TB303 programming with random tune tweaking
A quick demo of programming the TB303, then some random tune tweaking.
The Roland TB303 is a monophonic analog bass synthesizer married to a pattern-based step sequencer released in 1982. It features a single analog oscillator with two waveforms (ramp or square) and has a simple but excellent VCF (filter) with resonance, cut-off, and envelope controls. There are also knobs to adjust tuning, envelope decay, tempo and accent amount.
It’s not a performance synthesizer because you have to program a pattern of notes and timing info into it (sort of like a drum machine). Patterns can then be linked into songs. It was originally made to accompany a drum machine, the TR-606 specifically, and provide bass-line accompaniment to guitarists, keyboard players, etc. It was not a successful product in its time. As a result, creative DJs and aspiring electronic musicians found them for next to no money and began using them for techno and acid music. Usually a single pattern is continuously played while the performer tweaks the knobs creating an exciting and expressive musical event.
The TB-303 has become one of the most sought after vintage synths ever! It has helped develop and stylize many forms of electronic music including House, Acid, Trance and Ambient. If ever there was a need for a repetitive bassline/groove or an extremely resonant and bubbly sound, the 303 is KING. Truly a unique machine with a very identifiable sound! It has spun off several imitators as well: Novation Bass Station, ReBirth, Doepfer MS-404, MAM MB-33, Syntecno TeeBee, and more (see Related & Alternative Gear sidebar).
A short sequence showing how a TR606 sounds when distorted.
The 10 things we enjoyed the most at NAMM 2013 and major trends
Time to sum up this years Winter NAMM show with a gallery of the 10 things that made this year’s event so great. I guess there will be few surprises to those who regularly follow our web magazine or any other of our web mag colleagues in the msuic creation business either 
Overall trends for this year include:
a. More vendors takes the route of Arturia’s MiniBrute – analog, low price point, performance sized
b. Modular synths are hotter than ever, as well as the DIY micro synths
c. The controller / control surface segment is getting over crowded – who needs them all
d. Software retro clones of vintage classics has come to its peek
e. All analog synths are alive and kicking
f. All you can eat tablet instruments – iOS is all fed up, now vendors are looking to Android and other platforms
g. More innovation is needed in the DJ space
Here is Steelberry Clones’ top 10 list!
1. Moog Sub Phatty
2. KORG MS-20 Mini
3. KORG KingKORG
4. Arturia SparkLE
5. Dave Smith Instruments – Prophet 12
6. Roland V-Combo VR-09
7. AKAI MAX49
8. NORD Electro 4
9. NUMARK Orbit
10. KOMA Elektronik
That’s it for this year’s NAMM show, next up is MusikMesse in Frankfurt.
Please leave your comments if you agree or disagree with the listing or if anything ought to be added. We know that we probably should have included some software products as well, but we might come back to that later in the week.
V-Combo VR-09 Studio Performance with Looper
http://www.rolandconnect.com/product.php?p=vr-09
The Story:
In this video, Sergio Terranova Junior, one of the Brazilian musicians, is speaking with his musician friend that is living in California, USA. Sergio’s friend asked him if he will go to the NAMM show in Anaheim during their conversation. Sergio said to his friend that he will not go there this time because there will be nothing interesting to him to visit. After that, his friend asked about his setup, and he showed his home studio with the JP-80, INTEGRA-7 and the Roland’s legend, SH-1000 ! And, He asked his friend why he needed a new keyboard. His friend said that he must come because Roland will launch new cool instruments. And, in the end, his friend told him that he must review his concepts…
Roland Reveals New Performance Keyboard
Roland Reveals New Performance Keyboard V-Combo VR-09 features piano, organ, and synth engines
Travel-ready, affordable, and outfitted with top-level Roland sounds, the V-Combo VR-09 is the ideal all-in-one solution for performing keyboard players. Dedicated piano, organ, and synth sound engines—organized in three intuitive blocks on the front panel—provide all the essential tones you need, right under your fingertips. The powerful real-time controls give you maximum expression on stage, with nine sliders for tone shaping and a large array of knobs and buttons for tweaking the seven simultaneous effects and various parameters. Other great features include an onboard looper, a drum section stocked with a library of rhythms for practice and jamming, and more. With its versatile sound selection, inspiring operation, and smart user interface, the V-Combo VR-09 is a dream come true for gigging musicians.
- Professional keyboard with instant-access operation for performing musicians
- Light and mobile; battery or AC power
- Pro-quality acoustic and electric pianos, including grand piano with 88-note stereo multi-sampling
- SuperNATURAL-powered Virtual Tone Wheel organ with nine harmonic bars, plus newly developed transistor-type ‘60s organ tone
- Wide range of synth tones, from vintage classics to modern essentials
- Seven simultaneous effects with dedicated real-time controls
- Looper and built-in rhythm patterns; WAV/MP3/SMF song playback via optional USB memory
- Free VR-09 Editor app available for iPad
New from Roland: V-Combo VR-09 Introduction
Travel-ready, affordable, and outfitted with top-level Roland sounds, the V-Combo VR-09 is the ideal all-in-one solution for performing keyboard players. Dedicated piano, organ, and synth sound engines—organized in three intuitive blocks on the front panel—provide all the essential tones you need, right under your fingertips. The powerful real-time controls give you maximum expression on stage, with nine sliders for tone shaping and a large array of knobs and buttons for tweaking the seven simultaneous effects and various parameters. Other great features include an onboard looper, a drum section stocked with a library of rhythms for practice and jamming, and more. With its versatile sound selection, inspiring operation, and smart user interface, the V-Combo VR-09 is a dream come true for gigging musicians
Professional keyboard with instant-access operation for performing musicians
Light and mobile; battery or AC power
Pro-quality acoustic and electric pianos, including grand piano with 88-note stereo multi-sampling
SuperNATURAL-powered Virtual Tone Wheel organ with nine harmonic bars, plus newly developed transistor-type ‘60s organ tone
Wide range of synth tones, from vintage classics to modern essentials
Seven simultaneous effects with dedicated real-time controls
Looper and built-in rhythm patterns; WAV/MP3/SMF song playback via optional USB memory
Free VR-09 Editor app available for iPad
Intuitive Operation for Expressive Stage Performance
The V-Combo VR-09 was designed from the ground up with the needs of live players in mind. An intuitive front-panel layout and clear LCD screen offers quick access to Roland’s top piano, organ, and synth sound engines, along with plenty of real-time controls for expressive tone manipulation. Seven simultaneous effects include rotary, delay, reverb, tone, overdrive, compressor, and customizable MFX, with dedicated knobs that tweak multiple parameters with a single twist for powerful sound shaping with minimal effort. The smart interface makes it simple to set up splits and layers on the fly, and to save all your keyboard settings in user memory locations for instant recall on stage.
Pro Acoustic and Electric Pianos
Piano is a cornerstone sound for live playing, and the V-Combo VR-09 is filled with a wide selection for covering all musical styles. The gorgeous acoustic grand piano features 88-note stereo multi-sampling, delivering pro-level tone that rivals Roland’s dedicated stage pianos. Many popular vintage E. Piano sounds are onboard as well, along with complimentary effects such as vintage phaser and tremolo. The compressor—accessible via a dedicated, easy-to-reach knob—transparently boosts the level of the piano sounds, ensuring that your playing always cuts through when performing in loud bands.
World-Class Organs
Roland’s renowned SuperNATURAL technology powers the V-Combo VR-09’s classic tonewheel organs, while nine harmonic bars provide authentic real-time performance control. A newly developed transistor-type organ is also included, offering the unique sound of combo instruments from the 1960s. The 61-note keyboard has an extremely fast response, perfect for essential organ techniques such as trill, sputter, glissando, and percussive hits. Rotary speaker and amp simulators reproduce the characteristics of vintage organ speaker cabinets and overdriven tube circuits with astounding realism, while a new “Twin Rotary” option delivers a deep, aggressive effect never before heard.
Vintage and Modern Synth Tones
The V-Combo VR-09 is packed with a ton of ready-to-play synthesizer sounds, from vintage analog classics like JUNO strings and ‘80s synth brass to textured, modern-era digital tones and beyond. Front-panel controllers allow you to tweak the synth tones intuitively in real time, including convenient ADR and cutoff/resonance adjustment with the harmonic bars in the ORGAN block. Onboard effects like “Bit Crash” provide the ability to create modern synth voices for current dance music, including dubstep
VR-09 Editor for iPad
The free VR-09 Editor app for iPad gives you powerful, intuitive control of the organ and synth sound engines via your tablet’s full-color touchscreen interface. Quickly edit organ sounds and customize vintage tonewheel characteristics such as leakage, click noise, and rotary speed, and easily access synth sounds to build custom tones and layers. After tweaking sounds at home, you can take your iPad to the gig and use the app for extra real-time control on stage. Convenient, cable-free communication between the V-Combo VR-09 and iPad is simple to set up with Roland Wireless Connect. Alternately, you can link up with a USB cable via Apple’s iPad Camera Connection Kit.
http://www.rolandconnect.com/product.php?p=vr-09
01. (00:00 – ) Overview
02. (01:33 – ) Piano Ballad
03. (02:09 – ) E.Piano with 80s Pop Music
04. (03:30 – ) Piano and Pad Split (Dual), Write Registration
05. (04:40 – ) Funky Groove with Clav
06. (05:48 – ) Dance Music with Tweaks
07. (07:02 – ) Dance Track by Looper
08. (08:53 – ) Rock Organ and Progressive Rock Organ
09. (10:47 – ) Jazz Organ
10. (11:48 – ) Transistor Organ with 60sPop Music
11. (12:28 – ) VR-09 Editor (Organ mode)
12. (13:14 – ) VR-09 Editor (Synth mode)
Performed by Keiki Uto, Japan
Roland TR808 FMing Doepfer A 111
Doepfer A-111 Oscillator’s frequency is FMed from audio out of Roland TR-808. A second A-111 is acting as Modulator for first A-111/Carrier. Both Carrier and Modulator signals are enveloped and triggered from AC Trig Out of TR-808. On stereo out, there’s the handy EHX Cathedral Reverse Reverb.
Cyclone Analogic BassBot TT-303 & Roland TR-909
The new Cyclone Analogic BassBot (TT-303) is a spitting image of the original Roland TB-303. It also sounds just like it, and some 21st century innovations! A 64 step sequencer, MIDI, and Arpeggiator to name a few. To put it to the test we brought out the 303′s partner in crime, the Roland TR-909. Also the blue pedal you see is a vintage DOD analog delay with the TT-303 being processed.
You can find more info and purchase the BassBot here:
http://www.switchedonaustin.com/products/cyclone-analogic-tt-303-bass-bot
Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus – “Vocode Me”
One of the coolest instruments out there. The vocoder shapes its envelope and filters by any sound source fed into it, your voice or even a drum loop can be used which is then applied to another sound source, typically a synth pad. This creates a very unique and famous robot-like sound.
Aside from the 10-band vocoder, the VP-330 added a string synth section, choir and a human-voice sound, both of which are quite excellent themselves. Its 3 sound sections offer a few different presets that can be slightly edited with de-tuning and vibrato. The VP-330 is one of the best Vocoder synths ever and although there are many other types of Vocoders, none sound as good as this!
Vintage keyboard demo track by RetroSound
“Vocode Me”
vocoder, human voice sounds & analog strings: Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus Mk 2 from the year 1979
digital drums: Yamaha DD-50
recording: multi-track without midi
fx: a little bit delay and reverb
more info: http://www.retrosound.de
30th Anniversary of MIDI – by Roland
One standard started it all. One technology allowed different musical devices and computers to all speak the same language and make beautiful music together. Thirty years ago, MIDI was born…and the rest is history.
Roland CR-5000, Roland SH-2 Minimal Synth Demo
Here is a recording of Jordan Passmore playing the Roland SH-2 analog synth and Roland CR-5000 analog drum machine. The CR-5000′s trigger out is connected to the external in on the SH-2, allowing the synth to sort of pulse with the drum machine.
“The drum machine is ran through an analog chorus pedal while the synth is being ran through an analog delay. Both were mixed on probably the “worst” mixer I have ever heard; an early Bogen transformer line mixer. You can hear the distortion very well on the drums but it is also distorting the synth as well. The overall mix was treated lightly through an Ibanez SDR-1000+ reverb.”
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