Roland Complete Guide to V-Arranger Keyboard Features for VA76

VA-76 – Keyboard Mode clinic

Split point in Arranger mode

When the [ARRANGER] button lights, the keyboard is split in two halves. The split point is located at a C key. This key is called the “C4”:

Arranger control Upper1

There may be situations where the automatically assigned range is not what you need. In that case, you can change the split point:

1.Press the Keyboard Mode [ARRANGER] button (so that it lights).

This switches on the Arranger and splits the keyboard.

2.Press the Keyboard Mode [OTHER] button.

M-FX
CONTROLLERS	EFFECTS	ONE TOUCH
MELODY
INTELL
MIN MAX		TRANSPOSE
M-VALUE

			KEYBOARD MODE		USER PROGRAM
ON/OFF	SYNC	OTHER	ARRANGER	PIANO	DOWN	UP
					FREE PANEL

The display now looks more or less as follows:

If this page is not displayed, press the [SPLIT] field so that it is displayed in white.

3.Use the [o][k] fields to the left and right of the displayed keyboard to select the new split point. The setting range is F1~F#7.

Note: Your settings can be written to a User Program and recalled at a later stage. See page 127.

Other

As soon as you change any of the Other parameters, the [ARRANGER] or [PIANO] button goes dark (if it was on). This is done to signal that the current settings no longer correspond to the preset settings of the Arranger or Piano mode.

As stated above, the Keyboard Mode [ARRANGER] and [PIANO] buttons select the Arranger or Piano mode and also make a number of preset settings. In most instances, these settings work just fine. There are, however, other possibilities that allow you to use the VA-76 in an even more flexible way. Before looking at them we’d like to clarify the following:

What are ‘parts’?

The VA-76 allows you to use several sounds simulta- neously. Some of these sounds can be played in real- time. These are the Keyboard parts. Other parts are played by the Arranger/Music Styles and are called Style parts. And finally, there are the Song parts that are controlled by the Song Composer function.

Below please find an explanation of the Keyboard parts. (See page 107 for the Style parts.)

•UP1 (Upper1): Though there are only slight differ- ences between Upper1 and Upper2, Upper1 is nor- mally the main solo part (and switched on automatically in Piano mode).

•UP2: The Upper2 part can be used as additional solo part to be layered with the Upper1 part, or as an alter- native melody sound. Except when the UP2 Split func- tion is activated (see page 86), it is perfectly possible to switch on Upper2 while Upper1 is off.

• (VariPhrase): This part triggers the VariPhrase function (see page 29).

•MEL Int (Melody Intelligence): This part is triggered by the Arranger and plays automatic harmonies. You cannot play it yourself. You can choose from among 18 harmony types (see page 99).

•LW1: The Lower1 part allows you to play chords with your left hand. Use it whenever you want to add live chords, such as strings, to your right-hand melody.

•LW2: The Lower2 part is to Lower1 what Upper2 is to Upper1, i.e. it allows you to add a second sound to the notes you play with your left hand, or to alternate between two sounds.

•MBS: The Manual Bass part can supply a semi-auto- matic bass part to your left-hand notes. It is only avail- able in SPLIT mode (see below). If activated while the Lower parts are off, it is no longer triggered automati- cally, in which case you can also play chords.

•MDR: The Manual Drums part is somewhat different from the other Keyboard parts in that you can only select Drum Sets for this part. It does not allow you to play melodies because every key is assigned to a differ- ent sound. Select this part whenever you feel like drumming on the keyboard. See page 42.

Using the WHOLE Keyboard Mode

Whole means that all keys trigger the same part(s). There is thus no split. You can assign up to five parts to the entire keyboard: LW1, LW2, UP2, UP1, and the part. The MDR part cannot be layered with (added to) the other parts. Also note that when you

switch on the part, all other parts (except UP2) will be deactivated. You can, however, add UP1, LW1, and LW2 to the VariPhrase part once it has been switched on.

1.Press the Keyboard Mode [OTHER] button.

2.Press the [KEYBOARD MODE] field in the upper right corner (so that it is displayed in white).

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