VA-76 Owner’s ManualVA-76 clinics

Here’s how you can tell which Tone Map is currently being used:

Map information

This information is also displayed on other pages (mark the “Map” field). Here is another example:

Note: Tones without a “Map” indication belong to Map 4 (the new VA-76 sounds).

A word about the new Tones

All new VA-76 Tones (Map 4) are fantastic, of course, but some of them are truly amazing. In the Tone List on page 222 (and on the display pages), look out for Tones that start with a “V” (for “virtual”).

Select them and try playing at different velocities (strengths) to discover the rich nuances that can be obtained. There is a trumpet Tone, for example (“V Trumpet”, A81, Variation 13) that allows you to alter- nate between a muted and a “full blown” trumpet sim- ply by hitting the keys softer or harder. Various guitar Tones provide a hammering-on/bending sounds when you strike the keys as hard as you can. And there’s more.

On top of that, transposing the keyboard to the lowest octave sometimes provides access to some typical noises (scraping over the strings, hitting the body of an acoustic guitar, etc.). See page 54 for how to select the lowest octave. Though these “beautiful noises” are probably too far away for live use, consider throwing them in when recording your own songs. Your sequences will sound even better!

Alternatively…

Assign the same “V” guitar Tone to the UP1 (or UP2) and LW1 (or LW2) part, select the SPLIT Key- board mode (see page 36), and transpose the LW1 (or LW2) part 3 octaves down using the Octave function (see page 54). That should allow you to throw in the odd scrape or knock. You may want to select a relatively low split point (see page 35). This approach “works” because most Tones are musically useless below a certain note, so why not use the remaining notes to the left for the playing noises?

Drumming on the keyboard

The MDR (M. Drums) part allows you to drum on the keyboard. As stated above, this part is available in both SPLIT and WHOLE modes. When used in SPLIT Key- board Mode, it is assigned to the right half of the key- board (which means that the notes pictured below are masked until you select another Octave for the MDR part).

The MDR part differs from the other Keyboard parts in that it assigns different sounds to every key. If you select the WHOLE mode and press the C2 (second C from the left), you trigger a bass drum sound. Press the D2 key (the D to the right of the C2) to trigger a snare drum sound, and so on. Consequently, you won’t be able to play melodies. Consider the following illustration:

 

C2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C3

Here’s how to activate the MDR part:

1.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

 

 

 

 

 

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Roland VA-76 owner manual Drumming on the keyboard, Word about the new Tones, Alternatively…