FR-8X, Volume Control/Balance—The MFX Secret

[John M]

A big thing for me, with an accordion, is getting the correct volume balance between the Right Hand (RH) Treble side and the Left Hand (LH) Bass/Chord side of the accordion. This is an item of concern for an acoustic or a digital accordion. On the 8X, there are many volume controls, in series, with the final audio output. I use a Bose L1 Pro8 for the final output.

Since all the volume settings are interactive, I start with “100” on the volume pot on the 8X. The rest of the settings are in the 8X software. All of the volume settings on the RH side (Accordion, Orch 1, Orch 2), have volume adjust between -40-0-+40. Similarly all the volume settings on the LH side (Bass & Chord, Orch Bass, Orch Chord), also have volume adjust between -40-0-+40.

Many times on the LH side, when I have the volume set to -40, the LH side is still too loud. I have found, what I call the “MFX Secret”, (maybe many of you are aware of this). It is an MFX Edit control that you need to set to “2 Stero EQ”. You will then have a four band equalizer available. You can leave all the 4 bands as they are. However, the last setting is “Level” and the default for that is 127. The “Level” adjusts all 4 bands simultaneously. You can set the “Level” anywhere from 0-127 for volume adjustment. It works fine for me. It is available, on the RH side, for Accordion and many selections of Orch1 and Orch2. On the LH side it is available for many selections of Orch Bass and Orch Chord. It is not available for Bass & Chord.

Don’t forget to document your changes, and above all, Back Up the Sets and UPG’s in your 8X memory.
John

 

[John M]

EDIT: I just realized I never mentioned the most obvious control to use -- the Treble/Bass Balance knob that works fine. However, I don't like to use any of the control knobs (Balance, Reverb, Chorus, Delay, Etc.) when I am playing. I prefer to always keep the knobs in the same position and do the control via software. That way, as I change from Accordion settings to Piano, Clarinet, Flute, Guitar, Violin, etc., I have the Balance just the way I want it when I select a new registration.

 

[Thomas N]

EDIT: I just realized I never mentioned the most obvious control to use -- the Treble/Bass Balance knob that works fine. However, I don't like to use any of the control knobs (Balance, Reverb, Chorus, Delay, Etc.) when I am playing. I prefer to always keep the knobs in the same position and do the control via software. That way, as I change from Accordion settings to Piano, Clarinet, Flute, Guitar, Violin, etc., I have the Balance just the way I want it when I select a new registration.

I wondered about that on the first reading of your original post. I have edited the volume setting of the chord sound as I found it way too loud. Same with the drums when I add them in. Using the FR-8X editor it's an extremely simple edit. Everything else is controlled via the Treble/Bass volume knob. It has never bothered me.

 

[John M]

I totally understand what works for you Thomas N. For me, I really love to get into the "nitty gritty" details of anything. What i really like about the 8X is that Roland has left so many "open software hooks" available if you really want to "dig in" to "fine tune" the settings. This is what I love about the 8x, if you don't want to "go deep" they have the hardware knobs, that are self explanatory, right there, This is what most users like and use.,

I find Roland software analogous to Microsoft software. Take, for example, the Excel spreadsheet. Excel has been around a long time. If you are a new user of Excel, you can start out and it is pretty intuitive and easy to use for basic things. However, if you really want to "dig in", it is extremely powerful. If you use their "Macros" you can create "mini software programs". Similarly Roland software is very powerful. They don't have "Macros" but the powerful software hooks are there. The big difference between Micorsoft & "Roland software, is the ease of use. Microsoft/Bill Gates software development team has a "little" more $$$ support than Roland had. So the Roland software is not as easy to use, but the basic "important" items that you want access to for programming are there in the 8X. I am thankful for that.

 

[Thomas N]

I think the FR-8X editor was a game-changer. At least for me. I really disliked diving into settings with the tiny screen on the FR-8X and making sure I hit the correct button to make saves and change fields. Even when using it often at the beginning I found myself accidentally backing out of screens instead of advancing deeper into them.

Once the editor was released everything became so simple. I connect the FR-8X via USB to the PC and have it connected to my amp. I can sit right in front of the PC with my accordion on and make dynamic changes and decide if they sound like what I desired. I know you can fix the bellows and accomplish the same thing without wearing the accordion but I actually like playing it for a few minutes with both treble and bass and making tweaks.

A couple of advanced users put out programmed sets for purchase in the early days but once the editor was released it didn't seem worth it to me. I customized a set with exactly what I wanted in a few minutes. You don't need to be computer literate in the slightest with the drop-down menus and an occasional glance at the FR-8X manual for a setting that isn't self-explanatory by name.

 

[John M]

. . . I think the FR-8X editor was a game-changer. . .

I also didn't mention, in my first post, that I do use the PC Editor it makes the MFX Edit that I reference, super easy with the PC editor. I use it all the time.

For example, with the PC Editor, you can tell immediately if the MFX EDIT function is available. With only the 8X screen editor, you find out if MFX Edit is available once you "drill" down through the menu structure path, which takes more time and thinking to get it right.