Roland V-Combo VR-09

[WesG]

As long as you guys are all backing up your registrations, would you mind emailing me the files? wes at page dot ca .... I need more data files to check my work on the VR-09 patch librarian I am writing.

 

I promise not to share any registrations you email me...

[partyarty]

by the way, I was using one of the new pads, changed the release to full sustain, in layer mode.. when I brought the release down, changed the sounds, no matter what, the pad was still playing! I will see if I can repeat it but there was no shutting the sound down without restarting the machine, as if the sustain pedal was stuck, and I had no pedal attached to the machine. I otherwise enjoy playing it quite a bit.. I only raised the release all the way because I was playing with sustaining lots of notes, not something you would normally use in playing within a band setting... as for arpeggiators.. I about never used them at a gig, of course the slicer and tempo slicer has its uses that an arpeggiator might have had something to do with on another machine. I had a Baba Oriley one on a Karma. But, for live playing purposes, unnecessary to where I don't miss them at all.

[brenner13]

Yep, I've had lingering pads by switching sounds after sliding that release fader all the way up, too. My sustain pedal is almost always plugged in, so it's is just a matter of playing a bunch of sustained notes on the newly selected sound to use up polyphony to make the infinite pad go away.

[Dr88s]

I've never had to pitch bend on my VR09 before now. I have noticed something weird about the pitch bend on the keyboard.

 

The first time I power the machine up and pitch bend down, it is completely wonky, stepping jaggedly (not smoothly and linearly) through a limited portion of the preset range, then jumping to the extreme once the joystick is moved far enough.

 

Thereafter, everything works normally. It is only on the first time I bend after powering on.

 

Anyone else run into this? Any solution live short of doing one initial pitch bend with the volume turned down upon powering up?

[agitato]

Anyone care to comment on the authenticity/playability/realism, etc., of the vr09's clav voices?

[brenner13]

I've never had to pitch bend on my VR09 before now. I have noticed something weird about the pitch bend on the keyboard.

 

The first time I power the machine up and pitch bend down, it is completely wonky, stepping jaggedly (not smoothly and linearly) through a limited portion of the preset range, then jumping to the extreme once the joystick is moved far enough.

 

Thereafter, everything works normally. It is only on the first time I bend after powering on.

 

Anyone else run into this? Any solution live short of doing one initial pitch bend with the volume turned down upon powering up?

Yep, whacked pitch bend for about a second-and-a-half at first use after nearly every startup on mine, too. Just have to remember to flick the paddle before launching into that raging solo that starts up a quarter tone. I have one from early production (low serial number) and thought perhaps it was just a quirk of the first run units, but now perhaps it is simply another quirk of the model.

[iluvchiclets]

Anyone care to comment on the authenticity/playability/realism, etc., of the vr09's clav voices?

 

I think the Clavinets are above-average on the VR09. There are three variants of basic Clavinet sound (Clav 1,2,and 3) as well as one that has the suffix "DB", which might refer to the pickup variation on the original? I always took these three (or 4?) variations to be the basic clav options. Additionally, there are more models with added wah, compression, and other effects.

 

The VR models are very bright by nature, in my opinion, and I usually reduce the cutoff to suit my preference. They do have clavinet-release noise, so they sound correct and are very articulate. Overall I was very pleased with the Clav sounds.

 

My personal fave Clavs I have heard so far are:

 

#1) Hammond SK1,

#2) Korg M3, M50,

#3) Kontakt Scarbee Clavinet models,

#4) Roland VR09,

 

...other models I am aware of feel or sound less accurate.

[iluvchiclets]

Very interesting brenner13 and Dr88 BoneS,

 

I notice the initial time I want to switch leslie from slow to fast using the pitch bend, it doesn't work. I flick it again and it does!

[voxpops]

I've never had to pitch bend on my VR09 before now. I have noticed something weird about the pitch bend on the keyboard.

 

The first time I power the machine up and pitch bend down, it is completely wonky, stepping jaggedly (not smoothly and linearly) through a limited portion of the preset range, then jumping to the extreme once the joystick is moved far enough.

 

Thereafter, everything works normally. It is only on the first time I bend after powering on.

 

Anyone else run into this? Any solution live short of doing one initial pitch bend with the volume turned down upon powering up?

Yep, whacked pitch bend for about a second-and-a-half at first use after nearly every startup on mine, too. Just have to remember to flick the paddle before launching into that raging solo that starts up a quarter tone. I have one from early production (low serial number) and thought perhaps it was just a quirk of the first run units, but now perhaps it is simply another quirk of the model.

 

Same for me - and it can really mess things up if I forget to waggle it after startup. Seems like another bug that needs fixing.

 

As for the need to flick the paddle twice for Leslie speed, I suspect that's more likely to do with the relative MIDI vs software settings. I often have to push a controller button twice when using software, so as to align their positions.

[Dr88s]

Yep, whacked pitch bend for about a second-and-a-half at first use after nearly every startup on mine, too. Just have to remember to flick the paddle before launching into that raging solo that starts up a quarter tone. I have one from early production (low serial number) and thought perhaps it was just a quirk of the first run units, but now perhaps it is simply another quirk of the model.

 

Same for me - and it can really mess things up if I forget to waggle it after startup. Seems like another bug that needs fixing.

 

What a strange quirk - almost as if the machine has to calibrate itself to the throw of the joystick on each startup.

[agitato]

Do you think the sk1 has better clavs then the vr09?

[brenner13]

Do you think the sk1 has better clavs then the vr09?

I'm not much of a clav player and I've only heard u-toob demos of the SK1, but it sounds pretty good to me. However I think there is more variety and ways to process your tone with the VR09. I need to play an SK1 in person soon...I have never been happy with the piano tones in the VR and actually like what I've heard on the Hammond models over the web.

[Philip Clark]

Roland has responded to me about the EP pitch envelope release bug:

 

Hello Philip,

 

The engineers in Japan have confirmed this, and have told us that they used a pitch envelope for some of the attack sound on these electric piano tones, so it is normal when you raise the release amount that you would hear envelope return the tones to their normal (higher) pitch. They said that these EP tones will work normally (no pitch bend) when using a hold pedal, so that was their recommendation for now. They will see if this can be changed, but they were not sure if it would be possible, since the pitch envelope apparently adds quite a bit of the attack on these sounds.

 

If they do change this, it will be in another update, so we will let you know if we see another one coming out from them. Thanks for reporting this to us.

 

Best Regards,

 

Product Support

Roland Corp. U.S.

[DanL]

Do you think the sk1 has better clavs then the vr09?

I'm not much of a clav player and I've only heard u-toob demos of the SK1, but it sounds pretty good to me. However I think there is more variety and ways to process your tone with the VR09. I need to play an SK1 in person soon...I have never been happy with the piano tones in the VR and actually like what I've heard on the Hammond models over the web.

 

The SK1 clav can be processed with 2 effects. You can add in one of several distortion models at the voice level then assign a reverb/chorus/flanger/phaser/delay type effect to the effects knob. The parameters are not super easily accessible during live performance though, so if you want a different delay time or something, it requires some menu diving. Definitely not as easy as the Nords in that respect.

[WesG]

Can the SK1 clav be controlled by the expression pedal used as a wah? Because that would be awesome.

[keyman27]

Yes, you can get your wah-wah on with the SK1's expression pedal. It has a great sound, very reminiscent of the wah clav on Pink Floyd's 'Money'. It's a more trebley kind of wah.

[DanL]

isn't that a Wurlie thru a wah on Money?

[AnotherScott]

Unfortunately, the other sounds on the VK8 were unusable. I couldn't even get a straight piano, EP sound out of it. It constantly sounded like a layer over organ. So it cannot be used as a single board option.

Yes, that was one of the annoying interface issues mentioned in the SOS article. There's no quick mute for the organ sound, other sounds are layered over it. The solution is to create an ogran preset that is silent (i.e. 000000000 ) and select that when you want to only hear the non-organ ("layered") sound.

So I wasn't losing my mind! I thought maybe I was missing some special button somewhere. Also the volume of the "other sounds" was much lower, I guess since they functioned mostly as layers. This confirms the inapplicability of the VK8 for use as a single board. But looks like good for pure organ.

It's actually simpler than what I had posted there. If you want to call up one of the Other Voices by itself, you can just create a preset consisting of nothing but that voice. And since the Preset buttons are the same as the Other Voices buttons (you can toggle between those functions for the same 8 buttons), you can even set up a preset bank that simply puts the 8 Other Voices each on their own Preset under the same button. So calling up that Preset bank would allow the buttons to behave as you want... you'd be able to pick any of the 8 buttons and get the Other Voice that you want, with no layered organ sound.

[To B3]

I'd like to share two tips that worked for me and kinda fixed things that annoyed me on the VR.

 

The first is, when using in mono, esp organ sounds, I found that it lacked movement, mainly on the low rotor, and the sound was empty to my ears. Simply exagerating on the organ low gain makes it come alive. 8 or 10 will do.

 

The second is, when using an EP or cav sound, make it pass through the leslie sim, with both the trebble and low rotors on 0 speed. It works great (again, to my ears) as a tube amp simulation.

 

Those tow things alone made me lose all my doubts if it were for me and love the little combo again.

[iluvchiclets]

I'd like to share two tips that worked for me

 

Very cool, ToB3! I never thought of doing that non-rotating Leslie method as a cab/amp simulator. Look forward to trying that out.

 

Nice thinking outside the box!

[To B3]

Yeah, it gives some wood to the sounds, if you know what I mean!

[Joe P]

when using an EP or clav sound, make it pass through the leslie sim, with both the trebble and low rotors on 0 speed. It works great (again, to my ears) as a tube amp simulation.

 

 

I do that with clavs on my NE2 - it's a nice effect.

[WesG]

Hey. That's a really good idea!!

[To B3]

And I'm gonna tell you more... play a little with that effect on the acoustic piano, adding a little tone and compressor to taste... instant Beatles/70's Elton/Leon Russel... I'm loving that thing

 

C'mon Roland, just a little pedal wah, independent effects on both sides of the split and it's one step up! A big step...

 

Talking about effects, did any of You nottice how the sounds with phaser or pitch shifter retain the effect even when used on the left hand of a split?

[xKnuckles]

Many thanks for all these great tips ToB3.

[Bossbandbob]

Great tips toB3! I have not tried the EP one yet ,but playing with the high and low organ gain controls as suggested here and on the Clonewheel forum really does help. Someone suggested a dummy plug in the right channel which does almost the same thing to improve the sound. With the plug in the sound is also much more spacious. Even better yet, with the dummy plug in, adjust the high and low gain a bit less to just about 3 or to taste.

 

Edit: just tried your tip on the stock EP's and I can't get a Rotary effect in the first place (or any effects) on most of them using either the Rotary or SFX menus. Am I approaching this incorrectly?

[To B3]

xKnucles, sharing is the fun part

 

Bossandbob, just click on the rotary ON. Then go on the menu and adjust all the speeds to 0, to give that tube like modelling but without the rotary effect. Then save the patch and there you have it. It's the main rotary that I'm talking, not the double one on the MFX section, right?

 

Do that and you're good.

[Bossbandbob]

Thanks ToB3. Sounds easy..will try tonight. No wonder why I couldn't figure it out!

[rickzjamm]

Just got my VR-09 & the expression pedal's not working, I'm using a Roland EV series volume pedal so what's the deal?

[rickzjamm]

I meant to say an EV series expression pedal.