Roland V-Piano (Bonus Material)

Jul 30, 2009 5:16 PM, By Geary Yelton

           
 

THE GRAND TOUR

When you power up the V-Piano (which takes about 20 seconds), the Voice screen displays the current preset and three or four parameters you can edit quickly. By default, these are Tuning, Hammer and Resonance, but you can assign any parameter to the display. You select a parameter with one of the buttons below the display—F1 through F4—and modify it using the large Value wheel to its right. By default, the F4 button opens the Utility screen, which provides access to system parameters such as master tuning, MIDI setup, velocity sensitivity, ambience type and eight temperaments ranging from equal to Arabic. The Function button to the display’s left garners entry to another set of four assignable parameters.

The V-Piano contains a rudimentary sequencer. It can record and play back your real-time performance as MIDI data, but because it has no overdub capabilities, the sequence is limited to one track. Adjust tempo, meter and metronome level, and record with or without a count-off. You can store your MIDI recordings to internal memory or to a USB device. The sequencer can play standard MIDI files, as well as audio files in WAV or MP3 format. Audio playback even lets you minimize the center channel for a vocal-canceling effect.