Roland AX-7 manual

r mg AX-7 MIDI Keyboard Controller Owner’s Manual ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH Thank you, and congratulations on your choice of the Roland AX-7 MIDI K eyboard Contr oller. The AX-7 is a powerful, easy-to-operate, dedicated shoulder keyboar d for MIDI sound modules (whether or not they are GM2/GM/GS compatible). Please take the [...]

2 Using the unit safely • Before using this instrument, make sur e to read the instructions below , and the Owner’s Manual. • Do not open (or modify in any way) the instrument, and avoid damaging an optional adapter . • Do not attempt to repair the instrument, or r eplace parts within it. Refer all servicing to your retailer , the nearest R[...]

r AX-7 Owner’ s Manual 3 ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH In addition to the items listed under “USING THE UNIT SAFEL Y” (page 2), please read and observe the following: P ower supply • The AX-7 can be operated using batteries or an optional adaptor . Be careful to insert the batteries the right way ar ound. If you pre- fer t[...]

The AX-7 in a nutshell 4 Four keyboard modes The AX-7’s 45-note keyboar d can be used in Layer , Split, and Whole modes. P erfect control The AX-7 puts you in control of all things MIDI in your keyboard rig. V elocity sensitivity , D Beam Con- troller , Expression Bar , and Touch Contr oller are built in – and can be set for the Upper and Lower[...]

r AX-7 Owner’s Manual 5 ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ‘Neck’ (contr ol) section A START/ST OP button This button allows you to transmit MIDI Start and Stop messages to start or halt playback of an external sequencer . B DOWN/UP PAT CH buttons These buttons can be used for selecting the preceding (DOWN) or next (UP) P atch me[...]

P anel descriptions 6 M ENTER button Press this button to confirm a setting or a selection. N EXIT button Press this button to leave the curr ently selected EDIT level, or to ignore the value you just set (thus r eturn- ing to the previously set value). O DOWN/UP button s These buttons duplicate the DOWN/UP PA TCH but- tons. P Strap pin This is wh[...]

r AX-7 Owner’s Manual 7 ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH In serting or r eplacing the batteries The AX-7 can be powered either by batteries or an optional AC adaptor . For live use, batteries are by far mor e convenient, however . Battery replacement Six AA batteries are r equired to run the AX-7 on battery power . We r ecommend th[...]

The basics 8 Connecting the AX-7 Note: Switch off both the AX-7 and the external instru- ment(s) before establishing or breaking the MIDI connections. The AX-7 is a MIDI controller . It contains no sound- generating cir cuits of its own. Y ou need to connect it to at least one external MIDI instrument in order to hear what you are playing. See righ[...]

r AX-7 Owner’s Manual 9 ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH Y our AX-7 has three buttons that allow you to select one of four K eyboard modes. The KEYBOARD MODE deter- mines how many zones and/or MIDI channels can be used simultaneously . Whole Upper This mode means that the Upper section is assigned to the entire keyboar d. All messa[...]

Configuring the AX-7 10 Y our AX-7 comes with a great many MIDI par ameters, or message types, that can be tr ansmitted so as to con- trol your MIDI rig to your liking. Most of the following par ameters can be set for the Upper and Lower sections independently – and most of them can be saved to a P atch memory (see p. 17). Note: The available ED[...]

r AX-7 Owner’s Manual 11 ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH (8) Press [EXIT] yet again to leave the EDIT mode. Y ou will achieve the same result by pr essing the lighting EDIT button (it then goes dark). Note: See page 17 if you wish to save the settings you have just made as a Patch. CONTROL par ameter s As stated above, this is whe[...]

Configuring the AX-7 12 Select LL if all note messages of the section in question are to be tr ansmitted with more or less the same velocity value. Extreme differ ences in dynam- ics (hitting very hard and very soft) will, however , allow you to trigger velocity switches if the receiv- ing MIDI instrument supports that feature. This set- ting is t[...]

r AX-7 Owner’s Manual 13 ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH Here ar e the official GM2 (General MIDI Level 2) functions of the remaining Contr ol Changes: If you set [3] bar (see p. 1 1) to 0ff and assign a 11u ~ 78d option to the D Beam, the EXPRES- SION BAR can be used for “locking” the last value generated by your movements o[...]

Configuring the AX-7 14 DA T A parameter s The DAT A parameter s repr esent MIDI messages you can use for configuring the receiving MIDI instrument up to a certain point by specifying things like its main and expression volume, its Reverb and/or Chorus depth, etc. These are “static” settings that ar e transmitted whenever you select a P atch.[...]

r AX-7 Owner’s Manual 15 ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH P ortamento is an effect that produces gr adual pitch changes between the notes you play . The higher the value, the longer it takes before the pitch of the newly played note is reached. [8] mod (MIDI mode) Upper , Lower This parameter allows you to select the monophonic ( M[...]

Configuring the AX-7 16 PRG CHG par ameter s As can be inferred fr om the assigned buttons ( [3] ~ [6] and [9] have no func- tion), this EDIT level in fact consists of two groups: the fir st three par ameters can be set for both zones independently , while the last two apply to the AX-7 as a whole. Nevertheless, even these parameter s are saved a[...]

r AX-7 Owner’s Manual 17 ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH T ran spose Y our AX-7 comes with a TRANSPOSE function you may want to use for playing songs in difficult keys. To set the desir ed transposition interval: (1) Hold down the [TRANSPOSE] button and wait until the current tr ansposition interval is dis- played. (2) Keep holdi[...]

Miscellaneous 18 Selecting P atches (1) If you haven’t yet saved your current settings, do it now (see above). (2) Leave the currently selected EDIT mode by pressing [CONTROL] , [DATA] , or [PRG≈CHG] (depending on which of these buttons lights). (3) Use the [A/B] and [1] ~ [8] buttons to select the desired P atch memory . Y ou can also use [DOW[...]