Roland EM-30 - Features Overview; D Beam Controller; Style Morphing & Style Progression; User Programs and Style Hold

Owner's Manual
D Beam Controller
The EM-50/30's D Beam Controller is a new perfor-
mance function introduced on Roland's ground-
breaking MC-505 Groovebox. It allows you to control
several parameters by moving your hand ovcr an
(invisible) infrared light beam.
Style Morphing & Style Progression
The Style Marphing function allows you to “create”
new Music Styles (accompaniments) on the fly by
replacing selected accompaniment parts of one Style
with the parts from another Style.
Style Progression, on the other hand, allows you to
simplify, add, or leave out accompaniment parts of the
selected Music Style. This intuitive way of controlling
the arrangements of your accompaniments is a won-
derful assistant for creating just the right atmosphere
for the music you play.
Large, graphic display
Your EM-50/30 is equipped with a large backlit dis-
play that keeps you posted about the current status of
your instrument. Most functions are represented by
means of straightforward icons that provide massive
at-a-glance information without confusing you.
64 User Programs with Style Hold function
User Programs are memories where you can save your
own panel settings. These include the currently select-
ed Style, Tone (sound), tempo, as well as a lot of other
parameters. At the press of a maximum of three but-
tons, you can thus completely reconfigure your instru-
ment.
The EM-50/30's Style Hold function allows you to
ignore Music Style selection when a User Program is
recalled. Thus, while all other settings change, the pre-
viously selected Music Style remains in effect. One
advantage of this system is that you can save different
Style Morphing and Style Progression settings for oth-
erwise identical panel settings, and alternate between
them simply by selecting a different User Program.
Floppy disk drive (EM-50 only)
‘The EM-50 comes with a floppy disk drive so that you
can save the internal settings (including the Recorder
Song) and load them whenever necessary. It also
allows you to load new Styles into the Flash ROM
memories.
354 Tones and 12 Drum Kits
The EM-50/30 comes with 354 excellent instrument
sounds taken from Roland’s acclaimed sound library.
In most instances, there will be several Tones to
choose from for your music.
Furthermore, the EM-50/30's sound source conforms
to General MIDI System Level 1 (GM for short) as
well as Roland's GS Format.
64 Music Styles in ROM + 8 in Flash-ROM
'The EM-50/30 comes with a total of 72 Music Styles
(automatic accompaniments), 64 of which reside in a
so-called ROM memory (these cannot be replaced).
Eight additional Styles can, however, be replaced with
other Styles loaded from floppy disk (EM-50) or via
MIDI. Ask your Roland dealer for details about the
availability of new Styles. (You will also find addition-
al Styles on the CD-ROM.)
'The ROM Styles include new Dance/Techno accom-
paniments as well as 8 Acoustic Styles. The latter are
perfect for "unplugged" performances, Jazz ballads,
etc.
Three modes
For enhanced operation, the EM-50/30 provides an
Arranger, an Organ, and an M.Drums mode. These
are selectable at the press of a button and thus bound
to help you adapt the EM-50/30 to your musical
needs in no time.
Audio inputs with LEVEL control
Another first on your EM-50/30 is the INPUT [LEV-
EL] control that allows you to set the volume of an
external audio source so as to provide the right "mix"
with the EM-50/30's sounds.
Note: The illustrations used in this manual are taken from
the EM-50. Any differences with the EM-30 will be point-
ed out on the spot. The major difference between the
EM-50 and the EM-30 is that the latter doesn't have a disk
drive.