Hello everybody!
My name is Ralf Schink and I am a member of the G-70 R&D and Demo Team. In this workshop I would like to talk about some ideas in putting together the sounds of the G-70.
In my opinion one of the most important sounds in every Keyboard of today is the Piano Sound. Naturally the Piano sound in the G-70 is very good, because every note contains individual stereo samples.
This guarantees a very lively and rich quality of sound and a very high Expressivity. So now, let’s talk about the playability, the effects and possible combinations of the Piano Sound with other sounds.

G-70 VOL.1 … Selection of the Piano Sound and the appropriate Effect Setting

G-70 VOL.1 … Layering the piano sound with strings

G-70 VOL.1 … Layering Piano & Strings and Electric Piano

G-70 VOL.1 … Selection of the Piano Sound and the appropriate Effect Setting

One of the most significant parameters in the playability of the Piano Sound is the Quality of the Keyboard Action. The G-70 has one of the best Keyboard Actions in the market, and therefore the playability of the Piano Sound is very good, all by itself. Personally I like to use the Key Touch “Heavy” setting, because this gives me the best expressivity. You should select the setting that you will feel most comfortable with.

How to get there:
Press the Piano Button in the right area on the Panel of the G-70. This will automatically select the best Piano Sound and set the Keyboard in Whole Mode, so that you won’t have any Split Points (see image n°1).

Image n° 1

In order to get the best out of any sound combination it is very important to select the appropriate effect settings. For the Piano Sound we should use the Sympathetic Resonance MFX Effect.
As there is no Piano without Damper Pedal, I recommend connecting a DP-10 Damper Pedal to the Hold Footswitch Socket on the backside of the G-70.

Press the Effect Button left of the Display, then press the MFX Area and select by using the α-Dial Effect No 82 Sympathetic Resonance (see image n°2)

Image n° 2

Now go to Edit and adjust the Parameters in accordance to your taste and to your Speaker Settings. Try especially to experiment a little bit with the Damper Parameter. This Parameter simulates the natural String Resonance of an Acoustic Piano when you press the Damper Pedal and play (see images n°3,4).

Image n° 3                           Image n°4

Press Exit.

Also you can change the Reverb Parameters in the G-70 in order to put the Grand Piano into different Ambiences.

a. Press the Effect Button left of the Display, then press Edit in the Reverb area on the Touch Screen.
b. With the parameter “length” you can virtually change the size of the room. Try to experiment a little bit with the parameters, if you like (see image n°5).   

Image n° 5

The next Step would be to save the Settings into the User Program Area of the G-70.
a. Press “SET LIST” in the User Program field on the Panel of the G-70.
b. Press write in the Display.

Image n°6

c. Select a Destination Memory.
d. Type Name e.g. “Best Piano” .
e. Press Save.
(see image n°7)

Image n°7

DONE!
Congratulations!
You have successfully created a very beautiful User Program!
As a reference you will find this User Programs here below:

RS Best Piano.UPG

DOWNLOAD

(Instructions  for  the download)

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G-70 VOL.1 … Layering the piano sound with strings
 
One of the most common combinations with the Piano Sound is the Layering of Piano and Strings. In this Chapter we will create this beautiful combination.

a. Select the User Program “Best Piano” that you have created in the last chapter.
Therefore press SET LIST and select the User Program on the touch screen.
b. Press the green Lower 1 Button in the Part Select Area of the G-70.
c. Press the Strings Button in the Sound Selection Area on the right side of the paneld.
Select St. Slow Strings 1 on the Touch Screen .
(See image n°8)

Image n°8

e. Press Exit.
f. Now also press the Red Lower 1 Button in the Part Select Area

Now you can play Piano and Strings together.

As a next step we will talk about mixing the sounds with the Mixing board.
a. Press the Part Button on right of the 9 Drawbars/Sliders underneath the display.
b. Press the Volume/Pan Button left of the Sliders until Volume is highlighted.

Image n°9

c. Use the corresponding Sliders for the Upper 1 (Piano) and Lower 1 (Strings) Parts and adjust the balance in accordance of your taste.
d. Press Exit.

The musical result of this combination of sounds will be even better, if you would have the possibility of blending the strings and the piano by using a volume pedal. Therefore please connect an EV-5 Volume Pedal to the Foot Pedal Socket on the backside of the G 70. Now we will create the right pedal setting for blending in the Strings. Therefore it is necessary that the Piano (Upper 1) won’t be affected by the position of the Damper Pedal.

a. Press Menu 

Image n°10

b. Press Foot Controllers
c. Press Foot Pedal

Image n° 11

We want to create a setting where only the Strings on Lower 1 will be affected by the position of the Damper Pedal, and all the other Parts, including the 8 Parts of the Arranger won’t change the Volume when you use the Damper Pedal.

 a. Touch the Upper 1 field on the Screen.
 b. Touch the Exp Pedal Setting field so that it will be highlighted.

Image n° 12

c. Turn the α-Dial until the field says OFF.
d. Repeat this procedure for all the other parts EXCEPT Lower 1.
e. Press Exit.

Now we will save this Setting again in the User Program Area of the G-70.

a. Press “LIST” in the User Program field on the Panel of the G-70.
b. Press write in the Display.
c. Select a Destination Memory.
d. Type Name e.g. “Piano&Strings” (you will find the & character by touching 1 and then turning the α-Dial counter clockwise).

Image n° 13

e. Press Save.

DONE!
Congratulations! You have successfully created a very beautiful User Programs!
As a reference you will find this User Program here below:

RS Piano&Strings.UPG

DOWNLOAD

(Instructions  for  the download)

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G-70 VOL.1 … Layering Piano & Strings and Electric Piano

As a 3rd step in this workshop I would like to talk about layering one more sound to the above Piano & Strings Combination. Since the G-70’s sound engine has polyphony of 128 Voices we can easily afford to Layer 3 sounds on top of each other’s.We have to remember that Upper 1 already contains the Piano Sound and Lower 1 already contains the Strings!

a. Select the User Program “Piano&Strings” that you have created in the last chapter. Therefore press LIST and select the User Program on the touch screen.
b. Press the green Upper 2 Button in the Part Select Area of the G-70.
c. Press the E.Piano/Keyboard Button in the Sound Selection Area on the right side of the panel.
d. Select FM EPiano 1 on the Touch Screen.

Image n° 14

e. Press Exit.
f. Press the red Upper 2 Button in the Part Select Area.

Now you can play with 3 layered Sounds. Anyhow you will feel that the Electric Piano might be too loud or not loud enough. Might be several reasons:
1. Please check the Keyboard Touch for Upper 2 (ref to Chapter 1).
2. Please adjust the Mixing Level of the Upper 2 Part (ref to Chapter 2).

Still you might not be 100% satisfied with the Sound. The reason could be the Effect Settings for Upper 2. Let’s mix some Chorus to the El Piano.

a. Press the Part Button on the right side of the Drawbars/Sliders. 
b. Press the Rev/Chorus Button on the left side of the Drawbars/Sliders until Chorus is Highlighted.

Image n° 15

c. Use the corresponding Slider and increase the Chorus Value of Upper 2.
d. Press Exit.

As the amount of Chorus is a matter of taste, you should experiment a little bit while playing on the Keyboard. I decided on a Value of 83. Now we will save this Setting again in the User Program Area of the G 70.

a. Press “LIST” in the User Program field on the Panel of the G 70.
b. Press write in the Display.
c. Select a Destination Memory.
d. Type Name e.g. “E.Pi&Pi&Str” (you will find the & and . character by touching 1 and then turning the α-Dial counter clock wise).
e. Press Save.

Image n° 16

DONE!
Congratulations! You have successfully created some very beautiful User Programs!
As a reference you will find this User Program here below:

RS E.Pi&Pi&Str.UPG

DOWNLOAD

 (Instruction for the download)

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Instructions for the download of the User Programs

In order to put these User Programs into your G 70 you might proceed as follows:
a. Download and unzip the File.
b. Take a USB Cable and connect your G-70 to your Computer.
c. Press Menu.



d. Press USB Data Storage.



e. Press Internal if you want to put the Data into the Internal Memory of the G 70, otherwise press External. (The selection of External requires a Data Card being installed into the PCMCIA Slot of the G 70.
f. You will find an external Drive on the Desktop of your Computer. Open it.
g. Drag and Drop the 3 User Programs into the Folder “Put new User Programs here”.
h. Press Disconnect on the Touch Screen of the G-70.
i. Press Exit.
j. Press User Program right of the α-Dial in order to update the Database.
k. You will find the following User Programs in the list:
RS Best PianoRS
Piano&StringsRS
E.Pi&Pi&Str



Thank you for being interested in my workshop.
I would like to wish you a lot of joy with your Music and your G 70.
Best Regards
Ralf Schink