Connecting an external 88 board to FA-06?

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rolandagent£££
Posts: 22
Joined: 10:33, 7 February 2014

Connecting an external 88 board to FA-06?

Post by rolandagent£££ »

Scnario: roland has done a great job with the FA - you get it "all". But in an ideal world I need an 88 for live authentic piano playing but need a 61 keybed to make everything ELSE easier - synth runs, programming in drums and most other trad keyboard instruments have a 61 keyboard by default, so you see my dillema. Don't get me wrong Roland have got rid of the workstation stigma with the integra sounds and all that.

I am told anyway that you can connect external midi keyboards and control them as if the alien keyboard was physically attatched to the workstation - can the FA do this, how? Where in the manual is this, any reccomendations for midi keyboards that do this well.

Hopefully there are more cash strapped players who get the 61/88 dilemma. I don't even think the 76 keybeds solve the piano playing thing, as far as that authentic sound in terms of wide ranging arpeggios and bassy doubled octaves.

Thanks
anotherscott
Posts: 513
Joined: 19:05, 1 July 2010

Re: Connecting an external 88 board to FA-06?

Post by anotherscott »

I would assume you could create a Studio Set on the FA-06 and, for example, assign the piano sound to channel 2; and then attach an 88-key keyboard to the FA-06 with a MIDI cable, set the 88 to transmit on MIDI channel 2, and then that keyboard would play the FA's piano (or whatever other sounds you choose to put on channel 2 within the FA). That's usually how these kinds of things work. At low cost, you would be able to do that with something like a Yamaha P35.

If your 88 has the ability to create its own user presets with individual MIDI channel assignments, Program Change commands, and ability to split the keyboard and transmit on different MIDI channels over different areas of the keyboard, that gives you additional flexibility; you could do that with, for example, a Casio PX-5S, which also gives you knobs, sliders and wheels that can be used as well.
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PauloF
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Re: Connecting an external 88 board to FA-06?

Post by PauloF »

rolandagent£££ wrote:Scnario: roland has done a great job with the FA - you get it "all". But in an ideal world I need an 88 for live authentic piano playing but need a 61 keybed to make everything ELSE easier - synth runs, programming in drums and most other trad keyboard instruments have a 61 keyboard by default, so you see my dillema. Don't get me wrong Roland have got rid of the workstation stigma with the integra sounds and all that.

I am told anyway that you can connect external midi keyboards and control them as if the alien keyboard was physically attatched to the workstation - can the FA do this, how? Where in the manual is this, any reccomendations for midi keyboards that do this well.

Hopefully there are more cash strapped players who get the 61/88 dilemma. I don't even think the 76 keybeds solve the piano playing thing, as far as that authentic sound in terms of wide ranging arpeggios and bassy doubled octaves.

Thanks
Sure you can do that perfectly. Exactly what I used to do when I had a RD-170 and the Fantom Xa.
The RD-170 88 Key Dual MIDI channel feature enable me to play two Fantom instruments (Bass and Piano for Example), and the multi-split capability of the Xa gave the possibility to play several more instruments on its keyboard.

In your case you can do exactly the same.
Take a 88 key Dual MIDI channel (like the A-88 for example) to drive two MIDI channels /Parts on the FA and use the FA's keyboard to play other parts (depending on the way you split FA's keyboard).
rolandagent£££
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Joined: 10:33, 7 February 2014

Re: Connecting an external 88 board to FA-06?

Post by rolandagent£££ »

Thanks for the quick reply Paulo. I looked at the A-88's promo vid just now. But it gives the impression that to have the same Supernatural playing abilities on the foreign/external board you need to activate the supernatural link up button - stuck on the side of the A-88. In other words, is Roland encouraging me to not get a different brand controller / will the supernatural parameters still be recognized even if the controller doesn't have a roland supernatural "ON" button on the side of it. Thanks again.
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PauloF
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Re: Connecting an external 88 board to FA-06?

Post by PauloF »

rolandagent£££ wrote:Thanks for the quick reply Paulo. I looked at the A-88's promo vid just now. But it gives the impression that to have the same Supernatural playing abilities on the foreign/external board you need to activate the supernatural link up button - stuck on the side of the A-88. In other words, is Roland encouraging me to not get a different brand controller / will the supernatural parameters still be recognized even if the controller doesn't have a roland supernatural "ON" button on the side of it. Thanks again.
Sure, the only thing that you will loose if you use a different brand will be the ability to go straight to SuperNatural, but that IMO is not too important when you have the FA's own Part/Tone selection system at your fingertips
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