Roland Piano How Phrase Tracks, Parts and MIDI Channels Interact, Tempo Track, Beat Track

Tempo Track

The Tempo track records tempo changes of a song over time. It can be used for tempo changes during a song. If a song has the same tempo from beginning to end, the Tempo track can be ignored. When a song is first recorded on the Fantom, a tempo setting at the time of recording will be stored at the beginning of the Tempo track. Therefore when song playback starts from the beginning, the song will always play back at this initial tempo.

Thus playback tempo is determined by the Tempo track setting. If you modify the tempo during playback, the overall tempo of the song will be controlled by the setting you make.

Overview of the Fantom

How Phrase Tracks, Parts and MIDI Channels Interact

When the sound generator is in Multitimbre mode, you will need to be aware of how the phrase tracks, parts, and MIDI channels correspond to one another. Otherwise, you may not hear the sounds you expect, or song editing may be more difficult than it should be. For this reason, we recommend that you always maintain the direct numerical correspondence between Phrase tracks 1–16, parts 1–16, and MIDI channels 1–16. These are the settings that will be in effect when the power is turned on, or after you perform the Song Initialize operation (p. 127).

Overview of the Fantom

Beat Track

Sequencer

Sound Generator

The Beat track records the time signature of each measure of a song. Set the Beat track when recording a new song, or when you want to change time signature during a song.

Pattern Track

You can also use the Pattern track to record musical passages, separately from the Phrase tracks. Musical data in the Pattern track is regarded as separate Patterns. Up to 100 Patterns can be created, and each Pattern can contain data for 16 MIDI channels, as with Phrase tracks.

Patterns can be assigned to a Phrase track, so if you are using

Phrase track 1

Phrase track 2

Phrase track 3

Phrase track 4

Phrase track 5

Phrase track 6

Phrase track 7

Phrase track 8

Phrase track 9

Ch 1

Ch 2

Ch 3

Ch 4

Ch 5

Ch 6

Ch 7

Ch 8

Ch 9

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

repetitive phrases such as drums and bass, it is convenient to record each musical phrase in a pattern, and then use the MICROSCOPE screen to assign the pattern to the track (p. 134). In this case, the Phrase track contains only the Pattern Call numbers that refer to the desired Pattern, and not the actual Pattern data. Therefore the same Pattern can be used any number of times with a negligible increase in memory used.

The RPS function (p. 159) for immediate playback also applies to Patterns. Patterns are therefore convenient for live performance, if you’ve recorded necessary sequencer data as Patterns and take them to the gig.

Patterns also make fine scratch-pads for musical ideas.

Songs and the Sound Generator Mode

The Fantom’s sequencer can be used at any time, regardless of the mode of the sound generator (Patch/Multitimbre/Performance). Normally, when recording or playing back a song, you will put the sound generator in Multitimbre mode. The reason for this is that in this mode, only the sound of the specified MIDI channel will be heard when you record while playing the keyboard of the Fantom, and that when the song is played back, the parts can independently play up to 16 different sounds. Thus, this mode is suitable for recording and playing back a song that uses an ensemble of multiple instruments, such as drums, bass, and piano.

If you wish to record your playing using a layered/split performance, set the sound generator to Performance mode.

If you wish to record your playing using a single sound, you can set the sound generator to Patch mode.

Phrase track 10

Phrase track 11

Phrase track 12

Phrase track 13

Phrase track 14

Phrase track 15

Phrase track 16

Ch 10

Ch 11

Ch 12

Ch 13

Ch 14

Ch 15

Ch 16

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

Part 14

Part 15

Part 16

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