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Article from International Musician & Recording World, March 1986 |
Having just read through the specification of the new Roland products launched at this years Frankfurt music fair I am, more than anything else, impressed by the amount of control that the player now has over the modern synthesizer.
Synthesizers could have been available many years ago if there had been accurate ways of controlling them. Oscillators and amplifiers, albeit huge electric ones, have been around for most of this century but there wasn't a quick way of changing the frequency from playing a C to playing a D. Playing the Theremin involved waving two hands in the air, one to control volume and the other to control pitch so that even the most proficient player could only slide between notes rather like playing a musical saw.
When the system of voltage control was devised in the mid '60s it made the process much quicker and easier but many traditional musicians, especially educators, levelled the accusation that the synthesizer was a cold, clinical device that couldn't become an extension of your body, like a clarinet could, and no matter with how much feeling you played the keyboard it didn't make any difference to the sound.
The increase in the use of digital technology has changed the situation so dramatically that, suddenly, there is no other instrument that gives the degree of tactile input as the synthesizer.
The first improvement was that it became easy to make polyphonic synthesizers that could play six, twelve even more notes at the same time. The keyboard also became touch sensitive so that each note was individually dynamic in terms of brightness, volume or even pitch. This is actually detected by the velocity of the pressed note although, in effect, this is the same to the player as playing harder or softer. The technology has now become so sophisticated that the new RD-1000 piano, using the unique Structured Adaptive Synthesis system, faithfully changes the dynamics you hear at each dynamic level so that, for the first time, the most discerning ear can be challenged to tell the difference between this and a real grand piano. Something that can't even be said about some of the expensive sampling type instruments that are currently available.
Synthesizers can also sense after-touch; a feature that brings in vibrato or increases the volume or brightness by pressing on the keyboard after the note has been struck.
Bending the note, raising or lowering the pitch with a sprung level, is now a more precise function as the new Alpha Juno range allows the bender range, from a semitone to an octave, to be preset into each patch. Pressing this lever forward brings in vibrato and this is also touch sensitive as the more you push the wider the vibrato becomes.
Other devices allow the feet to play their part. A DP-2 footswitch attached to the Alpha Junos can be assigned to switch between patches or bring in chord memory or portamento effects. Similarly, the EV-5 footpedal can control either volume, after-touch or velocity. This means that, even on the Alpha Juno 1 which doesn't have a dynamic keyboard, chords can be played with the left hand without overpowering a single note melody played with the right hand. In the velocity mode, ease the pedal back before playing the left hand chord then ease it forward. Because velocity only acts on the notes' initiation the level does not change. The right hand melody will now play at a louder and brighter level until you ease the pedal back to play the next chord.
The latest influx of Roland instruments features the Alpha Dial as opposed to the old slider for modifying patch parameters. This is a wheel with a dimple made for the diddling finger and moves continuously clockwise or anti-clockwise to increase or decrease the value of a particular parameter. It is so smooth that it can be used not only for editing but also as a live performance control.
Whilst many traditional musical instruments have the mechanics to change one or more of these features I can't think of any that gives as much or as varied control as the modern synthesizer. From the unplayable to the most playable in twenty years.
Roland Newslink - Spring 86
Editorial by Alan Townsend
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