To my mind, the German word das Register (von Orgelbau) expresses the meaning much better than English “Program Change” euphemism. I need to change Modulation, Volume, and some extra parameters during the gig (not automatized yet). Thus Roland SC-88VL will serve as a simple example of a target throughout the programming excercise.įor a 7 songs long gig I have defined certain sounds, or – following the official terminology: Patches – and had to recall them by programming relevant MIDI messages. Why this old toy? Because I have two identical instances of SC-88VL and it gets very convenient to have one at home, and yet another at the rehearsal room (a public space, not suitable for keeping too valuable gadgets). The rompler I use as an actuator during the gigs, is a Roland SC-88VL. This way, we should automatize as much as possible.
It is not necessarily easy to fiddle with the synth controls in a dark room while exposed to the elevated levels of sound. The most demanding part while preparing for a gig is to program the keyboard so that the keyboardist should apply minimum thinking while on the stage. I occasionally use the keyboard to play on the closed gigs (a village dance band, seven members, thus nothing special). While aftertouch is missing, the rest of the functionality of the keyboard is adequate (albeit not on the level of newer pricey touchpad enabled models). This way I have paid some 30 or 35 EUR for the partially working bestia – touch sensitivity was lost due to previous repairman accidentally swapping the sides of rubber ribbons.
I included these cleaning photos in a separate blogpost. The actual history with the keyboard – someone had poured liqueur on the keyboard and did not clean it straight after the fact (everybody should).