Roland A-800 Pro – Joystick "calibration"

[thiago.dalpoz]

Hi, previously posted in Keyboard Corner Forum..

Hi all,

I`m trying to understand if I have a faulty unit... bought a brand new Roland A-800 Pro Controller and found out the joystick has an annoying deadzone from its rest position, both up and down (confirmed via MIDI-OX).
It takes almost 20% of its range for the pitch start to be affected… I wonder if this also occurs in the flagship synths using the same joystick model…

I`ve made a video with clear data:
https://youtu.be/zl6Vwz3FXFM

Any A-800 Pro user could check please?

Thanks!

Thiago

[ee601]

I can't get any sound from your video, but I have an A-800PRO and I would say the first 10 or 20 percent of the pitch bend travel is less effective than the further reaches. A bit like modern cars balance the steering around the straight ahead to stop the car tram lining too much on a motorway (sorry for the car analogy but I like cars, a lot..)
Hope that helps...?

[thiago.dalpoz]

thanks for replying.
The video doesn't have sound... what I've tried to do is to show the MIDI messages that only begins to be transmitted after the bend reached a certain point (I`d say close to the 20% travel space).
Do you feel your pitch isn't linear? I mean: do you feel it works a certain way up to the 20% then changing after?

[ee601]

Do you feel your pitch isn't linear?

Err, probably. But I find it useful as it means a quick tremble around the centre point doesn't make an unwanted wobble. However, I've used these Roland style mod controllers for years as I simply can't get along with the Yamaha type with 2 forward wheels, or the Korg joystick with no feel at all.

If you're coming to it from another type of controller then maybe it's a matter of getting used to it and playing to it's strengths..? Or maybe it IS not functioning right - if you have a video with sound I could easily compare with my experiences if you like..?

[thiago.dalpoz]

thanks, we can consider sound starts to pitch up exactly as the midi message begins to change (between 6 and 7 seconds of my video).
tks buddy

[ee601]

That being the case I think that looks the same as mine...
Have a look here:

https://s.disco.ac/kwplqhtvhniy

Not sure if that URL will work here but if in doubt just copy and paste it...

[thiago.dalpoz]

worked fine, thanks!
I think its something from software and not really a misconstruction.... Ill try to fix it in the future. Thanks!

[kiskadar69]

This is not a malfunction, but an always-on software solution to avoid Pitch Bend "drifting".
For the Roland A-300PRO / A-500PRO / A-800PRO programmable potentiometers (R1..R9 and S1..S9), the user can enable/disable a similar function (see Roland A-300PRO +A-500PRO +A-800PRO Owner's Manual, page 55, "Virtual center click setting").