Roland VA-76 User Manual

VA-76

V-Arranger Keyboard 128-voice polyphony

Owner’s Manual

Thank you, and congratulations on your choice of the Roland VA-76 V-Arranger Keyboard. The VA-76 is the 76-key (weighted synthesizer action), professional version of the widely acclaimed VA-7. VariPhrase,

brandnew and strikingly realistic sounds and Drum Sets, all-new Music Styles, an animated touch screen, an Audio In connector with separate effects, 2 programmable “Pad” buttons, a programmable Lyrics function, 4 assignable outputs – and a sober, intuitive user interface are just the most exciting new features.

To get the most out of the VA-76 and to ensure many years of trouble-free service, we urge you to read through this Owner’s Manual thoroughly.

• To avoid confusion, let’s agree to use the word “button” for all keys on the front panel, and only use “key” when referring to the VA-76’s keyboard. Also, in order to avoid mixups between the “real” buttons on the front panel and the “software buttons” on the touch screen, we shall use the word “ﬁeld” for the on-screen buttons.

• The contents of the illustrations appearing in this manual may differ slightly from what you see when you start using your instrument.

Before using this instrument, carefully read the sections entitled, “Using the unit safely”, and “Important notes”. These sections provide important information concerning the proper operation of the VA-76. Be sure to keep this manual in a safe place for future reference.

Iomega® is a registered trademark. Zip™ is a trademark of Iomega Corporation. All other trademarks in this manual are the property of the respective companies.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of Roland Europe s.p.a.

Used for instructions intended to alert the user to the risk of death or severe injury should the unit be used improperly.

Used for instructions intended to alert the user to the risk of injury or material damage should the unit be used improperly.

* Material damage refers to damage or

other adverse effects caused with respect to the home and all its furnishings, as well to domestic animals or pets.

The symbol alerts the user to important instructions or warnings.The specific meaning of the symbol is determined by the design contained within the triangle. In the case of the symbol at left, it is used for general cautions, warnings, or alerts to danger.

The symbol alerts the user to items that must never be carried out (are forbidden). The specific thing that must not be done is indicated by the design contained within the circle. In the case of the symbol at left, it means that the unit must never be disassembled.

The ● symbol alerts the user to things that must be carried out. The specific thing that must be done is indicated by the design contained within the circle. In the case of the symbol at left, it means that the powercord plug must be unplugged from the outlet.

• Before using this instrument, make sure to read the instructions below, and the Owner’s Manual.

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• Do not open (or modify in any way) the instrument, and avoid damaging the supplied power cable.

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• Do not attempt to repair the instrument, or replace parts within it. Refer all servicing to your retailer, the nearest Roland Service Center, or an authorized Roland distributor, as listed on the “Information” page.

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• Never use or store the unit in places that are:

• Subject to temperature extremes (e.g., direct sunlight in an enclosed vehicle, near a heating duct, on top of heat-generating equipment); or are

• Damp (e.g., baths, washrooms, on wet ﬂoors); or are

• Humid; or are

• Exposed to rain; or are

• Dusty; or are

• Subject to high levels of vibration.

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• Make sure the line voltage at the installation matches the input voltage speciﬁed on the name plate.

• Avoid damaging the power cord. Do not bend it excessively, step on it, place heavy objects on it, etc. A damaged cord can easily become a shock or ﬁre hazard.

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• This instrument may be capable of producing sound levels that could cause permanent hearing loss. Do not operate for a long period of time at a high volume level, or at a level that is uncomfortable. If you experience any hearing loss or ringing in the ears, you should immediately stop using the instrument and consult an audiologist.

• Do not allow any objects (e.g., ﬂammable material, coins, pins); or liquids of any kind (water, soft drinks, etc.) to penetrate the instrument.

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• Immediately turn the power off, remove the power cable from the outlet, and request servicing by your retailer, the nearest Roland Service Center, or an authorized Roland distributor, as listed on the “Information” page when:

• The power cord has been damaged; or

• Objects have fallen into, or liquid has been spilled onto the instrument; or

• The instrument has been exposed to rain (or otherwise has become wet); or

• The instrument does not appear to operate normally or exhibits a marked change in performance.

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• In households with small children, an adult should provide supervision until the child is capable of following all the rules essential for the safe operation of the unit.

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• Protect the instrument from strong impact. Do not drop it!

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• Do not force the instrument to share an outlet with an unreasonable number of other devices. Be especially careful when using extension cords—the total power used by all devices you have connected to the extension cord’s outlet must never exceed the power rating (watts/ amperes) for the extension cord. Excessive loads can cause the insulation on the cord to heat up and eventually melt through.

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• Before using the instrument in a foreign country, consult with your retailer, the nearest Roland Service Center, or an authorized Roland distributor, as listed on the “Information” page.

• The instrument and the power cord should be located so their position does not interfere with their proper ventilation.

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• Always grasp only the plug or the body of the power cord when plugging into, or unplugging from, an outlet or this instrument.

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• Whenever the instrument is to remain unused for an extended period of time, disconnect the power cord.

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• Try to prevent cords and cables from becoming entangled. Also, all cords and cables should be placed so they are out of the reach of children.

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• Never climb on top of, nor place heavy objects on the instrument.

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• Never handle the power cord with wet hands when plugging into, or unplugging from, an outlet or this unit.

VA-76 – Owner’s Manual

• Before cleaning the unit, turn off the power and unplug the power cord from the outlet.

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• Whenever you suspect the possibility of lightning in your area, disconnect the power cord from the outlet.

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Features

VariPhrase processor

76-key velocity-sensitive

keyboard with channel

Aftertouch

D-Beam and Ribbon

Controllers

New sound source

The VA-76 features a new breakthrough in sampling technology that allows for “elastic” processing and MIDI data-like manipulation of sampled audio phrases. You can now combine Arranger playback (accompaniments) with realtime triggering of sampled phrases so as to (re)create vocals, “acoustic” solo parts, etc., while giving the impression that the part in question is being sung or played to the VA-76’s Music Styles. Thanks to its exceptional quality, the VariPhrase processor allows you to play the samples in ROM or your own sampled phrases polyphonically with little or no artifacts so typical of conventional samplers. For the ﬁrst time ever, this is achieved based on single samples rather than time-consuming and intricate multisampling techniques. Furthermore, you can assign the VariPhrase part to the desired keyboard zone.

VariPhrase provides for automatic synchronization (without sonic alterations) of sampled material with the Arranger or Song Composer. It also allows you to divide longer phrases (e.g. an entire verse or chorus) into individual syllables and to play these one after the other – in perfect sync with the Arranger or Song tempo. The effect is truly stunning – and there is more. See page 29 for a ﬁrst impression.

The VA-76’s keyboard is a delight to play. Capable of generating channel Aftertouch messages, it allows you to control the volume, timbre, and Arranger functions in an intuitive way.

The VA-76 also boasts the acclaimed D-Beam Controller* for intuitive Tone and Arranger control via movements over an invisible beam of infrared light. There is also a Ribbon Controller that can be used for controlling the same or complementary functions. And, of course, the BENDER/MODULATION lever and Aftertouch control are there, too.

The VA-76 comes with a 128-voice polyphonic sound source with 3,646 instrument sounds and 116 Drum Sets that cover everything from incredibly realistic acoustic instruments to cooking Techno sounds. Never before has an electronic instrument produced such true-to-life instrument and drum sounds, including subtle tonal changes and all the “noises” associated with acoustic instruments (scraping for guitar sounds, resonance for drum sounds, etc.).

Effects galore

Customizable even

without using the User

Programs

On-board Zip™ drive and

ﬂoppy disk drive

128 User Programs

In addition to the indispensable digital Chorus, Reverb, Delay and 2-band Equalizer, the VA-76 also features a multi-effector with a stunning 89 effects and combinations (called “algorithms”).

The VA-76 is among the ﬁrst Roland instrument that allows you to select your favorite sounds using ﬁve convenient SUPER TONES buttons on the front panel. The preset assignments for these buttons can be changed.

Furthermore, the One Touch Program functionality already available on previous models has been expanded to include four memories per Music Style – including the Disk Link Styles – and the possibility to assign your favorite settings to these memories.

Of course, the VA-76 also sports 128 User Programs where you can save your own panel registrations.

The VA-76 engineers also thought you might appreciate a 100MB Zip drive for data storage and therefore wrote operating software that provides direct access to data on a Zip disk. Of course, the VA-76 also provides a convenient database function.

Apart from allowing you to customize existing Styles quickly, the User Programs are also used to save all panel settings. If you need more than 128 memories, you can save the contents of the User Programs to Zip or ﬂoppy disk and load them whenever necessary.

If you do not wish to program Styles, or if you are too busy to delve into this matter, you can personalize existing Styles by modifying the instrument assignments to any given Arranger part (bass, drums, chord backing, etc.), and then save these changes to one of the 128 User Programs in RAM.

VA-76 – Owner’s Manual

128 High-deﬁnition Music

Styles, plus 559 Music

Styles on the supplied Zip

Virtual Band for interactive

registration

16-track sequencer

Three trigger modes

The VA-76 comes loaded with an impressive 128 high-deﬁnition Music Styles covering every musical genre you need. Each Style comprises four versions (Basic, Advanced, Original, and Variation), two Intros, two Endings, four orchestrations, and various other ele-

disk

ments that actually add up to far more than 128 accompaniments. 64 “Disk Link” memories allow you to assign Music Styles on Zip or ﬂoppy disk (VA-76)

to the front-panel buttons for quick recall. And if this impressive offer still isn’t enough, the supplied Zip disk provides 559 additional

Music Styles to choose from. Of course, the VA-76 also allows you to program your own Music Styles (called User

Styles). They even provide a nifty function that allows you to convert carefully selected sections of a Standard MIDI File into a Style.

The Virtual Band button provides access to a step-by-step help function that asks you a few questions and then conﬁgures the VA-76 according to your answers. Registering an arranger keyboard has never been easier.

The VA-76 comes with a 16-track sequencer with a host of edit functions.

The Music Styles of your VA-76 can be triggered in one of three modes: Standard, Intelligent or Piano Style. In Standard mode, the Arranger’s chord recognition works the way you would expect an intelligent keyboard to operate.

In Intelligent mode, you do not have to play complete chords in order to hear them. Pressing one, two, or three keys will produce even the most complex chords you can think of.

The Piano Style mode, ﬁnally, is provided for those with a “pianistic” background even though it can be used for playing any sound, i.e. not just piano.

Intuitive user interface

Lyrics display

The large touch screen keeps you posted about the status of the VA-76 and allows you to almost all functions by touching the on-screen ﬁelds.

The VA-76 displays Standard MIDI File (SMF) lyrics and can also transmit Lyrics data to an optional LVC-1 Lyrics Converter. This should help you remember the words of every song you wish to sing. The VA-76 also boasts a function that allows you to edit Lyrics data.

Furthermore, the VA-76 also features an Audio Input that can be used for sampling phrases as well as for connecting a microphone. Two dedicated effects (Chorus and Reverb) are provided for processing your vocals.

Unpacking your VA-76

Your VA-76 comes with the following items. Please check the contents of the cardboard box and report any problems to the Roland dealer you purchased the VA-76 from.

• This Owner’s Manual.

• A Zip disk with useful supplementary ﬁles (see the booklet included with the Zip disk

• A metal music stand.

• A power cable.

for its contents).

Features

Useful options

FC-7 Foot Controller

The FC-7 Foot Controller allows you to perform various Style selection functions (Fill In To Original/To Variation, Start/Stop, etc.) by foot. Connect it to the FC7 PEDAL socket at the back of your VA-76. The functions performed by the FC-7’s foot switches is programmable.

Note: The FC-7 cannot be used as MIDI pedal board because it transmits pulses rather than MIDI messages. Do not try to connect it to the MIDI IN jack of your VA-76, or any other instrument.

EV-5 or BOSS FV-300L

expression pedal

DP-2, DP-6, or

FS-5U Foot Switch

MSA, MSD, and MSE series

Style Disks

RH series headphones

An optional EV-5 or BOSS FV-300L expression pedal can be used to perform various tasks, such as master volume changes.

You will probably need two DP-2 (DP-6 or Boss FS-5U) footswitches. One should be connected to the SUSTAIN FOOTSWITCH socket to function as Hold pedal.

A second DP-2 (DP-6 or Boss FS-5U) can be used to perform various selectable tasks. The

FOOT SWITCH assignment can be saved to a User Program along with all other settings.

The MSA, MSD, and MSE series Music Style disks contain new Styles. The MSE Music Style series was specially developed for the VA-76, G-1000, EM-2000, G-800, G-600, E-96, and RA-800. The MSE series Styles take advantage of the VA-76’s new sounds. You will have no trouble reading MSA and MSD series Style disks on your VA-76 (upward compatibility).

A pair of Roland RH series headphones (RH-25 or RH-50) can be connected to the PHONES socket.

Compatibility note

Though Music Styles for previous Roland arranger instruments can be used with the VA-76, Performance Memories (G-1000) or User Programs (EM-2000) are not compatible. You can, however, share User Programs, Styles, etc. with VA-7, VA-5, and VA-3 users. Furthermore, the VA-7’s VariPhrases are fully compatible with the VA-76 (and vice versa).

General MIDI 2

The upwardly compatible General MIDI 2 ( ) recommendations pick up where the original General MIDI left off, offering enhanced expressive capabilities, and even greater compatibility. Issues that were not covered by the original General MIDI recommendations, such as how sounds are to be edited, and how effects should be handled, have now been precisely deﬁned. Moreover, the available sounds have been expanded. General MIDI 2-compliant sound generators are capable of reliably playing back music ﬁles that carry either the General MIDI or General MIDI 2 logo. In some cases, the conventional form of General MIDI, which does not include the new enhancements, is referred to as “General MIDI 1” as a way of distinguishing it from General MIDI 2.

Note: Only the VA-76’s Song Composer is fully GM2 compatible.

VA-76 – Owner’s Manual

Important notes

In addition to the items listed under “USING THE UNIT SAFELY” (see page 4), please read and observe the following:

Power supply

• Do not use this instrument on the same power circuit with any device that will generate line noise (such as an electric motor or variable lighting system).

• Before connecting the VA-76 to other devices, turn off the power to all units. This will help prevent malfunctions and/or damage to speakers or other devices.

Placement

• Using the VA-76 near power ampliﬁers (or other equipment containing large power transformers) may induce hum. To alleviate the problem, change the orientation of this instrument; or move it farther away from the source of interference.

• This instrument may interfere with radio and television reception. Do not use it in the vicinity of such receivers.

•Do not expose the VA-76 to direct sunlight, place it near devices that radiate heat, leave it inside an enclosed vehicle, or otherwise subject it to temperature extremes. Excessive heat can deform or discolor the instrument.

Maintenance

• For everyday cleaning wipe the VA-76 with a soft, dry cloth or one that has been slightly dampened with water. To remove stubborn dirt, use a mild, non-abrasive detergent. Afterwards, be sure to wipe the instrument thoroughly with a soft, dry cloth.

• Never use benzene, thinners, alcohol or solvents of any kind, to avoid the possibility of discoloration and/or deformation.

Repairs and data

• Please be aware that all data contained in the instrument’s memory may be lost when it is sent for repairs. Important data should always be saved to Zip or ﬂoppy disk. In certain cases (such as when circuitry related to memory itself is out of order), we regret that it may not be possible to restore the data. Roland assumes no liability concerning such loss of data.

Additional precautions

• Please be aware that the memory contents can be irretrievably lost as a result of a malfunction, or the improper operation of the instrument. To protect yourself against the risk of losing important data, we recommend that you periodically save a backup copy of important data in the instrument’s memory.

• Use a reasonable amount of care when using the instrument’s buttons, other controls, and jacks/connectors. Rough handling can lead to malfunctions.

• Never strike or apply strong pressure to the display.

• When connecting/disconnecting all cables, grasp the connector itself—never pull on the cable. This way you will avoid causing shorts, or damage to the cable’s internal elements.

• A small amount of heat will radiate from the instrument during normal operation. This is perfectly normal.

• To avoid disturbing your neighbors, try to keep the volume at reasonable levels. You may prefer to use headphones, so you do not need to be concerned about those around you (especially late at night).

• When you need to transport the instrument, package it in the box (including padding) that it came in. Otherwise, you will need to use equivalent packaging materials, or a ﬂightcase.

Handling Zip disks

• When inserting the Zip disk, hold it horizontally and gently push it downward into the drive until it snaps into place. If the mechanism fails to load the disk completely, gently push the Zip disk downward.

• To remove a Zip disk, use the ZIP Eject function (see page 62). Never force the Zip disk into or out of the drive.

• Store the Zip disk in its protective case when it is not in use.

• Avoid exposing the Zip disk to direct sunlight, high temperature, moisture, and magnetic ﬁelds.

• Never insert a ﬂoppy disk into the Zip drive, and never try to clean the drive with a 3,5” head cleaning diskette.

About the touch screen

• Wipe off stains on the touch screen using ethanol, but do not allow the ethanol to soak into the joint of the upper fume and the bottom glass, for it may otherwise cause peeling or malfunction. Do not use organic solvents or detergents other than ethyl alcohol (ethanol).

Handling ﬂoppy disks

• Floppy disks contain a plastic disk with a thin magnetic coating. Microscopic precision is required to enable storage of large amounts of data on such a small surface area. To preserve their integrity, please observe the following when handling ﬂoppy disks:

• Never touch the magnetic medium inside the disk.

• Do not use or store ﬂoppy disks in dirty or dusty areas.

• Do not subject ﬂoppy disks to temperature extremes (e.g., direct sunlight in an enclosed vehicle). Recommended temperature range: 10 to 50° C (50 to 122° F).

• Do not expose ﬂoppy disks to strong magnetic ﬁelds, such as those generated by loudspeakers.

• Floppy disks have a “write protect” tab which can protect the disk from accidental erasure. It is recommended that the tab be kept in the PROTECT position, and moved to the WRITE position only when you wish to write new data onto the disk.

Important notes

Rear side of the disk

WRITE (you can save new data to disk)

Write protect tab

PROTECT (prevents writing to disk)

• Disks containing important performance data for this instrument should always be locked (have their write protect tab slid to the PROTECT position) before you insert them into the drive of another instrument.

• The identiﬁcation label should be ﬁrmly afﬁxed to the disk. If the label comes loose while the disk is in the drive, it may be difﬁcult to remove the disk.

• Put the disk back into its case for storage.

Contents

VA-76 – Owner’s Manual

1. Panel descriptions

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1.1 Front panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

1.2 Rear panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

2. Setting up and demo songs

. . . . . . . . . . . . .19

2.1 Audio connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.2 Listening to the demo songs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3. Scratching the surface

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

3.1 The general idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

3.2 Easy Routing: quick registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

3.3 The Master page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3.4 Using the VA-76’s Arranger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3.5 Adding a melody to the accompaniment . . . . . . . . . 27

Changing the tempo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Balance: if the melody is too soft or too loud . . . . . . . . . 27

Selecting sounds for the right hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Using VariPhrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

3.6 Listening to Standard MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Minus One playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

4. VA-76 clinics

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4.1 Keyboard Mode clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Arranger and Piano modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Split point in Arranger mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.2 Tone clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Selecting Tones for the Keyboard parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Choosing your own Tone favorites (Customize

Preferred Tone). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Selecting different Tone Maps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Drumming on the keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

4.3 VariPhrase clinic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Switching on the VariPhrase part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Selecting other phrases for playing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Combining/splitting a VariPhrase with

another Keyboard part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

“Playing” with the VariPhrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Adding realtime expression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Realtime VariPhrase control via the display . . . . . . . . . . 49

Adding effects to the VariPhrase part. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

4.4 Expression clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

D Beam Controller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Ribbon controller (Touch control) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Aftertouch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Pitch Bend/Modulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Transposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Octave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

PAD buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

FC-7 Foot Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Sustain Footswitch (Hold) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Foot Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Expression (Foot Pedal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Master Tune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Metronome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

4.5 Using live vocals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

4.6 Arranger/Music Style clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Selecting Music Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Orchestrator and Morphing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

4.7 Song Composer clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Recording your music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Redoing the melody (2nd Trk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Saving your song to disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

5. More about the VariPhrase part

. . . . . . . .69

5.1 Playing with the User memories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Loading VariPhrases, VariPhrase Sets or audio files. . . . 69

Selecting a User memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

5.2 Sampling your own phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Phrase Edit: touching up the audio material . . . . . . . . . . 72

Encoding the phrase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Saving your VariPhrase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

5.3 Phrase Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Pitch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Amplitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Phrase Ctrl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Portamento . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

5.4 Global VariPhrase functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

5.5 Controller functions for the VariPhrase part . . . . . . . 82

5.6 Truly “global” VariPhrase parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Style Linked (Phrase Select). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Sync Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

6. Advanced Keyboard part functions

. . . . .85

6.1 Upper1 functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

More about the Super Tones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

6.2 Upper2 functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Upper 2 Split. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

‘Dynamic’ second split point: UP2 to Left . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Tuning Upper2: Coarse and Fine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Portamento (Upper 1-2 Portam) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

6.3 LWR Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

6.4 Velocity sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

6.5 Scale Tuning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

7. More about the Arranger

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

7.1 Arranger and Music Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Starting a Music Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Stopping a Music Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Sync (Options) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

7.2 Selecting other Style divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Fill In Half Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Major, minor, seventh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Using Aftertouch to select Arranger patterns . . . . . . . . . 97

Style Morphing (part 2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

7.3 Melody Intelligence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Contents

7.4 One Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99

Ignoring certain One Touch settings (Cancel Options) 100 Programming your own Tone selections (Memorize) .100

7.5 More refined Arranger settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

ARR(anger) Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

Chord recognition area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

Arranger Chord Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

Bass Inversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

Dynamic Arranger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

7.6 Arranger Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

(Arranger) Tempo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104

Chord Family Assign, Alteratn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

Intro& Ending Alteration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Musical Style playback: Wrap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

7.7 Selecting Tones for the Arranger parts . . . . . . . . . .107

7.8 Working with Styles on Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Programming your own Disk Link assignments . . . . . .108

Find: locating Styles on a Zip disk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Rename (Style Options) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110

Style Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

8. Mixer, effects and editing

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

8.1 Structure of the Mixer pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

8.2 Volume and pan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Global Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Muting parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

Keybrd Mixer (volume of the Keyboard parts) . . . . . . .114

Style Mixer (volume of the Arranger parts) . . . . . . . . . .114

PanPot (stereo position). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

More locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

8.3 Output Assign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

8.4 Effects and Equalizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116

Applying Reverb, Chorus, or Delay to a part . . . . . . . . .116

Effects settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117

Delay types & Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119

Equalizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119

8.5 Insertion effect (M-FX). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Using the insertion effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Selecting an M-FX type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

8.6 VariPhrase and Audio In effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

8.7 Sound Palette: editing Keyboard part parameters . 125

9. Registrations – User Programs

. . . . . . . . . 127

9.1 Writing your settings to a User Program . . . . . . . . . 127

9.2 Selecting User Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Free Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Selecting a User Program (Group, Bank, Number). . . .128

Selecting User Programs using the [DOWN][UP]

buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Selectively loading User Program settings (User

Program Cancel Options). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

9.3 Automatic functions for User Programs . . . . . . . . . . 130

Song & MIDI (Set) Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

User Program selection at power-on. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131

10. Song Composer (the basics)

. . . . . . . . . . 132

10.1 A few remarks about recording songs . . . . . . . . . . 132

Formatting a disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

10.2 Song List: searching songs on disk (Find) . . . . . . . . 133

Play & Search: finding Songs by playing a few notes . . .133

10.3 Song playback functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Lyrics function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134

Fast Forward, Rewind, and Reset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

Loop playback (Markers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

Changing the song tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

Soloing and muting parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

Song/Keyboard-part balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

Transpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

10.4 Song Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Compiling or editing a Song Chain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

Playing back a Song Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138

Chain Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139

Deleting a Song Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139

10.5 Song Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

P&S Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140

11. Song Composer (16-track, etc.)

. . . . . . . 141

11.1 16-track Sequencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

General considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

Example 1: Recording a track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Saving your song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Example 2: Recording a song from scratch. . . . . . . . . . . 145

11.2 Editing 16-track songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Easy editing and useful functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147

In-depth editing of a 16-track song. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Utility: other useful functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

11.3 Style Converter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

11.4 Edit Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

‘Utility’ functions for Edit Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159

11.5 Header Post Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

12. Programming User Styles

. . . . . . . . . . . . 163

12.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Selecting the User Style Composer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165

12.2 Recording User Styles from scratch. . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Selecting the track, the Mode, the Type and the

Division. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165

Record mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166

Specifying the key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166

Quantize. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166

Tone selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Time signature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Length: specifying the pattern length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167

Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169

Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169

Audition your pattern and then keep or redo?. . . . . . . .169

Saving your Style to disk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Programming other parts and divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

Muting parts while recording others. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171

Copying entire Styles using Load (all tracks) . . . . . . . . .172

12.3 Copying existing Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Copying individual Style tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172

Editing on the fly by recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

12.4 Editing User Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Edit functions that are not part of the User Style

Edit mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

VA-76 – Owner’s Manual

12.5 User Style Edit mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Erase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Delete. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Transpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Gate T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

12.6 User Style Micro mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Move Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Copy Mix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

12.7 User Style Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

13. Miscellaneous

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186

13.1 Choosing performance functions (Controllers) . . . 186

D Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Pitch Bender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Modulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Touch Control (Ribbon) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Aftertouch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Sustain Switch (CC64). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Foot Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Foot Pedal (Expression). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

13.2 FC-7 & Pad parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

FC-7 Foot Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

PAD buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

13.3 Global parameters (for the entire VA-76) . . . . . . . 195

Tone Recall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Factory Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Virtual Band Autorun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

15. Disk functions

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209

15.1 Autoload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

15.2 Disk Load (loading data from disk) . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Load Style/copy Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Load User Prg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Load MIDI Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Load Phrase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

15.3 Disk Save (saving data to disk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

15.4 Delete. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

15.5 Disk Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Copy functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Rename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

16. Specifications

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218

17. M-FX Types & controllable parameters

18. Reference

18.1 Tones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

18.2 Drum Sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

18.3 Internal Music Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

18.4 Chord Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

18.5 MIDI Implementation Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

19. Index

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .219

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255

14. MIDI

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197

14.1 MIDI in general . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

MIDI messages used by the VA-76. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

About MIDI implementation charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

14.2 Preparations for using the MIDI functions. . . . . . . 200

Transmitting MIDI data (TX). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

The how-to’s…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

14.3 Keyboard MIDI, Style MIDI, Song MIDI. . . . . . . . . . 201

14.4 Utilities MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

MIDI Sync RX/TX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Style TX Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Song TX Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Basic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

NTA: Note-to-Arranger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

MIDI parameters (Param). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

14.5 MIDI Sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

VA-76 Owner’s Manual—Panel descriptions

1. Panel descriptions

1.1 Front panel

D BEAM CONTROLLER

ON/OFF

VOLUME

MIN MAX

BALANCE

ACCOMP KEYBOARD

D BEAM CONTROLLER section

M-FX

MIN MAX

M-VALUE

ON/OFF

Use the [ON/OFF] button to switch the D Beam Controller on (the button lights) or off (button dark). By holding down the [ON/OFF] button for more than a second, you call up the display page where you can select the parameter to be controlled via the D Beam. (These parameters can also be selected by pressing the [CONTROLLERS] button.)

Note: The D Beam technology has been licensed from Interactive Light, Inc.

Move your hand or body over the two “eyes” to control the volume, ﬁlter setting, modulation depth, etc., of the currently active Keyboard parts.

VOLUME knob

Use this knob to set the VA-76’s global output volume (all sections) both in the speakers and the headphones you may have connected. The setting of this knob also determines the volume of the signals sent to the outputs.

M-FX knob and ON/OFF button

The [M-FX] knob allows you to control one multieffects parameter in realtime. The [ON/OFF] button is used to switch the multi-effects on or off. Press and hold it to call up a display page where you can set the M-FX parameters. Please note that this only affects the parts that have been assigned to the multi-effects.

BALANCE knob

This knob allows you to set the balance between the Arranger parts (“ACCOMP”) and the solo sounds (“KEYBOARD”).

MELODY

INTELL

SYNC

FGH

CONTROLLERS EFFECTS ONE TOUCH

TRANSPOSE

KEYBOARD MODE USER PROGRAM

OTHER

ARRANGER PIANO

DOWN

FREE PANEL

IJ K

MELODY INTELL button

Press this button (so that it lights) to add an automatic counter-melody (second and third voice) to your solos or melodies. Press and hold this button to call up a page where you can select the harmony type.

CONTROLLERS button

This button provides access to a display page where you can deﬁne the functions of the VA-76’s standard and optional realtime controls. These include the D Beam Controller as well as an optional footswitch and expression pedal, and three sliders for controlling VariPhrase playback.

EFFECTS button

Press this button to call up the display page where you can set all effects parameters. The VA-76 provides two sets of effects: a group of four that are accessible to most parts, and a group of two that are reserved for the VariPhrase processor and the Audio In part.

ONE TOUCH button

This button has two functions: when pressed in isolation, it takes you to the display page where you can select/program so-called One-Touch memories for the currently selected Music Style (see page 29). By holding it down while pressing the USER PROGRAM [DOWN] or [UP] button, you transpose the VA-76 in semitone steps.

SYNC button

Press this button to activate one (or two) SYNC function(s). By default, SYNC START is selected. Hold this button down to call up a display page where you can select another SYNC option.

KEYBOARD MODE section

These three buttons are used to specify whether the keyboard will be split or whether one sound can be played using the entire keyboard. Press the [OTHER] button if you want to use other conﬁgurations than “Arranger left/melody right” (ARRANGER) or “one sound for the entire keyboard” (PIANO).

[OTHER] also provides access to other keyboardrelated functions, such as transposition, the Octave function, and parameters for ﬁne-tuning Arranger response.

VA-76 – Front panel

USER PROGRAM [DOWN]/[UP] buttons

These buttons allow you to select the previous (DOWN) or next (UP) User Program. User Programs are registration memories. Press either or both of them while holding down the [ONE TOUCH] button (see page 14) to transpose the VA-76 in semitone steps, or to return to the ‘no transposition’ (0 semitones) setting.

ORCHESTRATOR

INTRO ORIGINAL FILL VARIATION ENDING START/STOP

Display

This is a so-called touch screen that allows you to select functions, parameter values, etc., simply by touching the corresponding ﬁelds. Please note that the bulk of the VA-76’s functions can only be selected via the display.

ORCHESTRATOR button

This button allows you to call up a display page where you can select another orchestration for the currently selected Music Style and/or take advantage of the Style Morphing feature. See page 62 for details.

VIRTUAL BAND button

Press this button if you wish to listen to the VA-76’s demo songs, or take advantage of a very powerful feature that allows you to conﬁgure the VA-76 simply by answering a few questions. This is called “Easy Routing” and is available in 6 languages.

DISK indicator

This indicator lights when the VA-76 reads or writes data from/to disk (Zip or ﬂoppy).

SONG COMPOSER button

Press this button if you want to play back, or record and edit your music with the VA-76’s digital recording function called “Song Composer”.

VIRTUAL

BAND

DISK

SONG

COMPOSER

FUNCTION MENU button

This button allows you to access the VA-76’s function menu where you can ﬁnd all functions you probably only need sporadically.

Note: The FUNCTION MENU page also contains a PANEL INFO ﬁeld. Press this ﬁeld to get at-a-glance information about the special functions assigned to the frontpanel buttons.

Arranger control buttons

Use these buttons to select the desired Music Style pattern, and to start/stop Music Style playback.

FUNCTION

VA-76 Owner’s Manual—Panel descriptions

MONO

STEP

ENCODE CAPTURE

GROUP

DATA

TEMPO/TAP

U V

GROUP A

PAR T

TEMPO

DATA

VariPhrase section

These buttons provide access to the revolutionary VariPhrase function of your VA-76.

SUPER TONES buttons

Use these buttons to select one of the ﬁve so-called “Super Tones”. These are sounds for the Upper 1 part you may want to use more often than others. There are two sets of ﬁve that can both be edited: the FACTORY and the USER group. You can thus prepare 10 favorite Tones. See page 40 for details.

DATA button

When this button lights (which is sometimes the case every time you select an adjustable parameter), you can press it to call up an on-screen 10-key pad. Use this pad for entering the desired parameter value.

TEMPO/TAP button

If the [DATA] button lights, press this button (so that it lights) whenever you need to change the Style or Song tempo. Then use the [TEMPO/DATA] dial to set the desired value. Press and hold this button to have access to various tempo options. You can also press it rhythmically to enter the tempo like musicians do: by tapping it.

STYLE, TONE and USER PROGRAM buttons

These buttons allow you to specify the function of the BANK and NUMBER buttons. They are color-coded for easy identiﬁcation: [STYLE]= green, [TONE]= red, [USER PROGRAM]= orange. These colors are reﬂected by the active BANK/NUMBER buttons.

BACKGROUND

BACKGROUND 2 BACKGROUND 3 RHYTHMIC 2 USER 2

MELODIC RHYTHMIC USER

STYLE

PIANO

CHR PERC

REED

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

ORGAN

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

PIPE

SYN LEAD

TONE

BANK

GUITAR

BASS

SYN SFX

SYN PAD

NUMBER

TEMPO/DATA dial

RCHESTRA

ETHNIC

ENSEMBLE

PERCUSSIVE

The function of this dial depends on the status of the [TEMPO/TAP] and [DATA] buttons. If the [TEMPO/ TAP] button lights, the dial can be used to set the desired tempo. If the [DATA] button lights, the dial can be used for setting the value of the currently selected parameter.

PART button

Hold down this button while pressing a NUMBER button to specify a Keyboard part for Tone selection and to call up the Part Select page (where the speciﬁed part is already selected). The assignments are as follows:

PART + NUMBER [1] Upper 1

PART + NUMBER [2] Upper 2

PART + NUMBER [3] Manual Drums

PART + NUMBER [4] -– – –

PART + NUMBER [5] Melody Intelligence

PART + NUMBER [6] Lower1

PART + NUMBER [7] Lower2

PART + NUMBER [8] Manual Bass

Press and hold it for a second (all GROUP/BANK/ STYLE/TONE/USER PROGRAM indicators except the NUMBER button of the currently selected part go off). Then release it to select the PART SELECT page.

GROUP, BANK, NUMBER buttons

This section allows you to select the desired Music Style, Tone, or User Program memory.

USER PROGRAM

BRASS

SFX

VA-76 – Front panel

Floppy disk drive

This is where you can insert 2DD or 2HD ﬂoppy disks for external storage of your Music Styles, User Programs, Composer Songs, and MIDI Sets. Press the eject button to remove the disk from the drive.

Note: Do not remove the ﬂoppy disk while the DISK indicator on the front panel lights or ﬂashes. Doing so may indeed damage both the ﬂoppy disk and the drive’s head.

BENDER/MODULATION lever

When pushed towards the back of the VA-76, this lever will add modulation to the notes of the Keyboard parts you are playing at that time. Move it to the left or right to temporarily lower or increase the pitch of the Keyboard part notes you are playing.

Zip drive

The Zip drive can be used to save and playback Composer Songs, and to save or load User Styles, User Programs, MIDI Sets, VariPhrases, etc.

Note: To prevent damaging your Zip disk (it can hold up to 100MB worth of precious data), you cannot remove it manually.

Ribbon controller

Slide your ﬁnger on the ribbon or press a given position in order to modify the value of the parameter that is being controlled. You can select the parameter to be controlled.

PAD buttons

These two buttons are meant for assigning the desired functions you wish to have direct access to. The assignments are part of the parameter settings that can be saved to a User Program, so that redeﬁning the functions of these buttons is a matter of selecting another User Program.

KEYBOARD PARTS buttons

These buttons allow you to switch the desired Keyboard parts (the one you can play yourself) and and off.

PHONES socket

The VA-76 comes with a headphone socket. Be sure to connect high-quality headphones to this socket (Roland RH-25 or RH-50, optional).

VA-76 Owner’s Manual—Panel descriptions

1.2 Rear panel

POWER ON AC

POWER ON button

Press this button to switch the VA-76 on and off.

AC socket

This is where you need to connect the supplied power cord. Be sure to only use a wall outlet that delivers the correct voltage.

LCD CONTRAST knob

Use this knob to set the contrast when you are having problems reading what is written on the display.

Note: The LCD may take some time to warm up. That is why you may have to change the contrast several times after powering on.

FC7 PEDAL socket

This is where you connect an optional FC-7 footswitch unit that allows you to start, stop, and select Style divisions by foot. The functions of this foot switch unit are programmable (and apply to all User Programs).

LCD

CONTRAST FC7 PEDAL

SUSTAIN

FOOTSWITCH

FOOT

SWITCH

FOOT PEDAL

MIDI OUTTHRU

DEFG H

SUSTAIN FOOTSWITCH socket

Connect an optional DP-2, DP-6, or BOSS FS-5U footswitch to this socket to sustain the notes of the Keyboard parts even after releasing the key(s) you pressed.

FOOT SWITCH socket

Connecting an optional DP-2, DP-6, or FS-5U to this socket allows you to control an assignable function by foot.

FOOT PEDAL socket

Connect an optional EV-5 or BOSS FV-300L expression pedal to this socket to control the volume of one or several parts or another parameter by foot.

MIDI connectors

These sockets allow you to use your VA-76 along with other MIDI instruments.

METRONOME VARIPHRASE OUTPUT 2

LEVEL

OUT

LEVEL GAIN INPUT

MIN MIC LINEMAX

IJ KL

METRONOME LEVEL knob and OUT socket

The VA-76’sa metronome signals can be transmitted to the METRONOME OUT socket. You can connect headphones (Roland RH-25 or RH-50) to this socket. This is useful for a drummer, for example (as “Click Track”). Use the METRONOME LEVEL knob to set the metronome volume in the headphones.

VARIPHRASE section

LEVEL knob: This knob allows you to ﬁne-tune the VariPhrase processor’s input sensitivity. Always select a setting where no distortion is audible.

GAIN switch: Set this switch according to the signal source you have connected to the INPUT jack: Select “MIC” after connecting a microphone, and “LINE” if you connect a CD or MD player, etc.

INPUT socket: This mono 1/4” phone socket is where you need to connect the signal source you wish to “capture” (another word for “sampling”). Unless you buy or solder a special cable, you can only connect one output of your CD player, etc., to this socket. A microphone, on the other hand, can be connected straight away. For CD or MD players you may need to purchase an adapter plug or cable with a 1/4” phone jack

OUTPUT 1

R L/MONO

on one side, and an RCA/phono jack on the other. Alternatively, you can use an optional PJ-1M cable available at your Roland dealer.

OUTPUT 2 L/R sockets

When you ﬁrst switch on the VA-76, these audio outputs are not used (all signals are sent to the OUTPUT 1 sockets). You can, however, assign any desired signal to these sockets xx.

OUTPUT 1 R, L/MONO sockets

These sockets allow you to connect the VA-76 to a mixing console, PA system, or audio recorder. We recommend you always use both sockets so as to transmit the VA-76’s audio signals in stereo.

2. Setting up and demo songs

2.1 Audio connections

The VA-76 does not contain an internal ampliﬁcation system. You will either have to use stereo headphones or connect the VA-76 to a keyboard or other type of ampliﬁer and speaker system. You could also connect it to a PA system, power ampliﬁers, etc.

OUTPUT 1 sockets— Connect these sockets to the inputs of a mixing console, stage box, HiFi or power ampliﬁer, etc. You can also connect them to the inputs of a cassette deck, etc. to make an audio recording of your playing.

OUTPUT 2 sockets— Use these sockets whenever you wish to amplify certain parts of your VA-76 without the internal effects. Using these sockets can be useful for multi-track recordings involving your VA-76.

PHONES— The PHONES socket is located at the front right. You can connect one pair of headphones. For optimum sound quality, be sure to use Roland RH-25 or RH-50 headphones.

VA-76 – Audio connections

Left

Right

Powered speakers or mixing console

OUTPUT 1 OUTPUT 2

VA-76

LINE IN

KC series keyboard ampliﬁer, etc.

2.2 Listening to the demo songs

Your VA-76 comes with a number of demonstration songs that give you an accurate impression of what you can do with your V-Arranger Keyboard. Here is how to listen to the demo songs:

Unpack the VA-76 and place it on a stable surface.

Connect the supplied power cord to the VA-76’s AC

socket, and the other end to a suitable wall outlet.

Stereo set,

Separate ampliﬁer(s)/mixer

channels, etc.

Set the [VOLUME] knob to the MIN position.

VOLUME

MIN MAX

BALANCE

ACCOMP KEYBOARD

Set to the MIN position

Press the [POWER ON] button next to the AC

M-FX

MIN MAX

M-VALUE

ON/OFF

MELODY

INTELL

SYNC

CONTROLLERS EFFECTS

KEYBOARD MODE

OTHER ARRANGER PIANO

socket on the rear panel.

VA-76 Owner’s Manual—Setting up and demo songs

Once the internal circuit tests have been completed, the display looks as follows:

This page will be displayed automatically whenever you leave the VA-76 unattended for more than ﬁve minutes.

Note: You can prevent the VA-76 from automatically selecting this display page at start-up, or from returning to it at power-on. See page 195 for details.

Note: If you want to select this page at a later stage (after playing the VA-76), press the [VIRTUAL BAND] button.

If you like, you can press a language ﬁeld. That way, all demo song messages will be displayed in your language (if supported).

Note: Depending on the country where you bought the VA-76, other language options than the above may be available.

Press the [DEMO] ﬁeld. The display now looks as

follows:

The demo songs do not reside in the VA-76’s internal memory but on the supplied Zip. If you do not insert that disk before proceeding, the following message is displayed:

Press a “DEMO” ﬁeld to select the demo songs you

want to listen to:

ALL DEMO— The VA-76 plays back all of the following demo songs.

TONE DEMO— The VA-76 plays back the demonstration songs that illustrate the variety and realism of its sounds.

STYLE DEMO— The VA-76 plays back the demo songs that illustrate the quality of its automatic accompaniments (called “Music Styles”).

VariPhrase DEMO— Press this ﬁeld to listen to the exciting possibilities of the VA-76’s VariPhrase processor.

What happens now depends on the selected demo option:

Note: If you selected another language, the question is displayed in that language. All other functions are the same, however.

Slightly increase the setting of the [VOLUME] knob. You may have to adjust it once demo song playback is up and running.

Insert the supplied Zip disk into the drive.

If you selected ALL DEMO

• Playback starts automatically. If you don’t want to wait until the end of the current song, press [SKIP NEXT ®®]. This takes you to the beginning of the next demo song.

• Press the [STOP ■] ﬁeld to stop demo song playback.

• You can continue playback from the beginning of the current or next song (after pressing the [SKIP NEXT ®®] ﬁeld) by pressing [PLAY ®].

• Press the [oBACK] ﬁeld to return to the demo song selection page.

• Press [EXIT] to leave the Virtual Band mode and to jump to the Master page (see page 24).

VA-76 – Listening to the demo songs

If you selected TONE DEMO:

• Demo playback starts automatically. But you can press a Tone family ﬁeld (“Piano”, “CPerc”, etc.) to select another demo song that features the Tones of that family. The abbreviations on the above display page reﬂect the names of the BANK buttons on the front panel (right side). Some demo songs feature several Tones.

Note: You can select another Tone demo while demo playback of the current Tone demo is still running.

• Press the [STOP ■] ﬁeld to stop demo song playback. Press [PLAY ®] to start it again.

• Press the [oBACK] ﬁeld to return to the demo song selection page. Press [EXIT] to leave the Virtual Band mode and to jump to the Master page (see page 24).

If you selected VariPhrase DEMO:

• Playback starts automatically. Press the [STOP ■] ﬁeld

to stop demo song playback. Press [PLAY ®] to start it again.

• Press [EXIT] to leave the Virtual Band mode and to jump to the Master page (see page 24).

Press [oBACK] to return to the demo selection page, and again to return to the ﬁrst Virtual Band page.

If you selected STYLE DEMO:

• Demo playback starts automatically. But you can press a Style name ﬁeld (“Rock”, “Dance”, etc.) to start the demonstration of another Music Style. “Music Styles” are the VA-76 accompaniment patterns. These can be transposed and varied in realtime.

• Press the [STOP ■] ﬁeld to stop demo song playback. Press [PLAY ®] to start it again.

• Press the [oBACK] ﬁeld to return to the demo song selection page.

• Press [EXIT] to leave the Virtual Band mode and to jump to the Master page (see page 24).

VA-76 Owner’s Manual—Scratching the surface

3. Scratching the surface

3.1 The general idea

Your VA-76 is two instruments in one: one half provides the backing for the melody you play in the other half.

Left hand:

Arranger control

There are two main sections you can use for playing live. (The third section, the Song Composer, can also be used for live applications, but is mainly intended for recording and playing back your music.)

Keyboard parts:

This section consists of parts you need to play via the keyboard, hence the name “Keyboard”. The VA-76 provides eight Keyboard parts, six of which can be used simultaneously: Upper 1/2, VariPhrase, Lower 1 & 2, and Manual Bass (called M.Bass or just MBS). The seventh part, Manual Drums (called M.Drums or MDR), can only be played in isolation, i.e. you cannot combine it with Upper1/2 or the VariPhrase part, though you can assign it to only the right half of the keyboard and use it along with Lower1/2 (that can be played in the left half). See page 42 for details. The eighth part, “MInt”, is what computer buffs would call a “cross-platform part”: it belongs to the Keyboard section but it is in part controlled by the Arranger. See “Melody Intelligence” on page 99.

Arranger/Style section:

The Arranger is your backing band. It plays an accompaniment (called Music Style) recorded by Roland, third-party suppliers, friends/colleagues, or yourself. In a way, the Arranger works like a drum machine because it uses accompaniment patterns.

Unlike a drum machine, however, you can easily select the desired pattern while you play. So you do not need to program the order in which you intend to use the patterns. Furthermore, the Arranger not only provides a rhythm section but also chords, guitar and synthesizer riffs, and so on. The accompaniment can be transposed in realtime. All you have to do is play a different chord (usually with your left hand).

You can add vocals to your music using the VariPhrase function (see page 29) or by singing live (see page 57).

Right hand: melody (Key-

board parts/VariPhrase

part)

3.2 Easy Routing: quick registration

The Virtual Band page is the ﬁrst page that is displayed after switching on the VA-76:

You already know what the [DEMO] ﬁeld is for. Let us therefore have a look at the VA-76’s Easy Routing function. It allows you to tell your V-Arranger Keyboard how to behave simply by answering a series of interactive questions.

If the above Virtual Band page is not displayed, either switch your VA-76 off and back on again, or press the [VIRTUAL BAND] button.

Note: You can prevent the VA-76 from automatically selecting this display page at start-up, or from returning to it at power-on. See page 195 for details.

Choose your language by pressing the appropriate ﬁeld.

If your language is supported, it would be a good idea to select it, as that will further simplify the interactive selection process.

Note: This language selection is stored and will be used again next time you switch on the VA-76.

Press the [EASY ROUTING] ﬁeld.

The display now looks as follows:

Given the number of options and the “easy” character of this interactive function, describing every possibility would confuse you and make the Easy Routing function look extremely intricate.

VA-76 – Easy Routing: quick registration

Here is how it is structured:

• Specify whether you want to play with ([In a BAND]) or without accompaniment ([As a SOLOIST]). This is important for the remaining questions and answers.

If you press the [As a SOLOIST] ﬁeld, there are two options:

• ORGANIST means that you can play two different sounds with your left and right hands (the keyboard is split). Despite the name, you can also select other combinations, such as a synthesizer sound for the left hand and a saxophone sound for the right.

• PIANIST means that one sound will be assigned to all keys. Again, you’ll be offered a wider choice than just piano sounds.

Note: After selecting the “As a SOLOIST” option, you can still use the Arranger’s drum patterns for rhythm backing simply by pressing the [START/STOP] button.

Note: Once you are more familiar with the VA-76, you will realize that this speciﬁes the Keyboard Mode (see page 34).

If you pressed [In a BAND]:

The keyboard will be split into a left section for Arranger control and a right section for playing a live melody to the accompaniment.

• You then need to specify how many instruments the accompaniment should contain: Drums, Drm&Bass (drums & bass), Combo (small band), or Big Band (which can also be an orchestra).

Note: Once you are more familiar with the VA-76, you will realize that this selects the Orchestrator version (see page 62).

• You are then given three options for the kind of music you want to play: ROMANTIC, BALL ROOM, or HEAVY. Again, these should be taken as generic terms, for ROMANTIC also includes musical genres like HipHop, for example.

• Finally, you can choose an automatic accompaniment (“Music Style”) and select a sound for your right hand. There are eight Tone suggestions for every Style for you to choose from.

Note: If you press [EXIT], the selected settings will not be used. You need to press [FINISH] to conﬁrm your choices.

• If one or both arrows (o and k) are displayed in “solid”, you can call up additional options by pressing the arrow ﬁeld in question.

• The symbol refers to the VariPhrase function. This is a very sophisticated sampler that allows you to play back audio phrases in sync with the Arranger tempo, and at the correct pitch.

Start playing on the VA-76.

You probably want to try out the VA-76 straight away without ﬁrst reading the following pages. Just remember the following:

• You can start and stop Arranger playback (automatic accompaniments) by pressing the [START/STOP] button.

• In some cases, the melodic accompaniment (bass, chords, etc.) may not be audible. This is due to the settings you have selected. Later on in this manual, we will show you how to change these settings.

Note: Though the VA-76 contains a lot more parameters for ﬁne-tuning the Arranger’s behavior, you could already decide to write the current settings to a User Program (see page 127). That way, you can return to them time and again without having to use the Easy Routing function.

Other steps and tips:

• The [oBACK] ﬁeld takes you back to the previous display page. Press it whenever you wish to change a previous selection.

• If the [FINISH] ﬁeld is displayed, you can press it to conﬁrm your settings and use them right away.

• Press [EXIT] to jump to the Master page (see page 24). If you pressed this ﬁeld by accident, you can return to the Virtual Band page by pressing the [VIRTUAL BAND] button below the display.

VA-76 Owner’s Manual—Scratching the surface

3.3 The Master page

Whenever you leave the DEMO or EASY ROUTING mode by pressing [EXIT] or [FINISH], the display looks more or less as follows:

Press this ﬁeld if you want to select another Music Style

(see page 59).

Press this ﬁeld if you want to select other Tones (sounds) (see page 37).

Press this ﬁeld if you want to select a User Program (see page 128).

The metronome ﬁeld allows you to switch the metronome on/off.

Press this ﬁeld to call up the Mixer functions (see page 112).

Let us agree to call this the Master page. There are, in fact, two Master pages: one for Arranger playback, and another for the Song Composer. The difference between these two will be explained later on in this manual.

Note: If you switched off the automatic jump to the Virtual Band mode (see page 195), the Master page appears immediately after switching on the VA-76.

Which button does what? (Panel Info)

There may be situations where you don’t remember exactly what you need to do in order to select a given function. The VA-76 provides a display page where you can check the (usually) “second” function of certain buttons. Note that not all button functions are explained on that page, so you still need to read the rest of this manual…

Here is how to select the Panel Info function:

Press the [FUNCTION MENU] button.

The display now looks as follows:

Press the [(i) Panel Info] ﬁeld.

The number of items displayed on the Master page varies. Here is what it can look like in some situations:

That way, you know exactly which functions are currently active.

This page provides an overview of the display pages or functions that can be selected by holding down a given button, by pressing it when it lights, by pressing it twice in succession, or when pressed in combination with other buttons. Try to remember that it exists, and how to select it, because it may come in handy.

Press [EXIT] to return to the Master page.

You can also press [oBACK] to return to the Function Menu, if you like, but that is not what we need here.

3.4 Using the VA-76’s Arranger

The Arranger is an interactive “playback sequencer” that provides the accompaniments. These accompaniments are called “Music Styles”, because they provide an 8-track backing for a given musical genre (Rock, Pop, Dance, Waltz, etc.).

The Arranger is interactive because it allows you to transpose the melodic accompaniment parts (bass, piano, guitar, etc.) simply by playing chords. In most instances, you will probably do so with your left hand. Each Music Style comprises several patterns so that you can vary the accompaniment by starting with an introduction, using a simple accompaniment for the verses, a more elaborate one for the choruses, and by ending your songs with an “Ending” pattern.

Let us ﬁrst look at the most important aspects for operating the Arranger:

Switch on the VA-76 and use the Easy Routing function (see page 22) to select a “In a BAND” registration with a “Combo” or “Big Band” option.

Of course, you can also register the VA-76 manually. But using the Easy Routing function is probably quicker.

If the [SYNC] button lights (which is probably the case), press it to switch it off.

M-FX

MIN MAX

M-VALUE

ON/OFF

The [SYNC] button must be off.

Set the [VOLUME] knob to a reasonable level (e.g. about “1/4”).

Check whether the Keyboard Mode [ARRANGER] button lights, and press it if it doesn’t.

Play a chord in the left half of the keyboard (to the left of the C key below the USER PROGRAM [UP] button), then press the [START/STOP] button.

CONTROLLERS EFFECTS ONE TOUCH

MELODY

INTELL

SYNC

KEYBOARD MODE USER PROGRAM

OTHER

ARRANGER PIANO

The [ARRANGER] button must light.

TRANSPOSE

DOWN

FREE PANEL

VA-76 – Using the VA-76’s Arranger

chord you played. The name of the chord you are playing is displayed below the name of the currently selected Music Style:

Play another chord in the left half of the keyboard.

The same pattern is now played in that key. In fact, you don’t even have to play full chords:

•For major chords, playing just the root note is enough (e.g. “C” for C major, “A” for A major, etc.)

•For minor chords, playing the root note and the third key to its right will do.

•For seventh chords, playing the root and the second key to its left is enough.

C major C minor

Only the key that corresponds to the chord's name.

C 7

Root note + second key to the left.

Root note + third key to the right.

Note: The function that takes care of this easy ﬁngering is called “Intelligent” (see page 102). See also page 252 for a list of other chords that can be played using this system (augmented, diminished, etc.).

What you hear now is the “ORIGINAL” pattern (the [ORIGINAL] button lights). This is the simple accompaniment of the selected Music Style. Let’s listen to the accompaniment your could use for your choruses:

Press the [VARIATION] button.

The [START/STOP] button lights, and the Arranger starts playing the accompaniment of the selected Music Style. The accompaniment pattern (“Music Style”) is sounded in the key that corresponds to the

As soon as the ORIGINAL pattern is ﬁnished, the [VARIATION] button lights steadily, and the Arranger plays a different accompaniment called VARIATION.

VA-76 Owner’s Manual—Scratching the surface

Note: There are four more patterns for the ORIGINAL and VARIATION levels. See “Orchestrator” on page 62 for how to select them.

Professional transitions: Fill

So far, we have only used the ORIGINAL and VARIATION patterns. ORIGINAL is great for verses, while VARIATION could be used for choruses. Switching between these two is a matter of pressing the [ORIGINAL] and [VARIATION] buttons. Yet, that will produce instant changes of the accompaniment, while “real” musicians tend to “announce” new song parts by means of roll in the drums, or slightly different accompaniment notes.

The VA-76 allows you to make such “announcements” in the following way:

Start playback of the ORIGINAL pattern (see

above).

Play a chord in the left half of the keyboard.

Press the [FILL] button.

DISK

ORCHESTRATOR

INTRO ORIGINAL FILL VARIATION ENDING START/STOP

VIRTUAL

BAND

SONG

COMPOSER

FUNCTION

Intro & Ending

Now that we’ve got the transitions covered, you may start wondering how to create more professional intros for your songs – and indeed how to end them in style. That is what the [INTRO] and [ENDING] buttons are for.

While the VARIATION and ORIGINAL patterns (as well as their ORCHESTRATOR versions) keep repeating the same accompaniment until you select another one, or until you stop Arranger playback, Fill-Ins (see above), Intros, and Endings are played only once.

Once the Intro pattern is ﬁnished, the Arranger automatically proceeds with the ORIGINAL or VARIATION pattern (depending on which of these two buttons ﬂashes). At the end of the Ending pattern, however, the Arranger stops.

Stop Arranger playback by pressing the [START/

STOP] button (it goes dark).

Play a chord in the left half of the keyboard to select

the key of the Intro pattern.

Press the [INTRO] button.

DISK

ORCHESTRATOR

VIRTUAL

BAND

SONG

COMPOSER

FUNCTION

If pressed while [ORIGINAL] lights:

ORIGINAL FILL-IN VARIATION

2~4 bars max. 1 bar

If pressed while [VARIATION] lights:

VARIATION FILL-IN ORIGINAL

2~4 bars max. 1 bar 2~4 bars

2~4 bars

What happens now, depends on when you press the [FILL] button:

• If you press it on any beat before the last one of the current bar, the Arranger plays a Fill-In pattern that lasts until the end of the current bar. It then changes to the VARIATION pattern.

• If you press it on the last beat of the current bar, the Fill-In will start on the next downbeat and last an entire bar, after which the Arranger automatically selects the VARIATION pattern. The [FILL] button can also be used for transitions from the VARIATION pattern to the ORIGINAL accompaniment. All you need to do is press it while the [VARIATION] button lights.

• If you press the [FILL] button twice in succession, you select the ﬁll that usually leads to the “other” pattern, but here once again selects the previously selected pattern. This is also called “Fill In To Previous”, which can also be assigned to the Aftertouch (see page 98).

Note: The length of a Fill-In can be halved. See page 97.

INTRO ORIGINAL FILL VARIATION ENDING START/STOP

Press the [START/STOP] button to start Arranger

playback.

The Arranger plays the introduction of the currently selected Music Style.

Note: Avoid playing chords while the Intro is running. Most Intro patterns indeed contain chord changes, so that playing different chords may lead to highly annoying results.

Press the [ORIGINAL] or [VARIATION] button

while the Intro is still running.

The button in question starts ﬂashing to signal that the corresponding pattern is ready to take over once the Intro is ﬁnished.

Wait until the ORIGINAL or VARIATION pattern

is playing, then press the [ENDING] button.

At the end of the current pattern cycle, the Arranger will start playing the Ending pattern and then stop.

Note: Here again, it would be wiser not to play chords during playback of the Ending phrase.

Note: See “Arranger/Music Style clinic” on page 59 for other Arranger functions.

Note: You can also select patterns via the Aftertouch. See page 96.

3.5 Adding a melody to the accompaniment

If you set up the VA-76 using the Easy Routing function, you not only select a Music Style but also a sound for your right hand. Let’s add a live melody to the accompaniment.

Press the [ORIGINAL] or [VARIATION] button

and play a chord in the left half of the keyboard.

It doesn’t matter which of these two patterns you select as long as it keeps playing all the time. Also note that you could play only one note in the left half, because the Intelligent function is currently on.

Press the [START/STOP] button to start Arranger

playback.

VA-76 – Adding a melody to the accompaniment

The new tempo is displayed in the upper right corner of the display:

You can also press the [TEMPO/TAP] button several times in the rhythm of the desired tempo. This is called the Tap Tempo function. It sets the tempo based on the speed at which you press the button.

To quickly return to the default tempo, do the following:

Press and hold the [TEMPO/TAP] button.

The display now looks as follows:

Play a melody in the right half of the keyboard.

While doing so, try to play the chords (or notes)

that match the melody you are playing.

Note: There is no need to hold down the chord notes all the time, because the Arranger does this automatically. Brieﬂy pressing the appropriate left-hand notes is thus enough. The function that takes care of this is called “ARR Hold” (see page 101).

Changing the tempo

If the Arranger is too fast (or too slow), here is how to change the Music Style tempo:

If the [TEMPO/TAP] button does not light, press it.

DATA

TEMPO/TAP

GROUP A

TEMPO

DATA

Use the [TEMPO/DATA] dial to set the desired

STYLE

PIANO

REED

PART

1 2 3 4 5

CHR PERC

2 3 4 5

PIPE

tempo value.

ORGAN

SYN LEAD

GUITAR

SYN PAD

NUMBER

TONE

BANK

BASS

SYN SFX

On this page, press the [Default Tempo] ﬁeld.

See page 104 for the remaining tempo options.

Press [EXIT] to return to the Master page.

Balance: if the melody is too soft or too loud

You may ﬁnd that the melody sound is too soft, or too loud, with respect to the Music Style accompaniment. In that case…

Use the [BALANCE] knob to correct the volume balance between the accompaniment and your solo playing.

VOLUME

MIN MAX

BALANCE

ACCOMP KEYBOARD

M-FX

MIN MAX

M-VALUE

ON/OFF

MELODY

INTELL

SYNC

CONTROLLERS EFFECTS

KEYBOARD MODE

OTHER ARRANGER PIANO

Turn it towards the left (ACCOMP) if you can’t hear the accompaniment. Turn it towards the right if the melody is too soft.

VA-76 Owner’s Manual—Scratching the surface

an t

Selecting sounds for the right hand

Suppose you like the sound for the right hand but think that it is not really suited for the currently selected Music Style. Here are two easy ways of assigning a different sound to the right hand.

Let’s agree to use the word “Tones” for the VA-76’s sounds.

Note: In the following, we’ll assume that the Arranger is still active (the [ARRANGER] button should light).

Note: There is also the “classic” way of selecting Tones that we’ll skip here. See page 37 for details.

Super Tones

One of the VA-76’s user-friendly functions is the possibility to “earmark” 5 (Factory) + 5 (User) Tones and to select them almost instantly. Here is how this works:

Stop Arranger playback by pressing the [START/

STOP] button (it goes dark).

Press a SUPER TONES [1]~[5] button.

MONO

STEP

ENCODE CAPTURE

GROUP

BACKGROUND

BACKGROUND 2 BACKGROUND 3 RHYTHMIC 2 USER 2

This selects the Tone that is currently assigned to the button you pressed (see the display page below). This Tone is selected for the Upper1 part.

Note: See “What are ‘parts’?” on page 35 for more information about Upper1. For now, it is enough to know that Upper1 is the part that is assigned to the right half of the keyboard (unless you selected the VariPhrase).

The display now looks as follows:

MELODIC RHYTHMIC USER

There is a second set called USER to which you can assign one of the 3,646 Tones to each SUPER TONES button. See page 85.

You may want to press the [START/STOP] button to ﬁnd out whether the newly selected Tone is better suited for the Music Style.

Just for your reference: if you hold down a SUPER TONES button, the following display page appears:

In that case, press the [EXIT] ﬁeld as we do not need this function here. See page 85 for details.

Press another SUPER TONES button.

Again, there are 8 possibilities, one of which is already selected. Press another displayed ﬁeld to change the assignment for the active SUPER TONES button.

Note: The [CUSTOMIZE] ﬁeld allows you to store a new assignment (after pressing another instrument ﬁeld on the display). The Tone in question will then be selected next time you press the corresponding SUPER TONES button.

Stop Arranger playback by pressing the [START/ STOP] button (it goes dark).

The above illustration shows the Factory Tones that can be assigned to the SUPER TONES [1] button.

There are two assignment sets: “FACTORY” and “USER”. See page 85 for details. “Factory” only means that the number of possible options is restricted to 40 Tones (rather than 3,646).

Play a few notes in the right half of the keyboard.

If you like, you can try out a different sound by

pressing another ﬁeld (e.g. “Vibraphone w”).

VA-76 – Adding a melody to the accompaniment

One Touch

Another way of selecting a suitable Tone for the righthand part while working with the Arranger is by using the ONE TOUCH feature. In fact, One Touch does a lot more than selecting a Tone for Upper1. See page 99 for details.

Note: One Touch is intended for quick registration of the Upper1 and Upper2 parts when used in conjunction with the Arranger. If you press the [ONE TOUCH] button while the Arranger is not available, the selection page appears. If you then select a One Touch memory, the Keyboard Mode [ARRANGER] button lights. This means that the Arranger has been switched on.

Press the [ONE TOUCH] button.

The display now changes to:

If you do not press the [OFF] ﬁeld, the [ONE TOUCH] button keeps lighting to signal that you are still using a One Touch program.

Press [EXIT] to return to the Master page.

Using VariPhrases

The VariPhrase function is a revolutionary Roland technology that allows you to manipulate audio data (samples) in an incredibly ﬂexible way.

Once the audio data have been sampled and encoded, they can be played like any of the “regular” sounds (the ones we have been using so far), while they have the advantage that you can use vocal phrases, etc., that sound perfect in any key, and at any tempo. VariPhrase is thus ideal for adding seemingly live vocals or solos to the VA-76’s accompaniments.

Six phrases have been preprogrammed for each of the 128 internal Music Styles. You can also sample or import your own audio material and use it with any Music Style you see ﬁt. See “More about the VariPhrase part” on page 69.

Here’s how to use the pre-programmed VariPhrases:

Note: Feel free to ignore steps (1)~(5) if you don’t want to select another Music Style (for that’s what these steps are all about).

Press the [VIRTUAL BAND] button to select the

following display page:

The important thing to note, however, is that there are four One Touch memories per Music Style (for the 128 ROM Styles, the 64 Disk Link memories and the Disk User memory).

Press one of the big [1]~[4] ﬁelds to select the cor-

responding One Touch memory.

If you press the third ﬁeld, the display looks as follows:

Note: If the Arranger suddenly starts playing, ﬁrst press the [START/STOP] button and then the [SYNC] button. One Touch indeed activates the SYNC function.

Press the [OFF] ﬁeld if you no longer need the One

Touch setting.

Press the [EASY ROUTING] ﬁeld.

Press the [In A BAND] ﬁeld.

Make all necessary selections.

On the “Select a solo instrument for your right

hand” page select any sound you like.

We’re not going to use it here, so pick any sound you like.

Check whether the Keyboard Mode [ARRANGER]

button lights, and press it if it doesn’t.

VA-76 Owner’s Manual—Scratching the surface

Press the VARIPHRASE [MELODIC] button (so

that it lights).

MONO

STEP

ENCODE CAPTURE

GROUP

BACKGROUND

BACKGROUND 2 BACKGROUND 3 RHYTHMIC 2 USER 2

MELODIC RHYTHMIC USER

The display brieﬂy shows the following page where you could select another phrase. But please ignore it here. It will disappear after a few seconds.

The VariPhrase part is switched on, while the Upper1 part is automatically switched off. You can check this by pressing the Keyboard Mode [OTHER] button: the

ﬁeld should be displayed in white, while [UP1] should be blue. Press [EXIT] to return to the Master page.

Note: See “What are ‘parts’?” on page 35 for details about UP1, UP2, etc.

(Note that, after switching on the VariPhrase part, you can add the Upper1 and other Keyboard parts. Be sure to ﬁrst activate the part, then switch on UP1, etc.)

Play a few notes in the right half of the keyboard.

Start by playing one note at the time, then try chords.

Amazing isn’t it? But the realism of the sounds you hear is not even half the story:

Use the [TEMPO/DATA] dial to change the tempo.

You can also press [TEMPO/TAP] several times (Tap Tempo function).

10.

Again play a few notes in the right half of the key-

board and change the tempo while doing so.

The audio follows your every tempo move – and keeps sounding just perfect! The phrase continues but is transposed halfway trough.

11.

Select the Original or Variation pattern (see page 25), play a chord in the left half of the keyboard, and press the [START/STOP] button to start Arranger playback.

12.

Again change the tempo while the Arranger is running, and play a few VariPhrase notes.

13.

Now try out the two remaining preset phrases by pressing ﬁrst the [BACKGROUND] and then the [RHYTHMIC] button.

The difference between BACKGROUND, MELODIC, and RHYTHMIC phrases lies in their use: Background phrases are perfect for backing vocal effects, Melodic phrases can replace a vocalist, and Rhythmic phrases could be seen as “melodic raps”.

Note: See page 45 for some examples of the VariPhrases assigned to the Music Styles. Please note that not all VariPhrases start on the ﬁrst beat. These are indicated in bold type in the list.

Of course there is a lot more you can do, so be sure to read the “VariPhrase clinic” on page 45.

Note: In SPLIT mode (see page 36), you can decide whether to play the VariPhrase part via the left or right half of the keyboard.

Note: You can also sing yourself by connecting a microphone to the VARIPHRASE [INPUT] socket. See “Using live vocals” on page 57.

3.6 Listening to Standard MIDI Files

Standard MIDI Files are sequences almost any sequencer can read. Though you can use your VA-76 as “playback machine” of such Standard MIDI Files, it is also possible to mute the melody part and to play it yourself.

Insert the supplied Zip™ disk into the appropriate

drive (the one below the keyboard).

Note: While Zip disks are too large for the ﬂoppy drive, be careful never to insert a ﬂoppy disk into the Zip drive as that may damage the drive or its heads.

If necessary, press the [START/STOP] button to

stop Arranger playback.

Press the [SONG COMPOSER] button.

VA-76 – Listening to Standard MIDI Files

You can also use the [TEMPO/DATA] dial for doing so.

Press a song ﬁeld to select the song you want to lis-

ten to.

The RAM information ﬁeld is still empty.

RAM information ﬁeld

That is because the selected song has not yet been loaded into the VA-76’s RAM memory and thus cannot be played back straight away.

Press the [Load] ﬁeld.

This time, the name of the selected song is displayed in the RAM information ﬁeld.

Press the [PLAY ®] ﬁeld to start playback.

If you like, you can now play along to this Standard MIDI File. The Arranger, however, cannot be used while the Song Composer is running.

10.

Press the [STOP ■|√] ﬁeld to stop playback.

If you like, you can press the [oBack] ﬁeld to return to the initial Song Composer page:

The display now looks as follows:

(There may be a different name or no name at all in the upper white ﬁeld on your VA-76.)

Press the [Song List] ﬁeld.

You can then use [√√ BWD] and [FFW ®®] to rewind to an earlier measure or fast forward to a later one. See “Song Composer clinic” on page 65, for details.

You could also press the [EXIT] ﬁeld to return to the Master page, though that would not be practical.

• During Song Composer playback the Master page looks as follows:

Wait for the Zip (or ﬂoppy) drive to read what is on the disk.

If the [ZIP] ﬁeld is not displayed in white, press it.

Use the [o][k] ﬁelds to select the next or previous

group of four songs if the one you want to listen to is not displayed.

Pressing the [Song] ﬁeld takes you back to the display page where you can select another song. However, on the Master page you cannot control Song Composer playback (Start, Stop, REW, FFW, etc.).

VA-76 Owner’s Manual—Scratching the surface

• If Song Composer playback is stopped, selecting the Master page would switch off the Song Composer mode and take you back to Arranger mode where you can use the automatic accompaniment function.

Minus One playback

Your VA-76 allows you to mute any given part of the song you are currently playing back. You could use this feature to mute the solo part on disk so that you can play it yourself. This is called Minus One playback (because one part of the original song is muted).

You can solo whichever part you like, and even mute several parts simultaneously.

All Keyboard parts remain active. In other words, you are free to use the Upper1/2, VariPhrase, Lower1/2, and M.Bass parts in whichever split or layer combination (see page 35) you like. The MDR part is also available but selecting this part means that other Keyboard parts are temporarily deactivated.

Note: Whenever you start playing back a new song or return to the beginning of the current song (by pressing the

[STOP ■|√] ﬁeld), all Keyboard parts, except Upper1, are

be switched off and the VA-76 selects the Whole Keyboard mode. This is not the case however, if you select a User Program memory.

Note: When playing back one of your songs in which you used the VariPhrase part and one of your own phrases (User memory), you must load the phrase(s) in question before you start playback. See page 69.

Insert the supplied Zip™ disk into the appropriate

drive (the one below the keyboard).

You can also use any other Zip or ﬂoppy disk, of course. It must contain a Standard MIDI File, though.

If necessary, press the [START/STOP] button to

stop Arranger playback.

Press the [SONG COMPOSER] button.

See steps (4)~(8) above for how to select the desired

song on disk.

It would be a good idea to start playback and to stop it after a few measures.

Note: If the ﬁeld in the upper left corner on the Master page reads [Song], you can press it to jump to the page where you can select a Standard MIDI File.

On the Song Composer page, press the [Minus One]

ﬁeld.

The display now looks as follows:

The numbers 1~16 represent the tracks of the selected Standard MIDI File. Standard MIDI Files can contain up to 16 different parts that each receive on a different MIDI channel.

The [ON]/[OFF] ﬁelds next to the numbers indicate whether the tracks in question will be played back or not. No ﬁeld means that the track in question contains no data.

Press the [ON] ﬁeld next to track/channel [4].

In most Standard MIDI Files, the melody part is assigned to track/channel 4. Pressing this ﬁeld (to make it read [OFF]) is thus a good guess. This channel corresponds to the VA-76’s UP1 part.

Note: The on/off status of the tracks can be written to a User Program (see page 127).

Select a Tone for the Upper1 (UP1) part.

See “Super Tones” on page 28 or “Selecting Tones for the Keyboard parts” on page 37. There is a function that allows you to link Tone selection for the Upper1 part to the parameter settings of the selected song so that your melody will sound exactly like the original part. See below.

Press the [STOP ■|√] ﬁeld twice to return to the

beginning of the song.

Press the [PLAY ®] ﬁeld to start playback, and play

along to the Standard MIDI File.

Feel free to use the performance functions (see page 51). If necessary, use the [TEMPO/DATA] dial or the [TEMPO/TAP] button to change the tempo.

10.

Press the [STOP ■|√] ﬁeld to stop playback.

11.

Press the [oBack] ﬁeld to return to the Song

Composer page.

+ 234 hidden pages