Roland V-Combo VR-09

[Outkaster]

No you wouldn't get banned.

[franky46]

ok, I'll do the 'quoting' the 'old way'

 

> 1.) The board can still read the USB stick - it loads my user registration files and saved audio loops.

 

in YT you wrote that you'e still on firmware 1.03. For upgrading to 1.12 you must first upgrade to 1.11, did you do that?

 

anyway, as long as it's unclear if the power unit is out of order, don't upgrade (don't do it on battery neither)

 

> 2.) I've been running this board on batteries only all morning and the issues I've had seemed to have disappeared. I'm thinking a defective power unit may be the root cause of my problems. THANK YOU!

 

to be sure that this is the reason:

- counter-check: if you switch back to the power unit, does the failure re-appear?

- run the Vr on batteries for some more days - and use it (tap on it ...)

 

> Just to clarify, would the power unit be the actual cable with the adapter on it that plugs into DC in port in the back of the board or is the power unit you referred to or an internal power supply component of the keyboard?

 

yes, the 'wart', the external power supply. You can purchase the original one (probably molto $$$) or any generic unit with the same specs and the same plug (the inner contact is negative, the outer is +9V). You can also use the 'Ripcord' USB power supply cable, search https://v-combo.webspace.rocks/gear for 'power supply'

 

> but understand if this conversation is in the wrong spot

 

don't worry, your questions are perfect in this thread

 

BTW if you can access facebook, there's a very active group for VRs (called "Roland V-Combo VR-09 / VR-09-B / VR-730")

[roygBiv]

Thanks for the Tips Franky, that vcombo website has lots of good tips!

 

Quick question for anyone:

 

Has anyone figured out a way to toggle teh effects on and off? Maybe with external MIDI?

 

My current band is doing 'Jazz Ska', but we sometimes do extended jams where I would like to add some Dub-type stuff, specifically, hitting an echo after playing a note so that it does the trailing echo ( dingâ¦dingâ¦dingâ¦â¦ , common in the Dub genre). I used to do this with a Boss Space Echo pedal, but it seems stupid to drag a pedal to do something that should be doable with the effects in the VR09, specifically, the Tap Tempo delay, which allows you to match the echo repeat to the beat of the song.

 

The problem - unfortunately you can only active the echo effect on the VR09 by turning the effects dial - which is really hard to do fast, all the way to the righ (for the near 'full on' setting that will give you multiple repeats.

 

Hence my question - is there a way to 'toggle' the VR09 effects on and off, maybe with an external midi trigger, so I can set the delay value full on, and only activate it after playing the note.

 

Thanks anyone for any tips

 

Roy

 

(PS - the only way I can think that might work is to set up side-by-side registries of the same sound, one with the echo off and the other with it on, and toggle between, but that has not been very smooth so far)

[one_fungi]

ok, I'll do the 'quoting' the 'old way'

 

Dang I see the quote button now, must have been distracted before. I am not active on too many forums these days - sometimes the formatting escapes me! Thank you again for the info and replies. Making this simpler than I made it out to be in my head

 

in YT you wrote that you'e still on firmware 1.03. For upgrading to 1.12 you must first upgrade to 1.11, did you do that?

 

anyway, as long as it's unclear if the power unit is out of order, don't upgrade (don't do it on battery neither)

 

I have not attempted a firmware upgrade, still stranded at 1.03. Will upgrade power source before next update attempt.

 

 

> 2.) I've been running this board on batteries only all morning and the issues I've had seemed to have disappeared. I'm thinking a defective power unit may be the root cause of my problems. THANK YOU!

 

to be sure that this is the reason:

- counter-check: if you switch back to the power unit, does the failure re-appear?

 

Yes, after a few tests back and forth between removing batteries and plugging in external power unit, the problems only surface with the external power adapter. I'll keep trying through the weekend to verify, don't want to jump to conclusions either...

 

> Just to clarify, would the power unit be the actual cable with the adapter on it that plugs into DC in port in the back of the board or is the power unit you referred to or an internal power supply component of the keyboard?

 

yes, the 'wart', the external power supply. You can purchase the original one (probably molto $$$) or any generic unit with the same specs and the same plug (the inner contact is negative, the outer is +9V). You can also use the 'Ripcord' USB power supply cable, search https://v-combo.webspace.rocks/gear for 'power supply'

 

gotcha, that webpage is a real treasure trove btw. Bought the board bag they recommended and can't wait to try the computer control interface when I am able to update!

> but understand if this conversation is in the wrong spot

 

don't worry, your questions are perfect in this thread

 

 

BTW if you can access facebook, there's a very active group for VRs (called "Roland V-Combo VR-09 / VR-09-B / VR-730")

 

Appreciate the connection, I will check out this group too

[franky46]

>> Has anyone figured out a way to toggle teh effects on and off? Maybe with external MIDI?

 

Midi work with a midi controller that is able to send sysEx midi messages:

- the only sysex-midi controller keyboard actually available is Roland A series (imo A900 it's THE 2nd tier keyboard 'lower' manual' for the VR ...)

- a PC, laptop, tablet + 'app' that is able do send sysEx

- if you are the lucky owner of an Android phone or tablet and do not principally 'deny' using it with the VR, I can explain you a easy going way to control VR-Midi options

 

 

>> the only way I can think that might work is to set up side-by-side registries of the same sound,

 

right, as the VR has no 'seamless transition' between registrations, toggling can cause very ugly sound artefacts, especially with all FX that have a 'reverb' (just yesterday evening I tortured my band mates with some registration switch 'explosions' )

 

another idea: same sound on lower AND upper manual in split-mode: Delay only acts on upper manual, so you can play the same note on upper or lower, with or without Delay.

Possible trap : on lower manual none of the other FX (OD, tone comp, MFX) will work. If your sound also uses e.g. a MFX, it will sound differently on upper and lower manual

[one_fungi]

I am attempting to update my VR-09 from version 1.03 to v1.11. Following the instructions from Roland's support page, I cannot seem to get my keyboard to perform the update function. I hold down the Rotary Sound On/Off and Fast/Slow buttons while turning on the keyboard with the formatted USB thumbdrive (with the update folder loaded) but nothing happens and the keyboard boots up normally. Has anyone else experienced this issue? Thanks in advance for any input!

[EscapeRocks]

Did you format your USB stick on the VR-09 itself?

 

Also, make sure you put the downloaded folder in the root directory of the USB stick

[one_fungi]

I am attempting to update my VR-09 from version 1.03 to v1.11. Following the instructions from Roland's support page, I cannot seem to get my keyboard to perform the update function. I hold down the Rotary Sound On/Off and Fast/Slow buttons while turning on the keyboard with the formatted USB thumbdrive (with the update folder loaded) but nothing happens and the keyboard boots up normally. Has anyone else experienced this issue? Thanks in advance for any input!

[one_fungi]

@Escape - I will try formatting the stick again but I had done this previously. The _R053_VR09 file folder is in the root directory. Thanks for the advice

[fingerbun]

This thread got people banned. I can't believe it's still here.

 

Having read the whole thing over the last few days, it"s a really useful thread. Glad it didn"t get deleted. There was some silly stuff back earlier in the thread, but that is neither the thread nor the keyboard"s fault. The work that is going on to create extra resources for the keyboard is fantastic . And as a new owner of the keyboard, I"m going to have to go through the thread again and take notes.

[fingerbun]

So, now to the questions I wanted to ask.

 

Hi everybody. I"ve been a bass player for years, with some rusty keyboard skills. I"ve bought the VR to become one of those bass players who doubles on keys. I expect my usage to be 99% a bass line in the left hand and chords on a piano/ep/organ in the right hand. I mostly do small gigs with vocal PA and backline amps for instruments. The last time I used keyboards on stage was synths back in the 80s and at that stage everything went through front of house. So I"m really a newbie with modern approaches.

 

How do other people amplify the keyboard? I"m especially thinking of having a solid enough bass without messing up whatever sound I use in the right hand.

 

A lot of comments about stereo, and obviously I can hear the difference, but it seems to me a potential pain to do it. Those of you running in stereo on small gigs, how do you do it?

[AnotherScott]

VR-09 is a tricky board for playing a split with LH bass, it's not really well set up for it. When I do LH bass, unless it's a board with multiple assignable outs, I play "dual mono" -- I pan the bass to one side, and send the bass out to a bass amp (aids its realism), and I pan my other sounds to the right side and put them through my "keyboard amp" (which can be an amp or a small powered PA speaker). But VR09 isn't designed to let you pan sounds to one output or the other. Nicely, there is a free 3rd-party editor that lets you do all kinds of tricks, including, IIRC, allowing to create saved registrations with panned sounds, though the organ sound is not pannable (nor are some other sounds). Now maybe you don't like the idea of my dual mono approach anyway, and you just want to put it all into one amp, in which case it doesn't matter... but do keep in mind you're going to need a more capable "keyboard amp" if it has to also serve as your "bass amp," especially if you're playing at higher volumes. The smal powered PA speakers I use with 8" woofers are not really capable of heavy duty LH bass if you really need to push it. So I'll have to leave it to others to recommend a "keyboard amp" setup that is also really strong for LH bass.

[fingerbun]

VR-09 is a tricky board for playing a split with LH bass, it's not really well set up for it. When I do LH bass, unless it's a board with multiple assignable outs, I play "dual mono" -- I pan the bass to one side, and send the bass out to a bass amp (aids its realism), and I pan my other sounds to the right side and put them through my "keyboard amp" (which can be an amp or a small powered PA speaker). But VR09 isn't designed to let you pan sounds to one output or the other. Nicely, there is a free 3rd-party editor that lets you do all kinds of tricks, including, IIRC, allowing to create saved registrations with panned sounds, though the organ sound is not pannable (nor are some other sounds). Now maybe you don't like the idea of my dual mono approach anyway, and you just want to put it all into one amp, in which case it doesn't matter... but do keep in mind you're going to need a more capable "keyboard amp" if it has to also serve as your "bass amp," especially if you're playing at higher volumes. The smal powered PA speakers I use with 8" woofers are not really capable of heavy duty LH bass if you really need to push it. So I'll have to leave it to others to recommend a "keyboard amp" setup that is also really strong for LH bass.

 

Thanks.

 

You are talking along more or less the same lines I"ve been thinking. I like the dual mono idea, but I understand the VR can"t do it. It happens I quite like the acoustic bass sound on the VR, and I"m ok with the organ patches for what I want. I own a little 300w Yamaha pa that will be my first keyboard amp but it"s not real bass heavy, so I may need to augment it. Really just looking for what other people do to gather ideas.

 

Fwiw, while the board has its limits, I wanted a performance-based instrument with drawbars and a small keyboard, and there just aren"t that many options. I went Roland rather than Nord (1) because it was cheaper (2) because I found plenty of demos on YouTube doing exactly what I wanted and (3) because neither has weighted keys, so i may end up needing a second keyboard anyway. The only other close option I found was the Yamaha YC61. This seems to be a very niche area.

[AnotherScott]

Fwiw, while the board has its limits, I wanted a performance-based instrument with drawbars and a small keyboard, and there just aren"t that many options. I went Roland rather than Nord (1) because it was cheaper (2) because I found plenty of demos on YouTube doing exactly what I wanted and (3) because neither has weighted keys, so i may end up needing a second keyboard anyway. The only other close option I found was the Yamaha YC61. This seems to be a very niche area.

Yes, it's a bit of a niche. Although it's a bit out of date now, you might find this chart I began putting together a while back interesting...

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Fr9cObRaep37A9Y1PZtRkVWxKKDsXUGPk9ubfhYgoSk/edit#gid=575533847

[fingerbun]

Although it's a bit out of date now, you might find this chart I began putting together a while back interesting...

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Fr9cObRaep37A9Y1PZtRkVWxKKDsXUGPk9ubfhYgoSk/edit#gid=575533847

That"s really good. Wish I had seen that a month ago, would have saved me a lot of work.

 

What do you mean with 'no' against 'can have sound instantly reflect drawbars' for the VR?

[franky64]

Hi folks, new name, new game (mpn did not react to the request to reactivate the expired account - so franky46 now is frank64 ;)). OK, let's go:

 

New release Ctrlr V-Combo EDITOR v.1.12.13  "GiDiTion"

 

What's new?

 

BUGFIXES:

MidiMapper is now functional. Bugfixes also for V-SYNTH (pcm wave select) and UPG-Editor ('invalid file' at save) - and many others 

For sure it adds new bugs - feel free to report

 

FEATURES:

'GiDiTion' integrates new features of the 'hidden' Juno-Gi/Di system layer of the VR: this allows loading the GM2 sounds of VRs (internal) GM2 engine into the 'keyboard layer' for playing on the VR keys (and modifying with VR keyboard controllers), adds features like 'key response setting', EFX per manual/voice assignment, panpot, scale tuning etc.

'Gi'-features cannot be saved to VR registrations but used live with EDITOR during a session. This is valid also for loading GM2 sounds - but VR-registrations can be used to interact with EDITOR MidiMapper to automate loading GM2 sounds.

 

It unplugged new 'hidden' soundbanks for the keyboard: Jupiter-80-like 'Synth Legend Tones' (a bit tricky to save to VR registrations - but it can be done ...), percussion sets and sound effects

It has new catalogued soundbanks for GM2 sound engine: up to now ca. 800 sounds have been 'identified'  - note that there are excellent orchestral and synth patches (dunno, yet alone 20 synth strings or so)

A 'magic HOLD' function for the lower manual voices

Synchronisation to VR at EDITOR startup or manually

ZONE setting has been simplified

V-Piano has been heavily reworked: 'sympathetic-resonance-hall' was bugfixed and got a new 'timbre', 'Gi'-features were introduced (key response setting, per voice assignment of EFX and sustain pedal, damper-noise now uses 'd-beam sounds' etc etc)

 

Note some 'use cases' for using the editor live with VR09/730:

• 'prepared VR-registration'  + MidiMapper: 
  • can load a GM2 sound (e.g. GP70, one of the crazy GM2 synth patches, etc) by switching to that registration
  • can activate 'V-Piano'  for this registration: it applies cutomisable 'tuning' (cutting off shrill velocity layer, optimising key response, adding a kind of 'damper resonance'  etc) to a VR GrandV
  • can load a synth patch that had been modified/created with the VA synth (and saved to an Editor V-Synth preset) by switching to that registration
• Hammond drawbars and presets: use Hammond console drawbar sets including toggling and programmable presets with a touch display
• change scale tuning to Just, Werckmeister, Arabic ...

DOWNLOAD:

As it's actually not possible to publish new panels in ctrlr.org, the panel (V-Combo-EDITOR_v11213.zip) and the Windows-standalone (V-Combo-EDITOR-11213.exe) can be downloaded from here:

 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_CJVGF0tACCxr1m0Y5yw7YLWEg1bvMF0?usp=sharing

 

 

Happy Ve-are-ing

[franky64]

ah, that's cool, mpn now allows to upload videos. Here's something that had been published in the FB group.

Certain - no ambient noodeling will ever touch the heart of the organ artist - but could give an idea what the VR is capable of  

 

3 sounds from VR "GM2 engine", loaded into 'keyboard-layer'  by Editor and played on VR09 keys. Sounds evolve as 'they are are', no (realtime) modding apart from pressing keys

 

 

 

 

 

 

[stoken6]

4 hours ago, franky64 said:

Hi folks, new name, new game (mpn did not react to the request to reactivate the expired account - so franky46 now is frank64 ;))

Don't worry, we still need you, we still feed you...

 

Cheers, Mike.

[roygBiv]

New Tip for better organ distortion with Roland VR-09!  (maybe old news for some of you).

 

Many of you know you can almost use the useless distortion if you turn down the main gain (purple slider) to 4 or 5.  Basically, gain staging to avoid horrible digital distortion.

 

Well, just thought to push that idea futher, and turned down the Organ High Gain and Low Gain (under the Menu ->Organ option) to like -5 or -6 for both, along with the main gain.

 

Doing so lets you turn the distortion knob up past noon, and results in a much more useful/natural sounding distortion.  not perfect by any means, but WAY better than before.  Tried it with both a "rock organ" and "transistor" setting.  In both cases, you can actually use the distortion now on the VR-09!!

 

Just thought I would share....

[brenner13]

I rather like the overdrive knob with the menu-gains only slightly tweaked; highs up a couple & lows down a couple of notches. Half-way is where the overdrive lives for my admittedly rock-tinged preference. Sounds so good and gritty with the expression pedal maxed out for solos. 
 

Unfortunately, there were a couple of early U-Toob vids demonstrating the overdrive that actually clipped their recording devices that started the false narrative the the overdrive is “unusable”. The haters won that one. But owners and users know the truth: up to half-way is sweet to crunchy. Past that and it gets rude and obtrusive, which is sometimes called for. I’d rather have loads of headroom than not enough, ya know?

 

I think those menu gains settings are global and not save-able per registration. However, if you happen to be a jazzer or more gospel oriented, perhaps tweaking those deep-dive gains down a bit might help tame the crunchiness past the half-way knob twist of the Overdrive.

 

Good tip.

[Baggypants]

I get the feeling most rock organ players aren't known for their restraint and moderation, so it's hardly surprising that setting the the gain to 50% took so long to discover.

[franky64]

CTRLR EDITOR V1.12.14 RELEASE

reorganised SOUND-tabs
VR-like DIAL for quickly scrolling through sound lists
reworked 'displays' and EDITOR-register handling
fix for VR 'organ volume bug' (not saved to mixed registrations)
custom 'wave-names' for VA-synthesized sounds (V-SYNTH)
all VA-synthesizable sounds can load to GM2-engine
SYSTEM TRANSPOSE independent from 'VR registrations'
redesigned menus for Foot Pedals (STAGE)
damper pedals 'mode lock' now also locks 'part'
PK/midi pedal 'foot switches': 'hidden ATELIER' options for varying VR built-in rhythms
many improvements for handling (hopefully )
many bugfixes
new Bugs 

For details see editor ''readme" button

Downloads 'bpanelz' panel-plugin and/or windows-exe standalone: VR-Combo Drive

 

 

[brenner13]

Franky64 just keeps it coming…phenomenal!

[franky64]

 

RELEASE: V-COMBO EDITOR V1.12.15 "GeneralAtelier"

 

new release available:

• ATELIER sound set is now also available for GM2 engine (tab SOUND-GM2)
• Improvments for UPG-Editor (mouse multi-select, up-down-shift, optics ...)
• Bugfixes (level sliders, V-SYNTH, UPG-Editor ...)

For details see EDITOR ''v1.12.15 readme" button (left main menu)
Download 'bpanelz' panel-plugin (Windows, OSX, linux) or WINDOWS-exe standalone:

https://v-combo.webspace.rocks/editor-vr09-730

 

[franky64]

Roland AEx (Active Expression) sounds - howto

 

Some of the VR ATELIER sounds (accessible through ctrlr editor) show the name prefix "AEx" (like "AEx Strings")

What is AEx? AEx sounds are sounds that variate when using the expression pedal: the expression pedal not only changes the level but also modifies the sound/timbre (that's why 'active expression' )

For AEx to work in VR the AEx-sound must be loaded into the KBD-voices UpperManual:SYN1, SOLO or LowerManual:SYN1
(AEx-sounds do not work in other voices nor in GM2 engine)

As ctrlr editor was programmed using the 'full Atelier sound list' of the Atelier organ top model (AT900) but the VR itself does not contain the entire set, not all AEx sounds are functional though.
But some are - examples of working AEx sounds:

- AEx Strings, AEx Violin, AEx AltoSax: pushing the expression pedal makes the sound not only louder but also brighter

- AEx PianoStr, AEx EP+Str: moving the expression pedal in the 'last milimeters' fades in/out the strings

 

[Morrissey]

1 hour ago, franky64 said:

RELEASE: V-COMBO EDITOR V1.12.15 "GeneralAtelier"

 

This editor is amazing!  Great work!

[weegeebored]

Is anyone else getting blocked from the v-combo.webspace.rocks site? Malwarebytes blocks me because of a phishing problem.  My browser reports that the site cannot provide a secure SSL connection. I tried using http: instead of https: but no joy.  The Google drive files are accessible so that's great, but there was some very good VR-09 information on the v-combo site that I would still like to have access to. (The Wayback Machine didn't work either as the URL was never archived.)

[wjwilcox]

1 hour ago, weegeebored said:

Is anyone else getting blocked from the v-combo.webspace.rocks site? Malwarebytes blocks me because of a phishing problem.  My browser reports that the site cannot provide a secure SSL connection. I tried using http: instead of https: but no joy.  The Google drive files are accessible so that's great, but there was some very good VR-09 information on the v-combo site that I would still like to have access to. (The Wayback Machine didn't work either as the URL was never archived.)

I just tried opening the site and it opened just fine with no blocking or warning.

[weegeebored]

Thanks for checking @wjwilcox.  I had to allow the site in Malwarebytes which makes me a little nervous as I visited the v-combo site a couple of weeks ago and had no problem.  Probably a false positive, but it's hard to know for sure. Thanks again.

[franky64]

Hi,

news about VR:

* 'pishing warning'  of v-combo website: 'Big Brother' Google erratically put the webstite onto their 'black list' databases  After protest it was removed within a day 
* VR 'half damper' functionality: we've been informed that VR detects 'half damper' (like send from Roland DP10):  this is correct, I could also use 'half damper' plugging in the expression pedal (same electric circuit as Roland half damper sustain pedals)

* VR 'Twin Rotary' as 'standalone Leslie': after switching 'VR rotary' off, MFX Twin Rotary can be used as a proper 'Leslie', reacting to fast-slow (wobble-stick) switch, rotary speed config settings etc. In absence of the 'VR rotary amp sim' the sound gets very crispy with a lot of overtones. This can be helpful for a 'clear Jazz organ' as well as rough Hard Rock organ (example: it's per se impossible to bring VR organ near to the 'Born to be Wild' B3, but with TwinR it at least comes a tiny little step closer  ).

Details for setting up 'Twin Rotary-Rotary':    https://v-combo.webspace.rocks/organ-settings

* MFX 'Twin Rotary' as Chorus/LFO effect: TwinRotary can be used as a '3D' Chorus or 'Tremolo' effect: the influence of 'rotary config settings' on TwinRotary makes it the only 'customisable MFX' on VR  Details in the 'tips&tricks' section (search for keyword 'Twin Rotary'): https://v-combo.webspace.rocks/bugs-tips-tricks