Roland EM-30 User Manual

Owner's Manual
MIDI is short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.
The word refers to many things, the most obvious
being a connector type that is used by musical instru-
ments and other devices to exchange messages relating
to the act of making music. Every time you play on
the EM-50/30's keyboard or you start the Arranger,
your instrument will send MIDI data to its MIDI
OUT port. If you connect this port to the MIDI IN
port of another instrument, that instrument may play
the same notes as one of the EM-50/30's parts.
Note: See the "MIDI Manual” file on the supplied CD-
ROM (D:\ABOUT_ROLANP\MIDI\Midi_en).
MIDI is a universal standard, which means that musi-
cal data can be sent to and received by instruments of
different types and manufacturers. Furthermore,
MIDI allows you to connect your EM-50/30 to a com-
puter or hardware sequencer.
Connect your EM-50/30 as follows:
To the MIDI IN connector of the other instrument
(or the "OUT" connector of the supplied
MIDUJoystick cable)
^
To the MIDI OUT connector of the other instrument
(or the "IN" connector of the supplied
MIDi/Joystick cable)
Channels
MIDI can simultaneously transmit and receive mes-
sages on 16 channels, so that up to 16 instruments can
be controlled. Nowadays, most instruments —like your
EM-50/30— are multitimbral, which means that they
can play several musical parts with different sounds.
The EM-50/30 is equipped with an Arranger capable
of playing the drums, the bass, and up to six accom-
paniment parts, while at the same time allowing you
to play up to two Realtime parts (Upperl, Upper2).
Other controllers that can be used to play the EM-50/
30 include trigger-to-MIDI instruments (TD-10,
TD-7, TD-5, SPD-20, Octapad II), guitar-to-MIDI
instruments (GR-30, GR-1, GR-09, GI-10) as well as
any kind of “to MIDI" controller (wind, MCR-8 fader
unit).
Note: All EM-50/30 parts are set to receive MIDI mes-
sages. If they do not seem to respond to the messages you
send from the external controller, you should check
whether ihe exiernal controller's MIDI OUT is connected
to the MIDI INput of your EM-50/30.
13.1 Editing the MIDI parameters
(general procedure)
You can edit the EM-50/30's MIDI parameters via the
display:
1. Press MENU A to place the mode arrow (<4)
next to the MIDI message.
The “ENT” message now flashes in the display.
2. Press [ENTER] to enter the MIDI mode.
3. Use the MENU A V buttons to select the parame-
ter you wish to edit (see below).
Note: If you selected this mode by mistake, press [CAN-
CEL] to return to the MIDI message, use MENU AW to
select another mode, and press [ENTER].
4. Press [ENTER] to confirm your parameter selec-
tion.
The value or On/Off message to the left of the para-
meter namc now flashes to signal that you can change
(“edit”) it.
5. Use the MENU A V buttons to modify the value of
the selected parameter.
Note: To return to the default value of the currently select-
ed parameter, simultaneously press MENU AV.
6. To leave the MIDI mode, press [CANCEL] several
times until the “MIDI” message is displayed, then use
MENU A V, followed by [ENTER] to select another
“mode.
Note: There is no need to save these settings as the
EM-50/30 memorizes them automatically. To reset all
MIDI parameter settings, use the Resume function (see
page 53).
Parameters in Style mode
Here are the MIDI parameters you can set in Style
mode (when the icon is not displayed). This
mode allows you to use the Arranger.
Receive (Rx) and Transmit (Tx) channels
Though it is perfectly possible to change the transmit
and receive channels of all parts, we recommend you
only do so if there is no other way to solve your MIDI
problems. The default values correspond indeed to a
tacit Roland standard and are therefore shared by all
recent E, G, and RA series instruments. Besides, these
settings guarantee perfect GM/GS compatibility.
50

Roland EM-30 Specifications

General

Number of Keys	61
Tones	128
Styles/Rhythms	64
Effects	Reverb, Chorus
Display	LCD
Power Supply	AC Adaptor
Velocity Sensitive	Yes
Connectors	MIDI