downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Forum for Roland FA-06/08
Post Reply
Stevecap
Posts: 4
Joined: 00:24, 16 April 2017

downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by Stevecap »

Dear Forum Members,
I was hoping somebody could help me. I am a bass player not a keyboard player. I purchased the FA 08 with the intention of importing keyboard tracks that are available online and then playing them through the sequencer. We mostly play songs by The Who. The keyboard tracks are readily available online for all of The Who classics. Can anybody guide me in the direction of a resource or take a few moments to post a step-by-step process for getting these tracks from my laptop onto the keyboard and then playing them through the sequencer? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanking you in advance.
Stevecap
AnalogHero
Posts: 50
Joined: 09:13, 16 April 2017
Location: Germany

Re: downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by AnalogHero »

Hi,

why dont you just plug an mp3 player or even mobile phone to the line in of your FA? Or direct to your amps or preamps? Dont want to sound rude but using a over 1000$ workstation to play back mp3s seems like an overkill.
Stevecap
Posts: 4
Joined: 00:24, 16 April 2017

Re: downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by Stevecap »

Dear Analoghero,
Thank you for your reply. No rudeness taken. I bought the unit new for $1800. I know that this is a lot of keyboard to accomplish my basic goals. When I purchased the unit, I was told that the process for putting the tracks onto the keyboard was very simple. There is a very real probability that I am in over my technological head. If I plug in a phone/ MP3/laptop, I still don't know what to do to get that information onto the keyboard so that it can be accessible for playback through sequencer. Playing the tracks with this suggestion seems to bypass the much-needed click track to stay on pace with the prerecorded keyboard files. I had taken to Craigslist to offer financial reimbursement for someone who can come in and give me a tutorial on this Or play the tracks directly into the keyboard for playback in the sequencer. After 6 months of renewing the posting, I have gotten no interest. I just found this forum the other night and decided to give it a try. Thank you very much for your suggestions. The feedback is greatly appreciated.
AnalogHero
Posts: 50
Joined: 09:13, 16 April 2017
Location: Germany

Re: downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by AnalogHero »

Hi,

i see three options there:

Option 1: Sample the whole keyboard track and then record a song with the sample playing back at track 16 which is the default sample track.

Option 2: Try to replay the tracks by learning the notes and finding a similar preset in the FA.

Option 3: Find midi files for your songs, import them and then delete the sounds you dont want or need live (Drums,bass or guitars).

All steps require you to invest some time. The results can differ very much based on your skills.

The original recording (if available) used in option 1 would sound the most authentic although the keyboard player has nothing to do than pressing one button. (play)
Option 2 can be time consuming as you would need to create presets to sound similar to the original.
stevel
Posts: 520
Joined: 07:08, 17 May 2015

Re: downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by stevel »

Stevecap wrote:Dear Forum Members,
I was hoping somebody could help me. I am a bass player not a keyboard player. I purchased the FA 08 with the intention of importing keyboard tracks that are available online and then playing them through the sequencer. We mostly play songs by The Who. The keyboard tracks are readily available online for all of The Who classics. Can anybody guide me in the direction of a resource or take a few moments to post a step-by-step process for getting these tracks from my laptop onto the keyboard and then playing them through the sequencer? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanking you in advance.
Stevecap
Stevecap,

MP3s are audio files.

They can't be "imported" into the Sequencer.

They can be imported into a "song" and set on one of the 16 pads. A sequence can then "trigger" that pad to play. That is Analoghero's "Option 1".

Here is a tutorial video on how to do that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iVV9b4pxMY

If you're going to be using "backing tracks" to play to live, there are potentially a number of better ways to do this, especially if you need a click track for the drummer to keep time to.

For that you probably want a MIDI file instead - that you can add a click sound to (or feed the metronome out to a drummer). It can be done with audio files too, but you'd need to put it in a DAW and add an audio track, and assign that to come out the sub output or something.

So there are a number of ways to do this - which is most effective depends on what you're trying to accomplish.
Stevecap
Posts: 4
Joined: 00:24, 16 April 2017

Re: downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by Stevecap »

To Analoghero and Stevel,
thank you for your replies and suggestions including the link to the tutorial. I have some time to devote to this over the coming weekend. I will explore these in detail. The easiest thing would be to have the pads assigned to the different keyboard tracks (That is what I was told could be done by the department manager at Sam Ash when I bought the unit). That would make it as simple as pressing the pad that corresponds to the song. What I don't understand is how to get any of the 16 preset pads , once they have been assigned a "sample" to play back along with the click track. I will check out the YouTube link and see if that's what it clarifies. The goal being to play them live with the prerecorded keyboard track in step with the sequencer click track playing in the drummers ear. Since technically there is no keyboard player, the keyboards would be set up behind the drummer and he would be responsible for pressing the preassigned pad that corresponds to the song to be played. Again, I am going to explore the different suggestions here over the weekend. If it turns out I am in over my technological head, keep your eyes out for a fantastic deal on a completely unused, still have the box, FA 08. Thank you for your time in providing me with this feedback.
stevel
Posts: 520
Joined: 07:08, 17 May 2015

Re: downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by stevel »

Stevecap wrote:To Analoghero and Stevel,
once they have been assigned a "sample" to play back along with the click track. I will check out the YouTube link and see if that's what it clarifies. The goal being to play them live with the prerecorded keyboard track in step with the sequencer click track playing in the drummers ear. .
The FA doesn't know what the tempo of the MP3 is.

If you load the song "Pythagoras" that comes with the FA, and press pad 13, you get a drum beat.

But turn the tempo knob and you'll see it doesn't speed up or slow down.

You could, possibly, tap the tempo in, or use some other device to find it, and set the tempo knob to that tempo.

For example, I just played that drum beat, and tapped the tempo in. It hovered around 140. But when I tapped it in, it came to 136, or 142, etc. So I set it at my last tap, which was 136.xx, and stopped the beat, made the click audible, and then pressed the pad on the beat.

Well, it didn't stay in time. So it's not 136.

I made an educated guess and assumed it was 140, and sure enough, the click stayed in time with the drum beat.

The problem is, you'd have to do this with every sample.

Now, you could do that - you could figure out the tempo of each sample, and the drummer could turn the knob and start the click before pressing each pad.

Lots to go wrong there during a live show though.

The better way to do it would be to open the audio file in a DAW, and add a click track in the DAW (and you could get the tempo as close as possible as well before doing that).

THen you pan the audio Left, and the Click Right. The MP3 Keyboard part will come out the left FA output, and the click out of the right FA output (assuming they're hard panned in the daw).

This will give you a far better guarantee that the right click is with the right keyboard track, and, will be synced up and will start together at the right time.

I would absolutely take your 08 if you didn't want it. You pay the shipping, and say, I'll give you $300.00 USD for it, I'm all over that :-)
Stevecap
Posts: 4
Joined: 00:24, 16 April 2017

Re: downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by Stevecap »

Stevel
thank you for your reply. I will explore these options over the weekend. I appreciate the offer to take the keyboards off my hands, but I am far more tenacious than that. It will take a lot more than this to get me to surrender
Skijumptoes
Posts: 681
Joined: 11:08, 21 June 2010

Re: downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by Skijumptoes »

More you say?

$301? :)
User avatar
Candy
Posts: 274
Joined: 06:30, 15 November 2008

Re: downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by Candy »

Read my thread here: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=52300

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

Re: downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by stevel »

Skijumptoes wrote:More you say?

$301? :)
Damn. You can have it.
Gatorjohn
Posts: 96
Joined: 15:39, 3 July 2016
Location: N E Florida

Re: downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by Gatorjohn »

stevel wrote:
Skijumptoes wrote:More you say?

$301? :)
Damn. You can have it.
Wait! $302!!!!
LivingEdge
Posts: 31
Joined: 15:17, 1 September 2016

Re: downloading mp3s into the FA 08?

Post by LivingEdge »

It's actually quite easy to do, but not if you're not a keyboard or midi synth player.

You might need to find somebody to play the keyboard and record the midi files, and you're done. :)


I'd shop around... fivver? -- I don't know. A band with no keyboard player. I'd find one if possible.


edit: anyone can do this (if they have the audio files) on any midi keyboard. You just need the midi files to load into your sequencer.

After loading the midi file into the sequencer, then save the song & corresponding studio set. You can use multiple song sequences with the same studio set. No need to mess with studio sets unless you want diffent pianos, etc.
Post Reply