Take a Sound Canvas, add a keyboard, plus the best MC-style sequencer ever to find its way onto a Roland workstation keyboard, and you'd have something like the new JW50. Derek Johnson takes a look at the first General MIDI workstation.

While General MIDI may not be the bravest, most daring move ever made by synth manufacturers, there is no denying the attraction of reasonably priced boxes containing large quantities of basic, high quality sounds. Sample playback modules have always been popular for just that reason, and it is to their credit that the industry have actually got together to hammer out a more or less universal voice assignment protocol; the next big step in multimedia, CD+MIDI and various other forms in electronic integration will benefit from this.

The first General MIDI sound module came from Roland, in the form of the SC55 Sound Canvas. This has been recycled as a PC card, and also as a sexy, fader-equipped, table top unit called the SC155. It was inevitably only a matter of time before Roland packaged the technology into a keyboard of some kind, and that product is now here. The result is the JW50 workstation, for not only has the new product grown a keyboard, but it has been kitted out with a sophisticated 49,000-note, MIDI File Format compatible, MC-style sequencer and 3.5", double density disk drive. Also new is the backing/auto-accompaniment function which, even if you've no real need for it, can still provide a source of ideas (and quite a bit of fun).

So sonically, we are on familiar ground (see the review of the Sound Canvas in SOS Sept 91 for more detailed comments): 317 sounds, 16-part multi-timbrality, onboard reverb and chorus, and 24-voice polyphony. There are 317 sounds in the JW50 because, besides the basic set of 128 General MIDI sounds, Roland's own GS standard (a superset of GM) allows for a number of 'Variations' on the basic sounds; in addition, every voice has a Variation that equates to a sound from the MT32, making the JW50 backwardly-compatible with sequences written for that module. There are also 10 drum/percussion sets, including orchestral, jazz and rock sets, and a more or less complete TR808 kit.

The JW50 actually adds many features that were missed on the various versions of the Sound Canvas, not least the ability to directly edit, name and store 128 user patches; such editing is limited to a basic but comprehensive envelope, filter controls and vibrato, but is more than enough for customising what's on board. The large friendly LCD allows virtually anything to be given a name, and memory is non-volatile.

Physically, the JW50 is a smart looking instrument, with sophisticated styling. It is also quite lightweight — although not flimsy — which bodes well for gigging. The front panel is logically laid out and friendly, and getting to grips with - the machine is as simple as it comes.

The 61 -note, velocity and aftertouch sensitive keyboard is a little springy for me — responses to keyboards are a personal thing — but it has a pleasingly positive action. To the left, in an angled moulding, is the disk drive, and you'll also find the sequencer controls here. These include the various transport and record controls, as well as five edit buttons, labelled Loop, Locate, Microedit, Realtime and Information.

Next up is the extremely informative liquid crystal display; a contrast control for this appears at the rear of the synth. Below the LCD are the now familiar collection of Roland Function keys, five in number. As ever, their actual functions depend on what's on the display; up to 10 functions (two per key) can be accessed by virtue of a Shift button. Below these are the faders, an excellent feature borrowed from the table-top SC15S. There are only eight of these, but you can use them to control volume and pan for all 16 channels; there's a button that swaps between channels 1-8 and 9-16. These faders occasionally also do double duty in the parameter change department. At either side of the LCD are located the main function Mode selection buttons. If you're just interested in playing sounds, press Tone; if you want to record some music, press Sequencer; global sequence editing functions are found under Song Edit; reverb and chorus parameters and send levels are found under Effects; and a graphic representation of the mixer level and pan facilities is found under Mixer. On the right hand side of the display, there are two buttons labelled Block and Make Song, and these cover the backing section functions; global Tune and Functions share a button, while MIDI and Disk functions get individual buttons, and finally there is Chain Load — a useful live utility that allows songs to be automatically loaded from disk in a user-defined sequence.

The last bits of protruding plastic are a big friendly alpha dial, for changing parameter values and so on, a cross-shaped cursor movement matrix, increment/decrement buttons, and a numeric keypad. Last of all is the single pitch bend/mod wheel to the left of the keyboard, as found on virtually all Roland synths of the last decade. I never have liked it much — while it works fine, it still seems rather flimsy to me.

The usual array of MIDI sockets, stereo output, and expression pedal and footswitch sockets are at the rear; the headphone socket has been thoughtfully located on the front of the unit, however.

ON-BOARD SEQUENCER

The JW50's sequencer is a 16-track device, each track corresponding to one of the multi-timbral parts. Not only can the sequencer play the internal sounds, but each track can be assigned its own transmit channel, and can be set to play only external sounds. Although an MC-style device, it doesn't appear to be compatible with files saved on other MC sequencers; it is, however, capable of reading and writing sequences in MIDI File Format (Type 0), making it compatible in both directions with your software sequencer.

Recording can be in real or step time, and I found the step time record to be one of the fastest and most clear available on a hardware or workstation based sequencer. You access it by pressing the Micro/Sep button, and going into record. Any note length you like can be entered, but for quick work, use the numeric keypad, which can be used to input whole notes down to 32nd note values, with 16th, eighth, and quarter-note triplets; choose your value, and press the note on the keyboard that you wish to play at that point, and do the same for the next step. Velocity is recorded with the event, and even chords can be entered, as well as rests. When you're finished, press Stop.

Recording in real time is also simple, and you can set a loop and keep changing tracks on each pass to get a basic backing track together. Event editing, as with all MC sequencers, is of the sturdy event list variety, and while initially a little daunting if you haven't experienced it before, it is perfectly equal to the task. Individual events can be changed, moved, erased or created track by track.

Under the Song Edit button, whole or parts of sequences and all tracks or individual tracks can be copied, quantised, erased, and transposed. Gate time and velocity can be altered on a similar basis, and measures can be inserted. Data Thin can be used to thin out memory intensive controller information, such as aftertouch and pitchbend.

One feature that is useful in a JW50 sense is that the voice selected for the current part has a program change inserted at the top of the track, so next time you start the sequence, you won't need to select the correct voices. Sequences can be saved with a set of sounds, and if all you use are the GM/GS sounds, those automatic program changes mean you won't have to worry about setting the synth up each time you play. If you want to access Variation voices, or the MT32 set of sounds, then you will have to insert the appropriate Bank Select command.

"For me, it is the combination of a workmanlike sound module welded onto a sophisticated sequencer that makes the JW50".

There are also a number of other clever Micro Edit functions; for example, it is relatively simple to insert events (Non-Registered Parameter Numbers) that allow you to control certain sound parameters, including voice parameters such as filter cutoff and resonance, or envelope attack and decay, as well as reverb send levels, and so on. This makes the whole integrated system offered by the JW50 that little bit more powerful, and actually allows the amount of control to approach that of software based sequencing. While creating and editing SysEx data is not everybody's idea of a fun evening, it's good to know that the facility is there, and it is not as daunting as you might think.

MIXER

The mixer offers control over level and pan settings for each of the 16 parts. The eight faders are used for all functions, and the LCD offers a moving, graphic or numeric representation of the movements. Fader movements can also be recorded into a sequence, and you can record as many faders at once as you like — ie. up to eight, as there are only eight faders.

Fader movements are actually transmitted over MIDI, so if you're using external MIDI sound sources, their level and pan values will also be altered; it's now that I wish Roland had added a few more tracks to the sequencer. The W30's sequencer, for example, could access 16 external MIDI channels as well as the eight internal patches. Another eight tracks exclusively for external sound sources would have made a pretty excellent sequencer into an even better one. Pity. It would have been nice if the reverb and chorus send levels could also have been automated, but that's not a great loss.

BACKING

In addition to the sequencer, there is a preset backing section, which provides 30 different song styles, each with three variations and 30 'typical' 4-bar chord sequences, each again with three variations. Note that each bar only contains two chords, and all patterns, apart from Waltz, are in 4/4. Four parts are provided: drums, bass, and instruments 1 and 2. The sounds vary according to the style of backing selected, and offer fairly standard, and often quite funky, interpretations of Pops, Country, Dance, Electropops, Hip Hop, Jazz Funk, Fusion, Jazz, and so on. Each style has its own default tempo, which you can change, and if you select a new style while an old one is still playing, it will run at the current tempo.

You can (thankfully) disregard the preset chord sequences, since there is room for 50 of your own, and a wide variety of chord types (22 in all) are available. Separate bass notes can also be set for each chord which, along with the variety of chord types, goes some way towards making what are basically clichés sound more interesting. Used sparingly, the Backing feature can be fun, and will suit the cabaret artiste down to the ground. Also, if you have little or no keyboard technique, it could make you seem very clever!

The Backing function is accessed by pressing the Block button; there are 10 Blocks, and these can be chained into 128 steps for automatic backing. If you do find the facility useful, then it will actually become even more interesting when you realise that a chain of different patterns can be recorded directly into your sequencer; if you play along during recording, that too will be recorded on a separate channel. This allows you to have a stylistically correct basic track which you can then edit at will.

The JW's disk drive can be used to save sounds, sequences, chains of sequences, backing sets (including user chords) or MIDI Files to disk. One facility that is missing is the ability to use the drive as a generic MIDI datafiler; this would have made it a very much more useful device. Small sound files could, of course, be recorded into the sequencer, with the dump being loaded back up on playback.

IN A NUTSHELL...

Coming to terms with the JW50 is a fairly painless process, since it is very logically organised. This is just as well, since if you were to come unstuck and needed to refer to the manual, you could waste a good deal of time — I'm sorry to say that it's well below the very high standards of many of Roland's recent manuals. To be honest, the quick start manual is actually very useful, especially if you've little experience of workstations or sequencing. The main owner's manual, however, is not well laid out, and doesn't have an index. As with the W30 before it, the best part of the manual is the Screen and Available Functions chapter, which simply lists and quickly explains, screen by screen, all the available parameters and functions of the JW50.

Whatever your opinion of General MIDI, the JW50 on its own terms comes across as an exceedingly useful tool. The basic sounds are excellent — good pianos, great saxes, punchy drums, convincing strings, and there are synth pads and bleeps aplenty. I personally used the TR808 kit and acoustic bass sound rather a lot. Editing sounds produces some good results, since the filter is excellent, and the ability to alter sound parameters from within a sequence means that even more can be made of what's available. The onboard reverb and chorus, like those available on many Roland instruments, are easy to use, if a little 'safe', but the quality is excellent. The global nature of the effects is, however, restricting on occasion. It's worth bearing in mind that although the JW50 is nominally 24-voice polyphonic, some sounds are made up of two elements (or partials) which cuts into the overall polyphony.

For me, it is the combination of a workmanlike sound module welded onto a sophisticated sequencer that makes the JW50. I have always been a big fan of the Roland MC-series of hardware sequencer, and this is as close as you'll get to the real thing on a keyboard workstation. The ability to read and write sequences in MIDI File format is very welcome, and semi-pro clubland covers musicians will be queuing up right away — there is a phenomenal amount of music available as MIDI Files out there.

The backing function is a little harder to judge, but since auto-accompaniment computer software, such as Band-in-a-Box, is insanely popular, even amongst serious musicians, there's probably a place for it. I also challenge you to deny that when presented with an auto-accompaniment equipped home keyboard, you don't play along with one or more of the selections on offer. It's just too much fun. However, the gigging musician — in the widest sense — may find the instant access to generic styles invaluable in emergencies; it is even possible to sketch out rough ideas based on the styles on offer, and tweak it after recording the result into the sequencer.

While not overpriced as such, I can't help feeling that the full retail price is just a little steep, but the facilities on offer make the JW50 a lean, mean, gigging machine: a combination of Sound Canvas, responsive keyboard, excellent sequencer, backing section and disk drive make for one instrument that covers all the bases.

Further information

Roland JW50 £1,349 inc VAT.

Roland UK, (Contact Details).