Harpiscords.. help!

[Angelsdontkill]

Hey everyone,
Ive had my roland jv 1080 for a good few months now, ive been able to create some good pads and leads, but the preset harpsicords are horrible, there made up of unrealistic dulcimers and stuff like that. Ive tried tweaking them a lot but they still sound very cheesy and unrealistic.
Does anyone have any tips on how to make a good harpsicord?
Or does anyone else have the jv1080 and know a good way?
thanks,
Garret

[calmar]

lol it can sounds weird, but my harpsichord sound is made of 12 str guitar, a basic harpsichord sound and a little bit chorus/reverb.
D

[Berrido]

The 12 Str, in a harpsichord patch sounds really fine

[ChrisMcCoy]

Are you using a stock patch on the JV-1080 or an expansion mod ?
Which expansion mod ?
You may want to check e-bay for an SR Mod. Maybe Orchestral, World or Super Sound set...If you google search you can usually find the patch lists for these mods. Roland lists some of them on their website, but not the complete set.

Chris

[jeremyroberts]

I think there is no internal harpsichord waveform on the 1080 (no harpsichord on my XP80 actually). That sucks.

[Sir Cenora]

my harpsi sound sux too
try to increase the reduce the resonance and increase the cut off
sounded more harpsi to me
its like stratovarius harpsi.. not real ones.. but better then preset

[Angelsdontkill]

i have no expansion cards, ive been looking on ebay for months trying to find any to buy.

yeah there are no actual harpsicord patches, which sucks. ill try what you have suggested, thanks!

[Tusker]

i have no expansion cards, ive been looking on ebay for months trying to find any to buy.

yeah there are no actual harpsicord patches, which sucks. ill try what you have suggested, thanks!

What would you change about the GM harspichord patch on the JV?

The patches on the orchestral expansion are tinnier, but they have some movement in them which is attractive. I played around with the GM patch and was able to get a quality I liked. Here's some tips if you are feeling brave. The problem with the GM patch for me, is that it didn't have that airy chorused character on the top end, that I associate with Harpischords. Also, it didn't bite the right way, although the key-off trick sounded good. I knew I could get that airy quality by detuning the source material. and I knew I could get the bite, by playing with the envelopes (either amp or filter envelope). The rest of it was a matter of shaping the basic tone through the filter.

Detune:
I found that tone 2 was the key off sound. and tone 1 was the primary sound. So I copied tone 1 to tones 3 and 4 so that I could get some chorusing. I then detuned them to taste (tone 3 was pitched up +4 and tone 4 was pitched up -4). I also added 5 units of randomness ot hte pitch. I also added 10 units of analog feel which is a pitch randomness that happens while the sound is playing. This added a more rolling quality without sounding like an artifical chorus.

Tone shaping
To my taste, through my cheap headphones, the sound was too dim. So I raised the filter cutoff on tones 1,3 and 4 to 75 from 61. I also added ten units of resonance. Now it was too bright, but at least it sounded alive. I pulled a couple of the tones down from 75 to 73 and 71. Just to mix things up.

Attack
The attack was too slow and lumpy, so I reduced the T1 parameter in the filter page from 5 to 3, this closes the filter more quickly after the attack. It also brought the overall tonal character of the harpischord to a mellower quality I liked.

Steroids
If I wanted this patch on steroids, I'd send it though EQ (EFX #1) or a little enhancer (EFX #6), but it's ok the way it is.

The synths we have are very powerful. Just learn what quality of sound you want, and they will help you get those qualities.

Best,

Jerry

[Angelsdontkill]

Jerry,
I tried what you did on yours and it did produce an interesting result, however the sounds on the lower end, and to me the more important end for a harpsicord sounded very dull and totally cheesy. the middle section sounded decent though. Im still trying new things to acheive my desired sound, anymore help is greatly appreciated!

[Michael Troy]

Hey guys, NICE POSTS! This is actually info. that I can use on my Motif as well. Im gonna try adding 12 string to the reg. harpsi. voice and let ya's know. My harpsichord sounds a little thin too. THANX