Published 4/2/09
New V Piano and V Drums
Parameters including hammer hardness, tone and damping time can be edited using the V Piano’s on-board controls, and the user has full control over the tuning of each string and the resonance of various parts of the process involved when the virtual hammer strikes the virtual string. The instrument has 264 tone-producing virtual strings, 24 factory patches and a further 100 slots for user-created sounds. Reverb can be applied to the V Piano’s output, and a four-band EQ gives the user the option to tweak the tone of the overall sound.
Connectors include XLR and jack line-level outputs, five-pin MIDI sockets (in, out and thru), and a USB port for loading MIDI files, located to the left of the keybed. There’s also a multi-pin connector for the included pedal and a further two jack sockets for additional control pedals. The Roland V Piano is expected to cost £5000 when it hits the shops in April.
Apart from the brilliant AX Synth (check out our news coverage here), the most impressive 2009 release from Roland so far is the V Piano, a new milestone on the Japanese company’s ‘V’ roadmap.
It’s a chunky-looking beast with 88 hammer-action keys, which have apparently been manufactured to feel just like ebony and ivory. The keybed is progressively graded too (so it feels lighter at the top and heavier at the bottom), and users will experience ‘escapement’: the slight bump that occurs when the hammer is lifted from the string. Inside the V Piano is what Roland describe as a “living piano core”, essentially a physical-modelling engine that can provide almost any imaginable piano sound, as well as countless unimaginable ones.
Parameters including hammer hardness, tone and damping time can be edited using the V Piano’s on-board controls, and the user has full control over the tuning of each string and the resonance of various parts of the process involved when the virtual hammer strikes the virtual string. The instrument has 264 tone-producing virtual strings, 24 factory patches and a further 100 slots for user-created sounds. Reverb can be applied to the V Piano’s output, and a four-band EQ gives the user the option to tweak the tone of the overall sound.
Connectors include XLR and jack line-level outputs, five-pin MIDI sockets (in, out and thru), and a USB port for loading MIDI files, located to the left of the keybed. There’s also a multi-pin connector for the included pedal and a further two jack sockets for additional control pedals. The Roland V Piano is expected to cost £5000 when it hits the shops in April.Also new from Roland is the TD4, an addition to the V Drums range of electronic drum kits. As standard, it comes in a ‘five-piece’ configuration with a mesh snare pad and rubber tom, cymbal, hi-hat and bass-drum triggers. The TD4 ‘brain’, which mounts neatly beneath the two rack toms, is compatible with Roland’s VH11 stand-mounted hi-hat, and there’s a spare trigger input that lets you expand the kit, or replace the factory-shipped dual-zone cymbal with the three-way V Cymbal. It has a MIDI output, so it can be used to control software, via a MIDI interface, or a MIDI-compatible hardware module. The TD4 costs £969 and should be available in February.
Roland UK +44 (0) 1792 702701
www.roland.co.uk
www.roland.co.uk
