ROLAND V-SYNTH (01) PDF Document

The ROLAND V-SYNTH comes with three manuals: Quick Start, Owner’s Manual, and Sound List.

The Quick Start manual offers a basic introduction to the ROLAND V-SYNTH, and provides simple, easy-to-understand explanations, allowing the beginner to quickly experience many of the ROLAND V-SYNTH’s exciting features. As you read the Quick Start, we recommend actually performing the described operations on your ROLAND V-SYNTH. This will help you understand most of what you need to know for basic operations. For feature details, and for explanations of advanced uses, read the separate Owner’s Manual.

To prevent malfunction and/or damage to speakers or other devices, always turn down the volume, and turn off the power on all devices before making any connections.

Before hooking anything up, make sure that the power on all of your gear is turned OFF.

Since the ROLAND V-SYNTH contains no amplifier or speakers, you’ll need to connect it to audio equipment such as a keyboard amplifier, monitor speaker system or home stereo, or use headphones to hear its sound. Use audio cables to connect audio equipment such as an amp or speakers. If you’re using headphones, plug them into the PHONES jack.

The following explains example connections that use mainly the MAIN OUT jacks:

1. Before hooking anything up, make sure that the power on all of your gear is turned OFF.

2. Connect one end of the supplied power cable to the ROLAND V-SYNTH, and the other end to a power outlet.

3. Connect the ROLAND V-SYNTH to your amp/speaker system.

To fully experience the ROLAND V-SYNTH’s sound, we recommend using a stereo amp/speaker system. If you’re using a mono system, however, make your connections to the ROLAND V-SYNTH’s MAIN OUT jack L (MONO).

1. Before turning on the ROLAND V-SYNTH’s power, consider these two questions:

• Are all peripheral devices connected correctly?
• Have the volume controls of the ROLAND V-SYNTH and all connected audio devices been turned to their lowest settings?

2. Turn on the POWER switch located on the rear panel of the ROLAND V-SYNTH.

3. Turn on the power for any connected amplifiers or speakers.

4. Wait for the ROLAND V-SYNTH to start up. When it has started up normally, a screen like the PATCH PLAY screen will appear.

5. Set the volume for your connected amplifier and speakers. While playing the ROLAND V-SYNTH keyboard, gradually raise the ROLAND V-SYNTH’s volume slider to the desired listening level.

Once the connections have been completed, turn on power to your various devices in the order specified. By turning on devices in the wrong order, you risk causing malfunctions and/or damage to speakers and other devices.

To ensure proper operation of the pitch bend lever, make sure not to touch the lever when turning the ROLAND V-SYNTH’s power on.

To obtain the best audio quality from the ROLAND V-SYNTH, we recommend that you set the ROLAND V-SYNTH’s volume to the maximum position, and adjust the volume appropriately on your amp or speaker system.

The characters in the display may be difficult to view immediately after turning on the ROLAND V-SYNTH’s power or after extended use. Your viewing angle or the current lighting conditions can also affect the appearance of the display. In such situations, you can turn the LCD CONTRAST knob (located on the rear panel) to adjust the contrast of the display.

The ROLAND V-SYNTH contains demonstration (“demo”) songs that you can listen to using the ROLAND V-SYNTH’s Demo Play feature.

1. Hold down [SHIFT] and press [MODE]. A window like the LOAD DEMO warning screen appears.

2. Touch <EXECUTE> to load the demo song data. The DEMO Play screen will appear, and you will enter Demo Play mode.

3. Touch the song that you wish to hear.

4. Touch <PLAY> to start demo song playback. After a demo song has played all the way to the end, the unit automatically returns to the start of the song and playback is repeated. To interrupt playback, touch <STOP>.

5. To exit Demo Play mode, touch <EXIT>. A warning window like the LOAD PROJECT screen appears.

6. Touch <EXECUTE>, and you’ll be returned to the PATCH PLAY screen.

You can also enter Demo Play mode by pressing [MODE] and then touching <DEMO> in the V-SYNTH MODE MENU window that appears. If you touch <PLAY ALL SONGS>, the songs will playback successively, beginning from the first.

1. Make sure the PATCH PLAY screen is displayed. If the PATCH PLAY screen is not displayed, press [EXIT] once or twice until the PATCH PLAY screen appears.

2. Play the keyboard to hear what the selected patch sounds like.

3. To change to a different patch, touch the patch number to highlight it, and then turn the VALUE dial or press [INC/+] [DEC/-]. At this time you can switch more rapidly by holding down [SHIFT] while you perform these operations.

Alternately, you can touch the patch number and drag your finger up and down or right and left to change patches.

1. Make sure the PATCH PLAY screen is displayed. If the PATCH PLAY screen is not displayed, press [EXIT] once or twice until the PATCH PLAY screen appears.

2. Touch <List> in the upper left area of the display. The PATCH List window appears.

3. Select a patch from the list. Either turn the VALUE dial or use [INC/+] [DEC/-] to select a patch. You can also select a patch by touching it on the display.

4. To view other patches, touch <017-032>-<241-256>, located at either side of the screen. To view higher-numbered patches, touch <257-512>, located at the bottom of the screen.

5. Touch <OK>. The patch is selected and the PATCH List window closes.

If you select a patch in the list and play the keyboard, the selected patch will sound. This is a useful way to audition the sound of a patch.

If your favorite, frequently used patches are registered in the Patch Palette, you can select them instantly by simply pressing NUMBER [1]–[8].

1. Make sure the PATCH PLAY screen is displayed.

2. Press NUMBER [1]–[8] to select a patch.

3. To switch between patch palette banks, hold down [BANK] and press NUMBER [1]–[8].

Patches in which different sounds play in different zones of the keyboard are called split patches.

1. Select Split Patch “017 120LpMixMenu”.

In this patch, the key range settings are:

2. Play the keyboard and listen to the sound. You can hear that different sounds are played in each zone (keyboard area).

You can apply a variety of effects to the sound simply by touching your fingertip to the Time Trip Pad located at the left side of the front panel.

Let’s select Patch “023 TimeTripRun,” a patch that makes use of the Time Trip Pad, and try it out.

1. Select Patch “023 TimeTripRun”.

2. While playing the keyboard, move your finger in a circle on the Time Trip pad. The playback speed of the sound will speed up if you move your finger rapidly in a clockwise direction, and will slow down if you move your finger more slowly. If you move your finger in a counter-clockwise direction, the sound will play backward. If you stop moving your finger, the sound will stop at that location.

3. While playing the keyboard, lightly touch your fingertip at the circumference of the Time Trip Pad, and move your finger toward the center. Notice how the sound changes.

Time Trip Pad settings are saved with each patch. This means that you can create the best Time Trip Pad settings for each patch.

You can apply various effects to the currently selected patch by simply moving your hand over the pair of D Beam controllers at the left side of the display.

Let’s select Patch “007 VoixBulgares,” a patch that makes use of the D Beam controllers, and try it out.

1. Select Patch “007 VoixBulgares”. The D BEAM [ASSIGNABLE] indicator lights, and the D Beam controllers turn on.

In this patch, the D Beam controllers are assigned to control the following parameters:

• Left: Vocal pitch
• Right: Vocal character (formant)

2. Move your hand up and down slowly over each D Beam controller as you play the keyboard.

Bring your hand down above the left D Beam controller, and the pitch (vocal pitch) of the oscillator 1 goes down. Bring your hand down above the right D Beam controller, and the formant (vocal character) of the oscillator 2 changes. Moving your hand over both the left and right D Beam controllers affects the pitch and formant simultaneously.

3. To turn off the D Beam controllers, press the button whose indicator is lit—[ASSIGNABLE] in this case—so its indicator turns off.

4. To change the behavior of the D Beam controllers, press the button whose indicator isn’t lit—in this case, a button other than [ASSIGNABLE]—so the indicator of that button lights.

In addition to ASSIGNABLE (an effect that can be specified for each patch), the D Beam can operate in any of the following modes:

• [TIME TRIP]: Time Trip mode
• [TIME]: Time Control mode
• [PITCH]: Pitch Control mode

D Beam controller settings are saved with each patch. This means that you can create the best D Beam settings for each patch.

By turning the ASSIGNABLE CONTROL knobs while you play, you can control the various functions that’ve been assigned to them.

Let’s select Patch “027 Synapse 1” and try out the assignable controllers.

1. Select Patch “027 Synapse 1”.

In this patch, the assignable controllers affect the following parameters:

• [C1]: Formant/Pitch
• [C2]: Time

2. While playing the keyboard, play with the ASSIGNABLE CONTROL knobs. For example, try turning [C1].

Turn [C1] toward the right, and hear how the tone changes and the pitch rises.

The assignable controller settings are saved with each patch. This means that you can create the best assignable controller settings for each patch.

The ROLAND V-SYNTH provides an automatic arpeggio function (Arpeggiator). When you turn on the arpeggiator and play the keyboard, arpeggios are produced automatically.

Let’s select Patch “002 Harp Trek,” a patch that makes effective use of the Arpeggiator, and try the feature out.

1. Select Patch “002 Harp Trek”. The arpeggiator will turn on, and the ARPEGGIO [ON/OFF] indicator will light. Since this patch is set to Arpeggiator Hold, the [HOLD] indicator will also light.

2. Play the keyboard. The ROLAND V-SYNTH arpeggiates what you’ve played. The arpeggio continues sounding even after you take your hand off the keyboard—this demonstrates the Arpeggiator’s Hold feature.

3. To change the playback tempo of the arpeggiator, turn ARPEGGIO [TEMPO]. Turning the knob toward the right makes the tempo faster, and turning it toward the left makes the tempo slower.

4. To finish listening to the arpeggio, press ARPEGGIO [ON/OFF] again so its indicator turns off.

Arpeggiator settings can be saved with each patch. This means that you can create the best arpeggio settings for each patch.

The force with which you play the keyboard, or the “velocity” with which you play, can affect the volume or timbre of a sound. Aftertouch—downward pressure you apply to a key after playing a note—can also affect the sound.

While playing the keyboard, move the lever to the left to lower the pitch of the currently selected patch, or to the right to raise its pitch. This is known as pitch bend. You can also apply vibrato and so on by gently pushing the lever away from you. This is known as modulation.

If you push the lever away from you and at the same time move it to the right or left, you can apply both effects at once.

To modify the pitch range of the keyboard in semitone steps (-5–+6 semitones), press [TRANSPOSE] so its indicator lights. Set the desired amount of transposition by holding down [TRANSPOSE] and pressing [+OCT] or [-OCT].

Pressing [+OCT] or [-OCT] transposes the pitch of the keyboard in 1 octave units (-3–+3 octaves).

If an optional pedal switch (DP series) is connected to the rear panel HOLD PEDAL jack, you can press the pedal switch to cause notes to sustain or “hold” even after their keys have been released.

If an optional expression pedal (EV-5, etc.) is connected to the rear panel CTRL 1 or the CTRL 2 PEDAL jack, you can use the pedal to control the volume or timbre of sounds you play.

Use only the specified expression pedal (EV-5; sold separately). By connecting any other expression pedals, you risk causing malfunctions and/or damage to the unit.

First we will return the settings of the currently selected patch to a standard set of values.

1. Make sure that the PATCH PLAY screen is displayed.

2. Touch <▼> in the upper right of the screen. A pulldown menu appears.

3. Touch <PATCH Name> in the pulldown menu. A warning window like the INITIALIZE PATCH screen appears.

4. Touch <EXECUTE>. The initialization will be carried out, and you’ll be returned to the PATCH PLAY screen.

The sounds of the ROLAND V-SYNTH are produced by six elements (sections). The Structure Type determines how these elements are combined.

1. Press STRUCTURE [1]–[3] to select a structure type.

When you select a structure type, its buttons light on the ROLAND V-SYNTH’s front panel.

After deciding on the structure type to use, you can switch each section within that structure on or off as desired.

1. Within the currently selected structure, turn the buttons of each section on (indicator lit) or off (indicator not lit), depending on whether or not you want to use that section.

For example if “OSC1” and “OSC2″ are both off, there will be no sound-producing section, and no sound will be output. The on/off setting of each section is also shown in the PATCH PLAY screen. Section names shown in white characters are on, and those displayed in black characters are off.

The oscillator sections produce the original sound, either by playing back an internal PCM wave or a sampled wave, or by generating an analog modeling wave.

1. Make sure that the PATCH PLAY screen is displayed.

2. In the lower part of the screen, touch <OSC1> (or <OSC2>). A screen like the Analog oscillator or PCM oscillator screen appears. If a different screen appears, touch the <OSC Type> tab at the left side of the screen.

3. Touch either <ANALOG> or <PCM> to select the type of oscillator.

4. In the Waveform area, select the wave you wish to use. Make your selection while playing the keyboard to hear the sounds.

1. While playing the keyboard, turn the following knobs to adjust the character of the sound.

2. Turn [LEVEL] to adjust the volume.

The Modulator mixes and modulates the two audio signals.

1. In the lower part of the screen, touch <Mod>. A screen like the following appears.

2. In the Modulator Type area, select the modulator type you wish to use.

OSC SYNC is valid only when OSC2 is an analog oscillator.

The COSM sections modify the sound in various ways, including filtering the sound. COSM differs from the Effects section in that while Effects are applied to the final mix of the sound, COSM is applied individually to each note.

1. In the lower part of the screen, touch <COSM1> (or <COSM2>).

2. Press the desired COSM type button to select the form of COSM. Make your selection while playing the keyboard to hear the sounds.

1. While playing the keyboard, turn the following knobs to modify the sound.

You can adjust the way in which the patch’s volume changes over time, or modify the attack or decay of the sound.

1. In the lower part of the screen, touch <TVA>. A screen like the following appears.

2. Use the TVA sliders located in the lower right of the panel to adjust the shape of each note’s volume. “ENVELOPE” in the lower right of the screen shows a graphical representation of the envelope produced by the current settings.

For example, if you shorten a note’s attack time and lengthen its release time, the note’s volume may be shaped like a note on a piano. If the sustain level is at maximum, it may sound like an organ, and if the attack time is long, it may sound like a string section.

Since the ROLAND V-SYNTH effects have such a profound impact on its sounds, turn them on to listen to the sound itself so you can better evaluate the changes you’re making. Actually, sometimes just changing effects settings can give you the sound you want. Three separate effects are always available in the ROLAND V-SYNTH. You can independently edit each effect’s settings.

Before you save your patch, give it a new name as follows.

1. Make sure that the patch you want to name is selected.

2. Touch <▼> in the upper right of the screen. A pulldown menu appears.

3. Touch <PATCH Name> in the pulldown menu. The PATCH Name window appears.

4. Enter a name into the text box by touching the desired characters. For this example, let’s enter “My Patch1” as the currently selected patch’s name.

• 4-1. Touch <Clear> to erase all characters from the text box.
• 4-2. Touch <SHIFT> to turn it on, and then touch <M> to enter a capital “M.”
• 4-3. Touch <SHIFT> to turn it off, and then touch <y> to enter a lowercase “y.”
• 4-4. Touch <→> to move the cursor one character to the right.
• 4-5. Touch <SHIFT> to turn it on, and then touch <P> to enter “P.”
• 4-6. Touch <SHIFT> to turn it off, and then successively touch <a><t><c><h><1>.

7. When you’ve finished entering the name, touch <OK> to close the PATCH Name window.

After you have assigned a name to the patch, save it in patch number 512.

1. Make sure that the patch you want to save is selected.

2. Touch <▼> in the upper left area of the display. A pulldown menu appears.

3. Touch <PATCH Write> in the pulldown menu. The PATCH Write window appears.

4. To select the memory location in which the patch is to be saved, turn the VALUE dial to select 512.

5. Touch <Execute>.

When you save your own patches, you replace the factory patches. If you wish to restore the original patches, use the Factory Reset operation.

1. Before you turn off the power, consider these two questions:

• Have the volume controls for the ROLAND V-SYNTH and all connected audio devices been turned to their lowest settings?
• Have you saved your ROLAND V-SYNTH sounds or other data you’ve created?

2. Turn off the power for all connected audio devices.

3. Turn off the POWER switch located on the rear panel of the ROLAND V-SYNTH.