Roland EM-50 User Manual

Owner's Manual
5.4 Keyboard Velocity
The EM-50/30 is velocity sensitive, which means that
the volume and brightness of the Upper 1/2 notes
depend on the force/speed with which you strike the
keys in the right half of the keyboard.
All acoustic instruments (piano, violin, flute, drums,
etc.) are velocity sensitive. The harder you play, the
louder and brighter the resulting notes will be, which
creates a perfectly natural effect. (That explains why
the KEYBOARD VELOCITY function is on every time
you power on the EM-50/30.)
if the EM-50/30 is your first musical instrument ever,
you may feel distracted by the volume and timbre
variations of the notes you play in the Upper section.
That is why we've included a button that allows you to
switch off the EM-50/30's velocity sensitivity.
1. Press the [KEYBOARD VELOCITY] button to
switch off the EM-50/30's velocity sensitivity (the
fay => icon changes to Wom? ),
(MODE,
ARRANGER ORGAN MDRUMS
2. Press it again to once again activate the VELOCITY
function.
Apart from the “distraction factor’, you could take
advantage of this function for playing organ Tones
(see also page 25). Organs are not velocity sensitive, so
that switching off KEYBOARD VELOCITY provides a
more natural “feel”. However, our Roland engineers
knew that organs are not velocity sensitive when they
created these Tones. The EM-50/30's velocity sensitivi-
ty is therefore used for alternating between a “mellow-
er” and a more “aggressive” sound (a function called
velocity switching).
Note: Keyboard Velocity applies to all parts you can play
yourself (the “Realtime parts”): Upper 1/2, Lower, M.Bass
(see page 25), and M.Drums (see page 27).
5.5 D Beam Controller
The D Beam Controller allows you to control various
aspects of your performance by moving your hand,
head, etc., in the air. You only need to make sure that
you do so over the two “eyes” and within a 40cm
(+16”) range. Your movements are then translated
into musical expression.
You may already have used the D Beam Controller for
starting and stopping demo song playback (see page
12). Here, we will use the “usual” default assignment
(i.e. when the EM-50/30 is not in demo song mode).
1. Press the [D BEAM ON] button.
The D Beam icon (P8EAM 3 ) appears in the display.
2. Play a few notes with your right hand (using an
Upper part) and while doing so...
3. ...move your hand towards and away from the D
eyes”.
DE
Beam's
Notice how the sound changes in response to your
movements.
4. Press the [D BEAM ON] button once again to
switch this function off again when you're done.
Note: See page 47 for how to assign other functions to the
D Beam Controller.
Note: If you hold down [D BEAM ON] for about two sec-
onds, the D Beam parameter will be displayed. We don't
need it here, so you may have to press [CANCEL] several
times until the display returns to the previous message.
5.6 Pitch Bend, Modulation, and
Sustain
Bender/Modulation lever
The BENDER/MODULATION lever to the left of the
EM-50/30's keyboard can be used to add two kinds of
effects to the Upper part notes. You can even use these
effects simultaneously if you like.
1. Press the lever towards the rear of the EM-50/30 to
add a vibrato effect (^wobble") to the notes you are
playing.
MODULATION
Lowers the ”
pitch pitch
— BENDER >
2. Turn the lever to the left to temporarily lower the
pitch of the notes you are playing. Turn it to the right
to raise the pitch of your notes.
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Roland EM-50 Specifications

General

Brand	Roland
Model	EM-50
Category	Electronic Keyboard
Language	English