I've spent a lot of time in the V71 Editor recently and there were some features I really wish I had know about sooner. I put together this guided tour tutorial. It doesn't cover every feature but it should give you a good idea of both how to use it effectively, why you might want to use it, and expose many of the hidden gems lurking in there.
I proved the old adage again: if you really want to learn something, try teaching it. I’ve been digging into the Roland V71’s signal flow and turned what I learned into a new video tutorial. It’s just under 25 minutes, but if you want move beyond simply changing instruments and presets, I think it will be time well spent. It covers many things I found confusing:
I also found that the macOS V71 Editor, while possibly the world’s least glamorous-looking editor, is incredibly useful for seeing how all these sections relate to each other.
One of the drum key headed screws on my KD-8 vibrated loose and is rattling around Southern California somewhere. An M6 1.00 x12 works perfectly. See the video short if you want more details and links (and a Dad joke at the end).
When I got my V-drums 6 months ago you needed to download a reference manual and three change manuals. As part of discovering why the auto-off feature doesn't work, I also discovered there's a new and improved Reference manual on the Roland Tech Support site.
Thought I would mention it because in addition to the convenience of one manual, I feel they improved the layout to a single column. When you need to zoom in on a smaller device it's much easier to use (at least for me). This version also includes info I haven't seen in any of the change documents, like the fact that auto-off doesn't work if you are connected to USB. I suspect in a future version they might mention it won't work if you have WiFi or Bluetooth features turned on either.
The Roland owner's manual page support indicates it's for V2.1 and later. The name implies this single manual will get updated rather than requiring downloading change PDFs in the future.
When I change from 20 minutes to the 4-Hour setting for auto off my V71 sound module will never turn off. This is not new, it has never worked since I got the unit which was about 6-months ago. I'm wondering if this feature works for anyone (including V31, V51 owners). It works for me for the 20-minute setting. If it works for you on the 4-hour setting please let me know which module you have.
Finished the video this week on the Sadaharu Yagi Slingerland Radio King instrument expansion for the Roland V-drum modules As usual each drum sample is played without EQ and Compression in the default user kit, and then the MIDI fill (recorded off screen) is sent to every kit while the graphic shows the instrument layers, tuning, muffling and shell size and any extra drums used in layers are shown sitting on the floor. A couple of extra fills are played on different kits at the intro and outro for the video.
Interesting to do a bunch of these packs and see the similarities and differences in how various producers put together kits and use the V-Edit parameters. I didn't realize there were only four sets of toms in the basic sound module until I did these videos. The UK Wood Room expansion does add another set from Camco (and the less ambient variation) so a total of five (or 6 if you're being generous). That's justification right there to buy an expansion pack or three!
I don't know why I kept skimming over it in the Roland Cloud - I think the name DBMix threw me and this one was easy for me to overlook. Turns out you get two 5-piece kits sampled in this pack. The sound of those Yamaha RC Birch toms on Southern Studio are sublime. I finished the video on DBMix Vol1 yesterday.
Finished the video on the DW Collector Series Santa Monica Maple expansion pack for the Roland sound modules. This one went a little faster. I took the same approach as the Purpleheart video, I demo each of the recorded samples (Kicks, Snares, Toms - the head and rim sounds) for the Producer and Drummer Position packs. Then I reused the same recorded MIDI fill as the Maple Gum and Purpleheart videos to allow direct comparisons among both every kit in both DP and PP and even across various expansion packs. All in just under 7 minutes.
Finished the video on the Pure Purpleheart expansion for the Roland sound modules. Took a while to create since I went down the AI rabbit hole on images but I did like the final result where each image of the kit being played shows the external drums being used and some of the key characteristics of the kit. Uses the same MIDI fill as the Maple Gum video to allow direct comparisons among various expansion packs.
I've started on a YouTube series looking at the various Roland expansion packs. The first one on the DW 50th Anniversary pack is somewhat long. In that one I load each drum sample into the default kit with tuning at 0 and the EQ/Comp settings off and listen to every sample for each drum from both the producer and drummer version. Then I play a short (10-15 second) snare/bass/tom part to demo every kit in both Producer and Drummer. This is done while looking at the Sound Module so you get a look at the layers for each drum in each kit.
This approach was pretty long so in the second installment on the Maple Gum expansion pack after I demonstrate loading both the packs I move away from the sound module and just have a similar demo of all the drum sample sounds. Then I recorded a Midi demo using kick/snare/toms and sent that identical MIDI recording back to the V71 module for every kit in both Drummer and Producer position so you could hear the same part being played in every kit. The goal was to provide a comparison that had the identical part being played.
I purposely avoided playing hi-hats and cymbals as those just come from the stock sounds in the sound module. If you have any suggestions/feedback for future packs let me know either here or in the comments on YT.