Roland Premieres VS-840EX Digital Studio Workstation

Offers New Effects and Enhanced Recording Capacity Via New Zip 250 Drive

January 28, 1999 -- Enhancing one of last year's most popular and affordable digital recording products, Roland is proud to introduce the new VS-840EX Digital Studio Workstation. This self-contained 8-track digital recording studio offers all the recording, mixing and editing functions of the original VS-840 model, yet adds new effects, easier operation, enhanced SCSI capability, and greatly expanded recording capacity via a new Zip 250 removable media drive. And all VS-840EX enhancements-including the new drive-will be available to current VS-840 owners via a convenient VS-840-UP1 hardware/ software upgrade.*

The VS-840EX carries on the popular Roland V-Studio tradition by offering everything a guitarist, musician or home recordist needs to produce top-quality digital multitrack recordings. It offers up to eight tracks of digital audio playback, 64 "Virtual Tracks" to record alternate takes and solos, and digital audio editing capabilities (cut, copy, exchange, move, loop, etc.), as well as a very powerful onboard stereo multi-effects processor with several new effects algorithms.

One of the major enhancements on the VS-840EX is its new internal Zip250 drive. This removable media drive records directly to removable 250MB Zip disks, giving VS-840EX owners two-and-a-half times the recording capacity of the original VS-840 per disk. In the default MT-2 recording mode, for example, available time has been increased from 50 total track minutes to 125 total track minutes. This is ample time for storing one or two songs on a convenient and inexpensive 250MB Zip disk. Additional time-enhancing features include an enhanced Song Optimize function which automatically removes any erased sections of recorded phrases from the disk, instantly freeing up more time.

New VS-840EX effects include Bass Guitar Simulation, Bass Guitar Multi-effects, Roland's acclaimed Microphone Simulation, Acoustic Guitar Simulation, and 10-band EQ. Developed with an eye toward guitarists, the VS-840EX also includes a dedicated guitar-level input which can be used with a new onboard Chromatic Guitar and Bass Tuner-so guitarists no longer have to unplug to tune up. Improving ease of use, the VS-840EX includes new EZ Routing features which allow routing parameter input via Channel Status buttons, and a new "Quick Recording" mode which makes basic recording very simple by reducing the number of button pushes. A new Sync Edit utility even helps users sync their acoustic tracks to MIDI.

While the original VS-840 could back up projects to Zip drive using the optional VS4S-1 SCSI Expansion Board, the new VS-840EX can use this same board to back up to a variety of other SCSI-equipped storage devices, including SCSI-2 compatible hard drives.** The SCSI Expansion Board is user-installable into the VS-840EX, making connectivity that much easier.

Additionally, the VS-840EX permits Track Import/Export to and from a connected SCSI drive, in effect creating another storage area for tracks. The enhanced Track Import function even allows bringing in a track from another song (a vocal, for example), as long as the sample rate and recording mode used on both songs are the same. And a new Track Sheet function lets users know what's on every track at any given time.

*Professional installation required.
**SCSI-2 compatible drives with 512 bytes/sector only. Maximum managed disk capacity per connected drive is 1000MB.
***Backup to external SCSI drive requires the optional VS4S-1 SCSI Expansion Board. This board is user-installable into the new VS-840EX, but requires professional installation in the original VS-840 or a VS-840 that has been upgraded with "EX" features via the VS-840-UP1.

For more information, visit Roland on the web at www.rolandus.com.