Review: Roland VR-5 A/V Mixer

MIDI

The VR-5 features MIDI in and loop through. While initially conceived for keyboards and used for audio gear (and thus something Roland is abundantly familiar with), the command set for MIDI has been expanded to also control video hardware. The implementation on the VR-5 is called V-Link. I didn't have anything to test the functionality of the V-Link on the VR-5, but it is a feature worth looking into if you have the capability.

Things I Learned

A few more random notes on the VR-5 that I discovered in my testing:

• You can hit Video Rec to put the VR-5 into record-standby. But hitting Video Rec again does not initiate record. You have to hit the Play button to execute recording on the VR-5.

• Because the VR-5 cannot play a clip and record at the same time, if you are using Audio Follow and recording in the VR-5, selecting the internal Player as a source fades out the video and audio (from inputs 1-3, not the PC or mics) as it tries to select a non-existent source. This could be a one-button pseudo-FTB.

• While playing or recording, you can't get into the System or File Utility menu. An alert pops up on the screen: "Now Playing and Recording." (The VR-5 can't actually do both simultaneously.) So you can't already be in a show, recording it, and then try to change the function of the USB port from Storage to Video Out. You have to do that before the show begins. You can't get into those menus by design. Those menus can affect things such as formatting the SD card, file management, and other foundational systems things that could mess you up while playing or recording.

• The current brochure and the website show the Roland logo keyed over full-screen video on the program monitor. When you get the VR-5, the Roland logo is saved into the User Logo button, but you can save any image you want onto that button. However, do not let the promotional image lead you to believe that you can key the User Logo over video. You can't. It's a fullscreen cut in and out. It doesn't even fade like most everything else does. Best to use this for a pre- or post-event static graphic slide.

• The Preview functionality actually is more powerful than you'd expect. While I was in the menus tweaking the parameters of the video wipes, I wished I could still see the quad-split of the video sources. I connected a monitor to the Preview output on the back of the VR-5 and, voila! I had the menu on the VR-5's preview screen, but the Preview out was still the quad-split showing the sources.

• The Output Monitor is where you manually toggle between seeing Program Out and a preview of the PC input. There's no surprise here, but when I was recording inside the VR-5, the fourth square of the Preview quad-split was permanently empty because the VR-5 can't record and play back at the same time. I would have liked the option to put the PC preview in that fourth square in the quad-split.

• As widescreen video has become more the norm these days, you could do 16:9 video in the VR-5 by feeding it squeezed widescreen video and watching everything squeezed on the built-in LCD monitors. If you feed the squeezed quad-split to a widescreen monitor, it would actually display your sources stretched appropriately. As I mentioned, your streaming software may offer settings to stretch the 4:3 feed from the VR-5. This would be a nice feature for a firmware upgrade so internal recordings can also be 16:9.

• The VR-5 has a VGA input for computers, but not a VGA output for computer projectors. I thought this was a glaring omission, as the HDMI they did include is not pervasive in the installed base of projectors already out there. VGA will be the default interconnect for quite some time to come. On the VR-5, there's a little panel opening next to the HDMI out. Maybe there will be a VGA option in the future.

Conclusion

I really like the VR-5. Its inability to both play back and record inside the mixer at the same time was a bit of a surprise, but the VR-5 still has a lot going for it. When I spoke with the engineers, they were still in the process of rolling out this brand new mixer and I was one of the earliest hands-on users, so they were very interested in my findings so they could offer firmware updates.

It looks like Roland is serious about making the VR-5 better as time passes by ironing out the bugs and tweaking the feature set to do what its users desire, such as 16:9. With this sort of dedication, I can only hope for a future VR- model that does internal playback and recording at the same time, and, hopefully, an HD mixer that finally brings an affordable solution to small multicam productions.