Roland FA: Studio Sets for Easy Access
Practical Guide for the Roland FA O6, O7, or O8 Keyboard
Creating Studio Sets for Easy Access in Live Performance
Introduction: Why I Started this Blog
I recently purchased a new Roland FA with 88 keys. It came with a multi-language manual and access to two other digital manuals that can be downloaded as PDFs. Although I perused through all of them and discovered how to do various operations, I did not understand why I should want to do most of them.
However, I knew what it was that I hoped to do. My 30-year-old keyboard had a spot for presets that I always used for gigs so I didn’t have to search through banks of sounds for what I wanted. I needed some such easy-access spot in the FA. With upcoming performances deadlines, I desperately started searching for tutorials online.
Thank goodness for Ed Diaz! He makes learning videos for Roland with horizontally split screens showing his hand movements and the close-up information on the keyboard. I sat with his tutorials for hours, pausing to take notes and replaying his button-pushing (which he did not always explain in words.) With that visual instruction I learned how I could set up my preferred sounds and their combinations for quick access, a feat only possible by the use of Studio Sets. (I had tried saving sounds in a bank of Favorites, but found I could not store layered sounds there.)
The manual explains pretty well how to set up a Studio Set of 16 sounds, but then you have a cumbersome screen to scroll through. It did not reveal (in a manner logical to me, anyway) that you can transfer those sounds to the lighted pads on the far right of the board where they are easily accessible during a performance. Ed tells how it’s all done. The link to his tutorial is below, but for your convenience, here are my expanded notes that you are invited to copy-paste for free into your own document for future reference.
Creating the Set
First, make your own Studio Set. For this process, you’ll mostly use the lighted screen, the arrow buttons, and the dial.
Two ways to access the Studio Sets section:
1) Use a cursor button (the arrows) to take the highlight up to the line above the name of the sound on the screen. You can then use the dial to scroll through the Studio Sets.
2) [Ed’s preference]: Press Split and Dual buttons (to the left, underneath the word “Keyboard”) at the same time. This not only takes you to Studio Sets, but shows the sounds that are loaded into the set. (Only four of the 16 can fit on the screen at a time. They’re all numbered; at this point you can cursor down through the list to get to the other 12.)
The info bar has two halves separated by a colon. It reads “PRST: [Number and name of the preset]”. There are 69 of these presets, after which begin the USER spots, where you need to go so you can “write” (save) your own set of sounds.
Two ways to get to the USER spots:
1) Since the name half of the info bar is already highlighted (the right side), you can simply use the dial to scroll quickly through all 69 Presets. Then, instead of “PRST: 070,” you arrive at “USER: 001.”
2) You can also use the left cursor (arrow) button to highlight PRST. (As with everything on this keyboard, whatever is highlighted is controlled by the dial, and moving the highlight around is done with cursor buttons.) Rolling the dial just one click takes you to USER. Then use the right arrow to re-highlight the name of the set.
If you have not made any of your own sets yet, the name will appear as “001: INIT STUDIO.” I’ve made two Sound Sets so far, so my screen shows “001: Band Sounds.” Another dial click takes me to “002: Wedding Sounds.” The next spot is still blank – “003: INIT STUDIO.”
The numbers go from 001 to 512. You can store your sets in any of them, and might want to organize them in numbered groupings as sets used for performance, sets used to record songs, or maybe in styles of music.
Collecting your Sounds:
Again press Dual and Split simultaneously.
The first four in the list of 16 tones appears on the screen. Each one is enclosed in a box containing several parameters for that Part of the Set (including a very cute mini-keyboard!) When you first look at the 16 Parts of the set, they are all filled in with the first sound the keyboard opens with, Full Grand, with the exception of #10 and #16, which have special functions (to be addressed in a future blog). To change them to different sounds (which the Roland people call “tones”), use the up and down cursor to highlight the tone name in each Part box. (It requires two arrow clicks to get to the next box, because each box has two lines of info you can highlight and alter.) When the tone name is highlighted, press a button in whatever sound category you want to insert, and use the dial to scroll through the names of the tones. When you land on one you like, just cursor down to the next Part box and do the same thing. The sounds will all stay in the various boxes until you leave that studio set. Then, unless you have saved them by using the Write button, when you scroll back you will find the Parts are all reverted back to Full Grand. This is an easy way to start over. It’s also a big surprise if you don’t want to start over!
How to SAVE a Studio Set: Once you’ve started collecting your sounds, you should name and save your set:
1) Press the black Write button
2) Press the red button under the screen (#2) that points to “Studio Set” on the screen.
3) Press #2 again: the screen has changed so button #2 now points to “Rename.”
4) Use the dial to find the letters for the name of your set. Both Upper and Lower case are on the dial, but you can change cases with the up/down cursor arrows. (The manuals explain the naming process very well in more than one spot.)
5) When finished naming, press the button for the yellow OK on screen (#7).
6) Press button for “write” on screen (again #7)
7) Verify you are sure (#6)
Easy Access for Performance: The Large Pads!
Now this is my favorite part of Ed’s tutorial. That collection of large lighted pads on the far right surely has a multitude of uses, but the ability to transfer all the tones from the Sound Set over to it will probably forever be my favorite. The only addition that could make it any better might be a temporary holographic icon denoting the tone you have chosen. As it is, you have to remember where you put your sounds. Admittedly, when you press one of the large Pads, the screen flips to whichever group of four the tone is in, its Part highlighted so you can see the tone name before you play. Still, I would suggest grouping tones in some way that is logical to you – perhaps a row of pianos, a row of organs, a row of strings and pads, and a row of solo sounds, or maybe place them in order of use according to your playlist.
Also keep in mind that only the first two Pads will respond to being linked together by the Dual or the Split button while you are in the Studio Set. The other Pads can be configured in pairs (or triples, etc.) to always play together (“Advanced Layers & Splits”) but these first two will also operate singly until the Dual or Split button is deployed to hook them together. How these things are accomplished will be the subject of upcoming blog entries. For now, let’s get those sounds to the pads!
Making a set of sounds to appear on the large Pads:
Ed began this demonstration with a blank Studio Set, instructing the Parts to go to the Pads from the outset, before he even named the set. However, you can transfer a Studio Set you’ve already constructed by executing the first three commands below. You just have to be sure to press Write when you’re finished if you want to keep the commands as part of the set, i.e., always have the sounds pop over to the Pads whenever you open that Studio Set.
Press Pad Utility (by the big Pads)
Press PAD MODE (the 5th lighted button under the screen) and the name of each pad function shows on the screen.
Back to Pads: Press #2 which the screen tells you is “Parts Select”
Then Exit [Ed said “let’s get out of here” and probably pressed the down cursor.]
Create a set: (skip this review if you already have a set made)
Go to USER with the dial.
USER 001 INIT STUDIO
Press Split + Dual again
0001 Full Grand appears in all 16 spots. (Only 4 at a time show on the screen.)
Now all the Pads are green! The bottom 1st Pad is blinking – it’s #1, corresponding to the first Part in the Studio Set. Cursoring to the next Part on the screen makes the next Pad blink, and pushing any of the Pads highlights the corresponding Part. The connection has been made! Now you can add/change tones as explained above.
I hope this has helped someone out there who might be struggling (as I was) to make sense of the manuals. The way I finally started understanding was sitting with my Diaz notes and pushing buttons. I’m sure the more we do it, the faster we’ll get!
Two more blog entries are in the works: Studio Sets: A Few Tone Tricks, and Advanced Layers & Splits. As I explore more, I’ll keep on adding to the series. Meanwhile, please leave any questions in the comments below, and I’ll try to find the answer. Your own discoveries are welcome, too!
Good luck and have fun!
Ed Diaz explains: How to set up a studio set to appear on the pads.