Roland Atelier
Landmark Organ Sound, Performance, and Luxury
Roland AtelierLandmark Organ Sound, Performance, and Luxury
by Bill Ryder
There’s nothing like the beautiful blend of orchestral brass and reed instruments playing the great music of the Big Band Era. The Roland Atelier is up to the task with its superb digital voicing, CD-quality sound, and easy-to-use features. It’s like having an orchestra at your fingertips! But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You still need to understand the combinations of brass and reed instruments that work well together.
That’s where One-Touch-Program (OTP) comes in. Let’s say you want to play Moonlight Serenade in the style of Glenn Miller. You can spend all day manually mixing sounds, trying to find the right combination, and get nowhere. Or, you can use OTP and simplify your life. These set-ups or registrations in OTP were created by musicians and they’re great.
To begin, select Big Band/Swing from the Rhythm style section. Look in the information screen to see the list of styles and highlight Big Serenade. Now press the white One-Touch-Program (OTP) button. The One-Touch-Program Group will appear in the screen displaying four categories: Basic, Organ, Band, and Orchestra. Each of these categories has four different sound set-ups controlled by presets 1 through 4 between the keyboards. Press the Hold box (a great new feature) in the lower right hand corner of the screen to keep it from disappearing. Press the Band box, and the first four presets between the keyboards will flash. Select preset #1 or #3, and touch your first chord on the lower keyboard (usually the key of the song). Don’t forget to wait for the introduction to finish, and enjoy playing Moonlight Serenade. Tip: Use one finger in the right hand for melody — since Harmony Intelligence is active — and play nice and smooth.
Feel free to use any of these four presets anytime during the song to bring your big band to life. The pros make these changes at specific places in the song. More about that in an upcoming issue. For now, relax and enjoy your musical memories of The Big Band Era.
Tune in next month for another playing tip from one of the Roland Atelier artists!
For additional information or dealer location, Contact Roland.