Roland V-Arranger Keyboard VA-76 - Manual (Page 143)

145
VA-76 – 16-track Sequencer
Saving your song
The 16-track sequencer uses a special portion of the
VA-76’s RAM memory where all editing takes place.
To ensure that you do not forget to save your song
after recording and/or editing it, you are given the
opportunity to do so upon leaving the Song Com-
poser page (by pressing [EXIT]):
Note: The Song RAM memory is erased when you switch off
your VA-76.
1. Press [YES] to save your changes (and the entire
song). This will take you to the following display
page:
If you don’t want to wait until the above warning
(“Song has been changed…”) is displayed automati-
cally, proceed as follows. Using this “manual” Save
function has the advantage that you can save your
song whenever you are happy with your latest record-
ing or edits. Bear in mind that a power failure is all it
takes to lose your song. Don’t wait until it is too late…
a) Press the [Save] field in the bottom row.
b) Press the [Name] field.
c) On the display page that appears now, press the
[Save] field in the bottom line.
2. See page 67 for details about saving your song.
Example 2: Recording a song from scratch
Let us now record a Song from scratch using the 16-
track sequencer.
1. Press the [SONG COMPOSER] button and the [16
Tracks Sequencer] field.
Let us suppose that you already played back a Song.
That means that the VA-76’s Song RAM memory
already contains song data we need to erase. (Even if
the VA-76’s Song RAM memory is still empty, using
the Initialize function would be a good idea.) Here is
how to:
2. Press the [Utility] field.
3. On the display page that appears now, press the
[Initialize] field.
The display now looks more or less as follows:
The warning alerts you to the fact that pressing [EXE-
CUTE] (see below) may have disastrous conse-
quences. See “Saving your song” if you still need to
save your previous song.
4. Press the following three fields and enter the
desired values using the [TEMPO/DATA] dial or the
[DATA] button/Numeric Entry pad.
Time Signature— If your new Song uses the 4/4 time
signature, there is no need to change this value. Other-
wise, enter the desired time signature (1/2~32/16).
Tempo— Allows you to specify the initial tempo of
the new song ( = 20~250). Choose a tempo which is
comfortable for recording. You can set the final tempo
using the Song Header Edit function (see page 161).
Using two drum tracks (2nd Drum Track)
An additional advantage of the Initialize function is
that you can define a second track as drum track. This
allows you to use two Drum Sets: the one assigned to
track 10 (fixed, in accordance with GM-2/GS), and
another one assigned to the track you define here. This
allows you to use a “standard” drum kit alongside a
“beat box”, or to add orchestral percussion to a song
that also requires a “regular” drum kit.
Your song data are saved in the Standard MIDI File
(SMF) format. You can therefore play them back using
your computer (with suitable software) and any GM/
GS compatible module or synthesizer. Bear in mind
though, that not all modules accept two Drum Sets.
You cannot define a second drum track for existing
songs. This is only possible when you initialize the
VA-76.book Page 145 Friday, January 12, 2001 12:35 PM