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TB3's hidden features + parameter recall

TB3's hidden features + parameter recall

1 Apr 2019, 15:54
I just thought I'd share some information about the TB-3 that I stumbled into. It turns out that the TB3 is a fully controllable synth with 5 LFO shapes, VCA, VCF, VCO, ringmod, crossmod, and much much more. No less than 11 sections are available to edit through sysex, not including complete pattern control:

VCO independently control sine, square, saw, ring + pink/white noise
VCF with ADSR envelope, amount, accent & keyfollow
VCA with ADSR
LFO modulates VCO, VCF, VCA with 5 shapes including S&H
Cross Modulation 8 types combining square, saw, and noise sources
Ring Modulation 4 mod shapes, separate from FX 1&2
CV Offset inputs to SAW, SQR, RING, LFO
Distortion 25 types with Drive, Bottom, Tone & wet/dry mix
Effect 1 8  types + Pitch Shifter & EQ
Effect 2 8 types + Reverb
Parameter Assign

As you know, the 1.10 firmware update released by Roland allowed you to write 16 separate user patches and actually included these hidden sections above but didn't document them. But then I found this:
https://github.com/mugenkidou/TB-3Editor
This guy has completely documented all these new sections, and when I checked further he has a Ctrlr panel that can recall parameters. I wrote him and what I got from him enabled me to associate some sysex request calls with their sections above and thus, all parameters can be recalled and set automatically. Here are the sysex RQ1 calls if you're interested:
VCO F0 41 10 00 00 7B 11 10 00 08 00 00 00 00 0E 5A F7
VCF F0 41 10 00 00 7B 11 10 00 0A 00 00 00 00 0B 5B F7
VCA F0 41 10 00 00 7B 11 10 00 0C 00 00 00 00 05 5F F7
LFO F0 41 10 00 00 7B 11 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 0D 63 F7
Cross Mod F0 41 10 00 00 7B 11 10 00 04 00 00 00 00 0A 62 F7
Ring Mod F0 41 10 00 00 7B 11 10 00 06 00 00 00 00 0E 5C F7
CV Offset F0 41 10 00 00 7B 11 10 00 02 00 00 00 00 06 68 F7
Distortion F0 41 10 00 00 7B 11 10 00 0E 00 00 00 00 09 59 F7
Effect 1 F0 41 10 00 00 7B 11 10 00 10 00 00 00 00 5F 01 F7
Effect 2 F0 41 10 00 00 7B 11 10 00 12 00 00 00 00 54 0A F7
Param Assign F0 41 10 00 00 7B 11 10 00 14 00 00 00 00 12 4A F7
This was a great development for me because it allowed me to use the TB3 as a sound module in its own right and not limit my patch storage. I have set up 3-4 BCR2000 presets that I use to sculpt the sound however I want and then use these commands to later recall the parameter values so I can pick up exactly where I left off. I put the complete details in a blog and I could post the BCR templates if anyone's interested.

http://doperobot.com/wordpress/2019/03/20/roland-tb-3-extended-features-parameter-recall/

Re: TB3's hidden features + parameter recall

6 Aug 2021, 21:15
New reply to an old post, I know, but it seems this unit has been sorely underated....

Yeah, the TB3 was underdeveloped hardware wise, under teh hood is a different story...
i believe Roland were trying to just focus on its TB-eque flavours and relying on that name (and that particular sound) alone to market it, deliberately crippling the wider aspect of the engine to keep it simple and to make room for the tb03

This is a VERY powerful dual osc monosynth, much like the novation bass station... probably better tbh considering the effects and filter... but to get the most out of it, you need to run a rack in Ableton (max for live) which opens the engine under the hood and gives you access to all parameters and patch settings, even the sequencer if you need.
There are afew VSTi based interfaces available for it now, however Roland should have gotten onto this on the outset... these units would have sold a tonne more units..
.
Sometimes I dno wtf is goin on in Roland's heads when they do what they do to some of their gear... or DONT do...

In any case, if people saw how much can be done with this unit through SW, which edits through sysex, they'd be blown away...

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