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Thank you, I appreciate the encouragement. The most frustrating thing these days are the limits on screen time... it makes using a DAW, editing videos, and programming, very, very difficult. I'm always looking to find ways to be more efficient, but it's a moving target. We've been under a ridiculous heat wave in southern California (and I don't have AC), which has put the actual production on my videos, temporarily, on hold, but things are supposed to be much better after today, and I'm hoping to get the raw footage for my next 3 videos done before the end of the week. Stay tuned. 🤭

@@cyb Sure can. All chords are just a set of intervals. Major will always be the same pattern, minor will always be the same pattern, minor 7 flat 5 will always be the same pattern. The names of these chord types are just shorthand for the exact intervals. The trick is to then learn how and when to use different types of chords, and how the chords fit into keys and scales (or not). There's a great book about chords and chord progressions by Jake Lizzio at Signals Music (it can be purchased digitally at their site, I have no affiliation with them), signalsmusic dot com. The specific book is called, "Chord Progression Codex".

@@LeRoy3rd Thank you! i'll check it out!

Exactly. Once you start diving into more modal scales, you'll notice a lot of melodies that aren't strictly diatonic. 🙂

@@cyb 😆Glad I could help. The upcoming videos should be more focused, with higher quality, and we'll be branching out of the verselab, exclusively, into other topics like ear training, theory, and composition techniques. Thanks for the encouragement! 😊

@@LeRoy3rd yeah it's amazing my rabbit hole lead me to the mv1 vs mc101 which have so similar functionalities but the major difference i've noticed is mv1 gets your project done(which is what i'm looking for) while grooveboxes are more like infinite loops for live stuffs - but! i've seen the M-series mv1/m101/m707 belong in the same family and they can share clips so I could see myself getting an mc101 for its portability, create a clip in there and import to the mv1!

​@@cybUnfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to get hands on with either the 101 or 707, but I believe the 1.8x firmware update did allow clips to be shared across all three devices. Honestly, I don't typically recommend Verselab, the only reason I use it is because of my seizure disorder... before things got worse with being in front of a screen, I loved working with my DAW, and any professional DAW is going to be more capable than any standalone hardware. There are plenty of reasons someone might elect to use hardware, but most people don't realize how much more difficult, and limiting hardware is, and they're looking for a DAW experience, in a standalone box (which is, literally, a laptop, only a laptop is way more powerful,customizable, and upgradeable).

@@LeRoy3rd i find the beauty of the mv1 is it holds your hand from start to end to finish something. Someone in the comments mentioned it's like finishing a game(workflow), i honestly have zero idea how finishing up projects work for music and mv1 is the only one that really binds you to that. It's kinda like the saying "the biggest enemy of creativity is the absence of limits" or something like that

@@salaciouscrumb Thanks! 😊

@@Buffenmeyer Thank you, these are the comments that keep me motivated. 😊

@@lugo4905 Noted! I'm not a huge fan of Zenbeats (I find the workflow frustrating), and it doesn't really add much to the Verselab (the verselab "integration" is a joke, and mostly just marketing), but since the basic version is free, and available on pretty much every platform, it's useful for learning music production skills that can transfer to other DAWs, and hardware.

I appreciate your encouragement, and support. I can't actually accept cash (there are more details on my webpage), but my Amazon wishlist is always available for people who have cash burning holes in their pockets. 😆

@@LeRoy3rd Yep I understand you are looking for a sustainable source of income, and I'm not too fond of the Patreon model either ;)

It's actually a little more frustrating than that. While I'm waiting on disability, I live on a couple hundred dollars a month, I can't make any income (oddly, gift cards that can't be turned into cash don't count as income), and I can't save any money. Honestly, telling a sick, and seriously poor person that they're not allowed to save or have any income is immoral, but that's the system we live in. Once disability is approved, things change a bit. It will still be challenging, at that point, but options like patreon then become possible.

Lol, excellent, exactly to plan 😆

I'll admit that the effects, especially live, can be a bit... frustrating. When the vocal processor is on, press SHIFT+ON (on the vocal processor) to select and activate one of the presets, you should then hear the effect live. I'm not in front of the verselab, at the moment, but I believe this works both for mic input, and line in. The total effects (reverb and delay), unfortunately, will not affect line in live, only mic in (I get around this with my synth, where I want delay and reverb added, using an XLR to TS adapter, essentially turning my line in signal from my synth to an XLR input). As to future videos, I have a lot planned, and I'm just starting to take some time to figure out how to make the videos better... after the bulk of the verselab stuff is done, we'll be covering a bunch of other music related topics. As far as future verselab videos go, the current plan, and videos I already have outlines for are: -Looper Tracks -MFX (total FX MAY be in this video, or possibly a separate video) -The Vocal Processor -FX on the Vocal Track -More Details on SONG mode -Project based videos

Editing step length on the step sequencer is a similar headache. As far as Roland seeing this? I'm pretty sure they're aware of the issues, haven't seen my video, and don't care. I'd love to say that I'm optimistic about support from Roland, but they don't seem customer focused, and don't often support their products. My guess is, we probably won't see another update from Roland, judging by how they've handled their products for decades, if they think there's a market, instead of fixing a product that has bugs, they'll just launch a new product, instead.

I actually emailed them, and they asked me to report in the Facebook group where the product team apparently checks for feedback. I am going to report this anyway; if they do anything with the feedback, that’s a whole different story. 😅

@@jordanWAH I don't have the verselab in front of me, but I believe it's ROLAND/MV/SAMPLES You can put both files AND folders in this directory. Inside the correct folder you'll see a folder already there from the verselab called "EXPORT", this is where all exported files go, from the sampling engine. The samples folder is the only folder that is accessible ON the verselab, so, unfortunately, the MIXOUT folder, which is outside the sample folder, is not accessible on the verselab itself, only from accessing SD card in a computer..

@@LeRoy3rd thanks. That's correct. It only works with wave files I think. Put each wave samples in either drum, tone or loop folder. I was able to finally create my own drum kit. You can also replace all other drum or melodic tracks with any preset you choose. It doesn't have to be bass for bass, or whatever. It only effects the style/chord patterns for drum tracks or arpeggios for melodic tracks.

@@jordanWAH It's also worth noting that drum vs melodic tracks affect how the pads effect the sounds. The drum tracks (except KIT) are triggers, the melodic tracks (and KIT) are gates, and this can't be changed (except by loading a clip with the opposite function, but then if you change the sample or preset, it defaults back). I don't think this is an issue with synth presets, only samples. As to using different folders, you can use whatever sub-folders you want, and even sub-folders inside the sub-folders. I'm really organized so I use a lot of different folders and sub-folders to keep things organized and easily accessible.

@@LeRoy3rd good to know! Thank you

@@juan3m53 Glad if I could be of assistance. Honestly I don't recommend the Verselab to anyone, a DAW is way more capable than any hardware, and for the price of the verselab you could buy some great external midi controllers and VSTs to make the DAW more efficient (and fun). If it wasn't for my seizure disorder keeping me from long sessions on screen, I'd still be using Ableton Live, instead of the versleab. That being said, as devices without a screen go, the verselab is pretty capable, and I've found that by understanding the limitations, and instead of fighting them, leaning onto what it does *well*, my sessions with it are far more enjoyable.

@@LeRoy3rd I get what you say. I'm also an Ableton guy and definitely you can do a lot more on screen but as you say, for the price I could have gotten only the drum box and ended up with an "all in one" with the limitations and tradeoffs. I'm trying to add Zenbeats on my pc to see how capable could get.

@@juan3m53 Honestly, Zenbeats doesn't add much to the verselab experience. It gives a visual representation to the sections, but doesn't allow any new functionality, or working with audio... the best thing the Zenbeats integration does is allow you to see all FX parameters at once (instead of needing to menu dive). I find that taking the time to load zenbeats takes me longer than just working on the versleab directly. The VENDOR mode of the verselab, however, can be useful, as it turns the verselab into an audio interface, and allows you to record audio from each track, separately, as well as the MIXOUT, live audio from a mic, and all midi data from the sequencer. It has its problems, but I use it to back up my projects on my computer... this way if the verselab dies, I have all the audio AND midi data already saved as an Ableton Live project, if I ever want to continue working on it.

@@TheonlyMrlab hmmm... I'm not sure I'm fully understanding. Could you break it down a bit more for me? If it's too much to do on CZcams comments, you can get a hold of me on the Facebook group, or my website (both in the description). Perhaps you could make a short video of the issue and post a link?

Yes I will send a video to your Instagram or Facebook Thx again

I just sent video to your email

@@TheonlyMrlab Thanks! I'll take a look as soon as I get back to where I live. I hope it's something we can easily fix. 😃

@@ThisisRends I may not have been entirely clear. You can't have the *same* vocal take playing over itself. So, if you have a long sample, and it's playing, if you play it again (while it's still playing), the first instance will stop, and it will start playing over from the beginning. Some people expect that if you, say, press the pad to start the sample while it was still saying, it would play the same sample OVER the sample that's already playing (in other words, you'd have the same sample playing over itself, you'd, in essence, have the same sample playing twice at the same time). You can, as the manual shows, on page 8, use a vocal take over and over (but notice that the vocal takes never overlap THEMSELVES, as an example, Take 2, on the diagram in the manual, is only playing ONCE at a time. Multiple times throughout the song, but it always ends before it's started again). Also, you CAN layer vocal takes as long as you're using *different* vocal takes (take 1, 2, and 3, for instance, can all play at the same time). The point I was trying to get across is, each pad/vocal take, is a monophonic instrument on the sequencer. If take 1 is playing, and it's, say, a minute long, and 30 seconds in you trigger take 1, again, it will stop take 1 (that had 30 seconds left), and restart it from the beginning of the take when you press the pad to trigger it.

If the description above still isn't clear, let me know, and I'll post a quick follow-up video, tomorrow or Monday, demonstrating more clearly what I'm trying to explain.

@@LeRoy3rd Got it. Didn’t know you are talking about the same Vocal take. This made it clear. Thx!

@@ThisisRends I'm glad. Doing these videos in a single take (even with my notes off screen) means that if I start wandering off topic, I can forget what I was talking about, or not explain as clearly as I'd planned. Definitely keep asking if I've been unclear, it's likely other people had the same questions, and if I've made an error, or confused people, I do my best to make corrections.

@@LeRoy3rdwell i should have watched until the end. At 24min you mentioned Layering multiple Takes. All fine with your video.

@@AntAciieed I'm working on the video on Looper Tracks this week... not looking forward to all the audio I'm going to have to analyze on my computer. 😆 The descriptions of what the Looper Tracks options and settings do is TERRIBLE, but I'll figure it out (I hope? 🤭). I don't find them usable except for very specific tasks, but I'm going to do my best to make some useful examples to show best-case scenario... got side-tracked ... thanks for the encouragement. 😁

@@anthonyriley2153 I appreciate that, thanks. 😊

@@lonniechance5498 Thank you so much. You don't know how long I struggle with, and stress over, the prep for these videos. It's comments like this that keep me going. Because of my seizure disorder I can't spend the time in front of a screen editing the videos (which is frustrating to me), and I'm glad they can be of some use. 😊

@@Parallelwurlds I appreciate the encourage so much, it's what keeps me motivated. I haven't been able to make new videos in MONTHS because my phone died, I'm so happy to be able to do this again. If you want more background on me, be sure to visit my website (link in description) at LeRoy3rd dot com. If you get stuck, or have questions, make sure you ask here, or at the Facebook group (also in the description).

@@ljljlj1 I was having a really hard time trying to fit the main points into this one. When I put out the video that's a more in depth look at SONG mode, specifically, it may help. Also, at some point in the future, I intend to make some videos that are project based, where we take things we've discussed, and actually use it to make something that, while not a masterpiece, will sound vaguely musical. Thanks for the encouragement, it's what keeps me focused on making new videos. Next up is LOOPER TRACKS (spoiler alert, they're not really that useful).

@@jonpaultucker 😆 I'm the same way. There are soooo many different SHIFT, EDIT, and TRACK combos for different functions, and I get a lot of them mixed up, all the time. It's not rare for me to hit the wrong one (save often! 🤭). Not sure what your experience with the verselab is, but I haven't been making new videos because my phone died. How's this relevant? A friend is sending me his old phone just so I can put up new videos. Hopefully in the next week, or so, I'll have the next video up (topic: Vocal Takes).

@@TheonlyMrlab They're assignable for parameters, so you could make a default project, but, then, there's no way to turn them off in, say, the menu, which is what I think you're asking. I could see how that could cause problems if they were acting up. I'd definitely suggest contacting support, you'll probably need to send it in for repair, unfortunately. 😢

⁠I got cha Thank you once again…loving the Verselab 🫡

I must add that I forgot I had takes I didn’t use and also forgot about and once o deleted them I got another full track. I really love this machine. I have it two and a half years and was a total newbie to “anything electronic”. I’ve enjoyed the learning curve and embraced it! 🤓🤦‍♂️😂😂😂

Yeah, the verselab is mostly made to use synths, with a vocal line, or two over the top. We've only got 12 min of mono audio (or, since stereo audio is 2 mono tracks, 6 min of stereo), so, it is *possible* to make this work, but it may take some effort to be more efficient. Especially consider making sure your audio sources that don't need to be stereo, aren't. And, as an added reminder, if you use the sampling engine on the verselab (instead of vocal takes), it will ALWAYS output stereo (even for mono sources). So, depending on how and what you're working with, you may need to go to your computer and convert samples to mono. You may also consider resampling multiple vocal takes. If you have, say, 4 stereo vocal takes, that are all finished, you could resample this into one vocal take with resampling, using less of the limited resource in the audio space. At the end of the day, your use case isn't what the verselab was designed for, but, keep pushing, make something interesting. 🙂

@@LeRoy3rd thanks for the reply and the (as always excellent advice). I know I’m being a little tangential as to not using it as intended but it’s a lot of fun! I’m sure I’ll work around it and enjoy the journey! I always look forward to your content and comments on all your videos. Thank you 🙏

@@ljljlj1 Thanks for the encouragement. I have around a dozen new videos outlined, but my phone died, and that's caused a bit of an issue making new videos, unfortunately. I do still stay pretty active on the Facebook group "Roland MV-1 VERSELAB Users" (with a lot of other people with similar interests). If you're not yet following there, I highly suggest it. 👍

Imagine the verselab had a traditional style 8ch multitrack recorder as part of the vocal track instead of the time limited 16takes. It would be amazing. It’s still great though.

So, first, the great thing about the vocal track, and vocal takes, is, you're not limited to sections, vocal takes go over the top of sections, so, if you wanted a long reverb tail, that didn't stop when a section ended, this is definitely the way to do it. The best reason to use an external reverb would be if you had something that you liked the sound of better than the ones included with the verselab. Honestly the reverbs on the verselab are... fine, but there are definitely prettier hardware options. As far as dry vs mfx goes, there are several things about the vocal track that are relevant here. First, you get ONE effect for the entire track, all vocal takes share this one effect. Per vocal take you can decide if a specific vocal take uses the effect or not (dry vs mfx), but they all share the one effect. This is the same limitation for other tracks, each track/clip can only have one effect. The other option you have with vocal takes is the vocal processor. Again, you only get one effect from the vocal processor, but you decide which vocal takes use it. This means, practically, that you may need to mute all but one vocal take (NOTE+PAD mutes/unmutes a vocal take) then resample it with the effect, then replace the original with the new recording. This will allow different effects per vocal take, but takes a bit of extra work, and now the effect is permanent, in the audio file. Finally, the reverbs and delays that you can use are shared by ALL tracks. You can specify how MUCH (send volume) each clip or vocal take uses, but you can't have different reverbs and delays for each track. This is one other reason you may want external hardware for some specialized effects. At the end of the day the reverb and delay on the versleab is meant to be for the song, to glue the tracks together with shared effects to help it sound cohesive, and like it's all in one physical space.

Wow, THAT was helpful ! Thank you ! Your last sentence really makes me think. Indeed, have several reverb spaces superimposed might lead to a less coherent track ! I really have to practise the resampling feature. Thanks again !

(Followup) I'll try to stick to minimalism as initially intended as not fall into the GAS trap but learn to master my synth and my mv-1 :) thx !

@@Mahenounet Every hardware has limitations, once you get comfortable with the quirks of the verselab, and lean into what it does well, you'll find that there's a lot of freedom, but you'll have to approach some problems differently than you would on software (or other hardware). Don't get discouraged, or give up, keep at it and the Verselab will reward you. 😊

Thanks ! Yep I am convinced this single piece of gear is what I needed to get things done. First time actually finished a song, ever, ahah ! Now what counts is : focus ! Thanks for the advice :)

Absolutely. I was classically trained, so even using the pads for melodies or chords AT ALL was really foreign to me when I got this... I stuck with it, though, and now I'm pretty proficient at using the pads for basic stuff. That being said, I rarely use a scale, and opt for chromatic, but, then, that limits the range, and makes large or complicated chords much more difficult. For melodies, drums, and basslines, the pads are... fine. If I'm away from home, and using the pads (I nearly always use a midi controller at home), there are several strategies I might use. First, CHORD mode is REALLY useful. It's a bit frustrating because of the scale root bug, and annoying how you have to program the chords, and the fact that you can only have 4 notes per pad is very limiting. HOWEVER, you can play more than one pad at a time, and change the color of the pads. This makes grouping multiple pads for complicated chords much easier (after the initial setup). The other technique I sometimes use when I only have pads is, I'll play random notes IN TIME, then once the rhythm is how i want it, since the sequencer is all midi data, I can easily go back and edit the notes on each step to get the melody, or even complicated chords, at the correct pitches. If I want, say a Gm9 with chord tones over multiple octaves, I just play the NUMBER of notes I want, in time, then adjust the notes. It's a bit time consuming, but definitely possible. The final thing I tend to do when I don't have a midi controller is SIMPLIFY. If I want a complicated full chord, I'll just put one down that's a more thinly voiced version, then I can expand on the idea later. Hope that helped!

@@LeRoy3rd Hi ! That definitely helped, thanks a lot for taking the time to answer :) I did try to work without an external keyboard but that was really time-consuming - actually I used to own an MC-101 but switched to the MV-1 and do not regret it at all :) But you give me the idea of writing a kind of skeleton and editing stuff afterwards. -- BTW, I currently have a Minifreak which I use as a MIDI controller (and which I can sample). That means 37 minikeys. I wonder if it wouldn't be more relevant to get a bigger MIDI keyboard instead... Improvising over 3 octaves is not ideal... Take care !

@@Mahenounet I've got a couple of 25 key controllers (super portable, great to use on the go), a Keystep 37, and an 88-key controller. Typically, unless I'm doing specifically piano music, and even then only in certain genres like jazz, I will use the 37 key controller, but even then, I can do pretty much everything I need with the 25 key controllers. Especially if you're working on electronic music, or pop, two octaves is usually plenty, since you'll be recording a single track at a time.

That would be nice, there are a LOT of little bugs, and quality of life tweaks that could be done to make the Verselab a bit more useful. Unfortunately, at this point I'm doubtful we'll see another update (though I'd LOVE to be wrong!).

On the verselab there are two pools of memory. One is shared by looper tracks, and the sampling engine. This memory only allows 63 seconds of recording, total, and always outputs a stereo file. The other pool of memory is what's used for the samples on a kit track, or a sample in a tone track, AND vocal takes. This is the segment of memory that allows up to 6 minutes of stereo, or 12 minutes of mono.

@@LeRoy3rd Yep, thanks for the answer ! My question was, can you use the resampling engine, export, and then import the resulting file in the vocal track memory pool and overdub above existing sections ? Well, that's time consuming too, but could be a way of working around the 16 scenes limitation... Thanks !!

@@Mahenounet Oh, I see. Yes, this is called resampling, and it's used a LOT to overcome limitations on the verselab. So, for instance, say you have four different parts as vocal takes, taking up 4 of the 16 available vocal takes. You definitely could then resample those four takes into one. The same with, for instance, audio in different pads in a kit track. This is also the only way to stack effects on the verselab. Since we only get one effect per clip, if you want multiple effects you have to resample over and over with different effects.

Thanks, I appreciate the encouragement. I have a lot more videos outlined, but my life's a bit complicated at the moment, not sure when I'll be able to record them.

hope everything works out for the best. Cheers

I'm so glad! I intend to post many more videos, but life's been getting a bit in the way... hopefully we'll be diving more into project based stuff, some theory, and composition ideas, etc. If you're not in the verselab groups on Facebook, definitely check that out, lots of people there to keep people motivated!

@@LeRoy3rd do you know how to load svz files? I saw them in my sd card under the samples folder but don't have a clue how to summon them.

@@DonDiegoMorel The files you're talking about are clips that are included with the verselab. To use these, in the SEQ portion of the workflow, select the track you want to load the data from, then press SECTION SELECT. In section select press EDIT+PAD (selecting the section you want to edit, on this case press pad 1). Select LOAD CLIP, then CLIP FILE. Now you can select between drum and melodic (depending on what you want), and there are several to choose from. There's no way to preview these, but once you select one, it will change the instrument and the sequencer data on that track. This is the same way you'll load your own clips that you've saved, or clip packs you buy from Roland.

@@LeRoy3rdoh sure i have use them! Thank you! It would be great if Roland add more of these in the cloud store. This is an amazing machine.

@@DonDiegoMorel I think they *do* have some others you can buy (and there used to be a pop pack for free), but the cost, and limited usefulness, make it difficult to recommend. I mean, with no way to preview either the instrument OR the rhythm of what you're importing, it's very tedious and hit & miss to use them for anything serious.

Thanks. Comments like this make me feel bad... I've got outlines for many more videos on the verselab (and theory, in general), but finding the motivation to actually make them is difficult. I appreciate the support, and hope to put out more in the future (meanwhile, if you're not part of the verselab groups on Facebook, definitely check those out. There are a lot of people there who love to help).

@@LeRoy3rd I will register to Facebook group, great Idea 👍

A lot of my issues are physical, neurological, and financial, you can get more info, if interested, at LeRoy3rd dot com. You can also find other ways to contact me there if you could use more specific help (though usually I prefer to work in the Facebook groups as that benefits other people who may have the same questions). If you get frustrated, don't give up. There are a lot of irritating things about the verselab (and all hardware), but there are also a lot of little gems and great workflows if you stay with it.

😆 Yeah, I have some memory issues because of my seizure disorder (which is the same reason I have to make the videos in a single take, and can't spend time editing), unfortunately this will often cause a bit of a hiccup when I'm recording. I do my best to prepare ahead of time, but there will pretty much always be some errors. My life's a bit ... complicated, which also makes it difficult to find the time and motivation to make new content. I've got outlines for over half a dozen new videos, I just haven't had the opportunity to record them yet, hopefully soon. 😊

I'm so glad this was helpful. The verselab is a strange beast, give it some time, you'll have a breakthrough. (It took me about six months of using it every day before I started to have those little "aha" moments)

Thanks, that is encouraging. I have more than half a dozen new videos outlined (including some project-based instruction!), but aside from my physical and neuro limitations, I'm also having much difficulty getting motivated to *make* the videos. Thanks for joining us on this journey (and if you haven't joined the verselab Facebook groups, definitely do that, the people there are really helpful).