Adding new "custom" sounds

[ABGgd]

I'm looking at getting the FA-08 as my first keyboard. It seems to do everything I want. What's not clear after reading the manuals is whether I would be able to add new instruments beyond whatever Roland decides to offer on Axial? Is it possible for third parties make their own tones/patches (sorry I'm still not up to speed on all the terminology) or is the keyboard limited to what Roland provides?

[piaknowguy]

Welcome to the forum, ABGgd!

You will have access to what Roland provides on the Axial website as well as the extensive sound-edit capabilities found on the FA. You will find that there are 5 different editing sections, each allocated to a particular type of sound engine -

SuperNATURAL Acoustic Tone (SN-A)
SuperNATURAL Synth Tone (SN-S)
SuperNATURAL Drum Kit (SN-D)
PCM Synth Tone (PCMS)
PCM Drum Kit (PCMD)

Not to mention, effects editing.

Cheers!

[Quinnx.]

Right now unless clarified by roland or someone that is lucky enough to own an FA soon.
we will have a problem with creating or editing new or existing sounds
and will only ever be able to create a new sound Once, editing once used will be disastrous!!
viewtopic.php?f=55&t=47989

[Harry G]

For every soundengine the soundlist pdf speaks about user locations and they are all empty. So there should be plenty space to store your own sounds/edits.

[ABGgd]

I don't mean tweaking existing sounds on board. I mean loading brand new sounds that don't exist already. For example if I wanted add a certain kind of flute or 80s synth sound, is it possible to do that? It's not clear to me what the sound packs on Axial actually contain. Are they just parameters for sound algorithms already baked into the hardware or do they contain whole new instruments from the ground up?

[Harry G]

I think the sounds on Axial just contain parameter settings for the supernatural synth. It is possible to import your own samples but you can only play them from the pads. You can't make keymaps that can be played from the keyboard. You can play melodies on the pads if you have samples of every note of the sound. But as far as I know there is only one layer.

[specialplant]

The Axial sounds available so far (also for Integra and Jupiter) are just newly edited sounds with changed parameters based on the ROM waveforms of the instrument, so they are not really new sounds with new samples.
It will be different for the expansions for the two slots. These expansions packages will definitely consist of new waveforms. Some SRX boards contain more than 400 waveforms (e.g. SRX 06, 07 and 09). If the virtual slots function the same way as in the Integra, a slot both contains waveforms and preset tones, and you can also edit and store these tones on user locations.

[ABGgd]

OK, that sounds promising.

Will third parties be able to produce content for the expansion slots or does Roland keep that proprietary?

[PauloF]

OK, that sounds promising.

Will third parties be able to produce content for the expansion slots or does Roland keep that proprietary?

Most probably not, unless Roland opens up the "code" to 3rd parties, which is unlikely to happen (IMO, but I can be wrong..)

[Chrisk-K]

I'm looking at getting the FA-08 as my first keyboard. It seems to do everything I want. What's not clear after reading the manuals is whether I would be able to add new instruments beyond whatever Roland decides to offer on Axial? Is it possible for third parties make their own tones/patches (sorry I'm still not up to speed on all the terminology) or is the keyboard limited to what Roland provides?

The FA-08 is not a preset keyboard. It's a synth. You can easily create your own sounds and store them.

My first synth was a Yamaha DX-11 that I bought in 1988. I created my own sounds after spending 6 months to understand the FM synthesis (I thought I was going crazy). The FA-08 should be 1 million times easier to program than the DX.

[cminor]

the first step in "programming" a new sound patch is... ... go to the waveform oscilator and... put other.
You may find a new "game" that can take you nights without going to sleep, or days without eating :))))
It's very fun...
As example, take a slow pad that have a strings waveform..
.. replace the strings waveform with a saw, or even bell or trumpet, or other waveform that have a long sustain sound...
It may sound amazing...

[Quinnx.]

My first synth was a Yamaha DX-11 that I bought in 1988. I created my own sounds after spending 6 months to understand the FM synthesis (I thought I was going crazy). The FA-08 should be 1 million times easier to program than the DX.

FM synthesis can be a bit complicated to understand because it uses modulation to add character to the sound.
By comparison subtractive synthesis is a lot easier to digest. :)