Roland FA-06 and FA-08

[Tonysounds]

Now, the power supply for the MiniVent is velcro'd to my pedalboard, and the power cables for the SK1/Fa08 are wired into the snake that feeds the pedalboard.

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad216/tonysounds/Pedalboardandpowersupplies.jpg

 

 

So there is one snake up (power for Vent/Sk1/FA08, and pedals for all), and one power cable out.

 

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad216/tonysounds/PedalboardOtherEnd.jpg

EASY AS IT GETS.

 

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad216/tonysounds/PedalboardAC2.jpg

 

[Tonysounds]

One other modification: While the screen on the FA08 is fantastic on a dark stage, the rest of the instrument could use a little illumination. So to that end, glow-in-the-dark-tape.

 

Yeah, it's my friend.

 

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad216/tonysounds/FA08MicroDots.jpg

[AnotherScott]

Yeah, the "lump-in-the-middle with detachable power cord" is so much better than the old actual wall warts. The velcro approach solves 90% of the issues people have with wall warts, while still letting the boards be cheaper and lighter. (You have to make sure you get a carrying case that can accommodate it though.) I especially like when the adapters mate with a "regular" power cord, but the figure-8s are almost as good. (Which the Nords use as the cord for their internal power supplies anyway!) I've wondered whether doing this might increase the chance of inducing hum (on the board you're attaching to it, or perhaps even on a board it is stacked with), but on the occasional times I've done this at least, I haven't run into a problem. I've thought it would be a good idea for the companies to design these boards with some kind of "holder" on the back or side that you could slide the things into. I wonder if there's an FCC complication to that.

[George88]

That is all I do in the 10-piece band. In the the 10-piece band I use no MIDI. I now have a studio set of a 14 lead patches and a couple of polysaw patches and I scroll to the patch I want with the scroll buttons on the FA-06. We a couple a new tunes where I like to use the poly saw patches on the Roland. But the FA-06 still acts as a lead synth primarily. In this band I play mostly Hammond Organ and APs, EPs and clavs on the S90XS.

Have you played the FA's SN APs/EPs/Clavs via the S90XS keys at all (via MIDI)? I'm sure it would be a world of difference and better experience than just playing these SN instruments using the FA-06's lower quality/non-weighted keyboard action.

 

I have done this and it changed my mind on my original assessment of the wurly sounds. They don't sound/feel right on my 06 but play much better when triggered by a weighted controller.

[Joe P]

Here's the FA08. As you can see, there's an inverted shelf in the lower chassis which was convenient, because there's a resistor or capacitor or something (another mini line lump) in the power cable. I plug the power supply into the keyboard, and then after tie-wrapping the cable firmly, but not too tight, I tape the plug into place. I had gaffer-taped/velcro'd the inverted shelf, so then I just used Velcro to secure the rest of the line lump's cabling into that shelf. Thankfully, the appearance in reality is not nearly as garish as it is in these photos, and in fact, it's relatively stealthy.

 

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad216/tonysounds/FA08LineLump.jpg

 

Thanks, Tony, I'll copy that if you don't mind!

 

 

[Tonysounds]

That's why I posted!

[stoken6]

My modest contribution to this thread.

 

My mini-mixer with a velcro-ed (and blu-tack-ed) PSU. The mixer came with a wall-wart PSU, so this one is a third-party PSU that I bought from Farnell. The lump of wood on the end protects the 12v cable where it enters the mixer.

 

More velcro to attach it on to the end of my lower board. This leaves the headphone sockets conveniently near the front edge.

 

Not in Tony's or Moe's league, but still useful. And I've got a little construction/configuration project on the go that I'll share when complete.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[DanL]

That's why I posted!

gonna check out a solution like this myself. I left my power supply at rehearsal once already and needed it he next day to learn/program stuff. plus running those its a pita when everything else I use is snaked together.

[Joe P]

FYI on the back of the FA-08 it says to use Roland PSB-1U, but that has been replaced by PSB-120:

 

PSB-120

 

 

[wd8dky]

The FA-06 power supply is also used by the EP-9, if that helps anyone.

[DanL]

Here's an interesting one. At last night's gig, the drummer, who runs sound and uses in ears, said some of my patches had weird echo on them and sounded out of phase. They sounded fine in my IEMs. He put my keys thru the front monitor the singer uses on a break, and sure enough, certain patches had a delayed/phased sound. Finally he says, are both your cords plugged in good? Of course they are! Until I checked... the left output had become slightly ajar, or I didn't make sure it was plugged in all the way while setting up. Since the FA has balanced outputs, it was still connecting but was not in phase with the right output. Plugged it in the rest of the way, problem solved!

 

Oh and for the 2nd time I left the AC adapter behind. Last week I left it at rehearsal, luckily no gigs but needed it for programming. Last night, I cleaned out some stuff from my cord case, thought I had taken the extension/power cord/power supply for my footpedal delay. That was still in the case. The FA power supply was on my workbench, 2 hours round trip away. Luckily my wife was coming up to the gig and brought it to me, 10 minutes before downbeat.

 

I gotta do something about that. The Velcro mounting seems like a good plan, but I think the immediate solution will be to pack it in the keyboard case itself. Likewise with the Hammond. That way they are always with the board no matter what gig/rehearsal situation I'm in.

[Tonysounds]

Yeah, I keep the spare power supplies in the keyboard case. But now, all I need to keep is a spare power cord for the power supply.

 

[CEB]

That is a definite problem if using right angled plugs on the FA-06 and the plugs are not far enough away to total clear the border of the inset jack panel. It will push your plugs out.

 

I bought some ultra-cheapo $5 super lightweight plastic molded straight plug cables. The kind you would get in a entry level guitar starter kit.

 

Anything straight and heavy puts stress on the PCB mounted jacks. The build on the 06 is really lightweight. The cheapest build in a keyboard I have ever owned. But it does some really neat stuff.

[DanL]

I have Velcro loops and my stand has nylon flat rope things that attach to the adjustment pins (like on speaker stands) so I feed the cables thru those, it takes the stress off the board.

[CEB]

I am breaking a vow to only play everything live. I want to sequence the bass line to Fancy on the FA-06. It is a loop of two slightly different licks. Do I just record the 4 bars that repeat then press the Loop button before I play the sequence then let it run until the end then disengage Loop or press Stop.

 

The only thing is a one beat rest in the first bar. I would like to record 6 bars but only loop the last 4.

 

I never had a use for sequencers. I don't know anything about them really. Thanks.

 

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfdJ40pjx2I

[Joe P]

Has anybody assigned the D Beam to function as a Leslie switch? I was able to set it to "Modulation", but it is momentary, not latching (hope that lingo is right). In other words, when you remove your hand the Leslie switches back to the default which could be slow or fast depending on the patch.

 

I remember seeing Asia and Geoff Downes was changing Leslie speed with a wave of his hand. Great use for the D Beam! At first I thought it was on his Fantom, but it might have been on his VK organ module.

 

Most of the organ presets have the S1 switch as a momentary Leslie switch but that's awkward, even if you do switch it to latching which I saw Ed Diaz do.

[DanL]

I think I saw on the FA group on facebook that you can't assign the dbeam to latch. I use mine as the bottom board and it's under my Hammond so I don't use it for anything.

[nadroj]

I'm holding off on buying a new board for a while (or so I tell myself) and am planning simply to add accessories to my rig to give me everything I need for the time being.

 

Some kind of drawbar controller is high on the list. It's great that the OB bars have been given a firmware update to be compatible with the FA series, but I'm still reviewing all options.The Korg NanoKontrol has come into my sights. I'm to understand the drawbars on the FA would require something that responds to Sysex. Does anyone know if the NanoKontrol does this? Would I be able to use a NanoKontrol for makeshift drawbars?

[Ken Beaumont]

Well I finally did it after looking at this since January I just ordered a 'demo' from Sweetwater. I couldn't argue with price and its under warranty. I ordered my radias as a demo and was extremely happy how that turned out so I took the plunge.

[Joe P]

Toano, I'm sure you will love it.

 

Dan, thanks for that reply. What kind of on-board Leslie speed switching has anyone done? I'm having trouble getting pedals to latch. I tried my Yamaha FC-5 and it was momentary if I recall. A Roland DP-10 sustain pedal was momentary also (pedal down = fast, pedal up = slow). On my RD700 I could use the bender which works great ergonomically, but I couldn't find that in the manual? It's not on page 98 etc.. There's gotta be another way other than latching the S1 button, outboard devices not withstanding.

 

I think I tried every combination of polarity, studio/system control etc. and I'm pretty stumped.

 

The left-most sound modify knob defaults to modulation for some organ patches on the Assignable row, but that's not too convenient either.

[richforman]

Bought a couple spares of the custom external power supply needed for my Yamaha MOXF; one resides in the soft case I carry around the keyboard in, and one stays set up plugged into the power trip in my practics space at home. (I guess I should put the third one somewhere in my traveling gig-rig also as a backup in case the first one runs away or breais/fails).

[Jazzmammal]

I just opened the box on a used FA06 I picked up from forum member Redkey. Initial impression is very good and I'm somewhat surprised I really like the key action after reading some negative comments about that in this thread. It's not the absolute best synth action I've ever played, that honor goes to my Emu E-Synth but still I think it's pretty decent. If it's the same as the VR09 then I don't know what all the complaints are about, I can play it just fine.

 

I now have my new gigging rig, an SK1 and the FA06. I want compact and lightweight and have something I can use for some back to my roots dual manual organ stuff. After all these organ threads I decided I need that but I also need all the killer sounds and functions in the Roland.

 

I'm in the process of creating a pedal board just like yours Tony and I'm also building a nice wooden case/stand that I'll carry the Roland in and sit the Hammond on top. I haven't done a music project like this since I rebuilt my Knabe grand 8 years ago, this is fun.

 

As much as I love my PC3 76, time to retire it to the studio.

 

Bob

[DanL]

It's definitely the same action as the VR09, my local store had both boards stacked up and the feel was identical.

[Ken Beaumont]

I just got my FA-08 yesterday and I'm very happy with it. Unlike my MOX8 I didn't have any issues figuring out how to do things. I haven't even opened the manual and I have already created a sound set I like and created a simple sequence. And I definitely prefer the action over the MOX8 GHS keys. I temporarily put the VR-09 above it, they compliment each other well.

[Joe P]

I just got my FA-08 yesterday and I'm very happy with it. Unlike my MOX8 I didn't have any issues figuring out how to do things. I haven't even opened the manual and I have already created a sound set I like and created a simple sequence. And I definitely prefer the action over the MOX8 GHS keys. I temporarily put the VR-09 above it, they compliment each other well.

 

Congrats Toano - VR09 over FA08 is a nice rig!

[Fuxoft]

Hello. First time poster here.

 

You know about that weird red phoenix screensaver in FA 06/08? I've devised a program to replace it with your own video sequence. See here: http://fuxoft.cz/vyplody/roland_fa_screensaver/

[nadroj]

Next EXP pack is here: EPs.

 

http://axial.roland.com/articles/exp-05_electric_piano_collection/

[JFP]

Is that the SRX-12 ?

[Analogaddict]

Yeah!!! The onboard Wurlitzer sample isn't quite up to par...

[Jazzmammal]

Some new comments about my FA06. I finished my wooden keyboard stand/case and it works great. I don't have any pics yet but I'll do some and post them. Basically it's a single keyboard case for the FA06 with the SK1 sitting on top. I stained and clearcoated the top and sides with the back in black. I also stole Tony's idea and built myself a pedal board for everything including my Burn. The SK1's sim is very good but the Burn is better and since it fits on my new pedalboard anyway I'm using it. No need for a separate leslie on/off because I can hit the buttons with my feet with no problem at all.

 

My initial plan was when I'm playing organ to midi the two boards together and play the SK1 as a dual manual but now I don't think I'll do that. I spent a good three hours yesterday playing all kinds of stuff and when I was playing bass I use the FA for several nice acoustics and a couple of electics. I much prefer that to regular organ bass except for when I might be doing real traditional organ duo stuff. I also took the basic Jazz Organ 1 patch from the FA06 and took it up an octave and used that for left hand comps and loved it. It sounded great with the SK1 even without the fast leslie. And speaking of fast leslie I don't care for the leslie on the bass anyway. Even though I know that's part of pure jazz organ, I've never liked that.

 

The other thing I did was for AP playing was to put the SK1 up an octave and left the FA06 at normal and played piano on both keyboards for certain things where I wanted to run up an octave higher than 61 keys allow. This is tricky but after some time I can see I can make that work. A little bit of EQ and volume balancing and I got the two AP's to sound very close to each other. I took Dan's suggestion in the other thread and velcro'd two sustain pedals together on my pedalboard and that works great for sustaining both keyboards at once for piano playing.

 

When I was jamming using both for organ I was in heaven. The last time I played my old B3 on a gig was 27 freaking years ago. I had to think about that, didn't realize it's been that long. Playing lh comps on the FA worked just great.

 

As for the other sounds, I agree with everybody, the FA has basically as good a soundset as my PC3. Some a bit better, some a bit worse but all completely usable.

 

I now have a fully portable self contained single keyboard case that works as my double keyboard stand that weighs about the same as my PC3 alone and is overall smaller and looks good too.

 

Bob