Hey Ski,
Yes the raw organ tones in the FA are really good. I'm not surprised they sound good through a real Leslie! They do however have a shrillness in the high register, but I bet that mellows through a real Leslie.
I did a Doors set at a highly respected club here and the sound man tipped me off that my sounds were all bass heavy. He said he adjusted but recommended I take a look at it and he was right. I had dialed in my sounds with headphones which colored them, now I use my gig amplification to edit sounds.
This weekend I'll be running my FA through my Vent and tweaking away.
Thanks for the Tone Knob tip.
Regards,
Joe
How are your FAs doing so far?
Re: How are your FAs doing so far?
I bought mine as a replacement for my old XP80 and I'm completely in love with it. It met all of my expectations, save one thing - no pattern based sequencer like the XP80. The linear sequencer is great and is arguably a step up from a pattern based sequencer, but for me pattern based sequencers are faster and easier to use on workstations (small screen, no mouse). Still, you can't have everything, and I've gotten pretty good with the FA's sequencer. Just took some getting used to.
Re: How are your FAs doing so far?
There is a lot to like about the FA. Great sound overall and a great feature set. I have a few gripes. The patches taken directly from XP-50/80 are thin. They sound noticeably fuller on my XP-50. EQ helps to solve most of that. The rotating speaker effect is terrible in mono. In stereo, it sounds very close to my VK-8. But in mono I tweaked for quite a while before getting one somewhat passable Leslie sound for mono P.A. system usage. I have the FA-06 and the keyboard just isn't up to Roland's traditional standard. The touch response is nowhere near as consistent as their older keyboards made in Hamamatsu (AFAIK FA has Chinese keyboard). Maybe it's my poor playing but I feel like the velocity scanning has a high jitter/error. It's also tough to get even response between black and white keys. The supernatural piano is too bright. It's great for fitting into a mix but not so great for solo parts IMO. I haven't found an EQ setting that seems to fix it. The EQ would have to be a pitch-following EQ per voice to fix it properly. So it has some failings. Some are related to the low price (key action) but some are ones that I think Roland could fix regardless of the low price. Having voiced my complaints, I think it is a great synth with great sounds, really deep programming available, and approachable user interface. It's a great value, a real powerhouse in a super-lightweight package.
Re: How are your FAs doing so far?
Mike,
For the Leslie sim in mono, if you haven't tried it already, edit the mic spread on the Rotary effect to 0.
Also there are 2 Rotary FX, and I found one is markedly better than the other (just can't remember which is which and I am at work....).
My main beef with the Tonewheel is the shrill high register, I have not been able to EQ that to my satisfaction.
Regards,
Joe
For the Leslie sim in mono, if you haven't tried it already, edit the mic spread on the Rotary effect to 0.
Also there are 2 Rotary FX, and I found one is markedly better than the other (just can't remember which is which and I am at work....).
My main beef with the Tonewheel is the shrill high register, I have not been able to EQ that to my satisfaction.
Regards,
Joe
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Skijumptoes
- Posts: 681
- Joined: 11:08, 21 June 2010
Re: How are your FAs doing so far?
Joe - don't forget you can add a TFX on top of your sound, it has EQ and Isolator you could try.
Also, within the effects edit screen you can substitute compression for an IFX, but that in line after your MFX and you have additional EQ/Isolator/Spectrum control - Spectrum is pretty good at taking specific frequencies out in my experience.
Not sure if the IFX saves with the patch or not though, TFX obviously doesn't, but i've not actually checked with the IFX - guessing it's global to the studio set as you can bypass per part.
Also, within the effects edit screen you can substitute compression for an IFX, but that in line after your MFX and you have additional EQ/Isolator/Spectrum control - Spectrum is pretty good at taking specific frequencies out in my experience.
Not sure if the IFX saves with the patch or not though, TFX obviously doesn't, but i've not actually checked with the IFX - guessing it's global to the studio set as you can bypass per part.
Re: How are your FAs doing so far?
Thanks Skijumptoes, I'll try that out. I know there is a great Tonewheel sound in there trying to get out!
Re: How are your FAs doing so far?
Brand new FAhead here!
I just got FA 8 as an upgrade to Juno-Gi. At one point or another I used to have all the better keyboards from the yamaha, roland and korg. I even had the Oasys tank but I divorced from Korg entirely. I still have Tyros 4.
I was quite reluctant, the Juno Gi while having huge palette of sounds didn't grab me with its quantity over quality approach, instead of having one great piano I've got 130 mediocre ones. I felt all my previous rolands did somehow sound the same since roland loves to recycle sounds for entire decades. (If I hear one more roland scat voices, I am going to scream - who ever uses that?), but I've got hands on FA 8 dirt cheap (about $1K us) so I said why not (I can still sell it later for the same amount).
I am EXTREMELY delighted, I had been mashing the FA keys the whole sunday untill I nearly fainted, tried all the EXP and their sounds one by one. (I initially believed those were outdated mediocre PCM but actually got pleasantly surprised - the orchestral EXP is actually something I would even pay money for).
This FA is very playable and super easy interface. I had not read the manual at all and could figure out all I needed to know so far.
Yes it bugs me that they did put a deliberate roadblocks to keep potential buyers for Integra, like only 2 EXP "slots" <- which is funny name invented to derail from the fact that all EXP would easily fit if they wanted, and the entire omission of some superaccoustic categories. I kind of expected that the FA would simply have some picks of the many SN presets in each category from integra, not that they simply omit the whole categories. But then, this is mostly a vanity affair, I would actually never use those sounds anyway, my Tyros have some exceptional acoustic sounds but I never play them either... because let's be honest, it is cheesy.
Also I am not sure yet how the 404 would be useful for me personally - I kind of liked and used the Gi multitrack but yes, using samples bring the FA more to the way how modern DAW works with sliced samples rather than entire track takes.
I just got FA 8 as an upgrade to Juno-Gi. At one point or another I used to have all the better keyboards from the yamaha, roland and korg. I even had the Oasys tank but I divorced from Korg entirely. I still have Tyros 4.
I was quite reluctant, the Juno Gi while having huge palette of sounds didn't grab me with its quantity over quality approach, instead of having one great piano I've got 130 mediocre ones. I felt all my previous rolands did somehow sound the same since roland loves to recycle sounds for entire decades. (If I hear one more roland scat voices, I am going to scream - who ever uses that?), but I've got hands on FA 8 dirt cheap (about $1K us) so I said why not (I can still sell it later for the same amount).
I am EXTREMELY delighted, I had been mashing the FA keys the whole sunday untill I nearly fainted, tried all the EXP and their sounds one by one. (I initially believed those were outdated mediocre PCM but actually got pleasantly surprised - the orchestral EXP is actually something I would even pay money for).
This FA is very playable and super easy interface. I had not read the manual at all and could figure out all I needed to know so far.
Yes it bugs me that they did put a deliberate roadblocks to keep potential buyers for Integra, like only 2 EXP "slots" <- which is funny name invented to derail from the fact that all EXP would easily fit if they wanted, and the entire omission of some superaccoustic categories. I kind of expected that the FA would simply have some picks of the many SN presets in each category from integra, not that they simply omit the whole categories. But then, this is mostly a vanity affair, I would actually never use those sounds anyway, my Tyros have some exceptional acoustic sounds but I never play them either... because let's be honest, it is cheesy.
Also I am not sure yet how the 404 would be useful for me personally - I kind of liked and used the Gi multitrack but yes, using samples bring the FA more to the way how modern DAW works with sliced samples rather than entire track takes.
Re: How are your FAs doing so far?
Welcome to the FA club :)
Delighted to hear that you're enjoying the gear. Yes (like all keyboards) it has niggles, however they are far outweighed by quality, bang for buck and creative possibilities.
Like you I had the OASYS (and much other Korg gear)
Like you, I divorced them :)
Delighted to hear that you're enjoying the gear. Yes (like all keyboards) it has niggles, however they are far outweighed by quality, bang for buck and creative possibilities.
Like you I had the OASYS (and much other Korg gear)
Like you, I divorced them :)
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Skijumptoes
- Posts: 681
- Joined: 11:08, 21 June 2010
Re: How are your FAs doing so far?
Hah, i too divorced Korg... although i still have a microkorg, there's things that little thing can do live that still gives me tingles :)
Must admit, i never had an M50 despite their appeal, one day i will pick one up, for nostalgia sake as the one that 'got away' i think.
Must admit, i never had an M50 despite their appeal, one day i will pick one up, for nostalgia sake as the one that 'got away' i think.
*Ahem*... It's... errr... getting a bit hot in here... I'm gonna go get some fresh air *Runs*. :)FPHam wrote:(If I hear one more roland scat voices, I am going to scream - who ever uses that?)
Re: How are your FAs doing so far?
Yes the small korgs are nice, boot up fast and still have some very decent sound. I still have the tiny sampler keyboard somewhere under the bed. It was fun on the bun as I recall.
I felt I had been really hoodwinked with the Oasys, the amazing keyboard with open architecture that will never ever become obsolete... only to hear from korg after few years:
"Dear naive idiot, thanks for $hitload of money, we are very excited to give you this news. We realized we can make even more money if we totally dump the Oasys and instead of firmware we build a whole new Kronos keyboard instead!!! Isn't that fantastic? Show us your excitement by how high you can jump with all your money in your mouth and you can even win a t-shirt!"
I may be a bit paraphrasing, but this is EXACTLY how I remember it.
Oh well, good times.... that was it for me and Korg. In fact since then I always bought only used keyboards and only for the price that I can always sell back + even a tiny profit. It would take me some 50 years of doing this and I can maybe become even on the money lost from Oasys.
Peace!
I felt I had been really hoodwinked with the Oasys, the amazing keyboard with open architecture that will never ever become obsolete... only to hear from korg after few years:
"Dear naive idiot, thanks for $hitload of money, we are very excited to give you this news. We realized we can make even more money if we totally dump the Oasys and instead of firmware we build a whole new Kronos keyboard instead!!! Isn't that fantastic? Show us your excitement by how high you can jump with all your money in your mouth and you can even win a t-shirt!"
I may be a bit paraphrasing, but this is EXACTLY how I remember it.
Oh well, good times.... that was it for me and Korg. In fact since then I always bought only used keyboards and only for the price that I can always sell back + even a tiny profit. It would take me some 50 years of doing this and I can maybe become even on the money lost from Oasys.
Peace!
Re: How are your FAs doing so far?
Hello, bought my FA06 as a replacement for the Juno-G (dead screen).
So far so good! :)
So far so good! :)
Re: How are your FAs doing so far?
Hi all.
Yeah, generally happy with this synth, but I've yet to find a goto Hammond organ sound. I've got the EXP-02 expansion. What's your favourite?
Chris
Yeah, generally happy with this synth, but I've yet to find a goto Hammond organ sound. I've got the EXP-02 expansion. What's your favourite?
Chris
Re: How are your FAs doing so far?
Chris,
Glad you like the FA. I have the 08 and have struggled to get a usable organ sound, mostly due to the shrill highs. There is a good sound in there, I know it's in there somewhere! The only acceptable result I got was running it through a MiniVent, but that doesn't help me if I can't hard pan the output because my Vent was modded and can no longer be bypassed. The raw tone from the FA is very good.
If you don't have an outboard Leslie sim try the different rotaries. There is one I like, it might be 21, I'm not sure. But I run it in mono, set the mic spread to 0, and adjust the accel/decel times and high and low speeds to taste. It's good except for the highs despite all my EQ adjustments.
Here is a link to a youtube vid. In the comments the guy said it was a clean sound off SRX07. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht9R3udud_4. Pretty good!
A good expression pedal is a key ingredient to the whole stew as well.
Good luck!
Joe
PS It sure would have been groovy if they allowed Leslie speed switching via the bender, they did that on the RD700 and it worked great for me. Not possible on the FA as far as I can tell. I even had an email dialogue with Roland about it, no luck.
Glad you like the FA. I have the 08 and have struggled to get a usable organ sound, mostly due to the shrill highs. There is a good sound in there, I know it's in there somewhere! The only acceptable result I got was running it through a MiniVent, but that doesn't help me if I can't hard pan the output because my Vent was modded and can no longer be bypassed. The raw tone from the FA is very good.
If you don't have an outboard Leslie sim try the different rotaries. There is one I like, it might be 21, I'm not sure. But I run it in mono, set the mic spread to 0, and adjust the accel/decel times and high and low speeds to taste. It's good except for the highs despite all my EQ adjustments.
Here is a link to a youtube vid. In the comments the guy said it was a clean sound off SRX07. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht9R3udud_4. Pretty good!
A good expression pedal is a key ingredient to the whole stew as well.
Good luck!
Joe
PS It sure would have been groovy if they allowed Leslie speed switching via the bender, they did that on the RD700 and it worked great for me. Not possible on the FA as far as I can tell. I even had an email dialogue with Roland about it, no luck.