FR-8X: How to boost the volume of individual instruments
To adjust the volume of the entire accordion, you simply turn the volume knob on the front panel of the accordion (Panel shot). If you need to adjust the balance between bass and treble, you can turn the knob that says balance (Panel shot). Turning the knob towards bass will give you more left hand sound, while turning the knob towards treble will give you more right hand sound.
If after adjusting the sound with these two knobs, you’re still not happy with what you hear, you can adjust the volume of specific instruments through the menu. First, you need to figure out which sounds you specifically want to make louder or softer. Once you know which sounds you want to adjust, you can target them individually.
Here is the procedure to boost the volume of a specific orchestral sound:
1) Press the menu button.
2) Scroll to orchestra 1 or orchestra 2, whichever mode you're playing in
3) Right away, you’ll see that the screen shows whichever sound you have selected. You can either change the orchestral tone by using the data/enter knob to scroll, or keep the selected tone.
4) You'll notice that one of the parameters on this screen says volume. This is the easiest way to adjust the volume of each specific instrument, and you’ll find this screen for every orchestral instrument.
5) Select the volume parameter by pressing the data/enter knob until it is highlighted, and then turn the knob to select the desired volume.
If you’re still not thrilled with how the sound is coming out, you can change the touch of the instrument, so that it reacts differently when you press the keyboard:
1) Press menu, scroll to orchestra 1 or 2 (whichever you're using), enter the menu, and select the tone you want to adjust.
2) Deselect the tone by pressing the data/enter knob so that nothing on the screen is highlighted, and scroll to the page that says “Controllers” at the top with the number 5.6 in the top right hand corner. This page will allow you to select how the keyboard reacts to your touch, and therefore affects the sound that is produced.
3) Press the data/enter knob 4 times so that “Orch 1 Touch” is highlighted.
4) You can scroll through the different touch options by turning the data/enter knob. Try each of them out to see if you like the way the sound is produced by any particular setting.
Information on Touch Settings:
Fixed:
If the Touch setting has the word "fixed" in it, that means that the keyboard will make sound even without the bellows being pumped, and that the volume of the sound will be the same no matter how hard you press the keys. Fixed Low will be a softer tone, Fixed Medium will be a bit louder, and Fixed High will be the loudest.
Low, medium, and high:
Depending on whether the touch is set to low, medium, or high, the sound will be controlled by keyboard only. "Low" means that even a light touch to the keyboard will make pretty loud sound, while "High" will take more strength for fortissimo notes (however you get more control and nuance with this last option). "Medium" is in-between.
Combination:
If it has a combination of fixed + low, medium, or high, then it will be a mixture of keyboard and bellows action.
Bellows:
If you have the touch set to just bellows, than the sound will be fully controlled by the bellows action.