Roland A-80 help, complete newbie!

[redemptionsongs]

I have a Roland A-80 that I know nothing about and has been sitting in my garage unused since I got it. I understand that the A-80 is a MIDI controller so it doesn't produce any sound unless it is hooked up to something else and my totally embarrassing question is: what do I hook it up to? I'd like to confirm that it at least works correctly before I sell it to someone who will enjoy it, but I have no idea how or what to connect to it in order to get sound. Ideally, I'd like to find something inexpensive to confirm that it does in fact work. I'd like to get a keyboard, but I need to start with something that is a little more beginner friendly, I nearly exploded when I tried to read the manual.

Thanks for any input!

 

[kanthos]

You'll have to know a bit to really be able to test it. You'd have to hook it up to another keyboard or MIDI-compatible device (or even a computer with a MIDI interface and a virtual instrument that will play in response to incoming MIDI data). The thing that makes it hard is that there are 16 MIDI channels, and if the A-80 is sending data on a channel that the other instrument isn't listening to, it may seem like the A-80 is doing nothing. If you set it to send on channel 1 and set the other instrument to receive on channel 1 (which may be the way they're set up now anyway), the test will be accurate.

 

[AdamGBB]

What Kanthos said... although I think usually all midi controllers/ sound modules etc are set to to channel 1 anyway so.. you probably don't need to do anything there

 

[kanthos]

Set to channel 1 by default, but it may have been changed, since it's been played before.

 

[ajamesb]

Just picked up an A-80 myself. You need to get a seperate sound module which would go to a powered amplifier, or use a midi to usb chord to run to your computer which may or may not have existing midi software. I am running Vista 64 bit and may just opt to get a used sound module and run it to my guitar amp until I figure out all the software options a computer provides.

 

[kiskadar69]

Start the test mode. See "Roland A-80 Service Notes".

https://www.synthxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Roland-a-80-service-notes.pdf

 

[Biggles]

5017 days between responses, is this a record?