Generalmusic GEM S3 User Manual

EXPLANATION OF GRAPHIC SYMBOLS:

CAUTION

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

DO NOT OPEN

CAUTION: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF

The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol,
within an equilateral triangle, is intended to
alert the user to the presence of uninsulated
“dangerous voltage” within the product’s
enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude
to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons.

ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT REMOVE COVER

(OR BACK). NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS

INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED

SERVICE PERSONNEL.

The exclamation mark within an equilateral
triangle is intended to alert the user to the
presence of important operating and
maintenance (servicing) instructions in the
literature accompanying the product.

IMPORTANT SAFETY AND INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

INSTRUCTION PERTAINING TO A RISK OF FIRE, ELECTRIC SHOCK, OR INJURY TO PERSONS.

WARNING - When using electric products, basic precautions should always be followed, including the following:

1. Read all the Safety and Installation instructions and explanations of Graphic Symbols before using the product .

2. This product must be earthed. If it should malfunction or breakdown, grounding provides a path of least resistance for

electric current to reduce the risk of electric shock. This product is equipped with a cord having an equipment-grounding
conductor and a grounding plug. The plug must be plugged into an appropriate outlet that is properly installed and earthed in
accordance with all local codes and ordinances.

DANGER - Improper connection of the equipment-grounding conductor can result in a risk of electric shock. Check

with a qualified electrician or serviceman if you are in doubt as to whether the product is properly grounded. Do not modify
the plug provided with the product - if it will not fit the outlet, have a proper outlet installed by a qualified electrician.

3. To reduce the risk of injury, close supervision is necessary when this product is used near children.

4. Do not use this product near water - for example, near a bathtub, washbowl, kitchen sink, in a wet basement, or near a

swimming pool or the like.

5. This product should only be used by a stand or cart that is recommended by the manufacturer.

6. This product, either alone or in combination with an amplifier and headphones or speakers, may be capable of producing

sound levels that could cause permanent hearing loss. Do not operate for a long period of time at a high volume level or at a
level that is uncomfortable. If you experience any hearing loss or ringing in the ears, you should consult an audiologist.

7. This product should be located so that its location or position does not interfere with its proper ventilation.

8. This product should be located away from heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, or other products that produce

heat.

9. The product should be connected to a power supply only of the type described in the operating instructions or as marked
on the product.

10. This product may be equipped with a polarized line plug (one blade wider than the other). This is a safety feature. If you
are unable to insert the plug into the outlet, contact an electrician to replace your obsolete outlet. Do not defeat the safety
purpose of the plug.

11. The power-supply cord of the product should be unplugged from the outlet when left unused for a long period of time.
When unplugging the power supply cord, do not pull on the cord, but grasp it by the plug.

12. Care should be taken so that objects do not fall and liquids are not spilled into the enclosure through openings.

13. The product should be serviced by qualified service personnel when:
A. The power-supply cord or the plug has been damaged; or
B. Objects have fallen, or liquid has been spilled into the product; or
C. The products has been exposed to rain; or
D. The product does not appear to be operating normally or exhibits a marked change in performance; or
E. The product has been dropped, or the enclosure damaged.

14. Do not attempt to service the product beyond that described in the user-maintenance instructions. All other servicing

should be referred to qualified service personnel.

15.

WARNING - Do not place objects on product power cord or place it in a position where anyone could trip

over, walk on or roll anything over it. Do not allow the product, or its bench, or its pedal board to rest on or to be installed
over power cords of any type. Improper installations of this type create the possibility of fire hazard and/or personal injury.

16. Electromagnetic interference (RFI). This electronic product utilizes digital sampled wave processing technology (S.W.P.) that
may adversely affect radio/tv reception. Read FCC information inside back cover for additional information.

SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS

MUSICPROCESSORS

OWNER’S MANUAL

Registered trademarks cited in this publication

Amiga is a registered trademark of Commodore/Amiga, Inc. Akai and Akai S1000 are registered trademarks of Akai
Professional. Apple File Exchange and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Atari and Atari ST
are registered trademarks of the Atari Corporation. Sound Designer is a registered trademark of DigiDesign, Inc. Notator
and Notator Logic are registered trademarks of Emagic GmbH. AccesPC is a registgered trademark of Insignia Solutions,
Inc. MS-DOS and Wave are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation. Avalon and Cubase are registered
trademarks of Steinberg Research GmbH. Sample Vision is a registered trademark of Turtle Beach Systems, Inc. All other
trademarks cited are the property of the respective manufacturer.

********************************

The information contained in this publication has been carefully prepared and checked. However, no responsibility will be
taken for eventual errors. All rights are reserved and this document may not be copied, photcopied or reproduced in part or
in whole without prior consent from Generalmusic S.p.A.. Generalmusic S.p.A. reserves the right to apply whatever
aesthetic, design or functional modifications are considered necessary to any of their products without prior notice.
Generalmusic S.p.A. assumes no responsibility for the use or application of the products or circuits described herein.

© 1994 by Generalmusic S.p.A. All rights reserved.

This symbol, silkscreened on the instrument’s back panel, is an indication that the S Series unit incorporates
two rechargeable Ni/Cd (Nickel-Cadmium) batteries which are recharged while the instrument is in use.
These batteries maintain data intact (when the instrument is off) in the Ram (if installed), and any user­programmed data in

EDIT GENERAL

(date, time, footswitch polarity and operating status, General MIDI

compatibility, Dynamic and Aftertouch sensitivity in S2/S3 and the Sound Test note in S2R).

SUBJECT INDEX

This index lists all the subjects discussed in the manual. Each subject shows the section and relative chapter where
the subject appears.

Abbreviations

U/S User Interface/Selection P Practical guide
ST SampleTranslator

For example, “Song-load from disk, P2, R11” shows that the description of the procedure to load a Song from disk
is described in the Practical Guide section, chapter 2 and also in the Reference section, chapter 11.

R Reference

Song

- load from disk P2, R11

- load as Midi-file P4, R11

- save to disk P3, R11

- save as Midi-file P4, R11

- erase from memory P7, R9

- copy to another Bank/Song R16

- create a Bank/Song P7, R8

- Edit Song R9

Sequencer

- controls P6, R8

- select a Song U/S, P6, R8

- playback a Song P6, R8

- record a Song P9, R8

Performance

- how to programme a Performance P8, R3

- programming the tracks P8, R4

- viewing options of the tracks U/S, R1

Sound

- Sound Library

load from disk (as a Sound Library Setup ) P2, R11
save to disk (as a Sound Library Setup ) P3, R11
import a Song from disk R12
organisation R12

- selection (and assignment to a track)

from the control panel U/S
via Midi P12

- Edit Sound

select the type of Sound R5
select the Waveform R5
creat a Waveform ST, R6
definition of an Envelope P11
definition of Tracking P11

- Real time Sound editing P10

- Edit Sound via MIDI P14

Effects

- Effects Bypass U/S

- Effects Libraries

loading from disk (as an Effects Libraries Setup) P2, R11
save to disk (as an Effects Libraries Setup) P3, R11
organisation R13

- Edit Effects R14

- assignment to the Performance P8, R13

- activation of the tracks P8, R13

- selecting the Effects via Midi P13

- modifying the Effects via Midi P13

Drumkits & Sound Patch

- definition and editing R7

Midi

- assigning the Midi channels to the tracks R4

- difinition and programming the Midi-Common R10

- Midi-Merge R10

- General Midi P4, R10

- communcating with an external sequencer P15

Pedals, Footswitches

- assigning the functions P8, R3-10

- activation of the tracks P8, R4

Wheels

- assigning the functions P8, R3

- activation of the tracks P8, R4

Function Controllers

- use P10

- editing R3

(S2R: R3)

Audio Outputs

- programming R4

SUBJECT INDEX

GENERAL INDEX I

GENERAL INDEX

1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................ 2

About the S Series instruments ...................................................................................................................................... 2

How to use this manual .................................................................................................................................................. 3

Convention used in the manual ...................................................................................................................................... 4

2. LAYOUTS ........................................................................................ 5

FRONT PANEL S2/S3 ............................................................................................................................... 6

REAR PANEL S2/S3.................................................................................................................................. 9

FRONT PANEL S2R ................................................................................................................................ 10

REAR PANEL S2R................................................................................................................................... 12

3. OVERVIEW OF THE INSTRUMENT

& ITS EDIT/DATA HANDLING CAPACITY ....................................... 13

OVERVIEW OF THE INSTRUMENT .......................................................................................................14

The Music Processor concept ...................................................................................................................................... 14

Sound synthesis ........................................................................................................................................................... 14

Sampling............................................................................................................................................................................ 14

Waveforms ......................................................................................................................................................................... 15

Filters and Sounds............................................................................................................................................................. 15

Bank/Song and Performance........................................................................................................................................ 16

Performance ...................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Tracks ........................................................................................................................................................................... 16

The Track playing mode .................................................................................................................................................... 16

Bank/Song ......................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Track configuration........................................................................................................................................................... 17

Multi-timbral ..................................................................................................................................................................... 17

The mixer........................................................................................................................................................................... 17

“Mute” and “Solo”........................................................................................................................................................... 17

Sources and Destinations............................................................................................................................................. 18

MIDI events ....................................................................................................................................................................... 18

Sources .............................................................................................................................................................................. 18

Destinations....................................................................................................................................................................... 18

Internal memory and disks............................................................................................................................................ 19

Overview of the data and the memorising facilities (floppy disk and Ram-disk).............................................................. 19

The data............................................................................................................................................................................. 19

MODES OF OPERATION: NORMAL, EDIT/HANDLING......................................................................... 20

Normal operative mode..................................................................................................................................................... 20

Edit/Data Handling mode ................................................................................................................................................. 20

Multitasking....................................................................................................................................................................... 20

II GENERAL INDEX

OVERVIEW OF THE EDIT/HANDLING ENVIRONMENTS..................................................................... 21

Edit, handling, utility environments ............................................................................................................................... 21

The pages..................................................................................................................................................................... 21

The menus.................................................................................................................................................................... 22

The structure and selection of the menus .......................................................................................................................... 22

Commands/options....................................................................................................................................................... 22

Parameters ................................................................................................................................................................... 22

Simple parameter .............................................................................................................................................................. 22

Main menu and secondary menus ..................................................................................................................................... 22

Multiple parameter............................................................................................................................................................ 23

Graphic parameter............................................................................................................................................................ 23

Escape from edit/handling ............................................................................................................................................ 24

Analysis of the ‘edit sound’ edit environment ................................................................................................................... 24

Analysis of two edit/handling environments.................................................................................................................. 24

The “Are you sure?” display............................................................................................................................................. 24

Analysis of the ‘disk’ handling environment ..................................................................................................................... 25

4. INSTALLATION, POWER UP, DEMO ........................................... 27

CONNECTING THE POWER CABLE ..................................................................................................... 28

CONNECT THE AUDIO CABLES............................................................................................................ 28

Connecting to an external amplification system ............................................................................................................... 28

Stereo headphones............................................................................................................................................................. 28

S2R: CONNECTING TO A MASTER KEYBOARD OR TO AN EXTERNAL SEQUENCER .................... 29

Connecting to a Master keyboard................................................................................................................................. 29

Connect the Midi ports...................................................................................................................................................... 29

Connecting to a monosplit master keyboard (via Midi-Common) .................................................................................... 29

Connecting to a multisplit master keyboard ..................................................................................................................... 29

Connecting to an external sequencer ........................................................................................................................... 30

Connecting the Midi ports................................................................................................................................................. 30

Check the track status of the midi in Source ..................................................................................................................... 30

Deactivation of Midi-Common.......................................................................................................................................... 30

How to deactivate the Midi-Common channel .............................................................................................................. 31

Save the Midi-Common status to disk .......................................................................................................................... 31

How to save the Midi-Common status to floppy disk ........................................................................................................ 31

Save the Midi-Common status to the Ram-disk................................................................................................................. 32

POWER UP.............................................................................................................................................. 33

Powering up with empty disk drive RAM-disk .................................................................................................................. 33

Powering up with a floppy disk inserted in the drive........................................................................................................ 33

Powering up with data in the RAM-disk ........................................................................................................................... 33

Regulating the volume....................................................................................................................................................... 33

Before turning off the instrument... ................................................................................................................................... 33

S2R: “SOUND TEST”............................................................................................................................... 34

Sound Test in the main display.......................................................................................................................................... 34

Sound Test in the Sample Translator................................................................................................................................. 34

DEMO ...................................................................................................................................................... 35

The ROM demonstration Song ..................................................................................................................................... 35

The “Demo Disk 01” and “Demo Disk 02” demo songs ................................................................................................ 35

Load the contents of “Demo Disk 01” automatically ....................................................................................................... 35

Play back the “Demo Disk 01” demo songs ..................................................................................................................... 35

Interrupt the “Demo Disk 01” demo songs ...................................................................................................................... 35

GENERAL INDEX III

Load the contents of “Demo Disk 02” in Ram ................................................................................................................. 36

Playback the “Demo Disk 02” demo song ....................................................................................................................... 36

Cancel the “Demo Disk 02” demo song from the Music Processor’ s memory ................................................................ 36

5. USER INTERFACE / SELECTION................................................ 37

DATA ENTRY COMMANDS ..................................................................................................................... 38

Dial, +1/> and -1/<, Enter, Exit...................................................................................................................................... 38

Alphanumeric keypad ................................................................................................................................................... 38

How to specify numeric data............................................................................................................................................. 38

How to enter alphabetic characters .................................................................................................................................. 39

Navigating with the Dial, Enter and Exit........................................................................................................................ 39

Use of the numeric keypad to navigate in the menus................................................................................................... 40

«EMERGENCY» BUTTONS.................................................................................................................... 41

PANIC................................................................................................................................................................................ 41

MIDI OFF (S2/S3) ............................................................................................................................................................ 41

EFF. BYPASS..................................................................................................................................................................... 41

UNDO ............................................................................................................................................................................... 41

DISPLA Y AND ASSOCIATED CONTROLS ............................................................................................. 42

MAIN DISPLAY / SAVE PERFORMANCE............................................................................................... 43

“Performance” mode........................................................................................................................................................ 43

“Sounds” mode ................................................................................................................................................................. 43

“Save Performance” (save) .............................................................................................................................................. 44

“Save Performance” in S2/S3........................................................................................................................................... 44

“Save Performance” in S2R ............................................................................................................................................. 44

BANK/SONG AND PERFORMANCE SELECTION................................................................................. 45

Selecting the Bank/Songs and Performances in S2/S3................................................................................................ 45

Selecting with the buttons of the Bank/Song and Performance sections .......................................................................... 45

Selecting the Bank/Songs and Performances in S2R .................................................................................................. 45

Selecting in “Performance” mode .................................................................................................................................... 45

Selecting Bank/Song and Performances in “Sounds” mode............................................................................................. 45

Selecting in “Performance” mode .................................................................................................................................... 45

Selecting a Performance of the active Bank/Song in “Sounds” mode.............................................................................. 45

SELECTING SOUNDS ............................................................................................................................ 46

Selecting Sounds with the Dial (or the +1/> and -1/< buttons) ....................................................................................... 46

Selecting Sounds with the alphanumeric keypad .............................................................................................................. 46

Selecting Sounds directly from the Sound Library ............................................................................................................ 46

CORRECT TRACK VISUALISATION ...................................................................................................... 47

Visualisation of the tracks that can be played on a keyboard........................................................................................... 47

Visualisation of the tracks that can be played via Midi In (not Midi-Common)............................................................... 47

Visualisation of the tracks played by a Song..................................................................................................................... 47

TRACK PLAYING MODE......................................................................................................................... 48

Track playing modes available for each Source ............................................................................................................... 48

Description of the track playing modes ............................................................................................................................ 48

i How to set a split point for the split track playing mode ................................................................................................ 49

PLAY, MUTE, SOLO................................................................................................................................. 50

Play ................................................................................................................................................................................... 50

Mute................................................................................................................................................................................... 50

Solo.................................................................................................................................................................................... 50

IV GENERAL INDEX

6. PRACTICAL GUIDE...................................................................... 51

1 PREPARE A WORK DISK WITH THE S SERIES DISK DRIVE.......................................................... 52

2 LOAD THE CONTENTS OF A DISK INTO MEMORY ......................................................................... 53

Load all the instrument’s data from disk ........................................................................................................................... 53

Load a Group of Bank/Songs ............................................................................................................................................ 54

Load a Single Bank/Song .................................................................................................................................................. 54

Load a Setup...................................................................................................................................................................... 55

3 SAVE THE CONTENTS OF MEMORY TO DISK................................................................................. 57

Save all the instrument’s data to disk................................................................................................................................ 57

Save all the Bank/Songs in a Group.................................................................................................................................. 58

Save a single Bank/Song ................................................................................................................................................... 58

Save a single Setup............................................................................................................................................................ 59

4 LOAD AND SAVE A MIDI-FILE............................................................................................................ 61

Memory format and Midi-files .......................................................................................................................................... 61

Compatibility of the sounds (Midi-files in General Midi/GS standard)............................................................................ 61

Activation of the General Midi/GS compatibility.............................................................................................................. 61

Load a Midi-file ............................................................................................................................................................. 62

Save a Midi-file ............................................................................................................................................................. 63

5 OVERVIEW OF THE DISKS SUPPLIED WITH THE INSTRUMENT .................................................. 65

“Demo Disk 01”............................................................................................................................................................. 65

The Bank/Song directory................................................................................................................................................... 65

The Setup directory ........................................................................................................................................................... 66

Check the Ram-Sounds contained in Demo Disk 01 ......................................................................................................... 67

Load the Bank/Songs and Setups from Demo Disk 01...................................................................................................... 67

“Demo Disk 02”............................................................................................................................................................. 68

Load the new pianoforte from Demo Disk 02 ................................................................................................................... 68

“Freeware Disk” ............................................................................................................................................................ 69

The “Hardcopy” program................................................................................................................................................. 69

The “Disk_Dir” program.................................................................................................................................................. 69

The “Copy_Prg” program ................................................................................................................................................ 69

6 SONG PLAYBACK / THE SEQUENCER CONTROLS........................................................................ 70

Load a Song using the standard procedure....................................................................................................................... 70

Use Preload to load a Song in background ...................................................................................................................... 70

How to select the Song ...................................................................................................................................................... 70

The Sequencer ................................................................................................................................................................... 71

7 CREATE OR MODIFY THE BANK/SONGS ......................................................................................... 72

Cancel Song 1 (Demo) ................................................................................................................................................. 72

Prepare a start-up disk to power up without Song 1 (Demo)........................................................................................ 72

Record a new Song using the Performances of an existing Bank/Song ...................................................................... 73

Using a Bank/Song already present in memory ................................................................................................................ 73

Using a Bank/Song contained in a disk............................................................................................................................. 73

Create a new Bank/Song.............................................................................................................................................. 74

Cancel one of the 10 default Bank/Songs present in memory ........................................................................................... 74

Create a completely new Bank/Song................................................................................................................................. 74

8 EDITING THE PERFORMANCES ....................................................................................................... 75

Create, copy and cancel the tracks .............................................................................................................................. 75

How to cancel tracks ......................................................................................................................................................... 75

How to create tracks ......................................................................................................................................................... 75

Copy a track to another..................................................................................................................................................... 76

GENERAL INDEX V

How to assign the Sounds to the tracks ....................................................................................................................... 76

Select the Sounds from the main display........................................................................................................................... 76

Select the Sounds from the Sound Library ........................................................................................................................ 76

Set the tracks to Play or Mute....................................................................................................................................... 77

Track volumes .............................................................................................................................................................. 77

How to vary the track Volumes with the Function Controllers ......................................................................................... 77

How to vary the Volumes in edit performance/tracks ....................................................................................................... 78

TRANSPOSE ........................................................................................................................................... 78

How to vary the track transposition in the track transposer ............................................................................................ 78

How to vary the track transposition in edit performance/tracks ...................................................................................... 79

Effects........................................................................................................................................................................... 79

How to assign the Effects to a Performance ..................................................................................................................... 79

How to engage the Effects to the tracks ............................................................................................................................ 80

How to activate and programme the pedals and wheels .............................................................................................. 80

How to assign a function to a pedal and wheel ................................................................................................................ 80

How to activate/deactivate the pedals and wheels for the tracks ..................................................................................... 81

Save the modifications to the Performance .................................................................................................................. 81

9 HOW TO RECORD A SONG ............................................................................................................... 82

What is a Song?................................................................................................................................................................. 82

The Song tracks ................................................................................................................................................................. 82

Prepare the tracks for the recording ................................................................................................................................. 82

Activate Record mode and select the recording options ................................................................................................... 83

Select the parameters of the Song ..................................................................................................................................... 84

The Song pointer (locator) ................................................................................................................................................ 84

Now record the Song ......................................................................................................................................................... 85

Recording methods............................................................................................................................................................ 85

10 REAL TIME SOUND EDITING........................................................................................................... 86

The S2/S3 hardware Function Controllers.................................................................................................................... 86

Panel mode........................................................................................................................................................................ 87

User mode ......................................................................................................................................................................... 88

The S2R Function Controller ........................................................................................................................................ 88

Save the modifications to the Performance .................................................................................................................. 89

11 EDITING SOUNDS IN THE STUDIO ................................................................................................. 90

Types of Sound............................................................................................................................................................. 90

The three fundamental Sound types .................................................................................................................................. 90

The combinations: Sound Patch and Drumkits................................................................................................................. 90

Rom-Sound, Ram-Sound, Ram Sound..........................................................................................................................91

Waveform...................................................................................................................................................................... 91

Filters ............................................................................................................................................................................ 91

The filters and the Cutoff-frequency.................................................................................................................................. 91

Resonance ......................................................................................................................................................................... 91

The filter envelopes ........................................................................................................................................................... 92

Envelopes ..................................................................................................................................................................... 92

Types of Envelopes ............................................................................................................................................................ 92

Programming the envelopes.............................................................................................................................................. 92

Tracking ........................................................................................................................................................................ 93

Types of Tracking .............................................................................................................................................................. 93

Programming the Tracking ............................................................................................................................................... 93

Lfo, Pitch, Pan .............................................................................................................................................................. 94

Lfo ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 94

Pitch .................................................................................................................................................................................. 94

Pan .................................................................................................................................................................................... 94

Memorising the Sound in the Sound Library................................................................................................................. 95

VI GENERAL INDEX

Escape from edit sound ..................................................................................................................................................... 95

Escape edit sound and cancel the modifications............................................................................................................... 95

Escape from edit sound saving the Sound in the Sound Library....................................................................................... 95

Save the Sound Library to disk.......................................................................................................................................... 95

12 SELECTING THE SOUNDS VIA MIDI...............................................................................................96

Selecting the Sounds with Bank Select and Program Change..................................................................................... 96

The Program Change ........................................................................................................................................................ 96

The Bank Select (Midi Controller 0) ................................................................................................................................. 96

Select the Sounds via the Performance Change event ................................................................................................ 98

Programming the Midi-Common channel......................................................................................................................... 98

Select the Performances via Midi-Common...................................................................................................................... 98

13 SELECTING THE EFFECTS VIA MIDI............................................................................................ 100

Programming the Midi-Common channel....................................................................................................................... 100

Controlling the Effects via Midi-Common ...................................................................................................................... 100

14 EDITING SOUNDS VIA MIDI........................................................................................................... 101

15 PROGRAMMING WITH AN EXTERNAL SEQUENCER — PERFORMANCE 10 OF BANK/SONG 1 ... 102

7. SAMPLE TRANSLATOR............................................................. 105

SAMPLE TRANSLA TOR 2.0.................................................................................................................. 106

About Sample Translator................................................................................................................................................. 106

Waveforms and multi-samples......................................................................................................................................... 106

Accessing Sample Translator .......................................................................................................................................... 107

Temporary escape from Sample Translator .................................................................................................................... 107

The “Waveform” display.............................................................................................................................................. 108

The “Waveform” command functions ............................................................................................................................. 108

Loading samples (“Load”)........................................................................................................................................... 109

1. Loading a sample contained in a Ram-Sound............................................................................................................. 109

2. Loading a sample via MIDI ........................................................................................................................................ 109

3. Loading samples from Ms-Dos/Atari floppy disks ....................................................................................................... 111

4. Loading Samples and Programs from an Akai S1000 floppy disk ...............................................................................112

“Cut End” ........................................................................................................................................................................114

Assigning samples to a keyboard range (“Assign”) .....................................................................................................114

Cancelling assignments (“UnAssign”) ............................................................................................................................115

Re-assigning limits after an Unassign command.............................................................................................................115

“Play Single” display ....................................................................................................................................................116

“Zoom” ............................................................................................................................................................................116

“Gain” .............................................................................................................................................................................117

“Loop nr:(x)”...................................................................................................................................................................117

“Send”..............................................................................................................................................................................117

“Exit” ...............................................................................................................................................................................118

The “Info about” display ...............................................................................................................................................118

“Note”..............................................................................................................................................................................118

“SR” .................................................................................................................................................................................119

“Length” (cannot be modified) ........................................................................................................................................119

“Loop Start” & “Loop End” ...........................................................................................................................................119

“Loop Type”.................................................................................................................................................................... 120

“Note range” (cannot be modified) ................................................................................................................................ 120

Commands in the right-hand column .............................................................................................................................. 121

Cancelling a sample (“Delete”) ................................................................................................................................... 121

Copying a sample to a different location (“Copy & Paste) .......................................................................................... 121

Saving a Waveform (“Save”)....................................................................................................................................... 122

Escape from Sample Translator ................................................................................................................................. 123

GENERAL INDEX VII

8. REFERENCE GUIDE .................................................................. 125

1 THE SOURCE SECTION................................................................................................................... 126

The buttons in the Source section.................................................................................................................................... 126

Local Source.................................................................................................................................................................... 126

i The Set split command ................................................................................................................................................. 127

Midi in Source ................................................................................................................................................................. 127

Song Source..................................................................................................................................................................... 128

Option Source.................................................................................................................................................................. 128

The solo button ................................................................................................................................................................ 128

2 TRACK TRANSPOSER / MASTER TRANSPOSER.......................................................................... 129

The track transposer button ............................................................................................................................................ 129

Track Transposer............................................................................................................................................................. 129

Master Transposer .......................................................................................................................................................... 129

The master transpose buttons (only S2/S3) ..................................................................................................................... 129

3 EDIT PERFORMANCE/CONTROLS ................................................................................................. 131

Page 1 Effects.................................................................................................................................................................. 131

Page 2 Controllers (S2/S3) ............................................................................................................................................. 131

Page 3: User Keys (S2/S3) .............................................................................................................................................. 132

Page 4: User Controllers (S2/S3) ................................................................................................................................... 132

Page 2: Controllers (S2R)............................................................................................................................................... 132

Page 3: Function Controller (S2R) ................................................................................................................................. 132

Assignable MIDI messages ........................................................................................................................................... 133

4 EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS ...................................................................................................... 134

General commands.......................................................................................................................................................... 134

Page 1: Configuration..................................................................................................................................................... 135

Page 2: Common............................................................................................................................................................. 136

Page 3: Local (S2/S3) ..................................................................................................................................................... 137

Page 3: Local (S2R) ........................................................................................................................................................ 138

Page 4: Internal Sound ................................................................................................................................................... 139

Page 5: Midi Filter In ..................................................................................................................................................... 139

Page 6: Midi Filter Out................................................................................................................................................... 140

MIDI messages assignable to the Midi Filters (In & Out) ........................................................................................ 140

Notes and suggestions ..................................................................................................................................................... 141

5 EDIT SOUND ..................................................................................................................................... 142

Single Oscillator (SO), Dual Oscillator (DO), Dual Crossfade (DC) Sounds ............................................................... 142

Sound types...................................................................................................................................................................... 142

Polyphony obtained with different types of sounds ......................................................................................................... 143

Maximum polyphony obtainable in the various track playing modes............................................................................. 143

Access the edit sound environment.................................................................................................................................. 143

The edit environment (the editors of the edit sound menu) ............................................................................................. 143

The editors of the edit sound menu ................................................................................................................................. 143

......................................................................................................................................................................................... 143

The options of the main menu and of the editors ............................................................................................................ 144

The options of the main menu ......................................................................................................................................... 144

The editor options (secondary menus) ............................................................................................................................ 144

Status of the instrument in edit sound mode.................................................................................................................... 144

Temporary escape from edit sound.................................................................................................................................. 144

Escaping from edit sound and saving the modified sound.............................................................................................. 144

Possible error messages during the Sound save task...................................................................................................... 145

Escape from edit sound without memorising the modified sound ................................................................................... 145

Converting a Sound to a different type ....................................................................................................................... 146

Conversion limits ............................................................................................................................................................ 146

Waveset...................................................................................................................................................................... 147

Waveform (Sound Dual Crossfade)................................................................................................................................. 147

Waveform (Single Oscillator Sound)............................................................................................................................... 147

VIII GENERAL INDEX

Page 1 Waveform (Dual Oscillator Sound)..................................................................................................................... 148

Page 2 Oscillator Balance (Dual Oscillator Sound) ...................................................................................................... 148

Volume........................................................................................................................................................................ 149

Page 1 Volume ................................................................................................................................................................. 149

Page 2 Volume Tracking.................................................................................................................................................. 149

Amplitude envelope .................................................................................................................................................... 150

Page 1 Amplitude Envelope Control............................................................................................................................... 150

Page 2 Amplitude Key On ............................................................................................................................................... 151

Page 3 Amplitude Key Off............................................................................................................................................... 152

Page 4 Amplitude Envelope Tracking ............................................................................................................................. 152

Lfo............................................................................................................................................................................... 153

Lfo ................................................................................................................................................................................... 153

Filter 1/2...................................................................................................................................................................... 154

Page 1 Filter 1 ................................................................................................................................................................ 155

Page 2 Filter 2 ................................................................................................................................................................ 155

Page 3 Filter 1 Tracking ................................................................................................................................................. 156

Page 4: Filter 2 Tracking................................................................................................................................................ 156

Filter Envelope (dc and do sounds) ............................................................................................................................ 157

Page 1 Filter Envelope Control ...................................................................................................................................... 157

Page 2: Filter Key On Envelope ..................................................................................................................................... 157

Page 3 Filter Key Off Envelope ...................................................................................................................................... 158

Page 4 Filter Envelope Tracking .................................................................................................................................... 159

Pitch Envelope............................................................................................................................................................ 160

Page 1 Pitch Envelope Control....................................................................................................................................... 160

Page 2 Pitch Key On Envelope ....................................................................................................................................... 160

Page 3: Pitch Key Off Envelope...................................................................................................................................... 161

Page 4 Filter Envelope Tracking .................................................................................................................................... 162

Pan ............................................................................................................................................................................. 163

Page 1 Pan Envelope Control (DC and DO Sounds) ..................................................................................................... 163

Page 2 Pan Key On Envelope (DC and DO Sounds)...................................................................................................... 163

Page 3 Pan Key Off Envelope (Sound DC and DO) ....................................................................................................... 164

Page 4 Pan Tracking (DC and DO Sounds) ................................................................................................................... 165

Pan Control (Sound SO) ................................................................................................................................................. 165

ROM-Waveforms with separate Pitch Envelopes for the two oscillatori even when Detune=0............................ 166

Notes and suggestions ..................................................................................................................................................... 167

6 SAMPLE TRANSLATOR.................................................................................................................... 169

Accessing Sample Translator .......................................................................................................................................... 169

The instrument status during the Sample Translator tasks ............................................................................................. 170

Controlling the S2R......................................................................................................................................................... 170

Temporary escape from Sample Translator .................................................................................................................... 170

A closer look at Sample Translator............................................................................................................................. 170

The Waveform display ..................................................................................................................................................... 171

Load................................................................................................................................................................................. 171

Save ................................................................................................................................................................................. 172

Assign .............................................................................................................................................................................. 172

UnAssign ......................................................................................................................................................................... 172

Play Single ...................................................................................................................................................................... 173

Info About ........................................................................................................................................................................ 173

Exit .................................................................................................................................................................................. 174

Cut End............................................................................................................................................................................ 175

Delete .............................................................................................................................................................................. 175

Copy ................................................................................................................................................................................ 175

Paste ................................................................................................................................................................................ 175

7 SOUND PATCH AND DRUMKIT ....................................................................................................... 176

The Sound Patch edit environment .................................................................................................................................. 176

Commands/options .......................................................................................................................................................... 176

Parameters ...................................................................................................................................................................... 177

GENERAL INDEX IX

Notes and suggestions ..................................................................................................................................................... 178

8 SEQUENCER AND SONG ................................................................................................................ 179

What is a Sequencer – The S Series Sequencer............................................................................................................... 179

Playback and Record ...................................................................................................................................................... 179

The Song and the Performance Bank.............................................................................................................................. 179

The sequencer controls .................................................................................................................................................... 180

Creating a Song............................................................................................................................................................... 180

Creating a Bank/Song ..................................................................................................................................................... 180

Creating a Performance with default values ................................................................................................................... 180

Cancelling the Song ........................................................................................................................................................ 181

Recording a new Song..................................................................................................................................................... 181

“Undo” ........................................................................................................................................................................... 182

Notes and suggestions ..................................................................................................................................................... 182

9 EDIT SONG MODE............................................................................................................................ 184

Accessing edit song mode................................................................................................................................................ 184

The main menu editors of edit song ................................................................................................................................ 184

Options of the main menu of edit song............................................................................................................................ 184

Options of the secondary menus ..................................................................................................................................... 184

Selecting the Tracks in Edit............................................................................................................................................. 185

Selection Screen .............................................................................................................................................................. 185

“Execute”........................................................................................................................................................................ 185

“Undo” ........................................................................................................................................................................... 185

Erase events.............................................................................................................................................................. 186

Page 1: Erase from track ................................................................................................................................................ 186

Page 2: Erase from Master Track................................................................................................................................... 186

Move events .............................................................................................................................................................. 187

Move from track .............................................................................................................................................................. 187

Insert/delete bars ....................................................................................................................................................... 188

Page 1: Insert bars.......................................................................................................................................................... 188

Page 2: Delete bars......................................................................................................................................................... 188

Dynamic..................................................................................................................................................................... 189

Dynamic .......................................................................................................................................................................... 189

Transpose.................................................................................................................................................................. 189

Transpose ........................................................................................................................................................................ 189

Quantize .................................................................................................................................................................... 190

Page 1: Quantize Key On................................................................................................................................................ 190

Page 2: Quantize Key Off ............................................................................................................................................... 191

Copy .......................................................................................................................................................................... 191

Page 1: Copy from single track ....................................................................................................................................... 192

Page 2: Copy all tracks................................................................................................................................................... 192

Page 3: Append ............................................................................................................................................................... 192

Microscope ................................................................................................................................................................ 193

Accessing the events of the Event List and their parameters .......................................................................................... 193

Moving to a data bar....................................................................................................................................................... 193

Selecting an event with Catch Locator............................................................................................................................ 194

Programmable Events and Parameters .......................................................................................................................... 194

The Command/Options Column ...................................................................................................................................... 195

Commands/options .......................................................................................................................................................... 195

“Undo” ........................................................................................................................................................................... 196

Utility .......................................................................................................................................................................... 196

Utility............................................................................................................................................................................... 196

Master Track.............................................................................................................................................................. 197

Accessing the events on the Event List and their values ................................................................................................. 197

Moving to a data bar....................................................................................................................................................... 197

Selecting an event with Catch Locator............................................................................................................................ 198

Programmable Events and Parameters .......................................................................................................................... 198

The Command/Options Column ...................................................................................................................................... 198

X GENERAL INDEX

Commands/options .......................................................................................................................................................... 198

“Undo” ........................................................................................................................................................................... 199

Notes and suggestions ..................................................................................................................................................... 200

10 EDIT GENERAL............................................................................................................................... 201

Tuning/Scale.............................................................................................................................................................. 201

Page 1: Tuning/Scale ...................................................................................................................................................... 201

Page 2: Edit Keyboard Scale .......................................................................................................................................... 202

Footswitch controls .................................................................................................................................................... 203

MIDI....................................................................................................................................................... 203

Page 1: Midi (1) .............................................................................................................................................................. 204

Page 2: Midi (2) .............................................................................................................................................................. 205

Date/Time set ............................................................................................................................................................ 205

Date & Time .................................................................................................................................................................... 205

Dynamic/touch sensitivity (s2/s3) .............................................................................................................................. 205

Sensitivity ........................................................................................................................................................................ 205

Sound test (s2r) ......................................................................................................................................................... 206

Sound test ........................................................................................................................................................................ 206

General Midi .............................................................................................................................................................. 206

General Midi ................................................................................................................................................................... 207

Notes and suggestions ..................................................................................................................................................... 208

11 DISK ................................................................................................................................................. 209

Automatic loading when powering up............................................................................................................................. 209

The Ram-disk................................................................................................................................................................... 210

The Groups...................................................................................................................................................................... 210

Organisation of the disk environment ..........................................................................................................................211

General commands/options..............................................................................................................................................211

i Directory ....................................................................................................................................................................... 212

i Data displayed in the directories .................................................................................................................................. 213

The Disk environment pages (Load, Save, Erase, Utility) ......................................................................................... 214

Load................................................................................................................................................................................. 214

Save ................................................................................................................................................................................. 215

Erase ............................................................................................................................................................................... 216

Utility............................................................................................................................................................................... 216

Possible error messages during disk operations ........................................................................................................ 219

Errors common to all operations .................................................................................................................................... 219

Load errors...................................................................................................................................................................... 219

Load and Erase Errors.................................................................................................................................................... 219

Formats of the magnetic supports used .......................................................................................................................... 220

Notes and suggestions ..................................................................................................................................................... 220

12 SOUND LIBRARY............................................................................................................................ 221

How the Sound Library is organised ............................................................................................................................... 221

The Sound Library display .............................................................................................................................................. 221

Selecting Families and Sounds........................................................................................................................................ 221

Selecting Sounds by entering the Program Change and Bank Select number................................................................ 222

Selecting Sounds with the search function ...................................................................................................................... 222

Commands/options .......................................................................................................................................................... 222

Types of Sounds and their identification symbols ........................................................................................................... 224

13 EFFECTS LIBRARIES ..................................................................................................................... 225

How the Effects Libraries are organised ......................................................................................................................... 225

Selecting the Effects ........................................................................................................................................................ 225

Command/options ........................................................................................................................................................... 226

Library 1 (standard) ..................................................................................................................................................... 226

Library 2 (standard) ..................................................................................................................................................... 226

GENERAL INDEX XI

14 EDIT EFFECT .................................................................................................................................. 227

How to access the effect edit ........................................................................................................................................... 227

How to escape from the effect edit .................................................................................................................................. 227

How the edit effect environment is organised ................................................................................................................. 227

How to Programme the Effects of Library 1................................................................................................................ 228

Reverbs without programmable early-reflections........................................................................................................... 228

Reverbs with programmable early-reflections ................................................................................................................ 228

How to Programme the Effects of Library 2................................................................................................................ 229

Delay, Panecho, Dubbing ............................................................................................................................................... 229

Chorus ............................................................................................................................................................................. 229

Flanger ............................................................................................................................................................................ 230

Phaser, Ensemble ............................................................................................................................................................ 230

Rotary .............................................................................................................................................................................. 231

Fladel, Panmix ................................................................................................................................................................ 231

Notes and suggestions ..................................................................................................................................................... 232

15 CLIPBOARD .................................................................................................................................... 234

Layout of the “Clipboard” page ..................................................................................................................................... 234

How to copy an edit page................................................................................................................................................ 234

How to copy a clip to an edit page.................................................................................................................................. 234

How to cancel a clip from the Clipboard ........................................................................................................................ 234

16 UTILITY............................................................................................................................................ 235

“Juke_box” ..................................................................................................................................................................... 235

Utility............................................................................................................................................................................... 235

17 PRELOAD ........................................................................................................................................ 237

APPENDIX............................................................................................ i

MIDI IMPLEMENTATION CHART.............................................................................................................IV

MESSAGGI MIDI / MIDI CONTROLLERS.................................................................................................V

MIDI SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE CODE INTERFACE.....................................................................................VI

LIST OF THE WAVEFORMS RESIDENT IN ROM (ROM-WAVEFORMS)............................................ XIV

THE ROM SOUND MAP......................................................................................................................... XV

TABLE OF THE PERFORMANCES CONTAINED IN ROM ................................................................. XXII

THE DRUMKITS OF THE STANDARD SOUND LIBRARY .................................................................XXVI

PERCUSSION SAMPLES .................................................................................................................XXXVI

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS......................................................................................................XXXVIII

GLOSSARY / ALPHABETICAL INDEX .............................................. a

GLOSSARY ...............................................................................................................................................B

MIDI MESSAGES/MIDI CONTROLLERS..................................................................................................E

TROUBLESHOOTING ................................................................................................................................ I

XII GENERAL INDEX

INTRODUCTION

❏ INTRODUCTION

1

INTRODUCTION 1

I

NTRODUCTION

Congratulations and thanks for purchasing the S Series Music Processor - an instrument
conceived and developed with the most up-to-date technology to guarantee a high degree
of reliability and durability.

The name “Music Processor” describes the instrument’s ability to handle the complete
creative process, starting from sound synthesis right down to the registration of multi­timbric songs and the complete control of the entire MIDI setup.

We are confident that you will find your S Series Music Processor beyond all expecta­tions.

About the S Series instruments

S2 Turbo and S3 Turbo Music Processors are keyboard synthesizers with 61 keys and
76 keys respectively. This manual also refers to the previous models upgraded with the
“Turbokit” board. S2 and S3 also operate as Master Keyboards, thanks to the integrated
controls (Wheels, Function Controllers) and extensive MIDI programmability.

S2R is the 19” rack version of the S2/S3 Turbo. It is totally compatible with these two
keyboard synthesizers.

• Multitimbral generator

The S Series instruments are 16 part multi-timbral units with a maximum polyphony
of 32 notes.

• Sound generation method

Sound generation is based on a mixed digital/analog technology which permits,
through the use of analog techniques, the manipulation of Samples of real or synthetic
origin. The S Series Sounds are based on sampled Waveforms which are processed by
one or two digital State Variable Filters with programmable envelope. Separately,
each filter provide a 12 dB per octave slope (2 pole). Combined, they operate as a 4
pole filter with a 24 dB per octave slope.

• ROM and RAM Sounds

The permanent memory (ROM) houses 6 Megabytes of Waveform, the basic element
which provides more than 500 Rom Sounds.

2 Megabytes of Sample RAM are ready to receive (from disk or MIDI) other Wave­forms, for the creation of Sounds based on new Waveforms created with the Sample
Translator.

The new Waveforms can be loaded from Atari/MS-DOS floppy disks in the formats
Sound Designer, Avalon, Sample Vision, Wave. They can be loaded from Akai S1000
disks, or received via MIDI.

The Sound Library is where the Sounds are housed. It can contain up to 2048
Sounds (ROM + RAM Sounds).

2 INTRODUCTION

• Amount of RAM

The S Series units are fitted with 4 Megabytes of RAM (volatile):
– 2 Megabytes of Operative-Ram to process and control the Banks and the Songs;
– 2 Megabytes of Sample-Ram to control the Waveforms created with Sample Transla-

tor or loaded with the RAM-Sounds.

• 2 Digital Signal Processors

Two Digital Effects Processors, controlled in real time, enrich the sound with environ-

mental and creative effects (reverbs and modulations). The Effects Libraries house the
Effects and they can store up to 64 reverbs and 64 modulations.

• Sequencer

The multi-track sequencer can memorise 250.000 events in the 2 Megabyte Operative­RAM. This 16 track sequencer has a very extensive Event Edit facility, including the
functions Master Track, Copy, Insert/Delete Events, Quantize, Microscope and others.

• Disk drive

The S Series Music Processor data can be saved to floppy disk via the disk drive,
which handles 3.5” HD floppy disks and force-formats them with a capacity of 1.62
Megabytes. The drive can also format and use Ms-Dos floppy disks (1.44 Mb or 720
Kb) or Atari (720 Kb), for the transferring of MIDI Files and Samples read by Sample
Translator.

•RAM-disk

The S Series Music Processor can be fitted with a 512 kb or 2 Mb optional Static RAM
(NON-VOLATILE), backed by a small rechargeable Nickel/Cadmium battery. The RAM­disk is a fixed disk with high speed accessing facilities.

•MIOS multitasking operating system

The S Series Music Instrument Operating System allows simultaneous operation of
several tasks, such as modifying a Sound, playing back a Song, loading a Song in
background, etc..

• User Program

The MIOS can be expanded by User Programs, made available from time to time by
Generalmusic, providing the instrument with additional functions by loading appropri­ate software via floppy disk.

• Advanced MIDI control

The S Series Music Processors incorporate 2 independent MIDI lines with MIDI-Merge
and MIDI-Thru functions. These instruments are fully implemented MIDI units.

• SampleTranslator 2.0 incorporated

SampleTranslator is a Waveform creating programme which allows the creation of
new Sounds starting from samples originating from Akai S1000 floppies, from
floppies containing files generated by the more popular computer editors, or from data
received via MIDI.

• Samples and Programs read from Akai S1000™ floppy disks

The possibility of reading the Akai format allows the S Series instruments to gain
access to the greatest sample library available on the market. The Programs
(multisamples) are converted into Music Processor Waveforms.

How to use this manual

This manual is divided into several sections.

❑ Overview of the instrument and the edit/handling environments describes the sound

synthesis technique and how the data handling operations are organised.

❑ Installation, power up, demo explains how to setup and turn on the instrument and

how to listen to the demonstration songs (demo).

❑ User interface/selection explains how to use the Data Entry controls, examines the

display and takes a look at the operations common to sound and data selection.

❑ Practical guide is a simplified guide for the non-expert synth user. The information

contained in this section is sufficient for a normal use of the instrument: how to load
songs and new Sounds from disk, how to record and play back a song, how to control

INTRODUCTION 3

the instrument via MIDI.

❑ Sample Translator is the practical guide to the Sample Translator 2.0.
❑ Reference guide lists all the edit environment parameters and describes the instrument

and all its functions in detail.

❑ Appendix contains schematic information (standard Sound Library, MIDI tables,

technical specifications...).

❑ Glossary/Index contains the Glossary and an Alphabetical Index. The Glossary pro-

vides a list of the most commonly used technical terms. The alphabetical index lists all
arguments dealt with in alphabetical order, indicating the relative page number and its
relation to other arguments. This section also contains a Troubleshooting table to help
you solve problems of a technical nature which may occur from time to time.

Convention used in the manual

The appearance of the symbols “S2/S3” or “S2R” indicate that the paragraph which
follows is dedicated only to S2/S3 or S2R respectively.

The symbol (s.) indicates the presence of a detailed explanation of the argument in
another part of the manual or glossary.

The symbols “Rom-” or “Ram-” cited before “Sound” or “Waveform” indicate, respec­tively, that the elements are contained in the instrument’s Rom (and, therefore, are a
standard part of the instrument’s library), or in Ram (and, therefore, erasable and ex­changeable).

4 INTRODUCTION

LAYOUTS

❏ LAYOUTS

- S2/S3 Front panel

- S2/S3 Rear panel

- S2R Front panel

- S2R Rear panel

2

5

F

RONT PANEL

S2/S3

1 2 3 4

MUSIC PROCESSOR

22

23

MASTER
VOLUME A B E F G

FUNCTION CONTROLLERS

CD

PAN SHOWFILTER 1 FILTER 2ATTACK RELEASEVOLUMEPANEL TRANSPOSERGENERAL

EDIT

PERF. CONTR.

PERF. TRACKS

SOUND

SONG

OPTION

SOURCE

SOLO

LOCAL

MIDI IN

SONG

OPTION

TRACK6745231USER

A

B

A

C

E

G

B
C
D

D

E
F
G

F

RECORDEFF. BYPASS

2021

24

1. VOLUME. Slider to regulate the general volume.

2. FUNCTION CONTROLLERS. Sliders and keys that control

the sound parameters. The Function Controllers marked A, B, C,
D, E, F, G, correspond to the silk-screened letters on the left of
the display; each letter relates to one of the tracks that appear in
the display.

3. EDIT SECTION. These buttons gain access to the edit
environments:

PERF.CONTR allows the programming of the general

–
Performance parameters (effects, footswitch) and the
Function Controllers.

PERF.TRACKS gains access to the programming tasks of the

–
Performance tracks (MIDI channels, configuration, volume,
transpose, delay, aftertouch, footswitch activation, audio
outputs, MIDI filters).

6 LAYOUTS

–

SOUND allows the modification of the Sound assigned to the

currently selected Track and gains access to the Sample
Translator.

SONG controls the sequencer. Pressing this button gains

–
access to the “Playback” display, which shows the Song
Pointer in playback mode. From here you can gain access to
the Edit of the currently selected song.

OPTION is available for future expansion programs loaded

–
from disk (User Programs).

–

GENERAL controls all the general keyboard parameters:

keyboard transpose and tuning, footswitch polarity, M IDI
parameters, Data/Time, compatibility General Midi On/Off
switch.

4. SOURCE SECTION. Allows the independent check and edit
of the Track configurations relating to each Source. The Sources

5 6 8 9

7

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PLAYSTOP CLOCK

PERFORMANCE

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21

34

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21

34

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8

7

10

9

UTILITY PRELOAD

10111213141516171819

are the origins of MIDI DATA which control the sound generation:
keyboard (LOCAL), events received at Midi In (MIDI IN), internal
sequencer (SONG), future expansions (OPTION).

5. DISPLAY AND ASSOCIATED CONTROLS. The backlit
LCD display has dimensions of 240 x 64 pixel. The triangular
buttons on the left select the tracks (

TRACK SELECT KEYS), the

buttons on the right operate according to the commands and
options which appear in the display (FUNCTION KEYS).

The two small rectangular buttons on the left allow you to bring
into view, on seven lines, 16 tracks of the current Performance

TRACK SCROLL BUTTONS). The two small rectangular buttons on

(
the right operate according to the commands which appear in the
display (MULTIFUNCTION BUTTONS).

When the main display is showing (the one that appears after
powering up) the

FUNCTION KEYS select the viewing mode

(Performance or Sounds). In Sounds mode (as shown in the
illustration), these buttons select the track playing mode (Single,
Multi…). The

RIGHT MULTIFUNCTION BUTTON gains access to the

Save Performance command.

6. DATA ENTRY SECTION. This section is divided into two
distinct parts:

DIAL can be rotated freely in both directions to change

– the
the current data value continuously, to change Performance
or Sound, to move the reverse-highlighted cursor within the
edit page menus. The +1/> and -1/< buttons operate in
exactly the same manner as the Dial, but increases or
decreases data in single units.

ENTER confirms data entered or commands; in edit environ-

ments, it gains access to parameters that require modifica­tions. EXIT annuls values inserted or cancels some commands.

S2/S3 Front panel

7

– the ALPHANUMERIC KEYPAD is used to specify absolute
numeric data or alphabetic data. For numeric data entry,
confirmation with ENTER is always required. It is also used to
gain direct access to the menu parameters in edit environ­ments (without the use of ENTER).

The Data Entry section also makes use of the

UNDO function. UNDO

undoes or reverses the most recent action or restores the last
saved situation. There is also an UNDO specific to the sequencer.

7. PANIC. Emergency button which sends an “All Note Off”, a
“Reset Controls” and an “unlock” message to notes and controls
“locked” by, for example, the reception of a “bad” MIDI event.

8. PERFORMANCE. Performance select buttons.

9. BANK/SONG. Bank/Song select buttons.

10. PRELOAD. Allows background song loading (while the

sequencer is in playback).

11. UTILITY. Gains access to several useful applications: change
Performance or Bank/Song name, cancel Bank/Song and
Performance, copy Bank/Song and Performance.

12. MASTER TRANSPOSE. General transposer, in semitone
steps.

13. MIDI OFF. Allows the temporary disconnection of the MIDI
ports (when the led is on).

14. EFFECTS LIBRARIES. Storage facilities for the Effects,
one for the Reverberations and another for the Modulations.

15. SOUND LIBRARY. An archive which stores all the Sounds
in the instrument’s memory. Incorporated are functions which
permit the importation of single Sounds from floppy disks
containing other Sound Libraries (imp_disk and imp_ramd).

16. DISK. Gains access to all the data handling procedures on
floppy disk and Ram-disk. The operations are Load, Save, Erase
and a Utility menu with several functions (Format, Disk Name,

IDI-file conversion).

M

17. CLIPBOARD. An application which allows “clips” of edit
situations to be stored and used in other edit environments to save
time.

18. NORMAL. Returns to the main display from any situation.

19. CONTRAST. Controls the brightness of the display and

requires adjustment for different viewing angles.

20. EFF. BYPASS. A temporary deactivating device for the

Effects (led on) - the sounds are emitted “dry” from the Stereo
Left & Right Outputs. Normally (led off), the sounds are emitted
“wet” from this output pair.

21. TRACK TRANSPOSER. Individual and independent Track

Transposer. Also provides the “Master” command which gains
access to the general transposition of the instrument.

22. DISK DRIVE. Reads and formats 3.5” HD floppy disks

(force-format to 1.62 Mb) for the saving and loading of S Series
data. Also formats, reads and writes on 3.5” DD floppies (Ms­Dos or Atari) for MIDI-file data exchange. Recognises and loads
samples from Akai S/1000 format disks.

23. WHEELS. Two wheels completely and independently

programmable. The left Wheel is predisposed for Pitch Bend and
is spring loaded to return to the centre position. The right wheel,
normally assigned to provide Modulation, is centre-dented so that
you can take it exactly to centre position. Its normal position is
with the centre-dented mark at its lowest point to avoid hearing
Sounds with Modulation.

24. PHONES. Stereo headphones socket.

1 2

8 LAYOUTS

CAUTION

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

AVIS

DO NOT OPEN

: RISQUE DE CHOC ELECTRIQUE-NE PAS OUVRIR

“WARNING”

TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRIC

SHOCK DO NOT EXPOSE THIS PRODUCT TO RAIN OR MOISTURE

!

“

COMPLIES WITH THE LIMITS FOR A ”CLASS B“ COMPUTING

DEVICE PURSUANT TO SUBPART J OF PART 15 OF FCC RULES”

MOD.
SER.
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GENERALMUSIC

R

EAR PANEL

S2/S3

1. POWER SWITCH. Small rocker switch with On/Off positions.

2. MAINS SOCKET. Connect the supplied power cable to this

socket. Connect the other end to an AC outlet of the correct
voltage.

Warning: check for the correct voltage before connecting your
instrument. The correct voltage is silk-screened close to the
mains socket.

2. OUTPUTS. Audio outputs which can operate as six separate

mono outputs or as three stereo pairs.

LEFT/RIGHT: “wet” signal emitters. The instrument checks the

insertion of the jacks; if only one output is connected, the
complete mono signal is emitted from the relative socket.

1, 2, 3, 4: “dry” signal emitters.

3. PEDAL VOLUME. Connection for a continuous control pedal

to control the general Volume.

4. PEDAL / FOOTSWITCH 1 & 2. Connections for continuous

control Pedals (to control parameters such as Volume, Expres­sion, etc.), or Footswitch pedals (switch control pedals) to control
parameters such as Damper, Start/Stop, Performance advance,
etc.. The programming facilities of the pedals are found in EDIT

PERFORMANCE

5. MIDI PORTS. A double series of MIDI ports: MIDI IN 1&2, MIDI

/CONTROLS, EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS, EDIT GENERAL.

OUT 1&2 and MIDI THRU 1&2. Set “1” are active by default. The
MIDI ports allow S2/S3 to be controlled by external MIDI
controlling units and allow slaved devices to be controlled by S2/
S3.

IN 1 – IN 2: connections for any MIDI controlling device

(master keyboard, sequencer, guitar controller, Midi Accor­dion …).

OUT 1 – OUT 2: connections for instruments slaved to the S2/

S3 which can be controlled by S2/S3’s internal sequencer. If
MIDI-MERGE is active, these ports also transmit the MIDI data
received at MIDI IN.

THRU 1 – THRU 2: the data received at MIDI IN escape from

these ports.

OUTPUTS

PEDALS / FOOTSWITCHESPEDAL

VOLUME IN 1THRU 23 RIGHT LEFT41221

IN 2 OUT 2 OUT 1 THRU 1

3 4 5 6

MIDI

MUSIC PROCESSOR

S2/S3 Back panel

9

F

RONT PANEL

3 4 5

S2R

EDIT

PERF. CONTR.

PERF. TRACKS

SOUND

SONG

OPTION

GENERAL

PHONES

SOURCE

SOLO

LOCAL

MIDI IN

SONG

OPTION

TRACK

TRANSPOSER

VOLUME

1 2 18 17

EFF. BYPASS RECORD PLAYSTOP CLOCK<< >>

MUSIC PROCESSOR

®

GENERALMUSIC

16

1. PHONES. Stereo headphones socket.

2. VOLUME. Slider to regulate the general volume of S2R.

3. EDIT SECTION. These buttons gain access to the S2R edit

environments:

–

PERF.CONTR. allows the programming of the general

Performance parameters (effects, footswitch) and contains
the Function Controller “software”.

PERF.TRACKS gains access to the programming tasks of the

–
Performance tracks (MIDI channels, configuration, volume,
transpose, delay, aftertouch, footswitch activation, audio
outputs, MIDI filters).

SOUND allows the modification of the Sound assigned to the

–
currently selected Track and gains access to the Sample
Translator.

SONG controls the sequencer. Pressing this button gains

–
access to the “Playback” display, which shows the Song
Pointer in playback mode. From here you can gain access to
the Edit of the currently selected song.

–

OPTION is available for future expansion programs loaded

from disk (User Programs).

–

GENERAL controls all the general parameters: S2R transpose

and tuning, footswitch polarity, MIDI parameters, Data/Time,
Sound Test, compatibility General Midi On/Off switch.

4. SOURCE SECTION. Allows the independent check and edit of

the Track configurations relating to each Source. The Sources are
the origins of MIDI DATA which control the sound generation:
keyboard (LOCAL), events received at Midi In (MIDI IN), internal
sequencer (SONG), future expansions (OPTION).

5. DISPLAY AND ASSOCIATED CONTROLS. The backlit
LCD display has dimensions of 240 x 64 pixel. The triangular
buttons on the left select the tracks (

TRACK SELECT KEYS), the

buttons on the right operate according to the commands and
options which appear in the display (FUNCTION KEYS).

The two small rectangular buttons on the left allow you to bring
into view, on seven lines, 16 tracks of the current Performance

TRACK SCROLL BUTTONS). The two small rectangular buttons on

(
the right operate according to the commands which appear in the
display (MULTIFUNCTION BUTTONS).

When the main display is showing (the one that appears after
powering up) the

FUNCTION KEYS select the viewing mode

(Performance or Sounds). In Sounds mode (as shown in the

10 LAYOUTS

6 7 6 9

8

ENTER

NORMAL

EXIT

CLIPBOARD

PANIC

UNDO

1 / >

1 / < PERFORM.

DISK

19

ABC DEF GHI

JKL

STU

, .

SOUND

LIBRARY

MNO

VWX

/

-

’

B/SONG

EFFECTS

LIBRARIES

PQR

YZ

*

( )

&

UTILITY

PRELOAD

OFF ON

20

101112131415

The Data Entry section also makes use of the

UNDO function. UNDO

undoes or reverses the most recent action or restores the last
saved situation. There is also an UNDO specific to the sequencer.

7. PANIC. Emergency button which sends an “All Note Off”, a

“Reset Controls” and an “unlock” message to notes and controls
“locked” by, for example, the reception of a “bad” MIDI event..

8. B/SONG and PERFORM. The B/SONG and PERFORM buttons

permit the selection of one of the 10 Bank/Songs which can be
present in the S2R memory and one of the 10 possible Perform­ances contained in the selected Bank/Song.

9. UTILITY. Gains access to several useful applications: change

Performance or Bank/Song name, cancel Bank/Song and
Performance, copy Bank/Song and Performance.

10. PRELOAD. Allows background song loading (while the

sequencer is in playback).

11. EFFECTS LIBRARIES. Storage facilities for the Effects, one

for the Reverberations and another for the Modulations.

12. SOUND LIBRARY. An archive which stores all the Sounds in

the instrument’s memory. Incorporated are functions which
permit the importation of single Sounds from floppy disks which
contain other Sound Libraries (imp_disk and imp_ramd).

13. DISK. Gains access to all the data handling procedures on

floppy disk and Ram-disk. The operations are Load, Save, Erase
and a Utility menu with several functions (Format, Disk Name,
MIDI-file conversion).

illustration), these buttons select the track playing mode (Single,
Multi…). The RIGHT MULTIFUNCTION BUTTON gains access to the
Save Performance command.

6. DATA ENTRY SECTION. This section is divided into two
distinct parts:

– the

DIAL can be rotated freely in both directions to change

the current data value continuously, to change Performance
or Sound, to move the reverse-highlighted cursor within the
menu of the edit pages. The +1/> and -1/< buttons operate in
exactly the same manner as the Dial, but with single
increments.

ENTER confirms data entered or commands; in edit environ-

ments, it gains access to parameters that require modifica­tions. EXIT annuls values inserted or cancels some commands.

Pressing

ENTER when a main display is showing, or when the

Sample Translator is active, will play a note (Sound Test).

ALPHANUMERIC KEYPAD is used to specify absolute

– the
numeric data or alphabetic data entry. For numeric data
entry, confirmation with ENTER is always required. It is also
used to gain direct access to the menu parameters in edit
environments (without the use of ENTER).

14. CLIPBOARD. An application which allows “clips” of edit

situations to be stored and used in other edit environments to save
time.

15. NORMAL. Returns to the main display from any situation.

16. CONTRAST. Controls the brightness of the display and

requires adjustment for different angles.

17. EFF. BYPASS. A temporary deactivating device for the

Effects (led on) - the sounds are emitted “dry” from the Stereo
Left & Right Outputs. Normally (led off), the sounds are emitted
“wet” from this output pair.

18. TRACK TRANSPOSER. Individual and independent Track

Transposer. Also provides the “Master” command which gains
access to the general transposition of the instrument.

19. DISK DRIVE. Reads and formats 3.5” HD floppy disks

(force-format to 1.62 Mb) for the saving and loading of S2/S3
data. Also formats, reads and writes on 3.5” DD floppies (Ms­Dos or Atari) for MIDI-file data exchange. Recognises and loads
samples from Akai S/1000 format disks.

20. ON/OFF PUSH BUTTON. Press this button to turn S2R on or

off.

S2R Front panel

11

R

GENERALMUSIC

®

MUSIC PROCESSOR

IN 2 OUT 2 THRU 2 IN 1 OUT 1 THRU 1

MIDI

4

OUTPUTS

3 2 1 RIGHT LEFT VOLUME

PEDAL

21

FOOTSWITCHES

“WARNING”

TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR

ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT EXPOSE THIS

PRODUCT TO RAIN OR MOISTURE

MOD.

SER.

AC ~

MADE IN ITALY

by

S.p.A.

GENERALMUSIC

N

D

Fl

CAUTION

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

DO NOT OPEN

AVIS

: RISQUE DE CHOC ELECTRIQUE-NE PAS OUVRIR

THIS DEVICE COMPLIES WITH PART 15 OF THE FCC RULES. OPERATION

IS SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING TWO CONDITIONS:

(1) THIS DEVICE MAY NOT CAUSE HARMFUL INTERFERENCE AND

(2) THIS DEVICE MUST ACCEPT ANY INTERFERENCE RECEIVED,

INCLUDING INTERFERENCE THAT MAY CAUSE UNDESIRED OPERATION.

EAR PANEL

2. OUTPUTS.

three stereo pairs.

LEFT

/RIGHT: “wet” signal emitters. The instrument checks the insertion of the jacks;

Audio outputs which can operate as six separate mono outputs or as

S2R

1. MIDI PORTS.

THRU 1&2. Set “1” are active by default. The M

by external MIDI controlling units and allow slaved devices to be controlled by S2R.

sequencer, guitar controller, Midi Accordion …).

transmit the MIDI data received at MIDI In.

THRU

controlled by S2R’s internal sequencer. If M

1 – THRU 2: the data received at M

IN 1 –

OUT 1 –

IN 2: connections for any MIDI controlling device (master keyboard,

OUT 2: connections for instruments slaved to the S2R which can be

A double series of MIDI ports: M

Warning: check for the correct voltage before connecting your instrument. The correct

voltage is silk-screened close to the mains socket.

1 2 3 4 5

IDI

IN escape from these ports.

IDI-MERGE is active, these ports also

to control parameters such as Damper, Start/Stop, Performance advance, etc..

other end to an AC outlet of the correct voltage.

5. MAINS SOCKET.

3. PEDAL VOLUME.

4. FOOTSWITCHES 1 & 2.

Volume.

IDI PORTS ALLOW

IDI IN 1&2, M

S2R to be controlled

IDI OUT 1&2 and M

IDI

1, 2, 3, 4:

if only one output is connected, the complete mono signal is emitted from the

relative socket.

“dry” signal emitters.

12 LAYOUTS

Connect the supplied power cable to this socket. Connect the

Connection for a continuous control pedal to control the general

Connections for Footswitch pedals (switch control pedals)

OVERVIEW OF THE INSTRUMENT

ED ITING & DATA HANDLING CAP ACITY

❏ OVERVIEW OF THE INSTRUMENT

- The Music Processor concept

- Sound synthesis

- Sources and Destinations

- Tracks, Performances, Bank/Songs

❏ INTERNAL MEMORY AND DISKS

❏ OPERATING MODES

❏ OVERVIEW OF THE EDITING & DATA HANDLING ENVIRONMENTS

3

13

O

VERVIEW OF THE INSTRUMENT

The Music Processor concept

The S Series instruments are so called because they are,
as the name suggests, processors of music, a long step
away from synthesizer workstations.

These instruments allow the creation of new sounds (as
in synthesizers), the creation of Songs and the possibil­ity of simplifying the unit’s programming tasks in live

Sound synthesis

The sound generation of the Generalmusic S Series
instruments utilises a hybrid system based on sampling
and subtractive synthesis, all digitally controlled.

• Sampling guarantees a high degree of sound authentic­ity, indispensable for the simulation of multi-instru­ment situations as well as for the simplification of
sound creation starting from common timbral sources.

• The part relating to subtractive syntheses allows sounds
of real or synthetic origin to be subjected to the action
of one or two programmable filters, which deeply inter­vene on the harmonic content of the original sound,
rendering it extremely “live”.

Sampling

situations (as in workstations), they incorporate a so­phisticated MIDI implementation, which allow them to
operate as a control centre in the studio as well as on
stage, operating as a programmable master keyboard or
a MIDI processor with powerful MIDI Thru and MIDI
Merge functions.

A the Attack phase, which starts from the moment of

the initial sound emission (key on) to the moment of
maximum intensity. [→Attack]

D the Decay phase, in which the emission starts to

“fade” after reaching the maximum peak. [→Decay]

S the Sustain phase (sound “prolongation”), where,

after the first turbulent instances, the emission tends
towards stabilisation (e.g. Strings) or reduction (e.g.
Piano). [→Sustain]

R the Release phase, which proceeds from the moment

in which the action of the musician terminates (note
off), and the emission continues towards total si­lence. For example, when a piano key is released
with the right pedal held down. [→Release]

Sampling technology is a technique of recording sounds
“live”, which permits the reconstruction of the original
acoustic instrument using an electronic musical instru­ment.

The development over time of the intensity of a sound is
represented by the envelope. The Envelope of a sound ­any sound - can be represented graphically in the fol­lowing manner:

Amplitude

“Amplitude” measures the intensity reached by the sound
within a certain period of “Time”. The letters A, D, S, R
indicate the various phases of the sound’s development:

A D

S

R

Time

Sampling records the entire attack and decay phases and
only a part of the sustain phase, while the release is
completely ignored. This limitation in sampling is due
to the fact that the recording of a sound occupies RAM,
which, being costly, cannot be exploited to record the
entire envelope. The better the quality of the sample, the
more RAM is required to contain it.

The “missing parts” are substituted by intervening on
the recorded part with the musical instrument. The
sustain phase is electronically simulated by repeating a
sampled fragment. This repetition of the sampled frag­ment in the sustain phase is called the “Loop”.

The loop, however, often generates a “defect” created
by the interaction of the terminal and initial points of
the sampled fragment - similar to what is heard when the
needle of a vinyl disk jams.

The problem derives from the fact that the “loop” is only
one element, based on a single fragment of the sustain
phase. To overcome this problem, Generalmusic have
adopted an innovative system called the “Multiloop”

14 OVERVIEW

technique, which is the sampling of 8 minute fragments
of the sustain phase.

In sounds generated by two paired oscillators, the S
Series reads the loops alternately with increasing fading
(“crossfade”) between the two oscillators. Crossfading
completely eliminates the disturbances created by the
loop.

Waveforms

When an acoustic sound is sampled and played on a
keyboard, the sound can only be used on notes that are
close to the sample note. The greater the distance from
the sample note, the more inferior the quality of the
sound.

By combining a series of samples at various frequencies
along the scale, otherwise called a multisample, you
obtain a Waveform.

The high authenticity of the S Series sounds is due to the
fact that they are based on Waveforms consisting of
several Samples which cover the frequency extension of
the original acoustic instrument.

The harmonic band is called the “timbre”. The timbre of
a double bass differs to that of a trombone, because their
respective harmonic bands are different. If some har­monics are removed, or their intensity altered, the tim­bre of the sound also changes.

The technique of synthesis incorporated in S Series
instruments treats the Waveforms in the same manner as
the “old” analog synthesizers, which intervened on the
elementary waveforms (sinus, square, saw-tooth). The
Waveform is modified by the action of one or two filters
[→DCF]. These filters attenuate or enhance several
harmonics. The example shows how the higher harmon­ics of a sound are “filtered” and attenuated until they
disappear:

level

frequency

Filters and Sounds

All sounds consist of a band of harmonics; very simple
sounds that, when combined with one another, contrib­ute to the production of a complex sound (the sound
actually heard). The harmonic band can be analysed
with the Fourier diagram:

level

frequency

The diagram shows the harmonic bands along the “fre­quency” axis and the length of the bars that represent
them correspond to their intensity (“level”) and to their
importance in the sound that we hear. The harmonic
band shown with the greater intensity is known as the
fundamental and its pitch coincides with the audible
sound.

DCF

level

frequency

The filters intervene on the Waveform by modifying the
harmonic band and consequently its timbre. The filters
of the S Series are programmable and they can change in
time with an envelope, as occurs with the intensity of
the sound.

The sound processed by the S Series filters is called,
simply, a Sound, and this constitutes the basic sonic
material.

Overview of the instrument

15

Bank/Songs and Performances

The Sounds can be combined to form “Performances”,
and stored in slots called “Bank/Songs”.

Up to 10 Banks of 10 Performances each can be memo­rised in the Music Processor’s RAM, a total of 100
multi-timbral Performances.

Performance

The Performance is a combination of several tracks with
various “playing” parameters (volume, pan, programmed

pedal configuration, DSP activation.....).

In the Performance, a Sound and/or a MIDI OUT chan­nel is assigned to each Track. For each Track, it is
possible to independently programme various param­eters ( example: the volume and pan).

In practice, the Performance is a combination of several
Sounds “mixed” in order to obtain a complex sound to
use live, or a multi-timbral combination to use in a
Song, or another multi-timbral combination that can be

Tracks

controlled by data received at MIDI In.
The Performance, therefore, is a “global setting” corre-

sponding to a complex instrumental setup, recalled in­stantly while playing or while recording a Song.

Bank/Song

The Bank/Song consists of two parts: a bank of 10
Performances and a Song. The Song exploits the Per­formances of the Bank to which it is associated.

The sequencer controls which control the Song play­back are situated under the display:

RECORD PLAYSTOP CLOCK

The Music Processor can store up to 10 Bank/Songs in
RAM.

<< >>

The Track playing mode

Each Performance consists of a maximum of 16 tracks which
can be arranged in various different ways. The way in which
the tracks can be arranged is called the “playing mode”.

There are four track playing modes:

• single is a single track situation;

• multi is a multitrack combination;

• layer is an overlapping paired track combination;

• split is a combination of two tracks which divide the

keyboard.

PERFORMANCE

source LOCAL

T1 = Piano

source MIDI IN

T1 = Piano
T2 = Bass
T3 = Pads
T4 = Strings

source SONG

Each Performance can simultaneously memorise four
different track playing modes, one for each of the four
possible origins (Sources) of MIDI events (Source s.
further ahead).

For example, the Track playing mode for the Local
Source could be set to Single mode, in order to play a
piano Sound with the keyboard; for the Song Source, the
Track playing mode could be set to Multi, so that the
internal sequencer could play a 16 part multi-timbral
song.

To view the playing mode set for each Source, press the
relative button in the “Source” section: by pressing one

T1 = Piano
T2 = Bass
T3 = Pads
T4 = Strings

source OPTION

...

T1 = Piano
T2 = Bass
T3 = Pads
T4 = Strings

Fig. 1:

Examples of different track playing modes for the various Sources

16 OVERVIEW

T

of the buttons, the main display will change to show the
track playing mode for the selected Source.

Track configuration

Each track can be connected to or disconnected from
one or more Sources and to/from the track data Destina­tions.

For example, if track 1 is connected only to the Local
Source (keyboard or master keyboard) and only to the
destination “Generation” (internal Sound engine), the
keyboard will be able to play one of the Music Processor
Sounds. The remaining fifteen tracks could be con­nected to the MIDI IN Source and to both the Destina­tions “Generation” and “MIDI OUT”, in order that an
external controlling device can play the Music Proces­sor Sounds and transmit the MIDI messages from the
Music Processor’s MIDI OUT to play an external ex­pander.

The Track Configuration, therefore, is a network of
connections between Sources and Destinations.

Multi-timbral

To each of the 16 tracks, it is possible to assign a Sound
and/or a MIDI channel with which you can pilot another
musical instrument. In practice, the Music Processor is
a combination of 16 different instruments. Instruments
able to operate with several different channels are oth­erwise known as Multi-timbral instruments.

The mixer

The MIDI data are also processed by a MIDI Delay
which retards the sending of the data to the Destina­tions, creating a situation of “postponed playing”, used
to generate replay effects between the tracks.

The Sounds are directed to the two DSPs (effects proc-
essors) which further process the signals by adding
reverberation, delay, chorus, echo or rotary to the Sound
of each track.

Furthermore, the pitch of each track is individually
programmed to obtain octave “duplication” or pitch
adjustments.

Finally, the MIDI data are sent to MIDI OUT, with the
volume and pan settings, while the Sounds are destined
to the Audio Outputs and, subsequently, to an external
amplifier (Fig. 2).

“Mute” and “Solo”

As in any respectable mixer, the tracks in the S Series
can be “muted” directly from the principal display. This
condition is a temporary disconnection of the Source
which finds it use in many applications. For example,
while a Song is in playback mode, you can mute some
tracks of the

Song

Source to listen to those remaining.
The same applies to the other Sources: you can mute
tracks of the

Local

, of the

MIDI In

…

Another function, “SOLO”, operates in an inverse man­ner: it isolates a single track in multitrack situations,
permitting you to hear the selected track while all others
are muted.

The MIDI data that converge on the tracks are processed
as in a mixer. Before being sent to the Destinations, they
are processed by the volume and transposition controls
and by the stereo panorama positions (Pan).

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13 T14

Volume

Pan

Effects

LR LR LR LR LR LR LR LR LR LR LR LR LR LR L

Reverb
Modulation

Audio Outputs

Fig. 2:

The internal mixer

Overview of the instrument

17

Sources and Destinations

MIDI events

A master keyboard or a sequencer sends a string of
MIDI data to the Music Processor’s computer; these are
instructions on the way in which the Sounds must be
played. The MIDI data can also be recorded by the

LOCAL

…

Fig. 3:

Transit of M

MIDI IN

SONG

OPTION

IDI

data (SOURCES —> TRACKS —> DESTINATIONS)

Tracks
(1~16)

Sources

Music Processor’s internal sequencer (which is pre­cisely a MIDI data recorder).

MIDI data, or “events”, are generated by the Sources,
they are controlled by the Tracks and, finally, they are
sent to the Destinations: (Fig. 3)

GENERATION

MIDI OUT

SONG

OPTION

…

The Sources are the MIDI event generators. There are
four Sources, each one corresponding to a device capa­ble of generating the data:

• LOCAL keyboard or master keyboard (via MIDI-

-COMMON).

• MIDI IN data entering at MIDI IN (an external

sequencer or a multi-split master key­board).

• SONG internal sequencer.

• OPTION (left at the disposal of a User Program).

Destinations

The Destinations are where the MIDI data are sent.
There are four Destinations, each corresponding to a
sound generator or recorder of data:

GENERATION internal

sound gen­erator.

MIDI MIDI OUT

ports.

SONG internal

sequencer.

OPTION (left at the

disposal of a
User Pro­gram).

Tracks
(1~16)

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9
…

LOCAL

MIDI IN

SONG

…

Fig. 4:

Map of the SOURCES —> TRACKS communications

GENERATION MIDI OUT

GrandPiano
Strings1
AcoustcBass
Shakuhaki
Nyl_Guitar
Contrabass
Timpani
Trombone
FrenchHorn
…

OPTION

Out 1, Channel 1; ProgramChange 1
Out 1, Channel 2; ProgramChange 49
Out 1, Channel 3; ProgramChange 33
Out 1, Channel 4; ProgramChange 78
Out 1, Channel 5; ProgramChange 25
Out 1, Channel 6; ProgramChange 44
Out 1, Channel 7; ProgramChange 48
Out 1, Channel 8; ProgramChange 57
Out 1, Channel 9; ProgramChange 61
…

Tracks
(1~16)

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9
…

18 OVERVIEW

Fig. 5:

Map of the TRACKS —> DESTINATIONS communications

I

NTERNAL

MEMORY AND DISKS

Overview of the data and the memorising
facilities (floppy disk and RAM-disk)

As in any computer, the Music Processor is an elabora­tor of data, which consist of Sounds, Songs and any
other element or parameter used during the elaboration
or execution.

The data can be utilised for the purpose of elaboration
for playing, or they can be memorised for future use.

The “physical environment” which houses the data dur­ing the course of an elaboration or execution is the
RAM, or the instrument’s operative memory. The S
Series RAM is divided into two parts:

a) OPERATIVE-RAM, which is exploited by the micro-

processor for every single operation, and which
contains the Sounds, the Songs, the Performances
and any other data necessary to make the instru­ment work;

b) SAMPLE-RAM, which, while the instrument is on,

contains the Samples loaded together with one or
more Sounds or via the Sample Translator.

The data are organised in memory and in the disks
according to the type and order of hierarchy.

The structure of the disk data is as follows:

FLOPPY DISK & RAM-DISK

SETUPs GROUPs

General
Sound Library
Effects Libraries
Clipboard

The structure of the data in memory is as follows:

10 Groups

10x10 Bank/Songs

10x10X10 Performances

USER PROGRAMs

RAM

SETUPs GROUPs

General
Sound Library
Effects Libraries
Clipboard

1 Group

10 Bank/Songs

10X10 Performances

USER PROGRAMs

RAM is volatile: all the data it contains will be irretriev­ably lost when the instrument is turned off. Therefore,
before turning off the instrument, this kind of data must
be saved in devices capable of conserving the data intact
for future use. These devices are the Floppy Disk and
the Ram-disk.

The floppy disk is the classic diskette which is inserted
in the instrument’s disk drive, and it serves to store your
data and to exchange it with other people or other
instruments.

The Ram-disk is a fixed internal device of the Music
Processor, which serves to memorise all data at high
speed. This device is an optional item which can be
fitted upon request in all the S Series instruments, but it
is highly advisable to install it to speed up the opera­tions.

The exchange of data takes place in the direction Disks
<—> RAM:

Operative-RAM

Sample-RAM

The data between memory and disk is completely ex­changeable. The only data that can be read by the floppy
disk and not saved are the User Programs.

The data

Setups Basic settings of the instrument. These include

the General setups, the Sound Library, the Effects
Libraries (reverbs/modulations), Clipboard (edit page
“clips”).

Ram and disks are able to store only one Setup of the
same type (only one Sound Library, only one Gen­eral Setup...).

Groups Bank/Song groups. Only one Bank/Song group

can be loaded at a time from disks containing up to 10
Bank/Songs.

User Programs Programs which provide the instru-

ment with new functions.

floppy disk RAM-disk

Overview of the instrument

19

M

ODES OF OPERATION

:

NORMAL

,

EDIT/HANDLING

The instrument has two operating modes: normal, which
is the operating mode dedicated to playing, and edit/
handling, which permits the modification of data, its
memorisation and its organisation for future use.

Normal operative mode

The instrument powers up in Normal mode, which al­lows the primary control of the instrument through the
main display.

The main display can show the Performance (allowing
high speed selection), or it can show the Sounds as­signed to the tracks which make up the Performance
(allowing their selection at high speed):

Main display - Performance mode
(default situation)

Edit/Data Handling mode

The Edit/Data Handling mode is activated by pressing
one of the buttons of the “Edit” section (

PERF. TRACKS, SONG, SOUND, GENERAL

buttons that recall data handling situations (

ITY, SOUND LIBRARY

Multitasking

The S Series operating system is one based on
multitasking, making is possible to work in different
parts of the instrument simultaneously.

For example, while you are playing back a song, you can
load another (background loading), or while you are
performing editing tasks on a sample with the Sample
Translator, you can temporarily escape edit mode to
program a Performance or modify the transposition of a
track without data loss.

...).

PERF. CONTR

) or one of the

DISK, UTIL

,

-

Main display - Sound mode

20 OVERVIEW

O

VERVIEW OF THE

E

DIT, HANDLING

,

UTILITY

EDIT/HANDLING

ENVIRONMENTS

ENVIRONMENTS

When you press one of the buttons of the “Edit” group
(

PERF. CONTR, PERF. TRACKS, SONG, SOUND, GENERAL

one of the handling or utility buttons (

EFFECTS LIBRARIES, DISK, PRELOAD

to one of the edit/handling displays.

Edit/handling
environment Page title‘Element’ in edit

Tracks

Main menu
(Edit Song)

SOUND LIBRARY

...) you will gain access

Commands/options

) or

The structure and constituting elements are common to
all the edit/handling displays. The common elements

,

are the pages, the menus and the commands/options.

Erase
Events

Secondary menu
(Erase Events)

Page number

The pages

Pages are displays which contain a menu or a series of
parameters. Some environments consist of only one
page, others can contain more than one.

For example, the Disk environment distributes the four
principal Disk functions across four pages: Load (page

1), Save (page 2), Erase (page 3), Utility (page 4).
The presence of more pages is shown by one or two

arrows in the top right hand corner of the display, each
corresponding to one of the multifunction buttons:

(The appearance of one arrow means that the current
page is the first or last, and it is not possible to advance
further).

To return to the previous page, press the left
multifunction button; to advance to the next page press
the right multifunction button.

PAGE 4

PAGE 3

PAGE 2

PAGE 1

Overview of the edit/handling environments

21

The menus

The structure and selection of the menus

The list of parameters, functions, procedures, etc. shown
at the centre of a page is called the menu. The following
display shows the main menu of the Edit Sound environ­ment:

Main menu and secondary menus

Some environments consist of several pages, without
secondary menu levels (example: Disk).

Other environment present a main menu which contains
various environment modules. By selecting one of the
modules, you gain access to a secondary menu which
contains a set of parameters or functions (example: Edit
Sound):

To select a menu item, you can choose from two methods:

• select the item with the

DIAL

and press

ENTER

;

Edit Sound, main menu

• specify the corresponding menu item on the alpha­numeric keypad (for direct and instant access).

Edit Sound, secondary menu relating to the Waveset module

Secondary menus show the “Menu” command, which returns to the main menu.

Commands/options

The commands and/or options appear in the right col­umn of the various environments. These are selected

with the function keys and the items displayed vary
according to the environment and/or the page currently
showing.

Parameters

The edit pages (Performance, Sound...) which do not have secondary menus contain, instead, a list of editable
parameters which are broken down into three types: simple, multiple , graphic.

Simple parameter

This consists of a single element which can be modified:

Use the following procedure to edit the parameter:

1. Select the parameter with the DIAL and press ENTER to

activate the edit; or specify the parameter number on
the ALPHANUMERIC KEYPAD to gain direct access to the
edit:

2. To modify the parameter value, rotate the DIAL; or

specify the new parameter value on the NUMERIC

KEYPAD

(in some cases, “ENTER” is necessary to con­firm the value specified, s. User Interface section,
chapter Data Entry devices).

3. Escape from the parameter edit with ENTER (to con-

firm the new value) or with EXIT (to annul the modi­fication):

22 OVERVIEW

Multiple parameter

This consists of several editable parts:

2. To modify the first part, rotate the

DIAL

; or specify the new

value on the NUMERIC KEYPAD.

3. Press ENTER to gain access to the edit of the next part:

Press enter repeatedly to access each following part of
the parameter. Follow this procedure:

1. Select the parameter with the

DIAL

and press

ENTER

; or

specify the corresponding number on the ALPHANU-

MERIC KEYPAD.

The first part of the parameter is placed in edit:

Graphic parameter

This consists of several simple parameters and graphic
representations of their interaction.

There are several different types of graphic parameter:
track configuration, envelopes, tracking. In all cases,
the “objects” are selected by rotating the dial and access
to the edit is gained by pressing enter.

In some cases (envelopes, tracking) the graph also shows
a line of numerical value of an explanatory or subsidiary
nature.

4. To modify the second part, rotate the

DIAL

; or specify the
new value on the NUMERIC KEYPAD (ENTER may be neces-
sary to confirm the value entered).

5. Escape from the parameter edit with ENTER (to con-

firm the new value) or with EXIT (to annul the modi­fication):

For example, modify the “Key On Envelope” graph:

1. Enter Edit Sound, select the Amplitude Envelope

module and open the second page.
The display appears are shown in the previous draw-

ing. Each “Segment” corresponds to one of the seg­ments of the envelope. The segment’s duration (Time)
is represented by the horizontal axis and the sound’s
intensity (Level) by the vertical axis.

2. The “Segment” parameter is shown selected. Rotate

the

DIAL

to select one of the segments of the envelope.

3. Press

4. Rotate the

Edit Performance/Tracks, page 1. “Configuration”
graphic parameter.

5. Press

6. Rotate the

Edit Sound, module A
Parameter “Key On Envelope”

Note:

If you escape an edit/handling environment while a parameter is currently in edit, the parameter will remain in edit. If
you change page while the parameter is still in edit, the modification is confirmed and you will escape the edit of the param­eter.

MPLITUDE ENVELOPE

: Graphic

a - If you escape edit, the parameter will remain like this.
b - If you change page, the parameter will be confirmed.

7. Select “Menu” to return to the main menu (Function

ENTER

to select the “Time” parameter.

DIAL

to modify the “Time” value. Or,

specify the value on the

TER

to confirm or

ENTER

to select the “Level” parameter.

DIAL

to modify the “Time” value. Or,

specify the value on the

TER

to confirm or

NUMERIC KEYPAD

EXIT

to annul).

NUMERIC KEYPAD

EXIT

to annul).

(press

(press

Select Key A). To escape Edit Sound, select the
“Abort” command with Function Select Key F.

EN

EN

-

-

Overview of the edit/handling environments

23

Escape from

EDIT/HANDLING

Two possibilities are available: (1) possibility of escap­ing without confirmation, (2) necessity of escaping with
confirmation or cancellation of the modification.

To escape from Edit Performance, Edit Song, Disk,
Sound Library, Preload... press the button which gains
access to the environment, or press the Normal button.

From Edit Sound, Edit Sound Patch, Edit Effect, Sample
Translator, you escape by confirming or annulling the modi­fications applied to the data. In the commands/option column,
the two possible choices are always shown: “Save” or “Abort”.

“Save” memorizes the modifications, “Abort” cancels
them.

Analysis of two

EDIT/HANDLING

The “Are you sure?” display

As a security measure, before the instrument memorizes
or cancel the changes, confirmation of the operation is
always requested. When you select either “Save” or
“Abort”, the following display is shown:

ENVIRONMENTS

Analysis of the ‘EDIT SOUND’ edit environment

EDIT SOUND shows a

editors

Each editor gains access to a
parameters. Some editort are composed of several pages.
For example, the Amplitude Envelope editor contains four
pages:

(each one corresponding to a Sound element):

Edit Sound, main menu

A

MPLITUDE ENVELOPE

main menu

editor, page 1

with several different

page

containing several

A

MPLITUDE ENVELOPE

A

MPLITUDE ENVELOPE

Every page of the various editors shows the “Menu” com­mand which returns to the main menu, where you can
select another module.

While you are in Edit Sound, you can select another Edit
environment, open its entry level page and access the
relative functions. When you return to Edit Sound by
pressing the Sound button, the situation shown will be
exactly the same as it was when you left. During the
temporary escape, the led on the Sound button will flash as
a “reminder” that you have some unfinished work to do.

editor, page 3

editor, page 4

A

MPLITUDE ENVELOPE

24 OVERVIEW

editor, page 2

To escape from Edit Sound, press the Sound button, or (if
a modification has been applied to the Sound in edit),
select the “Save” command to save the changes or “Abort”
to cancel.

Analysis of the ‘DISK’ handling environment

DISK does not have any main menus: the relative functions
are grouped in four pages according to homogeneous
criteria:

Disk, page 1 (“Load”)

Disk, page 3 (“Erase”)

Disk, page 4 (“Utility”)

Access to a function is gained the instant it is selected.

Disk, page 2 (“Save”)

To escape Disk mode, press D

ISK or NORMAL.

25Overview of the edit/handling environments

26 OVERVIEW

INSTALLATION, POWER UP, DEMO

❏ CONNECTING THE MAINS CABLE

❏ CONNECTING THE AUDIO CABLES

❏

S2R: MIDI CONNECTIONS

❏ POWER UP

❏

S2R: “SOUND TEST”

❏ DEMO

4

27

Connecting the power cable

Connect the power cable to the appropriate socket on the instrument’s rear panel. Insert the plug into an A.C. mains
outlet of the correct voltage.

Warning: The voltage of the instrument is shown on the small plate close to the power socket on the rear panel. Make sure
that the voltage indicated corresponds to your mains supply voltage.

Connect the Audio cables

Connecting to an external amplification system

To connect to an external amplification system, use standard 1/4” jacks connected to the OUTPUTS rear panel
sockets.

Stereo connection Connect the LEFT and RIGHT sockets to the amplification system.
Mono connection Connect the LEFT or RIGHT socket to the amplification system, leaving the other output free.
Separate outputs (The outputs will require appropriate programming in EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS, in order to

direct each track to a single output or to an output pair.

Warning: Always connect audio cables with the amplifier’s volume setting set to its lowest level or when it is switched off, in
order to avoid unwanted noises or damage to the audio setup.

Stereo headphones

Connect a set of stereo headphones to the instrument’s headphone socket.

S. Reference

).

28 INSTALLATION, POWER UP, DEMO

S2R:

CONNECTING

TO A MASTER

KEYBOARD

OR TO AN EXTERNAL

SEQUENCER

Connecting to a Master keyboard

Connect the MIDI PORTS

Connect the master keyboard’s MIDI OUT to the S2R’s MIDI IN.

For normal use, connect the S2R’s MIDI IN 1, MIDI OUT 1, MIDI THRU 1 ports. The MIDI IN 2, MIDI OUT 2 and MIDI THRU 2 ports require
appropriate programming in EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS.

Connecting to a monosplit master keyboard (via MIDI-COMMON)

In monosplit mode, the master keyboard can be used as an integrated keyboard for the S2R. The Midi-Common is a
special channel which permits the complete control of S2R with the master keyboard. When S2R is controlled via
Midi-Common, it becomes the S2/S3 equivalent.

The master keyboard generates LOCAL events (it becomes the LOCAL Source). To see the status of the S2R tracks being
controlled by the master keyboard, the led on the LOCAL Source button must be on.

S2R powers up in Midi-Common mode (by default) with channel 1 assigned to the Midi-Common. Program the
master keyboard to transmit on Midi channel 1.

If, for technical reasons, the master keyboard cannot use channel 1 for MIDI-Common, program the S2R MIDI
Common to the same channel assigned to the master keyboard (s.

MIDI-COMMON Active, MIDI CHANNEL 1.
Source LOCAL.

Connecting to a multisplit master keyboard

In multisplit mode, each split of the master keyboard can control one of the S2R tracks. By default, the S2R tracks
are set with Midi channel numbers corresponding to the track numbers (track 1 = channel 1, track 2 = channel 2...).
To activate this setting, it is sufficient to deactivate the Midi-common channel (off).

In this situation, the master keyboard acts as the MIDI IN Source. To see the status of the S2R tracks being controlled
by the master keyboard, the led on the MIDI Source button must be on.

The procedure required to deactivate Midi-common is explained in the section at the end of this chapter.

EDIT GENERAL

-

MIDI

in the Reference section).

MASTER KEYBOARD MUSIC PROCESSOR (S2R) EXPANDER

OUT THRUIN IN

Connection of a master keyboard to S2R. The optional connection Thru—In between S2R and another expander will also allow the master keyboard to
control the additional expander.

Connecting S2R to a master keyboard

29

MIDI-COMMON Deactivated (Off)
Source MIDI IN.

Connecting to an external sequencer

The external sequencer can be a hardware sequencer or a computer, fitted with a Midi interface, which runs a
sequencing programme.

Connecting the MIDI ports

To control S2R with the external sequencer, connect the sequencer’s Midi Out to the S2R Midi In. To exchange songs
(in both directions) between both units, connect the sequencer’s Midi In to the S2R’s Midi Out.

For normal use, connect the S2R’s MIDI IN 1, MIDI OUT 1, MIDI THRU 1 ports. The MIDI IN 2, MIDI OUT 2 and MIDI THRU 2 ports require
appropriate programming in EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS.

Check the track status of the MIDI IN Source

In this situation, the sequencer is the MIDI IN Source. To check the status of the S2R tracks controlled by the sequencer,
the led on the Midi In button in the Source section must be on.

DEACTIVATION OF MIDI-COMMON

This kind of setup requires that the Midi-Common be deactivated (off) in order to render the S2R tracks individually
accessible. The procedure required to deactivate the Midi-common channel is shown at the end of this chapter.

MIDI-COMMON Deactivated (Off)
Source MIDI IN.

INOUT

Sequencer connection—S2R. In—Out is optional.

IN

OUT

IN

OUT 2
OUT 1

INOUTTHRU

IN

IN

321

6

MUSIC PROCESSOR

A

B

A
B

C

C
D

D

E

E

F
G

F

G

54

A

B
A
B
C
D
E
F
G

*

89

7

C

D

0

E

F

G

Possible connection master keyboard—sequencer—S2R.

30 INSTALLATION, POWER UP, DEMO

INOUT

321

6

MUSIC PROCESSOR

A

B

A
B

C

C
D

D

E

E

F
G

F

G

54

A

B
A
B
C
D
E
F
G

*

89

7

C

D

0

E

F

G

Possible connection master keyboard—sequencer—S2R.

How to deactivate the M

1. Enter Edit General by pressing the General button in
the Edit section:

2. Specify 3 on the numeric keypad to gain access to
the “Midi” function:

3. Specify 1 to enter the edit of the “Midi Common”
parameter:

IDI

-C

OMMON

4. To deactivate MIDI-COMMON specify 0 (off) and
press

5. To confirm the new status, press ENTER three times:

6. Press NORMAL to return to the main display:

channel

ENTER:

Save the M

The new Midi-Common status will be lost when the instrument is turned off. When you power up again, the default status
(Midi-Common active on channel 1) will be restored.

To avoid repeating the Midi-Common deactivation procedure, you can save the setting to a floppy disk so that, when you
power up with the disk inserted in the drive, the instrument will be set to the required status automatically.

Alternatively, if your S Series instrument is fitted with the Ram-disk, you can save the Midi-Common status to Ram-disk.
When the instrument is powered up without a floppy inserted in the drive, the setting memorised in the Ram-disk will be
recognised and the Midi-Common status will be programmed automatically.

The M

IDI-COMMON status is saved using Setup General.

How to save the MIDI-COMMON status to floppy
disk

❑ Phase a—Format the floppy disk

1. Prepare a new 3.5” HD floppy disk.

2. Press the DISK button to gain access to the Disk
handling procedures:

IDI

-C

OMMON STATUS TO DISK

4. Specify 1 on the numeric keyboard to select “For­mat work disk (1.62 Mb)”. The display shows a
message which invites you to insert the floppy
disk in the drive:

5. Insert the floppy disk into the drive and press

ENTER (or EXIT if you want to cancel the formatting

procedure). A dialogue window appears where
you can insert the name of the disk:

3. Press the right MULTIFUNCTION BUTTON repeatedly until
you reach the Utility page:

6. For the moment, ignore the disk name and press

ENTER to continue. “Are you sure?” appears asking

for a re-confirmation of the formatting process:

31Connecting S2R to an external sequencer

7. Press ENTER to confirm (or EXIT to interrupt the format-
ting procedure).

“Wait please....” appears for the entire duration of

the formatting process:

❑ Phase b—Save the “General” Setup

8. At the end of the formatting process, press the left

MULTIFUNCTION BUTTON twice to reach the Save page:

9. Specify 3 on the NUMERIC KEYPAD to gain access to the
“Save Single Setup” procedure:

Save the MIDI-COMMON status to the RAM­disk

1. Press the DISK button to gain access to the disk
handling procedure:

2. Press the right MULTIFUNCTION BUTTON once to open
the Save page:

3. Select the ram.d option with the Function Select
Key B:

10.Specify 1 to select the “General” Setup.

11.With “Are you sure?” showing, press ENTER to con­firm (or

EXIT to annul).

4. Select and access the “Save Single Setup” proce­dure:

5. Press ENTER twice to save the EDIT GENERAL setup to
Ram-disk.

32 INSTALLATION, POWER UP, DEMO

P

OWER UP

Powering up with an empty disk drive and
RAM-disk

Press the power switch to turn on the instrument.
When the Music Processor powers up with no disk inserted in

the drive and no data saved to Ram-disk, the display shown
below appears:

Track column Selected Bank/Song

Selected Performance

Command/option column

This is the default display, and it appears every time
you power up with no disk inserted in the drive (and
with an empty RAM-disk). This is the instrument’s main
display shown in “Performance” mode (s.). This display
shows the name of the currently selected Performance
and the name of the Bank/Song to which it belongs.

Powering up with a floppy disk inserted in
the drive

If you power up when a floppy disk is inserted in the
drive, the data contained in the disk will be automati­cally loaded into the instrument’s Ram (operative
memory). The data loaded:

• Bank/Songs and Performances

• Sounds (Sound Library Setup)

• Effects (Effects Libraries Setup)

• General Setup.

Powering up with data in the RAM-disk

If, at the moment of powering up, no floppy disk is
inserted in the drive but the Ram-disk contains data,
these are automatically loaded into the instrument’s
memory.

You can, if necessary, impede the reading of the Ram­disk data at the moment of powering up by pressing (and
holding) the ENTER button for a few seconds an instant
after pressing the “Power On” button.

If you select the Sounds option (Function Select Key
A), the display changes to “Sound” mode, which shows
the name of the Sounds assigned to the tracks of the
current Performance together with the relative Program
Changes and Bank Select numbers:

Track column Bank/Song Performance

Sounds Program Change

Bank Select

Command/option
column

The button shown active (led on) in the Source section
is

LOCAL

. When this button is active, the display is
showing the status of the tracks for the Source LOCAL
(keyboard, master keyboard via MIDI-COMMON). Close
to the tracks that play, a small line appears, such as in a
V-meter.

Regulating the volume

As soon as you turn on, the instrument is ready to play.
Regulate the overall volume using the
slider (S2R: the small

VOLUME

knob). If no sounds are

MASTER VOLUME

heard, check one of the following possibilities:

• the volume of the amplifier may be incorrectly set.

• the audio or MIDI connections may have been incor­rectly carried out.

Put the problem right. If all seem to have been carried
out according to the instructions, perhaps there is a
malfunction. S. Troubleshooting.

Before turning off the instrument...

...remember to save all your modified or created data (Song,
Sound, Effects, Performance...). If you omit saving this data
to floppy disk or to the RAM-disk, the instrument’s Ram will
empty when you turn off, cancelling all your edited data.

Power up

33

S2R: “S

OUND

T

EST

”

In the main display (set to “Sounds” mode) and in the Sample Translator, pressing
which allows you to listen to the Sound and check the MIDI OUT connection, regardless of the status of the keyboard
(even if not connected).

Sound Test in the main display

If you press
track (in reverse highlight) will play:

You will also play the Sound assigned to the corresponding track of the expander connected to the S2R MIDI OUT.
The Sound Test can be programmed in the EDIT GENERAL environment:

1. Press the

ENTER

when the main display is showing “Sounds” mode, the Sound assigned to the currently selected

Press

ENTER

to hear the Sound “Devil” and

IDI OUT

.

GENERAL

an expander connected to the S2R M

button in the Edit section to gain access to EDIT GENERAL:

ENTER

activates the Sound Test,

2. Specify the number 5 on the keypad to access the display Sound Test:

3. Modify the note and the dynamic value. The factory settings are, however, suitable for most situations.

4. Select the “Memorize” command with the

replaced by a new setting.

5. Return to the main display by pressing

Sound Test in the Sample Translator

In the Sample Translator pressing
The note is not sent to the MIDI OUT.

ENTER

FUNCTION SELECT KEY G

NORMAL

will play the note indicated by the “SR” parameter in the Info About display.

.

. The setting will be permanently memorised until

34 INSTALLATION, POWER UP, DEMO

D

EMO

The ROM demonstration Song

The non-volatile memory of the instrument (ROM) contains a demonstration Song, which is inserted to the “Bank/
Song 1” slot automatically after powering up.

To listen to the playback of the Demo Song, simply press the
cancel the Demo Song from the “Bank/Song 1” slot, consult the Song and Sequencer chapters.

PLAY

button. To interrupt the playback, press

STOP

. To

The “Demo Disk 01” and “Demo Disk 02” demo songs

Two floppy disks (“3.5” HD) are supplied with the instrument, both containing some Sounds and demonstration
Songs.

Load the contents of “Demo Disk 01” automatically

With the instrument turned off, insert the floppy entitled “Demo Disk 01” into the disk drive and turn on the
instrument. The display shows the name of the instrument and an animated clock. The disk drive is operating; it is
loading the entire contents of the floppy disk into the Ram.

The loading time is approximately one and a half minutes. At the end of the loading period, adjust the volume level
to a suitable setting. Check the volume level by playing some notes on the keyboard.

Play back the “Demo Disk 01” demo songs

Press the

Press the
the other (the “Juke_Box” command chains all the Songs contained in RAM).

Interrupt the “Demo Disk 01” demo songs

When the chained Songs reach the end, the Juke_box stops automatically. If you want to interrupt the playback at
any point, press the sequencer’s

UTILITY

FUNCTION SELECT KEY D

button. The following display is shown (Utility display):

(Juke-box) to start the sequencer: all the Songs contained in Ram will play one after

STOP

button:

RECORD PLAYSTOP CLOCK

<< >>

Demo

35

Load the contents of “Demo Disk 02” in Ram

The first method consists in turning off the instrument, replacing the floppy “Demo Disk 01” with “Demo Disk 02”
and repeating the procedure already explained for “Demo Disk 01”.

The second method consists in replacing the floppy “Demo 01” with “Demo 02” and using the Load All procedure,
which loads the contents of the floppy disk in RAM.

After changing disk and inserting “Demo Disk 02” into the drive, press the

Specify the number 1 on the

NUMERIC KEYPAD

to start the

Load All procedure. Confirmation of the operation will be

DISK

button:

requested which, if given, cancels all the data already present in Ram, replacing it with the new data:

Press

ENTER

to confirm. The disk drive starts to operate and loads the entire contents of the “Demo Disk 02” floppy in RAM.

Playback the “Demo Disk 02” demo song

Press the

PLAY

button to listen to the single demonstration song contained in “Demo Disk 02”. Press

STOP

playback.

to stop the

Cancel the “Demo Disk 02” demo song from the Music Processor’s memory

After listening to the demo song, turn the instrument off then on again before proceeding with the reading of the manual. All the
songs previously loaded will be erased from memory.

36 INSTALLATION, POWER UP, DEMO

USER INTERFACE / SELECTION

❏ DATA ENTRY

❏ DISPLAY AND ASSOCIATED CONTROLS

❏ MAIN DISPLAY / “SAVE PERFORMANCE”

❏ SELECTION

- Select the Bank/Songs

- Select the Performances

- Select the Sounds

❏ CORRECT VIEW OF THE TRACKS

❏ TRACK PLAYING MODE

❏ PLAY, MUTE, SOLO

5

37

D

ATA

E

NTRY

C

OMMANDS

The Data Entry commands permit the insertion of numerical and alpha­betical data, the change of sound as well as various navigating tasks
within the edit/data handling pages.

The Data Entry group consists of two distinct parts: the cursor controls
(

DIAL

,

+1/>

and

-1/<

,

D

DIAL

ENTER, EXIT

IAL

, +1/> and -1/<, E

• Increases the value of the selected parameter con-

) and the

ALPHANUMERIC

NTER

, E

keypad.

XIT

tinuously when rotated in a clockwise direction. When
rotated in an anticlockwise direction, the value of the
selected parameter is decreased continuously.

• In the main display, this control changes Performance
(in “Performance” mode) or the Sound of the selected
track (in “Sounds” mode) in a continuous manner. In the
edit pages, it moves the reverse-highlight cursor from
one parameter or menu item to another.

+1/> and -1/< • +1/> increases the value of the selected parameter by

one unit. -1/< decreases the value of the selected param­eter by one unit.

• In the main display they change the Performance (in
Performance mode) or Sound of the currently selected
track (in Sounds mode) in single steps. In the edit pages
they move the reverse-highlight cursor across the pa­rameters or menu items.

PANIC

UNDO

1

/ >

1

/ <

EXITENTER

These controls are equivalent to the

DIAL

, but increase or

decrease existing data value by one unit at a time. The

DIAL is best used to change existing data value by a

significant amount.

ENTER • Confirms the specified parameter value.

• In edit, it gains access to the modification of the
parameter and confirms the value specified.

S2R: In the main display, when the instrument is set to
Sounds mode, striking ENTER plays a note (Sound Test),
permitting you to hear the Sound assigned to the cur­rently selected track. The Sound Test also plays expand­ers connected to the S2R MIDI OUT.

EXIT • Cancels the value that is about to be assigned to the

selected parameter.

• With the “Are you sure?” window, it aborts the
current edit operation.

Alphanumeric keypad

The ALPHANUMERIC KEYPAD is used to specify numbers and letters.

How to specify numeric data

The numbers are silk-screened on the buttons. To specify positive
values, simply press the relative number (n° + the symbol required). To
specify a negative value, press the “-” button before entering the re­quired number.

ABC DEF GHI

JKL MNO PQR

STU VWX

7

, .

/

54

89

&

-

’

0

321

6

YZ

*

( )

38 USER INTERFACE / SELECTION

Numeric data is inserted in an edit zone which activates the instant you specify the first
entry:

In some cases, the number specified requires confirmation with ENTER, in other instances,
confirmation is not necessary. When Sounds are selected with the NUMERIC KEYPAD
(Program Change), confirmation with ENTER is always required.

Selection of the Sound 112-13. Confirm with

During the specification of a number,

EXIT

can cancel the entry.

The cursor can be moved in the edit zone with the

DIAL

ENTER

or the

.

+1/>

and

-1/<

buttons to

permit the correction of a wrong number:

—>

How to enter alphabetic characters

Each keypad button also recalls three letters of the alphabet. Simply press the button as
many times as necessary until the required letter appears in the active zone of the display.

Navigating with the D

IAL

, E

NTER

and E

XIT

The Data Entry controls are also used to navigate within the menus and to select the menu
items and parameters.

The way in which these controls operate are equivalent to the “mouse” of a computer (now
a very common computer accessory): the
corresponds to the “click” on the mouse button to confirm a selection;

DIAL

moves the reverse-highlight cursor,

EXIT

ENTER

corresponds to

the Escape button.

Main Menus

- rotate the

- press

ENTER

DIAL

to select a voice (or editor);

to access a menu item and to open the corresponding secondary menu.

Edit Sound, main menu

Secondary menus (or lists of parameters)

- rotate the

- press

- press
eter) to confirm the value assigned to the parameter in edit;

- press EXIT to cancel the value assigned to the parameter in edit.

DIAL

to selection an item (or parameter);

ENTER

to place the parameter in edit:

Modify the value with the

ENTER

once (with a simple parameter) or several times (with a complex param-

DIAL

, or specify the new value on the numeric keypad.

Data Entry commands

39

Edit Sound, secondary menu (or editor) “Filter 1”

Use of the numeric keypad to navigate in
the menus

In all menus, specify the number of the item or parameter that requires selection on the
alphanumeric keypad. Access is instant.

40 USER INTERFACE / SELECTION

«Emergency» buttons

These buttons provide a means of escaping from “locked” situations or to carry out a “quick
check” of MIDI connections and sounds without effects, and they are available at all times.

PANIC

MIDI communications can sometimes “lock” the instrument due to the transmission of an
excessive quantity of data, or by an incorrect message. The PANIC button sends “All notes
off” and “Reset Controls” messages the internal sound generation and to all MIDI devices
connected to the MIDI OUT, interrupting any locked notes and controllers.

MIDI OFF (S2/S3)

Activating this button (led on) deactivates the MIDI ports. Warning: Do not press this
button while the S Series instrument is transmitting or receiving data; otherwise, the entire
MIDI setup can lock.

EFF. BYPASS

* The OUTPUTS 1, 2, 3, 4

always emit the sounds in

their “pure” form (dry).

The Sounds emitted by the LEFT and RIGHT* Audio Outputs is processed by the two DSPs
(Effects processors - sounds are said to be emitted “wet”). If you want to use an external
effects processor, or if you want to listen to your sound in its pure form (dry), press the EFF.
BYPASS button to bypass the DSP.

When the DSPs are deactivated, the led on the button is on.
Reactivate the Effects to the Audio Outputs by repressing the button.

UNDO

In most parts of the edit environments, UNDO cancels the most recent operation, restoring
the original status of the element in edit.
time, it restores the cancelled situation: this is a useful way of comparing two different
situations before making a final decision.

U

NDO

also “undoes” itself: by pressing it a second

“Emergency” buttons

41

D

ISPLAY AND ASSOCIATED CONTROLS

The display is surrounded by controls which allow the user to navigate within the area - the display and associated
controls is the principal means of communication between the user and machine.

2

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

3

A
B
C
D
E
F
G

1

1. Track select keys

These select the corresponding tracks in the track
column. If you press the relative key of a selected
track, the track will be muted (x) or set back to play
mode (e).

6

A

A
B
C
D
E
F
G

B

C

D

E

F

G

4 5

A track is selected when it is shown in reverse­highlight.

When a track is played by a keyboard, a small sym­bol is flashed close the track number (as in a VU
meter).

2. Track scroll buttons

These bring the tracks not displayed into view. The
track column can show a maximum of 7 of the 16
tracks of a Performance). If the buttons are held
pressed, the tracks scroll continuously until re­leased.

3. Track column

This column can show 7 of the 16 Performance
tracks. The symbols shown next to the track number
indicate the status of the currently active Source:

e shows that the track is active to play, or that it

contains recorded notes (for the Song Source).

x shows that the track is “mute”.
– shows that the track is disconnected from the

LOCAL or MIDI IN Source, or that the track does not

contain recorded notes (Song Source).

i shows that the track is connected to the internal

sound engine (GENERATION) If the symbol is not
shown, the track cannot play the Sound.

e shows that the track is communicating with MIDI

OUT (if the symbol is not shown, the track cannot
transmit MIDI).

4. Command/Option column

Depending on the currently selected display, this
column shows commands and options which can be
selected with the Function Select keys (A -G).

The commands execute an action (ex. in the main
menu, the command “Sounds” or “Perf” changes the
Performance viewing mode). The options are mode
selectors relating to commands or functions (ex. in
the main display, in “Sounds” mode, the track play­ing options for the LOCAL Source single, layer, split,
multi).

A selected option is shown in reverse-highlight.

5. Function select keys A-G

These select the corresponding commands/options
shown in the display.

6. Multifunction buttons

These select the corresponding commands shown in
the top right corner of the display. In the Edit pages,
they normally select the next and previous pages. In
the main display, the right button corresponds to the
SAVE PERFORMANCE command.

42 USER INTERFACE / SELECTION

M

AIN DISPLAY

* The Performances are numbered

from 1 to 10. ‘0’ selects

Performance 10

/ S

AVE

P

ERFORMANCE

The main display can be shown in two different viewing modes: “Performance” or
“Sounds”. In the first mode, the Performance is displayed in large type, useful for rapid
selection during a concert. In the second mode, the Sounds assigned to the tracks are
shown, to allow complete control of the situation in Sound changing situations and
Sound edit access.

“Performance” mode

The instrument powers up by default in “Performance” mode: in this situation the
display shows the name of the current Bank/Song and Performance. The Performances
can be scrolled with the

DIAL

Track column

, the

+1/>

and

Selected Bank/Song

-1/<

buttons or the

ALPHANUMERIC KEYPAD

“Save Performance”

*

.

Selected Performance Command/Option column

Select the SOUNDS command to pass to the “Sounds” mode.

“Sounds” mode

In this situation, the Sounds assigned to the tracks of the current Performance are
displayed, as well as the track playing mode selectors (single, layer, split, multi). The
track status is also shown which relates to the currently selected Source.

Track column

Track situation for the

Track situation for the

Bank/Song

LOCAL

Source (led

MIDI IN

Source (led

Performance

LOCAL

on)

MIDI IN

on)

“Save Performance”

Sounds

Program Change

Bank Select

Command/Option
column

This operative mode allows the assignment of different Sounds to the tracks (s. Sound
selection further ahead).

Main display / Save Performance

43

“Save Performance” (SAVE)

* The “Save Performance”

command is disabled when the

led on the “record” button is

flashing (Song in record):

The main display shows the SAVE command, selected with the RIGHT MULTIFUNCTION

BUTTON

*. The command saves all modifications made to the Performance.

The modifications saved by the Performance: track playing mode (for LOCAL and MIDI

IN

), Sound assignments to the tracks, track status: “mute” (x) or “play” (e), modifica-

tions made in EDIT PERFORMANCE/CONTROLS and in EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS.
The status of the Function Controllers (active buttons and values inserted with the

sliders) is also memorised in the Performance.
The Save Performance procedure in S2/S3 differs slightly to that in S2R.

“Save Performance” in S2/S3

1. Select the “Save Performance” command. A dialogue window is displayed which

asks you to specify the Bank/Song and Performance where the memorisation is
going to take place:

2. If you want to save the modifications in the current Performance, press

ENTER

twice.

(Ignore the “Are you sure?” message, s. further ahead).

3. If you want to memorise the modifications to a different Performance of the same

Bank, press the corresponding button in the Performance group and ENTER twice.
This operation cancels all data in the selected Performance button.

4. If you want to memorise the modifications to a Performance of a different Bank/

Song, press (a) a button in the Bank/Song group and (b) a button in the Performance
group. Press

ENTER

twice to confirm. This operation cancels the data present in the

selected Performance and creates a new Bank/Song if an empty one is selected.

“Save Performance” in S2R

1. Select the “Save Performance” command. A dialogue window is displayed which

asks you to specify the Bank/Song and Performance where the memorisation is
going to take place:

2. If you want to save the modifications in the current Performance, press

3. If you want to memorise the modifications to a different Performance of the same

Bank, (a) press
the

NUMERIC KEYPAD

ENTER

, (b) indicate the number of the Performance with the

, (c) confirm with

ENTER

.

ENTER

twice.

DIAL

or

4. If you want to memorise the modifications to a different Performance of a different

Bank/Song, (a) indicate the number of the Bank/Song with the

KEYPAD

or

Note: The Performances saved will be irremediably lost when the instrument is turned off.
To conserve your modified Performances, save the relative Bank/Songs to disk (

guide

44 USER INTERFACE / SELECTION

, (b) press

NUMERIC KEYPAD

, chapter:

Save the contents of the Ram to disk).

ENTER

, (c) indicate the number of the Performance with the

, (d) press

ENTER

to confirm.

DIAL

or

NUMERIC

DIAL

s. Practical

B

ANK

/S

ONG AND

P

ERFORMANCE SELECTION

Selecting the Bank/Songs and Performances in S2/S3

Selecting with the buttons of the Bank/Song
and Performance sections

This method can be used regardless of the current oper­ating mode of the instrument.

Leds indicate the currently selected Bank/Song and
Performance.

1. Press the button corresponding to the Bank/Song to

select.

2. Press the button corresponding to the Performance

to select.

If the Performance belongs to the currently active Bank/
Song, step 1 can be ignored.

Selecting in “Performance” mode

In the main display of the Performance mode, one of the
10 Performances of the currently active Bank/Song can
be selected by rotating the
corresponding number on the
corresponds to Performance 10).

Selecting the Bank/Songs and Performances in S2R

Selecting in “Performance” mode

In the main display of the Performance mode, one of the
10 Performances of the currently active Bank/Song can
be selected by rotating the
corresponding number on the
corresponds to Performance 10).

DIAL

,

or by specifying the

ALPHANUMERIC KEYPAD

(‘0’

2. Specify the number corresponding to the Bank/Song.

A list of the Performances contained in the selected
Bank/Song is shown:

DIAL

,

or by specifying the

ALPHANUMERIC KEYPAD

(‘0’

Selecting Bank/Song and Performances in
“Sounds” mode

In “Sounds” mode, use is made of the

PERFORM

1. Press the

buttons.

B/SONG

Songs present in memory:

button to display the list of Bank/

B/SONG

and

3. Specify the corresponding Performance number on

the

ALPHANUMERIC KEYPAD

The Bank/Song and Performance selections in the
dialogue windows can be performed using the DIAL and
confirming with ENTER.

Selecting a Performance of the active Bank/
Song in “Sounds” mode

1. Press the

2. Specify the corresponding number of the Perform-

ance on the
to select the Performance and press
the selection.

PERFORM

ALPHANUMERIC KEYPAD

Bank/Song and Performance selection

button:

.

, or rotate the

ENTER

DIAL

to confirm

45

S

ELECTING

If modifications have been made to the current Performance, selecting the same Performance, a different Performance, or
one of the sequencer control buttons (RECORD, PLAY, STOP, <<, >>) will restore the original Performance. To conserve the newly
assigned Sounds to the tracks, save the Performance to memory (

S

OUNDS

s. Main display / Save Performance

).

Selecting Sounds with the Dial (or the +1/>
and -1/< buttons)

This method is used with the main display is showing
“Sounds” mode.

The Sounds are arranged in a list which can be continu­ously scrolled forwards or in reverse order by rotating
the

DIAL

.

• rotate to the right to scroll the Sounds forwards;

• rotate to the left to scroll the Sounds in reverse order.
The

+1/>

and

-1/<

buttons operate in the same manner

as the

DIAL

but in single steps.

1. Select the track to which the Sound is to be assigned

in the track column.

2. Select the Sound.

Selecting Sounds with the alphanumeric
keypad

The method can be used when the main display is in
“Sounds” mode.

The selection is confirmed with ENTER:

Selecting Sounds directly from the Sound
Library

The Sounds are stored in the Sound Library, where they
reside in order of Sound Family and identified by the
Program Change and Bank Select numbers. The stand­ard Sound Library is shown in the Appendix.

1. Access the Sound Library by pressing the

LIBRARY

button:

SOUND

The Sounds are identified by a Program Change number
(1~128) and by a Bank Select number (1~16). The
Program Change and Bank Select numbers found in the
Sound Library are listed in the Appendix.

1. Specify the Program Change number.

2. Insert the separating “dash” (the minus ‘-’ symbol).

3. Specify the Bank Select number.

4. Confirm the selection with

ENTER

.

To select the Sounds with Bank Select=1 it is sufficient
to specify only the Program Change number, without
the Bank Select number.

For example

Program Change number 12 and the Bank Select number
3:

, to recall Sound “Vibes2 [12-3]”, select the

2. If necessary, select, in the track column, the track to

which the Sound is going to be assigned.

3. Scroll to the Family of the Sound that you are look-

ing for using the MULTIFUNCTION BUTTONS. For exam­ple, the “Guitar” Family:

4. Rotate the

DIAL

to select the required Sound (rotate to

the right to scroll forwards).

5. Press

6. Escape from the Sound Library by pressing

You can select the Sounds in the Sound Library by
specifying the Program Change-dash-Bank Select
combination on the alphanumeric keypad (as in the
previous case).

ENTER

or

SOUND LIBRARY

to assign the Sound to the selected track.

NORMAL

.

46 USER INTERFACE / SELECTION

C

ORRECT

The tracks which appear in the main display differ according to the button selected in the Source section.

TRACK

VISUALISATION

The instrument powers up with the
or the master keyboard connected via MIDI-COMMON. Therefore, the default display shows the tracks which can be
played by the keyboard or by the master keyboard connected via MIDI-COMMON.

Visualisation of the tracks that can be played on a keyboard

The keyboard (S2/S3) or master keyboard connected via Midi-Common (S2R) generate LOCAL events. The LOCAL
button must be selected in the Source section.

Symbols showing the status of the tracks: e = track in play, x = track mute, i = the track is connected to the internal sound
generator, e = the track is connected to the MIDI OUT. If “i” does not appear, neither does the name of the Sound appear, it is
substituted by a row of dashes (-- -- -- --).

Visualisation of the tracks that can be played via MIDI IN (not MIDI-COMMON)

The

MIDI IN

button must be selected in the Source section.

LOCAL

button selected by default. The

Main display, Perf 1,

LOCAL

LOCAL

button selected

Source corresponds to the keyboard

Main display, Perf 1,

Symbols showing the status of the tracks: e = track in play, x = track mute, i = the track is connected to the internal sound
generator, e = the track is connected to the MIDI OUT. If “i” does not appear, neither does the name of the Sound appear, it is
substituted by a row of dashes (-- -- -- --).

Visualisation of the tracks played by a Song

The

SONG

button must be selected in the Source section. This display setting is selected automatically when the

button is selected in the Edit group.

Main display, Perf 1,

Symbols showing the status of the tracks: e = the track contains recorded notes, – = the track does not contain recorded
notes, x = track mute, i = the track is connected to the internal sound generator, e = the track is connected to the MIDI OUT. If
“i” does not appear, neither does the name of the Sound appear, it is substituted by a row of dashes (-- -- -- --).

MIDI IN

button selected.

SONG

button selected.

SONG

Correct track visualisation

47

T

RACK PLAYING MODE

If modifications have been made to the current track playing mode, selecting the same Performance, a different Performance,
or one of the sequencer control buttons (RECORD, PLAY, STOP, <<, >>) will restore the original track playing mode. To conserve
track playing mode changes, save them to the required Performance (

s. Main display / Save Performance

).

The tracks of the Performance can be combined in different ways to provide several track playing modes. In “Sounds”
mode, from two to four different track playing modes can be selected, depending on which Source is currently active.
The track playing mode for the LOCAL and MIDI IN Source can be saved to the Performance.

The command buttons that select the various track playing modes are in the Command/Option column of the main
display when it is set to “Sounds” mode.

Track playing modes available for each Source

LOCAL Source Single, layer, split, multi.
MIDI IN Source Single, multi.
SONG Source Single, multi.
OPTION Source Single, multi

Description of the track playing modes

Single A single track. The displayed track plays across the entire keyboard extension. The other

tracks can be selected one by one by scrolling with the

Layer (LOCAL only) Activates two superimposed tracks which play across the entire keyboard extension. Other

tracks can be selected by scrolling with the TRACK SCROLL BUTTONS.

Split (LOCAL only) Activates two track that split the keyboard. The first track is assigned to the lower part, the

second to the upper part. Other tracks can be selected by scrolling with the

BUTTONS. ❉

TRACK SCROLL BUTTONS.

TRACK SCROLL

48 USER INTERFACE / SELECTION

Multi Activates all the tracks of the Performance. The configuration of the tracks will vary accord-

ing to the Performance: some track will be in “mute” and will not play (“x” symbol in the
track column), others may be cancelled. The individual track extensions for the
Source are determined in EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS, page 3 (s.).

LOCAL

❉ How to set a split point for the

split

track playing mode

In “Sounds” mode, the main display shows a new com­mand called “Set split” when the split track playing
mode is selected.

1. Select the “Set split” command. The following se-

lecting window appears:

2. You can set a new split in two different ways:

• by rotating the

DIAL

.

• by playing the note which represents the new split
point. (In S2R the master keyboard must be con­nected via MIDI-COMMON).

3. Confirm the split point with

operation with

EXIT

).

ENTER

(or cancel the

Track playing modes

49

P

LAY, MUTE

,

SOLO

The track status can be set to “play”, “mute” and “solo”.

The play and mute status can be memorised to the
Performance.

Play

The play status is shown in the track column with the
note symbol “e”. To mute a track currently set in play,
first select the track (if not already shown in reverse­highlight) and press the corresponding

KEY

a second time.

Mute

The mute status is shown in the track column with the
symbol “x”. To set a mute track in play, first select the

TRACK SELECTION

track (if not already shown in reverse-highlight) and
press the corresponding
time.

Solo

The Solo status isolates the selected track and silences
all others.

Select the track that requires to be set to solo and press
the

SOLO

button. The led on the button starts to flash.

If the selected track is currently set to mute, setting the
solo status will activate the track for playing.

Press

SOLO

to deactivate the solo status. The led on the

button stops flashing.

TRACK SELECTION KEY

a second

50 USER INTERFACE / SELECTION

PRACTICAL GUIDE

❏ PREPARE A WORK DISK WITH THE S SERIES DISK DRIVE

❏ LOAD THE CONTENTS OF A DISK INTO RAM

- Load all

- Load a Group

- Load a Bank/Song

- Load a Setup

❏ SAVE THE CONTENTS OF RAM TO DISK

- Save all

- Save a Group

- Save a Bank/Song

- Save a Setup

❏ LOAD AND SAVE A SONG IN MIDI-FILE FORMAT

❏ OVERVIEW OF THE DISKS SUPPLIED WITH THE INSTRUMENT

❏ PLAYBACK A SONG / SEQUENCER CONTROLS / PRELOAD

❏ CREATE OR MODIFY THE BANK/SONGS

❏ EDITING THE PERFORMANCES

❏ HOW TO RECORD A SONG

❏ REAL TIME SOUND EDITING

- Using the Function Controllers

❏ SOUND EDITING IN THE STUDIO

- Type of Sound

- Waveform

- Filters

- Envelopes

- Tracking

- Lfo, Pitch, Pan

- Memorising the Sound in the Sound Library and saving the SL

❏ SELECTING SOUNDS VIA MIDI

❏ SELECTING EFFECTS VIA MIDI

❏ EDITING THE SOUND PARAMETERS VIA MIDI

❏ PROGRAMMING WITH THE EXTERNAL SEQUENCER

6

- The “LOCAL OFF” Performance

51

1

P

REPARE A WORK DISK WITH THE

DISK DRIVE

S S

Before saving any data to a new floppy disk, you must format it (or initialize it) in order
that the S Series instrument can recognise and use it.

The floppy disk should be a 3,5” HD type, in perfect condition.

ERIES

1. Press the

2. Press the

3. Specify number 1, corresponding to the “Format work disk (1.62 Mb)” operation.

A message appears inviting you to insert the floppy disk into the drive:

4. Insert the floppy into the drive and press

displayed where you can insert a name to identify the disk. (This is not an obligatory
operation - do it just the same).

DISK

button to gain access to the

RIGHT MULTIFUNCTION BUTTON

DISK

operations.

repeatedly until you reach the last page (Utility):

ENTER

to confirm. A dialogue window is

52 PRACTICAL GUIDE

Insert the characters with the alphanumeric keypad.

Insert:

Capitals:

5. Press

Warning: The formatting process destroys all data contained in a floppy disk. Use the Format
operation only on new disks, or on disks that contain data that you are not interested in keeping.

ENTER

to confirm (or

inserts a space at the cursor position.

allows the insertion of uppercase letters.

Delete:

cancels an entry at the cursor position.

ENTER

to confirm,

EXIT

to annul and interrupt the operation).

EXIT

to cancel.

2

L

OAD THE CONTENTS

Load all the instrument’s data from disk

It is possible to load, in a single operation, all the data required by the instrument to
make it work. The data necessary is the following:

Setup General, Sound Library, Effects Libraries, Clipboard.

GENERAL General instrument settings (tuning, pedal assignments...).
SOUND LIBRARY Ram-Sounds and modified Sound maps.
EFFECTS LIBRARIES Effects maps assigned to the two DSPs.
CLIPBOARD Edit page “Clips”.

Bank/Song Up to 10 Bank/Songs.
The Bank/Song consists of a Song and a Bank of 10 Performances. In the disk, the Bank/Songs

are organised in 10 Groups of 10 Bank/Songs. In memory, only one Group (10 Bank/Song) can be
loaded.

OF A DISK INTO MEMORY

1. If you need to load data from floppy disk, insert the disk into the disk drive.

2. Press the

3. If a page other than the Load page appears, press the

REPEATEDLY

4. Select the source element to load from (disk =

TION SELECT B

5. Select the required Bank/Song Group, by pressing the corresponding

KEY

DISK

button to access the DISK HANDLING environment.

LEFT MULTIFUNCTION BUTTON

(= previous Page) to go to the Load page:

FUNCTION SELECT A

; RAM-disk =

FUNC

):

FUNCTION SELECT

repeatedly until the number of the required Group appears next to the name of the

selected element.

6. Specify number 1, corresponding to the “Load All” operation. You are asked for

confirmation of the operation:

-

7. Press

ENTER

to confirm (or

EXIT

to cancel).

(2)

Load the disk contents into memory

53

Load a Group of Bank/Songs

A disk can contain up to 10 Groups of 10 Bank/Songs each. It is possible to load only one
Group (10 Bank/Songs) into the instrument’s memory.

1. If you are loading from floppy disk, insert the disk into the disk drive.

2. Press the

3. If a page other than the Load page appears, press the

DISK

button to access the DISK HANDLING environment.

LEFT MULTIFUNCTION BUTTON

repeatedly (= previous page) to go to the Load page:

4. Select the source element to load from (disk =

TION SELECT B

):

5. Select the required Bank/Song Group, by pressing the corresponding

KEY

repeatedly. If at least one Bank/Song is present on disk, the number of the relative

FUNCTION SELECT A

; RAM-disk =

FUNCTION SELECT

FUNC

Group will appear next to the name of the selected element.

6. Specify number 4, corresponding to the “Load all Bank/Song” operation. The instru-

ment requests confirmation of the current operation:

-

7. Press

ENTER

to confirm (or

EXIT

to annul). The Songs and Performances contained in

Ram are cancelled and substituted by the data loaded from disk.

Load a Single Bank/Song

A single Bank/Song consists of a Song and a Bank of 10 Performances (maximum). It is
necessary to specify the source Group from which the Bank/Song will be loaded.

1. If you are loading from floppy disk, insert the disk into the disk drive.

2. Press the

3. If a page other than the Load page appears, press the

DISK

button to access the DISK HANDLING environment.

LEFT MULTIFUNCTION BUTTON

repeatedly (= previous page) to go to the Load page:

4. Select the source element to load from (disk =

TION SELECT B

):

FUNCTION SELECT A

; RAM-disk =

FUNC

-

54 PRACTICAL GUIDE

To navigate in the menus,

you can (1) specify the

number corresponding to

the menu item, or (2)

select the item with the

and press

data handling capacity”).

ENTER

to confirm

the selection.

(S. “Overview of the

instrument and its edit/

Select the required Bank/Song Group, by pressing the corresponding

5.

KEY

repeatedly. If at least one Bank/Song is present on disk, the number of the relative

FUNCTION SELECT

Group will appear next to the name of the selected element.

6. Specify number 5, corresponding to the “Load single Bank/Song” operation. The list

of Bank/Songs present in disk contained in the selected Group appear in the display:

DIAL

7. Specify the number corresponding to the required Bank/Song to load (‘0’ corresponds

to Bank/Song 10). The list of the 10 Bank/Song memory destination slots is displayed:

8. Specify the number corresponding to the Bank/Song destination slot. If the selected

location already contains a Bank/Song, this will be cancelled and substituted by the
incoming Bank/Song.

The “Are you sure?” display is shown:

9. Press

ENTER

to confirm (or

EXIT

to annul).

Load a Setup

There are four Setups: General, Sound Library, Effects Library, Clipboard. A disk can
contain one Setup of each type (for ex.. a single Sound Library and a single General).

The most frequency loaded setup it the Sound Library.

1. If you are loading from floppy disk, insert the disk into the disk drive.

2. Press the

3. If a page other than the Load page appears, press the

DISK

button to access the DISK HANDLING environment.

LEFT MULTIFUNCTION BUTTON

repeatedly (= previous page) to go to the Load page:

4. Select the source element to load from (disk =

TION SELECT B

):

FUNCTION SELECT A

(2)

Load the disk contents into memory

; RAM-disk =

FUNC

-

55

5. Specify number 3, corresponding to the “Load single Setup” operation. A list of the

Setups contained in the disk appears:

6. Specify the number corresponding to the required source Setup. “Are you sure?” is

shown:

7. Press

ENTER

to confirm (or

EXIT

to cancel). The incoming Setup cancels and substitutes

the existing Setup in memory.

Warning: If you have modified some Sounds and have no desire to loose them, save the Sound
Library to a new floppy disk, following the instructions explained in the next chapter. After saving
the old Sound Library, load the new one to substitute the old.

The same warning is valid for the Effects Libraries and General Setups.

56 PRACTICAL GUIDE

3

Save the contents of memory to disk

Save all the instrument’s data to disk

It is possible to save, in a single operation, all the data required by the instrument to
make it work. The data necessary is the following:

Setup General, Sound Library, Effects Libraries, Clipboard.

GENERAL General instrument settings (tuning, pedal assignments...).
SOUND LIBRARY Ram-Sounds and modified Sound maps.
EFFECTS LIBRARIES Effects maps assigned to the two DSPs.
CLIPBOARD Edit page “Clips”.

Bank/Song Up to 10 Bank/Songs.
The Bank/Song consists of a Song and a Bank of 10 Performances. In the disk, the Bank/Songs

are organised in 10 Groups of 10 Bank/Songs. When you save the Bank/Songs you must specify
the Group to which the Bank/Songs will be saved.

1. If you are saving to floppy disk, insert a formatted disk into the disk drive.

2. Press the

3. If a page other than the Save page appears, press the

BUTTON

4. Select the destination element to save to (disk =

FUNCTION SELECT B

5. Select the Group of Bank/Songs, to which the Bank/Songs contained in memory are

going to be saved, by pressing the corresponding

DISK

button to access the DISK HANDLING environment.

REPEATEDLY

to go to the Save page:

)

LEFT OR RIGHT MULTIFUNCTION

FUNCTION SELECT A

FUNCTION SELECT KEY

; RAM-disk =

repeatedly until
the number of the required Group appears next to the name of the selected element. An
asterisk (*) shows that the Group is empty; in this case, saving the Bank/Songs
contained in memory does not destroy the Bank/Songs eventually present on disk.

6. Specify number 1 corresponding to the “Save All” operation. The instrument requests

confirmation of the current operation:

7. Press

ENTER

to confirm (or

EXIT

to cancel).

(3)

Save the contents of memory to disk

57

Save all the Bank/Songs in a Group

A disk can contain up to 10 Groups of 10 Bank/Song each. The 10 Bank/Songs contained
in memory is saved to one of the Groups present on disk. The empty Groups are identi­fied by an asterisk (*) after the Group number.

1. If you are saving to floppy disk, insert a formatted disk into the disk drive.

2. Press the

3. If a page other than the Save page appears, press the

BUTTON

4. Select the destination element to save to (disk =

FUNCTION SELECT B

DISK

button to access the DISK HANDLING environment.

REPEATEDLY

to go to the Save page:

):

LEFT OR RIGHT MULTIFUNCTION

FUNCTION SELECT A

; RAM-disk =

5. Select the Group where the Bank/Songs contained in memory are going to be saved by

pressing the corresponding

FUNCTION SELECT KEY

repeatedly, until the number of the
required Group appears next to the name of the selected element. An asterisk (*)
shows a completely empty Group.

6. Specify number 4, corresponding to the “Save all Bank/Song” operation. The instru-

ment requests confirmation of the current operation:

7. Press

ENTER

to confirm (or

EXIT

to annul). All Songs and Performances contained in the

selected Group will be cancelled and substituted by the incoming data from memory.

Save a single Bank/Song

A single Bank/Song consists of a Song and a Bank of 10 Performances (maximum). The
destination Group in the disk where the Bank/Song will be saved must be specified.

1. If you are saving to floppy disk, insert a formatted disk into the disk drive.

2. Press the

3. If a page other than the Save page appears, press the

BUTTON

4. Select the destination element to save to (disk =

FUNCTION SELECT B

DISK

button to access the DISK HANDLING environment.

REPEATEDLY

to go to the Save page:

):

LEFT OR RIGHT MULTIFUNCTION

FUNCTION SELECT A

; RAM-disk =

58 PRACTICAL GUIDE

5. Select the destination Group where the Bank/Song is to be saved by pressing the

corresponding

FUNCTION SELECT KEY

repeatedly, until the number of the required Group
appears next to the name of the selected element. The asterisk (*) shows a completely
empty Group.

6. Specify number 5, corresponding to the “Save single Bank/Song” operation. A list of

the Bank/Songs present in memory appears:

7. Specify the number corresponding to the Bank/Song to save (‘0’ corresponds to Bank/Song

10). A list of the 10 Bank/Song slots contained in the destination Group is shown:

8. Specify the number corresponding to the location where the Bank/Song is to be saved.

If the location already contains a Bank/song, it will be cancelled and substituted by
the incoming Bank/Song.

Confirmation with “Are you sure?” is requested:

9. Press

ENTER

to confirm (or

EXIT

to annul).

Save a single Setup

There are four Setups: General, Sound Library, Effects Library, Clipboard. A disk can
contain one Setup of each type (ex. a single Sound Library and a single General).

The most frequently saved setup is the Sound Library.

1. If you are saving to floppy disk, insert a formatted disk into the disk drive.

2. Press the

3. If a page other than the Save page appears, press the

REPEATEDLY

DISK

button to access the DISK HANDLING environment.

(= previous Page) to go to the Save page:

LEFT MULTIFUNCTION BUTTON

(3)

Save the contents of memory to disk

59

4. Select the destination element to save to (disk =

FUNCTION SELECT B

):

FUNCTION SELECT A

; RAM-disk =

5. Specify number 3, corresponding to the “Save single Setup” operation. A list of the

Setups contained in memory is shown:

6. Specify the number corresponding to the Setup to save. Confirmation is requested with

“Are you sure?”:

7. Press

ENTER

present on disk.

to confirm (or

EXIT

to annul). The saved Setup substitutes the Setup

60 PRACTICAL GUIDE

4

L

OAD AND SAVE A

Memory format and MIDI-files

Each instrument equipped with a disk drive uses its own format for the disks and Songs.
This format is not directly legible by other musical instruments. For example, an S Series
instrument is not able to read a Song created and memorised to a disk by a WX Series
instrument.

M

IDI-FILE

* The S Series reads M

files in format 0 (single

track) and format 1 (multi-

track); saves M

IDI

-files in

format 1.

IDI

The S Series and many of the more recent instruments and sequencers can save Songs in a

-

format called “Standard MIDI-file”* on MS-DOS or Atari format disks.

Compatibility of the sounds (MIDI-files in General Midi/GS standard)

When a musical instrument reads a MIDI-file created by a different musical instrument, it
is highly probable that the song selects incorrect sounds. Most instrument, in fact, organ­ise their sound maps in a non-standard manner.

General Midi (GM) and GS are standards adopted by most manufacturers, conceived to
standardise the organisation of the sound maps in different musical instruments. For
example, the S Series — which is compatible with General Midi and with GS — has a
Sound Library organised in a manner similar to the sound maps of other General Midi/GS
compatible instruments.

As well as the sound mappings, General Midi/GS also renders drumkits compatible. In
General Midi/GS STANDARD MIDI-files, the drumkit is assigned to MIDI channel 10. (By
default, in the Performances of the S Series, MIDI channel 10 is assigned to track 10).

General Midi
GS

An extension of the General Midi standard. Standardises the Program Change numbers of

drumkits.

Midi channel 10

10 of all the Performances by default.

Standardising regulations for sound maps to apply to different musical instruments.

Reserved for the drumkits. In the S Series, Midi channel 10 is assigned to Track

Activation of the General Midi/GS compatibility

The default status of the S Series does not fully comply to General Midi: the program
change numbers that recall the drumkits on MIDI channel 10 differ to those specified by
the standard.

To render the S Series fully General Midi/GS compatible, it is necessary to activate the
“General Midi” parameter (in EDIT GENERAL).

When the General Midi/GS compatibility is active (on), the exchange of MIDI-files (and
MIDI communications) between the Music Processor and a General Midi/GS instrument is
instant and does not require further adjustments. The correct drumkits will be recalled on
Midi channel 10.

1. Press

GENERAL

example shows a display relating to S2/S3. S2R differs slightly):

in the Edit section to gain access to the EDIT GENERAL environment (the

(4)

Load and save a MIDI-file

61

2. Specify 6 to access the “General Midi” parameter:

*

Memory which
conserves user-

programmed settings

relating to Date & Time,
Footswitch status, Sound
Test programming (S2R),

and General Midi status.

(These parameters are

programmed in

EDIT

GENERAL

3. Specify 1 (or press

4. Specify 1 (or rotate the

5. Press

ENTER

to confirm. Escape from the edit with

ENTER

) to place the “General Midi” parameter in edit:

DIAL

) to set the parameter to On:

NORMAL

.

6. If the new status is required in all situations, save the parameter status to the battery-

backed memory* with the “Memorize” command (

Load a M

).

1. Press the

IDI

-file

DISK

button to gain access to the DISK environment and go to the Utility page:

FUNCTION SELECTED KEY G

).

2. Select the “Load Midi standard file” operation. You are invited to insert an Atari/MS-

DOS disk containing the MIDI-file:

3. Insert the floppy into the drive and press

ENTER

. The disk’s main directory is displayed

where the MIDI-files contained in the disk are shown (files with the extension “.MID”):

4. Select the sub-directories (items identified by the symbol ), which can contain other

MIDI-files. To gain access to one of the sub-directories, select it and press

ENTER

. To
return from the sub-directory to the main directory, select the “Back” command
(

FUNCTION SELECT G

).

62 PRACTICAL GUIDE

Select the required MIDI-file and confirm. The list of the Bank/Songs contained in

5.

memory appears:

6. Select a memory destination where the file will be loaded and confirm with

ENTER

. If
you select an occupied location, the existing Bank/Song will be cancelled and substi­tuted by the MIDI-file.

7. The MIDI-file will be converted to an S Series standard Song. A new Bank will be

created with only one Performance (1), with standard programmed values.

8. Assign the correct Sounds to the tracks of the Performance and carry out all the

operations necessary to optimise the converted Song (particularly the track transpose
and track volume settings).

Save a M

IDI

-file

You’ll need an Atari/MS-DOS formatted floppy disk. If you don’t have one on hand, you
can initialise a disk to the required format using procedures 2 and 3 in the Disk Utility
page. Consult the Disk chapter in the Reference section.

The more recent computers are able to make use of disks with a greater capacity (1.44 Mb

- HD type disks). The 720 kb format is used by the Atari ST computer non fitted with the
drive for HD floppies.

1. Press the

DISK

button to gain access to the DISK environment and go to the Utility page:

2. Select the “Save Midi standard file” operation. You are invited to insert an Atari/MS-

DOS disk containing the MIDI-file:

3. Insert the floppy into the drive and press

ENTER

. The list of the Bank/Songs contained

in memory is shown:

(4)

Load and save a MIDI-file

63

4. Select the Song to save as a MIDI-file and confirm. The disk’s main directory is

displayed where MIDI-files contained in the disk may be shown (files with the exten­sion “.MID”):

4. You can save the MIDI-file in a sub-directory (item identified by the symbol ). To

gain access to one of the sub-directories, select it and press
sub-directory to the main directory, select the “Back” command (

ENTER

. To return from the

FUNCTION SELECT G

)

5. Select the “New” command to create the new MIDI-file. You will need to enter a name

for the new MIDI-file:

Insert the characters with the alphanumeric keypad.

Insert

: inserts a space at the cursor position.

Capitals

: allows the insertion of uppercase letters.

Delete

: cancels an entry at the cursor position.

ENTER to confirm, EXIT to annul.

6. Press

ENTER

to confirm the name. The instrument requests confirmation of the save

MIDI-file operation:

7

.

As an alternative to points 5 and 6 above: instead of selecting the “New” command,
you can select an existing file and press

ENTER

. The previous file will be cancelled.

8. The Song will be converted to a Type 1 MIDI-file (multi-track MIDI-file). The Program

Change numbers of the Performance will be inserted at the beginning of each track.

64 PRACTICAL GUIDE

5

O

VERVIEW OF THE DISKS SUPPLIED WITH THE INSTRUMENT

Your instrument is supplied with three floppy disks. The floppies “Demo Disk 01” and
“Demo Disk 02” contain new Sounds, new Waveforms and some demonstration Songs.
The floppy called “Freeware Disk” contains User Programs which implement some useful
functions. By means of the “Directory” command, you can see what elements each disk
contains. The “Directory” is none other than a list of the disk’s contents.

“Demo Disk 01”

This floppy disk contains 10 demonstration Songs and some Ram-Sounds based on new
Waveforms.

The Bank/Song directory

1. With the instrument turned on, insert the floppy into the disk drive and press the

button to access the DISK environment:

Disk, page 1 (Load)

2. Select (if necessary) the “Disk” option by pressing

3. Select the “Load all bank/song” or “Load single bank/song” menu item with the

The “Load all Bank/Song” operation is selected.
The number (1) of the Bank/Song Group contained in the floppy is
shown next to the “disk” option. The Demo Disk contains Group 1 only.
The asterisk (*) shows that the Ram-disk does not contain any Bank/Songs.

4. Select the “Directory” command with

FUNCTION SELECT KEY G

FUNCTION SELECT KEY A

. The directory of the

.

Bank/Songs contained in the disk is displayed:

DISK

DIAL

:

.

10 Bank/Songs are present. Rotate the
Bank/Songs shown and to obtain information on the dimensions (Size) of
the file and the date of the last saved modification (Date).

(5)

Overview of the disks supplied with the instrument

DIAL

to select one of the

65

The Performance directory

5. It is also possible to see the Performances contained in each Bank/Song. Select the

Bank/Song that you’re interested in with the

MULTIFUNCTION

BUTTON

:

Directory of the Performances contained in a Bank/Song. You can
return to the Bank/Song directory with the left multifunction button.

DIAL

, then pass to page 2 with the

RIGHT

6. Escape from the “Directory” with

EXIT

.

The Setup directory

Setups are data blocks which radically change the instrument’s general settings. A disk
can contain four Setups (and four in memory):

• General: general settings;

• Sound Library: a Sound archive;

• Effects Libraries: the Effects archives;

• Clipboard: “clips” from various edit pages.

1. With the instrument turned on, insert the floppy into the disk drive and press the

DISK

button to access the DISK environment:

Disk, page 1 (Load)

2. Select (if necessary) the “Disk” option by pressing

FUNCTION SELECT KEY A

3. Select “Load all setup” or “Load single setup” with the

“Load all Setup” is shown selected.
A Bank/Song Group number is not shown because
the disk (and memory) can contain only one Setup of each type.

4. Select the “Directory” command with

FUNCTION SELECT KEY G

the disk is displayed:

.

The General and Sound Library Setups are present. Rotate the
select one of the Setups and to obtain information on the dimensions (Size)
of the file and the date of the last saved modification (Date).

DIAL

:

. The Setup directory of

DIAL

to

.

66 PRACTICAL GUIDE

Escape from the “Directory” with

6.

EXIT

.

Check the RAM-Sounds contained in Demo Disk 01

1. Press the

SOUND LIBRARY

button to access the SOUND LIBRARY:

2. Select the “Imp_disk” (=import from floppy disk) command to display the RAM-

Sounds contained in Demo Disk 01. While the internal Sound Library shows the ROM
and Ram-Sounds, the Disk Sound Library shows only the RAM-Sounds:

Ram-Sounds contained in Demo Disk 01. To scroll the Sounds, use the
The

MULTIFUNCTION BUTTON

The symbol shows that the Ram-Sound is based on a Waveform
not contained in ROM.

passes to the next or previous Family of Sounds

3. Escape from the Disk Sound Library with

FUNCTION SELECT KEY G

. Escape from the Sound Library with

EXIT

,

or select the “Exit” command with

NORMAL

DIAL

.

.

or

SOUND LIBRARY

.

* The same can be

obtained by powering up

with the disk inserted in

the drive.

** It is not possible to load
the Sound Library Setup if

a Sound is currently in

edit. It is not possible to

load the Effects Libraries

Setup if an Effect is

currently in edit.

Load the Bank/Songs and Setups from Demo Disk 01

The loading procedures are described in this section, chapter “Load the contents of a disk
into memory”, and in the “Disk” chapter of the Reference section.

• It is possible to load all the data contained in the floppy disk using the “Load all”*
procedure. This cancels all the data already present in memory.

• It is possible to load all the Bank/Songs contained in the Demo Disk using the “Load all
bank/song” procedure. This cancels all the Bank/Songs already present in memory. The
demonstration song present by default after powering up will be temporarily cancelled.

• It is possible to load a single Bank/Song, using the “Load single bank/song” procedure.

• It is possible to load all the Setups contained in the Demo Disk using the “Load all
setup” procedure. This cancels the Setup already present in memory, causing the loss of
all RAM-Sounds and new Effects**. The general settings can be modified by loading the
General Setup, changing the following settings:

- the MIDI-COMMON status;

- the MIDI-Clock On/Off status;

- the footswitch assignments;

- the intonation scale (Scale).

• You can load a preferred Setup using the “Load single Setup” procedure. The Setup
already present in memory will be modified.

(5)

Overview of the disks supplied with the instrument

67

“Demo Disk 02”

This disk contains a demonstration song (“Classic”) and a piano Sound (“Piano ”)
based on a new Waveform.

You can load the contents of the disk using the “Load all” procedure.
If you are only interested in the new piano Sound, you can use the “Load single setup”

procedure, selecting the Sound Library.
To load the new pianoforte without substituting the current Sound Library, you can use

the “Imp_disk” command described below.

Load the new pianoforte from Demo Disk 02

1. Press the

2. Select the “Imp_disk” (= Import from RAM-disk) command to see the RAM-Sounds

SOUND LIBRARY

button to access the Sound Library:

contained in Demo Disk 02:

3. Given its large dimensions, the “Gr_Piano2 ” Sound is the only one present in the

disk. It is already selected. Select the “Import” command to confirm the selection; the
Sound Library is shown with free locations, (-- -- -- --):

68 PRACTICAL GUIDE

4. Select the “Store” command to load the Sound “Gr_Piano2 ” to the selected loca-

tion.
The new Sound will be imported to the internal Sound Library and it can be assigned

to a track using the standard procedure. You can save the updated Sound Library to a
new floppy disk; this will save the Sound “Gr_Piano2 ” and relative Waveform.

“Freeware Disk”

This disk contains three User Programs which add new functions to the instrument’s
operating system. You can load these programs (one at a time) using the “Load user
program” procedure.

The “Hardcopy” program

Hardcopy allows you to capture and save any display image in “.IMG” format (Ventura
Image) to a floppy disk (MS-DOS format).

The “Disk_Dir” program

Disk Directory allows you to check the contents of a floppy disk, and to save the entire
directory to a floppy (Ms-Dos format), including the list of the Bank/Songs, or the
contents of the Libraries (Sound Library and Effects Libraries), storing them as text files
(“.TXT”).

The “Copy_Prg” program

Copy Program can copy unprotected User Programs contained in a floppy disk (source
disk) to another floppy disk (target disk). Some user Programs are protected by copyright

and cannot be copied by “Copy Prg”.

(5)

Overview of the disks supplied with the instrument

69

6

S

ONG

P

LAYBACK

Load a Song using the standard procedure

Before playing back a Song contained in a disk you must load the relative Bank/Song.
You can load a single Song (procedure [DISK] [LOAD SINGLE BANK/SONG]) or all ten Bank/Songs
that can be stored in memory (procedure [DISK] [LOAD ALL BANK/SONG]).

The procedure is described in the section in chapter Load the contents of a disk into
memory, and in the Reference guide, Disk chapter.

Use Preload to load a Song in background

Preload allows you to load a Song while another one is in playback. Together with the
relative Bank/Song, the Sound Library and Effect Libraries Setups are loaded (if different
from the ones currently residing in memory, and if the “Auto” option is selected).

Preload is a great time saver, particularly during a concert.

/

THE

S

EQUENCER CONTROLS

1. While a Song is in playback, press the

contained in the disk and the relative Group selected is displayed:

The “Auto” option must be selected (as shown).
If it is not selected, press the

2. Select the source element to load from (disk =

TION SELECT B

3. Select the required Group by repeatedly pressing the

ing to the selected disk option (A or B).

4. Specify the corresponding number of the Bank/Song to load on the ALPHANUMERIC

KEYPAD

5. The Bank/Song will be loaded in the first or second Bank/Song location according to

the following rule:

- in the first location (Bank/Song 1) by default;

- in the second location (Bank/Song 2) if Bank/Song 1 is selected.

More information regarding Preload and the “Auto” option appears in the Reference
section.

).

.

PRELOAD

FUNCTION SELECT KEY D

button. The list of the Bank/Songs

FUNCTION SELECT A

.

; RAM-disk =

FUNCTION SELECT KEY

FUNC

-

correspond-

70 PRACTICAL GUIDE

How to select the Song

Follow the standard procedure used to select a Bank/Song (s. User Interface section).

The Sequencer

Control the Song playback with the Sequencer controls:

RECORD PLAYSTOP CLOCK

RECORD Activates the Song “record” mode.
STOP Stops the Song playback or the recording.
PLAY Starts the playback (or the recording).

<< >>

<< high velocity “rewind”. Tapping on the button takes the Song back one bar at a time. Held
pressed, it rewinds the Song at high speed.

>> Fast “forward”. Tapping on the button advances the Song by one bar at a time. Held pressed,
it advances the Song at high speed.

CLOCK Activates the Clock display which allows you to control the Tempo (metronomic) of the

Song with the

DIAL:

Escape this display with

EXIT

.

(6)

Song Playback / the Sequencer controls

71

7

C

REATE OR MODIFY

The 10 Bank/Songs of the Music Processor are already programmed to suit many “stand­ard” playing situations. The Bank/Songs can, however, be modified to meet particular
needs by changing the Performances, or by recording Songs.

The Song contained in a Bank/Song exploits the Performances of the same Bank/Song. A
Performance should be programmed in relation to the sonic requirements of the Song that
will be recorded later. The Performances provide Songs with changes of Sound assigned
to the tracks, of Effects, of Panorama at the outputs and of the individual track volumes.

Cancel Song 1 (Demo)

A demonstration Song (Song 1 -Demo) is present in memory by default. If you want to
liberate this location and conserve only the Performances of the Bank/Song, you must
cancel the Song.

1. If necessary, select Bank/Song 1.

THE

B

ANK

/S

ONGS

2. Press the

environment.

3. If the Playback display appears, select the “Edit” command (with FUNCTION SELECT KEY

) to gain access to EDIT SONG:

B

4. Select the “Erase Song” command. Confirm “Are you sure?” with

Song 1 (Demo).

SONG

button in the Edit section to access the Playback display or the EDIT SONG

Playback display Main

EDIT SONG

display

ENTER

to cancel the

Prepare a start-up disk to power up without
Song 1 (Demo)

Even after having cancelled it, Song 1 (Demo) is always restored to memory each time
the instrument is turned on (with the RAM-disk empty and no floppy disk inserted in the
disk drive - default situation). This is because the Song is memorised in ROM, and cannot
be permanently cancelled.

72 PRACTICAL GUIDE

To impede the Song’s reappearance, you can prepare a “start-up” disk in the following
manner:

1. Cancel the Demo Song using the method described above.

2. Press

DISK

to access DISK mode:

3. Go to the second page (Save) with the

MULTIFUNCTION BUTTONS

:

4. Select the disk where you intend to save the start-up settings (

floppy disk,

5. Specify 1 (or press

6.

If the start-up disk chosen is the RAM-disk, turn on the instrument with no floppy disk

FUNCTION SELECT B

ENTER

) to save the entire contents of memory to disk.

= RAM-disk).

FUNCTION SELECT A

=

inserted in the drive. The instrument will power up with settings contained in the
Ram-disk (Bank/Song 1 with no Song).

If you want to override the Ram-disk when you turn on, in order to obtain standard default
conditions, turn on the instrument holding the ENTER button pressed during the start-up - this will
exclude the RAM-disk.

7.

If the start-up disk is the floppy, turn the instrument on with the floppy disk inserted in
the drive. The instrument will power up with settings contained in the disk (Bank/
Song 1 with no Song).

To restore default conditions, turn on the instrument with no disk inserted in the drive. (If the
Ram-disk contains data, hold ENTER pressed during the start-up).

Record a new Song using the Performances
of an existing Bank/Song

To record a new Song, you can use the Performances of an existing Bank/Song present in
memory or one saved to disk.

• Select the Bank/Song and record a Song using the relative Performances. If necessary,
you can cancel the Song already present in the Bank.

• You can load a Bank/Song from disk and use it to record your Song. If the Bank/Song
already contains a Song, you can cancel it.

Using a Bank/Song already present in memory

1. Select the Bank/Song.

2. If necessary, cancel the existing Song.

Warning:

original Song.

3. Record the Song, following the procedure described in this section under the title How

Conserve a copy of the original Bank/Song in a disk, if you do not want to loose the

to record a Song.

Using a Bank/Song contained in a disk

1. Load the Bank/Song from disk using the procedure [DISK] [LOAD SINGLE BANK/SONG] de-

scribed in this section under the title Loading the contents of disk to memory.

2. Record the Song, following the procedure described in this section under the title How

to record a Song.

(7)

Create or modify the Bank/Songs

73

Create a new Bank/Song

You can create a new Bank/Song in two ways: (a) create a completely new Bank/Song, or
(b) modify an existing Bank/Song.

You can then save the new Bank/Song to disk, for future use.

Cancel one of the 10 default Bank/Songs present in memory

1. Select the Bank/Song that you wish to cancel.

2. Press the

3. Specify 3 (or select “Delete Bank/Song” and press

UTILITY

button to access the UTILITY data handling environment:

ENTER

) to cancel the selected Bank/

Song.

4. Confirm “Are you sure?” with

ENTER

.

Create a completely new Bank/Song

1. If necessary, cancel one of the Bank/Songs present in memory.

2. In the main display, select the “Save Performance” command.

3. Select an empty Bank/Song and the slot where you want to save the Performance.

4. Confirm the selection of the Bank/Song and Performance. A new Bank/Song will be

created.

5.

Use the “Save Performance” command of the main display to create the other Perform­ances of the new Bank/Song.

Copy the same Performance in all the required locations of the new Bank/Song and
then modify each Performance as required.

6.

Or, use the “Copy Performance” function in the UTILITY environment.

Copy the Performances of other Bank/Songs into the empty slots of the new Bank/
Song. (S. the Reference guide under the title: Utility).

74 PRACTICAL GUIDE

8

E

DITING THE

This chapter takes a look at Performance editing, allowing the creation of a completely
new Performance by modifying an existing one. Although the 100 Performances residing
in Rom may cover a wide range of musical tastes, it is often necessary to create a com­pletely new set of Performances that adapt themselves to a particular situation or personal
need.

The main display is where you can assign the Sounds to the tracks, select the various
track playing modes for each Source and set them in “play” or in “mute” for each Source.

Other parameters of the selected Performance are edited in the EDIT PERFORMANCE/CONTROLS
and EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS environments.

Create, copy and cancel the tracks

The Performance can consist of any number of tracks from 1 to 16, giving a maximum of
16 different Sounds that can play simultaneously.

It is possible to cancel some tracks, or create new ones with default parameters.

P

ERFORMANCES

How to cancel tracks

1. Access the EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS environment by pressing the

the Edit section:

Edit Performance/Tracks, page 1

2. Select the track you wish to cancel with the corresponding

to the tracks out of view with the

3. Select “Delete” and confirm the cancellation of the track.

How to create tracks

1. Access the EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS environment by pressing the

the Edit section: (s. display above).

2. If you want to substitute an existing track with a new one that has default parameters,

select the track to substitute.

3. Select “Create”. A selection window opens where you can select the track to create:

TRACK SCROLL BUTTONS

PERF. TRACKS

TRACK SELECTION KEY

.

PERF. TRACKS

button in

. Scroll

button in

4. If necessary, specify the number of the track to create with the

KEYPAD

and confirm the operation.

(8)

Editing the Performances

DIAL

or the

NUMERIC

75

Copy a track to another

1. Access the EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS environment by pressing the

PERF. TRACKS

button in

the Edit section: (s. display above).

2. Select the track to copy.

3. Select “Copy”. A selection window opens where you can select the destination track:

4. Specify the destination track with the

DIAL

or the

NUMERIC KEYPAD

and confirm the copy

operation.

How to assign the Sounds to the tracks

In order to be able to assign a sound to a track, the track must be selected. Use the

SELECT

KEYS

and the

TRACK SCROLL BUTTONS

.

Select the Sounds from the main display

There are two ways to assign a Sound to a track directly from the main display (in
“Sounds” mode):

TRACK

* The Sounds of the S

Series are organized in the

Sound Library in

“Families”: sound groups

that show marked
similarities with others.
The Families follow the

order according to

specifications stipulated

by General Midi:

P

C

HROMATIC PERCUSSION

O

G

S

TRINGS

E

NSEMBLE

B

R

S

YNTH LEAD

S

YNTH PAD

E

FFECTS

E

P

ERCUSSIVE

D

RUMKITS

IANO

RGAN

UITAR

B

ASS

RASS
EEDS

P

IPES

THNIC

a) rotate the

selection (use

b) specify the Program Change-Bank Select numbers of the Sound on the

KEYPAD

DIAL

until you reach the required Sound - this control allows continuous

the +1/>

and

, and confirm with

-1/<

buttons to select sounds one at a time).

NUMERIC

ENTER

. (ENTER is essential to transmit the specified Program

Change data).

The Program Change and Bank Select combination must be specified in the following order:
specify the Program Change number,

(2)

insert the separating hyphen “–”,

(3)

specify the Bank

Select number. If the Bank Select = 1, it is sufficient to specify only the Program Change.

The ROM-Sound Program Change-Bank Select numbers are listed in the Sound table in
the Appendix.

Select the Sounds from the Sound Library

1. Open the Sound Library by pressing the

2. Go to the Sound Family* to which the required Sound belongs with the

BUTTONS

3. Rotate the

4. Press

. For example, Violin 41-1 belongs to the Strings Family.

DIAL

to select the required Sound.

ENTER

to assign the selected Sound to the currently selected track.

5. Without escaping the Sound Library, select other tracks and assign them the Sounds as

SOUND LIBRARY

button:

MULTIFUNCTION

required using the method described.

.

(1)

76 PRACTICAL GUIDE

Set the tracks to Play or Mute

The tracks of a Performance can be set to “play” or can be temporarily deactivated ­“mute”. The “play”’ and “mute” track situations are related to the currently selected
Source. Each Source will require separate track “play/mute” settings.

For example, track 1 can be set to “play” status for the
status for the

MIDI IN

Source.

LOCAL

Source and to “mute”

The symbol that indicates “play” status active for all the Sources is “e”, “mute” is “X”.

1. Select a track (if not selected) with the relative

2. Press the relative

TRACK SELECT KEY

again to alter the track status.

TRACK SELECT KEY

.

Track volumes

There are two ways to change the track volumes:
a) by means of the Function Controllers;
b) in EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS, page 2.

How to vary the track Volumes with the Function Controllers

In the S Series keyboard models, check that the
off), then select the

VOLUME

button. Modify the volumes of the displayed tracks by
moving the relative Function Controller sliders. Each slider (A-F) corresponds to a track
identified by the same letters (A-F).

USER/PANEL

button is not inserted (led

MASTER
VOLUME A B E F G

PANEL ATTACK

In S2R, access page 3 of

EDIT PERFORMANCE/CONTROLS

FUNCTION CONTROLLERS

CD

6745231USER

PAN SHOWFILTER 1 FILTER 2RELEASEVOLUME

:

Select the “Volume” parameter, then select a track and rotate the
volume level. Select other tracks and repeat the operation.

DIAL

to modify its

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Editing the Performance

77

How to vary the Volumes in EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS

Access EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS by pressing the

PERF. TRACKS

button in the Edit section, and

go to the second page:

Edit Performance/Tracks, page 2:

1. Select the Volume parameter and enter into the edit of the parameter.

2. Select the first track to modify and specify the volume level required with the

the

NUMERIC KEYPAD

3. With the parameter still in edit, select other tracks and repeat the procedure.

4. Press

ENTER

to escape from the edit of the parameter.

.

Transpose

There are two ways of changing the track transposition settings:
a) in the TRACK TRANSPOSER;

b) in EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS, page 2.

DIAL

or

The transposition is always expressed in semitones.

How to vary the track transposition in the TRACK TRANSPOSER

1. Press the

2. Select the required track and rotate the

transposition with the

TRACK TRANSPOSER

NUMERIC KEYPAD

button:

DIAL

, or specify the numeric value of the

. The “Octave up” and “Octave down” com­mands respectively increase or decrease the current pitch by one octave above or
below the current setting.

3. The “Reset” command restores the Transpose settings of all the tracks to zero (stand-

ard pitch setting).

4. The “Master” command gains access to the Master Transposer, where you can vary the

pitch of the instrument as a whole:

78 PRACTICAL GUIDE

Modify the Master Transpose setting with the
with

ENTER

to return to the TRACK TRANSPOSER display.

DIAL

or the

NUMERIC KEYPAD

and confirm

How to vary the track transposition in EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS

Access EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS by pressing the

PERF. TRACKS

button in the Edit section, and

go to the second page:

Edit Performance/Tracks, page 2

1. Activate the edit of the Transpose parameter.

2. Select the first track to modify and enter the required transposition with the

NUMERIC KEYPAD

3. With the parameter still in edit, select other tracks and repeat the procedure.

4. Press

ENTER

.

to escape from the edit of the parameter.

DIAL

or the

Effects

The Sounds of the S Series can be directed to two effects processors (Effect 1 & Effect

2), which generate reverberations and modulations. The Effects are stored in the two
Effects Libraries (Effect 1 = reverbs, Effect 2 = modulations).

Each Performance can recall one effect from each processor (a reverb from Effect 1 and a
modulation from Effect 2). The Effects are assigned to the Performance in the first page
of EDIT PERFORMANCE/CONTROLS:

Edit Performance/Controls, page1

Each track can be individually programmed to play with or without the Effects assigned
to the Performance - these tasks are carried out in page four of EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS:

Edit Performance/Controls, page 4

How to assign the Effects to a Performance

1. Access the first page of EDIT PERFORMANCE/CONTROLS, and select the required Effects. There

are two ways to select an Effect:
a) activate the edit of the parameter and rotate the

effect with the

NUMERIC KEYPAD

.

DIAL

,

or specify the number of the

(8)

Editing the Performance

79

b) open the Effects Libraries by means of the

EFFECTS LIBRARIES

button:

Select one of the Effects with the DIAL or NUMERIC KEYPAD. Press

ENTER

to assign the

Effect to the Performance. Repeat the operation for the second Effects Library. Return
to EDIT PERFORMANCE/CONTROLS by pressing

2. Regulate the volume of each Effect. When the Effect volume is at its maximum value

PERF. CONTR

.

(127), the Sound emitted by the Stereo output pair is a “mixture” of 50% “wet” and
50% “dry”.

How to engage the Effects to the tracks

1. Go to page four of EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS, and activate the edit of the Effects multiple

parameter.

2. Select the first track to modify and engage (on) or disengage (---) Ef1 and/or Ef2 by

rotating the

3. Select another track and repeat the procedure.

DIAL

. Pass from Ef1 to Ef2 and vice-versa by pressing

ENTER

repeatedly.

How to activate and programme the pedals
and wheels

S2 and S3 have two rear panel programmable
can receive “pedal” type physical controllers and “footswitch” type physical controllers.

PEDAL/FOOTSWITCH SOCKETS

(1

and 2) which

Pedals are “continuous controllers” (or analog) and are normally used to control Vol­ume, Pan, Expression etc. Footswitches are “switch action” pedals (or logic), normally
used to control Damper/Sustain, Start/Stop, etc.. The Footswitch Polarity can also be
programmed in EDIT GENERAL.

S2R has two programmable “footswitch” sockets.
The keyboard models are also equipped with two programmable wheels, generally used to

control Pitch Bend and Modulation.

How to assign a function to a pedal and wheel

1. Access page 2 of EDIT PERFORMANCE/CONTROLS:

Edit Performance/Controls, page 2 (S2/S3)

80 PRACTICAL GUIDE

Edit Performance/Controls, page 2 (S2R)

Activate the “Wheel”, “Pedal” or “Footswitch” parameters. In the keyboard models,

2.

the first part of the multiple parameter can determine which Pedal/Footswitch input
will receive one or the other type of Foot controllers:

3. Select the second part of the parameter, which represents the MIDI message generated

by the pedal/footswitch or by the wheel:

Pedal 1 controls Main Volume (controller 7)

The MIDI message assignable to the pedals and footswitches differ owing to the
different nature of the two controllers. The assignment of a specific MIDI message
depends on the nature of the pedal selected. The Reference section lists the messages
assignable to each controller.

How to activate/deactivate the pedals and wheels for the tracks

1. Access page 3 of EDIT PERFORMANCE/TRACKS:

Edit Performance/Tracks, page 3 (S2/S3)

Edit Performance/Tracks, page 3 (S2R)

2. Select the track that you are interested in editing.

3. Set the selected controller (wheel, pedal, footswitch) to “On” or “---” (Off).

Save the modifications to the Performance

The modifications made to the current Performance must be saved to avoid losing them
when you select another Performance or re-select the same Performance.

Select the
with ENTER. You can memorise the modifications to the current Performance, to another
Performance of the same Bank/Song, or of a different Bank/Song.

If you select a different Performance, bear in mind that the Performance that will be
replaced will be irremediably lost.

Save Performance

command in the main display and confirm the procedure

Furthermore, for future use, save the updated Bank/Song to floppy disk or to RAM-disk;
remember that turning off the instrument will result in the loss of the modified Perform­ance.

(8)

Editing the Performance

81

9

H

OW TO

R

ECORD

What is a Song?

A Song is a recorded musical piece made up of several instrumental “parts”. Each Bank/
Song consists of a Song (or an empty slot where a Song can be recorded) which exploits
the Performances of the Bank/Song to which it belongs.

The playback and recording of the Song is controlled by the Music Processor’s on-board
Sequencer. It is possible to record a Song, or load it from disk in the form of a Bank/Song
or a MIDI-file.

A Song can be saved to floppy disk (as a Bank/Song) for the purpose of building a library
of Songs and exchange with other S Series instruments. It is possible to save a Song in
Standard MIDI-file format in order to play it on other equipment, regardless of the manu­facturer.

Finally, it is possible to carry out multi-track recordings via MIDI, and the Song can play
external musical instruments connected to the Music Processor’s MIDI OUT.

The Song tracks

Each part of a Song corresponds to one of the Tracks of a Performance. A Performance is
always selected when you enter Song mode and, during the course of the Song playback
or recording, you can select other Performances in order to modify the status and con­figuration of the tracks. A Song can utilise all the Performances of the Bank/Song to
which it belongs.

A S

ONG

To visualise the status of the tracks engaged by the Song, press the
Source section (led on).

The status of each track of the Song is identified by the following symbols shown in the
track column:

e The track contains recorded notes.

– The track is completely empty.
x The track is set to “mute”.

Prepare the tracks for the recording

A Song records the data generated by the LOCAL Source (keyboard or master keyboard via
MIDI-COMMON) and the
COMMON). It is important, therefore, to set one or both Sources correctly before you start
to record your Song:

LOCAL

the status of this Source determines the number of tracks that can be recorded in the Song
among those activated for recording. For example, if you activate 6 tracks in Record mode with
the local Source set to
among the six tracks activated in Record. It is of no importance if the local tracks are set to mute
(“x” symbol).

MIDI IN

tracks activated to receive Midi In events (shown with the symbol “e” ), provided that they are also
activated for recording. If the Midi In Source is set to
track of Midi In events, regardless of how many tracks are activated for recording.

if you are recording data generated by the Midi In Source, the Sequencer will only record

MIDI IN

Source (instruments connected to the MIDI IN not via MIDI-

layer

, the Song will record two layered tracks that have the lowest numbers

single

, the Sequencer will record only one

SONG

button in the

82 PRACTICAL GUIDE

Configure the LOCAL and MIDI IN Sources. Select the required playing mode for the LOCAL
Source. For the MIDI IN Source, select multi and activate the tracks for the reception of
Midi In events (symbol “e” in the track column).

After configuring the Sources, save the modifications in the current Performance with the
“Save Performance” command in the main display ([SAVE] [ENTER] [ENTER]). If you omit this
important step, activating Record mode recalls the original settings of the Performance,
cancelling the newly configured status.

Activate Record mode and select the recording options

1. Press the

RECORD

button to access Record mode. A dialogue window appears, above
the “record pending” display, which invites you to select the tracks and the recording
options shown in the command/options column:

“Record pending” display; partially covered by a dialogue window.
This is an S2/S3 display. In S2R “P.vol.rec” is substituted by “C.vol.rec”.

2. Select the tracks to record with the respective

SCROLL

BUTTONS

to bring other tracks into view.

TRACK SELECTION KEYS

. Use the

TRACK

Tracks activated for recording are identified with the symbol “R” in the track column.
You can deactivate the tracks in record by repressing the respective

Attention: If you record from the keyboard of from a master keyboard via MIDI-COMMON, the
number of tracks recorded will be equal to the number that appear in the LOCAL Source. The
tracks having the lowest numbers will be recorded among those selected in Record. All other
tracks will be ignored and, at the end of the recording, they will be identified by the hyphen (“-”),
which indicates an empty track.

If necessary, select the options which appear in the command/options column:

3.

TRACK SELECT KEY

• if you want to record the Tempo changes effected from the control panel during the
course of the recording, activate the “Tempo rec” option.

.

• if you want to record the regulations of the general volume effected with the S2/S3
Volume Pedal, activate the “P. vol. rec” option. S2R can record Pedal Volume events
travelling on MIDI-COMMON and not originating from the pedal connected to the rear
panel pedal volume socket; the option is called “C.vol. rec”.

• if you want to record the changes made to the Effects and Effect Volumes using the
Function Controllers (in USER mode), or by means of MIDI messages, activate the
“Effect rec” option.

• if you want to listen to the metronome “tick” during the recording, activate the
“Metronome” option.

4. Select the required recording option (“Overdub” to add new notes to those already

present, or “Replace” to replace notes already recorded with new ones in the tracks
shown with the “R” symbol).

Once you have set all the required recording options, press
settings (or

EXIT

to cancel and escape Record mode):

You can, however, select the options after confirming the track selections with

ENTER

to confirm the

ENTER

.
(The metronome can be freely activated and deactivated during the recording). Therefore,
if you set one or more of the options incorrectly, confirm with

ENTER

then correct the

error before starting the recording.

(9)

Recording a Song

83

Select the parameters of the Song

* The beat resolution is the

smallest impulse of the

In the S Series, there are

192 ‘ticks’ per quarter.

impulses per quarter.

In M

Sequencer.

IDI

, there are 24

Rotate the
pending” display, and press

5. Select the required Quantize (auto-correct) value. “Free” will record your events

DIAL

to select one of the displayed parameters in the central part of the “Record

ENTER

to activate the edit of the selected parameter.

exactly as played; other values represent the number of “divisions” that make up a bar.
The Quantize effect is not noticeable during the recording but it is effective on re­corded tracks.

6. Set a suitable Tempo value (playing speed) for the Song.

7. Set the required Time Signature (3/4, 4/4, etc.).

The Song pointer (locator)

The recording starts at the bar indicated by the “Locator” parameter (“Loc”, at the centre
of the display shown on the previous page). This parameter (otherwise know as the “Song
pointer”), composed of three numbers, shows the bar, the beat and the beat resolution*. In
the record pending display, only the bar can be modified, and, unless you start a record­ing right at the beginning (1 - 1 - 1), the start bar must always be indicated.

You are free to end your recording at any point: press

STOP

to stop the recording process.

For a precise end-record point, you can make use of the “Edit stop to bar” parameter in

EDIT SONG—Utility. Follow this procedure:

8. If the

RECORD

led is on, press the record button to escape the Record pending display

and return to the Playback display. (This operation annuls some of the options selected
in Record).

9. Select the “Edit” command in the Playback display. The EDIT SONG menu appears (or the

last EDIT SONG editor selected; in this case, press the “Menu” command to return to the
main EDIT SONG menu):

10.

Access the Utility editor:

11.

Activate the edit of the “Edit Stop to Bar” parameter:

12.

Use the

NUMERIC KEYPAD

(or the

DIAL

) to specify the last bar of the recording. At the

end of the specified bar, the recording will stop automatically.

84 PRACTICAL GUIDE

13.

Select the “Rec/play” command to return to the Playback display.

14.

Press

RECORD

to enter the “Record pending” display. Repeat the track selection process

and the selection of the options as already described.