Oh wow. This brings back great memory’s. Mine was stolen. And I forgot the name looking for a Casio? Then I remembered Roland. You definitely know how it works. Thanks for showing
Wow!! That's easy! I love it! So sensible. In the mid 80's I had a multitrack program for Mac that worked similarly. It was called Studio Session. I lived in it. I'd still be using it if it was updated.
I actaully remember struggling a bit (not too much) with understanding the looping and chord-progessing of the styles. I returned it to the store but ended up buying it again a few months later and never looked back. Damn the 90's were exciting for music gear. It started with general midi and ended with awesome synth/sampling workstations. What a shame we didn't have UA-cam then! GF
When you use the PMA 5 as a simple GM/GS sound module, is there ANY way to make changes to patches and (most important) SAVE the changes? With other sound canvas products like the Roland CS-33, once you set up a changes to a patch and press the patch button again, the changes are saved. This thing (PMA-5) doesn't seem to have an y SAVE capability or ability to remember anything! Very disappointed. Sadly Rolland has no support, as the PMA-5 can't even be registered there, and all the manuals I found are graphic (not text searchable). Thanks for any help.
The short answer is no, the PMA 5 is really about sequencing and the sounds are just there to fill the spaces. However, if you set up a style or song and go back to it, any effects changes you've made to the sound on a particular track will still be there. But I agree, a bank of user tones would have been a nice touch. I would have loved to have seen an improved PMA-10 or similar :/
@@gearfacts Thanks. Well my connected Roland A-30 (Keyboard Controller) apparently can save patches. A few extra steps but that will be good enough. My one remaining nuisance is that the only manual I could find for the PMA-5 is not a text based PDFs. Each page in the PDF is just an image. Its clear, but it makes it impossible to search. Do you happen to have (or know of a source) for a regular searchable PDF manual?
@gearfacts Worst thing about it is, it won't even respond to standard volume level messages. Sorry I bought it on ebay now. I'll probably try to sell it again, and buy a different sound canvas I'm already familliar with. Shame on Rolland calling it a "Sound Canvas".
Does anyone know if you can lock in different tempos for each user pattern you create? Or maybe it's a matter of time signature editing when making an arrangement? Help!
You can only lock tempo (and tempo changes) into the songs, not the styles. Although if you have just listened to your song, the styles will retain that tempo. This is a bit of a pain but that's the way it is on the PMA :) Gearfacts
Hi Gearfacts, I had one of these back in the day and loved it. I was thinking of scouting for a replacement, but remember that I was never able to "bulk-dump" or otherwise save my midi-data off the device because the relevant software wasn't on the web. Do you know where it can be found, or do you have another solution that you use? Thanks.
I was pretty sure Roland still had it available for download. If not, I can email you mine, the files are tiny. The hard part is finding an old PC or laptop with windows 95 / 3.1 and an Rs-232 socket. No USB here! Alternatively, you can by a disk sequencer from eBay for $50 or so. I think you can bulk dump to one of those (I'll be doing a video about that soon)
Thx Gearfacts. I'll watch that when you upload it. I looked in to software solutions and they seemed much more expensive than I was willing to go up to. Really I'm a piano player, and the tech is just something on the side. Anything easy and inexpensive suits!
Take a look into this: www.squest.com/Products/MidiQuest11/Instruments/RolandPMA-5/index.html Sound Quest supports a ton of devices and for modern operating systems.
I "bulk dumped" the midi data from my BOSS DR660 to my pc using a program called "sendsx" , i'm using windows 7. I had to buy a usb soundcard with midi ports and a midi cable. I guess maybe it works the same way with the roland pma 5 ?
do you still have your pma-5? wondering if you have ever had to replace the internal memory battery. i managed to score a pma-5 at a thrift shop. i love it, but i can't save any songs because of the "backup ng" error. i believe the internal battery can be replaced but i would like to hear from someone who has actually done it.
I've never done it personally but I do remember the manual explicitly warning against doing it yourself, but they were probably just saying that to void your warranty if it broke in the process. In machines like this it often needs to be soldered in. Open it up and have a look, anyeya, I'll do the same and follow up :)
Think I need to head back to the manual after watching your amazing demo.
It's worth the journey. This is the only machine that I've ever reached a full understanding of. Well almost full understanding anyway👍
Maphive 6.1 2:20
Oh wow. This brings back great memory’s. Mine was stolen. And I forgot the name looking for a Casio? Then I remembered Roland. You definitely know how it works. Thanks for showing
Glad you enjoyed it DrStoo :)
Ah nostalgia! I just found mine from deep storage! Great video, you definitely know your way around it
Co-incidence, I've been struggling with mine today. Very hard to get it to talk to a computer! Still love it though.
I have had mine for years and I enjoyed the tutorial by Gearfacts. I agree the loops are really good. Keep up the good work on your helpful videos.
Thanks PM :)
Wow!! That's easy! I love it! So sensible. In the mid 80's I had a multitrack program for Mac that worked similarly. It was called Studio Session. I lived in it. I'd still be using it if it was updated.
I actaully remember struggling a bit (not too much) with understanding the looping and chord-progessing of the styles. I returned it to the store but ended up buying it again a few months later and never looked back. Damn the 90's were exciting for music gear. It started with general midi and ended with awesome synth/sampling workstations. What a shame we didn't have UA-cam then! GF
When you use the PMA 5 as a simple GM/GS sound module, is there ANY way to make changes to patches and (most important) SAVE the changes? With other sound canvas products like the Roland CS-33, once you set up a changes to a patch and press the patch button again, the changes are saved. This thing (PMA-5) doesn't seem to have an y SAVE capability or ability to remember anything! Very disappointed. Sadly Rolland has no support, as the PMA-5 can't even be registered there, and all the manuals I found are graphic (not text searchable). Thanks for any help.
The short answer is no, the PMA 5 is really about sequencing and the sounds are just there to fill the spaces. However, if you set up a style or song and go back to it, any effects changes you've made to the sound on a particular track will still be there. But I agree, a bank of user tones would have been a nice touch. I would have loved to have seen an improved PMA-10 or similar :/
@@gearfacts Thanks. Well my connected Roland A-30 (Keyboard Controller) apparently can save patches. A few extra steps but that will be good enough. My one remaining nuisance is that the only manual I could find for the PMA-5 is not a text based PDFs. Each page in the PDF is just an image. Its clear, but it makes it impossible to search. Do you happen to have (or know of a source) for a regular searchable PDF manual?
@@randy_constan I discovered the same thing. Nope, I've never seen a proper text version, sadly.
@@randy_constan Yeah I've seen the photocopied one... but never a proper PDF sorry!
@gearfacts Worst thing about it is, it won't even respond to standard volume level messages. Sorry I bought it on ebay now. I'll probably try to sell it again, and buy a different sound canvas I'm already familliar with. Shame on Rolland calling it a "Sound Canvas".
Mom, I want an Ipad!
We already have an Ipad at home.
Ipad at home:
Does anyone know if you can lock in different tempos for each user pattern you create? Or maybe it's a matter of time signature editing when making an arrangement? Help!
You can only lock tempo (and tempo changes) into the songs, not the styles. Although if you have just listened to your song, the styles will retain that tempo. This is a bit of a pain but that's the way it is on the PMA :) Gearfacts
Gearfacts thanks man! 👍
Hi Gearfacts, I had one of these back in the day and loved it. I was thinking of scouting for a replacement, but remember that I was never able to "bulk-dump" or otherwise save my midi-data off the device because the relevant software wasn't on the web. Do you know where it can be found, or do you have another solution that you use? Thanks.
I was pretty sure Roland still had it available for download. If not, I can email you mine, the files are tiny. The hard part is finding an old PC or laptop with windows 95 / 3.1 and an Rs-232 socket. No USB here! Alternatively, you can by a disk sequencer from eBay for $50 or so. I think you can bulk dump to one of those (I'll be doing a video about that soon)
Thx Gearfacts. I'll watch that when you upload it. I looked in to software solutions and they seemed much more expensive than I was willing to go up to. Really I'm a piano player, and the tech is just something on the side. Anything easy and inexpensive suits!
Take a look into this: www.squest.com/Products/MidiQuest11/Instruments/RolandPMA-5/index.html Sound Quest supports a ton of devices and for modern operating systems.
I "bulk dumped" the midi data from my BOSS DR660 to my pc using a program called "sendsx" , i'm using windows 7. I had to buy a usb soundcard with midi ports and a midi cable. I guess maybe it works the same way with the roland pma 5 ?
do you still have your pma-5? wondering if you have ever had to replace the internal memory battery. i managed to score a pma-5 at a thrift shop. i love it, but i can't save any songs because of the "backup ng" error. i believe the internal battery can be replaced but i would like to hear from someone who has actually done it.
I've never done it personally but I do remember the manual explicitly warning against doing it yourself, but they were probably just saying that to void your warranty if it broke in the process. In machines like this it often needs to be soldered in. Open it up and have a look, anyeya, I'll do the same and follow up :)
thanks so much for your reply. i'm going to give it a go this week. wish me luck.
I did do mine myself and it is scary