Roland VR-700 Instruction manual

1
®ÂØÒňήWorkshop
Getting to Know the VR-700
V-Combo VR-700
© 2010 Roland Corporation U.S.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the
written permission of Roland Corporation U.S.
VR700WS01

2
About the V-Combo VR-700 Workshop Booklets
The Roland V-Combo VR-700 Stage Keyboard is designed for the working
musician, bringing together all the tools a gig demands. Roland’s acclaimed
virtual tone-wheel organ technology, real harmonic bars, and waterfall
keyboard make it a joy to play. A rich assortment of settings allow for heart-
stopping recreations of classic and modern tone-wheel organ sounds.
Roland’s beloved piano sounds are onboard, too, along with the most
asked-for synth and ensemble patches, bundled together in one keyboard
that’s easy to set up and get to the gig. The V-Combo’s built-in rhythms and
backing-track player make it even more indispensable onstage.
Each V-Combo Workshop Series booklet focuses on one V-Combo topic, and
is intended as a companion to the V-Combo VR-700 Owner’s Manual.
This booklet requires V-Combo Operating System v1.08 or higher. You can
download the latest V-Combo O.S. for free from www.RolandUS.com.
About This Booklet
This booklet provides an introduction to the Roland V-Combo VR-700. We’ll
take a brief trip across its front panel, exploring the musical power it places
beneath your fingertips. The intent is to familiarize you with the V-Combo as
a first step on the way to your eventual mastery of it.
Understanding the Symbols in This Booklet
Throughout this booklet, you’ll come across information that deserves
special attention—that’s the reason it’s labeled with one of the following
symbols.
A note is something that adds information about the topic at hand.
A tip offers suggestions for using the feature being discussed.
Warnings contain important information that can help you avoid
possible damage to your equipment, your data, or yourself.
Why the V-Combo?
One Instrument Is All You Need
If the organ is at the center of your
gigs, the V-Combo’s made for
you. It puts everything you need
at your fingertips—and at your
feet when you add an optional
Roland PK-25A, PK-7A, or PK-5A
pedal keyboard (sold separately).
Here’s what you’ve got in the
V-Combo:
• The world’s best virtual organ—With the latest Roland virtual tonewheel
technology, nothing sounds or feels more like a traditional organ.
• All the bread-and-butter sounds you need onstage—The V-Combo
contains killer multisampled pianos. There are also synth leads, pads,
brass, strings, electric piano, choir/vocal tones, and more.
• Built-in rhythm patterns—These are great for jamming or performing.
• Audio and SMF playback—With a USB memory stick installed, the
V-Combo can play audio backing tracks in .WAV, .AIFF, and MP3
formats. It can also play back SMF (“Standard MIDI File”) songs using the
V-Combo’s built-in GM2 (“General MIDI2”) sound set.
Finally, we figure the hard part of performing should be the endless hours of
practice and the landing of a gig, not lugging multiple keyboards—we won’t
even mention a rotary cabinet—in and out of a venue before and after each
show. With the V-Combo, you only need one instrument—this one.
We’re going to assume you’ve connected your V-Combo to a grounded
AC outlet, and have connected its L and R output jacks to a monitoring
system, or are listening to headphones connected to its PHONES jack.
Also, of course, that you’ve turned it on.

3
5 To leave Demo mode and return to normal operation, press the
DISPLAY button in the main controls area (shown in the illustration
below) a few times until “den” disappears from the screen, and none
of the indicators to the left of the display are lit.
The V-Combo Front-Panel Philosophy
One of the guiding principles in the design of the V-Combo was to make it
easy for you to get to its important controls onstage without having to resort
to menu-diving. As a result, the V-Combo’s front panel places everything
logically in its own area. By taking a tour of the front panel, we’ll be getting
to know the V-Combo.
Organ
Mod lever
D Beam Main controls Favorites
Ensemble Player
Reverb
As you go through this booklet, you’ll need a way to control
the V-Combo’s overall level—that’s what the MASTER
VOLUME knob at the left of the front panel is for.
The Main Control Area
In addition to the V-Combo’s many dedicated buttons and
knobs, the central area of the front panel contains the global
V-Combo display and controls.
The V-Combo Display
The V-Combo’s display works in different ways depending on what you’re
doing, but always provides helpful information and feedback on the current
operation or the state of the V-Combo.
Playing the V-Combo Demos
You can see what we mean about the V-Combo’s incredible organ—as
well as its versatility as an all-in-one instrument—by listening to its built-in
demos. Here’s how to play them:
1 In the PLAYER area at the right of the front panel, press
the RHYTHM/SONG and 4/ buttons at the same time.
The Demo mode indicator appears on the display:
The first FAVORITE indicator lights to show you the first demo’s
selected for playback.
2 Press the PLAYER 4/ button to light it and hear the first demo,
“Desert Stroll” by Mano Hanes.
3 You can let “Desert Stroll” play to the end, or press 4/ to stop
playback.
4 To hear either of the other two demos, press its FAVORITE button.
Press
• FAVORITE 2—to hear “The Odd Mistress” by Kiyomi Ataka.
• FAVORITE 3—to hear “7th Dance on a Sun Ray” by Ralf Schink.
When the 4/ button’s indicator is already lit, pressing a demo’s
FAVORITE button causes the demo to play. If 4/ is unlit, press it
after selecting the desired demo to play the demo.
All demos are © 2010 Roland Corporation.

4
The Minus and Plus Buttons
In various V-Combo operations you adjust numeric values
using the - and + buttons.
Meet the V-Combo Organ
What better place to start on the V-Combo than with its organ controls,
which rightfully dominate the front panel.
The Organ Player’s Virtual Dream Come True
There’s not a better-sounding, more playable virtual organ on the market.
The V-Combo is all about providing a musical experience, with
• Roland’s unmatched virtual tonewheel technology—that sounds great
and is incredibly customizable, with a range of vintage organ models
onboard, harmonic percussion, vibrato, chorus, and more.
• a natural-feeling waterfall keyboard—that makes it easy to play
glissandos, rips, and smears.
• nine actual harmonic bars—that mean your mad drawbar skills are right
at home on the V-Combo, as the bars respond naturally and without lag
to any push or pull.
• a realistic virtual rotary speaker—that sounds and acts like a traditional
cabinet. You can customize its tone, with five amp models, its behavior,
and toggle its speed using the V-Combo’s bender lever as you play.
• a D Beam—that allows a simple wave of the hand to add some
interesting special effects onstage.
• splits and layers—that turn the V-Combo into a dual-manual organ.
• pedal keyboard capability—that brings your feet in on the fun when you
connect an optional Roland PK-25A, PK-7A, or PK-5A (sold separately) to
the V-Combo’s rear-panel MIDI PEDAL IN jack.
What’s On the V-Combo Display?
The set of labels and indicators to the left of the display help you understand
what the display’s currently showing you.
You can toggle through the display’s operating modes by
repeatedly pressing the main control area’s DISPLAY button. When
• none of the indicators is lit—the display shows the most recently selected
Favorite or, if you’re in Function mode, a Function mode screen. (We’ll
explain Function mode in a moment.)
• the TONE indicator is lit—the display shows you the number of the most
recently selected ensemble tone.
• the PLAYER indicator is lit—the display shows the number of the
currently selected Player rhythm, audio file, or song.
• the TEMPO indicator is lit—the display shows the tempo of the currently
selected rhythm or song.
While you can manually change the display mode using the DISPLAY
button as described, the V-Combo also does this automatically for you
during certain operations.
FUNCTION Mode
To get to the V-Combo’s more detailed settings, you press the
FUNCTION button, which takes you into Function mode. Once
you’re in Function mode, the button acts as an ENTER button that
takes you down through screens. You also press it when you want
to execute certain software operations.
When you’re in Function mode, the DISPLAY button acts as an EXIT
button—you can press it to leave the current Function-mode screen.
If you think of the FUNCTION/ENTER button as digging down through
menus, DISPLAY/EXIT climbs back up and out of them.

5
Though Favorites can select organ or ensemble sounds, here are just a few
organ-based Favorites to try out now:
Favorite Bank and Number Description
1-1 a rock organ with overdrive
1-3 a funk organ
2-2 a distorted rock organ
2-8 a churchy organ with a split that
provides dual-manual functionality
For a list of the factory Favorites, see Page 76 of the Owner’s Manual.
As you’ll see, there are Favorites for organ sounds, ensemble tones,
and combinations of the two.
As you try out these organs, you can flip the bender
lever to change the speed of the rotary speaker when
its ORGAN CONTROL indicator is lit. Don’t forget to have
some fun with the V-Combo’s waterfall keyboard, too.
As you play, give the D Beam a try, too. The things it does
for organ sounds are printed beneath the three D BEAM
buttons—press a button twice to turn it green, and then
wave your hand above the D Beam as you play.
Exploring Tonewheel Models
The V-Combo includes four tonewheel “models” you can use. Each of these
models simulates a classic organ tonewheel array. The tonewheel model is
the most basic element of an organ sound—it’s the first building block you
put in place when you’re constructing a new organ sound.
Before proceeding with the following steps, select Favorite 1-1 so that
we’re all starting at the same place.
Trying Out Some Organ Sounds
Let’s listen to some organ sounds programmed at the Roland factory. The
way organ sounds and setups of all kinds are stored on the V-Combo are
as “Favorites.” We’ll try out some of the 32 factory Favorites. Page 47 of the
Owner’s Manual describes how to save your own Favorites.
Favorites are very much the key to unlocking the power of the
V-Combo’s sound-layering and keyboard-splitting capabilities onstage.
We’ll be discussing these capabilities in the V-Combo Splits and Layers
Workshop booklet.
You select Favorites using the 1-8 FAVORITES buttons in the FAVORITES area.
Favorites are arranged in groups of eight, each one of which is called a
“bank.” There are eight banks of Favorites.
To select a Favorites bank:
1 Hold down the FAVORITES BANK button, and press the desired bank’s
button to select the bank. (When the V-Combo’s shipped from the
factory, Banks 1-4 contain factory presets.)
To select a Favorite in the currently selected bank:
1 Press the desired Favorite’s button.
When the V-Combo starts up, the first factory
Favorite from the first Favorite bank is selected.
This appears on the display as “1-1,” for “Bank 1,
Favorite 1.”

6
The V-Combo Harmonic Bars
Every pitched sound in nature is made up of multiple pitches, or “frequencies,”
playing together. In musical notes, that’s typically the note you hear, or
the “fundamental,” accompanied by other, much-lower-volume pitches
that you don’t notice as separate notes—rather, they merely change the
fundamental’s tone. These quieter notes are members of the fundamental
note’s harmonic series. Some are harmonics of the fundamental; some are
octaves. Together, they constitute the note’s “overtones.”
In a traditional tonewheel organ, nine harmonic bars, or “drawbars,” control
the overtones of each note. Each drawbar sets the volume of a specific
harmonic or octave pitch. Pulling a drawbar all the way out sets its pitch to
the maximum volume; pushing it all the way in turns it off. The art in using
drawbars is in learning how to quickly position them to get the sounds
you want on-the-fly, shaping your organ sounds as you play, for maximum
expression and to make them something uniquely your own.
The V-Combo’s harmonic bars behave just like those on a traditional organ.
As you move them, the sound responds to your changes just as a traditional
organ does.
About Harmonic-Bar Names and More About Their Pitches
Tonewheel organs were themselves a simulation of still-older organs that
used pipes. As a result, harmonic bars are named for the pipes that had been
previously used to generate each of their pitches. Each pipe on those still-
older organs was a different length.
Here’s how to select—and listen to—the V-Combo tonewheel models:
1 Press the FUNCTION button beneath the display—”Fnc” appears
onscreen.
2 Press the - and/or + buttons until “OrG” appears in the display and the
first eight ENSEMBLE buttons begin to flash.
3 Press the ENSEMBLE PIANO button to display the screen on which
you can select tonewheel models by number.
Favorite 1-1 uses
Tonewheel Model 3.
4 Press the - and/or + buttons to select a tonewheel model. You can
choose Tonewheel Model
• 1—The Vintage 1 tonewheel model recreates the sound of a
classic 1970s tonewheel organ in pristine condition.
• 2—The Vintage 2 tonewheel model recreates the sound of a
classic 1960s tonewheel organ that’s got a bit of character as a
result of water-and-tear. There’s some dirt in its virtual contacts,
and more harmonic leakage.
• 3—The Solid model adds more low-end to the Vintage 1 model.
• 4—The Clean model simulates the sound of a brand-new,
factory-fresh modern harmonic-bar organ.
5 Press EXIT twice to leave Function mode.
Because the tonewheel model’s just one of many settings in an organ
sound—and depending on how experienced you are at listening to organ
sounds—the change made by switching models may not cause a really
obvious change in the sound to you. Even so, it’s the absolutely critical
foundation upon which every V-Combo organ sound is built.

7
• MANUAL button—to make the sound of the currently selected manual
reflect the current position of the drawbars. This comes in handy when
you’re selecting Favorites because they’re derived from their saved
values, not the current physical positions of the drawbars. This lets the
drawbars take over control of a sound.
To learn more about the other available organ settings, see Page 53 of
the Owner’s Manual.
Exploring the Drawbars
Here are some drawbar settings to try (as always, the V-Combo’s other
settings will also affect what you hear). The single-manual Favorite 1-1 is a
good starting point for your experiments. Press the HARMONIC BAR UPPER
to light it before proceeding.
Here’s how you might set the drawbars for jazz:
Try this for rock:
A funky organ sound might look like this:
Here are the lengths, and pitches, associated with each drawbar:
16’ 51/3’ 22/3’ 13/5’ 11/3’8’ 4’ 2’ 1’
One
octave
lower
5th Root 8th 12th 15th 17th 19th 22nd
Lengths
Pitches
The 10th drawbar, on the right, has nothing to do with the V-Combo
organ. It sets the overall level of ensemble sounds. It’s there for your
convenience when you play organ and ensemble sounds together.
The HARMONIC BAR Controls
You can use the V-Combo’s harmonic bars for a full-keyboard
organ sound, either side of a dual-manual organ split, and
for a pedal keyboard connected to the V-Combo. You set the
behavior of the drawbars using the HARMONIC BAR control
area’s buttons. Here’s what this area’s buttons do.
Press the
• ORGAN ON button—to turn the V-Combo’s organ sound on and off.
• LOWER button—to set the sound for the lower manual, the left-hand
part of a split, using the drawbars. The LOWER button lights to show you
what the drawbars are currently controlling.
• UPPER button—to set the sound of the upper manual, the main organ
sound, using the drawbars. This causes the UPPER button to light.
• LOWER and UPPER simultaneously—to use the drawbars for an optional
connected pedal keyboard. When you do this, both the LOWER and
UPPER buttons light.

8
Selecting Rotary Speaker Amp Models
The V-Combo gives you a choice of five high-quality, Roland COSM®-
generated rotary-speaker amp models. Let’s check them out.
1 Press the FUNCTION button beneath the display—”Fnc” appears
onscreen.
2 Press the - and/or + buttons until “OrG” appears in the display and the
first eight ENSEMBLE buttons begin to flash.
3 Press the ENSEMBLE E. PIANO button to display the screen on which
you can select amp models by number.
4 Press the - and/or + buttons to select the desired rotary-speaker amp
model. You can choose Amp Model
• 1—The Type 1 model gets you a clean, clear amp you might use
in jazz.
• 2—The Type 2 model sounds like a vacuum-tube power-stack
amp of the kind used in British hard-rock bands going back to
the 1970s.
• 3—For a more all-around rock amp, try the Type 3 model.
• 4—The Type 4 model is the one to use when you want maximal
control of the distortion added by the ROTARY SPEAKER GAIN
knob. It’s a good place to find crunch, especially low-end crunch.
• 5—The Type 5 model’s similar to Type 4, but emphasizes the
mid- and high-frequency content for a throatier sound that’s
great for solos.
5 Press EXIT twice to leave Function mode.
Gospel:
Working with the V-Combo Rotary Speaker
In the ROTARY SOUND area of the front panel are the
controls for the V-Combo organ’s rotary speaker. Here’s
what they do:
• Press ON—to turn the rotary speaker effect on or off.
When the button’s lit, the rotary speaker’s turned on.
• Turn GAIN—to set the amount of distortion in the rotary-speaker sound
by simulating the effect of overdriving the speaker.
• Press SLOW/FAST—to toggle the speed at which the speaker’s virtual
horn rotates. The button’s indicator flashes to show the current speed.
The SLOW/FAST button serves the same purpose as moving the bender
lever when the lever’s ORGAN CONTROL button is lit.
• Press BRAKE—to stop the turning of the rotary speaker.
You can see Page 53 of the Owner’s Manual to learn about all of the
other available organ settings.

9
Setting the Sharpness of Harmonic Percussion
Normally, percussion ends quickly, for maximum percussive effect. You can
slow down the manner in which it decays using the SLOW button. To set
percussion
• to its most percussive—press SLOW so it’s unlit.
• so it’s more subtle—press SLOW to light it.
See Page 52 in the Owner’s Manual for details on customizing the
standard and Slow decay settings for percussion.
Organ Vibrato and Chorus
As you’d expect with such a faithful organ simulation, the V-Combo
also includes vibrato and chorus effects similar to those in
traditional organs.
• Vibrato—The Vibrato effect, as its name suggests, adds pitch vibrato to
notes. To activate it, press the ORGAN VIBRATO button so it lights.
• Chorus—Certain early tonewheel organs had a separate set of
tonewheels that produced slightly out-of-tune tones which added
a swirling, shimmering aspect to the organ’s notes. This was called
“chorus,” and to add it to your V-Combo sounds, press the ORGAN
CHORUS button to light it.
You can apply either vibrato or chorus—or neither, of course—to your
notes.
Using Organ Percussion
One of the key aspects of a classic organ sound is the presence of harmonic
“percussion.” In organs, the word “percussion” has a unique and very specific
meaning. Percussion in organs is the addition of the second and third
harmonic overtones to the beginning of notes, separate from the harmonic
content of the notes as set by the drawbars. This makes the attack of a note
crisper. Organ percussion’s therefore technically called “harmonic percussion.”
Percussion is applied to the first note of a legato phrase you play and
to any note you play staccato. If you’re playing fast staccato notes,
you may want to adjust the Percussion Recharge Time setting—this
setting controls the simulation of the lag time inherent in traditional
organs’ analog percussion circuits. See Page 52 in the Owner’s Manual.
In the V-Combo, percussion can be applied to the organ’s
upper-manual organ sound. This puts it beneath your right
hand when you’ve split the keyboard, or across the entire
keyboard when you haven’t. You set up percussion on the
V-Combo using the controls in the ORGAN PERCUSSION area.
You can play some notes and try out these controls to hear the V-Combo’s
harmonic percussion.
Setting the Percussion Level
As in a traditional organ, percussion is generally presumed to be turned on
at its full volume. You can soften its volume using the SOFT button. To set
percussion
• to its full volume—press SOFT so it’s unlit.
• at a reduced volume—press SOFT to light it.
To learn how to customize percussion’s full-volume and Soft levels, see
Page 52 in the Owner’s Manual.

10
When you’re in Function mode, the ENSEMBLE buttons don’t select
tone categories, they have another role to play there.
Selecting a Tone Within the Current Category
Once you’ve selected the tone category you want, use the - and/or + buttons
to select the desired tone from within the category.
Take a few moments to listen to some of the V-Combo’s ensemble tones.
If you select a new tone while another one’s still sounding, note how the
V-Combo’s slick Tone Remain feature lets the first tone’s notes end naturally.
If you find yourself frequently choosing a certain tone over time,
consider saving it as a Favorite so you can grab it even more quickly.
For a complete list of the ensemble tones in the V-Combo’s tone
categories, see Page 68 in the Owner’s Manual.
Live Control of Ensemble Sounds
The Bender Lever
As we noted earlier, when the V-Combo bender lever’s ORGAN CONTROL
button is lit, the lever acts as a rotary-speaker speed toggle. When its
BENDER button is lit instead, it acts as a pitch-bender and mod lever for the
V-Combo’s ensemble sounds.
Push the lever to the left or
right to bend note pitches
down and up, respectively.
Push the lever forward to
add modulation to your
ensemble tones.
Give the lever a try as you audition some ensemble tones.
The V-Combo Ensemble Tones
We Hear Ya Like Bread and Butter
Since few gigs are all about organ, the V-Combo also contains other sounds
you can use onstage, called “ensemble tones.” These include
• a great onstage piano—The V-Combo’s ensemble piano tones are
derived from our top-selling digital stage grand pianos.
• strategically selected synth tones—We’ve put together a group of synth
leads and pads that benefit from Roland’s undisputed synth know-how.
• a comprehensive assortment of utility tones—Drawing from Roland’s vast
sound library, we’ve decked-out a musician’s toolbox of tones to get
you through any gig.
The V-Combo also provides dedicated effects processing for its ensemble
tones. Each tone has an adjustable pre-selected effect.
Selecting Ensemble Tones
Tone Categories
The V-Combo’s ensemble tones are divided into categories for quick
selection. Each tone category has its own front-panel ENSEMBLE button. You
can press one of these buttons to quickly select the category’s first, or most
recently selected, tone.
The currently selected tone category’s button lights red to show the category’s selected.
If you haven’t been selecting tones in a tone category—just after
turning on the V-Combo, for example—hitting a tone category’s button
selects its first tone.

11
4 Use the - or + button to lower or raise the pitch of the keyboard,
respectively, by the desired number of semitone steps. You can lower
the keyboard by as many as six semitones, or raise it by up to five.
5 Press the EXIT button twice to leave Function mode.
Ensemble Effects
In the V-Combo, there’s a dedicated effect processor for the
ensemble tones. Each tone’s been assigned an effect at the Roland
factory. You can turn a tone’s effect on or off, and set the amount
of the effect to be applied to the tone.
When you’re using ensemble tones in split and layers, the ensemble
effect is available for the first-selected ensemble tone.
To turn the currently selected ensemble tone’s effect on or off, press the
ENSEMBLE EFFECT ON button. When the button’s
• lit—the ensemble effect is turned on.
• unlit—the ensemble effect is turned off.
Turn the ENSEMBLE EFFECT CONTROL knob to apply the desired amount of
effect processing.
A Word About Ensemble Splitting and Layering
With the V-Combo’s ability to play and combine upper- and lower-manual
organ sounds, a pedal keyboard organ sound, plus a pair of ensemble tones,
the sheer breadth of the V-Combo’s splitting and layering options put them
far beyond the scope of this booklet. Hence the separate V-Combo Splits and
Layers Workshop booklet. Meanwhile, here are some Favorites to try out:
Favorite Bank and Number Description
3-1 bass on the bottom, piano on top
3-4 left-hand choir, right-hand organ
1-8 an organ/ethereal pad layer
Try out the D Beam with ensemble tones, pressing each D Beam button
to light it in amber—you can see above each button what feature it
activates—and then waving your hand above the D Beam as you play.
Shifting the Pitch of Ensemble Tones
Octave Pitch-Shifting
The V-Combo makes it simple to shift the pitch of the currently selected
ensemble tone up and down by octaves. (It’s especially handy for targeting
the desired octave when you’re splitting the keyboard or layering tones). To
shift the ensemble tone by octaves:
1 Press the ENSEMBLE OCTAVE SHIFT button so it lights—”0” appears in
the display to show the current amount of octave shifting.
2 Use the - and + buttons to lower and raise the pitch, respectively, of
the ensemble tone.
3 To return to standard pitch, press OCTAVE SHIFT again to turn it off.
Transposition by Semitones
You can also transpose the V-Combo keyboard in semitone steps. To do this:
1 Press the FUNCTION button.
2 Use the - and/or + buttons to select the System group of settings.
The first nine tone-category buttons flash.
3 Press the flashing E. PIANO button to select the Key
Transpose setting.

12
Changing the Rhythm Tempo
To change the rhythm’s tempo, press DISPLAY until the TEMPO indicator
lights, and then use the - and/or + buttons to set the tempo as desired.
Playing Songs and Audio from a USB Stick
If you’ve got a USB memory stick and a computer, you can play
• songs stored on the stick—in SMF (“Standard MIDI File”) format.
The V-Combo has a built-in General MIDI 2 (“GM2”) sound
engine that provides sounds for SMFs.
• audio files stored on the stick—as .WAV, AIFF, or MP3 files. These
can be songs or anything else. (The V-Combo’s Center Cancel
feature may be able to remove lead vocals from recordings.)
Either way, you can practice or perform along with backing tracks.
Setting up your USB stick for the V-Combo Player is easy. Here’s how:
1 Format the stick for use in the V-Combo using the onboard formatting
procedure described on Page 62 of the Owner’s Manual.
2 Connect the stick to your computer and add the desired files to it.
You can even organize them in folders to keep track of what’s where.
3 When you’re done, plug the stick back into the V-Combo.
4 Use the PLAYER buttons and the main controls to select and play
each SMF or audio file.
With SMFs, you can select the desired tempo by pressing DISPLAY until
the TEMPO indicator lights, and then using the - and or + button to set
the song’s tempo the way you want it.
Function mode’s Player parameters let you set the volume for an SMF
song or an audio file, transpose an SMF, select the best SMF playback
mode, and use the audio-file Center Cancel feature. These settings are
explained in detail on Page 56 in the Owner’s Manual.
The V-Combo Player
Playing the V-Combo’s Built-In Rhythms
The V-Combo contains 51 built-in rhythms with which
you can play along or perform onstage. There are
rhythms in a range of styles and time signatures.
Selecting and Playing a Rhythm
To play a rhythm, press the PLAYER 4/ button—a rhythm
begins playing.
If you haven’t yet selected any rhythms since you last
powered-up the V-Combo, Rhythm 01 plays when you press
the 4/ button. If you have, the last-selected rhythm plays
instead.
When you play a rhythm, the display shows the currently selected rhythm’s
number. To select a different rhythm, use the - and or + button. When a
rhythm’s playing and you then select a new one, the V-Combo immediately
changes to the new rhythm.
For a complete list of all of the built-in rhythms, see Page 71 in the
Owner’s Manual.
If you’d like to select a rhythm without yet hitting 4/, press the
DISPLAY button until the PLAYER indicator lights, and then use the -
and/or + buttons to select the desired rhythm.
You can change the rhythm’s volume and add reverb by adjusting
Function mode’s Rhythm Volume and Rhythm Reverb Send Level
settings. To learn about them, see Page 56 in the Owner’s Manual.

13
The End
We hope you’ve found this workshop helpful. Keep an eye out for
other V-Combo Workshop booklets available for downloading at
www.RolandUS.com.