Roland V-Combo VR-09

[tgeorges]

I'm using the accordion patch tomorrow for a gig - as lower voice layered with a piano for Piano Man - fading in on the pre-chorus and chorus sections. Works like a champ.

[Giancarlo Robles]

Does anyone know the name of the bass pedal unit that can be attached to the VR-09 for organ playing? I've been looking around but can't seem to find the model. Does anyone have it that can give me an idea of how sturdy and responsive it is? Is it worth the purchase?

[Ken Beaumont]

Roland PK-5A, never used one so I can't answer any of the other questions.

[tgeorges]

I had a gig Saturday (filling in on keyboard for a wedding) and decided to use the VR-09 all by itself - rather than bring along both it and the Yamaha MOX8 that the band owns. I used mostly organ and piano, with a couple wurly and clavs, and ran stereo through a stereo DI. A couple layers and splits, but mostly single voiced. I used shelf pads to keep the thing steady on the stand, and the Yamaha FC7 expression pedal for volume and a couple lower voice fade-in/out. Overall I'm pleased with how the VR-09 performed. They keyboard feels great to me - I've been playing synth style keys for YEARS so I'm not really used to a weighed key controller. I used a sweetwater registration for the clavinet (basically a layer of two clav sounds to make it big and phasey) and it sounded great in the mix, as did the organs (both rock and jazz settings) and wurly (used the Pure Wurly with tremolo 2). I like the accessibility of the multi effects knob, as well as the volume slider for the organ (with organ layers it's very handy). The only disappointment for me was that I couldn't quite get a decent piano sound. I used Rock Piano for most songs, as it cut through well when everyone was playing, but we also did "The Way You Look Tonight" - the Tony Bennett version - and that called for a real nice piano pretty much by itself (with the bass playing along), and I couldn't quite get it to sound good enough. It may have been my monitor but I just don't know. Also when the sound guy turned me up for solos, it sounded like crap in my monitor - like somebody turned the mids WAY up or something - and to be honest it hurt my ears. We had precious little time for a sound check, so that didn't help. I am hoping some tweaking on the tone control could help, and EQ on the board. Through the headphones the sound is great, but isn't that always the case.

 

Bottom line is that the VR-09 and its broad all-purpose design has proved itself quite capable, in general, of going it solo - at least with this band (www.facebook.com/120East) and the tunes it does. And because it's so light, it was GREEAT not having to worry about two keyboards, the extra tier, extra pedal, power supply, cables, channels, etc. etc. associated with a bigger rig. Hoo-ray for that!

 

 

[Giancarlo Robles]

I have not tried the VR-09 yet but hopefully I'll be able to this weekend. I was wondering about the pads in the VR-09. Is it possible to make the pads darker than what comes included, in particular the soft pad? I'd like to modify that pad in particular to have a more mellow, meditative worship pad for use in church. Something more or less like what the Hillsong worship group uses for slow songs. Also, is it possible to modify the strings to have that mellow quality as well but retaining its personality?

 

What I'm thinking is something like what this video shows in the beginning:

 

[brenner13]

The filter fader will do exactly what you want with strings and pads. Layered with piano, I love sweeping that fader to bring in a nice pad for the chorus on several tunes. The VR09 has many stock Syn Strings and pads to choose from and quick access to the effects is just candy.

 

Hope it does you good.

[tgeorges]

I've recently started using the VR-09 instead of my Casio WK-7500, which I used extensively for all kinds of gigs (believe it or not!) for the last several years - church worship services, weddings, classic rock bands, and small combos. For the most part, the VR-09 has done the job very well. I haven't tried it at church yet, but have used it for small combos and a classic rock band I play with occasionally. However there are a few things I do miss about the WK-7500:

 

WK-7500 Pros (what I wish the VR-09 had that the WK-7500 has)

- 76 keys - with splits I miss the extra keys

- Simultaneous split/layer (three voices at once) - very powerful

- User voices in addition to registration banks (VR-09 only allows registration capability)

- Quick access to 2nd/3rd harmonic (must menu-dive to choose 2nd or 3rd from the one button on VR-09)

- On-board speakers (VR-09 runs on batteries, but you need headphones to hear it when away from power)

 

Of course the VR-09 has many advantages - otherwise I wouldn't have gotten it:

 

VR-09 Pros (better than the WK-7500) - in order of importance to me as I was deciding to buy:

- Superb combo organ simulation - realistic rotary, chorus selection, etc.

- Excellent real-time control over tone (filter cutoff, resonance, effects like reverb, delay, MFX, etc)

- Great electric pianos with classic effects (such as phaser and tremolo)

- Real MIDI In/Out ports, separate expression pedal input

- Easy volume control for splits/layers (although sliders for Piano and Synth would have been nice)

- Joystick and D-beam (WK-7500 has a pitch wheel and modulation button)

- Lightweight and very portable

 

[BluesKeys]

I just took the VR-09 out to a jam because of limited space. Though I don't like unweighted keys for piano I was pleased with the piano sound and it made it playable. Really liked the two trip load in/out. This little board packs a lot of fun.

[Bossbandbob]

I've recently started using the VR-09 instead of my Casio WK-7500, which I used extensively for all kinds of gigs (believe it or not!) for the last several years - church worship services, weddings, classic rock bands, and small combos. For the most part, the VR-09 has done the job very well. I haven't tried it at church yet, but have used it for small combos and a classic rock band I play with occasionally. However there are a few things I do miss about the WK-7500:

 

WK-7500 Pros (what I wish the VR-09 had that the WK-7500 has)

- 76 keys - with splits I miss the extra keys

- Simultaneous split/layer (three voices at once) - very powerful

- User voices in addition to registration banks (VR-09 only allows registration capability)

- Quick access to 2nd/3rd harmonic (must menu-dive to choose 2nd or 3rd from the one button on VR-09)

- On-board speakers (VR-09 runs on batteries, but you need headphones to hear it when away from power)

 

Of course the VR-09 has many advantages - otherwise I wouldn't have gotten it:

 

VR-09 Pros (better than the WK-7500) - in order of importance to me as I was deciding to buy:

- Superb combo organ simulation - realistic rotary, chorus selection, etc.

- Excellent real-time control over tone (filter cutoff, resonance, effects like reverb, delay, MFX, etc)

- Great electric pianos with classic effects (such as phaser and tremolo)

- Real MIDI In/Out ports, separate expression pedal input

- Easy volume control for splits/layers (although sliders for Piano and Synth would have been nice)

- Joystick and D-beam (WK-7500 has a pitch wheel and modulation button)

- Lightweight and very portable

[/quote

 

I have both boards as well. Agree with all of the above. The Roland's organs are far superior, however the WK has WAY more internal sounds to choose from. For instance the VR-09 has no Sitar.. I have not had much luck creating a convincing one with its IPad editor. The WK has 3, one of which is outstanding.

[Bossbandbob]

I think this has been asked here before but I have not been able to find an answer here or by googling. Does anyone know where to get replacement drawbar knobs for the VR-09? After now losing two of them at gigs , I have glued the remaining ones on with Elmer's!

[WesG]

Whoever sold you the VR09 can get the knobs. I bought some from Long & McQuade, they cost me $2 CAD each.

 

Wes

[tgeorges]

I have both boards as well. Agree with all of the above. The Roland's organs are far superior, however the WK has WAY more internal sounds to choose from. For instance the VR-09 has no Sitar.. I have not had much luck creating a convincing one with its IPad editor. The WK has 3, one of which is outstanding.

 

Yes - I'd forgotten to list that in the WK's list of pros. I've never had an occasion to use the sitar sound, but I'm sure the first time I will need it, I won't have the WK with me

[Ken Beaumont]

I have both boards as well. Agree with all of the above. The Roland's organs are far superior, however the WK has WAY more internal sounds to choose from. For instance the VR-09 has no Sitar.. I have not had much luck creating a convincing one with its IPad editor. The WK has 3, one of which is outstanding.

 

True but since you have an iPad, the Korg M1 app ($19.99) has 3300 sounds. I'm guessing there is a sitar in there somewhere.

 

[tgeorges]

I have both boards as well. Agree with all of the above. The Roland's organs are far superior, however the WK has WAY more internal sounds to choose from. For instance the VR-09 has no Sitar.. I have not had much luck creating a convincing one with its IPad editor. The WK has 3, one of which is outstanding.

 

True but since you have an iPad, the Korg M1 app ($19.99) has 3300 sounds. I'm guessing there is a sitar in there somewhere.

 

If only that app worked with my iPad

[Phil UK]

Has anyone had any experience of using the VR09 with Mainstage 3? I'm connecting to my computer with a USB cable and getting sounds ok (though it's very quiet) but I'm really struggling to assign the volume control on the board to the fader on the software. Any advice would be appreciated!

[Bossbandbob]

I have both boards as well. Agree with all of the above. The Roland's organs are far superior, however the WK has WAY more internal sounds to choose from. For instance the VR-09 has no Sitar.. I have not had much luck creating a convincing one with its IPad editor. The WK has 3, one of which is outstanding.

 

True but since you have an iPad, the Korg M1 app ($19.99) has 3300 sounds. I'm guessing there is a sitar in there somewhere.

Good to know.. But unfortunately I don't the IPad so can't gig with it.

[brenner13]

 

There are three sitar waveforms available with the iPad app: 225 E. Sitar, 226 Sitar Wave, and 227 Sitar Drone. I overwrote FX4 to finally put a sitar on this thing. Honestly, it is more like a spacey synth sitar rather than a nice acoustic emulation, but I like it well enough to give it a try with my band's rendition of The Stones' "Paint It Black" at the gig tomorrow. Had to monkey with the AMP Evelopes for a long decay and a smidge of sustain on the second two waveforms and slather the whole thing with Hall reverb and a touch of flanger to hide the sample loops. Adding a bright slow rotary sends it to outerspace and enhances the slight panning I did with the partials. Not terrible for an hour of light programming.

 

The Fantom's sitars are way better, but this was a fun exercise. Sitar3 on iM1's T1 Combi 3 expantion card is pretty favorable on iOS.

[Bossbandbob]

I do Paint it Black in my Stones band and Don't Come Around Here No More in my Petty band with the Sitar on my PX-5S, which is pretty decent.Still I find the Sitar on the WK better. I just made the one on my VR-09 as a back up. Never thought of adding slow rotary to it..will try that.

[brenner13]

At band practice last night, we were calling out tunes that we each knew and hadn't yet played together as a band. In a rush to get a tone wheel sound rather than scrolling through registrations, I hit the ORGAN button and WOW! A very upfront, raw, and clean organ sound! Such a dramatic difference from the heavily processed registrations that I've saved for specific songs in the set list. I'm amazed at myself for overlooking this option for so long and certainly plan to start using that button to set up an organ tone from scratch more often, possibly even at shows, especially for the ballad tunes.

[bourniplus]

Hey guys, I just tried this board for the first time and was pleasantly surprised. I have a few questions, sorry if they have been answered in this thread.

Can you disable the Leslie sim completely? Not just stop the rotors, but disable the amp sim as well?

Do I understand correctly that you have to go into a menu to select Perc 2nd/3rd, or V/C 1,2,3?

thanks

 

[brenner13]

There are two dedicated rotary on/off and fast/slow buttons next to the pitch stick. When the organ engine is in use, the pitch stick defaults to control rotary speed. You can also set rotary brake to engage when you push forward on the pitch stick but I disabled that function because I kept accidentally applying the brake during performance. The D-Beam can also be set to either trigger fast/slow or engage the brake. The expression pedal can also be set to trigger fast/slow.

 

There are two dedicated buttons to toggle the C/V and Perc on/off. After turning on one of these buttons, the display momentarily shows each setting's parameters which can be immediately adjusted with the alpha-dial and up/down buttons. While the momentary menu display is up, you can press the transpose button to lock the menu display in the screen so further adjustments can be made without having to toggle the perc or C/V off then back on again to display the menu.

 

Lots to like about this board, but also has many irritating quirks as discussed in these 97 pages. Opinions seem to be very polarized on the thing, but a superb musical tool IMHO.

[bourniplus]

Thanks. I see you can change the leslie speed in many ways, but can you actually disable the leslie amp sim? Even in stop mode there must be a tube amp sim of some kind. When going to a real Leslie this should be bypassed.

 

Also another question: in EP mode, can the drawbars's position be 'locked' so that you don't accidentally edit the envelope?

[ABECK]

The rotary on/off button turns the effect completely off. Disables it. No amp sim.

There is no stop mode. There is on/off, fast/slow.

 

[WesG]

You can also have fast/stop. Just set up a registration with the slow speed set to zero.

[brenner13]

The rotary on/off button turns the effect completely off. Disables it. No amp sim.

There is no stop mode. There is on/off, fast/slow.

Whoops...I was mistaken about pushing the pitch stick forward...it DOES turn the sim off completely; amp and all. No wonder I hated it so much. Real glad Roland updated the firmware with the option to disable that function.

There IS a BRAKE option but it appears to only be available from the D-Beam controller function. When the brake does it's thing, the virtual horn and drum always stop with the openings forward.

[brenner13]

can the drawbars's position be 'locked' so that you don't accidentally edit the envelope?

Nope, no way to disable the draw-faders in any mode. It takes some careful precision to get them back to zero in the heat of the moment, but one can simply hit the lit registration button or the lit tone button to instantly bring back the preset settings. However I play rather exuberantly on stage with the VR09 on the top tier, angled down at about 24.8637 degrees, and do not ever recall accidentally nudging a fader while playing EP. I often play with eyes closed and swoon and sway a lot, too.

[bourniplus]

Thanks for the answers. One more thing: while I thought the organ engine sounded good, my impression about the overdrive was that it was close to unusable. Can it be improved somehow?

[brenner13]

The Overdrive is what it is...arguably rather ugly. It's best with the darker tone of Rotary type 2 but still only useable in small doses. Anything past a 1/4-turn is just ridiculous crunch.

[tgeorges]

I agree - the overdrive could have been SO much more useful. And you're right anything past about 1/4 turn is awful.

 

How hard could it be to have a really decent overdrive simulation?

[roygBiv]

One trick I learned ( from this thread ) for epianos distortion is to use the twin rotary/Leslie for distortion

 

Go into the menu, set rotary speed to zero, now you can get some amp/distortion sim by setting up effect to twin rotary, then turning up the effect knob to taste. More distortion, without rotary effect