Is this possible?

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Paul99
Posts: 117
Joined: 18:05, 23 June 2017

Is this possible?

Post by Paul99 »

Hello dear clan members!

Tomorrow I will receive my FA-06, but I have read a lot of reviews and seen a lot of video's.
So here's what I would like to do.
In my band only the singer can sing, The rest of us: no, not so much. So I thought of recording some background vocals at home and put them under the pad's. But I would like to play the samples with the keys and I have seen that that is possible. So I would like my samples to be played on the lowest octave keyboard part so that meanwhile I can use the 4 other octaves to play my regular key parts.
So before I am going to put a lot of effort in finding out how to realize this, I would like to ask to you experienced players: is this possible?
Thank you!

Paul
stevel
Posts: 520
Joined: 07:08, 17 May 2015

Re: Is this possible?

Post by stevel »

Paul,

Yes, it is possible. It may not be practical.

There are 4 places you can trigger the samples from:

1. From the pads manually.
2. From the keys manually on whatever part you assign the pads to.
3. From the Favorites buttons manually when set to virtual pads.
4. Automatically from the Sequencer.

For all of these though - and why I say it might not be practical - if your samples are more than a few seconds long, unless you're playing to a click the tempo of the band is likely going to be different than the tempo the backing vocals were recorded at. So even if you trigger them at the right time, they're going to "drift".

Something short like a "hey" or "ooh" will probably be OK, but the longer it goes on, the more chance there is for it to drift if you're not playing to a click.

And if you're going to play to a click, you might as well choose option 4 above and have the Sequencer (which will generate the click) trigger the samples automatically for you (and of course you'll have to record your samples at the same tempo that the click will ultimately be).

That's a little more involved as far as setting everything up but it's going to free up that bottom half of the keyboard (plus, there can be additional samples you could trigger still that you have time to get to).

But it's also easy enough to split the keyboard ranges so that you can do what you initially describe. If the samples are short or otherwise "untimed", it could totally work.

All you have to do is set the Pads to Part 16 (I think by default they are, and you can really put them on any part you want) and set the keyboard switch to "on" on that part, and the keyboard range to that lowest octave.

You just set your remaining sounds to the rest of the keyboard range and turn on the keyboard switch for any parts you want to sound.

When you get it, you should be able to load up one of the 4 factory songs that has samples in it and try it.

But please be aware that unless the samples are short, you're probably going to need to play to a click to get it to work well. If you're (or your drummer) not set up for that, this may be an exercise in frustration.

But I hope it'll work for you one way or another. If it doesn't though it's not the keyboard's fault - it's just the nature of playing back samples that need to be in time with a live band. You have to play to the tempo of the sample, not the other way around, and if you can't hear it to get the tempo (since it's not playing continuously) you'll need a reference point to stay in time with them - click track.
petroni
Posts: 13
Joined: 01:53, 19 August 2014

Re: Is this possible?

Post by petroni »

Hi Paul,

As stevel pointed out if you have a lot of backing vocal samples to add the best approach is to use the sequencer to fire the samples and sync then to a click track that you should send to the drummer.

I do a lot of backing tracking/vocal samples + step sequenced tracks with a DD cover band and this is really the most practical way to go. This way your drummer will have to play over a click track.

As the FA does not do sample time stretching if the backing vocal samples are long probably you will need adjust the tempo track of the FAs sequencer in sync with the sample time. This is the way I use to go.

Alternatively, you can use a computer program (maybe audacity?) to adjust the sample time to sync with your song tempo track.
Paul99
Posts: 117
Joined: 18:05, 23 June 2017

Re: Is this possible?

Post by Paul99 »

Hey guys,
Thanks for this great quick help.
I already noticed that this forum has a lot of great members!
Let me clarify that we are just a bunch of amateurs, playing for fun with a gig so now and then. So no sequencers, additional software, click tracks, syncing etc

I am aware of the possible tempo problems so the samples will be short. Just a thickening in the chorus where I keep the key pressed as long as is needed. I don't want to get messed up with strict BPM tempo for our drummer. Use of the sequencer is not an option.
I am also aware of no time stretching for the samples, but that won't be necessary since I will make all the acquired samples in the right tone. Simple example: in a chorus line like "I'm gonna loooooove you", I will make a background vocal of "Love" in the correct tone. So the sample will sound just like "Looooooo..." as long as the singer sings "Loooooove". Very simple but I hope it will kinda fill the gap which now is without any backing vocals at all.
I don't know yet whether it will sound good, but I just wanted to know if it would be possible at all.

Again, many thanks and also: thanks for all the other posts here. The review of the expansion packs was very helpful Steve!
stevel
Posts: 520
Joined: 07:08, 17 May 2015

Re: Is this possible?

Post by stevel »

Paul99 wrote: I don't know yet whether it will sound good, but I just wanted to know if it would be possible at all.

Again, many thanks and also: thanks for all the other posts here. The review of the expansion packs was very helpful Steve!
Thanks.

Let us know how it all works out - I'm curious to hear your results.

Hope you got the keyboard today - don't know where you are but here in the States everything seems closed down for the Independence Day Holiday, so no deliveries until Wednesday!

Keep us posted!
Paul99
Posts: 117
Joined: 18:05, 23 June 2017

Re: Is this possible?

Post by Paul99 »

Hi Steve, I live in Holland and the shops are open, so I got my FA-06 this afternoon.
I must say, it is kinda overwhelming. I am starting to learn the basic things, but it is very much. I first had to update my OS to v2.0 and that took some time. Now I am rehearsing and selecting a main organ sound to play with.....and there is right my first problem. I knew the organ section was not so very good because of the lesser Lesley emulation. So I heard a demo from a guy on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht9R3udud_4) who playes with a great organ sound and a very nice Lelsley setting: no too fast. He said in the comments it came form SRX-07 (but I think he means EXP02) and was without external Lesley (no Ventilator or Burn). It sounded great. So I uploaded EXP02 to my FA-06 and I didn't find it yet.....I find it still difficult to get my Lesley settings right....
My plan is to first select my sounds to play all band songs, and after that making Studio Sets. And after that I am going to spend time on the background vocals sampling. Although I have seen many video's, I have to start from scratch as a noob to first learn my FA-06. When I can handle it properly, I will definitely come back to tell my experience. At this moment I only have questions, I don't know how to do things....well...maybe you remember yourself your first steps. But when reading all your comments, you must be a natural talent! ;-)
stevel
Posts: 520
Joined: 07:08, 17 May 2015

Re: Is this possible?

Post by stevel »

Congratulations Paul!

If you come up with questions, post a new thread so all the members will catch it and a lot of people here will give helpful responses.

I will say the following:

Don't get overwhelmed - it's an AMAZING instrument.

Do what you said - audition the sounds, get used to the lay of the land, build the Studio Sets for your gigs, and then you can later start getting into fine tuning things - that way you can unlock the full potential of the instrument a little at a time rather than getting overwhelmed and frustrated.

Re the Leslie - well, it's notoriously not so good sounding!

One thing you should know though - on some organ sounds, the Leslie emulation is added as an effect - an MFX in the FA. On others, it's built into the PCM itself. Therefore, how you adjust the parameters and what parameters you can adjust depend on the way the sound is constructed.

I found, in general, I liked (or found more useful for gigging) the organs in EXP 02 way better than the factory ones. But I'm not a purist or anything so for me, as long as it went "warble warble warble" and sounded like the song I was covering, I was happy :-)

Enjoy!!!!
Paul99
Posts: 117
Joined: 18:05, 23 June 2017

Re: Is this possible?

Post by Paul99 »

Steve, yes I also think that the organs in EXP-02 are somehow better than the stock organs, at least to my ears. I had hoped for building an organ sound with the drawbars (I have several settings for special sounds on a sheet), but it turns out they are not by far near the real thing. The highest pitch is almost not to be heard and that's not with a real B3.
So why didn't I buy a Nord Electro 5, you could ask me that. I have given that thought quite a long time. But the Nord is twice as expensive and I think the FA is more versatile in expansions and different kinda sound possibilities.
So now I am looking for that one organ sound and the two right settings for two Lesley settings: one without distortion and one with distortion.
These are the days that 24 hours really is way too short. Could I have a couple of days with 48 hours? Please? ;-)
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