Roland produced an extensive library for VP-9000 of specially recorded and encoded samples to make best use of the Variphrase technology.
VP-Z-01 Solo Voice Vol. 1 GospelThis VariPhrase sound library contains Solo-Encoded gospel vocal samples ready for performance - great for building realistic block harmonies typical of gospel music. |
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VP-Z-02 Solo Voice Vol. 2 WorldThis VariPhrase sound library contains Solo-Encoded vocal samples from all over the world - India, Mexico, Japan and other unique destinations. |
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VP-Z-03 Solo Voice Vol. 3 Pop & RockThis VariPhrase sound library contains Solo-Encoded pop and rock vocal samples sung by truly outstanding vocalists. Use them to create demos or to produce an entire song. |
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VP-Z-04 Solo Voice Vol. 4 Jazz/R&BThis VariPhrase sound library contains Solo-Encoded jazz and R&B vocal samples ready for performance. |
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VP-Z-05 Solo Instruments Vol. 1 SaxThe VP-Z-05 “Sax” disk contains 208 saxophone sounds including tenor, alto and soprano. This highly musical and useful collection includes long notes, special effects, and phrases recorded in a variety of chord progressions and in styles ranging from ballads to pop and swing. |
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VP-Z-06 Solo Instruments Vol. 2 Trumpet & TromboneThe VP-Z-06 “Trumpet & Trombone” disk offers 234 sounds including trumpet, trombone and flugel horn. For maximum playability and usefulness, phrases were recorded in a variety of musical styles. Blues and swing styles include mute sounds; short licks and falls are also provided. |
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VP-Z-07 Solo Voice Vol. 5 “Jazz Scat Phrases”This Zip100 disk contains 200 phrase samples of jazz scat performances which have been pre-adjusted for easy MIDI sync. Each phrase ranges from 1-9 measures in length and offers an entirely new level of dynamics and expressiveness only possible with VariPhrase. |
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VP-Z-08 Solo Voice Vol. 6 “Opera Singers”A beautiful collection of solo vocal samples from four opera singers: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Unlike static ROM samples, this Zip100 disk contains actual phrases with lyrics for playback using VariPhrase. Tempo is pre-adjusted for easy MIDI sync. |
These libraries are supplied on ZIP disk so ready for immediate use in your VP-9000. Although they are no longer sold from Roland you can still sometimes find them on eBay and second hand sites.
Software-based, non-real-time pitch-shifting with formant correction has been available for some years now. In general it works a lot better than real-time pitch shifting because the software can examine the file prior to processing, so the processing itself can be optimised to the type of audio being processed. By contrast, a conventional real-time system uses a 'one size fits all' algorithm that treats the whole audio file in the same way, often resulting in non-musical modulation and blurred or doubled transients.
Roland confirm that they employ a refinement of the traditional pitch-shifting method, in which audio is cut into many short segments, each of which is either looped when dropping the pitch or shortened when increasing the pitch. Cross-fading rejoins the segments as seamlessly as possible. The main difference is that Variphrase processors like the VP-9000 first examines the audio and creates a 'map' of where the best splice points are, taking into account transients, repeated waveforms, and so on. In this respect, it's not unlike a non-real-time system. This 'map' is saved as part of the file header, but the sampled audio itself remains unprocessed. The clever part is that, during playback, the audio is processed in real time according to the instructions stored in the 'map'. In other words, the system combines the benefits of a non-real-time system with the immediacy of real-time playback and sound manipulation.
Formant correction only applies to monophonic sounds, and if it's to work properly the audio must be genuinely monophonic and free from hum, buzz or bleed from other tracks. Guitar can be problematic due to double or overlapping notes. As far as I can tell (and I have to admit this is part speculation), the formant part of the sound is resynthesized and can be set to track the keyboard pitch or not, like the filter setting in a synth. With no tracking, the formant stays fixed, regardless of the pitch of the final note, but when chords are played, this can produce a vocoder-like effect as the formants are too perfectly in tune. Apparently, adding some keyboard tracking to allow the formant to move slightly with pitch reduces this effect considerably.
The formant part of the process can only be approximate, because to accurately establish the formants in a real voice it would first be necessary for that voice to sing a whole range of pitches so that the algorithm could use correlation techniques to figure out what components were fixed and which were changing. Maybe this is something for the future, but right now the onus is on simplicity of operation, and with a little care on the part of the user the results can sound surprisingly natural.
In the polyphonic modes, the looping and mapping process is essentially the same, but no formant correction can be applied. Even so, drum parts can be shifted over a huge range and still sound convincing. Swing can be applied to both rhythmic and non-rhythmic audio during playback based on a small selection of swing styles. This works by modulating the oscillator that determines the playback rate, using an LFO waveform that produces the required degree of swing. This is invisible to the user, who just has to turn a knob, but it can fall apart if an audio delay is applied, as the swing effect doesn't get delayed along with the audio.
Roland are very excited about Variphrase applications in the dance market, where remixers can assemble loops and phrases from different sources, regardless of key or tempo. Even solo vocals can have their tempo determined fairly accurately by first choosing a short segment that can be looped rhythmically (maybe just one or two beats), then extrapolating the extracted tempo (an automatic process) to the rest of that audio section. They're also aware that a lot of interesting effects can be achieved by abusing the technology -- pushing it to its limit so that the processing artifacts become a feature -- rather as was the case with Auto-Tune and Cher's 'Believe' single. An example of this is a voice that changes formant during playback, thus morphing from male to female. It's also possible to create a host of quasi-vocoder-type effects.
Subcategories
Roland VP-9000 Resources
This page lists various free resources to download for the Roland VP-9000 Variphrase sampler
Roland VariOS Resources
This page lists various free resources to download for the Roland VariOS Variphrase sound processor