Recording - November 2009 - 22

Sonar V-Studio 700 VS-700R implies that the user is expected to generate a substantial amount of MIDI data. Access Panel The Access Panel is located under the Channel Strip Control section on the far left of the console. The access panel gives immediate access to common SONAR views (i.e., Track, Console, Synth Rack, Piano Roll, Audio Snap and Transport), executes basic editing commands (i.e., Cut, Copy Paste, Delete selected data) and provides access to utility operations (i.e., Fade, Freeze, Split, and Clip Mute). The default operation of these buttons is stenciled over them; however, the functions of all the buttons can be reassigned to control any switchable function in SONAR. An additional row of four buttons is provided to act as modifiers of the primary button function (i.e., Shift, CTRL, ALT and Command). Using these buttons in conjunction with the primary access buttons allows various operations to be applied to the target of the primary button. For example, holding the CTRL button and pushing the Track button inserts an audio track, whereas holding the CTRL and ALT buttons creates a MIDI track when the track button is pressed. In practice, the functions subserved by the buttons in the Access Panel correspond to actions that are frequently executed in day-to-day use of a DAW. The amount of time saved by using the Access Panel as opposed to mouse pointing and clicking can be enormous. More than any other section on the console, the Access Panel provides the highest degree of integration with SONAR. Surround and T-Bar Controls The inclusion of joystick control on the VS-700C is greatly appreciated. In recent years a majority of my studio time has been spent working on 5.1 surround projects. Using SONAR’s surround panner with a mouse, while perfectly functional, falls short of the more natural feeling that a joystick provides. In addition to the joystick, the Surround section also includes an LFE control encoder (Low Frequency Effects channel, or the 1 in 5.1). While this control is not a substitute for a real bass management system, it does allow control of LFE content coming from any selected surround channel. Another button below the joystick opens up the surround panner view in SONAR and a fourth button enables V-Link which allows VS-700C control of V-Link compatibleRECORDING NOVEMBER 2009 Roland and Edirol devices such as P-10 Image Presenter. The main control in the T-bar section is, ahem, the T-bar, familiar to anyone who has operated a video editing console (generally used in video for fades, dissolves and transitions between scenes). The T-Bar on the VS-700C can be assigned to SONAR’s X-Ray function, by which you use it to fade the control windows of any open plug-ins to see and manipulate anything in a SONAR window beneath them. With the press of a button, the T-Bar can be used for control of Front/Rear balance control of in-focus SONAR surround panners, and for full-time ACT control in which it can be used to control any ACT parameter for which it is set. An additional button allows the T-Bar to be used for control of a video editing device such as the Edirol DV-7DL Direct Linear video editor. Interestingly, the T-Bar cannot be used in the control of SONAR’s limited video handling capability. Conclusions The V-Studio 700 delivers what the preproduction hyperbole promised. It teams a fantastic SONAR control surface with an extremely capable audio interface and a dynamite hardware synthesizer (that thinks it’s a plug-in), to form an incredibly well integrated digital audio manipulation environment. The VS-700R audio interface is almost without fault, although as a standalone unit it lacks headphone outputs and a means for inputting audio to its Aux channel. The built-in Fantom VS is an excellent ROMpler-type synthesizer that, from a sonic perspective, is an incredible instrument. Its editor is superb, and its use as a plug-in is phenomenal (due to lack of latency, and lack of CPU demands). The patch selection method could use some work, and reliable response to MIDI Control Change messages would improve it significantly, but those are bits of polishing to a very powerful hardware synth. The VS-700C provides a very tightly integrated control surface for SONAR. It is well organized, and reasonably easy to learn. Users of the unit can save innumerable mouse manipulations, clicks and computer keyboard strokes, greatly speeding up work. For a commercial SONAR-based studio, the VS-700C will pay for itself in man-hours saved over manipulating SONAR with a mouse. I look forward to improvements in Piano Roll view mode to make it an equally useful tool for editing MIDI data. As a first version of a entirely new product line, I have to rate the V-Studio 700 as incredible. And it can only get better! ARX-01 Expansion Board I also had a chance to evaluate the ARX-01 (Drums) expansion board for Fantom-G synthesizers and the Fantom VS included in the VS-700R. Devon Brent (that lucky sonofagun) will be telling you about some of the other ARX cards in his future review of the Fantom-G. The ARX series of expansion boards employs a technology which Roland calls ‘SuperNATURAL’. Basically, the ARX boards are acoustic emulating synthesizers that allow custom modification of physical properties of the instrument to be evaluated, coupled with multiple effects processors and custom mixing capability. In the case of the ARX-01, the modeled instruments are drums. Although the ARX boards are designed support up to 16 multitimbral parts, the ARX-01 is specifically designed to offer only one part, composed of a drum kit with 24 drum elements (tones). Each drum element can be altered to reflect changes made to the physical properties of the drum. So, for example, parameters corresponding to shell depth, head tuning, muffling, mic position, and buzz can be applied to a kick, snare or tom. Electronic drums can be modified by manipulating basic synthesizer parameters like envelope settings, resonance, etc. For acoustic elements, all of the modifications that are made to a drum are graphically depicted in real time in the ARX-01 editor. For the electronic sounds, the editor displays ‘sliders’ that correspond to each of the editable parameters. Each modified drum can be routed to a reverb or a multi-effect (of 47 different varieties) using the ARX-01 mixer. What’s more, up to 4 multi-effect parameters can be manipulated in real time via MIDI control messages. Very cool! The ARX-01 is capable of producing some amazing drum kits and it’s very easy to use. Roland has posted a video demo of the ARX-01 on YouTube, which is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=zetWW6Ze4Tg and covers the basics well.—JR3 Prices: SONAR V-Studio 700, $4195; VS-700R, $1995; VS-700C, $2495 More from: Cakewalk by Roland, www.sonarvstudio.com. John Rossi III (john3@recordingmag.com) is a recording engineer, producer, and musician living and working in Naples, FL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zetWW6Ze4Tg http://www.sonarvstudio.com

Recording - November 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - November 2009