Friday, December 4, 2015

New Integra 7 Songs to Enjoy

Morten Gjesing, an member of  Facebook's Integra 7, has created several great covers of traditional and popular songs that make exclusive use of the Integra 7. With his permission, I'm posting links to some of his music. Enjoy!

Amazing Grace

The Ballad of John & Yoko

Silent Night

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Free 'legacy' Roland sounds now available for the Integra 7.

Axial is Roland's new site featuring free downloadable sound libraries for the Integra 7, Gaia SH-1 and Jupiter 50/80 series.

These libararies don't add any new waveforms to your Integra; instead, they use existing waveforms to created layered Studio sets to recreate the sounds of classic Roland analog synths.

At the moment, Axial offers three different sound sets emulating selected tones from the Juno-60, Juno-106 and Jupiter-8. I haven't installed these, but presumably these new tones take up USER Studio Set locations. With the limited number of USER locations available you may need to be judicious in how many of these new tones you use.

Download these for free from http://axial.roland.com/

Thursday, March 7, 2013

We Want Your Integra Songs!

The best way for existing users or potential consumers to appreciate the full potential of the Integra-7 is to hear it in action. So, if you've either created your own composition or arranged an existing song using the Integra as your sound source, we want to hear them.

Send an email to raisindot@yahoo.com providing the link to your composition, along with information about the song, you, and anything you want to add about how you created it using the Integra and we'll feature it on a future post.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Motional or Un-Motional? That is the Question

One of the key features Roland is promoting with the Integra-7 is its "Motional Sound" feature. This function lets you "place" each sound in a Setup anywhere on a 'virtual stage.'  More advanced than pure panning, it lets you choose a "left/right" and "front/back" position for each instrument. So, for example, you could please your in center stage rear, your piano in left front, you bass guitar and rear right and your according as far back as possible.

To 'hear' Motional Sound in action, you can either listen through headphones, create a 5.1 surround sound mix by sending signals from the Integra's six audio outputs to studio speakers, or create a stereo mix using audio outputs 1 and 2.

The advantage of Motional Sound is that it really does let you create complex environmental soundscapes or create more authentic setups that reflect the acoustics of an actual performance environment. The downside is that it bypasses the Integra's reverb and chorus effects bus, so you'll have to add them to your signal chain or in your DAW.

How do the two compare? Take a listen to two different versions of my composition "Hopin' Mike," one 'performed' using Motional Sound, one performed 'regular' using the Integra's own reverb and chorus effects.



Both versions were recorded using the audio outputs 1/2 fed into a Presonus USB audio interface and recorded on Cakewalk Sonar X2 Producer. Other than a tiny bit of compression, no other effects were added to the mix. With the "regular" version MIDI-based panning automation were added to some instruments.

To my ears, the Motional version sounds more 'up front and center' and compressed--closer to a modern studio recording, but lacks a certain level of 'airiness.' The 'Regular' version has a more open, 'live' feel to it, but the instruments aren't as 'punchy.' 

Either effects system offers its advantages, depending on your situation. Which do you prefer? Leave your comments below and let's find out. 




Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Want to Talk Integra? Join the Yahoo Integra-7 Group!

If you're an Integra-7 owner and want to commiserate with other Integrites, or you're a potential purchaser and want to find out what the fuss is about, join the Yahoo Integra 7 User Group. Its goal is to become the largest Integra-7 community on the net. The more people we get, the more discussions and knowledge there will be to be shared.

The author of this blog is the owner and moderator of the Yahoo group, so between these resources you'll get just about everything you need to know about the Integra.

Join the group today and start posting your questions and comments at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rolandintegra7





Tuesday, January 15, 2013

New Integra-7 Demo

Looking for a Integra-7 sound demo that's something other than the usual reberb-drenched hip hop, trance, dance, or new age compositions most synth manufacturers (even Roland) create to show off their instruments?

Thought you did. You don't want a slick song created by some session musician who's far more talented than you. You want to hear something created by an amateur playa or basement Beethoven like yourself. 

Well here you go. A nice little latin/blues number named "Hopin' Mike." It's designed to give you a taste of the new acoustic instruments featured in the Integra as played multimbrally. Pay close attention to how each instrument has its own independent insert effect: The organ sounds use a rotating Leslie-like effect and overdrive; guitars use chorus, flanger and distortions; EPs use keyboard amp and speaker emulations, etc. You'll hear this most clearly at the unison sections near the end. 

This composition was recorded in Cakewalk Sonar X2 with audio coming from the the L/R stereo pair outputs from the Integra 7. The bit of reverb on the track comes from the Integra; the only audio effect used in Sonar is a little bit of compression to boost the signal bit. 

If there's enough demand, I'll produce a different version of the song as fed through the Motional Sound processer. 

Click here to listen to the demo. 

If you're a Windows user, I recommend using Media Player and listening to it using one of the psychedelic background animations.