Hi guys,
New to the forums and you all seem a very helpful bunch so I was wondering if any is able to provide any help/guidance? Bit of a novice question, so please go easy on me!
I've owned an FA-08 since the start of the year and absolutely love it. I play in a covers band doing various styles of music so have a variety of different studio sets. The issue I'm having (and have done since day one really) is output levels. What started as a minor annoyance to both myself and the other band members is now becoming a bit more than that so I could do with getting it sorted!
Basically, there seems to be a lot of variance between the setups - i.e. a lot of the horns/lead synth sounds kick out a hell of a lot louder than say the piano/strings patches. I have tried regulating the volume for each patch individually, however I seem to be struggling to master it. I'm going to spend some time checking the levels once plugged into a desk however it would help massively if anyone could answer the following:-
1) Is there an master volume limiter for the keyboard, or does this need to be altered on each patch if possible?
2) velocity sensitivity - I've tried altering this in each patch via tone edit, however I don't seem to be having much joy getting it to work. I'd rather keep the touch sensitivity for the piano parts but for pretty much everything else I'm happy to completely lose it. What's the quickest way of adjusting it for patches where it isn't required?
If anyone else has any other pieces of advice or guidance on this matter it really would be appreciated!
Cheers :)
Newbie question - help with sound levels
Re: Newbie question - help with sound levels
Can't really answer your questions but I feel for you - I'm in the same boat.
I spent a lot of time trying to balance things by ear.
Probably the most effective way to do it would be to send the audio into some software or a portable device with a level meter on it to balance things out. Of course that's easier with sustained sounds than those with a hard attack that fall away quickly which by ear seem to be quieter because of the lack of sustain.
I don't think think there's a limiter you can apply to the entire device. The limiter is in the MFX for an individual part. Only if you can turn the TFX Comp to a limiter (there is a switch there that says limiter) would it work on all the sounds in that studio set. But I'm sure it's going to vary from studio set to studio set.
And I think you've found the answer to #2 as well - I don't think there's a shortcut. There's the velocity sensitivity for the entire keyboard, but you'd still have to turn it off/change it on a patch by patch basis for anything you didn't want it on.
I'm eager to see if anyone else has some workarounds.
I spent a lot of time trying to balance things by ear.
Probably the most effective way to do it would be to send the audio into some software or a portable device with a level meter on it to balance things out. Of course that's easier with sustained sounds than those with a hard attack that fall away quickly which by ear seem to be quieter because of the lack of sustain.
I don't think think there's a limiter you can apply to the entire device. The limiter is in the MFX for an individual part. Only if you can turn the TFX Comp to a limiter (there is a switch there that says limiter) would it work on all the sounds in that studio set. But I'm sure it's going to vary from studio set to studio set.
And I think you've found the answer to #2 as well - I don't think there's a shortcut. There's the velocity sensitivity for the entire keyboard, but you'd still have to turn it off/change it on a patch by patch basis for anything you didn't want it on.
I'm eager to see if anyone else has some workarounds.
Re: Newbie question - help with sound levels
Hi
I have the same issue with touch sensitivity and wondered if you had worked it out yet!
I'm also in a covers band and use a wide range of sounds. Got my FA06 a few weeks ago and been programming it and can't seem to be able to reduce the sensitivity.
Sounds are much better than I expected (hadn't demo'd it beforehand, but it's replacing a Fantom G6 so assumed sounds would be at least as good) and knew it didn't have aftertouch, but none of the similar lightweight boards do (grrr).
A little annoyed to find that the pad mode can't be saved with individual programs as I use samples triggered by pads in some studio sets, but need part muting on many others!
It's a great keyboard but loads of frustrating things too!
Anyway - any help would be appreciated.
I have the same issue with touch sensitivity and wondered if you had worked it out yet!
I'm also in a covers band and use a wide range of sounds. Got my FA06 a few weeks ago and been programming it and can't seem to be able to reduce the sensitivity.
Sounds are much better than I expected (hadn't demo'd it beforehand, but it's replacing a Fantom G6 so assumed sounds would be at least as good) and knew it didn't have aftertouch, but none of the similar lightweight boards do (grrr).
A little annoyed to find that the pad mode can't be saved with individual programs as I use samples triggered by pads in some studio sets, but need part muting on many others!
It's a great keyboard but loads of frustrating things too!
Anyway - any help would be appreciated.
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bennyseven
- Posts: 699
- Joined: 18:01, 19 April 2014
- Location: Germany
Re: Newbie question - help with sound levels
For both questions it is the best to adjust volume and sensitivity in the studio set.
That means for each PART in the PART VIEW screen: if the basic TONE is to loud, turn the PART VOLUME down to your needs. If key pressure is not ok, try different velocity values for hat PART.
Making changes in TONEs makes no sense for me. This is, why studio sets have the possibility to adjust many things around the TONEs you're using in the PARTs.
That means for each PART in the PART VIEW screen: if the basic TONE is to loud, turn the PART VOLUME down to your needs. If key pressure is not ok, try different velocity values for hat PART.
Making changes in TONEs makes no sense for me. This is, why studio sets have the possibility to adjust many things around the TONEs you're using in the PARTs.
Re: Newbie question - help with sound levels
It's not the loudness of the sounds that is the problem, it is the variation of loudness due to how hard you hit the keys that is the problem. If I was designing a synth it would have a single value for touch sensitivity for each part that you could easily adjust, but this doesn't seem to be the case with the FA. I've tried following the Manual but it doesn't really make sense, and what I have tried just doesn't seem to work.
Re: Newbie question - help with sound levels
Short instructions:bennyseven wrote:For both questions it is the best to adjust volume and sensitivity in the studio set.
Press SHIFT
Press PART VIEW (under display)
Press RIGHT 13 times
Adjust Velocity Sense Offset for every part
Re: Newbie question - help with sound levels
Brilliant. Thanks.
I'll try that out tomorrow.
I'll try that out tomorrow.
Re: Newbie question - help with sound levels
Doesn't work! It does alter the velocity sensitivity, but also seems to lower the overall velocity too, so that it seems like you are playing softer, which is kind of the opposite to what I want to achieve.
What I want is to be able to have a sound where if I hit the key as hard as possible, the note sounds as loud as it can. When I barely touch the key I want it to still sound quite loud, say at about 80% volume.
I think it may be possible to achieve this, but it would mean editing every partial of every tone of every studio set. Admittedly, partials can be edited together, but still a pain. And, there are some which can't be edited at all - GM sounds, one of which I use as it is a completely unique sound - human voice.
So, overall (unless anyone else has any ideas), I'm not going to bother, which is a bit of a pain, but I'm a reasonably decent player so I'll cope. Just seems unnecessarily complicated to me.
What I want is to be able to have a sound where if I hit the key as hard as possible, the note sounds as loud as it can. When I barely touch the key I want it to still sound quite loud, say at about 80% volume.
I think it may be possible to achieve this, but it would mean editing every partial of every tone of every studio set. Admittedly, partials can be edited together, but still a pain. And, there are some which can't be edited at all - GM sounds, one of which I use as it is a completely unique sound - human voice.
So, overall (unless anyone else has any ideas), I'm not going to bother, which is a bit of a pain, but I'm a reasonably decent player so I'll cope. Just seems unnecessarily complicated to me.
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Skijumptoes
- Posts: 681
- Joined: 11:08, 21 June 2010
Re: Newbie question - help with sound levels
You set the velocity sensitivity (For each part) into minus figures to get it to sound louder with less velocity applied.
Re: Newbie question - help with sound levels
From my personal notes on the FA-06... (and the top paragraph was copied from a post here, or on GearSlutz).
From the main menu screen, choose System, then keep going right until you get to keyboard settings. On that screen you can change touch sensitivity from light, to medium or heavy, and also set the velocity from real (responds as per the previous setting) or set a fixed velocity from 1-127. In addition you can change the velocity curve from -10 to 10, which gives a bit more control over the feel of the keyboard. Check the Reference Manual - page 97, which you can download as a PDF from the Roland website. It's not in the manual that comes with the FA, which is probably why you can't find it.
My FA-06 Settings:
Keyboard Velocity: REAL, Curve: LIGHT, Offset -4
Beyond these... I set the part velocity as mentioned in the prior two posts..
From the main menu screen, choose System, then keep going right until you get to keyboard settings. On that screen you can change touch sensitivity from light, to medium or heavy, and also set the velocity from real (responds as per the previous setting) or set a fixed velocity from 1-127. In addition you can change the velocity curve from -10 to 10, which gives a bit more control over the feel of the keyboard. Check the Reference Manual - page 97, which you can download as a PDF from the Roland website. It's not in the manual that comes with the FA, which is probably why you can't find it.
My FA-06 Settings:
Keyboard Velocity: REAL, Curve: LIGHT, Offset -4
Beyond these... I set the part velocity as mentioned in the prior two posts..