FA 06 + FA08

Jan_nl wrote:

Oh, I almost forgot, it would really REALLY be nice if the FA offered the ability to assign a controller to the drawbars of the organ.

I believe it does. We can't see it in the demo video (keyboardmag), but Steve F. seems surprised about that and says something about the drawbars when Ed Diaz shows him the organ controls on the display.

In other occasion Ed inclusively comments that this machine has the best organs of all Roland family of synths, VR-09 included.

Let's see the manuals as soon as they come out

PauloF wrote:

Jan_nl wrote:

Oh, I almost forgot, it would really REALLY be nice if the FA offered the ability to assign a controller to the drawbars of the organ.

I believe it does. We can't see it in the demo video (keyboardmag), but Steve F. seems surprised about that and says something about the drawbars when Ed Diaz shows him the organ controls on the display.

In other occasion Ed inclusively comments that this machine has the best organs of all Roland family of synths, VR-09 included.

Let's see the manuals as soon as they come out

Wow FA organs are better than Vr09. Where did Ed said that?

PauloF wrote:

Jan_nl wrote:

Oh, I almost forgot, it would really REALLY be nice if the FA offered the ability to assign a controller to the drawbars of the organ.

I believe it does. We can't see it in the demo video (keyboardmag), but Steve F. seems surprised about that and says something about the drawbars when Ed Diaz shows him the organ controls on the display.

In other occasion Ed inclusively comments that this machine has the best organs of all Roland family of synths, VR-09 included.

Let's see the manuals as soon as they come out

Yes, I heard Ed Diaz comment, and I share Steve's surprise because it does not make sense to include a virtual organ without giving the ability to control the drawbars. It makes you wonder how much thought went into the design...
Still, it could be remedied if Roland made it possible to map the drawbars to a controller, but the way Ed Diaz talked about it made it seem as if no guarantees could be given, especially since Ed quickly changed the subject (see 9:13 - 9:22 in the video).

I am looking forward to reading the manual because some areas are still too vague.

Jan_nl wrote:

it does not make sense to include a virtual organ without giving the ability to control the drawbars. It makes you wonder how much thought went into the design...

Just like the Jupiter 50, RD-700NX, and numerous other non-organ Rolands with clonewheel engines, I'm reasonably certain you'll be able to control the drawbars (i.e. via a menu function), the question is whether the board provides an ability to manipulate them in real time as you play.

PauloF wrote:

In other occasion Ed inclusively comments that this machine has the best organs of all Roland family of synths, VR-09 included.

I just watched the video referenced a little further down in this thread... at least the expected editability is confirmed, and he interestingly leaves open the possibility that you might be able to use the 6 knobs for real-time assignable control of 6 drawbars, sounds like they're still finalizing software. But ideally, they will be controllable by CC (rather than sysex) so that it will be easy to plug in other controlling devices for that purpose.

I would like to know if anyone has a link to where he says it's an improved organ engine compared to the VR-09. In this particular video, he only claimed it was better than any organ engine they had ever before included in a workstation, which wouldn't include the non-workstation gear like VR-09 (or Jupiter 50/80 or Integra). Even those aren't as strong as the dedicated VL-8/VK-8M organ or the VR-700 with their amp simulations. I wonder if those amp simulations have made it into the FA.

anotherscott wrote:

Jan_nl wrote:

it does not make sense to include a virtual organ without giving the ability to control the drawbars. It makes you wonder how much thought went into the design...

Just like the Jupiter 50, RD-700NX, and numerous other non-organ Rolands with clonewheel engines, I'm reasonably certain you'll be able to control the drawbars (i.e. via a menu function), the question is whether the board provides an ability to manipulate them in real time as you play.

...which was what I meant with my question.
That it's possible to control drawbars individually in the menu and create new settings for the organ was clear from the video where Ed shows that this is possible. But a drawbar organ should offer realtime control over all the drawbars when you play, which is something I think is obvious but apparently not so for Roland.

Jan_nl wrote:

anotherscott wrote:

Jan_nl wrote:

it does not make sense to include a virtual organ without giving the ability to control the drawbars. It makes you wonder how much thought went into the design...

Just like the Jupiter 50, RD-700NX, and numerous other non-organ Rolands with clonewheel engines, I'm reasonably certain you'll be able to control the drawbars (i.e. via a menu function), the question is whether the board provides an ability to manipulate them in real time as you play.

...which was what I meant with my question.
That it's possible to control drawbars individually in the menu and create new settings for the organ was clear from the video where Ed shows that this is possible. But a drawbar organ should offer realtime control over all the drawbars when you play, which is something I think is obvious but apparently not so for Roland.

Ed clearly stated that they are still working on it (read software)

So let's wait for more details... C'mon Roland... Release the manuals!!

PauloF wrote:

Ed clearly stated that they are still working on it (read software)

So let's wait for more details... C'mon Roland... Release the manuals!!

Well, if they're still working on the software and tweaking the functionality, it may be a bit premature to release the manuals!

Around 2:45 ,at the Keyboard Magazine demo, Ed says that from the end of February Roland will start to release all the SRX Expansions to download for the FA synths. Beginning with SRX 03. We have a winner IMHO.

LesliesTube wrote:

Around 2:45 ,at the Keyboard Magazine demo, Ed says that from the end of February Roland will start to release all the SRX Expansions to download for the FA synths. Beginning with SRX 03. We have a winner IMHO.

That is amazing, and having them as files like that makes a lot more sense than physical cards in this age of high speed internet.

Also opens up a lot more possibilities than SRX slots, in theory you could make your own SRX card files, though that depends if anyone can decrypt the format, I expect they'll be pretty locked down files to protect the sample content.

It also would be nice if Roland could let us know if there will be any SN expansion packs available, especially since I read that there are no SN el.guitars onboard.

Jan_nl wrote:

It also would be nice if Roland could let us know if there will be any SN expansion packs available, especially since I read that there are no SN el.guitars onboard.

No SN el.Guitars on board? how do you know that?

PauloF wrote:

Jan_nl wrote:

It also would be nice if Roland could let us know if there will be any SN expansion packs available, especially since I read that there are no SN el.guitars onboard.

No SN el.Guitars on board? how do you know that?

You'll find it in this thread, a post from someone who took the time to compare what was included in the FA and what not.
Since I prefer the SN engine over plain PCM I am somewhat puzzled by Roland's decision to go one step back and simply use PCM guitar emulations over the SN electric guitars. And that includes the other 'acoustic' instruments.

Jan_nl wrote:

PauloF wrote:

Jan_nl wrote:

It also would be nice if Roland could let us know if there will be any SN expansion packs available, especially since I read that there are no SN el.guitars onboard.

No SN el.Guitars on board? how do you know that?

You'll find it in this thread, a post from someone who took the time to compare what was included in the FA and what not.
Since I prefer the SN engine over plain PCM I am somewhat puzzled by Roland's decision to go one step back and simply use PCM guitar emulations over the SN electric guitars. And that includes the other 'acoustic' instruments.

It seems logical. If the FA's would have had all the SN tones it could kill the sales of the Integras and the Jupiters, I may be quite wrong.

Not to mention the RD300 which is still a current model. I considered moving to the FA myself as its the same keybed but if it had the same SN pianos as the RD they would also limit sales of the piano.
Cannot be sure until full specs are out but I suspect the piano sounds will not be the same...