OVERVIEW
To understand the latest V-Synth, it helps to grasp the original concept. Keyboards that use digital or sampled waveforms as a sound source have long had a tradeoff: while they can produce more realistic sound than analog synths, the unchanging nature of their waveforms can make them less suited to expression and performance. In other words, digital often just isn’t as much fun as analog. The original V-Synth (reviewed May ’03) attacked this problem using both its sample-playback abilities and its models of analog synths and effects.
On the sampling side, Roland made the waveforms themselves more “elastic,” using what the company calls VariPhrase, a way to time- and pitch-shift sampled waveforms as you play. Pitch, tempo, and formant (vowel-like sounds such as “ee” and “ow”) can be modified independently for any VariPhrase-encoded samples. Encoding is a process, done internally in the V-Synth, that prepares the audio so that VariPhrase knows what to do with it. On the virtual analog side, Roland incorporated models not just of oscillators and filters, but of effects such as amp simulators, guitar body resonators, and dynamic processors, and let you put them in the synthesis signal path where a simple filter would normally go.
It wasn’t that any one element was unique; it was the combination. An “elastic audio” sample of a violin might be fun on its own, but warp it on the Time Trip pad, feed it through a banjo-body resonator, apply a filter modeled after a Roland TB-303, and add some guitar distortion, and a sound on the original V-Synth became something really special.
Second-generation improvements to the V-Synth included an OS update with new sounds. The rackmount XT version (reviewed July ’05) added a color touchscreen and XLR mic input, and built in what used to be “V-Card” expansions — the Vocal Designer harmonizer and vocoder, and an emulation of their classic D-50 synth.
The GT is a major leap forward. Because it doubles the horsepower of the underlying hardware, and thus the number of sound creation techniques you can use at one time, the GT is best thought of as “V-Synth squared.” They’ve added a third synthesis method, called Articulative Phrase (AP), which makes the GT respond to your playing more as an acoustic instrument would. Vocal Designer is far more integrated with the synth engine than it was on the original V-Synth or XT. Finally, all these features are wrapped into an improved controller layout and color touchscreen that make editing on the fly much easier.
SOUND AND STRUCTURE
At its core, the V-Synth GT is both an analog modeling synth and a sampler. The two-oscillator format of its virtual analog side is nothing unusual, but it gets far more interesting as you freely mix these synth capabilities with the GT’s other sound sources and extensive filters and effects. With sample-based sounds, VariPhrase works like it did on previous V-Synths: Simply turn a knob, and you can change the time, pitch, or formant of the sound, without one affecting the other — it works for rhythm loops, pitched phrases, or anything else you try. The Time Trip touchpad can scrub through a sample, almost like your audio was sitting on a DJ’s turntable, or function as a standard X/Y controller for synth parameters. Earlier V-Synths were limited to about 50MB of sample memory. While the GT has a like amount of internal RAM for samples, it can also load samples from a flash drive plugged into its USB “A” port. Given the large, high-quality drive $50 or $100 will buy you these days, that’s a welcome solution.
The first V-Synth was impressive because you could select either the virtual analog or the sampled-plus-VariPhrase sound source for each of its two “oscillators,” thereby blending the two in the same patch. On the GT, this ability is doubled using two parallel engines: an “upper tone” and “lower tone,” each of which has the familiar two-oscillator structure, as well as the ability to use an entirely new sound source in one- or two-oscillator setups (see “Articulative Phrase Synthesis” on page 62 for more). A single “patch” is now really more like a two-part “combi” (or to use the term from Roland’s workstation keyboards, a “performance”) as it can mix the upper and lower tones together, with individual control over mix level and pan. There’s still no pan control of individual oscillators within each tone, though. Despite their names, “upper” and “lower” can be wherever you like on the keyboard, layered or split.
Beyond these two tones, the GT isn’t multitimbral in the usual 16-part sense. You can create more complex zones within the structure of either tone, but you can’t address them over separate MIDI channels from, say, a sequencer program. To me, this isn’t a big issue, given the GT’s emphasis on live performance and the sheer sonic richness you can create with just those two tones. To aid in creating setups that follow your gig’s set list, the “project” file type stores all your samples and presets. You can then store your projects on a USB drive.
Our May ’03 review of the first V-Synth complained that the factory sounds were conservative, disguising the power beneath. That’s definitely no longer the case: Step through the GT’s presets, and you’ll find everything from basic but well-constructed vintage analog sounds to realistic acoustic instruments to scare-the-neighbors digital leads. Of course, the GT isn’t about preset surfing and “hold down a key for a couple of minutes” tricks; it’s about playing and tweaking the sounds, not to mention being inspired to create your own. Linger for a while on a preset, and something all too rare happens: You start to hear the sound in a new way. You adjust your playing, and the sound responds. Hit the same note repeatedly or adjust your keying technique, and the sound changes organically. It’s not your imagination. It seems as though behind the scenes, the GT’s synth engine is responsive to a large range of stimuli.
As on V-Synths past, a big part of this equation is what Roland calls Composite Object Sound Modeling (or COSM; see Figure 1 above). A better name might be “Tons of Models of Things You Love.” COSM is a candy store full of various filters, distortions, wave-shapers, bit-crushers, dynamics processors, body resonance models of acoustic instruments, amp and speaker models, and the list goes on. Sure, you get stuff like this in modular synth software, but not with one- or two-touch integration with every synth patch, right out of the box. This flexibility is more than enough to make up for the initial “Huh?” you may have when you realize that the GT uses COSM to do any type of synth filter, and that COSM effects go where you’re used to seeing a filter. It’s like the neck bone is connected to the leg bone, then you realize that this enables some superhuman acrobatic feats. At the end of the GT’s signal path are the non-COSM effects; these include “tone FX” blocks that provide independent EQ, overdrive, or delay to the upper and lower tones, as well as global chorus and reverb with separate sends from either tone.
Like the V-Synth XT before it, the GT also includes a powerful “step modulator” that imparts old-school step sequencer-like automation to almost any synth parameter in the machine. Up to four sequences can be happening at once within a given tone, and you can sync their tempo to an external source.
ARTICULATIVE PHRASE SYNTHESIS
As great as all this sonic power is, it still doesn’t change the way playing most sample-based synths can feel: knob twiddling aside, as you play individual notes, they tend to sound the same. That's why Articulative Phrase synthesis is such an important addition. AP mimics the way some acoustic instruments respond to a player’s technique, by shaping the attack, transitions between notes, tuning, and other qualities as you play.
Four of the five models for doing this are violin, erhu, sax, and flute. The flute model, for example, adjusts breath noise, slurring, multiple vibrato settings, and even slight detuning based on how staccato or legato you play. Hit a key hard, and the pitch will detune as though a player were “overblowing” a real flute. The models are just as good at simulating other bowed, blown, and reed instruments, and even better at creating yet-unheard hybrid sounds where waveforms that you want to sound synthetic also adopt some of the phrasing and articulation qualities of acoustic instruments. In fact, this is the specialty of the fifth model, which combines elements of the other four.
The models themselves don’t generate sound — they act upon a special set of sampled waveforms the GT uses exclusively for AP synthesis. These cover acoustic and synth waves, including Roland’s signature SuperSaw, a stack of sawtooth waves detuned just enough to sound huge. Within this wave set, you can “gene-splice” AP models with waveforms. For instance, if you want to give an analog synth-style wave the musical attributes of a violin, just dial up the violin model (see Figure 2 at left). Deeper editing covers settings like attack, release, scrape, and overall amount of variation, until your new sound is as violin-ish as you like. As you assign realtime controls, such as the X/Y pad, D-Beam, or a footswitch, AP sounds become more expressive still. However, you can’t apply AP’s articulation mojo to the keyboard’s other synthesis engines — i.e. the full-blown virtual analog and sampled-plus-VariPhrase ones — nor to external audio input. By contrast, the Yamaha Motif XS (reviewed Aug. ’07) has “Expanded Articulation” parameters that you can set for any layer within any patch in the keyboard. Being a workstation, the Motif XS is a different beast, though, and where it uses sample-switching to accomplish its phrasing magic, the V-Synth GT sounds like it’s tweaking “after-the-sample” synthesis parameters such as tuning, filtering, vibrato, and other modulation.
The GT can use its other engines at the same time that it’s doing AP synthesis. By adjusting the Structure setting of a patch, you can mix an AP sound with a sound from another engine, or feed the AP output through modulation and COSM effects. So the ways in which AP expands your sound-design horizons greatly outnumber its limitations.
IN USE
The V-Synth GT is deep, so I was pleasantly surprised to crack open a “Quick Start” guide that, for once, actually got me started quickly! In addition to a remarkably complete look at the GT’s abilities, it offered explanations of synthesis techniques that were clear enough to be inviting to beginners. The detailed manual is equally clear and exhaustive, but here’s why I could save it for later: The GT’s touchscreen has to be the easiest interface I’ve ever used on any synth. I could even adjust knobs and draw in values for the step modulator using my finger. I often find hardware synths to be slower to use that software, because of switching between lots of modes, e.g. creating sounds in “patch edit” mode, saving my results, then needing “performance edit” mode to layer them and assign realtime controls. Not so with the GT, whose control panel is largely mode-less. Settings almost seemed to appear just when I needed to change them.
Very rarely, I’ll encounter a hardware or software design that gives me an outstanding sense of “flow.” I felt this with the V-Synth GT to an almost spooky degree, as though the divide between player and instrument disappears. From stretching samples on the Time Trip pad, to editing details of AP synthesis patches, to transforming audio from the mic input, the line between “synth programming” and actually playing barely exists on the GT. Everything happens instantly, and very few functions are more than a couple of taps away. There’s a “Sound Shaper II” editing mode that gives you “macros,” or basic sounds that are meant to get you started creating your own, but I found the full “Pro Edit” mode was accessible enough that I spent much of my time there.
The beauty of all this is that you don’t have to be an advanced synth user — at all — to get results. In July ’05, we warned that the V-Synth XT would compete with your significant other for attention. Don’t tell that to my significant other. She hasn’t played piano in years and has no experience with synths, but I wound up competing with her for hands-on time with the GT! That’s the thing about the GT: Non-keyboardists will want to experiment with it. Beginning synth players will quickly come to enjoy programming it. Advanced users will forget that they are programming it.
VOCAL DESIGNER AND AUDIO INPUT
Vocal Designer (see image at upper left) is the vocoder and vocal harmony/effect processor around which Roland built their VP-550 vocal keyboard (reviewed Sept ’06). The V-Synth XT had Vocal Designer built in, but it was an entirely separate mode — to use it, you pressed the V-Card button, tapped an icon onscreen, and waited for the machine to reboot. This meant that you couldn’t mix V-Synth and Vocal Designer sounds. On the GT, you can. For example, you could use one tone in a patch for a Vocal Designer sound, and still have the other tone left for a sound that, say, uses analog modeling on one oscillator and some freaked-out VariPhrase loop with COSM effects on the other. Limitations? While Vocal Designer can be active at the same time as Articulative Phrase synthesis, Vocal Designer uses enough of the GT’s processing muscle that you can’t have a Vocal Designer sound on both the upper and lower tones at once; the same applies to AP sounds. For the same reason, Vocal Designer takes over an entire tone, not just one of its oscillators as do the GT’s other sound-making methods. Vocal Designer works only with external, mono mic or line inputs, but note that the GT can also process these inputs through its COSM effects and filters. You can even process live, streaming audio from a computer via the USB connection, or simply use the GT as a stereo USB audio interface.
CONCLUSIONS
It’s tough to find appropriate comparisons to the V-Synth GT, as no other instrument out there has quite this combination of features. Many excellent software synths can mimic the organic quality of real instruments, but AP synthesis is unique enough that it’s worth adding to your arsenal anyway. You’d also have a tough time finding this array of sound-generation methods and effects processing in any other single keyboard. The best comparison is that the V-Synth GT does for digital sound sources what synths like the Minimoog Voyager and the Dave Smith Evolver series do for analog: It makes them responsive, eminently playable, wonderfully in-your-face, and dangerously addictive.
If you love synths, but long for something that really plays differently, get a V-Synth GT under your fingers; you’ll soon see why we’re giving it a Key Buy. On one level, much of what it does is familiar: You’ve heard analog synths, modeled effects, vocoders, samplers, and pitch and time processing before. The GT stands out not only because it does all these things better, but because it does them together in musically inspiring ways. The addition of AP synthesis, an even more generous control panel than previous V-Synths, and better integration of the Vocal Designer feature turn what was already one of the most powerful hardware synthesizers out there into something else: a true musical instrument that you’ll want to play for years to come.
VITAL STATS
SYNTHESIS TYPES
Sample playback with realtime pitch, time, and format shifting; virtual analog; dedicated waveform set for Articulative Phrase synthesis.
KEYBOARD
61 semi-weighted, synth action keys, velocity- and aftertouch-sensitive.
POLYPHONY
28 voices maximum, depending on patch complexity.
MULTITIMBRAL PARTS
2 (upper and lower tones).
DISPLAY
320 x 240 pixel color touch LCD.
AUDIO OUTPUTS
1/4" TRS bal. L and R, 1/4" unbal. direct output L and R, stereo 1/4" headphone jack.
AUDIO INPUTS
1/4" unbal. L and R, XLR/TRS combo jack w/ input gain and phantom power.
DIGITAL AUDIO I/O
Stereo coaxial and optical S/PDIF.
MIDI CONNECTORS
In, thru, out.
USB CONNECTORS
1 A type for external flash memory, 1 B type for audio and MIDI interfacing with a computer.
COMPUTER COMPATIBILITY
Windows Me/2000/XP/Vista; Mac OS 9/OS X.
POWER SUPPLY
Internal w/ detachable 3-prong cord, international voltage-capable.
DIMENSIONS/WEIGHT
42" W x 16.2" D x 5" H; 30.5 lbs.
SOUND EXAMPLES
(upper-right)
Lights on Me (001): This preset is in memory location 1 for a reason: It’s an all-stops-pulled demonstration of how Articulative Phrase synthesis and COSM effects can create killer leads. Some modulation from the Time Trip Pad and D-Beam enables additional flexibility in performance.
Ac Piano (051): This starts as a plain-vanilla piano patch. But add in AP synthesis (in this case, customized to a sax source with an erhu model), and a lead with COSM effects, and it can go in an entirely different direction.
VocalDesignr (045): Roland’s excellent-sounding Vocal Designer is incorporated in the V-Synth GT as well, as illustrated in this basic Vocal Designer preset. It goes well beyond basic vocoder effects to expressive vocal-based sound design.
AP-S Flute (194): Vocal Designer isn’t limited to use on vocal patches. “AP-S Flute” uses AP synthesis for expressive phrase modeling, but it goes a step further, using a Vocal Designer component to add real breath noise from your mic.
Chip Monks (378): The V-Synth GT’s wavetable synthesis is made more expressive when combined with other features of the synth. “Chip Monks” is already a great-sounding patch, but it can be transformed further with the Time Trip Pad.
Sound Source (064): The V-Synth GT isn’t about just holding down a finger and waiting around while a sound loops. With patches “Sound Source,” you can warp the sound with the dual D-Beams and Time Trip Pad to make the GT really feel like a playable instrument.