Roland's new FA series completely redefines the concept of a music workstation, streamlining the tool to make it more powerful and easier to use in real time. Able to adapt to all styles of music, the FA-08 incorporates an impressive sound bank inherited from the famous INTEGRA-7, numerous professional quality effects, as well as expressive real-time controllers, a timeless sampler charging pad that will allow you to trigger your favorite sounds from the 16 backlit pads. The sequencer is easy to use and offers non-stop loop recording, allowing you to store songs and ideas without interrupting your inspiration, then export them into multi-tracks for use in your home studio. Able to integrate into all phases of your creative process, the FA series can respond to standard use as well as become the command center of your home studio, thanks to its audio/MIDI interface, powerful time controllers real, transfer controllers to a computer, and much more.
No work, just pleasure
Workstations play an important role for keyboard players in many areas, from gigging to composition development to studio production. But it is often complicated to take advantage of their full potential without interrupting your creative process. When developing the FA series, Roland completely reinvented the music workstation to provide musicians with a tool that is powerful and adaptable, but also simple and intuitive, and above all capable of boosting their inspiration. Thanks to its streamlined interface and practical, ergonomic functions that facilitate the creative process, the FA series allows you to regain the freedom to explore at your leisure and develop your musical ideas with unprecedented ease.
Fast work and intuitive real-time control
You can feel the responsiveness of this new generation of instruments from the moment you turn it on. Unlike most workstations which can take over a minute to start, the FA-08 is up and running in seconds. The front panel is logically divided into distinct sections, and the large LCD screen presents in the form of high-resolution graphic buttons the selection of sounds, access to the sequencer and the adjustment of the various parameters. Navigation among the many sounds available, classified by category, is particularly easy and facilitated by the possibility of creating shortcuts for your favorites, just as you can access the usual functions of transposition, octave change with a button , or others. With its 6 buttons and powerful yet user-friendly assignment matrix, the sound editing section allows you to control a wide range of parameters in real time and thus express yourself fully, whether you are in concert or in the studio .
An on-board instant access sampler
Inspired by Roland's ultra-popular SP-404SX, the FA Series sampler is fun and quick to operate and allows sampling and playback on classic SDHC cards. You can trigger your audio samples using the 16 pads located on the front, allowing you to enrich your music with loops, playbacks, melodic phrases, one-off sounds, special effects and more. Thanks to SDHC flash memory, your samples load with no wait time, and you can use the four bank pads and clipboard functions to rearrange samples to your liking. It's extremely easy to sample sounds internally or from external sources thanks to the Mic/Guitar and Line inputs. You can even play WAV, AIFF or MP3 files from your computer. Numerous editing options allow you to transform your samples as you see fit, and quickly adjust the level and start of playback. In addition to triggering samples, the pads can be used for various functions such as muting certain tracks, entering numerical values or others.
Play and record with an impressive library of the best Roland sounds
It is the quality and diversity of its sounds that makes a workstation valuable. Featuring more than 2000 timbres directly from the INTEGRA-7, the flagship of Roland's pro sound modules, the FA series provides you with the best in this field. All the SuperNATURAL synths and PCM XV-5080 sounds from the INTEGRA-7 are included, as well as a selection of SuperNATURAL acoustic timbres such as pianos, organs, drums, basses, strings, etc. of the FA-06 and FA-08 is perfectly compatible with the ever-expanding collection of synthetic timbres of the INTEGRA-7, downloadable for free from the Axial online sound library. And it is also possible to expand your sound palette with collections of sound extensions dedicated to the FA series.
Perfect integration with DAWs (Digital Audio Workstation)
In addition to their qualities as musical instruments and composition tools, the FA-06 and FA-08 are capable of communicating seamlessly with your digital music world on a computer. A simple press of the dedicated "DAW Control" button allows the workstation to communicate via USB• with a computer, allowing you to use the keyboard and buttons to control your DAW's synth sounds and plug-in effects via MIDI , and more. The FA series also integrates the control cards of the most popular DAWs, allowing simple and quick manipulation of the communication functions of your usual software. You can even use the FA-06 and FA-08 as USB audio interfaces to live record sounds from different sources into your DAW: mic, guitar, or external stereo source connected to the jack inputs on the rear; Likewise, you can record the internal sounds of the workstation and its sampler. You can also monitor the DAW output via the stereo or headphone outputs of the FA-06 and FA-08.
*The USB connection requires the installation of the “FA-series USB” driver on your computer.
FEATURES
- A redesigned workstation to streamline your creativity
- A lightweight and transportable case, equipped with an 88-key “Ivory Feel-G” keyboard
- More than 2000 sounds from the high-end INTEGRA-7 module, including Super NATURAL acoustic, drum and synth sounds. You can add sounds of your choice to the WAV file memory locations.
- The SuperNATURAL synth generator is perfectly compatible with the INTEGRA-7 collection of free synthetic sounds, available on Roland's Axial sound library site
- The 16-track sequencer with non-stop loop recording allows you to quickly build songs. You can save your tracks as a stereo mix on an SDHC card, or as a multitrack audio file or MIDI data in your home studio equipment.
- The integrated sampler, based on SP-404SX technology, offers 16 pads x 4 banks, as well as direct recording and playback on SDHC cards
- Fine-tune your sounds with a multitude of professional-quality effects, including 16 independent MFX generators, 6 COMP+EQ processors for drums, a unique TFX (global effect), global EQ, chorus and reverb.
- Choose your sounds, effects and MIDI devices in real time using 6 assignable “Sound Modify” buttons
- One button lets you instantly configure the FA-08 for a USB connection with your computer
- D-Beam, Rhythm Pattern, Arpeggiator and Chord Memory functions allow you to expand your creative palette
- Line and Guitar/Mic jack inputs for real-time playing, sampling and computer audio recording; the reverbs dedicated to these inputs allow you to obtain warm atmospheres for live playing or recording
- USB ports to connect a sound expander, carry out updates, provide audio/MIDI interface with a computer; MIDI communication with the iPad is possible via the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit