Roland System-1: touch-sensitive if used with t-s MIDI controller?

[Row111]

Hi - I don't know if anyone will know the answer to this question.
I just got a Roland System-1. It has MIDI in. The keyboard is not touch-sensitive.
If I operate it through a MIDI controller that has touch sensitivity, will it then be touch sensitive? -Thanks

 

[Ted Nicoson]

The Roland AIRA System-1 was designed and engineered primarily for synth "purists". most of whom believe that touch sensitivity has no more place on a synth than it does on a draw-bar organ. Since the System-1 key bed does not produce touch sensitivity signals, there is every likelihood that the sound engines would not respond to them, if they were received from an external keyboard that does produce them. I would recommend calling one of the keyboard sales reps at Sweetwater Sound and asking them before investing in a controller. In the U.S., Sweetwater's keyboard sales staff probably has the most actual keyboard experience of any of the big name U.S. keyboard outlets. Not sure about outside the U.S. Of course, you could also try calling or emailing Roland, themselves, but I'm not sure how far that would get you these days.

 

[Row111]

Thanks - good point.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

By my interpretation of the MIDI implementation chart in the System-1's documentation, I would say that, yes, it will respond to different Note velocities in received messages. (The chart shows that the Note velocities are always 100 on transmitted messages, but there's no such indication for received messages.)

But that doesn't guarantee that a given patch or plug-out will respond to different Note velocities. On my Yamaha portable keyboards, which do have velocity-sensitive keyboards, most voices will respond to different Note velocities, but certain voices-- e.g., organ voices-- will not respond to different Note velocities.

 

[Ted Nicoson]

From the Sound-On-Sound (SOS) hands-on test of the Roland AIRA System-1:

"To further limit its capacity to delight, the keyboard generates neither velocity nor aftertouch. These are received over MIDI by the System 1 but both are interpreted as vibrato, which is a bit uninspired."

For the complete write-up, see:

http://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/roland-system-1

This indicates that connecting it to a velocity capable controller would still not give you what you are looking for - that is, doing so would give you vibrato instead of velocity control.

 

[Row111]

I have figured out the answer - I recently got a touch-sensitive midi keyboard and used it to control the System-1.

Yes, a t-c midi keyboard makes the System-1 touch-sensitive. As the note suggests above, it does not just give vibrato. (There might be a way to assign t-c to convey vibrato, but that is another story.)