Introduction and question on sequencer volume setting

6 Mar 2019, 16:59

Greetings to the Clan,

50-something executive, guitar player, been wanting a keyboard for years, finally snagged a Roland JD-Xi on sale @ GC for $399 a few weeks ago. Haven't had time to really dig into it, but having a great time playing around so far and excited to learn from the forum.

On my honor, especially as a newb to the board, I promise I've searched the forums and cannot find this answer in my searches...

Can the (total sum) sequencer playback volume be reduced as a whole (independently of the individual instrument pathes / banks) ???

On my unit (guessing others are the same) the demo sequencer playback of every pattern is noticeably louder than when I'm playing (the same settings on) the keyboard.

I know the JD-Xi has velocity sensitive keys, and if I really pound the keys the sound is about as loud as the demo sequencer playback.

Has every one of the demo pattern sequences been created with max velocity keystrokes? (Or perhaps the demos were all loaded w/ binary off/on triggering, which removes all "sensitivity" and makes every note trigger at 100% ???)

Obviously, I can "turn the volume knob down" when playing sequences, but that's the total volume of the instrument. I only want to turn down the sequencer volume, not the volume of the patches/keys I'm playing along with the sequencer.

Is there a way to do that ???

Re: Introduction and question on sequencer volume setting

7 Mar 2019, 05:42

Hi, Welcome.

Take a look at this video, should clarify the various volume options...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ5ZocNTIlQ&frags=pl%2Cwn

Re: Introduction and question on sequencer volume setting

7 Mar 2019, 11:20

Great video 9blackoranges - thanks for sharing. I'll watch the others as well.

Technically, my question wasn't answered; but from what I've picked up so far, I suspect what I WANT to do is not a function the JD-Xi supports.

Technically, I'm looking for separate volume control of the sequencer and the physical keyboard.

Unfortunately, the only volume controls I've found (including the video above) are...

(a) Independently set the volume / level of each synth engine (d1, d2, drum, ana) within a pattern, using the AMP/LEVEL knob (for Drums, one can also set the vol/lvl of each individual key / perc instrument)
(b) Set the volume / level of the each individual PATTERN (preset or user) using the Menu system
(c) Set the volume / level of the entire keyboard output using the volume knob

I'm not at the keyboard right now, so I can't check this, but It seems like the volume/level prioritization is as follows...

INDIVIDUAL SYNTH ENGINE LEVELS > (individual instruments in drum synth) > PATTERN LEVEL* > KEYBOARD VOLUME KNOB

*Where the PATTERN LEVEL determines the output of BOTH the sequencer and physical keyboard together - with no way to set (or even balance) the sequencer / keyboard output individually.

I'll add this to my list of firmware update requests - lol :-)

Re: Introduction and question on sequencer volume setting

24 Mar 2019, 05:29

A couple of things you might not have tried if you're just finding your way around the synth.

You could change the keyboard to a lighter touch to play higher volumes more easily in SETTINGS -> KEY TOUCH -> Velo Curve set to LIGHT

Or you could change the keyboard to play notes with a fixed velocity (but obviously no expression) if that suits your purpose using SETTINGS -> KEY TOUCH -> Velocity set to 127 (Max) instead of REAL.

Entering Program Edit in the menu and changing COMMON -> ProgramLevel will change the volume of the pattern, but as you've discovered will of course change the volume of whatever you play on the keyboard too.

Otherwise you could enter Program Edit and reduce the volume of the drums (MAIN : DR -> Level) and two of the synths (e.g. MAIN : D1 -> Level and MAIN : D2 -> Level) to a lower value but leave the other which you intend to play on the keyboard (e.g. MAIN : AN -> Level) at maximum volume.