Is it only one MFX (effect) per track?

[corvax]

Hi everyone.
Tried to find some info on this but could not.
Can I assign more than 1 MFX to a single MIDI track (or to a tone) in the FA Sequencer?
I was confused by the name MFX - Multi Effects and was sure that the FA will allow adding many effects (inserts) to one single track, like you would do it in a DAW where you can insert a Delay, Flanger, Wah, etc. but it appears that I can assign only one per track. I hope I am wrong.

[Jdoo]

Yes. Each Studio Set (and every ‘patch’ in the FA series is a Studio Set)… is comprised of 16 ‘parts’ - each of these 16 parts have one MFX. That is 16 MFX per set though. Each of these 16 parts feed out to Reverb, IFX->Chorus, Master Comp, Master EQ and the two TFX (Total Effects). All in all .. there is quite a bit of built in effect capability for each lane, and across the board (for a studio set). For a single one of the 16 parts though… you have one MFX.

There have been times when I wanted a part to have an effect and not have that effect… and ended up burning one of the 16 parts — just to have it without the effect. Not sure if that makes sense… but you have 16 parts to play with… which most of the time seems to be enough.

[corvax]

Thanks Jdoo!
I agree, one FX is usually enough, but how I can create the following for example:
say i want to have the 76 Pure piano sound with flanger effect and delay at once?
or Wah and delay where I could control the wah by a pedal?
Not asking about the reverb and chorus as these are TFX.
From what you say this is not possible?

[piaknowguy]

Hi Corvax. Welcome to the Forum!

Both effects are possible because the global chorus also doubles as a delay. Just highlight the Chorus on your effects routing screen and spin the dial.

Cheers!

[corvax]

Hi Corvax. Welcome to the Forum!

Both effects are possible because the global chorus also doubles as a delay. Just highlight the Chorus on your effects routing screen and spin the dial.

Cheers!

Thanks! Will try today

Cheers!

[stevel]

Thanks! Will try today

Cheers!

Corvax, just to expand:

If you wanted an Electric Piano with both Flange and Tremolo and there was no single "multi-effect" kind of effect that had both (and it is correct, you are only allowed one MFX per part), you'd have to put the Flange in as an MFX on the part, and then the Tremolo in as TFX on the Studio Set (or vice versa depending on the order you want and the availability of those effects as each kind).

I am REALLY disappointed in the effects implementation in the FA, and MFX in particular.

Roland idiotically made the MFX stuff basically inaccessible with the instrument itself, other than going through menus (for example, you can't simply turn a Tremolo on an Electric Piano on and off with the MFX - it has to be controlled remotely via a SysEx message, or you have to manually do it on that particular screen on the display).

However, I will say it's been pretty traditional in Synths not to be able to have chains of FX - instead they usually just allow one instance of an effect, but some of those effects themselves may have multiple components in them (like distortion, flange, and delay for a guitar type effect).

So the trick is to find the right multi-effect and set the parameters to what you need.

You should definitely be able to assign a controller message to control the Wah of a wah pedal even if it's in a multi-effect because you can select one parameter with the CC message to adjust (it's if you need to adjust multiple parameters at once where you run into trouble).

But yeah - don't forget the global Chorus and Reverb - they sort of give you two extra things.

Someone did post here about using the Sub Output to route things back in and in theory you could send a sound out the Sub Out, then right back in to the input, and then assign an effect with the IFX - so it is actually possible to get 3 effects on any part you assign to Sub Out without using a "multi" type effect.

Finally, you can switch the IFX to be "in line" with each Part but it's going to be the same effect on all of your parts (not unlike TFX at that point).

So you can also get 3 effects that way.

TFX - adds that effect to ALL 16 sounding parts.

IFX - adds that effect either to the input signal coming in the jack, or, to all 16 sounding parts (one at a time).

MFX - adds that effect to an individual part.

On a single sound (1 part, or "single play mode") you generally have 2 effects - TFX and MFX, and the possibility of adding a 3rd, as IFX (in addition to the global Chorus and Reverb sends).

The better thing to do would be to send everything out the Sub output in mono, to a multi-effects pedalboard or rack unit, and then back into the FA via the inputs in stereo, and then on out the Main jacks (which is where the audio in would go out).

That way you'd have real effects you could actually control....

[bennyseven]

Thanks Jdoo!
I agree, one FX is usually enough, but how I can create the following for example:
say i want to have the 76 Pure piano sound with flanger effect and delay at once?
or Wah and delay where I could control the wah by a pedal?
Not asking about the reverb and chorus as these are TFX.
From what you say this is not possible?

There are some FX chains available in the MFX settings.
For instance Flanger and Delay is MFX preset 66.

Coming from the Fantom, Roland responded to demand for more than the 3-in-a-row or 3 overall parts MFX effects.
Now the 16 MFX are known as 'too limited'.
What else should Roland do for a mid budget synth?m

@stevel: I hope I understand your description about IFX. But I think there is no outbound FX to look at. IFX is a Multi FX processor which could be internal included into one PART, and it is capable for many effects like combinations of Delay/Flanger/Chorus.
IFX is NOT TFX.

REV and CHORUS sent from the PARTS is not TFX.

Hope that helps,
cheers
BennySeven

[corvax]

What else should Roland do for a mid budget synth?
BennySeven

You're right, we are trying get maximum out of this little beast, but I must admit it all depends on application. For a live stage performance where you usually need 1 part you have a plenty of options of tweaking the sound and it is perfectly good. And again you may not need all these internal FX because it is better to use the rack FX.
On the other hand when it comes to use it as the workstation, that's where it is not as powerful as any DAW can be. I expected more flexibility here, but it is still god for quick recording of your thoughts on the go without having to turn your comp on.

[Neil ForestTree]

It's funny to me the discussion of limited effects. Until recently I was using a Roland XV-2020. 16 channels and only editable on a PC. I had to pay for expansion boards and I only had ONE effect for all 16 channels! So to me having a choice of a different effect for each part seems a real luxury.

Also, having the effect attached to the tone is handy because once you get the sound you want you can then re-use it across many studio sets. Whereas with the XV system you could have a tone that was good in one studio set but you struggled to get it to sound as good on another set because of the effects settings. The PC editor would take about 10 seconds to load a set, so cross checking settings between sets was a bit laborious and you might have already used your effect elsewhere on the new set.

What I do miss is that for each part you could set a key range and set a key fade over up to two octaves, regardless of which midi channel they are on. So one controller would all be on midi 2 regardless of how many parts it was playing and you could seemlesly blend sounds going up and down the keys. I know that's possible in the tone itself in the FAs but it would take so much more working out than doing it all in the set.

Still, I love my FA-08. It is still surprising me with what it can do and it is great for live gigs.