Roland V-Combo VR-09

[Kevmo]

Thanks again

Happy Thanksgiving to All. How many DOnt have a gig this weekend (Me)

[AnotherScott]

Ah, if only I was totally happy with the SK1! It's fast rotary sim doesn't cut it for me (too fast, and can;t slow it down enough...Now actually play it with the Strymon Lex and it's very good.

If you found a keyboard that does exactly what you want except for just one thing, and you can even address that one-thing with an add-on, I think you're closer to keyboard nirvana than most of us!

[garnermike]

Ya know, AnotherScott, I'm starting to believe you on that.

 

At this past week's 3 gigs, I tweaked, and got very comfy with, the new Strymon Lex that I bought 3 weeks ago to be my SK1's rotary sim. Went back to using my stereo Groove Tubes SpaceMaster SFX as the main amp, linking its low-end out to the Motion Sound with its 12" woofer. And I just got more and more content with each tune played.

 

I can do everything I need to do, and can get so very close to the quality and types of sound that I want to. Looking forward to getting back into it on Saturday!

[AnotherScott]

Went back to using my stereo Groove Tubes SpaceMaster SFX

SpaceStation, yes... I think that is a great sounding amp for organ. A bit heavy, especially since I didn't like it for piano, so it would have meant bringing two amps, so I didn't keep it, but I really liked the sound and the three dimensionality of it for organ.

[Kevmo]

Vr09 weakish output?

I used mine direct ( no Vent). Into EV eKevin x12p at a blues jam. I had to max the volumes but never heard any distortion

P

[garnermike]

Yes, SpaceStation MarkII (see at http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SFXSSmkII). I got one of the final hundred made, sold on clearance 3 years ago by Fender via sweetwater.com (after Fender bought out the GrooveTubes SFX technology).

At 32 lbs and at 18"x11"x11", very compact, and compared to so many other keys amps, not heavy at all in my book. And VERY loud, with a great stereo separation effect. The stereo difference between playing through it (with woofer support) vs. playing through 2 separate amps (even playing through my 2 Traynor K1s using their stereo link function) is all in favor of the SpaceStation. Fender is, IMO, making a big mistake not making/marketing these amps to keyboardists.

[AnotherScott]

Yes, 32 lbs is a bit heavy for me, but not so heavy as amps go. I think you're right, they may have had some more success marketing it more to keyboard players, who (for better or worse) are more geared to stereo than guitarists are in the first place. Sending a stereo rotary signal to the SpaceStation yielded one of the most convincing Leslie sims I'd heard, it really seemed to throw the sound the way a real Leslie does, rather than hearing it come out of a box. The Roland SA-300 with its "wide" circuit engaged is another one I liked in this respect.

[Synthoid]

Happy Thanksgiving to All. How many DOnt have a gig this weekend (Me)

 

Happy Thanksgiving back at ya.

 

No paying gigs here. But I am playing with the worship team on Sunday. Let the Christmas carols begin.

[Kevmo]

Does anyone find the vr low on output mono left line output.particularly into ev elx12p ?

[WesG]

I run mine into the mixer section of a Yorkville NX55P without issues.

[brenner13]

I run the VR09 to the stereo inputs of a Fantom X7 that goes stereo out to a QSC K12 which is mono subbed XLR out to a JBL PRX-15. I have just started utilizing iPad to the stereo mini in of the VR. No mixer required except for live shows, we additionally stereo XLR out of the QSC to FOH mixer.

I have noticed a slightly weaker signal for the VR than from my previous Yamaha EX5, but have not run out of head room running the VR's master volume at about 75%. For solos with softer sounds a quick turn up to 90% gets the sound out front quite well without any intrusive distortion. The VR's signal is noticabley very quiet, too. Craig MacDonald has also mentioned this on occasion.

 

Kevmo, are you not getting enough volume running direct into your EV? Perhaps a small mixer between your keys and speaker might help?

[Kevmo]

Yes I play will a loudish coverband and am allways at 80%. I played a not loud blues jam but had to place my ev on floor next to me. I had to max the ev and the VR09!. After thinkin bout it I believe the poor placement in a packed room caused most of the issue.

I usually put the ev on a stand behind & above my head. I always hear it there.

[brenner13]

My hard rock band is WAY loud...hence the JBL 15" under my QSC 12...still only barely keeps up with the gtr player's Egnater stack. We've done a couple of shows with just the QSC on a stand next to my head...I heard it okay, but the rest of the guys got no boards in the stage mix. The second speaker shooting cross-stage helps a lot.

[To B3]

About the latest VR09 that are available on music stores, do they come with the 1.0.1 OS already installed?

[WesG]

It doesn't really matter if they do. The upgrade is quick, painless, and pretty much foolproof.

 

Kevmo - sometimes moving your monitor speaker a little further away from you can make it seem much much louder.

[CHIZ]

A while back Craig MacDonald posted something about the "note stealing" that seems to occur with some patches.

 

"The "N Flute" sound has some weird issues with it's polyphony.. you can play more than one note at a time, but when you play a third or fourth note sometimes it cancels the other notes.. then when you let off the note comes back.. it's weird, and difficult to find a pattern with it.. (except when I play the intro to Strawberry Fields it always does it. which is annoying)."

 

I've just stumbled across this, and it is really REALLY annoying. I just upgraded to v1.01 of the firmware hoping that something would change, but it's still there. Try playing the intro to Stairway with the N. Flute. It's painful, because notes keep "disappearing"...

 

Anyone figure out a solution?

[To B3]

I'm asking because I will finally test one out and the store informed me by email that the units that they have allready have OS 1.01 installed. I sincerelly suspect they have no clue and was a little bit of salesman talk

 

Also, I would like to test one with everything that was updated, as these features are very importante for me.

 

It doesn't really matter if they do. The upgrade is quick, painless, and pretty much foolproof.

 

Kevmo - sometimes moving your monitor speaker a little further away from you can make it seem much much louder.

[Craig MacDonald]

I got an answer from my Roland rep that this was a "supernatural" sound (hence the N designation) and as such it has some unique articulations designed to increase the realism. Unfortunately those articulations interfere with playing the sound polyphonically (ie:strawberry fields). So it's working as designed.

[WesG]

To B3 - I bet any store you were testing in would not mind if you updated the firmware for them!

[Kevmo]

I think theres another non N flute

 

[Craig MacDonald]

Not that I could find.. There's a program called "andes mood" that is flute-ish, but it's more like a pan flute or something like that.. The N-Flute is a great sounding flute, I just wish it didn't behave so strangely.

 

If you can find a nice sounding flute that doesn't behave this way please let me know!! One thing that was discussed earlier is that the PCM Waves have a couple of flute waves.. maybe that's what you're thinking about..?

[Sven Golly]

I've just stumbled across this, and it is really REALLY annoying. I just upgraded to v1.01 of the firmware hoping that something would change, but it's still there. Try playing the intro to Stairway with the N. Flute. It's painful, because notes keep "disappearing"...

 

Anyone figure out a solution?

 

Stop playing Stairway To Heaven with the wrong sound?

 

(It's 4 recorders, not flutes )

[Craig MacDonald]

Roland has just released a new system update Version 1.02 which now includes the ability to load an individual registration from USB. This is the functionality that we've been looking for to enable us to download new synth programs from the Roland Axial synth site. I don't believe that there are any programs available yet, and I am not sure if this update gives us the ability to load and save individual registrations (based on the documentation it just looks like it loads from USB to the VR-09).

 

I will update my system shortly and try to load/save registrations to see if it works both ways. I also want to know if it just loads synths programs at the ADSR level or all of the full synth parameters.. I suspect it's just at the ADSR level but we'll see.

 

So obviously Roland is listening.. whether they've got this functionality exactly as we've asked for it is yet to be determined.

 

Here's the link for anyone interested..

 

http://bit.ly/INU5ZY

 

Edit: Just loaded the new version in.. no problems.. it looks like we have the ability to load individual registrations from USB but NOT the ability to save them to USB.. This is perfectly adequate for downloading registrations from the AXIAL site, but this won't facilitate users sharing individual registrations.. Although I can send someone a registration set and at least now they have the ability to load in selected registrations.

 

The documentation also says the following:

 

A wide variety of registrations can be downloaded from the Axial sound library site and used on the VR-09.

For details, refer to the Axial site.

http://axial.roland.com/

 

However at this time there are no VR-09 registrations available.

[Ken Beaumont]

That's good news. I will install it tonight.

[Craig MacDonald]

I've just stumbled across this, and it is really REALLY annoying. I just upgraded to v1.01 of the firmware hoping that something would change, but it's still there. Try playing the intro to Stairway with the N. Flute. It's painful, because notes keep "disappearing"...

 

Anyone figure out a solution?

 

Stop playing Stairway To Heaven with the wrong sound?

 

(It's 4 recorders, not flutes )

 

Glad I was using Strawberry Fields as my example.. hey Sven, you're back.. awesome!!

[Craig MacDonald]

Just an FYI regarding the new update.. I think we do have the ability to share registrations now.. although it has to be done by sharing a complete registration set and then we use the new "load one registration". So if someone wants my "Rock B3" setting I can send them my registration SET as a file, they load it onto a USB Stick and simply load in which ever specific registration that they are looking for using the "load one registration" feature.

 

So it's not quite as easy as me saving and sending an individual registration but at least now we have the ability to share registrations sets AND load in only the specific registrations that we're interested in. So this is a pretty good feature to have, and based on the description in the documentation we should soon be able to load registrations from the AXIAL site (hopefully this means loading in new synth sounds!!)

[Kevmo]

Merry Christmas!!!!

This is Great news Craig

[Kevmo]

I think theres another non N flute

I was wrong on this sorry

[Craig MacDonald]

So I tested the capacity of the VR-09 to share registration sets and load individual registrations. I stored my current registration set on a USB stick, loaded it into my computer and then emailed it to myself, and then reloaded it back into the VR-09 and was able to load individual registrations without any problems. The USB stick actually contained two files:

 

VR09_001.UPG

VRSYN001.DAT

 

It's interesting that there are two files created.. .UPG file extensions generally refers to an OS upgrade, and the VSRYN001.DAT file name and extension infers that this is the synth data, but it's not obvious what the purpose of the two files are. Being curious I tried storing multiple registration sets and each registration set created a multiple File (numbered VR09_001/002/003 etc) but it didn't create multiple VRSYN001.DAT files. Interesting..

 

I have a few more things I want to try, when I have some more time. I want to confirm that loading in a registration overwrites deep synth data (it should if we're going to be able to share synth patches).. The manual doesn't reference registrations saving anything beyond ADSR data, so I want to test this.

 

 

[jvckey]

Hi people!

 

A newbie here... I have an old XP-50, and I'm thinking to replace it with the VR-09. Would it be worth in terms of sound quality - tweakability? I don't need nor use the sequencer, just good "bread and butter" sounds for gigging. Your opinions would be helpful to me.