https://app.box.com/s/5t0zxe8wcydd8bu1sp7o2hc7cvxch2fz
The recent controversy over here regarding the last night of the proms and Land of hope and glory,reminded me that I have a midifile of Elgars Pomp and circumstance that I feel brings out the quality of Roland.This needs to be listened to on something half decent,not just a cell phone.

Something different for sure, and very nice! Did you use a style for this? Sequence it track-by-track? The bass especially, how did you do it!?

Sorry for the confusion TedS,it`s not what I created myself,it is a purchased commercial SMF.I posted it to show the quality of the Roland E80 tones it produces when playing it.For curiosity I would like to hear the same SMF played in other brands to compare like for like.

To be honest, I didn‘t like the orchestral sounds much, I‘m not sure the midi file picked the best sounds available in the E80. Of course it always depends on what you are used to. When I arranged symphonic tunes with Roland, I was always delighted with the SRX 06 expansion board (Complete Orchestra) - which you could also use in the E80 AFAIK.

Because of the "Makeup Tools" functionality, Roland's are some of the best and easiest arrangers for playback of MIDI files. They can also perform real-time chord extraction from MIDIs. The G70 generation (including the E50, E60, E80) has a live score display too, so if you want to play along, all you have to do is "follow the bouncing ball!" After this, Roland ditched the touch screen and subsequent generations lost this feature.

Your quite right Crossover,there is room for 2 SRX boards in the E80 although I`ve never used one, but it`s food for thought,thanks.

Most of those old commercial SMF’s only use the Capital GM/GS sounds, which, to be frank, are seldom the best in the keyboard. You often find better sounds in the Variations. This is for compatibility, but it’s maybe a good idea if you work on the Makeup Tools to improve one orchestral piece, write down which variation sounds you use to replace the base sounds, and use them on the next piece as a jumping off point...

Don’t forget as well, on the E80 you had an insert MFX available for an SMF, and this might be a good place to send certain orchestral sections that sit at the rear of the orchestra into a different reverb with a slightly larger size (it would also have been nice to put the church organ into it) to give it that more distant sound. This works well with French Horns and trombones and percussion.

And overall, the general reverb from the regular send effects sounds like it could have done with turning up a hair, if you want that Royal Albert Hall sound!

I have to say, I hated the church organ sound, that really needs one of the better variations dialed in!

And don’t miss out on the additional per Part EQ option that was never used by those commercial SMF’s. The vast majority of SMF’s were set up for a basic Sound Canvas at best, so there’s a TON of simple ways to improve them.

Roland’s Makeup Tools has an incredibly useful per-sound velocity offset, where you can easily add or subtract an overall value, so if you find yourself using sounds that have a velocity cross-split, you can dial up or down the velocity of a sound until the split happens musically (and then correct using the Volume offset to compensate for it being louder or quieter). Wonderful for strings which get more marcato as they get louder, French horns which get more strident in the fortissimo passages, or for any orchestral percussion that uses soft and loud samples. Don’t forget, on the Drum Part, each individual sound within the kit can have separate velocity, volume, effects and EQ offsets...

And all are EASILY adjusted. If there’s one thing that Roland’s always had it in spades over their rivals, it’s that Makeup Tools section. When you make it so simple to adjust the sounds, effects and dynamics of a style or SMF, there’s far less excuse for not using it! I’ve often had to do the same kind of editing on Korg’s and Yamaha’s, and I can get the job done better in a tenth of the time using the Roland Makeup Tools!

Try a few of these tricks out, Terry, and see if that sequence can’t be transformed! 😎

Wow,that`s something of a chalenge for me Diki but I`ll give it a go,nothing ventured nothing gained.

Because of the shift away from MIDI towards audio stuff nowadays, there is very little in the way of new SMF content optimized for modern keyboards. It’s unlikely that anything you can find is set up with the best Tones modern arrangers have. I’d be willing to bet I don’t have a single SMF made for anything more recent than an SC-88 Canvas module, and probably 99% are for basic Sound Canvas...

Styles, not so much. Arranger manufacturers always make sure that their newest styles fully use the newest Tones and Kits, so it’s always an uphill battle comparing styles and commercial SMF’s because the sequence uses the legacy sounds, not the latest.

My previous post might be a bit much to digest in one go, but approach it one sector at a time. Firstly, change the sounds. Start with the strings, the backbone of any orchestra. If the sequence has separate tracks for violins, cellos and basses, so much the better. If just one strings track, just play the sequence in Makeup Tools and select the string track, then start listening as you change to other string section sounds. The best one will usually jump out at you.

After that (and saving it as a different file, so you can compare to the original as you go along), maybe work on the brass, etc..

You’d be amazed at how quickly it goes, once you get the basic workflow. If you use sequences to play with, the dividends are enormous, and a backing track that sounds dated and flat can become as good as anything your latest styles can do. Some of the people making those old SMF’s were very talented players, they just were working with very dated equipment and sounds. Play the same sequences through the better sounds and they can really come alive!

Maybe after learning the workflow for simply replacing sounds, you can then move on to adjusting their volumes or effects etc., but it all STARTS with replacing the old sounds with the new...

If you have a Yamaha try Midispot https://www.midispot.com/en/ as they do stykles & Midi Files for all the latest boards.

Have fun

Bill