Need some help with reverbs and piano sounds

[Rikipip]

I'm having a hard time figuring out how to use reverbs properly.
If I hold shift and go to the edit things screen all the reverbs are set to 20, so I'll raise it and nothing happens.
If I then manually turn the reverb knob on the left of the FA a room reverb comes on .

Is that reverb set for everything. How do I for example have song 1 have a lot of hall reverb on just the piano and song 2 have a room reverb and less on brass?

Also when I create a studio set lets say I want piano with strings underneath the lower octaves.
I set it all up and hold shift and tone edit on the supernatural piano 1, I change the character so it's colder and mellowed and save the studio set.
When I load that studio set the piano is back to default on the settings, it keeps the eq I set in the edit menu but not the character etc.

So I thought that maybe I need to create different pianos and save them as my own piano, so I did that and saved a piano in user , but then I can't find it anywhere in a studio set as it's just the presets programs in there

[Skijumptoes]

Ok,

1. The reverb works like this:-

You have master reverb setting, which controls the amount, type and other settings, and then this can be mixed out at different levels to each part.

So, for each of the 16 parts you have an independent reverb level (i.e. amount of signal that goes to the master reverb).

I generally use the sound modify knobs on the left of the unit, the lower line i use to set the overall reverb level, and then when i'm on the part i want to adjust i use the 'Assign 6' control to adjust the mix of the reverb for that part (Which is the 20 you refer to).

It's nice and quick doing things this way. Generally that sound modify section, anything in the top 3 rows relate to the part, and the bottom row related to global settings, EQ, TFX effects etc.


2. Saving tones within studio set.

When you load a studio set, all it's doing is loading that numbered preset into the correct parts, and setting the sound modify parameters (i.e. cutoff/resonance adjustments, panning, volume etc.)

What that means is that the default tone loads up for each part. So, you need to make sure that you save the edited tone into a new preset, then save the studio set, and then it will load up fine.

Yes, that's a bit confusing, but just how Roland do things i'm afraid! :)

[Firebass]

So after altering the bottom row global settings what is the quickest way to get back to a default or starting sound? I have a tendency not to mess with gobble sounds during live play cause I'm afraid I'll accidentally apply a wah-wah or something weird to everything and not catch it till its too late. Need to have a way to recover my defaults quickly..

[Skijumptoes]

Depends what you're adjusting i guess, if you're editing MFX settings (As you mentioned wah effect) then the only true way to get back to the defaults is to recall the preset again. (i.e. Increment button, then Decrement to get back).

Likewise if you have adjusted global settings (like the reverb/chorus settings, or EQ/Compression) then you may have to reload the FA Preview studio set if you're playing in solo mode (Which sets a default standard environment for preset browser), or even reload the studio set, if you're running in that mode.

On a part basis, I think once you get the concept of how the FA Sound modify controls work it becomes quite easy to manage. The general idea is that the top rows (particularly cutoff, resonance, attack, release, pan etc. ) are controlling offsets, and that offset is in relation to the presets default values, so if you take a synth preset as an example, and let's say that preset has a cutoff value of 35, the offsets will adjust around the 35 value.

i.e. in this example, the 12 o clock position on the cutoff knob equals the default cutoff value of 35.

So, When you turn the sound modify knob for cutoff clockwise it increase the value, and anticlockwise, it subtracts from that value.

So, to get back to defaults on a patch level you can always return the knobs to to 12 o clock to get back to the original preset values.

However, the volume knob differs as this is a direct value, whereby 100 volume is around 3 o clock position.

[Firebass]

Great reply thanks. I never really thought about the 12:00 offset concept but it makes perfect sense.

[stevel]

I'm having a hard time figuring out how to use reverbs properly.
If I hold shift and go to the edit things screen all the reverbs are set to 20, so I'll raise it and nothing happens.
If I then manually turn the reverb knob on the left of the FA a room reverb comes on .

That is the reverb *send* for that part. - Basically, how much of that particular Part's signal is getting sent to the master Reverb.

Is that reverb set for everything. How do I for example have song 1 have a lot of hall reverb on just the piano and song 2 have a room reverb and less on brass?

The FA has 3 types of effects - MFX, TFX, and IFX. MFX is on each part. It is stored with the TONE itself. TFX is on the STUDIO SET, and each of the 16 effects go through this. So if you want Reverb on Piano on Part 1, and NO REVERB on a Bass on Part 2, you have to do it with TFX and store a version of the Tone with the amount of reverb you want.

Now, for Reverb and Chorus, there's a MASTER, so actually you can just store the Studio Set with the Piano sending say 50 to the reverb, and the Bass at 0. But the master reverb has to be up (6 Assign knobs easiest to get to).

Also when I create a studio set lets say I want piano with strings underneath the lower octaves.
I set it all up and hold shift and tone edit on the supernatural piano 1, I change the character so it's colder and mellowed and save the studio set.
When I load that studio set the piano is back to default on the settings, it keeps the eq I set in the edit menu but not the character etc.

Any changes you make to a TONE, has to be stored as a new version of that tone!

So I thought that maybe I need to create different pianos and save them as my own piano, so I did that and saved a piano in user , but then I can't find it anywhere in a studio set as it's just the presets programs in there

You have to scroll to "user" to get to your sounds.

On your screen that has 0001 Full Grand to begin with, scroll down under the name of the sound to where it says (PNO) Ac.Piano and use the jog wheel to click one unit counter clockwise, which should then say "( ) No Assign" (unless you've already stored a tone there.

If you notice, there should be diagonally up to the left something that now says "USER".

When you modify your Piano Tone and save it, pay attention to where you save it (which number). That's what number it should be in this user bank. If it was a SN-A to begin with, it will be in the SN-A User bank (there are ones for SN-S, SN-D, and PCM sounds as well).

[Firebass]

Am I right in assuming the bottom row controls the overall sound applied to all studio sets?

[stevel]

Am I right in assuming the bottom row controls the overall sound applied to all studio sets?

You mean the bottom row of the 6 knobs?

Sort of.

The Reverb knob there actually adjusts the overall amount of reverb available on the "master bus" which is essence, the reverb for the Studio Set.

But, what you have to do is "send" some of the sound from each Part into that reverb to hear it.

That's what the "20" is before Reverb on the screen right after MFX.

So "20 percent" of that sound is being sent to the master reverb bus (by default, I think all of them are set to 20 on user SS).

But you won't hear that reverb unless the Reverb Knob in the matrix is turned up.

1 option would be to set the knob on 100%, and then send as much of the signal as you'd like from each Part in your SS. That way, a Choir could have lots of reverb on it (100% feeding into 100%) whil a Piano in the same SS could be "dry" (0 in the on screen display).

This allows you to control which Parts in your SS will or won't have reverb, and how much.

Alternately, you could set the Knob at like 20, and then the on-screen ones at 100, or 30, or 55, or whatever. You're still feeding the signal of each Part into that reverb, but even if you send 100 percent of a signal to it, the end result is still the reverb is only "20 %" for the sound (so it's like a wet/dry mix).

Either way might be practical depending on your needs.

The setting for the Reverb knob is stored with the SS so if you switch to a new SS, it will be set at whatever was stored with THAT SS, not the one you just altered. IOW, not on the "whole" device, but on each SS.

The major point is, the "master reverb amount" which is the matrix knob (per SS) works *in tandem* with the "reverb send amount" on screen at "20". In order to get reverb on a sound, it must be sending some of it's signal to the master reverb. So if either is at 0, you'll have no reverb.

The other buttons work similarly - the Compression Knob has to have the Master Comp Switch on (and I believe the settings for that are in another window). The Chorus knob works like the Reverb - have to have it sending in the Part (which is by default at 0) AND the knob. The Tone knob goes with the Master EQ (which again is set on another page) and the TFX switch has to be on for the 2 TFX knobs to do anything.

Probably the biggest difference is that Reverb and Chorus have the send controls on the screen, while the rest all have settings on another screen and only a switch to turn them on or off on the main effects edit screen.

The main row of buttons under the screen can be used to select each of the sub-screens for Verb, Chorus, TFX, and EQ (comp you have to set elsewhere).

HTH,
Steve