Can I make the Roland RD 88's synth sounds polyphonic?

[Will1875]

Hi my name is Will. This is my first post on this forum. I'm wondering if anyone knows enough about the Roland RD 88 to answer my question. The keyboard has a bank of sounds labeled "Synth" i.e. along with ones labeled "Piano," "E. Piano," "Organ," "Guitar/Bass," "Strings," etc. I like the sounds in the "Synth" category a lot but they all appear to be monophonic - you can only play one note at a time, I guess the way early synthesizers used to be. It sounds neat and kinda classic but I'm wondering if there's a way to make them polyphonic. I.E. ability to play multiple notes at once - chords, etc. Simple question but I've checked out the editing buttons and I just can't seem to find anything that handles that.

 

Thanks,

 

Will

[ProfD]

Welcome to the forum.

 

Go beyond the Scene list.  A full complement of poly synth sounds exist in the Tone banks. 

 

Edit or Create a Scene using Tones to build customized sound sets. 

 

The RD-88 is one of those DPs (digital pianos) chock full of sounds.😎

 

[Old No7]

10 minutes ago, ProfD said:

Go beyond the Scene list.  A full complement of poly synth sounds exist in the Tone banks. 

 

Edit or Create a Scene using Tones to build customized sound sets. 

 

I sold off my RD-88, but +1 to those tips -- as that's just what I would have said.

 

Search this forum -- and on Google too, as there's some helpful tips and tricks out there if you look for them.  The manual isn't all that great (it's written in "Rolandese", I suspect) and some of those posts will give you much clearer instructions on how to do things.

 

Edit to add:

Search for all the free and available downloads on the Roland website too, as I recall there were long and large lists of all the scenes and tones, and parameters.

 

Old No7

[AnotherScott]

it looks like what you're looking for may be on page 7 of the parameter guide, the mono/poly parameter:

 

Quote

Choose “MONO” if you want the tone assigned to the zone to play monophonically, or “POLY” if you want it to play polyphonically.

 

[CHarrell]

4 hours ago, Old No7 said:

sold off my RD-88, but +1 to those tips -- as that's just what I would have said.

 

Ah ha, so you did end up going to the Fantom, haha.

[ProfD]

5 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

it looks like what you're looking for may be on page 7 of the parameter guide, the mono/poly parameter:

That's a great way to turn a lead into a pad or vice versa but it would be easier to dial up a poly sound (Tone).😎

[Ibarch]

If the suggestions above don't do what you need, there is another option. Whilst you can't do much in terms of editing the tones on the RD-88 itself, you can edit them in Zenology Pro on a computer and then import them in a user bank to the RD-88. Zenology Pro is available from Roland Cloud. 

[Will1875]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I'll try these tips and let you know how it goes.

[Will1875]

On 1/23/2024 at 10:21 AM, ProfD said:

Welcome to the forum.

 

Go beyond the Scene list.  A full complement of poly synth sounds exist in the Tone banks. 

 

Edit or Create a Scene using Tones to build customized sound sets. 

 

The RD-88 is one of those DPs (digital pianos) chock full of sounds.😎

 

  Hi Prof D. can you tell me exactly how to do this? i.e. how to get to the tone banks? 

 

thanks

[ProfD]

10 minutes ago, Will1875 said:

  Hi Prof D. can you tell me exactly how to do this? i.e. how to get to the tone banks? 

 

Select a Scene.  There are 3 Zones (Upper 1, Upper 2 and Lower).  The Tones are located in the Zones.😎 

[Will1875]

On 1/25/2024 at 6:36 PM, ProfD said:

Select a Scene.  There are 3 Zones (Upper 1, Upper 2 and Lower).  The Tones are located in the Zones.😎 

Thanks prof D. I'm at kindergarten level with this stuff basically. I'm not exactly sure what a scene is or how to select it. In the paper manual that came with the board it says: "A sound you create is called a scene. You can use the buttons to recall a scene and then play it." Which buttons? Do I have to create a sound first for it to be a scene? I'm just trying to turn those existing synth sounds polyphonic. Are the existing sounds also considered scenes? Or are they tones? Sorry I'm so inexperienced at this but as basic as you can get, simply saying which buttons to press, would be the most helpful for me at this stage.

 

Thanks a lot

 

W

[Will1875]

On 1/23/2024 at 12:29 PM, AnotherScott said:

it looks like what you're looking for may be on page 7 of the parameter guide, the mono/poly parameter:

 

 

Thanks AnotherScott. I downloaded the parameter guide. I see the entry on the page you're talking about. But like I told Prof D above, I'm so kindergarten with all this I don't even know how to get to that page or whatever and change it. Could you just tell me as basically as possible how to get to that page for a specific synth sound i.e. literally which buttons to press? You could even do it with arrows super simple. no need for excess verbiage. A slight description too after that might be cool.

 

Thanks a lot!

[Will1875]

Trying to get this  - I went to one of the synth sounds. Pressed menu > Went to scene edit > entered it > Then I went to Zone Sound like it says in the parameter guide > entered that > I thought it would offer me General (where it says in the parameter guide the mono/poly feature is) but it only offered me Tone Color. Also a bunch of the buttons for the banks of sounds started to mysteriously turn on and flash. I donno what that's all about but I'm still just trying to get to this Mono/Poly option. I'm sure once I get a better idea what's going on my questions will get more cogent. But right now any simple clarification help is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Will

 

p.s.

 

This doesnt really have to do with the polyphonic thing but I also see in that tone color parameter you have to select which zone. It was on lower. I dont see how to even select another zone there. There seemed to be only two editable parameters for tone color: Type and Level.

[ProfD]

On 1/27/2024 at 5:55 PM, Will1875 said:

Are the existing sounds also considered scenes?

I believe every sound under a category button is a scene. A Scene consists of Zones and Tones (sounds). 

 

On 1/27/2024 at 6:30 PM, Will1875 said:

Pressed menu > Went to scene edit > entered it > Then I went to Zone Sound like it says in the parameter guide > entered that >

Select Upper 1, Upper 2 or Lower to change the Tones (sounds).

 

On 1/27/2024 at 6:30 PM, Will1875 said:

 I'm sure once I get a better idea what's going on my questions will get more cogent.

The Paramater guide contains everything needed to know know in terms of editing Scenes/Tones.

On 1/27/2024 at 6:30 PM, Will1875 said:

This doesnt really have to do with the polyphonic thing...

Changing a Tone from Mono to Poly is a tab under menu settings.😎

[Ibarch]

On 1/27/2024 at 11:30 PM, Will1875 said:

Trying to get this  - I went to one of the synth sounds. Pressed menu > Went to scene edit > entered it > Then I went to Zone Sound like it says in the parameter guide > entered that > I thought it would offer me General (where it says in the parameter guide the mono/poly feature is) but it only offered me Tone Color. Also a bunch of the buttons for the banks of sounds started to mysteriously turn on and flash. I donno what that's all about but I'm still just trying to get to this Mono/Poly option. I'm sure once I get a better idea what's going on my questions will get more cogent. But right now any simple clarification help is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Will

 

p.s.

 

This doesnt really have to do with the polyphonic thing but I also see in that tone color parameter you have to select which zone. It was on lower. I dont see how to even select another zone there. There seemed to be only two editable parameters for tone color: Type and Level.

 

The buttons to change sounds are for scenes. They are grouped by category, piano, strings, synth etc. Scenes are numbered from 1 to 400. 

 

The Inc and Dec buttons move up and down scenes - as long as the scene number is selected on screen. You can alter the tones on the current scene by using the up and down buttons to move the cursor to the tone shown. If all 3 zones are not visible, you can use the split button to make them appear or use the zone edit menu. Unless you use the Write function, editing is temporary and changes will be lost if you move to another scene. 

 

Each scene has up to 3 zones, Upper1, Upper 2 and Lower. The split button will separate the keyboard into 2 parts, with Upper 1 and Upper 2 layered at the top and Lower in the bottom. Scenes can be edited to create 3 separate parts and change the split points but if you touch the split button they revert back to the default 2 part split again regardless. 

 

The flashing lights you see when editing are how you select which zone to edit. Lower will be flashing. Press the next buttons along to change to upper 1 and then upper 2.

The next 3 lights show which zones are switched on or off in the scene. These lights are steady, not flashing. If the light is on that part is switched on. All 3 lights on means you have all 3 zones on. 

 

Remember to save the scene if you want to keep your changes. Each category has a number of initial scenes at the end if you don't want to overwrite the factory settings. Just use the Inc button to move the destination scene till you find one labelled initial. If I remember correctly you have about 120 of the 400 empty. 

 

As a final hint, the Favourites bank is just a pointer to a scene, to help you find them quicker. Using this means you don't need to worry about where you saved your scenes above. The bank buttons allow up to ten favourite scenes per category and you have 10 category buttons, piano, strings, synths etc, meaning you can save 100 favourites. So you can set piano slot 1 as a favourite for scene 280, slot 2 to point to scene 56 and so on.  Turning favourites off again reverts the category banks to their normal behaviour to select pianos, strings etc. 

 

It takes a little while to get used to all this but it does start to make sense eventually - honest. 

[Ibarch]

I better also mention how the tones are organised. This is not obvious. There are two types of tone, Zen-core core and RD-88, with different parameters available for each.  The parameter guide has separate sections for each type. It is likely you are looking at a different type, which is why the guide doesn't match what you are seeing on the screen. 

 

The RD-88 group contain tones made by  Roland's Supernatural engine. This includes the better pianos and a few other instruments, like strings. They have their own sound bank.

 

Most of the sounds are in the other group, using Zen-core synth engine. These are in 6 sound banks, named pr-a, pr-b..., pr-e and cmn.  The way sounds are organised in these banks appears to be a legacy of which other synths these sounds originally came from. You can find pianos scattered through them all for example, not just in bank pr-a. 

 

You can select a category like piano or strings and search across all the banks, or you can browse the list of  tones in a particular bank. 

 

I guess with nearly 4000 tones, organising them would always be fun but Roland havent made it particularly easy. 

 

[Will1875]

Thanks a whole lot for all this info Prof D and Ibarch. I did succed in changing tones within a zone and I guess scene. Also the split button does giver me the lower zone. Upper 1 seems to be already automatically on the screen. I can't figure out how to get upper 2 to appear though.

 

And alas, I can report no success in finding the mono/poly option. if anybody could tell me, with arrows, literally which buttons to press to get to that, I'd be most grateful.

 

When I'm on a tone (ie by scrolling to it with arrow buttons under a scene) I thought maybe that would be it. I pressed menu. It simply gives me the same options: scene edit, system effects, system, input settings, utility. enter scene edit (seems like the only likely place to get to zones and then tones?) and I get the flashing lights - oh I just used that to select the three zones ok got that at least - but anyway theree's no mono/poly option anywhere that I can see. Even under Zone Sound which would seem to be it but only offers me a Tone Color option. nothing else.

 

I'm sticking with it guys and I appreciate your help. If I can just get to that one mono/poly things I'll be psyched.

 

Thanks a lot,

 

Will

[ProfD]

6 minutes ago, Will1875 said:

I can't figure out how to get upper 2 to appear though.

Pressing the Dual button will bring up all three Zones.

6 minutes ago, Will1875 said:

I'm sticking with it guys and I appreciate your help. If I can just get to that one mono/poly things I'll be psyched.

Select a Tone that is already mono or poly.😉😎

[Will1875]

Hmm. Thanks but select it where? You mean go to a scene, go to a tone under that, and press menu? Then what. As I said above menu doesn't seem to take me any screens where I can choose mono or poly.

[ProfD]

3 hours ago, Will1875 said:

You mean go to a scene, go to a tone...

Press Menu. Press > until General tab shows up which contains Mono/Poly option.

 

Alternative...

 

Once Tone is selected/highlighted press Enter. Should bring up a list of Tones. Locate Bank containing synth sounds. Scroll through auditioning sounds until desirable mono or poly sound pops up. Use that sound as a new Tone. Save as a new Scene. 😎

[Hernán Vallejos]

Try checking out the voice mode or polyphony settings. They're usually tucked away in the menu.

[Ibarch]

1 hour ago, ProfD said:

Press Menu. Press > until General tab shows up which contains Mono/Poly option.

 

Alternative...

 

Once Tone is selected/highlighted press Enter. Should bring up a list of Tones. Locate Bank containing synth sounds. Scroll through auditioning sounds until desirable mono or poly sound pops up. Use that sound as a new Tone. Save as a new Scene. 😎

 

This is correct.  Press the left and right arrows to move between the various pages in the menus.  You are looking for the General page under the Zone Sound menu. 

[Ibarch]

There is an editor available for PC and Mac here 
https://aka-v-c-f.blogspot.com/2023/09/roland-rd88-editor.html?m=1

 

I've not tried it myself as I had already traded in my RD-88 for a Fantom 08 before this came out but it looks good.  Anything that makes programming the RD-88 less painful would be welcome. Bear in mind that tone editing on the RD-88 itself is restricted to a very limited set of parameters. The editor won't change this but will make it easier to get around, play with the various effects and so on. If you want to go deeper into tone editing you will need to use the Zenology Pro synth plug-in from Roland Cloud to edit on your computer and then import the tones to the RD-88 via a USB memory stick.

[Will1875]

Alright I got it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks a whole hell of a lot guys!

I'll study the other info I'm sure there's a lot of good stuff there but right now I just wanna celecrate and jam out on some of these synth sounds polyphonically!

 

Will