VA-76 – Song playback functions

The display now looks more or less as follows:

4.Press the [PLAY ®] field to start Song playback. The lyrics are now displayed on screen:

5.Press the [STOP ] field to stop playback, or the [oBack] field to return to the main Song Composer page.

Note: You can also program and edit lyrics yourself. See page 157.

Fast Forward, Rewind, and Reset

To fast forward or rewind within the current song, first press the [PLAY ®] and then [FFW ®®] to fast forward, or [√√ BWD] to rewind. Pressing

[FFW ®®] takes you to the next measure of the cur- rent song, while [√√ BWD] takes you to the mea- sure before the current one. You can hold down either field to accelerate the fast forward or rewind process. The measure indication in the display will help you locate the measure you need.

Press the [STOP √] field once more after stopping Song playback to return to the first measure of the song (Reset).

Loop playback (Markers)

Another clever feature of the Song Composer is that you can program playback loops. You can do so dur- ing playback or while the Song Composer is stopped.

1.Select a Song Composer page where the [A: ] and [B: ] fields are displayed.

2.Press [A: ] where you want the loop to begin (that field is displayed in white).

A: 2

A

3.Fast forward to the measure where you want the loop to end and press [B: ] (this field is also displayed in white).

B: 4

AB

You can also program loops on the fly. Remember, however, that the Composer always memorizes the beginning (downbeat) of the next measure.

4.To activate the loop you have just programmed,

press the field.

At the end of the B measure, the Song Composer immediately jumps back to the beginning of measure A.

5.To stop playback, press the [STOP ] field.

6.Press the field again to deactivate the loop.

Changing the song tempo

You can change the (programmed) song tempo with the [TEMPO/DATA] dial or the [TEMPO/TAP] but- ton (by tapping the desired rhythm). Such changes are only temporary, however, and will be overridden by tempo change messages contained in the song data. Furthermore, every time you jump back to the begin- ning of the song using [STOP √], the preset song tempo will be recalled.

Note: You can edit the tempo using “Header Post Edit” on page 161.

Soloing and muting parts

Before muting a part for Minus One performances, you have to know which part (MIDI channel/track) plays the notes you do not want to hear. Unfortu- nately, the Standard MIDI File format, specific though it may about certain aspects, still leaves a considerable amount of liberty for programmers. Finding the part you want to mute is not always easy, though the VA-76 can help you find it.

Note: See also “Tracks and MIDI channels” on page 141.

Soloing parts

To find out which part is assigned to which MIDI channel, you can use the Solo function. This function mutes all other parts except the current one. Once one part has been soloed, you can add other parts and so switch on all Song parts one after the other. You could use this facility for Dance/House “mixing” by first switching on the bass, then the drums, etc., simply by adding these tracks to the parts already soloed. The Loop function (see above) might come in handy for such DJ applications. Here is how to solo one or sev- eral parts:

1.Load a Standard MIDI File.

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Roland VA-76 Fast Forward, Rewind, and Reset, Loop playback Markers, Changing the song tempo, Soloing and muting parts