Compact, Portable, and Affordable MIDI Keyboard Controller
Compact and portable, the A-500S is an inexpensive 49-key USB MIDI keyboard that shares many of the same design elements as the A-PRO series keyboards. Perfect for anyone making music at home or in a project studio with a computer, academic settings needing great sound at low cost, or live performances and mobile recording applications.
Make Music with Your Mac or PC
You have a computer, you have inspiration, now is the time to start playing and recording your music. The A-500S is the perfect musical keyboard for use with a wide variety of software on Mac or PC including SONAR, Music Creator, Garage Band, FL Studio, Ableton Live, Sequel, Cubase, Reason, ACID, and others. For Windows customers just getting started the A-500S includes the Cakewalk Production Plus Pack. Best of all, the A-500S is easy to set up — if you can plug-in a USB Cable, you will be making music in no time at all.
Real Keyboard Feel and Response
With a newly designed key mechanism — taken from Roland's 30 years of synthesizer development — players can control a wide dynamic range with incredible subtlety. The key assemblies have a rounded shape for better reaction to the player's touch and more comfortable glissando, plus enhancements have been made to reduce the already low mechanical noise of the A-500S and eliminate vertical shake on the key strokes. The newly developed pitch bend and modulation design offers you easier and more expressive control. All these features add up to a keyboard that even the most discerning player can appreciate.
Match Your Playing Style with Selectable Velocity Curves
Pick from 12 velocity curves to precisely match your playing style. As the A-500S has 4 different velocity curves and 3 kinds of sensitivity (Light, Medium, and Heavy), you can find the combination that perfectly suits you, so you can produce the precise MIDI performance and programming of a true professional. In addition a Fixed Velocity Mode is provided where the A-500S always outputs a fixed velocity (from 1 to 127) providing practical input for drum and percussion programming in step recording.
Easy Connection to Computer (and more) with Side Panel Ports
The A-500S cleanly provides connections on the side panel so that you can easily have a computer monitor or laptop in the ideal position behind the keyboard — a must for educational use. All connections are located on the side — USB, MIDI OUT plus separate Hold and Expression pedal ports.
3 Digit 7-segment LED and Rotary Encoder
MIDI control on the A-500S is provided via a rotary encoder, which is both easier and faster than using the notes for numerical values. With this knob you can set up MIDI channel, Program Change, Control Change and more and instantly see the values on the LED. When working with virtual instruments, you can set this knob for quick control of your favorite LFO, Filter, or other controls.
FPT Low-latency MIDI Transmission
Don't trust your MIDI to anything else! The A-500S offers MIDI Transmission using Roland's proprietary FPT (Fast Processing Technology). You can rely on FPT for stable, high speed, low latency, and low jitter MIDI transmission. In layman's terms, that means that subtleties of your performance are going to be captured regardless of the music application you are using. And when working with virtual instruments, FPT provides lower latencies to give you the inspiring feel of playing a real instrument.
Production Plus Pack
The Production Plus Pack is a powerful suite of music creation software that ships with the A-500S. It includes SONAR 8.5 LE recording software (PC only) and three high-quality and versatile virtual instruments for Mac and PC: Rapture LE, Cakewalk Sound Center, and Studio Instruments Drums.
Check out sound examples of Cakewalk Sound Center in the audio section of the flash player.
3 Power Sources—Play it Anywhere
No matter what environment you are in, you’ll be able to use the A-500S because it offers the flexibility of three separate power sources: USB bus power, batteries, or AC Adapter. The A-500S is compatible with USB-Bus power. No power supply is required when connecting via USB cable. The A-500S can also be powered via batteries (AA type x 4) or by an AC adaptor. 3 choices of power for any situation. Batteries and AC adaptor (BOSS PSA Series) are optional accessories.
Features
A-500S PRO MIDI Keyboard Controller
- 49-note, velocity-sensitive, standard keyboard
- Quality feel & response for serious players
- Match your playing style with 12 velocity curves & fixed velocity mode
- Sure grip, rubber-coated Pitch Bend/Modulation Lever
- Rotary encoder and 3 digit 7-segment LED Display
- Octave buttons
- Expand playability by adding Sustain and
- Expression Pedals (available separately)
- Side panel connections for streamlined routing
- MIDI Out port with low latency FPT transmission
- Choose your power: USB Bus/AA Battery/AC (Optional)
- Ready to play with 3 included virtual instruments
- Works with any DAW on Mac or PC
- Includes the Production Plus Pack music creation software
Production Plus Pack
The Production Plus Pack is a powerful suite of music creation software that ships with the A-500PRO. It includes SONAR 8.5 LE recording software (PC only) and three high-quality and versatile virtual instruments for Mac and PC: Rapture LE, Cakewalk Sound Center, and Studio Instruments Drums. And best of all, it all works on Windows 7.
About SONAR 8.5 LE (available separately)
SONAR LE is the most complete OEM audio production software solution available today.
SONAR LE was designed to provide a simple yet complete solution for creating audio with hardware. SONAR LE is based on SONAR 8.5, the newest technology from Cakewalk, the world's leading developer of powerful and easy to use products for music creation and recording.
SONAR 8.5 LE
Key Features
- Powered by SONAR 8.5
- 32 audio tracks
- 64 MIDI tracks
- 8 simultaneous inputs and outputs
- 24-bit/96 kHz audio quality
- 24 simultaneous effects
- 8 simultaneous virtual instruments
- Includes 2 virtual instruments
- Includes over 10 audio effects
- Integrated VST/VSTi support
- Support for ACID™-format loops
- Support for ReWire clients such as Live, Reason, and more
- Elegant user interface
- Active Controller Technology™ automatically maps MIDI keyboards and control surfaces to the parameters you need most on effects, instruments, volume, pan, and other mix elements
- Easier integration of virtual instruments with Synth Rack
- Support for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista as well as 32-bit Windows XP operating systems
About Rapture LE
Rapture LE is a special version of the award- winning Rapture synthesizer. It includes over 200 programs & hundreds of oscillator shapes. Quickly load production-ready patches from growling leads to bumpin' basses and spacious pads - ideal for today's pop, dance, and electronic music.
Key Features
- LE version based on the award-winning Rapture wavetable synthesizer
- Searing synthesized sounds, leads, basses, pads, sequences, and more
- Nearly 200 patch presets, expandable
- Supports DXi/VSTi/RTAS/AU formats
About Cakewalk Sound Center
Cakewalk Sound Center is perfect for beginners looking to create virtual instruments parts. Access 150 different instrument sounds in a simple-to-use interface. It includes acoustic & electric guitars, basses, drums, pianos, synths, strings, ethnic sounds, and more.
Cakewalk Sound Center
Highlights:
- Based on the critically-acclaimed Dimension Pro sound engine
- Comes with over 125 professional sounds from Dimension
- Expandable with Expansion Packs
- Categorized patches make it easy to find the sound you are looking for
- Rate your favorite patches to easily find your favorites when you need them
About Studio Instruments Drums
Don't have a drummer? No problem. Just use Studio Instruments Drums to create realistic drum parts for your songs. You can choose from the included drum patterns that come with Studio Instrument Drums or create your own unique drum parts using a MIDI controller or even a mouse. And you get amazing visual feedback as the drums pulse and cymbals crash in time with the music
Highlights
- Load multiple Drum sound programs and play pre-recorded drum grooves in a variety of styles
- Includes patterns in a variety of styles: Rock, Pop, Hip Hop, Jazz, Blues, Funk, and more
- Drag patterns into your recording software to make variations
- Use your MIDI controller, computer keyboard, or mouse to play Drums
- Drums pulse and cymbals crash in time with the music
- Use built-in compression and reverb to get edgy and realistic sounds
- Control tuning, panning, and volume for infinite variety
- Load and trigger multiple grooves for different sections of your song
Specifications
Keyboard:
- 49 keys (with velocity)
Controllers:
- MIDI Channel Button
- Program Change Button
- Octave Shift Button (+/-)
- Pitch Bend/Modulation Lever
- Value Knob
Display:
- 7 segments, 3 characters (LED)
Side Panel:
- Power Switch (USB/OFF/DC)
- Advanced Driver Switch (ON/OFF)
Connectors:
- Hold Pedal Jack
- Expression Pedal Jack
- MIDI OUT Connector
- USB Connector
- DC IN Jack
Power Supply:
- USB Bus Power
- DC 9 V (AC Adaptor)
- Dry battery LR6 (AA) type (alkaline) × 4
Current Draw:
- 150 mA
Dimensions:
- 833 (W) × 183.8 (D) × 84 (H) mm
- 32-13/16 (W) × 7-1/4 (D) × 3-5/16 (H) inches
Weight:
- 2.7 kg / 6 lbs
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PC
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Mac
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- OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 / Windows Vista® / Windows XP SP2** or later
- Computer: Windows-compatible computer equipped with a USB 1.1 port
- CPU: Intel-compatible Processors 1GHz or higher
- Memory: 512MB or higher
- Hard Disk: 100MB or more free space
**This product does not support Windows XP Media Center Edition or XP Professional x64.
Production Plus Pack 3
- OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 / Windows Vista® / Windows XP SP2** or later
- CPU: Intel-compatible Processor 2GHz (3GHz or higher recommended)
- Memory:1GB (2GB or higher recommended)
- Hard Disk: 8GB or more free space (EIDE /Ultra DMA 7200 RPM or SATA recommended)
- Hardware: WDM or ASIO compatible audio interface, DVD-ROM drive for installation
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- OS: Mac OS X v10.4 or later***
- Computer: Apple® Macintosh® series with on-board USB port
- CPU: Intel Processor or PowerPC G4 1GHz or higher
- Memory: 512MB or higher
- Hard Disk: 100MB or more free space
Production Plus Pack 3***
- CPU(Clock): Intel® Core™ Duo processor
- Memory: 1GB or higher (2GB or higher recommended)
- Hard Disk: 6GB or more of free space, EIDE / Ultra DMA (7200 RPM or SATA recommended)
- Hardware: Core Audio compatible Audio Interface, DVD-ROM Drive for installation
***This product does not support Macintosh computers running Microsoft Windows.
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Keyboards and MIDI Controllers
