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Roland V-Combo VR-09


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The editor provides a way for your computer to have more control over your VR09. I think you're looking for the reverse, a way for the VR09 to have more control over your computer (VSTs), so I don't think this will help you. The VR-09 isn't a great VST controller, and CTRLR isn't going to change that, AFAIK.

 

If you want a 9-slider controller with built-in synth sounds, you could look at the Casio XW-P1.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Stupid question might be, but i need to get an answer. Is there any sense to buy Roland VR-09 with Editor for MIDI or simply get AKAI MPK261?

The two have little in common other than having keys. Akai has no sounds and is designed primarily to use with computer VSTs. Roland has internal sounds, and is not well designed to control VSTs (drawbars don't send MIDI CC, etc.). What is it you're trying to do?

 

 

 

you can control (nearly) everything with sysEx. Also from VST.

take a look here: this is all with sysEx: ctrlr.org/roland-vr09-vr730-v-combo-editor. BTW the Editor app also runs as VST.

 

This sounds like it can control VST with faders etc. Or i get it wrong. I dunno

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This sounds like it can control VST with faders etc. Or i get it wrong. I dunno

 

 

Hi,

- every 'knob', slider, menu option (with exception of the keyboard-split button) of the VR sends and receives (fixed) SysEx-messages

- when the VR is running in 'tonewheel organ mode', each of the 9 (2x9 in split mode) drawbar-sliders sends/receives a SysEx, BUT with value range being limited to 0 to 8.

- when the VR is running in 'instrument mode', four (of the 9) drawbar-sliders send/receive SysEx with a value range from -63 to 64 (the other 5 sliders are silent)

 

to control VSTs you can use the VR as a 'muted' keyboard and theoretically assign any knob/slider to any VST parameter.

Using built-in SysEx-to-CC conversion of the VSThost or external software like BOME midi translator you are able to build 'conversion sets' to match the VR-sysex signals to e.g. the CC-signals of a (set of) VST-plugins.

BUT you'll never have the flexibility of a real midi controller. Example: to switch sounds you can match (built-in conversion or BOME) the 'Program-Change-SysEx' of a VR-sound, e.g. 'Grand Piano' to a corresponding VST-sound, but pushing the Grand-Piano-button on the VR will e.g. also send a 'hall'-sysEx, and if the 'hall-knob' already has been matched to a, lets say, LFO-frequency of a VST-synth, things will start to get funny :)

 

The the VR is fully midi controllable but is clearly not build as a midi controller.

If you want a 'stand-alone/solo instrument' that is also capable of controlling a bit of VST (e.g. I connect the VR - drawbars, leslie/overdrive knobs etc - to the virtual tonewheel VST "VB3" and send the VST sound back to the VR-audio-in - which transforms the VR into the world best B3-clone :) ) or just play VST notes while using the laptop monitor for controls, the VR will do the job. But as a full controller, I'd say no.

Note: the VR keybed has no aftertouch !

 

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you can control (nearly) everything with sysEx. Also from VST.

This sounds like it can control VST with faders etc. Or i get it wrong. I dunno

 

That quote says you can control your VR-09 with sysex, and from VST. But controlling a VR-09 from VST is the opposite of controlling a VST from the VR-09.

 

(Though as Franky has posted, there are some somewhat complicated and limited ways to do that as well, having nothing to do with CTRLR. As I posted earlier, the VR-09 isn't a great VST controller, and CTRLR isn't going to change that).

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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you can control (nearly) everything with sysEx. Also from VST.

This sounds like it can control VST with faders etc. Or i get it wrong. I dunno

 

That quote says you can control your VR-09 with sysex, and from VST. But controlling a VR-09 from VST is the opposite of controlling a VST from the VR-09.

 

(Though as Franky has posted, there are some somewhat complicated and limited ways to do that as well, having nothing to do with CTRLR. As I posted earlier, the VR-09 isn't a great VST controller, and CTRLR isn't going to change that).

 

Yeah but it quite can do MIDI job. That what i need with nice standalone built-in sounds.

 

This sounds like it can control VST with faders etc. Or i get it wrong. I dunno

 

 

Hi,

- every 'knob', slider, menu option (with exception of the keyboard-split button) of the VR sends and receives (fixed) SysEx-messages

- when the VR is running in 'tonewheel organ mode', each of the 9 (2x9 in split mode) drawbar-sliders sends/receives a SysEx, BUT with value range being limited to 0 to 8.

- when the VR is running in 'instrument mode', four (of the 9) drawbar-sliders send/receive SysEx with a value range from -63 to 64 (the other 5 sliders are silent)

 

to control VSTs you can use the VR as a 'muted' keyboard and theoretically assign any knob/slider to any VST parameter.

Using built-in SysEx-to-CC conversion of the VSThost or external software like BOME midi translator you are able to build 'conversion sets' to match the VR-sysex signals to e.g. the CC-signals of a (set of) VST-plugins.

BUT you'll never have the flexibility of a real midi controller. Example: to switch sounds you can match (built-in conversion or BOME) the 'Program-Change-SysEx' of a VR-sound, e.g. 'Grand Piano' to a corresponding VST-sound, but pushing the Grand-Piano-button on the VR will e.g. also send a 'hall'-sysEx, and if the 'hall-knob' already has been matched to a, lets say, LFO-frequency of a VST-synth, things will start to get funny :)

 

The the VR is fully midi controllable but is clearly not build as a midi controller.

If you want a 'stand-alone/solo instrument' that is also capable of controlling a bit of VST (e.g. I connect the VR - drawbars, leslie/overdrive knobs etc - to the virtual tonewheel VST "VB3" and send the VST sound back to the VR-audio-in - which transforms the VR into the world best B3-clone :) ) or just play VST notes while using the laptop monitor for controls, the VR will do the job. But as a full controller, I'd say no.

Note: the VR keybed has no aftertouch !

 

And that what i need :) Thanks for that wide response. I guess, that is enough MIDI, like, workflow for me in this keyboard, but to have nice built-in sounds is priceless i think.

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The Casio XW-P1 and the Kurzweil Artis 7 are other moderately priced 9-slider boards with built-in sounds, which are probably stronger for VST control, because you have 9 sliders that send MIDI CC, and the full range of 127 values.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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I've looked on XW-P1 and it's large a bit

Yeah, it's deep. On the plus side, it does include a surface for your tablet or small laptop.

 

At about the same size as the VR09, you could look at the Roland DS61. When you hit the front panel DAW button, you can send MIDI CC from its 4 knobs and its 4 sliders (or outside the DAW mode, you could probably do the same kind of sysex dance you can do on the VR09, if you must). In terms of internal sounds, it's much more capable than the VR-09 overall... a lot more sounds (including expansion libraries), much more in the way of split/layer functions and effects, more user memory locations, better patch recall functionality, custom sample loading... BUT no clonewheel or SuperNatural VA synth, and obviously won't do the trick if you're specifically looking for 9 fader/drawbar VST organ control.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Why i stuck with VR-09, is that good price i've found on it. If Nord was cheaper i would get it :) And yes, i kinda into 9 sliders. And into wide amount of knobs like Moog. Nord Stage is no brainer the best on it but price is cosmic.

 

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Hi

seems that like go get this board, best thing you can do, borrow it from somewhere or buy it with a good return policy and try it for 2 weeks to see if it matches your needs.

Ah, there's one thing that might be important, processing of received sysex messages is a bit slow (i have no comparison to other boards if this is 'normal'), e.g. let's take the overdrive 'knob' on the CTRLR panel: if you do a fast sweep (on the panel), turning it from zero to full, the panel sends a bulk of 127 sysex-messages (values 0-127) to the VR. The sysex are kept in the VR buffer and the VR starts to 'process' them, but this processing is so slow, that there will be a delay of ~1 second (dunno exactly) until the overdrive effect will reach its maximum value.

 

 

 

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It seems better to me to get something designed to do what you want than to deal with the complications and limitations of trying to get something to do what it wasn't designed to do. If you're looking for a bunch of sliders and knobs to control a VST, how about just adding something like a Korg NanoKontrol? (For organ use, look for the original 9-slider one instead of the current 8-slider model.)

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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It seems better to me to get something designed to do what you want

 

Scott (?), I do agree 100%, I'm sorry, the first sentence in the previous post was corrupt, it should have been:

"seems that you really like to get this board".

I'd neither recommend the VR, but if the VR 'got into his mind' it's up to him to make the experience. He has all the facts now to take a decision.

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The Casio XW-P1 and the Kurzweil Artis 7 are other moderately priced 9-slider boards with built-in sounds.

I went for the Artis 7 as i was looking for 76 keys with better keyed. The VR09 looked a bit toy-ish to me and its big brother the vR730 was twice the price for the exact same sound engine and controls and although light, quite bulky. The Artis 7 seemed a reasonable compromise, i.e a bit cheaper, more compact, but still offering all organ controls and decent pianos and organ sounds. Good built quality too.

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Eventually, i'm in club :) Bought it finally. Pretty much happy with it, atleast now, haha xD I figured out, that XW-P1 would not fit at my place properly, VR-09 does it perfectly. MPK261 does too, but meh, it is my first keyboard. I got it with fascinating nice price, even it appeared new model VR-09B xD :) Some missing features i guess i can fill with iPad for compact aimes, will see. After sometime will try CTRLR editor.

Anyway, thanks you all for helping me smile Heading out to play some Deep Purple xD :cool:

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The Casio XW-P1 and the Kurzweil Artis 7 are other moderately priced 9-slider boards with built-in sounds.

I went for the Artis 7 as i was looking for 76 keys with better keyed. The VR09 looked a bit toy-ish to me and its big brother the vR730 was twice the price for the exact same sound engine and controls and although light, quite bulky. The Artis 7 seemed a reasonable compromise, i.e a bit cheaper, more compact, but still offering all organ controls and decent pianos and organ sounds. Good built quality too.

Yeah, I was surprised at how much bulkier the VR730 was than the nice compact VR09. A lot deeper. I wonder if the different action necessitated that or it was some other issue.

 

Split/layer capabilities, MIDI functionality, and patch selection facilities are big advantages of the Kurzweil over the Roland.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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With frank46's CTRL panel, with the excellent Registration Edit page, it has made my VR-09 a great controller of MainStage for gig.

 

Just as with my old Melas software for organizing my MoXF Masters, I can now easily organize my VR-09 Reg order. So I can just hit "next" on the VR-09 and it calls the proper MainStage patch.

This is exactly how I used my MOXF in Master Mode. Select the Master, and the MOXF called the proper patch in MainStage.

 

Also, as Franky mentioned, the VR-09 does send sysex. Simply starting up my Midi Monitor software, I can see each VR-09 slider/drawbar sending sysex.

 

I've used BOME Midi Translator Pro for other thing prior to my VR09.

 

It works great in taking the VR-09 slider sysex and sending it to MainStage as CC#

 

What I do when using the VR09 in the rig is I have some registrations that act like "Local Off" and only control MainStage sounds, just as I do with my PX5S.

 

So just as my PianoTeq and Arturia are running in the background, so is BOME.

 

Basically, depending on the gig, I either have my PX5S and Arturia Keylab running MainStage, or I have my PX5S and VR-09 running MainStage

 

With the CTRL Panel to setup the VR-09 prior to the gig, and the BOME translator during the gig, the VR-09 gives me all the MainStage control I need in a live performance.

 

Sometime I use all three (PX5S, Keylab61 and VR-09). In that case the VR-09 is strictly being used as a clonewheel.

 

When I am bored I fire up Gig Performer and run my rig that way :D

 

 

To complicate things, I am programming my Fantom X6 for a gig this weekend. PX5S and Fantom...no MainStage. Since Roland's editor won't work with High Sierra, I am using Midi Designer on my iPad to deep edit :)

 

 

I love software.

 

 

Oh yeah one last thing. In my non MainStage gigs, I use an iConnectivity audio 4+ so I can use my wireless Vortex 2 to play sound from the Fantom or VR.That's for another topic though.

 

One thing I want to say is that as complicated all this is under the hood, guys like frank46, the GigPerformer guys, and all these other software designers are making it simple for the end user to do what we want, want the boards we use have limitations or we want to use them in ways for which they were not designed.

 

Ok two things I want to say: the later it gets, the more verbose I get. :hitt:

 

:keynana:

David

Gig Rig:Casio Privia PX-5S | Yamaha MODX+ 6 | MacBook Pro 14" M1| Mainstage

 

 

 

 

 

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With frank46's CTRL panel, with the excellent Registration Edit page, it has made my VR-09 a great controller of MainStage for gig.

 

Haha, that's it. It's like a dark horse, keeps unrevealed cool stuff.

I'm curious, is it any possibility to appear this editor on iPad? That would be unreally the best thing ever.

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I've used BOME Midi Translator Pro for other thing prior to my VR09.

It works great in taking the VR-09 slider sysex and sending it to MainStage as CC#

 

note, there's a task in the Editor todo-in-future-list 'integrating basic BOME-functionality' - no arithmetics, only transforming VR-SysEx to CC and vice versa, e.g. for controlling the VB3 VST-plugin without running an additional midi-translator like BOME.

 

 

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Announcement: development of update 1.12(8)

 

Hi, this is only a release information, Editor version 1.12(8) implementation just kicked off. It will contain:

 

1. GM2-Tab:

- fix FATAL BUG: soundnames do not correspond to sounds (mea culpa, this should not have happened...)

- fix: nonfunctional portamento-switch (workaround fixing VR firmware bug)

- new GM2-effects (hall, octave shift, pitch bend)

 

2. SYNTHESIZER-tab:

on ctrlr.org, user lloyd had the A*M*A*Z*I*N*G idea to try sysEx effects from the JD-Xi midi specification.

Folks - they work on the VR !

So the SYNTHESIZER will be upgraded with yet 'hidden' effects (going beyond the iPad app - one day Roland will send a ninja killer commando...), e.g. "LFO pan" (oscillating left-right speaker), "analog feel" (a kind of chorus) and all the additional stuff from JD-Xi,XA etc that hopefully work on the VR.

 

 

f

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Announcement: development of update 1.12(8)

 

2. SYNTHESIZER-tab:

on ctrlr.org, user lloyd had the A*M*A*Z*I*N*G idea to try sysEx effects from the JD-Xi midi specification.

Folks - they work on the VR !

So the SYNTHESIZER will be upgraded with yet 'hidden' effects (going beyond the iPad app - one day Roland will send a ninja killer commando...), e.g. "LFO pan" (oscillating left-right speaker), "analog feel" (a kind of chorus) and all the additional stuff from JD-Xi,XA etc that hopefully work on the VR.

 

 

f

 

awesome job franky!!! thanks to your panel I'm using once again my VR-09, now it's little bit less a " cumbersome" experience trying to program or manage setlists and patches beyond the preset ones!!

 

:keynana::2thu::drool:

 

 

 

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Astounding work! Does this mean we might be able to change things like delay feedback and wetness amounts or hexachorus params?

 

I'm afraid no ... even JD-XA/Xi do not have this :)

 

SYNTHESIZER-tab:

Portamento:normal/legato switch

Mono:staccato/legato switch

Analog feel

OSC: pulsewith-shift for pulse-wave

OSC: PCM wave gain

FILTER: HPF cutoff

FILTER: Velocity sensitiv

AMP: key follow

LFO panpot

LFO keytrigger

LFO-Modulation panpot

 

GM2-tab:

fix: sound patch selection

+ added ~ 30 GM-Drumkits (kits are used by builtin rhythms or midi songs)

+ hall

+ octave shift

+ pitch range

+ pitch bend

+ mono/poly

+ global reset of all GM2-parameters for all channels

 

Atelier-tab:

fixed drum sets

 

V-Keyboard-tab:

+ GM-drumkit selector for changing drumkits on build-in rhythms + midi songs

+ volume, chorus and reverb for GM-drumkits

 

 

 

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Astounding work! Does this mean we might be able to change things like delay feedback and wetness amounts or hexachorus params?

 

I'm afraid no ... even JD-XA/Xi do not have this :)

 

SYNTHESIZER-tab:

Portamento:normal/legato switch

Mono:staccato/legato switch

Analog feel

OSC: pulsewith-shift for pulse-wave

OSC: PCM wave gain

FILTER: HPF cutoff

FILTER: Velocity sensitiv

AMP: key follow

LFO panpot

LFO keytrigger

LFO-Modulation panpot

 

GM2-tab:

fix: sound patch selection

+ added ~ 30 GM-Drumkits (kits are used by builtin rhythms or midi songs)

+ hall

+ octave shift

+ pitch range

+ pitch bend

+ mono/poly

+ global reset of all GM2-parameters for all channels

 

Atelier-tab:

fixed drum sets

 

V-Keyboard-tab:

+ GM-drumkit selector for changing drumkits on build-in rhythms + midi songs

+ volume, chorus and reverb for GM-drumkits

 

 

 

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Astounding work! Does this mean we might be able to change things like delay feedback and wetness amounts or hexachorus params?

 

I'm afraid no ... even JD-XA/Xi do not have this :)

 

SYNTHESIZER-tab:

Portamento:normal/legato switch

Mono:staccato/legato switch

Analog feel

OSC: pulsewith-shift for pulse-wave

OSC: PCM wave gain

FILTER: HPF cutoff

FILTER: Velocity sensitiv

AMP: key follow

LFO panpot

LFO keytrigger

LFO-Modulation panpot

 

GM2-tab:

fix: sound patch selection

+ added ~ 30 GM-Drumkits (kits are used by builtin rhythms or midi songs)

+ hall

+ octave shift

+ pitch range

+ pitch bend

+ mono/poly

+ global reset of all GM2-parameters for all channels

 

Atelier-tab:

fixed drum sets

 

V-Keyboard-tab:

+ GM-drumkit selector for changing drumkits on build-in rhythms + midi songs

+ volume, chorus and reverb for GM-drumkits

 

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Astounding work! Does this mean we might be able to change things like delay feedback and wetness amounts or hexachorus params?

 

I'm afraid no ... even JD-XA/Xi do not have this :)

 

SYNTHESIZER-tab:

Portamento:normal/legato switch

Mono:staccato/legato switch

Analog feel

OSC: pulsewith-shift for pulse-wave

OSC: PCM wave gain

FILTER: HPF cutoff

FILTER: Velocity sensitiv

AMP: key follow

LFO panpot

LFO keytrigger

LFO-Modulation panpot

 

GM2-tab:

fix: sound patch selection

+ added ~ 30 GM-Drumkits (kits are used by builtin rhythms or midi songs)

+ hall

+ octave shift

+ pitch range

+ pitch bend

+ mono/poly

+ global reset of all GM2-parameters for all channels

 

Atelier-tab:

fixed drum sets

 

V-Keyboard-tab:

+ GM-drumkit selector for changing drumkits on build-in rhythms + midi songs

+ volume, chorus and reverb for GM-drumkits

 

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on ctrlr.org, user lloyd had the A*M*A*Z*I*N*G idea to try sysEx effects from the JD-Xi midi specification.

 

First of all, thanks for credit... but, even if I had the idea, you are the one who is developing it, so thanks for all the work you're doing!! :cheers:

 

Astounding work! Does this mean we might be able to change things like delay feedback and wetness amounts or hexachorus params?

 

I'm afraid no ... even JD-XA/Xi do not have this :)

 

In fact, the JD-Xi actually HAVE the options to modify delay feedbak and wetness amount... so if both synths share the same effect processor it could be possible, but I really don't know... It might be tested.

At the other hand, hexachorus is not present in JD-Xi, so it makes me think that maybe the effect engine is different in both machines, so SysEx messages wouldn't work...

 

Anyway, Franky is much more experienced in MIDI and SysEx messages than me, so I'm sure he will test everything and he will find lots of new funtions for our VR09.

 

As I said, thanks friend!! :thu:

 

Lloyd

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