Roland FR-5b, FR-7b

Setting up | Using the orchestral sounds

FR-7b/FR-5b V-Accordion

The 22 available orchestral sounds and associated

registers are:

The first nine registers allow you to select two sounds

(“A” and “B”). To select a “B” sound, press the corre-

sponding register again.

If you select a “B” sound (5B “Pizzicato”, for example),

then press another register (12 “AcGuitar”), and again

the previous register (5), the FR-7b/FR-5b automati-

cally recalls the “B” sound (“Pizzicato”). This “configu-

ration” is retained until you switch the FR-7b/FR-5b

off. If you need the 5A “Violin” sound at this stage,

press register [5] once more.

The display briefly confirms your selection and shows

both the name of the sound you selected and the

number of the register you pressed:

(3) Play a few notes using the Treble buttons.

The Treble keyboard is velocity sensitive. The volume

and timbre of the notes played by the Orchestra part

depend on how hard/fast you press the treble keys

(for sounds 11, 12 or 13).

Note: The Treble accordion does not respond to velocity infor-

mation generated by the buttons. You can, however, vary its

volume and timbre by pressing/pulling the bellows harder and

softer (like on a “real” accordion).

You can use the Master bar to simulate an after-

touch effect: play a note, and keep holding the cor-

responding button while you gently press the Master

bar. For some orchestral sounds (guitar, flute, etc.) as

well as for the Treble accordion section, this effect

allows you to bend the pitch down (temporarily

lower the note). If you select an organ sound, the

Master bar can be used to switch between the fast

and slow Rotary effect speeds.

Note: This aftertouch effect applies to all notes that are

sounding simultaneously. All notes are bent by the same

amount. (MIDI buffs call this “channel aftertouch”.)

■About the ‘HighLand’ and ‘Zampogna’ sounds

Your FR-7b/FR-5b contains two bagpipe-instrument

sounds, one called “HighLand”, the other called

“Zampogna”. The instruments on which those sounds

are based use one or several drone notes over which

the melody is played.

To recreate the same sensation on the FR-7b/FR-5b,

the lowest octave on the Treble keyboard is assigned

to the drone notes when you select one of these

sounds:

Note: This example is based on the “C-Griff Europe” setting

(see “10.15 Treble Mode” on p. 74). The “E4” note is always the

highest drone note. Depending on the selected mode, that

note may be assigned to different buttons, however.

Here is how the drone function works:

• If you press a single gray button (see the illustration),

only that note is held. You can release that button

immediately after playing the note – it will be held

indefinitely.

• If you press two (or more) buttons simultaneously,

those notes are held (the drone function is poly-

phonic).

• To switch off the currently sounding drone note(s),

either press another button key in the gray area

(switch to another drone note) or press the button(s)

of the sounding drone notes again to stop the drone.

Note: This drone system is only available for the “HighLand”

and “Zampogna” sounds.

■Selecting the Orchestra mode

Depending on the settings of the Set you selected,

the Orchestra part may sound together with the Tre-

ble accordion section. That’s because there are four

ways in which the Orchestra section can be combined

with the Treble accordion section.

SOLO [14]: When you switch on the Orchestra section

(see step (2) above), you only hear the orchestral

instrument sound. Press [CANCEL] to return to the

Treble accordion sound.

Orchestral Treble sounds

1A Trombone 7A HighLand*

[*] See “About the ‘HighLand’ and ‘Zampogna’

sounds” on p. 26.

1B Trumpet 7B Zampogna*

2A Tenor Sax 8A PercOrgan

2B Alto Sax 8B JazzOrgan

3A Clarinet 9A RotOrgan

3B Oboe 9B TremOrg

4A Harmonica 10 ScatVoice

4B Mute Harm 11 Mandolin

5A Violin 12 AcGuitar

5B Pizzicato 13 AcPiano

6A Flute

6B Pan Flute

If the Orchestra part is off (set to CANCEL), the Mas-

ter bar always recalls the Treble register selected

with “Master Bar Recall” (page 68).

After selecting one of the modes (DUAL, HIGH, LOW,

or SOLO) and switching on the Orchestra part (CAN-

CEL off), the Master bar allows you to switch the

Orchestra part on and off. In SOLO mode, this means

that you alternate between the Treble and Orchestra

parts.

Can be used to play the melody.

Sound the drone notes.