Roland g-70 Manuel Du Propriétaire

r

G-70 Music Workstation

• By creating new accompaniments from scratch 

• By editing existing Styles, which requires that you 

copy them and then alter the settings or notes you 
do not like (page 185).

Styles are short sequences, or patterns (of four or eight 
measures) you can select in realtime. If you have ever 
worked with a drum computer or groove box, the pat-
tern concept may sound familiar. Pattern-based 
accompaniments usually consist of the following ele-
ments:

• The basic groove, i.e. the rhythm that is the backbone 

of the song.

• Several alternatives for the basic groove that keep 

the accompaniment interesting and suggest some 
kind of “evolution” or “variation”.

• Fill-Ins to announce the beginning of new parts.
• An introduction and a closing section (ending).

Programming four to eight patterns for a three-
minute song is usually enough. Just use them in the 
right order to make them suitable for your song.

The G-70 allows you to program 54 different pat-
terns per Style, some of which can be selected via 
dedicated buttons (MAIN [1]~[4], etc.). Some Patterns 
are selected on the basis of the chords you play in the 
chord recognition area of the keyboard (major, 
minor, seventh).

Unlike a drum machine, a Style not only contains the 
rhythm part (drums & percussion) but also a melodic 
accompaniment, such as piano, guitar, bass and strings 
lines. That is why the Styles work with tracks – eight to 
be precise. See also “Arranger parts” on p. 74.

The part-to-track assignment is fixed. You cannot 
assign the AccDrums part to track 6, for example.

The reason why the AccDrums part is assigned to the 
first track and the ABass part to the second is that most 
programmers and recording artists start by laying down 
the rhythm section of a song. 

There are exceptions to this rule, however, so feel free 
to start with any other part if that is easier for the Style 
you are programming. 

Note: Though there are six (melodic) ACC parts, most Styles only 
contain two or three melodic accompaniment lines. In most 
cases, less means more, i.e. do not program six melodic accompa-
niments just because the G-70 provides that facility. If you listen 
very carefully to a CD, you will discover that it is not the number 
of instruments you use that makes a song sound “big” but rather 
the right notes at the right time.

The G-70 uses two kinds of patterns: looped divisions 
and one-shot divisions.

■Looped divisions

Looped divisions are accompaniments that are 
repeated until you select another division or press 
[START÷STOP] to stop Arranger playback. The G-70 
provides four programmable looped divisions (MAIN 
[1]~[4]).

Looped divisions do not select other divisions when 
they are finished (because they never end): they keep 
playing until you select another division by hand (or 
by foot).

■One-shot divisions

One-shot patterns (or “Divisions”) are only played 
once and then select a looped division or stop the 
Arranger. The G-70 uses the following one-shot divi-
sions: INTRO [1]~4, FILL UP [1]~[3], FILL DOWN [1]~[3] 
and ENDING [1]~[4].

The division type also determines how the respective 
tracks are played back. Any track of a looped pattern 
that is shorter than another track is repeated until 
the longest track is finished. Then, a new cycle begins.

Here’s how you can take advantage of that: if the 
drums play the same notes during four measures, 
while the rhythm guitar or piano needs four mea-
sures to complete a cycle, recording only one drum 
measure is enough, because it is automatically 
repeated until the longest track is finished.