Roland EM-55 owner manual Recorder functions, About the recording modes, Modes

Recorder functions

12. Recorder functions

The EM-55 comes with a 16-track Recorder that can be used in several ways. On p. 20 we showed you the most straightforward way of using the Recorder. Here, you will get to know nuts and bolts.

About the recording modes

Modes

The EM-55 provides two modes for record- ing new music, and two for adding parts or correcting passages of existing music:

Recording a new song:

ALL	In this mode, you can record every-
	thing you and the EM-55 can play
	simultaneously:
	• Arranger (accompaniment),
	• Keyboard parts (Upper 1/2, Lower,
	M.Bass – or M.Drums)
	• Style Pad performance (DJ PAD
	performance is also possible, but
	then the Arranger will not be
	available)
	• D Beam performance.

Keyboard In this mode, you can record using the Keyboard parts

•Upper 1/2, Lower, M.Bass – or M.Drums.

Adding parts to an existing song

Single	In this mode you can record onto
	one track at a time. The track can be
	freely selected (unlike for the pre-
	ceding modes).

Punch I/O This mode allows you to re-record a short section of an otherwise per- fect part.

Note: Every time you select the ALL or KEYBOARD mode, anything you may have recorded previously will be erased.

What are tracks?

Recorder memory

The EM-55 provides one Song memory, which means that it can contain one Song. After completing a Song, you must save it to floppy disk (see p. 52).

To keep you from accidentally erasing the Song in the EM-55’s internal memory, the EM-55 automatically selects SINGLE mode after your first recording. Bear in mind that

selecting ALL or KEYBOARD will erase

the Song currently in the EM-55’s memory. Do not select ALL or KEYBOARD for adding parts to an existing Song – use SINGLE or PUNCH I/O instead.

Conversely, it is impossible to select SINGLE or PUNCH I/O if the Song memory doesn’t yet contain data.

And finally: playing back a Standard MIDI File erases the Song in the EM-55’s memory. In return, the SMF data will be available (and can be supplemented with your own renditions in SINGLE or PUNCH I/O mode).

The term “track” is used only for your con- venience. We borrowed it from tape record- ers that allow for recording several musical parts by the same person (one part after the other).

In the case of the EM-55, the term is only used to indicate that we are dealing with separate musical parts. Here indeed (like with computer-based sequencers) what really counts are the MIDI channels.

Why are we telling you this? Just to suggest that you could also use external MIDI con- trollers (drum pads, etc.) for recording cer- tain parts – you do not need to use the EM-55’s keyboard all the time (and you could also transmit certain parts from a computer). The MIDI channels correspond to the track numbers.

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