Kurzweil PC361 Performance Controller Synth

The Kurzweil PC361 Performance Controller Synth

INTRODUCTION
The Kurzweil PC361 Performance Controller Synth is the first Kurzweil Synth I have had a chance to get my hands on. The company have been making great Synths since the early 80's and are well known for their powerful synth engines and Variable Architecture Synthesis Technology (VAST). The PC361 is part of the renowned PC3 series which comprises of; the 88 note PC3, the 76 note PC3X, the 61 note PC361 and the XPro that adds a cabinet and sound system.

Yamaha DTX 900 & DTX 950 Digital Drum Kits

Yamaha DTX 900 and DTX 950 Electronic Drum Kits

As a drummer (and currently an electronic drummer) I am always interested in what is out there trying to compete with the Roland TD20 kit. Yamaha seem to be getting closer and closer to this with their latest releases  - the DTX900 and DTX 950 kits

FREE VST Plugins

Some of the best Free VST Plugins

These are definitely worth trying on your DAW. Just simply download from the Sites:-

TAL (Togu Audio Line)

SimulAnalog Guitar Suite

Magnus Jonsson Ambience

Native Instruments Kore 2 Player

Voxengo Span

Yellow Tools Independence Free

Kjaerhus Audio Classic effects

NUSofting daHornet

UltimateSoundBank UVI Workstation

Ichiro Toda Synth1

Nord Keyboards Winter 2010

Nord Keyboards - Winter 2010




If you are like me and can't seem to get your hands around one of those bright red Nord keyboards, then you will just have to be content with the the next best thing - their 56 page Winter 2010 Catalogue. You can download it here:-

http://www.nordkeyboards.com/downloads/brochures/Nord%20winter%202010.pdf

To purchase anything from the Nord range, don't even think about it until you have contacted Absolute Music for the best deal on earth :-
:- Absolutemusic

Rowan Atkinson - The Invisible Drum Kit

The Invisible Drum Kit by Rowan Atkinson

I just loved this and thought that I just had to share this with you. If you haven't seen this before you are in for a treat as it is far better than Air Guitar - Tony:-

Cakewalk Sonar X1

Well here is some news that caught my eye last night on the Roland's Sonar site - the new upgrade from Sonar 8.5. No it is not Sonar 9 but Sonar X1.

Apparently, this upgrade is available from 8th December and this is what the guys at Cakewalk are saying about it - "SONAR has evolved and so can the way you make music. Imagine the power and maturity of an industry standard DAW combined with the cutting edge creative tools essential for today's music - all wrapped up in one of the most modern and (dare we say) beautiful user interfaces available".

Sonar X1 comes in three flavours -" Essential", "Studio" and the one I am interested in is "Producer". The Producer has all that is in the Studio version with the addition of Pro Channel, Session Drummer 3, Dimension Pro, True Pianos, Producer Effects, Channel Effects, Mastering Effects and  Guitar Rig 4 LE.

Yamaha Tenori-On Review

The Yamaha Tenori-On Review

INTRODUCTION
The Yamaha Tenori-On, it has a strange name and is something I wanted to find out about for a while now. When you are being sent a musical instrument which has 256 orange LED's and is made by Yamaha, you know straight away that it is going to be something very special, unique and visually stunning. As I turned it on and started to play it, I realised that is exactly what it is. It certainly passed my user-friendly test because I was composing a very syncopated melody with dynamics and interest in seconds and it felt a bit like painting with sound. Yamaha are renowned for packing many features into their products, so I need to look a little into what they are. I suppose the quick start guide is a good place to start.

Do you have a Wireless Microphone?

DO  YOU  HAVE  A  WIRELESS  MICROPHONE?

If the answer to this is "Yes" then you need to know what is happening in January 2012 and what you need to do before 31st December 2010.

Korg Monotron Analog Synthesizer Review

The Korg Monotron Analog Synthesizer Review

INTRODUCTION
I want to say straight away that this review is going to be a very positive review. This is because before I have even taken it out of the box, I have watched "a most excellent" You Tube clip. If you see this, no matter what I say below,  I am sure you are going to agree with the man that has said " This just goes to show that limitations are far better for creativity than endless options". What a wonderful statement and a very creative piece of film from what is basically the Stylophone of 2010.

Music Notation for MS Word

Music Notation for MS Word
I am like many people and use MS Word for most things and was very surprised and delighted to find information on the announcement of Music Notation for MS Word. What a great idea  - and why hasn't someone come up with this before?

Sound Like A Pro With Roland V-Drums

How To Sound Like A Professional With Roland V-Drums

One of the main reasons why a novice sounds so bad when he attempts to play an acoustic drum kit is that he hits part of the drum kit that he doesn’t intend to such as the metal rims or he doesn’t hit the drum on the best part of the head to “make” the sound. With Roland electronic drums these issues can easily be eliminated.

Waldorf Blofeld Synth Module Review

The Waldorf Blofeld Synthesizer Module

INTRODUCTION
Despite its small size and price the Waldorf Blofeld synthesizer module, I am told has an extremely powerful synth engine. The German powerhouse company Waldorf sadly folded in 2004, perhaps now they are back they are ready to "take over the world" with their supervillan three-oscillator synth which has undergone a few OS updates and bug fixes since its release in 2008.

The Korg PS60 Performance Synth

The Korg PS60 Performance Synthesizer Review

INTRODUCTION
The majority of Synthesizers / Workstations today may lean more toward either use in the Studio or playing live but generally speaking they are designed to be used in both situations in order that they can be sold to the largest audience possible. This may then mean that either compromises are made to keep costs down or you pay out greater sums of money for functionality that you seldom or never use.

Propellerheads REASON 5 and RECORD 1.5

Propellerheads Reason 5 and Record 1.5 are out now. Everyone is talking about them and I want to understand a bit more about how much Reason 5 has improved over Reason 4.

The first thing to think about are the various packages available. According to Propellerheads they come in four flavours:-

1. All new Reason 5 - This is the package to get if you don't own Reason and you feel you don't need Record yet.

2. Record Reason Duo - Combine Reason and Record and they fuse into one incredibly powerful music application

3.  Record for Reason Owners - Record for Reason Owners upgrades any version of Reason to Record 1.5 and Reason 5.

4.  Reason Upgrade - For owners of both Reason and Record, upgrades Reason to version 5 — and includes a free upgrade to Record 1.5 for Record owners.

Novation UltraNova Analog-Modeling Synth

Novation UltraNova, now there's a name that conjures up something special. I remember in 1998/99 the two synths that were most raved about were the Yamaha EX5 and the Novation Supernova II. Well  it seems that Yamaha moved ahead with the Motif range and is just about to release the Motif XF, whilst Novation just stopped producing incredible synths and went on to concentrate their efforts on controller keyboards, which is how they got started if I remember correctly.

Roland AX-Synth Review

INTRODUCING THE ROLAND AX-SYNTH
The Roland AX-SYNTH has got to be the King of the Keytars but with Roland recently producing the younger and smaller LUCINA shoulder synth, I wondered how the two compared and whether the new designs on the LUCINA had significantly improved upon the sleek lines of the Pro AX- SYNTH. Following my review of the LUCINA, I was keen to determine just how easy it was to access the controls.

The Quasimidi Sirius

Looking Back - The Quasimidi Sirius



Does anyone remember the Quasimidi Sirius?  Over 12 years ago, Future Music did an article on this great machine and questioned "Was the Sirius the definitive dance tool?" This was a keyboard that I always wanted but never actually purchased. It was well ahead of its time and just sounded so much fun. I remember listening to the sounds on the CD that I was sent demonstrating it’s capabilities. I loved it’s drum sounds. It reminded me of music made with software rather than hardware. A bit like making music with Propellerheads Reason 5 and Kong but having an actual keyboard in front of you.

Yes it is German and has that very 90’s German analog Synth sound. If I remember correctly Kraftwerk did a couple of the demos for this. There are still some great You Tube clips that give you some idea of its potential. Some of the sounds that Sirius Users have created had such interesting qualities that I have not yet heard or believed it possible to recreate on such Synths like the Access Virus or Roland GAIA.

It even has a random sound button. I tried this in a store at the time and was very surprised what it came up with. Maybe I should buy one now second-hand on e-bay?  Unfortunately Quasimidi folded in 2000. Perhaps Access could develop the  Sirius mark II for 2011?

Roland Octapad SPD-30 Review

INTRODUCTION TO THE ROLAND SPD-30 OCTAPAD

The SPD-30 Octapad is the latest digital percussion multi-pad from Roland using the most up-to-date triggering technology and sounds. It has come a very long way since the first octapad - the Pad-8 introduced in 1985 as a MIDI percussion controller. In 1989 they introduced the second model - the Pad-80 Octapad II which had a larger memory that could store up to 64 different patches with 64 patches on a Roland M-256E memory card. Further improvements to the MIDI specification included the control of modulation, pitch bend and aftertouch using a foot pedal. They then went on to release their SPD range which were very similar to the Octapads but had on board sounds and effects.

If you are considering buying a Roland SPD-30 Octapad and want the best price possible, please click here :-Absolutemusic

Korg Kaossilator Review

INTRODUCTION

When I receive a new product, the first thing I like to do is play with it without reading the manual. This is partly because I cannot wait but more importantly I want to test how user-friendly the item is. I am pleased to say that the Kaossilator was ready to go the minute I put in the four batteries and plugged in my favourite headphones. You switch her on and start to run your fingers across her touch-sensitive surface or tap away rhythmically and an assortment of cutting - edge sounds phases, flanges or auto-pans across your disbelieving ears. Why do you disbelieve? Well for a start its coming from something that is only approximately 5 x 4 inches in size.

If you are considering buying a KORG KAOSSILATOR and want the best price possible, please click here :- Absolutemusic

The Korg Kaoss Pad - KP3

INTRODUCTION TO THE KORG KAOSS PAD KP3 MULTI--EFFECTS


Korg describe the Kaoss Pad KP3 as " More than a processor, the KP3 is a complete instrument allowing you to manage, recall, and play back samples; sample on the fly; and add dynamic processing to any audio signal or to the samples themselves". It has the X-Y touch pad to control multi -effect parameters in real time and it has been around since October 2006 and is still being widely used by musicians, producers and DJ's. It is Korg's third version of it's Kaoss Pad and I wonder as this is nearly four years old now, will there ever be a KP4? The KP3 was upgraded to Version 2 on 9th July 2009. This Kaoss Pad is not just a great hands-on effects module it is also quite a remarkable Midi controller.

If you are considering buying a KP3 and want the best price possible, please click here :- Absolutemusic

Roland ARX-03 Brass Expansion Fantom G

INTRODUCTION

I have just bought one of those Roland ARX-03 SuperNATURAL Brass expansion boards for my Fantom G from those great guys at Absolutemusic. I believe I have purchased it for the best price in  in the Country and the postage was free - what an incredible deal.

Brass to me is one of those strange sounds that whilst it is not particularly modern and has certainly been around awhile, it can still be used in today's sounds in any genre of music. It can be used to create fun, punch, haunting, rhythmic and sexy sounds in a variety of ways. In order for you to use these sounds correctly in your songs you need something to give you all the nuances and tweakability as if you had a whole brass section at your disposal. With the ARX-03 board, I believe Roland have attempted to do this.

New Light Chip from Intel

The staggering news that the Intel Corporation announced an important advance in the quest to use light beams to replace the use of electrons to carry data in and around computers, makes me wonder what changes will this make in the world of music. Apparently this experimental chip can move data at 50 billion bits per second (50Gbps). With this amount of power how will the DAW change? Will we be able to have unlimited VST’s in our Cubase, Sonar, ProTools, Reason, Ableton and Logic Projects and no dropouts or freezes?  Just imagine the hardware Synth possibilities. What will the three giants Roland, Yamaha and Korg come up with next to replace the Fantom G, Motif XF and the Korg M3?

Black Lab Pictures Of People Video

Pictures Of People from Black Lab on Vimeo.

I am really pleased that Paul Durham from my favourite band BLACK LAB has included a picture of me in their latest video of their song PICTURES OF PEOPLE.

Simmons SDMP1 Electronic Drums Review

Here is something I would like to see and hear - the new Simmons Digital Multi Pad Electronic Drum Set (The SDMP1). It is an entire Simmons kit and drum machine in one package. Simmons state that this is the perfect addition for practice, performance or recording beats and is able to be integrated with any drum or percussion set up, and can be mounted to a stand or an accessory clamp. It will connect to a PC with a USB port, while the included auxiliary input allows you to play along with a CD or MP3 player. The price seems very reasonable and I wonder how this compares on quality, sound and feel  with Roland's SPD-20 and SPD-S or Yamaha's new DTX-MULTI 12 Electronic Percussion Pad? The features and specifications look very good:-

Roland Fantom G8 Review

The Roland Fantom G8 is without doubt the best Piano / Synth Workstation I ever owned. The points that sell it are simply - its looks - its keyboard action and feel / playability and its huge 8.5" TFT colour screen which is mouse-controlled. The sound has a clarity that out-classes the Fantom X. This difference is like the difference between 16bit and 24bit sounds. Everything sounds just that bit crisper and cleaner. I particularly love the fact that the screen displays what you play and where and you can see exactly where your keyboard splits are. On most other keyboards, you would have to guess for example where your piano range ends and where your brass begins or you may have many splits where it is even more difficult. With the Fantom Gs you can clearly see it right in front of you in colour.

Review of the Roland GAIA SH-01 Synth

[caption id="attachment_21" align="alignleft" width="399" caption="Roland Gaia SH-01"][/caption]

INTRODUCTION

The GAIA SH-01 - another little gem from Roland. What is it? - Well the GAIA reminds me a little of a Jupiter 8 but looking so much "2010". In essence it is a virtual analogue synth or rather three analogue synths in one. Roland have made a great decision on Colour. I don't wish to sound like a girl, but it is amazing how many times you see Artists who have products made especially in white. Why? - Because they look so good on stage. Access did it with their "Limited Edition" Virus.

Yamaha Motif XF

Yamaha are about to announce a new Synth - The Yamaha Motif XF. The announcement should take place on 2nd August 2010. Their brief advert just says "INSPIRATION COMES IN A FLASH - Since 2001, the Motif Music Production Synthesizers have been the best sounding, top-selling and most requested music workstations on the market.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="350" caption="Yamaha Motif XF Synth"][/caption]

The next generation XF builds on the heritage of the Motif, providing new features and ground-breaking Flash memory expansion capabilities that will set the standard for keyboard workstations for years to come".

Wow, this sounds really interesting. I can't wait for more information from Yamaha, You Tube videos and specifications and to hear what it sounds like. I will keep you posted as I gather the info.

What I have so far is :

Wave rom increased to 741MB, 128 new voices (user1), 128 new performances (user1), 8 new drumkits, 1248 new arp styles, 32 new masters, 128MB SD RAM on board for samples, optional flash boards, max 2.1GB, improved file management, new keyboard action, user definable LCD colour scheme, drum kit edit within mixing mode, optimised category search, TAP tempo function, Loading time for flash is approx 2.4 seconds for 1MB. 512MB takes about 20mins to load.

Available Soon and for a great deal, please visit :- Absolutemusic

Review of the Roland GAIA SH-01 Synth

 

[caption id="attachment_21" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Roland Gaia SH-01"][/caption]

The GAIA SH-01 - another little gem from Roland. What is it? - Well the GAIA reminds me a little of a Jupiter 8 but looking so much "2010". In essence it is a virtual analogue synth or rather three analogue synths in one. Roland have made a great decision on Colour. I don't wish to sound like a girl, but it is amazing how many times you see Artists who have products made especially in white. Why? - Because they look so good on stage. Access did it with their "Limited Edition" Virus.

GAIA is a word from Greek Mythology meaning "Goddess of the Earth". Well it certainly gives that impression when you first see this white keyboard with a black panel full of colourful lights and tweakable knobs to create powerful analogue sounds easily. All the controls are laid out for you in a very logical fashion. Roland have designed this instrument very much like it's predecessors to be a fun and very inviting, pulling you in to make your own fat sounds. I think this is one of the nicest looking synths ever. I know we all have different tastes but I think Roland have just got the right balance of colour to make this instantly pleasing on the eye.

As soon as I looked at the layout of the Roland GAIA SH-01 Synth, I immeadiately thought of the Access Virus Ti Polar. Everything is laid out in front of you to tweak away in Real time but there are no menus to worry about and feedback is provided ingeniously by way of lights as to what you are adjusting. One of the main differences is that the Roland GAIA costs approximately a quarter of the cost of Access Virus Ti Polar. Whilst purists may argue that the GAIA does not have that classic Virus sound, it could equally be argued that it does however have that classic Roland sound. At this price level and in today's market, Roland have put together a great looking and sounding, knob-twisting synth.

When I first took it out of the box I was quite amazed at how light it felt. The Spec states it weighs 4.2 kg/9 lbs 5 oz but if I were to guess the weight, I would have definitely said less. It is small, compact and has 37 full size keys and it can even run on batteries for approximately 5 hours for total on the go fun. I have since discovered that the keyboard's velocity response is turned off. It is in FIX mode which means that all the notes played have a fixed velocity. This can be changed easily to REAL mode by holding down the CANCEL/SHIFT button and then press the KEY/HOLD button. If the button is lit, it is in FIX mode. If the button is unlit, then it is REAL mode. Personally I would have done the complete opposite to this and have by default the mode as REAL and the light lit.

I headed straight for the presets like a boy on Christmas morning and started to work through them. As I quickly got to the end of only 64 sounds, a feeling of disapointment came over me as if to say "Is that it?" What I did not fully appreciate at this very early stage was that it had endless possibilities for sound creation and that creating a sound was extremely easy.  There are 64 presets across the 8 banks of 8 patches. These are non-rewritable, but you can change their sound to your hearts content and when you create an awesome sound for your next album track you can write this to one of the 64 User patches available. Although there is not one supplied, you can also save a further 64 patches to a USB flash drive. I really do like the preset patches and the fact that they are in the main created for Electro type music. However, this is not to say that this synth is not suitable for most genres of music. Musicians are continually crossing genres and combining acoustic with electronic sounds to produce new sound possibilities. The GAIA can produce massive sounds from Lush Sweeping Pads to Gritty Acid Leads and all that is in between. I found a Super Saw patch and in seconds, I was running an Arpeggiator, putting it on hold for hands-free tweaking, adjusting the Cutoff and the Resonance in the Filter Section and changing the effects instantly in Real Time at simple one-touch button pressing - proving that you don't have to understand anything to be creative on this Synth. You simply need that child mentality that questions "What does this do?" and immediately turn it to find out.

It is not just the colour that Roland's designers excelled themselves with here but the complete logical layout which is ideal for people new to synthesizers by providing them with an understanding of signal flow. In front of you is a simple Left to Right setup - Tone Selection, LFO, Oscillator, Filter, Amp and Effects. Starting at the far left with the Tone Selection; here you have three tones which have 2 buttons each. One of them is a "Select" button and the other an "On" button. You can edit tones one at a time or together by pressing and holding more than one tone selection button. You quickly realise here that what you have are three Synths and each one has its own LFO, Oscillator, Modulating LFO, Filter and Amplifier - I am really starting to like this.

You then come to the LFO section (edged in blue). This section will modulate the sound and you can select from six wave types - (triangle, sine, sawtooth, square, (sample and hold) and random) by simply pressing the Shape button. You can also adjust the rate or speed of the oscillator. By turning the knob to the right will make the modulation faster, and turning it to the left will make the modulation slower. I noticed that as I moved it, the indicator above the "Rate" knob blinks in synchronization with the LFO speed - that is handy. You can also Tempo Sync the LFO. LFO can be applied in different ways - To the "Pitch" to achieve that nice vibrato effect - To the "Volume" for a bit of a tremolo - To the "Filter" for some cool Wah Wah sounds and to the "Pan" for that Auto Pan madness. For the Auto Pan, you need to use the Shift key in conjunction with the "Amp Depth"

OK now we move onto the Sound Generator Section which is subdivided into three. Here you will see an Oscillator, Filter and Amplifier sections (edged in orange).Roland start off by saying that there are three elements to sound - Pitch, Brightness and Volume and that they have arranged them on the panel in this order to make the sound-creating possibilities easy. PITCH = OSCILLATOR, BRIGHTNESS = FILTER and VOLUME = AMPLIFIER. This can all be found in Roland's excellent 16 page guidebook to get you started. The instructions are simple and clear and well presented. It has a front page with the title "ENJOY CREATING SOUNDS WITH YOUR SYNTHESIZER". The first couple of pages explain the controls and it then moves on to how to play sounds/patches, how to create a Bass sound, playing an Arpeggiated Synth Bass sound, how to create a Pad Sound, how to save the patch created, how to create Wind and a Distorted Guitar Sound and finally examples of creating sounds.

As we have said, the Oscillator determines the sound's pitch. The pitch is determined by the speed at which a waveform repeats. In this section you select a waveform to form the basis of a sound and you can choose from seven wave-types each with three variations (giving a total of 21). These are of very high quality and are more than enough for most needs. The seven types are - SQUARE WAVE, PULSE / PWM, TRIANGLE WAVE, SINE WAVE, NOISE and SUPER SAW. I really like what Roland have done with the variations as these provide subtle harmonic differences. Remembering that you can apply changes in the Oscillator section differently to each of the tones, I created some very good sounds by applying varying amounts of Pitch and Detune to the tones by use of the Master Tune knobs. You want Fat? - Well you can achieve it. You also get a MOD button so that you can combine tones 1 and 2 and create more complex sounds. For Square Wave selections, there are two sliders - The PWM Slider specifies the amount of modulation applied to Pulse Width and The PW Slider specifies the width of the upper portion of the square wave. Lastly in this section you can think about Pitch envelope and adjust attack and decay times as well as the depth as to how much the Pitch Envelope will affect the Depth. Again you don't need to understand all of this, just get moving and twisting until you hear something you like. You will learn from what you are hearing and how these changes affect the sound.

This moves us onto the Filter (The DJ's favorite bit) and determines the sound's brightness. It has a simple layout starting with a Mode button to select the type of filter - LOW PASS, HIGH PASS, BAND PASS and PEAKING FILTER and you can apply two slopes, 12dB per octave and 24dB per octave. There are three knobs to control Cut-Off, Resonance and the useful Key Follow knob (to make the filter cutoff frequency vary according to the key you play). Below this are five sliders for ADSR and Envelope Depth. I think these filters are excellent and great fun. I put the Arpeggio button on and the hold key for hands free and in real time I produced fast filter sweeps, taking my pattern down from a deep low-fi bass up to a crisp high resonance - magic.

The Amp section is there to give separate volume control to each of the three tones. You should not ignore this basic control. When you are using all 3 tones it is surprising how the sound changes due to you lowering or raising the volume. It is just like a mixer and one sound coming through louder than another can make a significant difference.  Alongside this you have an ADSR which can give many characteristics to shape a sound so that you can produce short sharp percussive sounds to very slow dreamy pads and everything your creative mind can find in-between.

The last Section is my all time favorite - the Effects section (edged in white). I wish every Synth's effects section looked like this. This is just so quick and accessible - absolutely brilliant. It has five built-in effects that can be layered: Distortion, Flanger, Delay, Reverb and Low Boost. Under Distortion you have Fuzz and Bit Crash alternatives and under Flanger you have Phaser and Pitch Shifter. Delay comes in two flavours, one with panning. Dedicated control knobs are provided for tweaking the effects in real time. I have many favorites here, but the Silky Reberb is near the top of my list. Stacking these effects up really gives you what you are after and you don't have to worry about any processing problems. By quick touch-button pressing you can give your new sound a Low-Boost, Reverb, Tempo- Sync'd Panning Delay, Pitch-Shifter and Distortion all stacked on top of each other and you have to knobs to control the amount of effect applied.

I think this a good time to mention the Shift Key. The more you use the GAIA; you will find that not all operations are by moving a single button, knob or slider. For example to intialise a Patch you hold the SHIFT key down and press the WRITE button. There are 64 Arpeggio patterns to access. In order to get to the next bank of 8, you need to hold the SHIFT key down and press a bank number 1-8. The best one is the Amp Depth control in the LFO section which is also a Tone-Pan modulation control when used with the SHIFT key. So if you think there is something that there should be a button for, the chances are there is, and it needs the Shift key holding down in the first place.

Saving Patches to the User area is so simple and so fast that I just did it with no need of the manual. That's what I call user-friendly. A small problem is that you won't know what you have saved where. From a live use point of view this could be annoying and you would need a set list with (Bank C patch 7) for example next to the song.

Right so that is the main sound creating sections, now we have everything else. First off you have Roland's familiar items - DBEAM (to control Pitch, Volume and Effects) and V-LINK. There are dedicated buttons for TAP TEMPO, playing in MONO or POLY, TONE COPY, USB MEMORY PATCHES, PORTOMENTO, a button to run the 64 ARPEGGIO patterns, a HOLD button for hands-free playing, TRANSPOSE (to move the pitch up six semitones and down 5 semitones), OCTAVE  (to move the keyboard up and down three octaves), SELECT and SAVE PATCHES  and RECORD PHRASES (which lets you record, play back and even play over your own recorded Phrases. The movements of the knobs and sliders are also captured) and there is a COMBINED PITCH BENDER and MODULATION CONTROLLER.

From a connection point of view, you have a Headphones Jack, Left and Right Output Jacks, an Expression Pedal Jack. MIDI  IN and OUT, a USB Computer Connector for streaming audio and  transmitting and receiving MIDI data and a USB Memory Connector. The GAIA EXT input allows for connection and playback of external audio sources like an MP3 player so you can jam along with your favourite songs or use it to play back backing tracks. These are so handy for practice sessions or using in a live environment. The interesting bit here is that the audio that is coming in can be manipulated with three Center Cancel modes, which let you eliminate pre-recorded vocals, guitar, or bass - well done Roland.

I was a little disappointed with the USB saving facility. You can only store 64 patches and 8 phrases. Whilst I would like something similar to the project files that the Fantom and V-Synth have, I had to come to terms with the fact that there is no LCD screen. It just seems that it leaves a great waste of space on each USB stick. It is hard to get anything less than 1 GB nowadays. There must be a better way here, lets hope Roland implement an improvement in the future. I did a check on my USB drive after saving my creations and funny enough it shows it as F:\ROLAND\SH01\SH01_PAT.SVD (Fantom-G Librarian Document). Someone on the forums apparently tested this and it does not work with the Fantom Librarian. Perhaps because it is an SVD file, my computer associates it with a Fantom G.

I was however very impressed by the Polyphony here. Normally in the past Polyphony amounts have been low and very anoying. Roland have achieved 64 notes of polyphony so I was able to play massive sounds without experiencing any note drop-outs. To achieve this amount in a Virtual Analogue Modeling Synth like this must mean that Roland are getting something special from the chip technology inside.

Although there is a lot to read here I think that I have only touched the surface of this little beastie. However the learning curve is fast, you just need to get your hands dirty and get stuck in there. Use the manual only as a reference and not to do your initial training with.  Before you know where you are, you will be making those famous sounds from bands like CARS,  DURAN DURAN, GARY NEWMAN and OMD and if you want, you can add in that 2010 flavour. I thoroughly recommend this Synth for Live Use, Studio Use and generally taking it everywhere with you in Roland's convenient keyboard case. Currently you cannot buy a Synth that has this much sound-making power and facilities for such a low price. I don't feel as if I need say anymore except shout - "Just Go and Buy One Now!"

More info and a great price at :-
Absolutemusic