Description
Nothing encapsulates 80’s style more than the keytar. World class synth designers Roland bring us the AX Edge, a striking redesign to this awesome instrument and have packed it with more features than ever before.
As a keyboardist, a lot of pressure can fall onto your shoulders to be the backbone of a band. That’s why the AX Edge encapsulates a huge amount of sounds and excellent intuitiveness to carry some of that weight.
Keytars of old were bulky and not all that cool. But the AX Edge is sleek, stylish and has interchangeable blades to customise your look.
Features
You’ll have an expansive soundscape at your fingertips. Keytarists can experiment with a massive 256 notes of polyphony, 320 programs and 500 preset tones that will cover all needs.
A mind-blowing amount of customisation and effects are at hand in the AX Edge. It has 79 effects and EQ settings including the likes of studio quality chorus, reverb, compression, modulations, master EQ’s and an arpeggiator.
MIDI support lets you connect a microphone for use of the AX Edge’s onboard vocoder with four standard presets. Want to sound like Daft Punk? You’ve got it.
This is all accessible through 49 full-sized velocity and channel aftertouch keys and dual display system. Roland have kept buttons to a minimum so there’s less time fiddling, more time being a real stage presence.
The AX Edge is designed to be as natural to play as possible. The modulation bar, ribbon controller and octave selector are accessed from the neck with your left hand. As well as the tone remain, meaning you can switch between sounds without any jarring stop and start. There’s also an assignable control so you can switch to presets on the fly.
Let’s not forget the Roland sound engine designed to cut through big band mixes. Create edgy leads, fat basses, and all types of sounds perfect for the performing keytarist.
Connectivity
While they might not stand out as much as the brilliant sounds you can get from this keytar, the AX Edge has plenty of convenient connection options to make your life easy.
Bluetooth MIDI connectivity allows for wireless sound customisation through the AX-Edge editor app. Shape your tone in comfort. Four hours of battery life means you can start it up and forget, so you'll never experience any sudden dropouts mid-gig. And a handy USB port lets you back up all your sounds. If disaster somehow strikes, you’re well equipped to deal with it.
Included is an extra coloured blade to customise the look of the AX Edge to suit your style.
Expand & Collaborate
Version 1.10 firmware is now available for the AX-Edge and this means it joins the likes of the Roland Fantom, Jupiter-X, Jupiter-Xm, MC-707, MC-101 and RD-88 to be part of Roland’s Zen-Core range of Synthesizers.
Zen-Core synths allow their users to create a patch on one machine, then share it with another product in the range that uses the same engine, and now this is true for the AX-Edge. This is great news for musicians who might produce sounds on one synth in the studio but want to play it on another synthesizer when they play live. Since the AX-Edge was born for the stage, this is a match made in heaven!
Being a part of the Zen-Core range also means that AX-Edge users can download and install additional sound packs distributed within Roland Cloud. All these sounds can be tweaked to taste using the Roland Cloud Zenology Plug-in (or your favourite Zen-Core hardware synth), then loaded into the AX-Edge for tonight’s gig! And naturally, if you create your sonic masterpiece on the AX-Edge, you can share it with all your friends to use on their synths too.
In the Box
- Owner's manual
- Leaflet "USING THE UNIT SAFELY"
- AC adaptor
- Power cord
- Strap
- Blade panel (including Hex key, screws)
- Ferrite core (including Band for fastening the core)
Specifications
- 49 full-sized keys with velocity and channel aftertouch
- 256 notes of polyphony
- 4 parts + Vocoder with Mic Input
- 320 programs and over 500 preset tones for keytarists
- 79 types of Part multi-effects and Part EQ, 79 types of Program multi-effects, Chorus, Reverb, Master Compressor and Master EQ
- Tone Remain function switches sounds seamlessly without unnatural sound cut off
- Ribbon Controller, Modulation Bar, and Assignable Control for expressive performance
- Up to 4 hours of battery-powered* operation (or AC adaptor)
- Bluetooth MIDI and editor app for wireless sound customization
- Weighs just 9 lbs. 5 oz/4.2 kg (without battery)
- Available in black and white models with removable Edge Blade for custom look
- One extra Edge Blade included to complement your AX-Edge model
- Audio file playback via external USB memory
- Master MIDI controller for controlling sound modules, plugins and more
- Dual display system optimized for live performance
- Optional ST-AX2 stand provides stable support when the instrument is not in use
