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Getting audio into the VP-9000 really couldn’t be any easier. Users familiar with Roland’s VS Series of workstations will recognize the concept of EZ routing, though the VP-9000 uses a slightly different version. Simply press the Sampling key on the front panel to pop up the sampling screen. Turn the value knob (on the right) to select the desired input source (front panel mic, analog or digital in), adjust input level, create a name for the file and you’re rolling. All the settings for source, stereo/ mono, original pitch, etc., are also totally straightforward, and they all appear in the same screen along with the recording level. From here, you have to load or “encode” your new file in order to audition the unit’s real features. This, unfortunately, takes longer than you’d expect—30 to 40 seconds.
Features associated with the internal metronome allow you to set tempo, sample length in bars, click and count off. This can save time in the sample editing screen (because you’re essentially punching in your performance to a click), plus the information travels with the file for later use. However, if you fail to properly label these elements, then you will be unable to sync samples and swing rhythms accurately. After recording and truncating a sample in the wave edit screen, change tempo and the sample length, in bars and beats, to reflect the changes.
When encoding a sample, you have three labeling options for the file: Solo, Backing or Ensemble performance. Following Roland’s recommendations, vocals and lead instruments should be encoded as Solo files, drum and rhythmic phrases as Backing files, and strings, pads and ambiences as Ensemble. The Solo and Backing formats allow you to apply the formant and groove controls as they were intended.
Pitch, Time, Formant and Groove
One obvious use of the VP-9000’s pitch control is to produce harmony vocals, which you can control via MIDI from inside your favorite DAW without taxing your system. I found that the 50 seconds of mono recording time was generally more than enough to thicken up the average vocal phrase. With the VP-9000 set to Time Sync and Polyphonic modes (which allows you to trigger the phrase from several keys, at different times, without the phrase starting over or falling out of sync), you can simply create whatever elaborate harmony you like right off the keyboard and then fine-tune it in a MIDI step editor.
The formant control is also a slick feature. Without affecting the time or the pitch, you can literally transform vocals from James Earl Jones to Alvin of the Chipmunks. The sound does begin to get artificial and otherworldly at either extreme, but that’s not to say it’s unusable. Another interesting feature is the “Robot Voice” function, which removes pitch from a vocal phrase, leaving only the base tone. With the unit still in Time Sync mode, you can then “play” a new vocal melody. Again, this can sound less-than-natural, but it didn’t stop me from coming up with all sorts of bizarre sounds, and I’ve already begun hearing a number of remixers and dance music producers using this trick. The catch is that you have to play legato or create just a tiny overlap between notes inside your sequencer’s step editor, which I found to be a lot more accurate. It can be tricky in places to line up the notes of the sequencer with individual syllables and breaths in the vocal track, but practice makes perfect.
I found the Time control to be dead-on and blissfully easy to use. All you have to do is turn the knob or dial-up a new master bpm, and you’re there. Nothing could be easier. The unit does produce a few pops and hisses with the tempo turned way, way down, but within the 60 to 220bpm range, the results were excellent. The Groove control, however, failed to impress on a practical level. You’re given the option of adding either an eighth or a 16th note of swing via a number of templates. But I just didn’t feel comfortable with the results, even with the simplest 4/4 drum loop. On the other hand, drums ’n’ bass and other electronic artists might really enjoy some of the unpredictable syncopation and breaks that the Groove function produces. I found it especially fun to pitch a two-bar breakbeat way down to the basement octaves and apply the Groove function; the result was a cool elemental texture that fell in and out of sync with the rest of the track.
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Reprinted with permission from
Magazine, February, 2001© 2000, Intertec Publishing, A Primedia Company All Rights Reserved
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