in the Internal DS0 memory This is your freedom ticket to experimenting with tweaking and saving sounds since your Internal’s are completely safe on the ROM card, To use the card do this: To Use the ROM Card Insert the ROM Memory card into the slot on the edge of the back panel behind the joy stick. L.With the arrow on the card pointing towards you, insert the card into the slot marked Memory Card on the D-50's back, 2.Push the button below and to the left of the display marked Card. Now you're into it’s 64 patches. 3.Select patches the same way as you did for the eight banks in the internal memory using Patch Bank and Patch Number but- tons. 4.You can go back and forth between Card memory banks and Internal memory banks by pushing the buttons marked Card and Internal. The Ram Memory Card Insert the RAM Memory card into the slot on the edge of the back panel behind the joy stick like you did with the ROM card, When accessing the RAM card, you'll get an legal Card message ifyou haven't first loaded patches onto it. The Illegal Card mes- sage doesn’t mean you have a bootleg card, it’s just Roland's way of saying the card is blank. Besides the 64 stored patches in the internal memory, 64 addi- tional patches can be stored on the PN-DS0 Memory Card. This gives you 128 different sounds on call at all times when the card is plugged in. Inserting the RAM Memory Card 1.With the arrow on the card pointing towards you, plug the card into the slot marked Memory Card on the D-50’s back. 2.Push the button below and to the left of the display marked Card and you're into it’s 64 patches. 3.Select patches the same way as you did for the eight banks in the internal memory using Patch Bank and Patch Number but- tons, 4.You can go back and forth between Card memory banks and Internal memory banks by pushing the buttons marked Card and Internal. Saving And Storing All the patches stored on the D-S0 are in RAM memory. RAM means Random Access Memory. Put simply, the patches in the memory can be altered or replaced by other patches and stored in their new form where the old ones were before. Any edits you make to any part of the sound can be saved as a Patch in any of the current patch locations in either Internal memory or Card memory. Whenever you make a change to sound, it doesn’t automatical- ly rewrite the previous sound. Any changes will be lost when you change patches or turn off the machine. This insures no impor- tant patches will accidentally erased during the editing proce- dure. If you want to save the changes you've made, you must Write them into the memory. Remember, whenever you write any new data into a memory loca- tion the data already there will be erased. To WRITE a patch into memory: 1 First find a patch you can afford to erase, or if you're using a blank memory card decide where you want the new patch to go. 2.Push the Tune/Function button. 3.Find Protect on the display. 4.Push the button directly below Protect and On will flash. $.Use the joystick to change the value to Off. 6.To write data on the card set the protect switch to Off. 7.Push the Write button, 8.Push the Interna! button if you're writing to Internal memory, Push the Card button if you're writing to the Card memory 9.Select a Bank Number by pushing the Bank button. 10.Select a Patch Number with a Patch button. 11.Push the Enter key. This operation can cause some grey hairs for fear of losing that one inerédible patch it took days to build. ¢ To get out of the writing procedure at any time, just push the Exit key. But ifyou make backup cards of ell your sounds you'll have noth- ing to worry about. As an additional failsafe, use the patch sheet Imade for you. It’s at the end of the book. DATA TRANSFER This is another form of the writing function. Sometimes you'll want to transfer all 64 patches at once. Note that if you want t0 save all the internal patches to the card, you don’t perform the 11 steps necessary to write a single patch 64 times. Besides Data Transfer between the Intemal memory and the Card memory, i's possible to transfer files between two D-50s, or a D-S0 and a computer. This type of transfer is called Bulk Dump when the instrument is sending the data. It’s called Bulk Load when it’s receiving data, To transfer patch memory from INTERNAL to CARD: 1. Set the Protect switch on the card to Off. 2. Push the Data Transfer button on the D-50, 3. Find (INTCRD) on the display. 4.Push the button direetly below it. To transfer from CARD to INTERNAL: 1. Push Tune/Function button. 2. Find Protect on the display and push the button below it 3. Use the joystick to turn protect Off 4. Push Data Transfer button S.Find (CRDINT) on the display. 6.Push the button below it, To BULK DUMP/BULK LOAD: 1. Make sure your MIDI cables are hooked up in HandShake fashion. This means that one cable must go from the MIDI Out on the first D-50 to the MIDI In on the second. And the second cable must go from the MID/ Out of the second D-S0to the MIDI Inof the first. 2, Push Data Transfer button. 3. Find (B.DUMP) if you are sending patches. Find (B.LOAD) ifyou are receiving patches. 4.Push the button below the function you choose. S.Push Enter. Once again, if you want out of the procedure push Exit. Master Tune ‘The DS50 is tuned to A442 which is A above middle C (C3), Some synths are set for A440 which is the true symphonic tuning for A. There will be many occasions when you will have the need to tune your D50 to match the particular pitch of another instru- ment. Thankfully, this is a very easy function you can do. 1, Push the Tune/Function button. 2.Find Master Tune on the display and push the button below it. 3.Change the Hz by moving the joystick left to right or by using the increment/decrement buttons. The range of tuning for A is 435Hz 10 448 Hz, 4.Push Exit, The change you make will be remembered even after you turn off the machine. Chapter 2 READING THE DISPLAY Hierarchy Of Sounds then you look at the display screen you'll probably notice the Watch Name firs. The first patch is called Fantasia, and you've no doubt already discovered some of the other clever names in the machine. The Patch Name describes the overall character of the sound you hear when you play the keyboard. Let’s begin our inspection of how a sound on the D-50) is con- structed. Look to the far right of the display and you'll see two other names preceded by the letter U and the letter L. These are names for the two halves of a Patch called Tones. Each Tone is an inde- pendent voice as well and can sound good just on its own, Insome cases a Patch may be made of one Tone. Each Tone is divided into two Partials. The Partials are the basic sound generators upon which the elements of the Tones and the Patches operate. So, what do we have so far? ‘¢ Two partials make a Tone. ‘© Two Tones make a Patch. Patches are what we call the complete sound. The D-50 has four Partials to work with, each with its own characteristics. So, a wide variety of tone colors can be easily manipulated to produce very exciting results, All the editing you'll do hinges on this basic framework Bailing Out With The Compare Key And The Undo Key I've made this its own special section because it can save your life when you're drowning in a whirling sea of data. Since we're now starting simple editing , you need to know how to get back to GO when you've strayed too far. You can spend so much time editing a sound that you can't remember where you came from or if the original patch sounded better. So, # Ifyou want to hear the sound you started with, push the compare key. ‘© Push it again to get back to your edited ve ‘© Ifyou want to get back to the original value of a parameter you're editing, push the undo key. n, Key Mode ‘The Key Mode function deals with the way Tones are combined into Patches. The D-50 has the greatest number of Key Mode combinations on any keyboard today! Look at the second line of the display, and at the far left you will see the Key Mode value. On the first patch 11-Fantasia, it says Dual. Listed below are all the Key Modes and an explanation as well as apatch example of most of them. WHOLE Only one tone; the upper, is being used for the patch. 1-47 Spacious Sweeper DUAL Two tones are layered over each other across the keyboard I-14 Arco Strings I-16 Living Calliope SPLIT ‘One tone is on the left side of the keyboard, and the other tone ison the right. I-13 Jazz Guitar Duo , I-23 Flute-Piano SEP Used in MIDI applications to receive two different MIDI chan- nels, More later. The keyboard will play the upper tone only, WHOLE SOLO ‘This makes the instrument monophonic and it can play only one note at a time while giving preference to the last note you play. Why would you want to be limited to only one note at a time? The limitation gives realistic quality when playing parts assigned to monophonic instruments like violins or saxes. There are no patches in the memory using Whole Solo mode. Pl guide you through this and the following four modes in the next section. DUAL SOLO Operates the same as the previous mode while using two tones instead of one, SPLIT-US Splits the keyboard with the upper tone in solo. For example, this way you can perform a realistic sax lead over a chordal piano accompaniment. SPLIT-LS Splits the keyboard with the lower tone in solo. Maybe a bass line under a chordal organ comp pattern. 10 SEP-SOLO ‘Again, SEP has its application in MIDI by allowing the D-50 to receive two MIDI channels. In this mode both voices would be monophonic. More on this and MIDI in general in following chapters. How Each Key Mode Affects the Patch These are all the Key Modes on the D-50. Now, we will learn how to change them, and in the process hear how they affect one patch in many different ways. For this exercise select patch number 1-36, Pipe Solo: 1. Push the button marked Key Mode. The value Dual will flash. 2.Change the value with the increment/decrement buttons. The modes will appear in the order I gave them to you above, 3.Listen to the way the different modes affect the patch. Notice that in Whole mode you no longer hear the lower tone Breath. In Whole mode only the Upper Tone is heard. In Dual you hear the patch as it was written, layering both tones across the keyboard, In Split you hear the Flute, the upper tone, on the right and the Breath, which is the lower sound, on the left. In Wholes the upper tone is heard monophonically. Try playing a chord and you'll see what I mean, In Duals both tones are heard monophonically. In Split-Us the tones are again split left and right with the upper tone monophonic, In Split-Ls the tones are split with the lower tone monophonic. Get you ears familiar with these differences. Try changing the Key Mode on several patches to see how it affects the whole sound. This is a parameter you will use often as you invent your own custom keyboard set-ups. Ft Split Point Now that you've become familiar with the Key Modes, here are ‘two ways to alier them to your liking. The first of these is Split Point. Split Mode, as you recall, places two tones side-by-side on the keyboard. The Split Point is the note on the keyboard where the split takes place. All the notes below this Split Point note play the Jower tone. All the notes above, including the split note itself, play the upper tone. On many older synthesizers the Split Point was preset and couldn't be changed. Modern instruments (including the D-50) enable the player to select the Split Point that's best for each Split Mode application. Your selections can be programmed into the memory and can be different for every patch! Setting the SPLIT POINT: Choose patch number J-23 Flute-Piano Duo as an example 1. Push the button marked Split Point. Notice that the value F4 flashes. All the notes on the keyboard are identified by their note num- ber. This number refers to its position on the 88 note piano keyboard. C3 is middle C. 3.Push the Increment button and the Split Point will ascend up the keyboard, The decrement button will naturally lower it, Lis- ten to the results. Tone Balance And Partial Balance Tone Balance With patches that are dual or split, Tone Balance allows you to control which of the tones will predominate, Ata setting of 50, both tones sound equally. Over 50, the upper tone begins to predominate. Below 50 and approaching 0, the lower tone predominates. Choose patch number J-4] Shamus Theme 1.Push the button marked Tone Balance. 2. Using the joystick to change the balance between the tones, set it to 00. You'll now hear the lower tone, Glass-Pik predominate the sound. 3. Now move the joystick so Tone Balance reads 100, You've completely cut off the lower tone and now only hear the Harpsichord. Slowly move the joystick towards a setting of 50 and you'll hear Glass-Pik come in, As you can hear, the sound's character changes as you move the joystick. Once you have decided on the balance best suited for that musical effect, you can write it into the memory. Do the same with I-52, Hollowed Harp. At Tone Balance 00, all you hear is the Blues, which is the lower tone. At 100, you only hear Tiny Harp, which is the upper tone. PARTIAL BALANCE, Earlier I taught you that it takes two partials to make a tone and two tones to make a patch. Partial Balance is a volume control between the upper and the lower partial of an individual tone. Tt enables you: © to affect the Tone Balance by moving the Joystick up or down © to affect the Partial Balance by moving the Joystick left to right. Use it to subtlely change the patches’ timbre. You can access it as a performance control without entering Tone Edit Mode, 1. Go back 10 /-36, Pipe Solo. Then find the Partial Balance but- tons to the right of the Joystick. 2Select Upper and the Red light comes on to confirm your move. Move the Joystick up towards 100 and the Flute tone predominates. Move it down towards 0 and the Breath tone predominates. Now select the Lower Tone. The red light con- firms your move, Move the Joystick up and down as before. The same thing happens. B So, when either Partial light is tt, up and down movement of the joystick controls tone balance, regardless of which Tone is selected. 3. Select Upper again and move the Joystick until 100 shows in the LCD. All you'll hear is the Upper Tone. Keep the Joystick up at 100 and move it left to right in a circular motion along the rim to hear the timbre change within that tone. The DS0remem- bers this for as long as you're in that patch. Once you leave the patch, it defaults to its original factory setting, 4.Now do the same procedure for the Lower Tone, ‘You're doing great! Now let’s move on to the Left Hand Con- trols which contribute to some of the more unique effects on the DSO. 14 Chapter 3 Volume LEFT HAND CONTROLS his section covers the control features to the left of the "Teyboard-These functions are placed in this position because they are parameters likely to be used during live performance. Synthesizers can be very expressive in a unique variety of ways. Pitch bending, portamento glides and using the aftertouch to per- form a host of effects are just a few of the possibilities. Most of the functions that we will talk about here are adjustable and can be programmed into the memory as you see fit. In other words, the buttons and sliders can perform differently with each patch. ‘These features can create some of the wildest effects on the DS0, so let’s get started! The slider simply controls the overall volume of the machine. Overall Volume is a programmable feature. It’s set on the Patch Edit page. Each Patch can have its own volume setting in relation to the other Patches. In this way, sounds which are naturally louder than others canbe balanced down, or soft sounds balanced up, to provide an even level between them. Aftertouch To access this function, do the following: 1, Push the button marked Patch Edit 2. Push the button below Control to enter that page, 3. Push the Right Scroll button (its the one with the arrow point- ing to the right, beneath it), and find the page labeled Output Mode Edit. ‘The Scroll buttons take you back and forth through the Sub- Pages within a Main Page. In this case, the Main Page is Control. 4,Find VOL on the display. Push the button below it and the value will flash. 8.Change the value by moving the Joystick left to right, You can also use the Increment/Decrement buttons or the 10-Key pad. When using the 10-Key pad, first type in the value and then press enter. Until you press enter, the value won't change. Now listen to the volume get louder and softer. 6.Press Exit twice and you're back into Play mode ‘This, to0, is a programmable function and can be written into the memory. Afiertouch is the name given to the contro! feature which can change the sound as the player presses down harder on the keys. Some of the changes include creating a crescendo on the patch, makingit brighter, adding vibrato, bending the pitch, or transpos- ing the voice up to an octave above the original while the original still sounds. It’s truly one of the more expressive features on the DSO and one that's totally unique to synthesizers. Asa good example of what this function does, select patch num- berd-34 Pressure Me Strings. First, make sure the Aftertouch slider isall the way up. Play a chord and hold it down, then press down harder and listen to the sound get brighter and transpose an oc- 16 tave above! As you experiment you'll find you can control the amount of effect by how hard you Jean into the keys. As you may have guessed, the slider marked 4ftertouch controls the amount of aftertouch effect you have over the sound. Try the above experiment with the slider half way down, Its not as pronounced an effect, is it? Now try it all the way down, and the Afiertouch feature is gone completely. Key Transpose Key Transpose is a global effect that changes the location of mid- dle C (C3) up or down the keyboard by an octave. When Key Transpose is in effect, the light is on and every patch will reflect your transposition, Key Transpose can be used to change the range of a patch up or down by an octave. Italso lets you make a key change into any key tonal center, but still finger in the tonal center you're most comfortable in, For example, composer Irving Berlin could only play piano in the key of F. So he had a specially constructed piano that using a lever, allowed him to change tonal centers while still fingering in the F-scale pattern. Key Transpose does this very thing with the touch of a button How many times have you learned to play a song in the key of C and after you get to the gig the singer wants you to it in C-sharp? It can be really irritating when they ask "It’s no problem to transpose it, is it?” Few guitar players or drummers can relate to the skill it takes to transpose keys on the keyboard, Key Transpose takes the worry out of working with fickle singers or demanding band mates, This feature is not meant 10 make we keyboardists lazy, but it does even the score a bit 7 Chase Performing Key Transpose 1. Press and hold the button marked Key Transpose. The display will read Key Transpose = 00 (C3), 2. While holding the button, press the key you want to transpose to on the keyboard. No sound is made when you press the key. ‘Tne display reflects the change by showing a new number in the screen. Each digits equal toa half-step up or down. For example © -01 = B2 © 0 = C3 o +01 = C#3 3. Play a familiar phrase on the keyboard. Press and hold Key ‘Transpose and select key C#3. The display will read +01, Now play the same phrase and you'll hear it a half step higher. Chase is a feature unique to Roland, It’s a form of delay effect which bounces the two Tones back and forth in three different settings. By pressing the Chase button you put into action the set ting which is previously chosen and written into the memory. Before I show you how to set up this function let's listen to some examples of Chase already in the machine. ‘Select patch number I-14 ARCO STRINGS. Listen to the patch. Now press the Chase button and hear how the sound repeats and decays. Ifyou listen carefully you'll notice that only the Lower Tone repeats. This is one of the three Chase modes; Mode ULL, which means that the Upper Tone will play followed by Lower Tone repeats. ‘Select patch number I-31 BREATHY CHIFFER. Press the Chase button. You should hear both tones being repeated back and forth alternately. This is an exampie of another of the Chase modes; Mode ULU, which means both the upper and lower tones repeat. 18 Setting UL ‘This last remaining modes has to be set by you to be heard, which is just what we're going to do now. For this exercise stay with patch J-32: 1. Push the Patch Edit button, 2.Select the Control page by pressing the button below it. 3.Press the Right Scroll button until you reach the Chase Edit Page. 4.Select the mode parameter by pressing the button belowit and the value will flash. It will already be set to Mode ULU. §.Change the value with the Increment/Decrement buttons and. listen to the changes: Summary UL- means the Upper and Lower Tones alternate only once. ULL - Upper strikes first then Lower strikes multiple times. ULU-Upperand Lower continuously repeat, one after the other. 6.Select LEVL, and change this value. It goes from 00 to 100. ‘You'll find that the repeats are greater in volume and last longer the closer the value gets to 100. The closer you get t0 00, the softer the volume and the shorter the duration of the repeats. 7Select Time, and as you change this value you'll notice more space between the repeats as the value increases towards 100 and less space the closer it gets to 00. 8.Press Exit wice to move back through the Edit pages to get to Play Mode. Each of these parameters are programmable and can be dif ferent for each patch. The real beauty of this feature is you can setup the effect beforehand and whenever you want it, just press the Chase button 19) Portamento Portamento is a fancy word for glide. You've heard this sound before with the sliding steel guitar so heavily used in Country Music or the trombone and its ability to slide between notes. Some manufacturers use the word "glide" on their machines in- stead, but the real pro word is Portamento. Ever since Keith Emerson’s famous Moog solo on "Lucky Man" the Portamento function has been a staple effect on synthesizers. Aswith most machines today, the D-SOhas a programmable Por- tamento. Along with the standard control of glide time the D-S0 has another goodie built in. You can select the Tone it will effect, be it the Upper, Lower, ot both The button marked Portamento will turn the feature on or off. ‘The parameters are programmed on the Patch Edit page. Select patch number I-26 GRITTTARR. 1. Turn the Portamento on. 2. Push the Patch Edit button. 3, Select the Control page. 4. You should be on the Control Edit page, if not use the Scroll buttons. 5. Access Port time (the one with the numeric value). 6, Change the value and listen to the results, 7. Nowselect the next Port parameter. This is the one which sets the Tone it will effect. It will be set to UL. 8.Change the value to Land you will hear the effect on the Lower Tone only. Likewise, with the value U, the Upper Tone will be ef- fected. Experiment with different settings and playing styles. You may find a few that suit you which you can program and recall during performance just by pushing the Portamento button, 20 Pitch Bend The Pitch Bend feature allows you to chromatically alter the sound of the patch up or down (bend) by setting it to a desired range. The range can be as small as a half step or as wide as an octave up or down in either direction. When the first synthesizers were built with pitch bend, it was a major stride ahead for the keyboard player. Until then we were left behind by all the other instruments capable of this incredib- ly expressive technique. Where would a guitar or sax solo be without it? Now that we have it, just what do we do with it? Well listen to the expert on the technique, Jan Hammer. He took pitch bending to the limits with his work on the Mini-Moog, Asaresult, Jeff Beck called Hammer the best guitarist he ever heard. Ob- viously, the mileage you can get out of Pitch Bend is measured in light years. Practice with a good lead sound like 1-26, I-46 or 57. The bender is preset on these three patches to go up or down a Major 2nd when you move it to its limit. To set the bender to a wider limit: 1, Select one of the three patches and push Patch Euit. 2Select the Control page. 3.You should now be on the Control Edit page. If not, use the Scroll butions to get to it. 4.Select bend. It will be set to 02 which is 2 half steps or a whole step. S.Tapping A above Middle C, change the value to 01 and the bender will cover a half step. Set it 10 02 and it goes up and down awhole step. Set it to 03, and it goes up and down a minor 3rd. Setiit to 04 and it goes up and down a major third. Set it to 05 and it goes up and down a perfect 4th. Set it to 06 and now you have the augmented 4th or diminished Sth up or down, and soon, Each digit represents one half step 21 Modulation Hold Now for a surprise: 6. On the Control Edit page display you will find the parameter ASPB. This is Aftertouch Pitch Bend. Select it. 7.AEPB has values which determine bend range, but can also go to negative values so you can bend down with your touch as well. 8.Set the value to +2. Play a note and then use Aftertouch to bend the note up. Pretty neat stuff. Try setting the value dif- ferently and see how nifty this works. Of course, the Afiertouch slider will determine how sensitive this particular Pitch Bend function will be, as with all Aftertouch parameters, All the Pitch Bend parameters are programmable per patch so you can set the most comfortable for each sound you use it on. Modulation in this sense means to modulate the pitch with the LFO. The LFO (the Low Frequency Oscillator) can doa variety things,but most commonly adds a vibrato effect to the sound. Vibrato is the funtion of the LFO that we will be concerned with here. The other functions, as well as how to access the three LFOs on the D-50 will be covered in the next volume. By pressing the Pitch Bend lever forward instead of to the left and right as you have already done you will add the Modulation orvibrato effect to the patch. The further you press the more the effect. You can perform both Pitch Bend and Modulation at the same time, As you experiment with different patches you will notice that you get a more pronounced effect on some patches than others. ‘This is the result of the different LFO settings programmed into each patch memory ‘There is one more parameter left on the Control Edit page we've ‘deen working on. Itis the Hold setting. The D-S0 allows you to assign the Hold Pedal, which plugs into the rear port marked for it, to either or both Tones, With this control you can sustain one 22 or both sides of a Split patch. In Whole and Dual modes the values of this parameter make no change. The Hold Pedal will always sustain the sound, For this example you must have the DP-2 or DP-6 pedal switch plugged into the rear port marked Hold Pedal. Choose patch I-23 FLUTE-PIANO DUO. 1. Push Patch Edit 2Select the Control page. 3.Find Hold and the value will be set to L, meaning the pedal will sustain the Lower (piano) Tone and not the Upper (flute) Tone. Play the patch using the Hold Pedal. 4.Try ci Upper. nging the value to U and the pedal will sustain the L will assign the pedal to both Tones. Chapter 4 REVERB everbas adefinition meansto echo back. Earlyin the develop- Rorneent of the recording industry the need for an artificial room sound wes recognized. It was too costly to move all the record- ing equipment toa large hall each time alive” sound was desired. Many gadgets have been introduced over the years, from grand piano size plate reverbs to the small digital units we use today. Digital processing is the best available, because there is ab- solutely no signal distortion. Many room effects can be simu- lated, and when balanced with the original or "dry" signal, will convince the ear it's hearing the sound in a live situation. In reality, it's all done inside a couple of circuit boards, Until now, you'd expect to add a separate piece of hardware to your system to get reverb effects. The D-50 has a digital reverb built rightin the machine! Ithas 32 different settings, from rooms of varying sizes, to unique reverse and fading echo effects. You can choose the setting, set the balance of "wet" (processed) to “dry” (original) signal, select the tone or tones it will effect and then program all this into te memory of every patch. There can be a different reverb setting on every patch. Three Reverb Parameters Before we access the Reverb parameters, let's preview them and Jearn a little bit about each of the three we'll be working with: ‘© Output Mode @ Reverb Type Balance OUTPUT MODE. If you'll notice on the face of the D-50 on the right side there is a diagram graphically displaying each of the four Output Modes we're discussing, It’s the middle group. As you read the defini- tions look at the diagram to see it visualized. Later, when we ex- periment with these modes the differences are very easy to hear if you are plugged in stereo or using headphones. Mode 1-- mixes the original signal through the stereo reverb and both tones are sent out in stereo, Mode 2 -- mixes the original sound through the stereo reverb and both tones are sent out separately. Mode3-- sends only the Upper tone through the reverb and both tones are sent out separately. Mode4 .- sends only the Lower tone through the reverb and then both tones are sent out separately. REVERB TYPE Listed below are the 32 types and a basic definition of each, 01 -- 1.8 Second Reverb, Small Hall 02 -- 2.0 Second Reverb, Medium Hall 03 »- 3.0 Second Reverb, Large Hall 04 -- 6.0 Second Reverb, Chapel 08 »» Short Gated, Box 06 ~ Brite Modulation; Metallic, Small Metal Room 07 -- Medium Modulation, Small Room 08 Short Brite, Medium Room 09-05 Second Reverb, Medium Large Room 10 1.0 Second Reverb, Large Room LL ~ Short Reverse 12 1.5 Second Stereo Delay 13 -- 2.0 Second Stereo Delay 14 -- Skip Delay 15 ~ Short Gate 16 ~-0..5 Second Gate 17 --5.0 Second Brite, Bright Halt 18 -- 3.0 Second Dark, Large Cave 19 -- Very Brite Short Modulation, Stee! Pan 20 -- 2.0 Second Delay, Un-Panned 26 21 3.0 Second Siow Delay Un-panned 22.1.5 Second, Fast Panned Delay 23 ~ 2.5 Second Slow Panned Delay 24 ~ Skip Delay 2 25 ~ Medium Gate 26 ~- Short Mod Reverse Gate 27--- 0.5 Second Mod Reverse Gate 28 -- Slap Back Gate 29 ~ Slap Back Short Reverb 30-- Slap Back Long Reverb 31 ++ Panned Modulation, Twisted Space 32-25 Second Reverb, Space REVERB BALANCE The third parameter is the Balance which sets the predominance of original signal to processed, At 50) they’re even. Below 50, the original is pre-dominamt, and above, the processed signal is predominant, These parameters are on the Patch Edit menu. To hear the dif- ferent settings we need a patch like I-15 Horn Section that im- mediatly cuts off after the keys have been released. 1. Push Patch Edit 2, Select the Control page 3.Scroll to Output Mode Edit Page. 27 4. Select Mode and listen to the sound before changing the value. Notice that the sound seems to be in the middle of the speakers, 5. Change the Mode value to 02 and listen to the tones separate to either side with the reverb effect in the middle. Mode 03 separates the tones with reverb on the Upper tone only and Mode 04 places reverb on the Lower tone only. See the diagram on the bso. 6.Select the REV parameter, which allows you to select one of the 32 Reverb Types that I listed and redefined for you with a more technically accurate definition. Listen to all 32 types avail- able, 7.Nowselect the RBAL parameter. Thisis Reverb Balance. You change the value by moving the Joy stick from left to right. Lis- ten to the sound go from wet (100) to dry (00). The inclusion of this feature on the D-50 is an incredible value. By itself it would set you back a good $400.00. Being program- mable per patch, it's even more valuable, because you can have a completely different setting for each of the 64 patches. 28 Chapter 5 Chorus CHORUS AND THE EQ very parameter we've discussed so far has been accessed on Ebte Patch Ea pages, and therefore, are changes that affect the patch as awhole. In contrast, the Chorus and EQ parameters are common to each of the Tones. This means that a completely dif- ferent Chorus and EQ setting can be made for each tone. In this way patches can have two Chorus and two EQ settings each With the exeption of Chorus and EQ, all the Tone parameters will be covered in the next volume, I've included them here be- cause they are processing effects, and like the reverb, are com- monly found as outboard gear not built inside most synthesizers. ‘The D-50's rich sound is partially due to these built-in effects Chorus is a sweeping type of effect. When applied to a signal, it fats and enriches the sound in a unique way. To listen to the different Chorus types , first pick patch I-86 Bot- dle Blower. Select Tone Balance and set the value to 100 moving the Joystick all the way to the right, With these adjustments you can clearly hear the differences. 29 TO ACCESS THE CHORUS: 1. Push U-Tone Edit. 2. From the display select the Common page. 3. From the Common Menu select Chorus. 4. Nowyou are on the Chorus page. From this display, first select the BAL (Balance) parameter and set the value to 100 using the Joystick. The Chorus is an effect like the reverb and can be balanced in volume to the original signal. Setting the BAL value 10 100 gives you the maximum level of Chorus effect and there- fore can be clearly heard. 5. From the display select Type. It will be set to O1, Listen to the sound and then change the value to 02 using the increment/decre~ ment buttons. Listen to the new sound. The sweep is faster and itseemsa little out of tune. You'll rarely balance the Chorus this high so all the effects will seem exaggerated. Change the value to 03 and listen to the next effect, Go through all 8 types and re- late what you hear to the Chorus Type Chart below CHORUS TYPE: 01 - Medium Sweep 02 - Detune Sweep 03 - Flanger/Subtle Sweep 04 - Detune Flanger 05 - Panned Sweep (listen to the sound pan back and forth in across the speakers. Especially evident in headphones). 06 - Panned Sweep 2 07- Rich Panned Sweep 08 - Flutter Chorus 6.Now that you have listened to the different types go back to type 01 and select from the display Rate. Listen to the sound and then change the value to 20 using the Joy stick. You will hear the sweep slow down. Now increase the value with the Joy stick and listen to the sweep get faster and faster. Set the value back to 45. 30 EQ 17. Select DPTH from the display. This parameter sets the Depth of the sweep. Listen to the sound and then change the value to 20. You hear the effect lessen but not slow down, Ifyou increase the value up to and beyond you'll hear it get more and more marked. 8.Now go the BAL parameter you selected in the preparation for this exercise. This, as stated above, sets the volume balance of effect to original signal. Change the value and listen to the effect grow softer while the nature of the settings of the other parameters remain the same. 9. Now adjust all the settings and experiment with the way they work together. Remember, Chorus is a Tone function and so there can be adif- ferent one for each Tone. Therefore, there can be two Chorus settings for each Patch! EQ is an acronym for Equalizer. If you have tone controls on your stereo system, you already know thatyou can boost and lower the gain on the treble, bass and mid-range frequencies. The EQ on the D-50 acts like a bass and treble control for each Tone. You can set the gain/level of the frequencies and also set which fre- quencies are to be affected. On the treble control, you can also set the bandwidth, This means you can actually boost or cut a small segment of frequencies as opposed to affecting all those sur- rounding the one chosen. Equalization is used abundantly in the recording studio as well as in live performances to reduce unwanted frequencies that tend toclutter the sound. Boosting desired frequencies in conjunction with cutting others gives a clear transparency to the sound, The ability 10 actually have two different EQ settings per patch (one per tone) is a dynamic feature never built into a sythesizer before. Select patch I-58 Rock Organ To access the EQ do this: 1. Push U-Tone Edit button. Et 2. From the display select Common. 3. From the Common Menu select EQ 4.From the display select Lg. This is the lower frequency gain parameter, It has a range of -12 to +12. Change the value with the Joy stick to -12.and hear the sound become brighter by having less bass, S.Now select Hg. This is the high frequency gain parameter. It also has a range of -12 to +12. Change the value with the Joy- stick to ~12 and hear the sound get duller by having less treble. Change the value to +12 and hear it get very bright. 6.Select Hf. This adjusts the frequecy range you will be control- Jing with Hg. It has a range of 250 Hz to 9.5k Hz, 7Select HQ. This is the parameter that adjusts the bandwidth of the high frequency control. It has a range of 0.3 to 6.0. By changing the value from less to more you are making the bandwidth smaller and smaller. In this way the surrounding fre- quencies of Hf are less and less affected by Hg (high gain). You can therefore pinpoint a small segment to bring out or reduce. RSelect Lf. This adjusts the low frequency range that you con- trol with Lg (low gain). It has a range of 63Hz to 840 Hz. As I stated above, you can have a different EQ setting with each Tone and therefore two settings per Patch! 32 Chapter 6 TWEAKING his section is a trouble shooting chapter to fix an existing patch Touicity and easily, Rather than having you wait to learn all the details of programming the D-50, I'll outline some common edits based on statements made to a synth players by Producers in studio sessions. Ifyou want to save the edits then follow the Writ- ing procedure explained in Chapter 1 Memory Management. NOTE, these are quick edit procedures so when selecting U or L- Tone Edit buttons: # In Split Mode, pick which tone you want to edit and then choose the appropriate button, Upper or Lower Tone Eat. @ In Dual Mode, for right now only, select the Lower Tone Edit button and proceed from there. (For the below quick edit techniques it doesn’t matter which Tone Edit button you pick because you will end up changing both anyway). You'll use the Partial Select buttons in most of the editing pro- cedure. They are actually the first 4 Patch Bank buttons that take on anew job in the edit modes. ‘THE SOUND IS TOO BRIGHT Push U or L-Tone Edit and select PART 1. From this new dis- play select TVF. Now push the button below FREQ and decrease the value by 10 degrees. Notice that the first 4 Patch Bank but- tons are also marked Partial Select below them. Select Partial 2 and also decrease the FREQ parameter by 10 degrees. Do the same for the remaining Partials and then play the sound, If itis still too bright then decrease the values a bit more until it’s just right, Push Exit until you're back in Play Mode. SOUND TOO LOUD COMPARED TO THE OTHERS Push Patch Edit and select the Control page. Use the Scroll but- tons to access the Output Mode Edit Page. Select VOL and decrease the value by as much as necessary. Use the Compare button to judge how much softer than the original you are getting. Write the edit if you desire or push Exit until you are back in Play Mode. DOESN'T SUSTAIN Push U or L-Tone Edit and select PART 1, Select TVA and push the right Scroll button twice. The top right corner of the display reads PART I TVAENY, Select SUSL and increase the value by 10 degrees. Use the Partial Select buttons to set the SUSL value higher in each Partial. If it doesn’t yet sustain enough then raise the value of each another 10 degrees, and another 10 degrees unti you're satisfied. Write the edit or push Exit to Play Mode. WRONG RANGE Push U or L-Tone Edit and select PART 1, Select Pitch and the display reads Part We Pitch in the right hand corner. Select the CORS parameter. If the range is too low set the value an octave above the one given (eg. if it’s C2 then set C3). Use the Partial Select buttons to set each Partial’s CORS parameter up an octave. If the range needs to be higher then repeat the procedure. If the sound you began with is too high then set each CORS parameter an octave lower. Write the edit or push Exit until you are in Play Mode. ATTACK TOO HARSH Push U or L-Tone Edit and select PART 1. Select TVA and push the right Scroll button once and the display reads PART 1 TVA ENV in the right comer. Select Ti and set the value UP by 10 degrees. Use the Partial Select buttons to set all TJ values UP 10 34 degrees. If the attack is still too harsh then repeat the procedure until it's right. Use the Compare button. Write the Edit or push Exit until you are in Play Mode. RINGS OUT TOO QUICKLY Push U or L-Tone Edit and select PART 1. Select TVA and push the right Scroll button once and the display reads PART 1 TVA ENV in the right corner. Select T5 and set the value UP by 10 degrees. Use the Partial Select buttons to set all TS values UP 10 Gegrees. If the sound still dies too quickly, then repeat the pro- cedure until you're satisfied. Use the Compare button. Write the edit or push exit until you are Play Mode. TOO MUCH VIBRATO Push U or L-Tone Edit and select Common. Inside this page select P-ENV and push the Right Scroll button twice. The display ich Mod Edit in the right corner. Select LFO and adjust Down 1 or 2 degrees until the Vibrato effect is to your liking, Use the Compare bution, Wrire the edit or push Exit until you are back in Play Mode. ATTACK TOO SLOW Push U or L-Tone Edit and select Partial J. Select TVA and push the right Scroll button once and the display reads PART 1 TVA ENV in the right corner. Select parameter T/ and set the value Up by 10 degrees. Use the Partial Select buttons and raise all the Tl values by 10 degrees. If the attack is still too slow, then repeat the procedure until it’s right. Use the Compare button. Write the edit or push EXIT until you are back in Play Mode. TOO OUT OF TUNE Push Tone Detune and the display reads Tone Tune in the right corner. Look at the parameters given, specifically LTUN and UTUN. These are the fine tuning parameters for the tones. If one of them has a value other than 00, change the value closer to 00. Listen to the sound, use the Compare button and adjust more if you need to. Write the edit or push Exit back to Play Mode. TOO MUCH REVERB Push Patch Edit and select the Control page. Push the right Scroll button once and the display will read Output Mode Edit in the right corner. Select Rbal and change the value Down by a few degrees. Listen to the sound, use the Compare button and 35 decrease it some more if you need to, Write the edit or push Exit back to Play Mode, SETTING YOUR OWN SPLITS AND LAYERS Push UorL Tone Edit button/s. Select T-Copy and from the new display select the number value of the tone currently in the patch. Change the value with the incremeny/decrement buttons and you'll scroll through the all the tones currently in the memory, ‘When you find one you want, simply leave it on the display and if you want to change the other tone, perform the same procedure, beginning with its Tone Edit button, Once you've selected the tones, press Exit twice to set Key Mode and Split Point. Write the edit if you wish, ‘We'll cover the editing of all the parameters in the next volume inthe D-50 series. For now, this should get you started on making the instrument work for you, 36 Chapter 7 MIDI his chapter covers how the D-S0 works within the MIDI sys- Trem Tl outline the features and how to use them. I won't cover basic MIDI principles. If you find yourself a bit bewildered by some of the lingo. I recommend you read Making MIDI Work by David Crigger, published by Alexander Publishing, 4 MIDI Screens ‘There are 4 MIDI screens on the D-50. They display what the machine transmits and receives and some pedal functions you have conirol over. SCREEN 1 Push the MIDI button and the first MIDI screen comes up on the display. The four parameters are: Basie CH - This assigns the Basic Channel the machine will operate on. You can choose from 01 to 16. Control - This is a receive mode parameter. It's applied when the D-50 is in Mono mode. Mono mode divides the voices into 8 separate mono voices. Roland has equipped its newer syn- thesizers with this mode for interfacing with MIDI guitar control lers. The values are as follows: 37 B.CH-Basic Channel - In Mono mode, the Voice Messages are received on the Basic Channel. G.CH-Global Channel - In Mono mode, the Voice Messages are received on the Global Channel, one less than the Basic Chan- nel. MdeOFF-Mode Message OFF - Does not receive Mode mes- sages but is assigned to the set Keymode on the D-50. OMNI - This simply turns Omni mode on/off. Local - This separates the keyboard from the synthesizer section of the D-50. This enables you to control an external device from the keyboard, and not the synth inside, which can be controlled from another source, such as a sequencer. SCREEN 2 Push the right Scroll button and the display reads MIDI-2 The following two screens display 8 funtions. You can choose whether or not they will be received through MIDI from an external source. For example, if you are using the D-50 among a series of slaves, you might want to ignore some of the MIDI messages meant for the others. After - Receiving Aftertouch information: onvott. Bender : Receiving Pitch Bend information: on/off. MOD - Receiving Modulation Wheel information: on/off. Volume - Receiving Volume change information: on/off. SCREEN 3 Push the right Scroll button again to move to the next screen. Hold - Receiving Sustain information: on/off. Porta - Receiving Portamento information: on/off. Prog-C - Receiving Program Change information: on/off. 38 EXCLU - Receiving System Exclusive information: on/off. This implementation is used for the transmission of data exclusive to the D-50, It is used when linking D-50s for the purpose of Bulk Dump of Load, or accessing editing parameters from an external source capable of transmitting system exclusive data, This mode is often used in the storing of program data on computer. Screen 4 Push the right Scroll button to move on to the next screen. The display reads MIDI-4 Control Change. MIDI Control Change numbers range from 1-128. They are as- signed to specific parameters in order to access these parameters from an external source. For example, Sustain is Control Change number 64, You can assign @ a pedal on your MIDI transmitter to that number and it will control the Sustain parameter on the MIDI reciever. In other words, with a Roland DP-2 switch pedal plugged into your D-S0, you can control sustian on the MIDI slave modules when that pedal is assign to Control Change number 64. By assigning the pedal to other numbers, you can control variety of functions from it. As of this writing, only 6 Control Change numbers are being used and the rest are open for implementa- tion later. PedalSW - This assigns a control change number, (64 - 95) to the switch Pedal (Roland DP-2 or DP-6) plugged into the rear port marked Pedal Switch. From the chart below you can assign a function to be transmitted to an external source. ExtCONT-- This assignas a control change number (0 - 31) to the Continuous Controller pedal (Roland EV-5) plugged into the Tear port marked Ext Control. See chart below. NOTE: In all these cases the D-50 is the controller or transmitter of MIDI data. The receivers or slaves can be any synthesizer, drum machine, or sequencer that receives MIDI. 39 Control Change Numbers Now In Use: 1 Modulation Vibrato effects normally controlled by the Modulation funtion on a slave instrument can be assigned to the Ext Control pedal with this number. 5 —Portamento Time ‘You can lengthen and shorten the glide time of the Portamento funtion on a slave module with the Ext Control pedal when it is assigned to this number. 6 - Data Slider Some synthesizers will respond to this Control Change number. Whatever their Data Slider is assigned to can be accessed with the Ext Control pedal. For example, if the slave module’s data slider is controlling its filter cutoff point, then so will the pedal when its assigned to this number. Asa result you can brighten and mute the sound with the foot pedal. 7 - Volume Control ‘Simple volume changes on the slaves can be made through MIDI with the Ext Control pedal assigned to this number. 8-31. NOT CURRENTLY USED 64 Hold ‘The sustain funtion on the slaves can be controlled with the Switch Pedal when its assigned to this number. 65 ~Portamento SW ‘You can turn the Portamento on the slaves on and off with the Switch Pedal when it is assigned to this number. 96 -- Data Increment Any parameter assigned to the data slider on the slave instru ment can be changed through MIDI by /ncreasing degrees by the Switch Pedal. 40 97 ~ Data Decrement Any parameter assigned to the data slideron the slave instru- ment can be changed through MIDI by decreasing degrees with the Switch Pedal. Bear in mind that the receiving instrument must be able to read the information transmitted by your D-50, The Data Slider, Data Increment, Data Decrement functions can and will perform dif- ferent operations on different machines. Remember, MIDI is a constantly expanding technology. The control change numbers not currently in operation will be imple- mented in the future, That being the case, your instrument will only become more powerful with time Fora more detailed picture of how the D-50 operates in MIDI, look at the MIDI Implementation Chart in the back of your Roland D-50 Advanced manual. 41 The End This brings to a close the first volume in the D-SO series, I hope you're excited about the amazing possibilities that the D-50 af- fords, Much more awaits to be discovered by you. In the next volume, we'll dig deep into editing and programming. We'll build a sound from scratch and analyze a few already in the D-50. Y'll also include a few new patches for your library. So until then, don't be afraid to be different. DW 42 ~~ SWVNANOL-1 rae ~~ aINVN ANOL- 0. 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