Includes 34 Different Tutorials Designed For Specific Applications
Plus Programming Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts
by David Fox
Rev. B - 11/09/01
PC2 Made Easy
Young Chang Distributors
Young Chang America, Inc.Young Chang Canada Corp.
PO Box 999953650 Victoria Park Ave. #105
Lakewood, WA 98499-0995Toronto, ONT
Tel: (253) 589-3200Canada M2H 3P7
Fax: (253) 984-0245Tel: (416) 492-9899
support@kurzweilmusicsystems.comFax: (416) 492-9299
www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com
Young Chang Akki, Co. Ltd.
16th Floor Dongwoo-Bldg No. 708-1
Yoksam-Dong, Kangnam-Gu
Seoul, Korea 135-080
Tel: 2-3451-3500
Fax: 2-3451-3596
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PC2 Made Easy
BASIC CONCEPTS & USER INTERFACE ISSUES1
The Three Play Modes1
User Interface Basics4
Sound/Setup Select4
Data Entry6
Zone Parameters6
Zone Select Buttons7
Sliders and Assignable Controller Buttons (SW1-SW5)9
In Internal Voices Mode10
In MIDI Setups Mode10
In KB 3 Mode10
Other Buttons in the Zone Select & Assignable Controllers Section11
Sound Parameters11
Effects11
System12
Functions12
Editing Shortcuts13
Setting Note Values:13
Turning a parameter Off or setting it to None:13
To quickly edit a specific controller:13
Jumping to a specific channel in the MIDI Receive menu:13
Switching Banks when calling up a Program (in Internal Voices mode or in the Program
Menu when editing a Setup):13
Using the Copy Function13
TUTORIALS15
Intro15
1. Layering Two or More Programs17
2. Splitting Two or More Programs20
3. Assigning Sliders for Volume in Different Zones22
4. Setting Initial Volume Levels for Different Zones23
5. Returning Volume Levels to Full Values when Exiting a Setup24
6. Adjusting Relative Volumes with One Slider25
7. Crossfading Zones27
8. Velocity Switching29
9. Switching from One Setup to Another With a Pedal30
10. Switching from One Program to Another with a Pedal32
11. Switching Banks & Programs with a Pedal33
12. Transposing a Zone with a Button35
13. Panning Zones Hard Left & Right37
14. Playing KB3 Programs39
15. Using KB3 Programs in a Setup41
Drawbar Issues41
Button Issues42
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Effects Issues42
16. Program Editing – Internal Voices44
17. Program Editing – KB3 Programs49
18. Effects Editing53
19. Using the Arpeggiator55
20. Using the Various Arpeggiator Latch Modes59
21. Assigning a Slider to Arpeggiator Velocities61
22. Using the Arpeggiator with a Sequencer or External Controller62
23. Using the PC2 to Control External Slaves63
24. Bank Controller Issues for External Slaves64
25. Switching Programs on External Slaves without Playing Them66
26. Playing Programs on External Slaves without sending Program Changes
68
27. Using MIDI Receive Mode69
28. Working With an External Sequencer71
Setting Up for sequencing71
Calling up Programs and sending initial setup info to each track.72
29. Recording Setups to a Sequencer73
30. Using Effects when Sequencing74
31. Selecting Setups from an External Controller76
32. Customizing the Internal Voices Mode77
33. Using SysEx to Store Your Setups78
To dump the entire memory:78
To dump individual Setups or Programs:78
To load a dump back into the PC2:78
34. Trouble Shooting80
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION81
A Note About the Physical Controllers81
Some info on the Global Parameters81
Using the Copy Function84
To copy all the parameters from one zone to another:84
To copy all the parameters from one zone to a zone in a different Setup:84
To copy all the controller parameters from one controller to another:85
To copy all the Arpeggiator parameters from one Setup to another:85
To copy the Effects configuration from one Setup to another or one Program to another:86
Special characters for naming Setups and Programs86
Updating your Operating System86
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PC2 Made Easy
This document is intended for use with the PC2 and PC2X keyboard models. Although
the PC2 rack is very similar, there are some differences with the keyboard version. A
separate version for the PC2R is available.
This guide walks you step-by-step through a variety of typical programming
applications you might use in the creation of Setups and Programs on the PC2.
The first part of this document reviews some of the basic concepts of the PC2 design
and user interface, including editing shortcuts. The second part contains a series of step
by step tutorials, each of which demonstrates a different function.
BASI C CONCEPTS & USER INTERFACE ISSUES
The Three Play Modes
The PC2 has three basic Play Modes - Internal Voices, KB3, and MIDI Setups. You
switch between these three modes using the Internal Voices, KB3, and MIDI Setups
buttons in the Sound/Setup Select area.
Internal Voices Mode
If you only need to play one regular Program at a time, use Internal Voices mode.
(Typically a Program will be just one sound, but there are some Programs that have a
couple of sounds layered together, such as Piano & Strings). The PC2 is always in
Internal Voices mode when you first power it up. (Also, you should be aware that while
the keyboard is only playing one program at atime in Internal Voices Mode, the
instrument is still multi-timbral and can receive on all 16 MIDI channels from the MIDI In
port).
If you have a PC2 without any additional Expansion Voices options, then you have two
banks of 128 Programs per bank that you can access (with version 2.0 or later Ð earlier
versions had only a single bank of 128 Programs). These are most easily accessed by
using the 16 Sound Select Buttons, which are labeled by Sound Category. For each bank,
under each category, there are 8 variations that you can select, using the Next Group and
Previous Group buttons. When you first power up the PC2, you will be in Bank 0, which
is the first bank of regular programs. You will notice that the Internal button in the Sound
Source section is lit. To switch to Bank 6, which is the second bank of preset programs,
press Internal and User at the same time. Both buttons will be lit and the display will
show that you are in Bank 6. You can now use the Sound Select Category and
Previous/Next Group buttons to select the sounds from that bank.
Notice that when in Internal Voices Mode, the Bank number and name are shown on the
top line of the display, and the Program number and name are shown on the lower line.
In addition, the Current Sound Select Category (1-16 to match the Sound Select Buttons)
and Group (A-H) are shown in the upper right.
If you have one or both of the optional Expansion Voices cards installed in your PC2,
then you can press the Exp1 or Exp2 buttons in the Sound Source section to select the
programs in those banks. Obviously the names above the Sound Select buttons will not
apply at this point, but you can still use the Sound Select and Previous/Next Group
buttons to select a specific numbered program.
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You can also select a Program by typing its number on the numeric keypad and then
pressing Enter. Appendix C in the original manual and pages 13 & 14 in the version 2
supplement manual list all the Internal Voice programs and their numbers. In addition,
once you are on a program, you can scroll through them in numeric order by using the
alpha wheel or the + and - buttons under the wheel.
You can also switch between programs in two different banks using the numeric keypad.
To do this you type the bank number, then the Ò+/-Ò button, then the program number.
For example, if you are in Bank 0 and you want to go to program 52 in Bank 6, you type
6, +/-, 5, 2, and Enter.
The bank assignments in the PC2 for regular programs are as follows:
Bank 0 Internal Voices 1
Bank 1 User Created Voices
Bank 2 Expansion Block 1 Voices
Bank 3 Expansion Block 2 Voices
Bank 6 Internal Voices 2
Bank 7 General MIDI Drum Voices (added when you add the Expansion Block 1)
You will need to know the bank numbers if you are sending the bank controller from an
external MIDI device such as a sequencer, or if you switch banks from the numeric
keypad, as discussed above. (Note that Bank 0 and Bank 6, the programs in the basic
PC2, are referred to as the Internal Voices banks, which is not to be confused with
Internal Voices mode. You can play programs from the other banks while in Internal
Voices mode. But you are always playing just one program at a time in Internal Voices
mode.)
If you edit a sound in any of the preset banks and save it, it will always be stored in the
User Bank.
If you are in a different mode (MIDI Setups or KB3) and press the Internal Voices
button, it will blink. At that point, you can use one of the methods described above to
select a sound. Or, if you press the Internal Voices button again, the PC2 will select the
program you were previously playing the last time you were in Internal Voice mode.
KB3 Mode
KB3 mode is a special mode for playing KB3 programs. These programs are physical
models of a classic tone wheel organ (the Hammond B3). There are two banks for KB3
programs Ð Internal Preset and User Created. There are only 16 preset KB3 programs,
therefore the 16 Sound Select buttons can be used to select them, but the Previous Group
and Next Group buttons wonÕt function while you are in the Preset bank. However, there
are 128 slots in the KB3 User bank, so they can be used in that bank. Again, obviously,
the sound category names above the Sound Select buttons donÕt apply when selecting a
KB3 program.
As in Internal Voices Mode, the Bank number is shown in the top left of the display, but
instead of the bank name, the display then shows the program number and name. This is
because the bottom line is used to convey other information, including the settings of the
nine drawbars and the Chorus/Vibrato setting.
The bank assignments in the PC2 for KB3 programs are as follows:
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PC2 Made Easy
Bank 4 KB3 Voices
Bank 5 User Created KB3 Voices
Because of the special needs of KB3 programs, buttons and sliders have specific
functions while in this mode. KB3 Mode will be discussed in more detail later.
If you are in a different mode (MIDI Setups or Internal Voices) and press KB3 button, it
will blink. At that point, you can use one of the methods described above to select a
sound. Or, if you press the KB3 button again, the PC2 will select the program you were
previously playing the last time you were in KB3 mode.
KB3 programs can only be played on a single MIDI channel. By default, this is channel 1.
It can be changed to a different channel by setting the KB3 Channel parameter in the
Global menu. But this will cause another change you need to be aware of. If you are in
Internal Voices Mode or KB3 Mode, the Keyboard always transmits on a single MIDI
channel. In Internal Voices Mode this is channel 1 by default (it can be changed by
altering the Internal Voices Setup, which is discussed in tutorial #32). But with KB3
Mode, in order to make sure that you will always be able to play a KB3 program, the
MIDI channel will change to whatever channel is selected as the KB3 Channel. If you are
just playing the Kurzweil by itself, you will never notice this change. But if you are
playing and external MIDI module along with the Kurzweil, then you could get
unexpected results when the Kurzweil switches from sending MIDI data on channel 1 to
sending on a different channel as soon as you enter KB3 Mode. For this reason, it is
generally best to leave the KB3 Channel at the default value of channel 1 unless you have
a specific reason to set it to a different channel.
The KB3 Channel will also be an issue if you are sequencing and want to use a KB3
program Ð you will need to make sure to assign the correct channel to the track you are
going to use for playing the KB3 program
MIDI Setups Mode
MIDI Setups mode is used when you want to split or layer two or more Programs. You
would also use it when you want to control any external MIDI modules or keyboards.
MIDI Setups also allow you to program all of the sliders, wheels, pedals, buttons, etc.
for specific applications.
MIDI Setups mode allows you to have up to 4 zones, with a different program on each
zone. Therefore, the maximum number of programs you can split or layer from the
keyboard is four. (But the instrument can still respond on all 16 MIDI channels from an
external MIDI controller or sequencer.)
MIDI Setups mode and Internal Voices mode function identically, with only a few
exceptions. You will always only have one zone in Internal Voices mode, since you are
playing a single Program. (It is possible to start in Internal Voices mode and add zones,
but when you go to save what you have done, you will have to save it as a Setup.)
As in Internal Voices Mode, the Sound Source buttons function while you are in MIDI
Setups mode, allowing you to call up the preset Internal Setups, or Setups using the
Expansion Voices, or User created Setups.
The display differs in MIDI Setups mode. Instead of Bank numbers, the Setups are
simply numbered, with the numbers increasing past 128, which would be the limit of
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PC2 Made Easy
MIDI. So the first User Created Setup will be #129. You canÕt enter the bank number to
select a Setup from the front panel, you just enter the Setup number.
However, if you want to call up Setups from another controller that sends MIDI
messages, then the PC2 does respond to the bank controller followed by a program
change number. Details on how to do this are covered in tutorial #31.
The bank assignments in the PC2 for Setups are as follows:
Bank 0 Internal Setups (1-32, plus 125-128)
Bank 1 User Created Setups (129-256)
Bank 2 Expansion Block 1 Setups (257-?)
Bank 3 Expansion Block 2 Setups (385-?)
If you are in a different mode (Internal Voices or KB3) and press the MIDI Setups
button, it will blink. At that point, you can use one of the methods described above to
select a Setup. Or, if you press the MIDI Setups button again, the PC2 will select the
setup you were previously playing the last time you were in MIDI Setups mode.
User Interface Basics
The following is a review of some of the information covered in chapter 3 of the manual.
If you read nothing else in the manual, you should go back and read that chapter.
The buttons on the front panel are divided into sections.
Sound/Setup Select
We already mentioned how you can use these buttons to call up programs when in
Internal Voices mode, but you can also use them for calling up Setups when in MIDI
Setups mode. Notice that the 16 buttons are labeled with the numbers 1-16. By using
these buttons along with the Previous Group and Next Group buttons, you have access
to 16 different Setups at a time with only one button press. The 16 buttons can then be
used to access the Setups as follows:
Group ASetups 1-16
Group BSetups 17-32
Group CSetups 33-48
etc.
There are only 36 Presets in the Internal Bank, which are number 1-32 (Groups A & B)
and 125-128 (Group H, Sound Select Buttons 13-16). ). But when you create and save
your own Setups to the User bank, you will have a total of 128 locations, in 8 possible
groups (A-H).
1. Press the MIDI Setups button.
2. Press the #1 Sound Select button (also labeled Acoustic Piano 1). If you have just
turned on the instrument, the top line of the display should say S001 Dance C7. If it
doesnÕt, press the Previous Group button repeatedly until it does. You have now called
up Setup #1. Notice that the bottom line says A01, showing you that you are in Group
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PC2 Made Easy
A on the #1 Sound Select button. Following the A01, it will show a number and a
Program name. This shows you the name of the Program in the currently selected Zone
(more on this later).
3. Press the Next Group button. The top line of the display now shows S017 Touch Orch
(Setup #17) and the bottom line shows B01. This tells you that you have moved to
Group B but you are still on the #1 Sound Select button.
4. Press the #2 Sound Select button (also labeled Acoustic Piano 2). Now the display
shows S018 One Man Trio on the top line and B02 on the bottom line. Notice that you
have stayed in the same group - you are still in Group B but are now on the #2 Sound
Select button.
So whatÕs so great about all of this anyway? LetÕs say that you are creating your own
Setups and you need to switch between them quickly in a performance. Maybe you have
two different sets you are performing. You can save the Setups for a specific set all
within the same group. You save the Setups for the first set between Setups #1-16 in the
User bank. Then you save the setups for the second set inn #17-32. Once you go to MIDI
Setups mode and press the User button, you can use the Next Group buttons to get to
Group A (for the first set) or B (for the second set). Now you can switch between any of
your Setups (up to 16) with just a single button press by using the Sound Select buttons!
There is an IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE between MIDI Setups mode and Internal Voices
mode. When you are in MIDI Setups mode, pressing the Sound Select buttons will
always call up the appropriate Setup within the currently Selected Group - the group
wonÕt change unless you press the Previous or Next Group buttons, or use the Data
Entry section to go to a Setup in a different Group. But when you are in Internal Voices
mode, each Sound Select Button remembers whichever group it was last on.
1. Press the Internal Voices button.
2. Press the Sound Select #1 Button. Press the Previous Group button until the top line
of the display says Bank:0 Internal 1A.
3. Press the Sound Select #2 Button. Press the Previous or Next Group Button until the
display says Bank:0 Internal 2B.
4. Press the Sound Select #1 Button again. Notice that it goes back to Group A. If you go
back to Sound Select #2, you will see it jumps back to Group B.
This feature is useful because it allows you to choose your favorite program out of a
group and be able to call it up with a single button press when in Internal Voices mode.
This is remembered even after you turn the PC2 off.
There is another difference to be aware of. As mentioned before, in Setups Mode, the
numbers increment by one as you move through the Sound Select Buttons, so:
Group ASetups 1-16
Group BSetups 17-32
Group CSetups 33-48
etc.
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PC2 Made Easy
This means that if you are on Sound Select button #1, and press the Next Group button
repeatedly, the Setup numbers will increment by 16 Ð starting with 1, then 17, then 33,
etc.
But in Internal Voices Mode, it works exactly the opposite. If you press the Sound Select
#1 button, and then press the Next Group button repeatedly the program numbers will
increment by 1, starting with 0, then 1, then 2 etc. There is an obvious reason for this
difference Ð it allows us to group similar programs with consecutive numbers. In other
words:
Acoustic Piano 1 programs0-7
Acoustic Piano 2 programs8-15
Electric Piano 1 programs16-23
etc.
Although this is not normally something you would normally think of when playing the
presets, it IS something you want to be aware of when creating User programs. If you
want to be able to call up your User programs with a single button press using the Sound
Select buttons, then you will want to save them using an appropriate ID number. For
instance, if you want to be able to call up one of your programs with the Sound Select #1
button, you would need to save the program as ID# 0-7. If you want to call it up
programs with the Sound Select #2 button, you would need to save the program as
ID#8-15, etc.
If you are in KB3 Mode, it works the same way as in Internal Voices Mode. Although
you wonÕt see a group letter displayed (A-H), each Sound Select button will remember
which of the eight possible programs for that button was selected with the
Previous/Next Group buttons. In the case of the Internal Bank, there are only 16 preset
programs, so the Group Buttons have no effect. But if you are storing your own KB3
programs in the User Bank, then there are 128 available IDs to store the programs and
the Group buttons will function.
Data Entry
This section is very simple and should be familiar to anyone who has used other
electronic instruments as well as automated teller machines (ATMs). The alpha wheel
allows you to scroll through values quickly. The Ò+Ó and Ò-Ó buttons let you increment
or decrement by single values, and the numeric keypad lets you enter a specific value. It
is also used for naming Setups and Programs. You always need to press the Enter button
when using the numeric keypad to register the value (except when using the naming
function, as described in tutorial #1).
Zone Parameters
Almost all of the Setup editing features of the PC2 are accessed through this section.
Under each button is a series of parameters, which you access using the << and >>
buttons under the display. You then use the Data Entry section to change the value of
the currently displayed parameter.
1. Press the MIDI Setups button twice. Type, 1, 2, 8, then Enter on the numeric keypad.
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2. Press the MIDI Transmit Button. The display shows that you are on the MIDI Channel
parameter.
3. Press the >> button. You are now on the Destination parameter, which by default is
set to Local+MIDI.
4. Press the Ò-Ó button under the alpha wheel. The value changes to MIDI. Rotate the
wheel clockwise. It changes back to Local+MIDI.
Notice that there is an underscore below the letter L in the display. This shows that the
parameter is highlighted. Usually there is only one parameter in the display at a time,
but sometimes there are two or three.
5. Press the KeyRange button. There are two parameters in the display - Low Note and
High Note. Notice the underscore under the C. Press the >> button and you will see the
underscore move under the G.
Zone Select Buttons
The four zone select buttons have several different functions, depending on what mode
you are in.
In MIDI Setups Mode
When playing a Setup, they allow you to mute and unmute zones. When you are editing
a Setup, they allow you to switch between zones for editing. Since the display has only
two lines, there is only enough room to show the value of 1 zone at a time.
1. Press the MIDI Setups button, then press 1 on the numeric keypad, then 5, then press
Enter. You have called up Setup 015 Piano Trio. On the bottom line of the display, after
A15, it should say 1:Upright Bass 2. If it doesnÕt, press the Zone 1 button once and you
will see this info. This shows you the Program that is on zone 1.
2. Notice that the Zone 1 and Zone 2 buttons are green and the Zone 3 and Zone 4
buttons are orange. This tells you the Setup has 4 zones, but 2 of the zones are muted. If
you play the keyboard, you will hear Piano on the right side and Bass+Ride Cymbal on
the left.
3. Press the Zone 1 button. It now turns orange. This means that zone is muted. If you
play the keyboard, the left side makes no sound. Press Zone 1 and the button turns
green again and you will hear the bass.
4. Press the Zone 2 button. The bottom line of the display now says A15 2:Grand Piano
44, showing you the Program in zone 2.
5. Press the Zone 3 button. The bottom line of the display now says A15 3:Trombones,
showing you the Program in zone 3. Press Zone 3 again and the button turns Green. Play
the keyboard and you will now hear Trombones layered with the Piano on the right side
of the keyboard, and the Bass+Ride still on the left.
An important point that can lead to confusion: If a specific zone is NOT currently in the
display, pressing that Zone Select button will bring up that zone in the display. But if
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the Zone is already in the display, then pressing the same numbered Zone Select button
will mute it (or unmute it if the zone is already muted). As this Setup demonstrates, you
can save a Setup with a zone muted, allowing you to call up the Setup and have certain
sounds layered or split, and then bring in another zone while you are playing, by
pressing the appropriate zone button.
6. Press the MIDI Transmit button. The top line now shows Zone 3 0:060. When you are
editing any parameter the top line always shows you the current zone, as well as the
bank and program number of the program assigned to that zone (in this case, it is the
Internal Voices bank 0, Program 60 - Trombones. The bottom line says MIDI Channel:03.
showing you that zone 3 is assigned to channel 3.
7. Press the Zone 1 button. It shows you that zone 1 has program 111 from the Internal
Voices bank and is assigned to channel 1.
8. Press the Zone 1 button again. Notice that the Zone 1 button turns orange - the zone is
muted. The display also shows a Ò-Ó after the zone number in the display, to indicate
that it is muted. The mute function works both when playing and editing a Setup. This
can be useful when you are creating your Setups - you can temporarily mute a zone to
hear the others. Press the Zone 1 button again to unmute the zone.
9. Press the Solo button. The Zone 1 button turns red, showing that zone is soloed. If you
play the keyboard you will only hear the bass. Press the Zone 2 button. It switches to
red and the Zone 1 button to green, soloing the piano.
10. Press the Zone 3 button. Now press the Ò-Ò button or turn the wheel counter-
clockwise until the MIDI Channel says Off. The Zone 3 button is now not lit at all,
showing you this zone has been turned off. All of the zone 3 parameter values are still
remembered Ð the zone has simply been turned off.
In Internal Voices Mode
When you are Internal Voices mode, the zone buttons access the AutoSplit functions
(labeled above the buttons), giving you a fast and simple way of creating a basic setup.
In Internal Voices mode, you can play one program at a time, since Internal Voices mode
is based on the internal setup, which contains a single zone. If you wanted to create a
multi-zone setup with different programs in each zone, you could go to MIDI Setups
mode, then start programming (editing): assigning MIDI channels and programs to zones,
assigning physical controllers, and so on. This gives you a great deal of control and
flexibility, but it takes a bit of time.
If youÕre on stage and you suddenly decide that your solo needs two sounds instead of
one, you donÕt want to take the time to edit a setup; you just want to add another
sound as quickly as possible. Fortunately, the PC2 makes it easy to do this kind of thing
without doing any actual editing. In this case the 4 zone buttons are used to add a Layer
sound to the main sound, add a split sound on the left side of the keyboard, and add a
layered sound for the split sound.
As an example, weÕre going to start with piano, layer it with strings, add a split with
bass, then layer the bass with clavinet.
1. Press Internal Voices (in the Sound/Setup Select region), then Internal (in the Sound
Source region), then the Acoustic Piano 1 Sound Select.
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2. Press Layer (the Zone 2 button). Notice that the Mode buttons change and MIDI
Setups is now lit instead of Internal Voices (since we now have 2 zones). Also notice
that the top of the display says Zone:2 auto, indicating that AutoSplit is turned on.
3. Press the Strings Sound Select button. Now you have piano and strings layered across
the entire keyboard.
4. Press Split (the Zone 3 button).
5. Press the Bass Sound Select button. Now you have a bass from the bottom of the
keyboard up to G#3, and layered piano and strings from A 3 up.
6. Press Split Layer (the Zone 4 button).
7. Press the Clavier Sound Select button. ThatÕs it: bass layered with clavinet in the
lower part of the keyboard, and piano layered with strings in the upper part. Remember
that each sound select button remembers the last program that was chosen for that
sound category. If you want a different option, you can simply use the Next and
previous Group buttons to choose a different program. If you want to change one of the
sounds, simply press the appropriate zone button (Main, Layer, Split, or Split Layer)
then select the sound you want.
8. If you would like to change where the keyboard is split, you can easily do this. Press
the Split and Split Layer buttons simultaneously. The display changes to show you the
AutoSplit Key, which is currently G#3. The easiest way to change the key is to hold the
Enter button and strike the note that you want on the keyboard. This will be the top
note of the left side of the keyboard. You can also use the wheel or + and Ð buttons to
change the value. Press the Split and Split Layer buttons simultaneously again to return
to performance mode.
We will cover more on the AutoSplit feature in tutorials 1 & 2.
In KB3 Mode
When you are in KB3 Mode, these buttons have special functions, which control the
Percussion feature in a KB3 program. Percussion is a an extra tone added on top of the
regular drawbar pitches, which has a short envelope, adding a little ÒpopÓ to the note.
The labels below the buttons show the functions, turning Percussion On or Off, and
controlling the Volume (Soft or Loud), Decay Rate (Slow or Fast), and Pitch (Low or
High harmonic).
Sliders and Assignable Controller Buttons (SW1-SW5)
The PC2 has 4 sliders and 5 switch buttons which can be assigned to send any MIDI
controller message, and can be used to modify the sound of Programs and Setups in a
variety of ways. (And of course, there are also 3 switch pedal and 2 continuous
controller jacks, plus jacks for a breath controller and option ribbon. Again, these can be
assigned to send any MIDI controller message). All these physical controllers are
independent for each zone in a MIDI Setup, so that for instance, one slider can send a
single message on one or more MIDI channels, or completely different messages for each
channel in used in the Setup.
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The five Switch buttons (Sw1-SW5) section change function depending on whether you
are in Internal Voices, MIDI Setups Mode or KB3 Mode.
In Internal Voices Mode
While you are in Internal Voices Mode, the default Internal Voices Setup has the
controllers in zone 1 assigned to default values. Although you can customize the Internal
Voices Setup (see tutorial #32) and change what messages are sent by the sliders,
buttons, etc., you should be aware of the original defaults, since they are already set to
give you control over your sound. Appendix C contains a list of all the presets and the
specific controller assignments for each program. However, some general rules apply:
Slider A (Controller #93) controls the Wet/Dry Mix for FX-A
Slider B (#91) controls the Wet/Dry Mix for FX-B
Slider C (#6) varies for each program, but is typically some type of timbre change
Slider D (#13) varies for each program, but is often some type of rate control (for
vibrato, tremolo, etc.) It is also often used to control the amount of resonance, when
Slider C is used to open and close a Low Pass filter. It may be also used for Envelope
control (changing the Attack and/or release times).
SW1 (labeled Octave Shift) transposes down one octave.
SW2 (#9) varies for each program
SW3 (#12) varies for each program
SW4 (#116) turns the arpeggiator on and off.
SW5 (#29) varies for each program, but is often used for Layer Enable/Disable, or
switching Layers. It can also be used to add Impact (a very brief amplitude boost,
especially effective in percussive sounds).
An important note about the Octave Shift (SW1) button. This will shift the keyboard
down one octave in Internal Voices Mode and in many Setups. But it is important to
understand that this button is NOT specifically dedicated to doing an octave shift. It
can, in fact, be programmed to send any MIDI controller you want Ð we have merely
programmed it to do an octave shift as a default. In fact, if you use the Auto
Split/Layer function to create a Setup from internal voices mode, you will find that
while the button shifts zones 1 & 2 Down one octave, it shifts Zones 3 & 4 UP one
octave.
In MIDI Setups Mode
The Sliders and buttons have a variety of different functions in the preset Setups.
Appendix C documents the various controls. As mentioned above, you may find that
moving a slider or pressing a button will change just a single zone or several of them.
We will be covering many examples of how you program the various physical controllers
in the tutorials that follow.
In KB 3 Mode
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PC2 Made Easy
In KB3 Mode, the sliders function as the drawbars found on a standard tone wheel
organ. The bottom SW1-SW3 buttons control the Rotary and Chorus/Vibrato effects.
This is covered in detail in tutorial #14.
Other Buttons in the Zone Select & Assignable Controllers Section
There are two additional buttons in this section. One of these buttons is dedicated to
selecting the Global EQ feature. This button will always call up the EQ display no
matter what mode you are in. The EQ will affect all Programs and Setups, on all MIDI
channels.
Press the EQ button. The display has three parameters that can be adjusted with the
first three sliders. Or, you can select the parameters with the left and right arrow buttons
and use regular data entry methods to change the values. Each of the three bands can be
adjusted plus or minus 12dB. Press EQ again to return to the previous mode you were
in. The EQ settings are remembered as long as the PC2 is powered up. Each time you
turn the PC2 on, the EQ settings return to 0 dB for each band (Flat EQ).
The final button in this section change function depending on which mode you are in.
In KB3 Mode, this button switches the four sliders to control either the first 4 or second
4 drawbars of the standard 9 drawbars in a tonewheel organ. (The ninth drawbar is
controlled by the Mod Wheel.)
When you are in MIDI Setups Mode, this button is used to solo a single zone (as shown
previously). If you are in Internal Voices Mode, pressing this button triggers the Auto
Split/Layer Function, turning the program into aSetup, and soloing zone 1.
If you have started in Internal Voices mode and have gone into the Program Editor (by
pressing Timbre, Envelope, or LFO), then this button will solo the current Layer in the
program (more on this in tutorial #16).
Sound Parameters
The PC2 offers some basic editing of sounds. The three buttons in this section control
Timbre, Envelope, and LFOs. The actual parameters that you see in these menus will
change depending on whether you are editing a regular program or a KB3 program. In
addition, the parameters in the Timbre menu will change, depending on the program you
are editing. We will go through some examples of editing programs in tutorials 16 & 17.
Effects
The PC2 has 2 effects processors, A & B. Only one effects configuration (which includes
the setting for both Effects A & B) can be called up at a time. Each Program and Setup
can have its own Effects configuration, and when you call up that Program or Setup, its
effect configuration is selected. When you are playing a Program or a Setup, it is a
simple matter to see the current effect and change it if desired. But if you are sequencing
and playing different programs on different channels, then you must choose how you
will control the effects, since only one program or master setting can be in control. We
will cover how to do this in tutorial #30.
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PC2 Made Easy
1. Go to MIDI Setups Mode and call up Setup #5 Synth/E Piano. If the bottom line does
not say 1:Serious Classi, press the Zone 1 button. Notice that the FX-A button is lit,
showing you that zone 1 is assigned to FX-A.
2. Now press the Zone 2 button. The FX-B button is lit, showing you that zone 2 is set to
FX-B. If you press FX-A, it now lights and the FX-B button is no longer lit. You have just
changed zone 2 to go to FX-A. Press FX-A again, the button light goes out and now this
zone is dry (no effects). Press FX-A and FX-B simultaneously to send a zone to both
effects processors. Press FX-A again to return zone 2 to its original setting of FX-B.
3. Press the Select buttons for FX-A and FX-B. You will see which effect is chosen for
each effects bus (Dist Cab EPiano for FX-A and Elegant Hall for FX-B). You can change
the effect for each bus by using any data entry method.
4. Press the Wet/Dry button. The bottom line shows the wet/dry mix for each effects
bus. Notice that FX-A amount is in parenthesis. This shows you that the current zone
(zone 2) is not being sent to FX-A. But there is still an amount that is remembered for
each bus. So if you switch zone 2 to use FX-A, it will use the currently set value of 76%
wet for the Distorted Cabinet effect.
5. Each zone in a Setup (and each MIDI channel) can have its own separate wet/dry
mix. In zone 2, the wet/dry mix for FX-B is 6%. Press the Zone 3 button. Notice that this
zone is set to 8% for the same effects bus. We will show how to set the wet dry mix on a
per channel basis in our tutorial on using effects when sequencing.
6. Now look at the top line of the display. It says Global A>B 5%. In addition to having
to separate effects busses, you can feed the output of FX-A into FX-B, and this
parameter allows you to choose how much of the signal from FX-A goes into FX-B. The
display says Global, because this amount is the same for all zones (and all MIDI
channels).
We will cover more details on using effects in tutorials 18 & 30.
System
This section has three buttons, Global, MIDI Receive, and Panic.
Pressing Panic will send the MIDI All Notes Off and MIDI All Controllers reset messages
on all channels, which will stop any stuck and return controller values to their defaults.
We will cover the Global functions at the end of this document, and The MIDI Receive
button is covered in tutorial #27.
Functions
This section has three buttons: Compare, Copy, and Store. We will be covering the use of
the Store function in the first tutorial.
Using the Compare function is easy. Press it at any time when you are editing a Program
or Setup to compare the currently edited version with the previously stored version. If
you are editing a Setup, the Z in the top right hand corner of the display will change to a
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PC2 Made Easy
C. If you are editing a Program, Lyr will change to Cmp. The Compare button will also
blink. You will hear the previously stored version. Press Compare again to return to your
currently edited version.
Details on using the Copy function can be found at the end of this document, after all
the tutorials.
Editing Shortcuts
Following are few tricks to speed up editing of various parameters:
Setting Note Values:
For any parameter whose value is a note, hold Enter and strike the note on the keyboard
that you want and the parameter will switch to that note.
Turning a parameter Off or setting it to None:
Typing 0 and pressing Enter will change most parameters to a value of Off or None.
To quickly edit a specific controller:
Each physical controller (sliders, wheels, etc.) has a number of parameters, and there are
17 different physical controllers. All of those parameters are under the same menu, so
that is a lot of parameters to scroll through!! If you hold the Controllers button and move
a specific controller, the PC2 will jump to the first parameter for that controller. For
example, hold Controllers and move Slider A. The display jumps to Slider A Ctrl Num.
Pressing the << and >> buttons simultaneously will jump to the same parameter for the
next controller in the list. After following the previous example, press both those buttons
and you jump to Slider B Ctrl Num.
Jumping to a specific channel in the MIDI Receive menu:
Holding MIDI Receive and pressing one of the 16 Sound Select buttons will jump to that
numbered MIDI channel.
Switching Banks when calling up a Program (in Internal Voices mode or in the Program
Menu when editing a Setup):
Type the bank number, then the Ò+/-Ó button, then the program number, then press
Enter.
Using the Copy Function
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PC2 Made Easy
As you go through the tutorials below, you will find examples of many different things
you can do on the PC2. When you start to create your own Setups, you may find that
you want two or more zones to have the same types of control oriented functions, with
each zone playing a different sound. One way to speed up the creation of your Setups is
to copy parameters from one zone to another or even from one Setup to another. The
PC2 makes it easy to do this.
Details on using the Copy function can be found at the end of this document, after all
the tutorials.
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PC2 Made Easy
TUTORIALS
Intr o
These tutorials have been designed to start simply and increase in complexity. To avoid
a great deal of duplication, later tutorials will refer to steps from previous tutorials.
There are two ways of creating a Setup Ð starting in Internal Voices Mode and
(typically) use the AutoSplit function, or starting in MIDI Setups Mode.
Starting in MIDI Setups Mode - Editing from the Default Setup:
All of the tutorials start from the Setup 128, the Default Setup. One thing you want to
be careful of - if you start from an existing Setup and make changes, some of the
parameters from that original Setup may be set to do specific things, which will affect
what you are trying to do.
For this reason, it is usually easier to start with the Default Setup. If you do start with
one of the preset Setups, please be sure to look in Appendix E of the manual to see the
controller assignments for that Setup.
Another thing to be aware of - whenever you call up a Setup, the PC2 copies all of the
parameter values into an edit buffer. Any changes you make are made in that edit
buffer, and the changes donÕt go into memory until you Store that Setup. If no Setup
exists at a specific location, then nothing is copied into the edit buffer, and so the data
in the edit buffer is whatever was there from the last real Setup.
For example, letÕs say you start with a PC2 set to factory defaults (no user Setups saved
in memory). Now you call up Setup 1. All the parameters from Setups 1 are placed in
the edit buffer. Next you call up Setup #129 in the User bank. But there is no Setup
#129 yet in the instrument, so the display says ÒNot FoundÓ. Since nothing existed
there, the values from Setup #1 are still in the edit buffer and if you start editing those
values will be there unless you change them. As you can imagine, this can lead to
confusion.
So again, the best way to create your own Setup is to either start with Setup 128, or
start with another existing Setup if you know how its parameters are set and want to
make use of those settings.
There are actually four possible ÒtemplateÓ Setups you can start with. Setup 128
Default Setup has some of the controllers set to default settings for all 4 zones. For
example, the Switch Pedal 1 is set to Sustain and wheel 1 is set to Pitch Bend. Most
other controllers are unassigned. Setup 127 A Clear Setup has ALL of the controllers
unassigned. Setup 126 Internal Setup is a copy of the default setting for the Internal
Voices Setup, which is a special Setup that is used when in Internal Voices Mode. This
Setup has every physical controller set to a specific default value. The Sliders and
Switch Buttons are set to controller numbers, which typically are used to modify sound
and arpeggiator parameters. Setup 125 PC2R Control is a Setup specifically designed
for controlling a PC2R from a PC2. It has a different set of controller numbers assigned,
which are used in the remapping function of the PC2R.
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PC2 Made Easy
Typically, it is easiest to start with Setup 128, since you will normally want those basic
controllers set to their default values, while the sliders, etc. are left unassigned (because
we will be assigning them in the tutorials).
The following tutorials assume you have a switch pedal plugged into the Switch Pedal 1
jack (for Sustain). Some of these tutorials also require that you have a second switch
pedal plugged in to the Switch Pedal 2 jack. If you donÕt have a second pedal, you can
still follow the example, using the Switch 1, 2, & 3 buttons in the Assignable Controllers
area to do the same thing.
Starting from Internal Voices Mode
When you start in Internal Voices mode and use the Auto Split/Layer function to begin
creating a Setup, you are using a special Setup called the Internal Voices Setup, which
already has specific controller values assigned to the various physical controllers. To see
what these controller values are, look at the chart on page 59 of the PC2 Version 2
Supplement manual. This shows the values for Setup 126 Internal Setup.
As mentioned above, this setup is a copy of the default Internal Voices Setup. However,
it is important to be aware that the two are entirely separate. It is possible to customize
the Internal Voices Setup (as shown in tutorial #32). Making changes to the Internal
Voices Setup will not affect Setup #126.
Deciding which mode to start from when creating a Setup
In general, starting from Internal Voices mode and using the Auto Split/Layer feature is
great for creating Setups Òon the flyÓ in a performance situation. But if you have more
detailed needs for your Setups, you should start in MIDI Setups Mode.
Although we will cover starting from Internal Voices Mode in tutorials #1 & 2, all other
tutorials assume you have started in MIDI Setups Mode. As mentioned above, the
Internal Voices Setup has specific values assigned to the sliders and buttons, and can
therefore give you unexpected results. By starting from the Default setup #128, you are
starting with a Òblank slateÓ for those controllers, making it easier to understand what is
going on.
Also, the Auto Split/Layer function is great for creating a simple 2 zone layered Setup.
But if you want to have 3 zones layered together, you are going to need to edit the zone
within MIDI setups Mode, since the zone 3 button is set to split instead of layer (and the
zone 4 button will layer with the zone 3 sound).
Finally, you should be aware that the Auto Split/Layer function can be turned On or
Off on a per setup basis Ð you will find the Auto Split and Auto Split Key parameters in
the Key Range menu. So if you have created a Setup by starting Internal Voices Mode,
and then later use that Setup as a starting point for creating a new Setup, the Auto
Split/Layer function will still be on. You may need to turn it off to create the type of
Setup you need (for example, if you needed a 3 way split).
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PC2 Made Easy
1. Layering Two or More Program s
To play two or more programs, you must create a Setup with a zone for each program,
and each zone set to a different MIDI channel.
As stated in the Tutorials Intro, there are two possible ways to do this Ð From Internal
Voices mode, using the Auto Split/Layer function, or from MIDI Setups mode. We
covered using the Auto Split/ Layer Function in the Basics section, but we will review it
here.
Starting from Internal Voices mode:
1. Press the Internal Voices button. Choose the Program you want for the first zone. You
can select it by using the alpha wheel, the + and - buttons, or the numeric keypad. (The
programs and their numbers are listed in Appendices A & B in the manual.) Or you can
use the Sound Select and Next/Previous Group buttons, as in the Basics & User
Interface section of this document.
2. Press Layer (the Zone 2 button). Notice that the Mode buttons change and MIDI
Setups is now lit instead of Internal Voices (since we now have 2 zones). Also notice
that the top of the display says Zone:2 auto, indicating that Auto Split/Layer is turned
on. Play the keyboard. You should hear both sounds together. Notice that the sustain
pedal works for both layers.
3. ThatÕs it! To save the Setup you have created, see Step 7 in the section below.
Remember that if you want to layer more than 2 zones, you will want to start from MIDI
Setups mode. Also remember that the Auto Split/Layer function does not work in KB3
Mode, since the buttons are used for a different purpose.
Star t ing from MIDI Setups mode:
1. Press the MIDI Setups button, then type 128, then press Enter on the numeric keypad.
In order to have different programs layered, each zone must be set to a different MIDI
channel. As mentioned in the Intro, Setup 128 is already designed as a good starting
point for creating a Setup. Notice that the zone 1 button is green indicating it is active.
Zone buttons 2-4 are orange, showing they are muted. The four zones are already
assigned to channels 1-4.
2. Press the Program button. Choose the Program you want for the first zone. You can
select it by using the alpha wheel, the + and - buttons, or the numeric keypad. (The
programs and their numbers are listed in Appendices A & B in the manual.) Or you can
use the Sound Select and Next/Previous Group buttons, as described at the beginning of
this document.
3. Step 2 will allow you to choose any program from the Internal Voice bank. But if you
have one of the ROM block options installed and want to choose a program from one of
those ROM blocks (or if you want to choose a KB3 program or user created program),
then you need to switch banks. There are three ways to do this.
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PC2 Made Easy
If you know exactly which program you want, then the fastest way is to type the bank
number, followed by the Ò+/-Ó button, followed by the program number, then Enter.
(The bank numbers were listed at the beginning of this document.)
OR
If you want to scroll through the programs in a bank, you can press the Internal, User,
Exp1, or Exp2 buttons to switch to that bank, then use the alpha wheel to scroll through
the programs in that bank. This method canÕt be used to select a KB3 program Ð you
must use one of the other two methods if you want to switch from an Internal Voices
program to the one of the KB3 banks, or vice versa. (But you could use it to switch
between Internal and User KB3 programs.)
OR
Another way to switch banks is to press the << button to get to the Bank parameter.
Use the alpha wheel to choose the bank you want. Then press the >> button to get back
to the Program parameter.
4. Now that you have chosen your first sound, you will choose your layered sound.
Press the Zone 2 button. The Zone 2 button turns green, showing that it is active.
5. Repeat steps 2 or 3 to assign a program for your second layer. DonÕt try and select a
KB3 program for this zone Ð remember that KB3 program can only be called up on a
single MIDI channel, by default channel 1 (and in this Setup zone 1 is assigned to
channel 1). Play the keyboard. You should hear both sounds together. Notice that the
sustain pedal works for both layers.
6. If you want to add a third or fourth layer, just repeat steps 4 and 5
7. ThatÕs it! Now all you have to do is Name and Store your Setup. Press Store. The
display says ÒSave Setup 129?Ó. (If you had previously created a Setup, it will pick the
first empty number above that.) Press the >> button so that the display says ÒRename
Setup 129?Ó. Press Enter. Now you are in the naming routine.
You will see an underline cursor under the first character (ÒDÓ). Press the <<< or >>>
soft buttons to move the cursor. Press a button on the numeric keypad one or more times
to enter a character above the cursor. The characters that correspond to the
alphanumeric buttons are labeled under each button. If the character that appears is not
the one you want, press the button again. For example, pressing 1 once will choose an
ÒAÓ. Pressing it again will choose ÒBÓ, and one more time will choose ÒCÓ. Press the +/button on the alphanumeric pad to switch between upper and lower case characters.
Press 0 one or more times to enter the numerals 0 through 9. Press CLEAR (on the
alphanumeric keypad) to erase the selected character without moving any other
characters. To insert a space, press the ÒSW1Ó button in the Assignable Controllers
section. To delete a character press the ÒSW2Ó button, and to move the cursor instantly
to the end of the name in the display, press the ÒSW3Ó button.
In addition to letter and number characters there are numerous other characters you can
choose. For example, if you layered piano and strings, you might want to name your
Setup ÒPiano & StringsÓ. You can choose these characters by scrolling with the alpha
wheel or the + and - buttons. At the end of this document is a list of all the characters
and the order in which they appear.
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PC2 Made Easy
Once you have the name the way you want it, press Enter.
8. The PC2 now jumps back to the Store dialog. The display will read ÒSave Setup
129?Ó. You can save to any number you want, by scrolling with the wheel or + and Ð
buttons. If a Setup already exists at a numbered location, the display will change from
ÒSaveÓ to ÒReplaceÓ.
Now press Enter. Congratulations - you have created and stored your first Setup!
A programming note: As mentioned above Setup 128 starts with all 4 zones assigned to
MIDI channels, and with zones 2-4 muted. This means that if you press a zone button
once or twice (depending on whether that zone was already in the display), it will
unmute and begin playing. If you have created a 2 zone setup and would like to prevent
accidentally playing zones 3 or 4 if you pressed their zone buttons, you can turn those
zones off. To do this, press the MIDI Transmit button, then press the zone button for the
zone you want to turn off. Next press 0, then Enter.
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PC2 Made Easy
2. Splitting Two or More Programs
As with tutorial #1, there are two possible ways to create a Setup with a split Ð from
Internal Voices mode, using the Auto Split/Layer function, or from MIDI Setups mode.
We covered using the Auto Split/ Layer Function in the Basics section, but we will
review it here.
Starting from Internal Voices mode:
1. Press the Internal Voices button. Choose the Program you want for the first zone. You
can select it by using the alpha wheel, the + and - buttons, or the numeric keypad. (The
programs and their numbers are listed in Appendices A & B in the manual.) Or you can
use the Sound Select and Next/Previous Group buttons, as described at the beginning of
this document.
2. Press Split (the Zone 3 button). Notice that the Mode buttons change and MIDI
Setups is now lit instead of Internal Voices (since we now have 2 zones). Also notice
that the top of the display says Zone:3 auto, indicating that Auto Split/Layer is turned
on. Play the keyboard. You should hear the two sounds split across the keyboard.
3. Notice that if you press the sustain pedal when playing both sides of the split, both
sides sustain. Although this might be fine in some circumstances, often you wonÕt want
this. For example, if you create a piano and bass split, you will probably want the piano
part to sustain, but not the bass.
Hold the Controllers button and step on the sustain pedal. The display jumps to show
Zone:3 SwitchPdl1, On Ctrl: 64 Sustain. Press 0, then Enter to set it to None. Now play
the keyboard and notice how the sound in zone 1 will sustain but the sound in zone 3
does not.
4. If you would like to change where the keyboard is split, you can easily do this. Press
the Split and Split Layer buttons simultaneously. The display changes to show you the
AutoSplit Key, which is currently G#3. The easiest way to change the key is to hold the
Enter button and strike the note that you want on the keyboard. This will be the top
note of the left side of the keyboard. You can also use the wheel or + and Ð buttons to
change the value.
5. Go through steps 7 and 8 in tutorial #1 to name and save your Setup.
Star t ing from MIDI Setups mode:
1. Go through steps 1-3 (in the section on starting from MIDI Setups) in tutorial #1.
2. Press the Key Range button. The display will show the key range for zone 1, from C-1
to G9. (C4 is middle C on the keyboard.) You are going to make zone 1 be the right side
of the split, so you need to change the lowest note for this zone. The cursor is already
under the Low Note parameter. So, simply press and hold the Enter button, then strike
the key on the keyboard that you want to be the lowest note for the right side of the
split. The display will change to show that note.
3. Go through steps 4 and 5 in tutorial #1 to create the second part of your split.
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PC2 Made Easy
4. Press the Key Range button. Since zone 2 is the left side of your split, you need to
change the high note so that it doesnÕt overlap with zone 1. Press the >> to move the
cursor to the High Note parameter. Press and hold the Enter button, then strike the note
on the keyboard that is one note lower than the note you chose for the lowest note in
zone 1. Play the keyboard. You should hear the two sounds split at the notes you chose.
5. Notice that if you press the sustain pedal when playing both sides of the split, both
sides sustain. Although this might be fine in some circumstances, often you wonÕt want
this. For example, if you create a piano and bass split, you will probably want the piano
part to sustain, but not the bass.
Hold the Controllers button and step on the sustain pedal. The display jumps to show
Zone:2 SwitchPdl1, Sw Type:Momentary. Press the >> to get to the On Control
parameter for Switch Pedal 1. Currently it is set to Sustain. Press 0, then Enter to set it
to None. Now play the keyboard and notice how the sound in zone 1 will sustain but
the sound in zone 2 does not.
6. Go through steps 7 and 8 in tutorial #1 to name and save your Setup.
You can easily add zones 3 and 4 using the same methods. Each zone can be set to any
range of notes, so you can have various zones layered while they are split with other
zones. Or create a 3 or 4 way split. Or overlap the zones only partially.
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PC2 Made Easy
3. A ssigni ng Sl i der s for Vol um e in D if f er ent Zones
1. Go through steps 1-3 (in the section on starting from MIDI Setups) in tutorial #1.
2. Hold the Controllers button and move Slider A. The display now shows Zone:1 Slider
A, Ctrl Num:None. Press 7, then Enter to assign Slider A to Volume. (Controller #7 is
MIDI Volume. For a complete list of all the MIDI controllers, see Appendix F in the
manual.)
3. Go through steps 4 and 5 in tutorial #1 to create a second zone. Remember that to
make zone 2 active so you hear it, you may need to press the zone 2 button twice.
4. Hold the Controllers button and move Slider B. The display now shows Zone:2 Slider
B, Ctrl Num:None. Press 7, then Enter to assign Slider B to Volume. Play the keyboard
and move the two sliders. You can control the volume of each zone independently.
5. Go through steps 7 and 8 in tutorial #1 to name and save your Setup.
Of course, you can use the C and D sliders to control volumes on the 3rd and 4th zone
in a Setup. Or, you could also assign the same slider to volume in more than one zone.
We will show an example of this in tutorial #6.
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PC2 Made Easy
4. Setting Initial Volume Levels for Different Zones
LetÕs say that you want to create a setup with piano and strings layered but you want
the strings to be at much lower volume than the piano, and you need to have the volume
levels set to specific amounts when you call up the Setup. You can use entry values to
set initial volume levels.
1. Go through steps 1-4 of tutorial #3, assigning a piano program to zone 1 and a string
program to zone 2.
2. Press the >> button four times. Since you are still on zone 2, the display should read
Zone:2 Slider B, Entry Value:None. Set the value to 95.
3. Press the Zone 1 button. Hold the Controllers Button and move Slider A. Press the >>
button four times. The display should now read Zone:1 Slider A, Entry Value:None. Set
the value to 127.
4. Go through steps 7 and 8 in tutorial #1 to name and save your Setup.
5. Now go to a different Setup, then call up your saved Setup again. Play the keyboard.
Notice that the strings are quieter than the piano. Since the two sliders are assigned to
volume on the two different MIDI channels, they each send a volume message with the
Entry value (127 on channel 1 and 95 on channel 2) as soon as you call up the Setup. If
you subsequently move the slider, it will send volume messages.
An IMPORTANT point to understand when using Entry values:
Lets say that your B slider happens to be all the way up when you call up the Setup you
just made. Volume is now at 95 on channel 2. Now you want to use the slider to fade
the strings out. If you move the slider, you wouldnÕt want it to suddenly jump to the
current value; since the slider is all the way up (set to 127), it would jump to 126 the
moment you moved the slider down and the volume would suddenly get louder!
To avoid this problem, the PC2 is designed so that once you set an Entry value, the
slider wonÕt become active until you pass the point of the Entry value. So as you move
the slider down, nothing will happen until you reach 95 and at that point, it will follow
the slider as you bring it down, thereby creating a smooth fade out.
HereÕs an extra tip - letÕs say that you want to have a piano & strings Setups like the one
described above, but you donÕt want to hear the strings when you call up the Setup.
Instead, you want to bring them in later with a slider. To do this, you could set the Entry
value for zone 2 to 0. Now letÕs assume the slider is all the way down when you first call
up the Setup. Remember that the slider must go past the Entry value before it becomes
active. So the Entry value is 0 and the current position of the slider is also at 0. When
you move the slider up, it goes to 1, not 0, and therefore nothing happens as you move
the slider up. So you would have to move the slider up slightly, then back down so that
it goes to 0, then the next time you move it up the slider will be active.
To avoid having to move the slider up , down, and up again, set the Entry value to a
very low number other than 0, such as 5. The value is so low that you wonÕt hear the
strings, but as you push up the slider the first time, it will go past 5 and become active.
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PC2 Made Easy
5. R et ur ning Vol um e Level s t o Ful l Val ues when Exit i ng a Set up
OK, so now you have created a Setup with the sliders set to control volume. LetÕs say
that you are performing a song and you have faded out one or more zones and you go to
a new Setup. You play the keyboard but donÕt hear the sounds on those zones!
Keep in mind that all controller information is channel specific. Once a MIDI channel
received a message for a controller (like Volume with a value of 0), that MIDI channel
stays at that same amount until it either gets a new value of that controller, or it gets the
Reset All Controllers message (this is Controller 123, and is sent when you press the
Panic button).
To avoid this problem, you can use Exit values.
1. Call up the Setup you created in tutorial #4.
2. Hold the Controllers button and move Slider A. If the display doesnÕt show Zone:1,
press the zone 1 button. Press the >> button 5 times. The display should now read
Zone:1 Slider A, Exit Value:None. Set the value to 127.
3. Hold the Controllers button and move Slider B. Press the zone 2 button. Press the >>
button 5 times. The display should now read Zone:2 Slider B, Exit Value:None. Set the
value to 127.
4. Resave your Setup by pressing the Store button. (You can save it back to the same
location.)
Now when you leave this Setup, the volume on channels 1 and 2 returns to the full
amount, no matter where you have moved the sliders.
Using Exit values is always a good idea when assigning volume to controllers, but it can
have many other uses as well. For example, it could be used to turn off the arpeggiator,
or return panning to center, etc.
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6. A dj ust ing R el at i ve Vol um es w i th O ne Sl ider
So far we have only shown assigning a controller to one zone. But there is no reason that
you canÕt use one controller to affect two or more zones. LetÕs say that you want to
create a Setup with three layered zones - Piano, Electric Piano, & Strings. Furthermore,
letÕs say you need to control the Piano and Electric Piano volumes separately, but you
want to have the Strings volume controlled with the same slider you use to control the
Electric Piano. In addition, you need the Strings to always be quieter than the Electric
Piano.
1. Follow tutorial #1 to create a 3 zone, layered Setup, with Piano in zone 1, Electric
Piano in zone 2, and Strings in zone 3.
2. Hold the Controllers button and move Slider A. If the display is not on zone 1, press
the Zone 1 button. The display now shows Zone:1 Slider A, Ctrl Num:None. Press 7,
then Enter to assign Slider A to Volume.
3. Press the Zone 2 button Hold the Controllers button and move Slider B. The display
now shows Zone:2 Slider B, Ctrl Num:None. Press 7, then Enter to assign Slider B to
Volume.
4. Press the Zone 3 button. Press 7, then Enter to assign Slider B to Volume. Play the
keyboard and move the two sliders. Notice that Slider B controls the volume on both
zones 2 and 3. But the strings are still as loud as the electric piano.
5(a). Press the >> button twice. The display now shows Zone:3 Slider B, Ctrl Offset:0.
Press the +/- button, then 37, then Enter. The Offset will now be set to -37.
The Offset parameter will subtract (or add if the number is positive) a specific amount
to the normal value of the slider. So when the slider is all the way up, the value is
127-37=90. So as you move the slider up and down, the strings are always 37 less in
volume than the electric piano.
As you move the slider down to the normal 37 position, the volume level for the strings
would be 37-37=0. What happens when you move the slider lower? MIDI can only send
values between 0 and 127, so once the value reaches 0, the slider doesnÕt send any
additional messages as you move it lower.
5(b). There is a second way to accomplish the same thing, although the end results will
be slightly different.
You should still be on the Offset parameter for Zone 3. Set it back to 0 so there is no
Offset, and press the << button once. The display now shows Zone:3 Slider B, Ctrl
Scale:100%. Press 71, then Enter.
The Scale parameter applies a percentage to the normal slider value. So if you move the
slider all the way up, the value will be 127 x .71=90.17 (since MIDI only send integer
values this will be truncated to 90). So when the slider is all the way up, it is sending the
same value as the example above using Offset.
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PC2 Made Easy
So how are the two methods different? The Offset method will keep a fixed amount of
value between the two zones whereas the Scale method will give you a sliding amount of
difference, based on the percentage. If you move the slider to the halfway point, the
Offset method would give you 64-37=27 and the Scale method would give you 64 x
.71=45.44 (sent as 45). And if you move the slider to the 1/4 point, the Offset method
would give you 32-37=-5 (sent as 0) and the Scale method would give you 32 x
.71=22.72 (sent as 22 - values to the right of the decimal point are truncated, not
rounded up).
So which method is better? It all depends on what you need and how you want the
Setup to sound. Try creating two different Setups, using the two different methods. Then
play and move the sliders and see which one sounds better to you. Try using different
amounts of Offset and Scale to see what works best.
DonÕt forget to name and save your Setups!
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7. Crossfading Zones
A nice musical effect is to be able to smoothly fade from one sound into another. You
can easily do this with a single slider (or other continuous controller).
1. Follow tutorial #1 (from the section on starting from MIDI Setups) to create a 2 zone,
layered Setup. To best demonstrate the crossfade effect, you should pick two sustaining
sounds for the two zones, such as strings and organ, or two different sounding organs.
2. Hold the Controllers button and move Slider A. If the display is not on zone 1, press
the Zone 1 button. The display now shows Zone:1 Slider A, Ctrl Num:None. Press 7,
then Enter to assign Slider A to Volume.
3. Press the >> button once. Notice that Scale is set to 100%. Press >> again. Notice that
Offset is set to 0. Press >> again. Set the Curve to Sin+.
4. Press the Zone 2 button. Press the << button three times so that you are back to the
Ctrl Num parameter. Set this zone to Volume, just like zone 1.
5. Press the >> button. Press the +/- button, then 100, then Enter to set the Scale to
-100%.
6. Press the >> button. Set the Offset to 127.
7. Press the >> button. Set the Curve to Cos+. Hold some notes on the keyboard the
keyboard and move the slider up and down. You should hear one sound fading into the
other.
8. Name and save your Setup.
OK, so what is happening? Zone 1 works like normal - moving the slider up sends
volume values from 0 up to 127. But in zone 2, the slider starts off at 127 (because of
the offset) and then decreases in value to 0 as you move the slider up (because of the
negative 100 percent scale).
What about the curve parameters? They change what values are sent as you move the
slider from the very bottom to the very top. With a Linear Curve (essentially no curve),
the values change in even spacing as you move the slider up. With a Sine+ Curve, the
values are spaced close together when you first start to move the slider up, then are
gradually spaced farther apart after the halfway point. A Cosine+ Curve works the
opposite - the values change slowly when you start moving the slider and then change
faster after you reach the midpoint.
So why not use a Linear Curve in the crossfade? It is beyond the scope of this tutorial to
detail dB issues involved when you layer sounds, or to cover how instruments respond
to MIDI volume in dB terms. The bottom line is that if you use Linear curves, the total
amount of amplitude for both zones will be less when the slider is halfway than when it
is all the way up or down. By setting zone 1 to Sine+ and zone 2 to Cosine+, you will
have a smoother volume transition and the amplitude at the midpoint will be about the
same level as when the slider is all the way up or down. Try setting both zones to Linear
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and hold notes while you move the slider, and compare that to using the Sine+ and
Cosine+ curves. You should be able to hear a difference.
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8. Ve locity Switching
You can use how hard you strike the key to switch between zones. This is usually most
effective if you have programs that have samples of the same instrument at different
velocity levels. Most PC2 programs donÕt do this, so you would most likely use this
technique when controlling an external module. The following example demonstrates the
technique with internal PC2 sounds. (The PC2 DOES have some programs, such as
many of the acoustic piano programs, which switch velocities between samples within a
single program.)
1. Create a Setup with two zones, following tutorial #1 (from the section Starting from
MIDI Setups Mode). Assign Program #75 Doo stacc. to zone 1 and #74 Baa stacc. to
zone 2.
2. Press the Velocity button. If you are not on zone 1, press the Zone 1 button. Press the
>> button 3 times. The minimum velocity for this zone is 1. Press the >> button again.
Change the maximum velocity to 80. Press the Solo button so you hear only zone 1. Play
the keyboard with varying degrees of force. The voices gets louder as you strike harder
until you reach a velocity of 80, then it does not play at all.
3. Press the Zone 2 button. The maximum velocity is set to 127. Press the << button to
go back to the Vel Min parameter. Set it to 81. Play the keyboard with varying degrees of
force. Notice you hear no sound until you reach a velocity of 81, then zone 2 continues to
get louder as you play up to 127. Press the Solo button again to hear both zones. Play
the keyboard to hear the switching between the two zones.
Another useful application is to add a zone with velocity. You could create a 2 zone
layered Setup. For one zone, you allow it to play through all velocities. But for the
second zone, you change the MinVel parameter so that zone only kicks in above a
certain velocity. Now when you play the keyboard, you hear one zone or two, depending
on how hard you strike the keys. This is great for adding a little extra kick to a sound, if
you add some type of short percussive program for the second zone. You may also want
to set the volume for that zone lower than the first zone (as described in tutorial #4) so
that the effect of adding the second zone is subtler.
Another possible application is to assign the same program to two different zones
(make sure each zone is on a different MIDI channel), and then set one zone to FX-A and
the other zone to FX-B. Now by choosing a different effect for each effects bus, you can
use velocity to switch your program between two different effects.
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9. Swi t chi ng fr om O ne Set up t o Anot her Wi t h a Pedal
If you need to switch between Setups very quickly in performance, it can be useful to do
this with a switch pedal. To do the following tutorial, you will need a switch pedal
plugged into the Switch Pedal 2 jack in the PC2. (You could use Switch Pedal 1, but then
you wouldnÕt be able to use it for Sustain.)
1. Create a Setup with one or more zones, following tutorial #1 (from the section on
starting from MIDI Setups).
2. Hold the Controllers button and step on the pedal connected to the Switch Pedal 2
jack. The display will read Zone:1 Switch Pdl2, On Ctrl: 66 Sosten. (By default switch
pedal 2 is assigned to Sostenuto, which is the function of the middle pedal on an
acoustic piano.) If the display shows a different Zone, that is OK. Only one zone is
needed to accomplish what you want to do, and it can be any zone, as long as the zone
is active.
3a. Press 141, then Enter to select Goto Setup for the value. Make sure not to step on the
pedal until you have saved your Setup (step 5).
In addition to the 128 MIDI controller messages, there are a number of special functions
that can be assigned to a physical controller. They are listed on page B-9 of the manual.
You can scroll up to them with the alpha wheel, or enter specific numbers (documented
in the manual) to go directly to them.
4a. Press the >> button to get to the On Value parameter. You will use this parameter to
select the Setup number you want to switch to. HOWEVER, the number you choose will
NOT be the actual Setup number. Here is why:
The Goto Setup command only sends a single numeric message, which work just like a
program change. But it does not have the ability to specify a bank, since that would
require sending two messages (one for the bank and one for the Setup within the bank).
Because of this limitation, you can only select Setups in the User bank, using the Goto
Setup function.
The User bank starts with setup #129. But MIDI can only send a total of 128 values. So
if you set the On Value to 1, pressing the pedal will switch to Setup 129. Setting On
Value to 2 will select Setup 130. Etc.
So once you know the number of the Setup that you want to switch to, subtract 128
from that number and you will have the correct value to enter for the On Value
parameter.
3b-4b. Another option is to use the Setup Increment function instead of the Goto Setup.
In this case, you would type 139, then Enter when editing the On Ctrl parameter, then
set On Value to 127. This option will cause the PC2 to select the next higher numbered
Setup, when you Step on the pedal. You could also use another pedal and assign it to
Setup Decrement. Then the two pedals would allow you to step through the setups in
ascending or descending order. (But of course, you would need to assign the pedals to
these values in each Setup.)
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5. Name & Save your Setup. It is important you save your Setup before testing the pedal,
since stepping on the pedal will cause you to leave the current Setup and if it isnÕt
saved, you will have to program it again. Now step on the pedal. You should see the
PC2 jump to the Setup that you have chosen.
Instead of using a pedal, you could accomplish the same thing assigning the Goto Setup
to any of the 5 switch controller buttons, but of course, then you have to take your
fingers off the keys.
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10. Switching from One Program to Another wi th a Pedal
If you have created a multiple zone Setup and only want to change a single program, you
can use the Goto Program function instead of using the Goto Setup function. This can be
useful if you donÕt want to make a bunch of extra Setups. It is also great for switching
back and forth between two programs while keeping the other zones the same. This
tutorial will be set up so that you can switch back and forth.
The limitation for this tutorial is that the program that you switch to must be in the same
bank as the program you are switching from.
1. Create a multiple zone Setup, following tutorial #1 (from the section on starting from
MIDI Setups). For the purposes of this tutorial, make sure that the program that you
want to switch from is in the Internal Voices Bank. (The programs in the other zones can
be in any bank.) Also for the purposes of this tutorial, we will assume you will use zone
1 as the zone that will switch programs. You will need to remember the program number
of the program you choose for zone 1 - you will type in that number in step 6.
2. Hold the Controllers button and step on the pedal connected to the Switch Pedal 2
jack. If you are not on zone 1, press the Zone 1 button. The display will now read Zone:1
SwitchPdl 2, On Ctrl: 66 Sosten.
Press the << button. The display will now read Zone:1 SwitchPdl 2, SW Type:
Momentary. Use the alpha wheel to switch the value to Toggle.
The difference between Momentary and Toggle is: A Momentary switch is On while you
press it and Off when you let go (like a typical sustain pedal). A Toggle Switch stays On
when you press and let go and then turns Off when you press again (like a typical
power switch).
3. Press the >> button to return to the On Ctrl parameter. Press 138, then Enter to
choose Goto Program for the On Ctrl.
4. Press the >> button. Enter the program number of the program you want to switch to.
It must be a program in the current bank (the Internal Voices bank for this tutorial).
5. Press the >> button. Notice that the OffCtrl value is set to Goto Program (the same as
On Ctrl). Although the On Ctrl and Off Ctrl parameters can be set to send different
messages, you would normally expect them to send the same control message (but with
different values for On and Off). For this reason, whenever you set the On Ctrl
parameter, it also sets the Off Ctrl to the same thing. So if you want a different value for
Off Ctrl, you must set it after setting the On Ctrl parameter. We will see an example of
this in the next tutorial.
6. Press the >> button. Enter the number of the program that you originally assigned for
zone 1 (the same number you set with the Program parameter).
7. Name and Save your Setup. Now play the setup, then step on the pedal. You should
hear the sound from zone 1 switch to your second sound. Step on the pedal and play
again. You should hear the original zone 1 sound again.
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11. Swi tchi ng B anks & Pr ogr am s w it h a Pedal
A limitation of the Goto Program function described in the previous tutorial is that it
only sends a program change message, and not the bank controller. So what if you want
to switch between programs in two different banks. The following tutorial provides a
solution for this.
1. Create a multiple zone Setup, following tutorial #1 (from the section on starting from
MIDI Setups). For the purposes of this tutorial, we will assume you will use zone 1 as
the zone that will switch programs. For zone 1, choose a program in the Internal Voices
Bank 0.
2. Hold the Controllers button and step on the pedal connected to the Switch Pedal 2
jack. If you are not on zone 1, press the Zone 1 button. The display will now read Zone:1
SwitchPdl 2, On Ctrl: 66 Sosten. Press 32, then Enter. The On Controller parameter is
now set to controller #32, the bank controller.
(Unlike the previous tutorial, we will not change the Switch Type parameter, so it will
remain at its default of Momentary.)
3. Press the >> button. Decide which program you want to switch to, making sure that it
is in a different bank than the program you previously chose for zone 1. Enter the bank
number of the bank your new program is in (the bank numbers were documented at the
beginning of this document, but you might want to try #6 Internal 2 and #1 User). The
On Value is now set to the bank number.
4. Press the >> button. Press, 138, then Enter. The Off Controller parameter is now set
to Goto Program.
5. Press the >> button. Enter the number of the program you want to switch to. The Off
Value is now set to that program number.
6. Next, hold the Controllers button and press the SW4 button. Press 32, then Enter. The
On Controller parameter is now set to controller #32, the bank controller.
7. Press the >> button. Press 0, then Enter. The On Value now sends bank 0.
8. Press the >> button three times and set the Entry State parameter to On. (The Exit
State parameter should already be set to Off, but if you want to double check this, press
the >> button once more.)
9. Now press the Program button, then the >> button twice to get to the Bank Mode
parameter. Set this to None.
10. Name and Save your Setup. Step on the pedal and release it. Zone 1 should switch
to the sound you have chosen.
So what is happening? When you step on the pedal it sends the bank change command;
when you let go, it sends the program change command, allowing you to switch to any
program from any bank.
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But what is the reason for steps 6-9? This has to do with an oddity (read bug) with the
Bank Mode parameter. This parameter normally determines which bank controller or
controllers (0, 32, or 0 and 32 together) are used when the Setup is first selected and the
Program change message (which is selected from the Program button) is sent. For some
reason when this parameter is set to one of the bank values, it interferes with the bank
message that is sent by the pedal. So by setting the parameter to None, it prevents this
problem.
However, this means that the bank value associated with the Program you choose in the
program menu is not sent. This is the reason for assigning the SW4 button in steps 6-8.
We have assigned it to send the bank controller with a value of 0 (since we chose a
program from that bank at the beginning of the tutorial). And by setting the Entry State
to On, we ensure that the message is sent when the Setup is selected.
The only limitation of this method is that you can only switch in one direction with a
single controller - you canÕt use one pedal to switch back and forth between two
different programs. But you could always assign another controller to do the same thing
to switch back, or even to a different program.
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12. Transposing a Zone wi t h a But t on
LetÕs say that you need to be able to play a song in two different keys (maybe you have
two different singers for your band) and you have only learned how to play the song in
one key. You can use a button to transpose the keyboard so that you can play the same
notes but hear it transposed to a different key.
1. Create a single zone Setup, following tutorial #1 (from the section on starting from
MIDI Setups).
2. Hold the Controllers button and press the SW4 controller button (above the pitch
bend wheel). The display now shows. Zone:1 Button SW4, On Ctrl: None. Press 145,
then Enter to set the On Ctrl to Transpose Up. If you would prefer to transpose down,
press 146, then Enter to select Transpose Down.
3. Press the >> button. Set the On Value for the number of semi-tones you want to
transpose up (or down). For example, if you want to transpose up a minor 3rd, you
would set it to 3.
4. Press the >> button. Move the alpha wheel 1 click clockwise to set the Off Ctrl to
Transpose Down. (If you originally chose Transpose Down in step 2, then set Off Ctrl to
Transpose Up.)
5. Press the >> button. Set the Off value to the same amount you chose for the On
Value.
6. Name and Save your Setup. Now play the keyboard, then press the SW4 button and
play the same notes again. You will hear the keyboard transposed in the direction and
amount that you chose. Pressing the SW4 button will return the keyboard to no
transposition.
Keep in mind that if you use this technique on a Setup with more than 1 zone, you will
have to program each zone for the same transposition, if you want them all to
transpose.
You may have noticed that there is also a button marked Transpose in the Zone
Parameter section. If you simply want a zone to always be transposed by a specific
amount (for example, to have one zone an octave higher than another zone), then it is
much simpler to use the Transpose button instead of programming a controller. But if
you need the ability to switch back and forth between transposition and no
transposition, the method described above is the way to do it.
Also, you can combine the two methods. For example, you could create a Setup with one
zone transposed up an octave from another zone using the Transpose button, then use
controller method to move both zones by a minor 3rd.
As we mentioned in the Introduction, the SW1 button is labeled Octave Shift. This will
shift the keyboard down one octave in Internal Voices Mode and in some Setups.
However, it is important to note that this button is NOT specifically dedicated to doing
an octave shift. We have simply assigned this button to Transpose Up or Down, with an
On value of 12. In the case of the Internal Voices Setup, zones 1 & 2 transpose Down,
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while Zones 3 & 4 transpose up. Some other preset Setups also will transpose various
zones up or down one octave. Setup #128, the Default Setup does NOT have this
button assigned to transpose.
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13. Panning Zones Hard Left & Ri ght
If you are using the PC2 in a recording studio or playing live and have the need to run
different sounds out of different outputs, then you need to be able to pan individual
zones hard right or hard left. To follow this tutorial, you will need to have both outputs
of the PC2 plugged into a mixing board or stereo amp. If using a mixing board, make
sure that the two channels are panned hard left and right on the board or you wonÕt hear
the separation.
1. Create a Piano and Bass split Setup, following tutorial #2. Choose a piano program
for zone 1 and a bass program for zone 2. If zone 1 is not in the display, press the Zone
1 button.
2. Hold the Controllers button and press the SW5 controller button. The display now
shows Zone:1, SW Button 5, On Ctrl: None. Press 10, then Enter to set the On Ctrl to
Pan (MIDI controller #10).
3. Press the >> button. You should see the On Value set to 127 (which is the default
value for any switch turned on). This value will pan the piano sound hard right. (If you
play the piano now, you wonÕt hear it panned yet, but donÕt worry.)
4. Press the >> button twice. Press 64, then Enter to set the Off Value to 64, which will
set the pan back to center.
5. Press the >> button. Set the Entry State parameter to On.
6. Press the >> button. Set the Exit State parameter to Off.
7. Press the Zone 2 button. Now repeat steps 2-6 of this tutorial for zone 2, but in Step
3, set the On value to 0, so that the bass will be panned hard left.
8. Name and Save your Setup. Now press the SW5 button and play. You should hear
the piano on the right and the bass on the left. Press the SW5 button again. Both zones
return to center.
9. Select a different Setup, then go back to your panned Setup. Notice that the SW5
button lights up when you select the Setup. This is accomplished by using the Entry
State parameter. Chose another Setup. Notice that the SW5 button is no longer lit. This
is accomplished by using the Exit State parameter.
The Entry and Exit State parameters are very useful for when you want to assign a
controller to send a specific value of something when you select a Setup without having
to touch that controller (they work similar to the Entry and Exit value parameters for
continuous controllers).
You can set a controller to turn On or Off when you select the setup and when you leave
that setup. If the Entry or Exit State is set to None, then the controller remains as it was
when you select or leave the Setup. For example, if we left the Exit State to None in this
Setup, then the SW5 button would remain turned On when we left this Setup.
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This Setup was designed so that simply by calling it up, the zones would be panned the
way we wanted, but when we leave the Setup, panning is returned to normal. This way,
other Setups that use the same MIDI channels wonÕt be panned. Of course, you might
want to have all of your Setups panned in the same manner. But by using the Exit State
or Exit Value parameters, you can ensure you donÕt have any unexpected surprises when
you select a different Setup.
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14. Playing KB3 Programs
KB3 Mode is a special mode designed to work like a classic tone wheel organ (the B3)
does. Because of this, there are many differences in the functions of the various buttons,
sliders, and other controllers. You will notice that the buttons on the left side of the
keyboard and the sliders have labels in orange. These labels apply when you are in KB3
Mode.
1. Press the KB3 Mode button and then the #1 Sound Select button (or press 0 on the
numeric keypad and Enter). Notice that the display looks different. The top line shows
the bank and program number (4:000) and the program name (All Out). The bottom line
gives you information about the status of the organ drawbars and the Chorus/vibrato
setting.
2. A classic tone wheel organ has 9 drawbars, each of which controls the amount of
amplitude for the fundamental and various harmonics. Choosing the balance of the
harmonics and fundamental is the main thing controlling the sound of an organ program.
Since the PC has only 4 sliders, we have set things up so that they can control either the
first 4 or next four drawbars at one time. A button marked Drawbar Toggle switches the
sliders between controlling the first 4 or next 4 drawbars. The mod wheel functions as
th
the 9
drawbar.
Move the sliders and notice how the display changes for the first 4 numbers on the lower
line of the display. Press Drawbar Toggle and move the sliders again. Now the next four
numbers change. Finally move the mod wheel and notice that the last number changes.
Notice that the numbers move between 0 and 8, just like a real tone wheel organ, which
has those 9 distinct values for each drawbar.
If you have ever played a real organ, you know that as you pull the drawbars out
(towards you) that increases the volume for that particular harmonic. The sliders on the
PC2 follow this same convention, so they work the opposite of the way they work when
playing other programs or setups. In a regular (non-KB3) program, when the slider is all
the way down, it is at 0 value. But when playing a KB3 program, if the slider is all the
way down, it is at full volume, since this is the equivalent of having the drawbar pulled
all the way out.
Move some sliders so that at least some of them are set to a value other than 8. Now
scroll away from this program and then go back to it. Notice that all the display returns
to show all drawbars at a value of 8. Notice also that before the column of 8s it shows
ÒP:Ó. The PC2 gives you the ability to choose a preset setting of each drawbar so that
configuration is called up when you select the KB3 program. The ÒPÓ shows that the
drawbars are set to Preset mode. If you select program number 80 Live Drawbars (you
can press the #11 Sound select button), you will see that the ÒPÓ is replaced by an ÒLÓ.
In this program, the Drawbars have no preset settings Ð they are ÒLiveÓ. So sound you
hear when you select this program will depend on the current position of the drawbars.
Of course, even with a program that has preset drawbars, as soon as you move a slider,
the value for that drawbar will change to reflect the slider position. We will talk about
how to choose preset values for the sliders in tutorial #17.
3. Switch Buttons 1-3 allow you to alter the settings for the Rotary Speaker and
Chorus/Vibrato Effects. Press SW1 to turn the rotary speaker emulation on and off, and
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play the keyboard to hear the change in the sound of the Rotary speaker. If you would
like to be able to control this function with a pedal instead of a button, plug a switch
pedal into the Switch pedal 3 jack.
SW2 turns the Chorus/Vibrato Effect on and off. SW3 lets you choose between 3
Chorus settings and 3 Vibrato settings. When you press the button, it will not light up
but you will see the display change to show you which setting is currently selected. SW2
must be On (lit up) in order to hear the changes.
4. The four buttons above the sliders are used to control the Percussion effect.
Percussion is a characteristic feature of tone wheel organs. ItÕs especially useful while
soloing, since percussion adds an extra plink (actually an extra tone at a defined
harmonic) to the attack.
Percussion is created by a decaying envelope applied to one of the nine drawbars. The
percussion effect is Òsingle-triggered,Ó which means that once itÕs triggered, it wonÕt
trigger again until all keys go up. So if no keys are down, and you play a chord,
percussion gets applied to all notes in the chord (and in fact, to all notes that are
triggered during the short duration of the percussion envelope). Once the envelope runs
its course, any notes you play while at least one key is held down get no percussion.
The button above Slider A turns Percussion On or Off. If it is On, then the other buttons
are used to control the Volume (soft or loud), the Decay of the envelope (slow or fast),
and the pitch (high or low).
Because on a real tone wheel organ, there are only 9 possible pitch sources (one for each
drawbar), when you turn Percussion On, one of the drawbars stops working. On a real
tone wheel organ, this will be the 9
th
drawbar. So you will notice when playing any of the
KB3 presets that if you turn Percussion On, the mod wheel will no longer function. The
PC2 actually gives you the ability to choose which drawbar is stolen, or even to have no
drawbar stolen. You can set this when you are in the KB3 Program Editor. We will talk
more about this in tutorial #17.
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15. Using KB3 Programs in a Setup
In the PC2, when you go to KB3 Mode, you are in a special mode that has the sliders
and buttons acting in a unique manner, sending specific MIDI controller messages to
perform the KB3 functions. Once you put the KB3 program into a Setup, you will need
to program the buttons, sliders and pedals to the correct MIDI controller numbers in
order for them to work the same way they do when in KB3 Mode.
Luckily we have already done this for you, with Setup #16. This setup is a good
template that combines a KB3 program split with a bass and a ride cymbal. The setup is
designed to give you easy control over the drawbar settings for the KB3 program, and
has the buttons assigned to the controller numbers needed for KB3 functions.
Remember that KB3 program can only be called up on a single MIDI channel. By default
that is channel 1. You can change this if you want, by going to the Global Menu and
pressing the >> button 13 times to get to the KB3 Channel parameter. So if you are
making your own Setups with a KB3 program, be sure to set that zone to channel 1, or
whatever other channel you have chosen for the KB3 channel.
There are several issues involved with putting a KB3 program into a Setup.
Drawbar Issues
The first issue is that there are only 4 Sliders that are used for the 8 drawbars. In KB3
Mode a dedicated button switches between having the slider control the first 4 or second
4 drawbars. But in Setup Mode, that Button is used as a Solo button, for soloing a zone.
For this reason two zones are needed within the Setup if you want to have control over
all eight drawbars.
HereÕs how it works. When you select setup #16, Zone 1 is soloed (the Solo LED is on,
and the Zone 1 LED is red).Sliders AÐD control the settings for Drawbars 1Ð4. When
theyÕre adjusted the way you want them, press Zone 2. YouÕll hear the same organ,
because Zone 2 uses the same program. Now, however, Sliders AÐD control Drawbars
5Ð8. The Mod Wheel controls Drawbar 9 with Zone 2 soloed.
When all the drawbars are set the way you want them, press Solo to exit from solo
mode, and youÕll hear the bass and ride cymbal. (The mod wheel must be down in order
to hear the ride cymbal). At this point, both Zone 1 and Zone 2 are muted (their LEDs
are amber). Press either Zone 1 or Zone 2, one or more times until its LED turns green,
activating the zone. Now the organ plays in the upper range, and the bass/ride plays in
the lower range. You can still use Sliders AÐD to control the drawbars (Drawbars 1Ð4
when Zone 1 is active, and Drawbars 5Ð8 when Zone 2 is active). If you activate both
zones, Sliders AÐD control the drawbars in pairs (for example, Slider A will control
Drawbars 1 and 5 at the same time). However, with both zones active, you will get two
notes played for each key you press, so you would normally never want to have both
zones active at the same time.
If you are not concerned with changing all 8 of the Drawbars in real time, or just want to
use the Drawbar settings defined within the KB3 Program, you can delete the second
zone in this setup by turning the zone off in the MIDI transmit menu (set MIDI Channel
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PC2 Made Easy
to Off). You can also assign the zone to a non-KB3 program by changing the zone to a
different MIDI channel, choosing a different program for that zone, and clearing the
controller assignments by pressing Controllers, then Copy, then the right arrow button
until it says "Clear Zone X?", then Enter). In this situation, the Sliders could still be used
to control any 4 of the drawbars that you want. By default, the sliders would control the
first 4 drawbars, but you could chose any 4 drawbars you want by assigning the sliders
to the specific MIDI controller numbers used for the specific drawbars. The chart on
page B-10 of the PC2 manual shows which controller numbers are used for which
drawbars, as well as for the other KB3 effects.
Deleting the second zone obviously gives you the advantage of having an extra zone for
layering or splitting with other programs, and it also prevents any doubled notes that
would occur if you accidentally have both zone 1 and 2 active at the same time, as
described above.
Button Issues
In KB3 Mode, the 4 buttons above the sliders are used for various specific KB3
functions, but in Setups Mode, these buttons are used for muting or soloing zones.
Therefore these functions have been moved to other buttons.
¥ Percussion On/Off is controlled by SW5 (above the Mod wheel)
¥ Percussion Pitch (High/Low) is controlled by SW4 (above the Pitch wheel)
¥ Percussion Loud/Soft is controlled by section 3 of the Ribbon (you must have the
ribbon controller plugged in for this to work, obviously)
¥ Percussion Decay (Fast/Slow) is not assigned to any controller
The Rotary On/Off and Vibrato/Chorus On/Off buttons function identically in the
Setup. In addition, Switch Pedal 3 can also be used to control Rotary On/Off (this is
same in KB3 Mode).
The Vibrato/Chorus depth button works differently, however. In KB3 Mode, this button
switches between 3 Vibrato and 3 Chorus settings. Since the button only has two states
in Setup Mode (On or Off), you can only choose between two different settings. By
default, the button switches between Vibrato 1 and Chorus 3. But by editing the On
Value and Off Value parameters for that button, you can switch between any two
settings (the On Controller and Off Controller parameters are both 93 - you only change
the On value and Off value). To select other settings, use the following values:
If you are not certain how to set the On and Off values for a button, please see tutorial
#12 Ð it covers this concept.
Effects Issues
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PC2 Made Easy
If you are starting with the KB3 Setup, then you will be starting with a Setup in which
Zone 1 has a KB3 program assigned. If you decide to add a KB3 program to a different
Setup and program the controllers yourself, then you should make sure that you put the
KB3 program in Zone 1 of the Setup. Here is why:
While some of the KB3 oriented functions that can be controlled by a physical controller
are actual KB3 parameters, others are actually controlling the Effects Processor (These
are Leslie Slow/Fast, Vibrato/Chorus On/Off and Vibrato/Chorus Select).
Because the Effects are Global to the Setup, only one zone can send controller info to the
effects processor for real time control. The MIDI Channel which controls the effects
processor is determined by the settings of the FX Chg Mode and FX Channel parameters
(see page 5-25 in the manual). By default, they are set to Auto and Current, and you
probably want to leave them set that way. If they are set to those values then the MIDI
channel assigned to Zone 1 is what is controlling the effects. Therefore, you want to
assign the pedals or buttons that will control the Leslie and Vib/Chor parameters to
Zone 1, EVEN IF THE KB3 PROGRAM IS ASSIGNED TO A DIFFERENT ZONE. Any
pedals or other controllers which you are using to control the regular KB3 parameters
should be assigned to the zone that has the KB3 program in it, but the effects control
must be done from Zone 1.
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PC2 Made Easy
16. Program Editing – Internal Voices
All programs in the PC2 can be edited. and you can save your edits to the User Bank.
All program editing parameters are contained within the Timbre, LFO, and Envelope
menus, found in the Sound Parameters section of the front panel.
Both regular and KB3 programs can be edited, and since there are substantial differences
between the two types of programs, we cover editing of regular programs in this tutorial
and editing of KB3 programs in the following tutorial.
1. Press the Internal Voices Button, and select program #80 Solar Lead. Play the
program to get a feel for what it sounds like. You should be sure to try moving the
different physical controllers to hear the changes in the sound. For example, Slider C
opens and closes a filter, Slider D control the amount of resonance applied to the filter,
and the SW5 button switches between two different sounds. When you are finished
playing, make sure that SW5 is turned off, Slider C is all the way DOWN, and Slider D
is all the way UP..
2. Press the Timbre Button. Each program can have up to 4 Layers (although many will
have fewer). You can tell how many layers are in a program by looking at the four zone
buttons. Each button that is lit up represents a layer. Notice that the top line of the
display shows Lyr:1 2P Lowpass. This indicates that you are currently editing Layer 1
and the currently selected parameter is a 2 Pole Lowpass Filter setting. You canÕt add or
delete layers in a program, but you can make substantial changes to the existing layers.
3. The 4 zone buttons work identically to the way the function in Setups Mode. Pressing
a zone button will switch the display to that Layer. Once that Layer is in the display,
pressing it a second time will mute that layer. Pressing again will unmute that layer.
Unlike with Setups, muting is only temporary. Once you save your changes and exit the
program, all layers will be active. The main reason for muting is to allow you to hear the
changes you make while you are editing.
Press the Zone 3 button twice. The Zone 3 button turns orange, indicating that layer 3 is
muted. Notice there is also a Ò-Ò in the display after the layer number, once again
indicating it is muted. Press the Zone 4 button twice to mute that layer as well. Now
play the keyboard. Notice that you donÕt hear any difference in the sound. Remember
that in step 1, we talked about SW5 switching between layers. Press SW5 to turn it on
and play the keyboard again. Now you hear nothing. This is because, in this program,
SW5 is programmed to switch between playing Layers 1 & 2 or Layers 3 & 4.
If you are editing a program and hear no changes, you might want to mute all layers but
that layer and make sure it is currently active. Some times that layer might be limited to
a range of notes, or it might have a switch programmed to turn it on or off, as in this
example. If you look in appendix C in your manual, you will find a list of all the preset
programs and their control sources. It is a good idea to be aware of these settings when
you go to edit a program so that you know if a certain physical controller may be
affecting what you hear.
Turn SW5 back off and unmute Layers 3 & 4. For the rest of this example, we will only
work with editing layers 1 & 2, but you can apply any of the same changes to layers 3 &
4 and use SW5 to switch between the two sets of layers.
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PC2 Made Easy
4. Press the Layer 2 button twice to mute it and play the keyboard. Notice that the
remaining layer 1 sound is panned partially to the left. Layers 1 & 2 in this program are
very similar sounding with each layer panned partially to opposite sides. (Layers 3 & 4
follow the pattern.) This gives a richer sound to the program. It also means that by
editing only one layer, you can get some real variations in the sound by choosing to either
change both layers or only one of them.
Press the Layer 1 button once to make it the editable layer. For each layer, there are a
number of parameters, including 2 DSP parameters. Although the other parameters
remain the same in all programs, the two DSP parameters will change, depending on
how that layer of the program has been designed. Each layer can have different DSP
parameters. (In this particular program, all layers have the same DSP parameters.)
When you press the Timbre parameter, you will always enter the menu at the first DSP
parameter.
Now change the value of the 2P Lowpass parameter (the alpha wheel is good for
changing in this example.). Notice that as you raise the filter cutoff, the sound gets
brighter, and as you lower it, the sound gets duller. The display shows you the cut off of
the filter in both a note value and the actual frequency.
Set the parameter as high as it can go (a value of G 10). Now move Slider C. Notice that
it has no effect on the sound. The Slider is set to open the filter as you send higher MIDI
values, but since the slider is all the way open, it canÕt be raised any higher. This points
out an important concept to remember. The basic parameter settings are initial amounts,
and those amounts can then be modified by a MIDI controller (if the program is set up
so that the controller will modify that parameter).
Set the value to C 5, the press the zone 2 button twice to unmute it. Now play the
keyboard. Notice that the sound is stronger on the left side, since layer 1, which is
panned to the left, is brighter. Now move Slider C up while playing the keyboard and
notice that the sound moves more to the center. This is because as the filter is opened up
and layer 2 gets brighter, it gains in volume. Now move Slider C all the way back down
and mute Layer 2 again.
5. Press the Layer 1 button to make it active and then press the >> button. Now you are
on the Resonance parameter. Resonance is a DSP function in which the amplitude of the
frequencies surrounding the filter cutoff frequency are increased or decreased. Try
changing the value of this parameter to hear the change in the sound.
As we mentioned earlier, Slider D controls the amount of resonance. This works in the
same way as we saw with Slider C Ð you set the initial amount with the resonance
parameter and then you can increase that amount with the slider. Since resonance is tied
to the filter cutoff, you will also find a big change in the sound based on the relative
settings of both parameters.
6. Press the >> button to get to the Amp parameter. This parameter controls the basic
overall amplitude of the layer and can be very useful for balancing the volumes of
different layers, particularly if they use different keymaps (which we will be exploring in
a few more steps).
7. Press the >> button again and you will see the first of several Initial Value
parameters, this one for the mod wheel. Most programs typically have up to 7 different
physical controllers, which can be used to alter the sound in one way or another.
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PC2 Made Easy
(Appendix C in the manual documents the controller assignments). These Initial Values
allow you to have the controller be set to a specific amount when the program is first
called up, so you can depend on the program always sounding a specific way. At any
point after that you can move the controller and the program will respond accordingly.
The initial value parameters include:
Mod Wheel
Breath (for the breath controller input)
Data (Controller #6, which is the default for Slider C)
Controller #9 (the default for the SW2 button)
Controller #12, (the default for the SW3 button)
Controller #13 (the default for Slider D)
Controller #29 (the default for the SW5 button).
Press the >> button until you get past the Controller #29 Initial Value and you will see
ÒCapture MIDI Vals?Ó. If you press the Yes (Enter) button while on this parameter, all
the Initial Value parameters will be set to the current position of the various controllers.
This is great because you can play around with the sound, moving the controllers as you
desire, and when you find something you like, just go to this parameter and instantly
you can set the program to sound this way every time you call it up.
8. Now press the Timbre button again. This will jump you back to the First DSP
parameter. (You could also press the << button numerous times to get to it Ð this is just
a shortcut). There are a few more parameters in this menu. Press the << button and you
will see the Lo and Hi note parameters. These work the same way they do in a Setup.
This allows you create a split within a program, using different layers assigned to
different note ranges Ð the same concept as you would do with zones in a Setup. It is not
possible to add or delete layers within a program, but starting with a program with more
than one layer, you can customize a split.
9. Press the << button twice. Now you see the Keymap parameter. A keymap is a
collection of individual samples assigned across the keyboard, and will consist either of
samples of actual instruments or waveforms. In the current program, layers 1 & 2 use the
Sawtooth Wave and layers 3 & 4 use the Saw Wave Dullest. This is why you hear a
different sound when you use SW5 to switch between layers.
If Layer 1 is not currently in the display, press the zone 1 button to make it the currently
editable layer. Change the Keymap to 179 Square Wave. Now press the zone 2 button
and set Layer 2 also to 179 (if the layer is still muted, press the zone 2 button again.
Play the keyboard to hear the difference.
As we mentioned earlier it is not possible to change the DSP functions within a given
program. But since you can change the keymap for any program, if you find a program
that has synthesis parameters that you want to work with, you can edit that program
and select the basic sound that you want run through those DSP functions. As you can
see, this gives you a great deal of flexibility in editing sounds.
Now press the << button once more. This time you see (Keymap). There are actually two
keymap parameters. In the case of stereo samples, one is used for the left side and one
for the right. Since this program started with a mono waveform, the second keymap
parameter doesnÕt do anything and canÕt be changed, as indicated by the Ò( )Ó. If you
start with a program that uses stereo samples, you will find that the two parameters say
ÒKeymap RÓ and ÒKeymap LÓ. If you edit one of these programs you can assign any
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PC2 Made Easy
keymap in the instrument to each side. Obviously however, if you are using a mono
sample, it makes no sense to use a program with the two keymap parameters (unless
you wanted to do something very strange such as assigning completely different
keymaps to each side).
10. Now we will move on to another set of sound editing parameters. Press the Envelope
button. This menu contains three parameters, for modifying the attack, decay and
release times of the program. It is important to understand that the changes you make
here are based on envelope settings already programmed. Values of less than 1 will slow
down the envelope and value of more than 1 will speed it up.
You should still be on Layer 2. If not press the Zone 2 button to make it current. Press
the Zone 2 button to mute Layer 2 and then press the Zone 1 button to make Layer 1
active. Now set the Attack parameter to its lowest value, 0.018, and play the keyboard.
You will notice the attack is now slower. Change it to a value of 1.000 and play again.
You will hear an immediate attack. Change it to a value above 1.000 and play again.
Notice there is no additional change. Since the original attack from this program is an
instant attack, no amount higher than 1 can make it quicker. But if you had started with
a program that has a slow attack (for example Slow Strings), setting a value higher than
1 will give you a quicker attack.
Now press the >> button to get to the Decay parameter. This program is a sustaining
program, which means that there is no decay. Try setting this parameter to a value of
5.000, then strike a key and hold it. You will now hear the note decay. Try a setting of
50.000 and now the note decays almost immediately. If you choose a value less than
1.000, there will be no additional change Ð since the original program already sustains,
there can be no longer decay time. But if you started with a program that did decay and
chose a value of less than 1.000, the decay time would get longer as the value got lower.
Set the Decay back to 1.000 and press the >> button to get to the Release parameter.
Lower the value to an amount of less than 1.000 and play staccato notes and you will
hear a longer release time.
Remember that if you adjust the values of the Envelope parameters and find some
settings you would like to save, be sure to change the values for the other layers as well.
11. Press the LFO button. A Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) is a waveform that is so
low in pitch, you canÕt hear it. Instead, it is used as a control for various parts of the
sound. Since it is continuously repeating it is often used for things such as vibrato or
tremolo, in which there is a steady up and down change in pitch (for vibrato) or
amplitude (for tremolo).
The LFOs are already assigned to specific functions for each program, and that canÕt be
changed. What you can change are the rates and the shapes of the LFOs. For instance, in
the current program, both the Mod Wheel and Mono Pressure control the amount of LFO
applied to Pitch, thereby allowing you to control vibrato. Play some notes and move the
mod wheel up or press down on the keys to hear the effect.
In this particular program, the mod wheel and pressure are not only controlling the
amount of the LFO controlling the pitch, they are also controlling the speed. But you
only have control over the slower amount. So in order to hear the following changes,
make sure the mod wheel is no higher than halfway up and try not to press too hard on
the keys while holding them down.
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Now strike a key and hold it, and try changing the value of LFO1 Rate to 2.00 Hz. You
should hear the vibrato slow down. If you move the mod wheel all the way up, you will
hear the LFO speed back up again as the vibrato gains in intensity.
Now press the >> button to see the LFO1 shape parameter. Try changing the shape and
listen to the variations in the vibrato. You will find that the changes are quite subtle,
since the amount of vibrato is limited in the program, but the changes are there.
There are two LFOs in the PC2, so you will also see LFO2 Rate and LFO2 Shape
parameters. In practical terms, however, the second LFO is rarely used for most
programs so changing the settings of these parameters will rarely give you any noticeable
end result. Sometimes, instead of LFO2, you will see the display say GLFO. In this case
the second LFO is used as a Global LFO, which, means that the settings of this LFO are
always the same for all layers in the program. If you do see a program with a GLFO,
then it is likely that LFO has been assigned to something and changing the values may
give you a noticeable change.
12. Finally we will save the program. You may wish to go back to some of the
parameters and edit them to your liking. Once you have a program you like, press the
Store button. The PC2 will ask if you want to save the Voice. Saving and/or renaming
are identical to the dialogs you see when saving a Setup, so we wonÕt go into details
here. Remember that the Layer Mutes donÕt apply to a saved program Ð once you call
up the program after exiting the editor, all layers will be active. So donÕt forget to check
all the zones in a program before saving it to make sure you have everything the way you
want it.
Note: If you simply call up a Program and press Store, because you want to save it to
another location without making any changes, you will get the Save Setup dialog. In
order to get to the Save Voice dialog, you need to first press one of the Sound Parameter
buttons.
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17. Program Editi ng – KB3 Programs
Countless blues, jazz, and rock recordings have centered around the distinctive sound
created by classic tone wheel organs (such as the Hammond B-3) played through
rotating speaker systems like the Leslie. Not only is the sound great, but itÕs supremely
versatile, since the player can control timbre in real-time by adjusting drawbars that add
or remove harmonics from the fundamental tone. Other cool sound-shaping tools include
a percussive emphasis that can be added to each note and the capability to change
speaker rotation speed. Many people, in fact, feel that the tone wheel organ was the first
popular synthesizer. And although these organs havenÕt been made for years, they are
still sought after, restored, and lugged about by legions of dedicated keyboard players.
This despite archaic electronics, inscrutable wiring, and an unwieldy heft that tops 400
pounds. Duplicating the sound and flexibility of these organs Ð without the nasty side
effects Ð is the goal of KB3 Mode.
In creating KB3 Mode, weÕve done extensive testing, measurement, and analysis on
several tone wheel organs. From there weÕve done our own physical modeling to emulate
these organs, taking into account even such esoteric matters as the way older organs
sound different (and arguably better) as their capacitors begin to leak. (Of course we let
you decide if you want your PC2 to sound like an old or new organ.)
WeÕve also recruited the best organ players we could find to try out these programs, and
have used their feedback to make sure that all of KB3 ModeÕs real-time controls are as
convenient as they were on the organs of yore. To make it all work, weÕve created a new
type of program Ð the KB3 program Ð that is built around a totally new model.
In a nutshell, KB3 programs use 80 oscillators simultaneously (79 for the tone wheel and
1 for the key click), each oscillator having its own pitch and amplitude. KB3 Mode
provides two oscillators per voice, so it uses 40 voices of the available 64 voices.
Furthermore, all voices start up Ð albeit silently Ð when you select a KB3 Mode program.
In a regular PC2 program, on the other hand, voices only start when you play a note.
What this means is that in a KB3 program, you can actually put your fingers (and hands
and arms) on all the keys on the keyboard and hear all the notes being played, just like
on a real organ.
It is important to understand that while a KB3 program is called up on the KB3 channel
(which by default is channel 1), a specific number of voices are being used, whether ornot you are playing any keys. So if you create Setups which use a KB3 program and
then add regular programs for other zones, the polyphony to play those other programs
is limited to 24. Of course, if you have added the polyphony expansion option, then you
have an additional 64 voices available.
Although all the KB3 program editing parameters are accessed from the same three
menus as a regular program, the parameters are quite different.
1. Press the KB3 button and call up Program 000 All Out. Next press the Timbre button.
The first two parameters in this menu are Wheel Volume Map and Organ Map. The
determine the volume level of the tone wheels and the relative amplitude of each key, per
drawbar. Different B3 organs have different levels, and we have measured several
different organs and given you some choices based on those measurements. You might
want to try playing around with these two parameters, changing the values and playing
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PC2 Made Easy
the keys to hear the difference. DonÕt forget to check out the differences with the
drawbars at varying positions.
2. Press the >> button twice to get to the Chorus/Vibrato Switch parameter. This
parameter and the next parameter, Chorus/Vibrato are identical to the settings you can
choose with the SW2 and SW3 buttons, which we discussed in the Intro Tutorial. If you
change the value in the display, the button will change, and vice versa.
3. Press the >> twice button to get to the Rotary Speed parameter. Like the
Chorus/Vibrato parameters, this can also be set by a button - in this case the SW1
button.
4. Press the >> button to get to the Drawbar Mode parameter. This has two possible
values Ð Preset and Live. If it is set to Preset, then you can choose the settings for each
drawbar with the next set of parameters. If you set it to Live, then whatever the physical
settings of the Drawbars are will be the setting you hear when the program is selected.
KB3 program 080 Live Drawbars is set this way, while all the other stock KB3 programs
are set to Preset.
5. Press the >> button again. Here you see the settings for each of the 9 drawbars. In this
case they are all set to a value of 8, which is fully out (just as you might expect from the
name of the program). Each drawbar can be set to a value between 0 and 8. You can use
the sliders to change the values, or use the >> and << buttons to scroll to a specific
drawbar and then change it with the wheel or + and Ð buttons. Remember that the
Drawbar Toggle button switches the sliders between the first four and second four
drawbars. The mod wheel controls the 9
th
drawbar.
6. Press the >> button enough times to get to the next parameter, Drawbar Steps. In a
real tone wheel organ, the drawbars have 9 discreet steps, numbered from 0 through 8.
As you go from one value to another there is a distinct change in the amplitude for that
drawbar. If you set this parameter to Normal, it will mimic those nine steps. If it is set to
Smooth, then there are actually 127 different values for the slider (the same as a normal
MIDI controller would have) and you will have a smoother transition of amplitude as
you move the slider up and down. The Display still shows the values as 0-8, even
though the transition is smoother.
7. Press the >> button to get to the Preamp Response parameter. On a real B3, the
volume pedal is connected to a preamp. The pedal in this case is more than a volume
pedal; it actually functions like a Òloudness control,Ó varying the frequency response to
compensate for the earÕs sensitivity at different volumes. In addition, the preamp
provides a de-emphasis curve to compensate for the built-in tone wheel volume preemphasis. But some people preferred to modify the organ to have a direct out that
skipped this preamp.
On the PC2 if this parameter is set to On, then it mimics the behavior of the Preamp on
a regular B3. If it is set to Off, it works just like a direct out. You should note that
turning this off will mean that the Expression pedal will no longer control the volume.
(You could however, still control volume with the pedal, by putting the KB3 program
into a Setup and assigning the pedal to Controller #7, MIDI Volume).
8. Press the >> button to get to the Leakage parameter. As mentioned earlier, this allows
you to emulate the leakage (Crosstalk and signal ÒbleedÓ) between adjacent tone wheels,
which is common on tone wheel organs. This helps to Òdirty upÓ the sound and make it
more realistic. A value of Ð96dB will give you the purest tone, while a value of 0dB will
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PC2 Made Easy
give you the maximum amount of leakage. Try changing the amount and playing some
notes to hear the difference.
9. Press the >> button again. This last parameter, Amplitude, gives you an overall
volume adjustment for the program.
10. Now press the Envelope button. In a KB3 program, this menu is used for controlling
the Key Click, Amplitude Envelope, and Percussion.
The first parameter is the Keyclick parameter. On a real B3, there is a slight clicking
sound that happens when you press each key. On the PC2, you can turn this On or Off.
Press the >> button to get to the KeyClick Volume parameter. This obviously allows you
to control the amount of clicking you can hear. (KeyClick volume is also scaled by the
drawbar and expression pedal settings.)
11. The next two parameters control the Envelope settings for attack and release. The
Normal settings are slightly smoothed and emulate a real B3. You can also set them to
harder attacks that give you an extra clicking for the attack and/or release of the keys.
12. The rest of the parameters in this menu deal with the percussion effect. Percussion is
a characteristic feature of tone wheel organs. ItÕs especially useful while soloing, since
percussion adds an extra plink (actually an extra tone at a defined harmonic) to the
attack of individual notes. When you play more than one note simultaneously, only the
first note you play will trigger the envelope of the percussion tone, though notes played
shortly afterwards will also be affected by this envelope. When you play chords, all of
the notes played simultaneously will get the percussive effect (provided percussion
hasnÕt already been triggered).
The first four parameters correspond to the settings of the zone buttons. Just as with the
Chorus/Vibrato and Leslie Slow/Fast parameters, pressing a button will change the
value of the matching editable parameter, and vice versa. These including the switch to
turn Percussion On or Off, setting the Volume to Loud or Soft, setting the Decay to Slow
or Fast, and choosing between a High and Low pitch for the percussion.
The PC2 also gives you additional control of the exact amounts of Amplitude and
Decay for the Percussion. Following the first four basic Percussion parameters, there are
four sets of three parameters. There are four possible combinations of Volume and
Decay: Loud/Fast, Loud/Slow, Soft/Fast, and Soft/Slow. As you scroll through the
parameters, you will see the top line change to show you which combination you are
editing.
For each combination, you can set three parameters. Level sets the amount of amplitude
for the percussion. Decay sets the rate of decay. Volume Adjust allows you to adjust the
amplitude of the organ relative to the amplitude of the percussion effect. Try changing
these three parameters to hear the difference. Make sure that you have the proper
combination of Volume and Decay turned on with the zone buttons that match the
combination you are currently editing.
Press the >> button enough times to scroll through all the Volume and Decay parameters
and you will come to the Percussion Pitch parameters, which are the last ones in this
menu.
For the pitch of the percussion, you can choose any of the pitches assigned to the
different drawbars. There are two parameters, Low Harmonic and High Harmonic,
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PC2 Made Easy
which correspond to the Low and High Pitch settings you can choose with the zone 4
button. On a real B3, the Low Harmonic is the pitch of Drawbar 4, and the High
Harmonic is the pitch of Drawbar 5. But with the PC2, you can chose the pitch from any
drawbar for each setting.
Finally the last parameter is the Steal Bar parameter. On a real B3, when you turn
Percussion On, it disables one of the drawbars in order to be able to produce the
Percussion tone. On a real B3, this is always the 9
choose any drawbar you want. You will notice that on any KB3 preset, once you turn
Percussion On, moving the mod wheel has no effect on the sound, since the 9
has been turned off.
13. Now press the LFO button. The LFO menu contains the same four LFO parameters
you see for regular programs. But these LFOs are not used in the KB3 programs. Press
the >> button 4 times to get to the Rotor Effects parameters, which ARE used by KB3
programs.
The classic Leslie Rotary Speaker cabinet has two rotating speakers, one for low
frequencies and one for high frequencies. The lower speaker rotates counter-clockwise
and the higher speaker rotates clockwise. The speakers always rotate, but you could
switch between a slow rotation and fast rotation (typically done with a foot pedal on a
real Leslie). On the PC2, switching back and forth between the two speeds will ramp up
or down at the same rate as a real Leslie speaker does. On the PC2, you can switch
between the speeds with either the Rotary Fast/Slow button, or a pedal plugged into
Switch Pedal 3.
th
drawbar. But on the PC2, you can
th
drawbar
The PC2 allows you to set both the slow and fast rotating speeds for each of the two
ÒvirtualÓ speakers that are part of the Rotary effect. The Low Rate and High Rate
parameters control the slower rotating speed for the low and high ÒspeakersÓ. The Low
Adjust and High Adjust parameters control the faster rotating speed for the low and
high ÒspeakersÓ. You will notice that on any of our presets, the Low rate and Low
Adjust parameters are set to negative values, which equate with the counter-clockwise
rotation, while the High Rate and High Adjust parameters are set to positive values,
which equate with clockwise rotation.
Try adjusting these 4 parameters and listen to the change in the sound. Be sure to switch
back and forth between slow and fast settings to get the full effect.
14. Finally we will save the program. You may wish to go back to some of the
parameters and edit them to your liking. Once you have a program you like, press the
Store button. The PC2 will ask if you want to save the Voice. Saving and/or renaming
are identical to the dialogs you see when saving a Setup, so we wonÕt go into details
here.
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18. Effects Editing
Each Program and Setup in the PC2 can have its own effects settings. With the FX Mode
parameter set to its default settings, when you call up any individual program from the
front panel, you will hear the effects assigned to that program. And when you go to
MIDI Setups mode, you will hear the effects assigned to that setup instead of the effects
assigned to the individual programs called up in that Setup. (If you are sequencing and
playing several programs at a time then only one program can be in control of the effects
Ð more on this in tutorial #30.
You can customize the effects for programs in the User banks as well as the preset
banks. You do not need to save a program to the User bank in order to change and save
the effects for one of the presets.
We already covered choosing the FX bus and setting the wet/dry mix in the Basic
Concepts section. We will be covering changing and editing the effects themselves in this
tutorial.
1. Start in Internal Voices Mode and call up program 17 Serious Classic. Notice that the
FX-A button is lit. This electric piano program uses a simple hall reverb. Play the
program to hear what it sounds like.
2. Press the wet/dry button. Notice that A is set to 10%. Change this to 75% and play
the program. The reverb is much wetter. We are going to keep the wet/dry level set this
high so as we make changes, they will be quite noticeable.
3. Now press the FX-A Select button. The display shows the current effect is Grandiose
Hall. Change it to Effect #151, Sweet Flange. Play the keyboard and notice the
difference in the sound. The simplest form of effects editing is to change the overall
effect. There are several different flange effects. Try switching through all the effects
between 150 and 155, playing the keyboard after each change to hear the difference.
Then set it back to #151.
4. Once you have chosen the effect you want, you can make further changes. Each effect
will have up to 4 parameters that you can edit. Press the >> button. The first parameter
is LFO Period and its value is 10 bts (beats). Press >> again to see LFO Tempo, which is
set to 120BPM.
Flanging is the process of taking a signal, duplicating it and displacing the duplicated
signal in time, and the adding or subtracting the two signals together. This gives you a
series of notches in the frequency spectrum, generally referred to as a comb filter. The
end result is a classic sound that most people recognize.
The 2 LFO parameters are related to each other. An LFO is used to sweep the two
signals back and forth, creating the flanging effect. You set the amount of time it takes to
sweep back and forth based on a tempo and the number of 1/4 note beats for that
tempo.
Change the LFO Tempo to 60 BPM and play some notes. Then try setting it to 180 BPM
and play some notes again to hear the difference.
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PC2 Made Easy
5. Press the >> button to get to the Feedback parameter. Try choosing different amounts
to hear the change the in the sound. You can choose both positive and negative amounts.
Once you have an amount you like, you might want to go back to the Wet/Dry button
and bring the wet/dry amount back down to make the effect more subtle.
6. Once you have created the effect you want, you can save it. As we mentioned at the
beginning of the tutorial, you can save the effects for preset programs as well as for user
created programs. This allows you to customize the effects for the presets without
having to use one of the User slots just for effects changes.
Press the Store button. The PC2 asks if you want to Store Effects for that program. If
you answer Yes, then Program 17 will now always have this new effect you have
created. (If you donÕt want to do this, just press No to Exit out of the dialog, then press
Internal Voices twice to exit out of the editor.)
7. One other parameter that you should be aware of is Stored FX. Press FX Mode, then
the >> button twice. (You must either store the effect you were editing or press the
Internal Voices button twice to exit out of the editor without saving before you can go to
the FX Mode button.)
Stored FX can be set to User or Factory. It is normally set to User. If you have
customized effects for a number of the presets and want to get everything back to
Factory defaults, you can set this parameter to Factory. Your customized effects still
remain in memory, and you can choose them again by setting the parameter back to
User.
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PC2 Made Easy
19 . U si ng the Ar peggiator
One often-overlooked feature of the PC2 is the arpeggiator. This can be a lot of fun to
play with - you can get many interesting and unusual effects. Basically, an arpeggiator
takes notes that you play and repeats them in a pattern. Typically, you might use it to
arpeggiate chords that you play, but it can have other uses such as playing percussion
patterns.
This tutorial will be a bit different from the others - instead of creating a specific
arpeggiator effect, we will experiment with various parameters and hear the different
results.
You can use the Arpeggiator in both the Internal Voices and MIDI Setups mode. We will
start in Internal Voices mode, but if you find a specific set of parameter values that you
like as you explore through the tutorial, you can simply press the Store button to save
the settings as a single zone Setup.
1. Start in Internal voices and call up any sound that you want to work with. To best
hear the effects of the arpeggiator, you might want to start with a program that has a
percussive attack and also decays, such as piano, marimba, guitar, etc.
2. Press the Arpeggiator button. Turn the Arp Active parameter On. Play a chord on the
keyboard. You should hear the notes arpeggiated. If you hear nothing at all, go to the
Global Menu and check to make sure the Clock parameter is set to Internal. If you hear
notes but they arenÕt arpeggiated, press the >> three times to make sure Zone Enable is
On and once more to make sure Latch Mode is set to Keys.
Try playing a single note. Notice that it is repeated. Try adding more notes. As you
press them they are added to the arpeggio. Let go of one of the keys. Notice that note is
dropped from the arpeggio while the others continue. Notice that the arpeggiator plays
the notes in the specific order that you strike them. Also notice that the loudness of the
arpeggiated notes depends on how hard you strike the keys.
Hold the sustain pedal and let go of the keys. Notice that even though the notes ring out
like they would when you press the sustain pedal, the arpeggiation stops. In order for
the arpeggiator to work, the keys must be held down, or otherwise latched (we will cover
various latching methods in the next tutorial).
Now turn the Arp Active parameter back to Off.
3. Hold the Controllers button and press the SW4 controllers button. Press the <<
button and set the Switch Type to Toggle. Press the >> button, then 116, then Enter. The
PC2 uses MIDI controller 116 to turn the arpeggiator on and off. Press the >> button
and set the On Value to 64. Press the >> button twice and set the Off Value to 0. Since a
Switch controllers has only two states (On or Off), any value between 0 and 63 is
considered Off and any value between 64 and 127 is On. Now if you turn the button on
and strike the keys, you will hear arpeggiation. If you turn the button off, then you will
just hear the notes you played. Leave the button turned on.
As a side note Ð SW4 is assigned to #116 in the Default Internal Voices Setup, so any
time you are in Internal Voices Mode, you can use this button turn arpeggiation on.
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PC2 Made Easy
4. As long as we are programming the controllers, we will set something else that we will
use later. Hold the Controllers button, strike any key and press down. The display will
change to show Zone:1 Mpressure, Ctrl Num: Pressure. The MPressure (Mono Pressure)
controller is also referred to as aftertouch. After you strike a key, as you press down on
the key, a pressure strip senses how hard you are pressing and generates controller data.
Aftertouch is similar to the pitch wheel, in that it functions like a spring - it returns to 0
as you let go of the key. Like the sliders, wheels, and continuous control pedals, you can
assign any MIDI controller number to aftertouch. However typically, aftertouch is
assigned to Pressure, which is a separate MIDI message. If for some reason, this
parameter is not set to Pressure, press 132, then Enter to assign Pressure to the
MPressure controller.
One final thing to understand: There are actually two different types of aftertouch Mono Pressure and Poly Pressure. Mono Pressure has a single strip running across the
keyboard, so pressing down on any note will generate controller info that will affect
ALL the notes played on that MIDI channel. Poly Pressure has a separate sensor for
each key so pressing down on a key only affects that key. The PC2 uses Mono Pressure.
5. Press the Arpeggiator button, then press the >> button once to get to the Key Range
display and >> once more so that the cursor is on the High Note parameter. Hold Enter
and strike Middle C to set the High Note to C4. Now play a chord in the bass and a
melody in the treble. Notice that any notes up to C4 are arpeggiated but all notes above
that are played as normal. The Key Range parameter lets you set a range of notes that
will be affected by the arpeggiator while others can be played regularly.
Hold Enter and strike the top note on the PC2 to put the arpeggiator back to playing
across the keyboard.
6. Press the >> button. You are now on the Zone Enable parameter. This allows you to
have some zones in your Setup that are arpeggiated while other zones play normally.
Several of the preset Setups utilize this parameter. For example, Setup 23 Rhythmic
Chase has arpeggiated percussion layered with the Piano and the Neptune programs,
which do not arpeggiate. Or Setup 20 Ambients, which has an arpeggiated bass split
with some melodic programs.
7. Press the >> button. The next parameter is Latch Mode, which we will cover in
tutorial #20.
8. Press the >> button. The Play Order parameter lets you determine how the notes are
arpeggiated. The current setting should be Played, which is the default. As we noticed
before, the notes arpeggiate in the order in which you hold them down. Try changing this
parameter to each of its possible values and play chords on the keyboard to hear the
difference. It should be obvious how most of the possibilities work, but for definitions of
the various values, see pages 5-20 & 5-21 of the manual.
9. Press the >> button. You can set the beat subdivision for the arpeggiated notes. This
is based on Tempo, which is measured in Beats Per Minute. So if your clock is set to 120
BPM and you set the Beats to 8th notes, you will hear the equivalent of 240 arpeggiated
notes in one minute.
10. Press the >> Button. You can set the Tempo for the arpeggiation here. However,
more control is possible. Hold the Controllers Button and move Slider D. Press 133, then
Enter to assign Tempo for the slider. (You might want to check the Scale, Offset, and
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PC2 Made Easy
Curve parameters for Slider to make sure they are at their defaults of 100%, 0, and
Linear. You will find these parameters by pressing the >> button. )
When you call up a Setup, the initial tempo will normally be set to the value you set in
the Tempo parameter. However, if you have a controller (such as a slider) assigned to
Tempo AND you set an Entry value for that slider, that Entry value will override the
Tempo setting in the Arpeggiator menu. If you do use an Entry value for a controller
assigned to Tempo, you will notice that two numbers are displayed. The first number
will be a value between 0 and 127, while the second number will be the actual BPM
value (between 20 and 300 BPM).
A final note - the Tempo parameter only applies as long as the Clock parameter in the
Global menu is set to Internal. If you set it to External, it will follow the tempo of any
clock messages detected at the MIDI IN port. If no clock is detected, there will be no
arpeggiation (no sound will be heard when you press the keys).
11. Press the Arpeggiator button, then press >> seven times to return to Tempo, and
once again to go to Duration. This lets you set the duration of each note being played by
the arpeggiator. Try setting different values to hear the difference. At 100%, it is
completely legato. The lower you set the number, the more staccato the notes are played.
12. Press the >> button. The Velocity Mode parameter determines what velocities are
used to create the notes. The current setting should be Played, which is the default. As
we noticed before, the notes get softer or louder in the arpeggio depending on how hard
you strike the keys. Try setting this parameter to different values to see the difference. If
it is set to Fixed, then a specific velocity is used for all notes, determined by the Fixed
Vel parameter (the next parameter, accessed with the >> button). If it is set to Last, then
all of the arpeggiated notes use the velocity of the last note you strike. Try playing a 3
note chord softly, then striking a fourth note hard - all of the notes will now be loud. If
you then restrike just that one note softly, all the notes are soft.
Setting the value to Pressure means the velocities will be controlled by aftertouch. As
you push down on any key, the velocities will be come louder. As with Last, pushing
down on any one key will affect all the notes. (This setting will only work if the
MPressure controller is assigned to Pressure, which we did in step 4.)
The final value is Ctrl 117, which allows you to control the velocities from a MIDI
controller. This is covered in tutorial #21.
13. Press >> twice to get to the Note Shift parameter. This parameter and the following
two parameters are used in conjunction with each other. Note Shift will take the notes
that you play and transpose them up or down. Each time the arpeggio pattern is
repeated, the notes will transpose by the amount you set. Set the Note Shift to 2, then
play a chord. The notes will arpeggiate, then transpose up a whole step and repeat the
pattern, then transpose up a whole step again and repeat the pattern.
Press the >> button. The next parameter, Shift Limit will determine how far the PC2 will
keep shifting from the original pitches. Set the Shift Limit to 12 and play the keys again.
Notice that the pattern will shift up in whole steps till it reaches an octave
transposition, then the pattern starts shifting down in whole steps till it reaches the
original notes you played, then starts shifting up again.
Press the >> button. The Limit Option parameter determines what happens once the
arpeggiator reaches the Limit. With the default value of Unipolar, it shifts up and down,
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as you have seen. Try setting this to different values and listen to the end results.
Complete descriptions of all these values are found in the manual on pages 5-23 & 5-24.
These three parameters allow you to do some pretty wild things with the arpeggiator.
The best thing to do is just experiment with different settings. When you find something
you like, you can save it as a Setup.
14. Press the >> button. If you turn the last parameter, Glissando, to On, then the
arpeggiator will not only play the notes you strike, it will also play all the notes in
between the notes you strike.
In addition to making regular arpeggios with pitched instruments, you can get interesting
effects with by using the arpeggiator with drum and percussion programs. The PC2 itself
has somewhat limited abilities in this area since you canÕt edit the placement of the
drum sounds in the drum programs, but if you use the PC2 to control an external sound
module in which you can edit the sounds, you can create many interesting patterns.
The key to this is to create programs that have no sample assigned to specific notes.
That way, by including those notes in your arpeggiated pattern, you can get the
equivalent of rests, to create more varied rhythmic patterns.
You may want to go through the various parameters we have described to create an
arpeggiator setting you want to work with. Then Name and Save this Setup - we will be
using it as a starting point for the next few tutorials.
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20 . U si ng the V arious Ar peggiator Latch M odes
The Latch Mode parameter allows you great variation in deciding which notes that you
play should be used (latched) by the arpeggiator. In the previous tutorial, Latch Mode
was set to Keys, so that the arpeggiator simply latched any note you pressed and held it
only as long as the key was held down. But there are many other possibilities.
1. Start with the Setup you created in the last tutorial. If it is not already on, press the
SW2 button to turn the arpeggiator on. Hold the Controllers button and press the SW3
controllers button. Press << to get to Switch Type and set it to Toggle. Press the >>
button. Set the On Ctl to 119 Arp Latch1. Press the >> button and set the On Value to
64. Press the >> button twice and set the Off Value to 0. Make sure the button is turned
Off (the button itself is not lit).
2. Press the Arpeggiator button. Press the >> button 4 times to get to the Latch Mode
parameter. Change the value to Overplay. Play some notes on the keyboard. Notice they
do not arpeggiate. Now hold some notes and press the SW3 button. The notes start
arpeggiating. Let go of the keys. They still continue to arpeggiate. Play some more notes.
Notice they are not added to the arpeggio. When you use Overplay mode, only the notes
held when the switch is turned on will be arpeggiated.
3. Turn the SW3 button Off. Change the value of the Latch Mode to Arpeg. Hold some
notes on the keyboard, and turn the SW3 button on. Let go of the keys. So far, it works
identically to Overplay mode. Now press and hold another key. Notice that the note is
added to the arpeggio. Let go of the key. The new note is removed from the arpeggio, but
the other notes continue to play.
4. Turn the SW3 button Off. Change the value of the Latch Mode to Add. Hold some
notes on the keyboard, and turn the button on. Let go of the keys. Again, so far it works
identically to Overplay mode. Now press another key. As with Arpeg mode, the note is
added to the arpeggio. Let go of the key. Notice that it continues to be arpeggiated. You
can keep striking keys and they will keep being added.
Note that with Arpeg and Add modes, you donÕt have to be holding any notes when
you turn on theSW3 button. You can turn it on and then play notes and they will start
arpeggiating. But if you then let go of the notes, they will stop playing in Arpeg mode but
keep playing in Add mode (since you played the keys after turning on the Latch).
5. Turn the SW3 button Off. Change the value of Latch Mode to Auto. The previous 3
modes all used controller 119 to latch the notes for the arpeggiator. Auto does not use
controller 119. Play a chord. The notes arpeggiate. Press another key. The note gets
added to the arpeggio. Let go of the key. Notice that the note is still part of the arpeggio.
In fact you can let go of all keys but one, and every key that you pressed will still be part
of the arpeggio. That is the difference between Auto and Keys (our original Latch mode).
With Keys, once you let go of the key, the note is removed from the arpeggio. But with
auto you can keep striking as many keys as you want to keep adding notes, and as long
as you hold one note, you will hear all of the arpeggiated.
6. Finally, change the value of Latch Mode to Pedals. Hold the Controllers button and
press the pedal connected to the Switch Pedal 1 jack. Press the << button and make
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sure that the Switch Type is set to Momentary. Press the >> button, then 119, then
Enter, to set the pedal to Latch 1.
If you have a second switch pedal, make sure it is plugged into the Switch Pedal 2 jack.
Hold the Controllers button and step on that pedal. If you donÕt have a second pedal,
hold the Controllers button and press the SW5 button. Press the << button and make
sure that the Switch Type is set to Momentary. Press the >> button, then 118, then
Enter, to set the pedal to Latch 2.
7. Now, both pedals (or pedal and button) are used to Latch the arpeggiator. Play a
chord. The notes are arpeggiated. Let go of the keys. The arpeggiation stops. In Pedals
mode, if both are off, then the arpeggiator works as if it is in Keys mode - any notes you
play are arpeggiated.
Hold a chord and step on the Pedal 1 and hold it down. Let go of the keys. The notes
continue to arpeggiate. Play a few more notes. They are added to the arpeggio. With
Controller 119 On in Pedals mode, the arpeggiator works as if it is Add mode. Let go of
Pedal 1. The arpeggiation stops.
Hold a chord and step on Pedal 2 (or press the SW5 button) and hold it down. Let go of
the keys. Again the notes continue to arpeggiate. Play a few more notes. This time they
are NOT added to the arpeggio. With Controller 118 On in Pedals, mode, the
arpeggiator works as if it is Overplay mode. Let go of Pedal 2 (or button E). The
arpeggiation stops.
The reason we call this Pedals mode is that the two controllers work similarly to the
way the two pedals work when they are assigned to Sustain and Sostenuto. With
Controller 119, any notes held when you step on the pedal, PLUS any notes played
while the pedal is still down are arpeggiated (similar to the way a piano sustains with
the sustain pedal). With Controller 118, any notes held when you step on the pedal are
arpeggiated, but any notes played after pedal is depressed are NOT arpeggiated
(similar to the way a piano sustains with the sostenuto pedal, which is the middle pedal
on a 3 pedal piano).
As you can see, the latching modes give you a great deal of control over which notes get
arpeggiated. We encourage you to play around with these modes as well as the other
arpeggiation parameters to see what interesting uses you can find for it.
One last thing to remember is that if you have a controller assigned to turn the
Arpeggiator On and Off (which we did by assigning SW4 to this function in tutorial
#19), the arpeggiator must be turned On in order for any of the latching functions to
work.
One final note Ð we used the SW3 button for controller #119 in this tutorial because in
the Default Internal Voices Setup, #119 is assigned to SW3 in zones 2, 3, & 4 (zone 1
has the button assigned to controller #29, which is typically used for timbre control
within programs). Since all arpeggiator parameters apply to all zones (except for the
Zone Enable parameter), it does not matter which zone you use to send controller #119
or 118. (Of course, the zone itself must be turned on in order to send a controller
message.)
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21 . Assigning a Slid e r to Arpeggiator V e locities
1. Start with the Setup you created in tutorial #19. Press the Arpeggiator button, then
press the >> button 9 times to get to the Vel Mode parameter. Change the value to Ctrl
117.
2. Hold the Controllers button and move Slider C. Press 117, then Enter to assign Arp
Vel for the slider. (You might want to check the Scale, Offset, and Curve parameters for
Slider to make sure they are at their defaults of 100%, 0, and Linear).
3. Now hold some keys and move the slider up and down. The arpeggiated notes
increase and decrease in volume. The slider controls the velocities used for the notes
created by the arpeggiator. You could use this effect to fade arpeggiated notes in with an
non-arpeggiated layer.
You could create a similar end result by assigning the slider to MIDI volume for each
zone that uses the arpeggiator. However, there is a difference. If a single program
switched between different samples based on the velocity of the note, then using the
slider to control velocity instead of volume would let you switch between those different
samples in the arpeggio.
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22 . U si ng the Ar peggiator w i t h a Sequencer or External
Controller
If you are sequencing and create a Setup that uses the Arpeggiator, then the PC2 will
send the actual notes that were generated by the arpeggiator to the sequencer. When you
play back the sequence, it simply sends back those notes and does not actually play the
arpeggiator itself. (For more on using the PC2 with a sequencer, see tutorial #28.)
But if, for some reason, you need to have the sequencer or other external controller send
notes to the arpeggiator itself, you must use the Remap function in the PC2. To do this,
press the Global button, the press >> 6 times to get to the MIDI In parameter. If you set
this to Remap, then ALL incoming MIDI note messages will be treated as if you played
those notes on the keyboard of the PC2 itself.
The MIDI channel info on the incoming data is ignored - it simply takes the note numbers
and sends them to each zone based on the note range settings for that zone - again, it is
the same as playing that note on the keyboard itself. So you probably wouldnÕt want to
send more than one channel of MIDI information from an external controller, since the
note messages will get mixed together.
Another thing to be aware of is that all controller messages will be sent to all zones. So,
for example, if you have a Setup with zones assigned to channels 1, 2, 3, & 4, then a
sustain message coming in would be sent to all four MIDI channels.
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23. Using the PC2 to Control External Slaves
All of the techniques you have learned in the previous tutorials can be applied to playing
an external keyboard or module instead of the internal PC2 sounds. There is really only
one parameter you need to set.
1. Start with Setup #128 Default Setup. Press the MIDI Transmit button. Set the channel
to the channel number that you wish to use to control your external slave.
2. Press the >> button. Set the Destination to MIDI. ThatÕs it! Now just edit any other
parameters you need to control your slave (such as setting the bank and program
change, controller settings, etc.).
When you set the Program parameter, for zones assigned to MIDI only, the Program
parameter will display External Program, since - of course - the PC2 doesnÕt know the
names of the programs on your external slave. But you will always see the program and
bank numbers.
There is one exception to this, however. If your slave is a General MIDI instrument, you
can set the PC2 to display the GM program names. In this case, press the Program
button, then press the >> button four times to get to the Pname Disp parameter and
change it to Gen. MIDI.
If you want to make a Setup where you layer PC2 sounds with external sounds, the
simplest way to is to set some zones to MIDI (to play the external slave) and other
zones to Local (to play the PC2). It is possible to have a zone set to Local+MIDI (and in
fact that is the default). In this case, one zone can play both the PC2 and external slave.
But keep in mind that since a zone can only send a single program change message, if
you want to layer a specific external sound with a specific PC2 sound, you would have
to edit your external synth so that program is stored at the same numbered location as
the one you are choosing for the PC2. (Or you can edit a PC2 program and save it into
the User Bank at the same numbered location you are using on your external synth Ð but
remember that if the external synth responds to the bank controller, it would have use
the same bank number as the PC2.)
One final thing. Typically, you will always use different MIDI channels for each zone, if
you want to play different sounds on different zones. But if for some reason, you need
to, you can use the same MIDI channel for a Local only zone as you use for a MIDI only
zone. Since the two zones send the MIDI information to only one place or the other, both
zones could be on the same MIDI channel and have different program change values (or
anything else) selected.
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24. Bank Controlle r Issues f or External Slaves
This is less a tutorial than an explanation. Since most keyboards these days will have
more than 128 different programs, and since MIDI only allows 128 values for any
message, the bank controller was added to allow you to have multiple banks of
programs with each bank having up to 128 programs in it.
There are actually TWO bank controllers: Controller #0 and Controller #32. Some
manufacturers use just 0, some use just 32, and some use both. Since each bank
controller can have 128 values, that means that the total number of possible banks is
128 x 128 = 16,384 (numbered as 0-16,383). Since each bank can have 128 programs in
it, that means the total number of possible programs in an instrument is 2,097,152!
(Think of how long it would take just to listen to that many programs.) Anyway, in
practice, most instruments tend to have 10 or fewer banks.
The PC2 uses controller #32 (although you can send both without problems). It is
possible to have up to 8 banks, numbered 0-7. The bank values were described in the
Basic Concepts chapter.
When working with external slaves however, you may find they require very different
values for the banks. Many Roland keyboards, for example use values of 80 or 81 for
controller #0.
The PC2 actually has a parameter called Bank Mode, within the Program menu. This
allows you to chose either 0 or 32 or 0/32 for an individual zone. However, if the value
of this parameter is not the same as a similar bank mode parameter that is found in the
Global menu, it causes the PC2 to display the bank values in a very confused manner.
Therefore, we recommend that you DO NOT use this parameter - leave it set at the
default value of 0/32, which is the same as the default Global Bank Mode value.
So if you have a device such as a Roland, which uses just a value of controller #0, you
have to know how to calculate the bank number. Controller #0 is the Most Significant
Byte (MSB) and Controller #32 is the Least Significant Byte (LSB). If you see the two
bank controllers together, they are normally shown as MSB/LSB. This means that you
count by incrementing the number in the LSB column before incrementing the MSB. In
essence, you are counting in base 128. To make it obvious for the majority of us who
prefer to think in base 10, the following numbers show how the banks increment:
Controller 0/32Bank Number Equivalent
0/00
0/11
0/22
etc.
0/127127
1/0128
1/1129
1/2130
etc.
1/127255
2/0256
2/1257
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etc.
When you are on the Bank parameter in the PC2, it shows you both the 0/32 value and
the bank number equivalent. When you are on other parameters, it will only show you
the bank number equivalent, followed by a Ò:Ó, followed by the program number.
To scroll through all the bank numbers with the alpha wheel can take a long time, so you
will probably want to enter the bank number on the numeric keypad.
So to figure out which bank number equivalent you need, follow this formula: MSB x 128
+ LSB. Using the Roland example, if they require you send controller #0 with a value of
80 and no value of controller #32, then you would have 80 x 128 + 0 = 10,240. If you
type 10240, then press Enter when you are on the Bank parameter, you will see the
display show both 80/0 and 10240.
Another example: If the Roland required you to send controller 0 with a value of 81 and
controller 32 with a value of 2, then you would have 81 x 128 + 2 = 10,370. Again,
entering 10370 for the Bank parameter will show both 81/2 and 10370.
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25. Swit chi ng Pr ogram s on Exter nal Sl aves w ithout Playing
Them
If you are performing and have two keyboards, you might run into a situation where you
playing each keyboard separately (that is, each keyboard is playing its own sound), but
you need to be able to quickly change the sounds on both keyboards. In this case, you
can create a Setup on the PC2 that will switch the sounds on your other keyboard, but
wonÕt send any MIDI note data to it. This is easily done.
This tutorial also shows an example of copying a zone from one Setup to another.
1. Press MIDI Setups, then 127 then Enter. You have called up Clear Setup. Press Copy,
then Enter. You have now copied a zone from this Setup into the edit buffer.
2. Press the MIDI Setups, then 128, then Enter. You have called up Default Setup. Press
Copy, Press the >> button. The Display should now say ÒPaste into zone 1?Ó. Press the
Zone 2 button, then Enter. (The display will say ÒZone pastedÓ, then revert back to
ÒPaste into zone 2?Ó.)You have now pasted all the parameter values from zone 1 of
Setup 127 into zone 2 of Setup 128.
3. Press the MIDI Transmit button. Set the MIDI channels that you want for zones 1 and
2. Press the >> button. Set zone 1 to Local and zone 2 to MIDI.
4. Press the Program button and choose the programs that you want for zones 1 and 2.
If you need to set a bank number for a zone, press the << to get to the Bank parameter.
Then you can return to the Program parameter and select the program number.
5. Make sure that the display is on zone 2. Press the Key Range button. Press the >>
button twice to get to the Note Map parameter. Press 0, then Enter to set it to Off.
6. Name and Save your Setup.
Now when you call up the Setup, it will send a program change to your external
keyboard, but since the note map for that zone is turned off, no note information is sent
to the external keyboard when you play the PC2.
Why did we go to the trouble of copying and pasting zones? Even though the keyboard
isnÕt sending any notes on that zone, any controller messages will still be sent. For
example, Switch Pedal 1 is assigned to Sustain in all zones in the Default Setup. So if
you simply edited zone 2 of the Default Setup, then when you stepped on that pedal,
you would be sending sustain messages to the external keyboard in addition to the PC2,
which you probably donÕt want. So you would need to go to the various Controller
parameters and assign the Control Number (for continuous controllers) and On Control
(for switch controllers) to None. In Setup 128, wheel 1 and all three switch pedals are
set to values other than None, so those would be the ones you want to edit. Rather than
go through the steps of unassigning those four controllers for zone 2, we imported a zone
from Clear Setup, which has the all the controllers set to None.
The techniques above could also be used to send program changes to other devices, such
as effects processors, etc. without sending any other info to them.
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You can also use the same technique for zones assigned to the PC2 itself! LetÕs say you
have two keyboards. On the PC2 keyboard, you want to play an internal program or
programs (up to three). On your external keyboard, you want to play its own sounds
and ALSO play a program from the PC2. But your external keyboard doesnÕt have the
abilities the PC2 has for calling up different programs. So you create a zone in the PC2
Setup to call up the internal sound you want, but set the Note Map for that zone to Off.
So when you call up the Setup, it chooses the PC2 sound you want to be played from
the external keyboard, but the PC2 keyboard wonÕt play that zone.
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26. Pl ayi ng Pr ogr am s on Ext ernal Sl aves w it hout sending
Progr am Changes
This is the opposite of the previous tutorial. What if you have an external module or
keyboard that you want to play from the PC2, but you donÕt want to send program
changes to it? (Maybe you want to leave that module always on the same sound, or you
want the ability to choose the sounds directly from the front panel of that external
module or keyboard).
1. Create a 2 zone Setup, following tutorial #1. Set zone 1 to Local and Zone 2 to MIDI.
2. Make sure the display is on zone 2. Press the Program button. Press the >> button.
Set the Entry Transmit to Off.
3. Name and Save this Setup. Now when you call up the Setup, it wonÕt send any
program changes to your slave, but the note and controller info will still be sent.
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27. Using MIDI Receive Mode
MIDI Receive Mode allows you access to all 16 MIDI channels that the PC2 listens on. It
is important to be aware that the PC2 is always listening on all 16 MIDI channels, no
matter which mode you are in. So if you are in MIDI Setups mode and playing on four
channels from the keyboard, the other channels are still accessible via the MIDI In port.
(The only time this is not true is if you change the MIDI In parameter in the Global menu
to Remap. The MIDI IN parameter is covered in more detail in the additional
information section at the end of this document.)
The most obvious reason you would want to use MIDI Receive Mode is if you are
sequencing or using another external controller.
1. Press the MIDI Receive button. If this is the first time you have gone to this mode since
powering up the unit, the display will show you Channel 1. If you have previously been
to this mode and chose a different channel, it will return to that channel. This display
also shows if that channel is turned On or Off, and if it is On, it will show you the
program currently on this channel. You can scroll to the On/Off and Program
parameters by pressing the >> button.
Although you will normally want to leave all channels turned On, you might need to turn
a channel off if you have more than one MIDI instrument and are sequencing using a
sequencer or MIDI interface with only a single MIDI Out. In this case, since all MIDI
devices need to be chained together, you can direct specific channels to each MIDI
instrument by turning off selected channels in each instrument. For example, you might
turn off channels 9-16 in the PC2 and channel 1-8 in your other MIDI instrument.
2. To select a different MIDI channel, you can either keep pressing the MIDI Receive
button to increment through the channels, or use any data entry method to select the
channel you want, while the cursor is on the Channel parameter. Another easy way to
select a specific channel is to hold the MIDI Receive button and press one of the
numbered Sound Select buttons. The PC2 will jump to that channel number.
3. Press the >> button 3 times to scroll past the On/Off and Program parameter and the
display will change to show Volume and Pan parameters. Press >> two times and the
display changes again to show the FX Routing parameter. Finally, press >> once more to
show the wet/dry levels for the effects. If you press >> three more times, you will go to
the next MIDI channel.
As you can see, in addition to selecting a program for each channel, you have the ability
to manually set MIDI volume and pan levels independently for each channel, along with
the FX routing and wet/dry mix for FX-A and FX-B. Remember that the A>B wet/dry
amount is global and therefore if you change it while on any MIDI channel, you will see
the same amount when you go to the next MIDI channel.
Although you may want to manually set these values from the MIDI Receive page, it is
also possible to send MIDI program change and controller messages from your sequencer
so that you can automate selecting the correct amount for each track in each individual
sequence you have. To change volume and pan, you would send the standard controller
#7 and #10. For the effects parameters, #91 controls FX-B wet/dry, #92 controls the
Global A>B wet/dry, #93 controls FX-A wet/dry, and #94 controls the FX Routing.
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The wet/dry parameters obviously respond to all 128 possible values, For FX Routing,
which has only four possible values, the PC2 responds to controller #94 as follows:
¥ Values of 0-31 select no effect
¥ Values of 32-63 select FX-A
¥ Values of 64-95 select FX-B
¥ Values of 96-127 select Both FX-A and FX-B
4. Unlike some other types of modules, you canÕt save a multi-timbral configuration in
the PC2. There is only a single global setting of these parameters. Each channel will stay
on its current settings until you either change it from the front panel or send MIDI
program change and/or controller messages. This also means that if you go to MIDI
Setups Mode, any channels used by a Setup you select will be changed to the settings
found in that Setup, and the next time you go to MIDI Receive mode, you will see those
changes reflected in the display. For this reason, it is a good idea when sequencing to put
as much of this controller info into your tracks, to assure you have your settings the way
you want for each song.
We will cover more details on using effects when sequencing in tutorial #30.
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28. Worki ng W i th an Ext er nal Sequencer
There are a few issues you will want to understand when working with an external
sequencer. The first one is that no matter which mode you are in, the PC2 is normally
multi-timbral and can respond to all 16 MIDI channels independently. For the most part,
you will want to be either in Internal Voices or MIDI Receive Mode when you are
sequencing, since you are likely to be sequencing a single track at a time, playing a single
program. The biggest difference between using those two modes when sequencing will be
the way in which you control the effects. For details on this, please see tutorial #30. For
information on using a Setup when sequencing, see tutorial #29.
Note: The only time when the PC2 would not respond multi-timbrally in any mode is if
you change the MIDI In parameter on the Global page from its default value of Normal,
to either Remap or Auto. This is detailed in the section on Global Parameters in the final
tutorial.
Setting Up for sequencing
1. To state the obvious, you need to have MIDI cables going from the Out of the PC2 to
the In of the sequencer or MIDI interface, and the In of the PC2 hooked to the Out of the
sequencer.
2a. The first thing you need to do when using ANY keyboard hooked to ANY external
sequencer is to turn Local Control Off. This is to avoid causing a MIDI loop problem. If
the Patch Thru function of the sequencer (sometimes referred to as Soft Thru or Echo) is
turned on, the sequencer takes all information coming into the MIDI In port and sends it
back out the MIDI Out port on whatever MIDI channel is assigned to the currently record
enabled track.
If you donÕt turn Local Control Off, the note gets played twice - once by the PC2 playing
itself and once by the note going out to the sequencer and coming back. By turning Local
Control Off, the keyboard only sends data out the MIDI Out port, and not to itself. So
the signal just goes to the sequencer and is sent back, and does not get played twice.
Some software sequencers (Cakewalk is one example) will send the Local Control Off
message automatically when you boot up the program. If you program doesnÕt do this,
you will need to do it yourself.
There are two ways you can turn Local Control Off. The first and easiest way is to press
the Global button, then set the Local Control parameter to Off.
2b. The second method of turning Local Control Off actually involves creating a very
simple Setup. Start from Setup #128 Default Setup. Press the MIDI Transmit button and
select a MIDI Channel (it really doesnÕt matter which one, but channel 1 is a logical
choice). Press the >> button. Set the Destination to MIDI (instead of Local+MIDI).
Name and Save the Setup - you might want to name it something Like Local Off or Seq.
Control, etc.
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Now you have a single zone setup that only sends data out of the MIDI Out port which gives you the same thing as turning Local Control Off and playing in Internal
Voices mode.
There are several reasons why you may want to use this second method. First of all,
Local Control resets back to On each time you power up the PC2. The second reason is
that you can edit this Setup to assign the controllers to specific values you might want to
use when sequencing.
The final reason has to do with selecting programs. Typically the best way to choose the
individual programs you want for each track is to choose them in your sequencer. If you
have a patch list for the PC2, you can call up the programs by name, otherwise you can
put the program and bank change messages in the track.
However some people like to call up the sounds on the instrument itself. The MIDI
Receive button can be used to call up different programs on different MIDI channels. But
the way the PC2 is designed, when you turn Local Control Off globally, it wonÕt send
the program changes internally to the MIDI Channel, even in the MIDI Receive menu. So
what happens is that when you go to the MIDI Receive button and call up a sound for a
specific channel, the sound doesnÕt actually change to the new sound!
Since with the second method, Local Control is not turned off globally, when you go to
the MIDI Receive button, you will be able to change the programs for individual
channels. So whenever you want to sequence, just call up this Setup.
Calling up Programs and sending initial setup info to each track.
Unlike some instruments by other manufacturers, the PC2 does not allow you to save
multi-timbral configurations (such as a ÒCombiÓ or ÒPerformanceÓ). Instead, you will
need to put program and bank changes, along with any other initial information such as
volume (controller #7) and pan (controller #10) settings into the tracks in your
sequencer. This way, once you call up a sequence and start playing it, the correct
programs and other settings will be immediately set for each channel. If you have a
patch list (also called an instrument definition file) for the PC2, you can call up
programs by name instead of number. We have a FreeMIDI Patch List and Cakewalk
Instrument Definition file for the PC2 available on our FTP site, at
If you need another format for a patch list, you should contact the manufacturer of that
sequencer. Or you can make one yourself by typing in the program names and number in
the format they require. When setting up the patch lists for banks, you only need to send
controller #32 (the LSB Bank Controller) with values between 0 and 7. (the bank values
are documented in the intro tutorial.) If your sequencer always sends both controller #0
(the MSB) plus #32, send a value of 0 for controller #0, along with the appropriate value
for controller #32.
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29. Recording Setups t o a Sequencer
Again, this is less of a tutorial than an explanation. The thing that you need to remember
about a Setup is that it transmits MIDI information on multiple MIDI channels, playing
different programs on different channels. This is the same thing a sequencer does - you
have different tracks, sending information on different channels. But on most sequencers,
a track can only be assigned to a single channel. Therefore one track can't play a Setup,
it can only play a Program since it is sending on one channel.
Therefore in order to record a Setup, you must set a sequencer to multi-record. Typically
this involves recording to 2 or more tracks simultaneously, with each track set to a
different channel. (There are some sequencers which let you multi-record to a single
track, and the sequencer keeps the various channels of information separate even though
they are on one track.) As you record into the sequencer, the data is then routed to
different tracks depending on what channel the information is on. Then once you play
back the sequence, each track plays the individual programs on the different channels,
exactly the same way you played them in the Setup.
You will have to consult your sequencer manual to find out how to set it up for multirecording.
Another issue when recording a Setup to a sequencer is that you may not be hearing the
effects that are assigned to that Setup. We will cover this issue in the next tutorial.
You should also remember that if a zone in your Setup has the Destination parameter set
to Local, the information wonÕt be sent to the sequencer.
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30 . Using Effects when Sequencing
As we mentioned in the Basic Concepts Tutorial, only a single effects configuration can
be called up at any one time. With the PC2 at its default values, if you are in Internal
Voices, KB3, or MIDI Setups Mode, the current Program or Setup is controlling the
effects, determining which effects get called up for each bus, along with the routing and
wet/dry amounts.
But once you start sequencing, things get a bit more complicated. You need to be able to
determine which effects get called up and what the routing and wet/dry amounts for
each individual MIDI channel will be. There are several different ways to control the
effects in this situation, and we will take a look at the different methods and their
advantages and disadvantages.
As we saw in tutorial #27, by going to MIDI Receive Mode, you have the ability to set
the FX Routing and wet/dry levels for each channel, and to control those settings via
MIDI controllers. This allows you to set initial amounts for each track, or even change
the amounts throughout the sequence.
What you CANÕT do via MIDI is select the Effects themselves directly. This must be
done either manually from the front panel, or by calling up a program that selects the
effect you want.
1. Press the FX Mode button. The display shows the FX Change Mode parameter. It has
two possible values, Auto and Panel. Auto is the default. Change it to Panel.
When set to Panel, the PC2 ignores the individual effects settings found in each program
and Setup. Instead, whatever effects you choose with the FX Select buttons will be the
effects you hear. You can also select the FX Routing and wet/dry settings for the channel
you are currently transmitting on (by default, channel 1). The advantage to this method
is that it is obviously quite simple Ð just select the effects you want and you are ready to
go.
However, there are a couple of disadvantages to this method. If you are working on
several different songs, using different effects, you have to manually set them correctly
each time you go to work on the song. In addition, if you have FX Routing or wet/dry
settings in your tracks, the channel you are transmitting on will not respond to the FX
routing or FX-A and FX-B controller messages while you are in Internal Voices mode. If
you switch to MIDI Receive Mode, the channel WILL respond to those messages. (All
other channels will respond correctly no matter what mode you are in.) Also, if you go
back and forth between sequencing and playing live, you will need to set FX Change
Mode back to Auto or you wonÕt hear the correct effects you have chosen for your
Programs and Setups.
2. Instead of manually selecting an effect, you can set things up so that you assign the
effects you want to a specific program, then call up that program in the sequence,
thereby automating your effects selection.
First set FX Change Mode back to Auto. Then start by editing one of the programs you
are using in your sequence and set the effects the way you want them. We covered
editing the effects and saving them in tutorial #18.
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Next, press the FX Mode button, then press the >> button to select the FX Channel
parameter. This can be set to Current or any MIDI Channel. The default is Current.
When this parameter is set to current, whichever program is assigned to the channel that
you are currently transmitting on will be the program that calls up the effects. If you go
to MIDI Receive Mode, whatever program is on the Channel currently in the display will
call up the effects. And if you go to MIDI Setups Mode, the program on Zone 1 will call
up the effects.
With this method, as long as you make sure that the program you saved for controlling
your effects is called up on channel 1 (assuming you use the default transmit channel
when in Internal Voices mode), you will hear the correct effects for your sequence. One
advantage to this method is that if you need to switch back and forth between
sequencing and performing, everything will always work. Whatever program or Setup
you call up for performing will have its correct effects assigned, and things will also
sound correct when you are sequencing, as long as you make sure you donÕt change your
transmit channel.
The disadvantage to this method is that if you go to MIDI receive Mode and start
switching channels, you will stop hearing the correct effect. Also, it does force you to use
your transmit channel for playing the program you are using to control the effects, and
this might not be convenient in every instance.
3. The final method is to choose a specific MIDI channel for your effects control. You can
choose a typically unused MIDI channel and set the FX Channel parameter to this
channel number. Channel 15 can be a good option, since people often use channel 16 for
a click, and if you start from the lowest channel and work upwards for your tracks, 15
will be the last one you hit before the click channel.
Once you have chosen a channel, you can then edit and save a ÒdummyÓ program that
has the effects you want assigned to that program. Since you are only using this program
to call up the effects settings you want, you donÕt have to worry about the actual sounds
in the program Ð just the effects settings.
Finally, in your sequence, you create a track that calls up this particular program and
assign the track to the MIDI channel you have chosen for effect control.
The advantage to this method is that no matter what mode you go to, you will always
hear the correct effects for your sequence, as long as you have the proper program and
bank change info to call up the correct ÒdummyÓ program on the correct channel. The
disadvantage to this method is that if you go to MIDI setups mode or Internal Voices
Mode for performance purposes, you wonÕt end up hearing the correct effect, unless you
have chosen channel 1 for your effect channel. (And this assumes zone 1 of your Setup is
assigned to channel 1).
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31 . Sele cting Setups f rom an Ex te rnal Controller
You can call up a Setup from an external controller or a sequencer, by sending a bank
controller and program change message on a specified channel. This would most
typically be done in a performance situation where you need to automate calling up
Setups.
1. First you need to choose a MIDI channel you will use to send the bank and program
change messages. A good rule of thumb is to dedicate a specific channel for this function
and not use that channel for sending any other MIDI info. Press the Global button, and
then press the >> button 5 times to get to Setup Chg Chan. Set this to the channel you
have chosen.
2. Press the MIDI Setups button. At this point, sending bank and program change
messages from your external controller on the specified channel will call up the
appropriate Setup.
There are a couple of things to be aware of.:
First, of all, MIDI Setups are displayed starting numbering at 1 instead of 0. Because of
this, there will be an offset of 1 in response to the standard program changes of 0-127.
To call up Setup number 1, send program change 0, to call up Setup number 2, send
program change 1.
Second, although the User Setups start numbering at 129, MIDI only has 128 values (0-
127). So the User Setups are actually in another bank. Sending the bank controller
(controller #32) with a value of 1 followed by program change 0 will call up Setup 129,
controller #32 with a value of 1 followed by program change 1 will call up Setup 130 etc.
If you need to quickly know which program change number to send when calling up a
User Setup, simply subtract 129 from the Setup number and you will know the correct
value for the program change message.
If no bank controller is sent, the PC2 will always revert to the first bank (the preset
Setups). If you ARE sending the bank controller and want to get to a preset Setup, you
would send controller #32 with a value of 0.
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32. C ust om izi ng the Int er nal Voi ces Mode
Now that you have learned about various programming techniques for Setups, you might
want to apply some of these things to the Internal Voices mode. Essentially, when you
are in Internal Voices mode, you are playing a single zone setup. So all of the zone
programming parameters apply. For example, you might want to assign a slider to
Tempo Control for the Arpeggiator. This is easily done.
1. Start in Internal Voices mode.
2. Edit any of the parameters found within the MIDI Transmit, Program, Key Range,
Transpose, Velocity, Controllers, and Arpeggiator buttons.
3. Press Store. The display will ask if you want to save a Setup and will pick the first
empty Setup location.
4. Press the Internal Voices. The display now asks if you want to save to Internal Voices.
Press Enter, and you are done.
Since there is only one location for the Internal Voices parameters in memory, any
changes you make using this method will wipe out the defaults that currently exist for
those parameters. But if you Reset the PC2, those defaults will return. You can reset the
PC2 from the Global Menu.
DonÕt confuse the Internal Voices Setup with MIDI Setup 126, which is named Internal
Voices. The two are actually separate things. You can edit one without changing the
other. However, if you have not changed the default values of the Internal Voices Setup,
it does have the parameters set to the same values that you will find in Setup 126.
There are two parameters that canÕt be changed from the defaults - the Program and the
Bank. Whenever you turn on the PC2, it will always call up Program 0 Stereo Grand in
the Internal Voices Bank. After that, whatever sound you call up in Internal Voices mode
is remembered and the PC2 will switch to that sound if you switch to Internal Voices
mode from MIDI Setups mode. In addition, the Effects settings arenÕt set by the above
method. Since each individual Program can have its own Effects, the regular method of
choosing an Effect setting for a program (as described in the intro section of this
document) still applies.
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33. U si ng SysEx t o St or e Your S etups
If you start to create your own Setups, Programs, and Effects, you will want to store
them externally, in case anything happens to your battery backed memory, or you need
to create more Setups than you have room for in the PC2. Since the PC2 does not have
its own disk drive, you must save this info by sending a system exclusive dump to an
external device such as a sequencer or sysex recorder.
You can either dump the entire User memory in one shot, or you can dump individual
Setups or Programs. (None of the presets are dumped, only what you edit and saave
yourself.)
To dump the entire memory:
1. Connect a MIDI cable from the Out of the PC2 to the In of your external device.
2. Press the Global button, then press the >> button until you see ÒDump all objects?Ó in
the display.
3. Start the recording on your external device and press Enter on the PC2. The MIDI
Receive light will blink and the display will show you the Setups being dumped. Once it
is finished, stop recording.
A note for K2000/K2500/K2600 users: The sequencer in the K2000/K2500/K2600 can
only allow songs up to 64k. A dump of the entire PC2 memory is larger than 64k. So you
canÕt use this method. Instead you must dump individual objects.
To dump individual Setups or Programs:
1. Connect a MIDI cable from the Out of the PC2 to the In of your external device.
2. Call up the Setup you want to Dump. Press the Store button, then press the >> button
twice. The display will now show ÒDump setup ...?Ó.
3. Start the recording on your external device and press Enter on the PC2. The MIDI
Receive light will blink and the display will tell when the dump is finished. Once it is
finished, stop recording.
This same method works for Programs. Start in Internal Voices Mode, call up the
Program you want, press one of the three Sound Parameter buttons, press Store and
then the >> button twice. The display will now show ÒDump voice ...?Ó.
To load a dump back into the PC2:
1. Connect a MIDI cable from the In of the PC2 to the Out of your external device.
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PC2 Made Easy
2. Play back the sequence, or initiate the dump playback from your external device.
ThatÕs it. You donÕt have to put the PC2 in any special mode to receive the dump.
When a dump is sent back to the PC2, the information goes to the memory location for
that Setup. It does NOT update the edit buffer, which is where the current Setup is
played from. Therefore you have to call up that object after the dump to hear it. For
example, letÕs say you have dumped Setup #132 previously and have since edited that
Setup and have #132 currently called up. If you dump the Setup back into the PC2 and
then play the keyboard, you wonÕt hear the older version - you have to call up the Setup
by typing in 132 and Enter on the keypad, or scrolling away and back to it.
It is always a good idea to test your dumping procedure to make sure everything worked
correctly, before making massive changes. You wouldnÕt want to delete several months
of work only to find out the sysex dump wasnÕt correctly recorded. A simple way to test
to make some easy change and save it, then send the dump back to make sure it is
received correctly. For example, you can dump the Setup, then change one letter in the
Setup name and save that change. Then dump the Setup back to see if the name changes
back to the original. DonÕt forget that you have to call up the Setup after dumping it
back in.
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PC2 Made Easy
34. Trouble Shooti ng
If you run into problems while playing or programming, there are several things you can
do to help troubleshoot the problem.
First of all if you are not getting the expected results from your programming or are
having strange results when hooked to an external device, you can use the MIDIScope
utility to see exactly what MIDI messages are being received by the PC2Õs sound engine.
Press the Global button, the press >> until you see MIDIScope. (Or you can hold the >>
button and it will quickly scroll through the parameters.) Then press Enter. The display
says ÒMIDIScope Any Button QuitsÓ. Now the display will show EVERY MIDI message
that the sound engine part of the PC2 receives, whether that message comes from PC2
itself or from the MIDI In Port. You will see exactly what type of message it is along with
the value of that message. For example, a note on message will show you the note
number, along with the attack velocity. A controller message will show the controller
number along with the controller value. It also shows you the MIDI channel of the
message. To leave MIDIScope, just press any button on the PC2.
The only limitation of MIDIScope is that it can only display one message at a time.
Therefore it can be confusing if you are sending multiple channels of information at the
same time. If you are testing the PC2 itself, it is best to mute all the zones but one so that
you can see what info that zone is sending (or you could use the Solo button). If you are
testing info coming from an external source, such as a sequencer, you would also want to
mute all the tracks but one.
If the unit is working but is acting very strange, a hard reset may return it to normal
conditions. To do a hard reset, turn the unit on, and while the display says "Please
Wait", press and release the Panic button. Press the right arrow button till the display
says "Hard RESET". Press Enter, then the button under "Yes" in the display. You should
be aware that this will erase any user created Programs, Setups, or Effects.
If you suspect a physical problem with the PC2, you can use the diagnostics to test it.
The diagnostics are covered in Appendix A of the manual.
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PC2 Made Easy
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
A Note About the Physical Controllers
The tutorials above specify that you select a particular physical controller. But you can
always choose a different controller if you want. For example, you might like to switch a
function with a button instead of a pedal. The programming steps are exactly the same you simply choose a different controller.
The thing to remember is that the controllers fall into two different types. Switch
controllers are designed to have only two states - On or Off. Continuous controllers will
send a range of values between 0 and 127. Logically, you will want to pick a particular
controller based on what type of message you are trying to send. If you only need to
send two different values, then you would typically use a switch controller, whereas if
you need to send a range of values, you have to use a continuous controller.
The MIDI Controller numbers are grouped by type - Controllers 0-63, are designated for
continuous control, 64-69, 96, 97, & 120-127 are switch functions. Others may be
continuous or switch depending on how they are used.
But there is no reason you canÕt use a continuous controller for a switch type function, or
assign a switch controller to a MIDI continuous controller number.
For example, you could assign a Slider to the Arpeggiator On/Off function (controller
#116 in the PC2). If the slider is moved to the halfway point or higher it is On, and if the
slider is moved below the halfway point, it is Off.
Or, you could assign a button to MIDI Volume and use it to toggle between two different
specific volume levels. Another example of this is found in tutorial #13, where we used a
button to set pan positions.
Finally, you should keep in mind that there are actually two different types of
continuous controllers. the Sliders, CC pedals, and Wheel 1, will stay wherever you
move them to, but Wheel 2 (which is almost always assigned to pitch bend), the Mono
Pressure strip, and the breath controller return to 0 when you let go of them. You would
probably never want to assign MIDI Volume to Mono Pressure or you would have to
press hard on the keys all the time to hear anything. If you have the optional ribbon
controller that plugs into the PC2, it can be set to either spring back to a fixed point
(which you can set) or to stay where it is when you let go of the ribbon.
Some info on the Global Parameters
Several of the previous tutorials have touched on some of the parameters found within
the Global menu. Following is some information on some of the other parameters that
may be useful to you. See the manual for complete descriptions of all the parameters.
Some of the Global parameters will revert to their defaults on power up, so you may
need to set them each time you turn on the unit, if you are not using the default values.
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PC2 Made Easy
Chg Setups - This parameter determines when a change from one Setup to the next will
happen. In Immediate mode (the default), the setup changes as soon as you call it up
from any of the various methods. In Keys Up mode, the change wonÕt happen until you
let go of all the keys.
Tuning - You can tune the PC2 up or down one semi-tone, in one cent increments. This
can be useful if you are playing along with a recording, or playing with other acoustic
instruments that canÕt be easily retuned.
Recv Trans - This allows you to transpose the instrument globally, for all MIDI
channels. (Using the Transpose function in the zone parameters will only affect
individual zones in a Setup, or if changed in Internal Voices mode, would affect any
program you play on the keyboard, but not any information coming in the MIDI In port.)
All Notes Off - If you set this to Ignore, the PC2 will ignore the MIDI All Notes Off
message. Some instruments and sequencers (notably older Roland instruments) will send
this message when no notes are being held, even if the sustain pedal is still held. If you
are hooked to a Roland sequencer and find that the PC2 doesnÕt seem to sustain, set this
parameter to Ignore and the problem will go away.
General MIDI - Turn this parameter On if you want the PC2 to function as a GM
instrument (you need the ROM-1 Expansion board for this).
MIDI In Ð This parameter is useful if you have second controller that you want to use
along with the PC2.
The default value is Normal. In this case, incoming MIDI data is unchanged. Any MIDI
information coming in will be sent on to the sound module part of the instrument
unchanged, and the PC2 will respond to the data, unless you have turned a MIDI
channel off and the data is being sent on that channel. All data will also be sent to the
MIDI Thru port unchanged (this assumes you have the Thru/Out switch on the rear
panel of the PC2 set to Thru).
If it is set to Merge, then all incoming information is merged with the data you are
creating on the PC2 itself and sent to the MIDI Out port along. (The PC2 will also
respond to the incoming information if the channel is turned on). Incoming data is also
sent to the MIDI Thru port, the same as when this parameter is set to Normal. The main
application for using a setting of Merge would be if you had an additional controller and
wanted both the PC2 and that second controller to be able to play a third MIDI
instrument simultaneously.
The Remap setting is the most complicated option. In general, this setting is mostly
needed for PC2R owners (and is in fact the default for the PC2R is Auto, discussed
below, which is a variation of Remap). If for some reason, you have another controller
that you want to use to play the PC2 and will not be using the PC2 itself as a controller,
this setting will give you the possibilities. If you have no need for this feature, you may
wish to skip reading the rest of this section, since it is complicated, and you will not be
using it.
With this setting, then the PC2 processes incoming data as if it were generated by the
PC2 itself. The MIDI channel of the incoming data is ignored. Instead the incoming
information is ÒrechannelizedÓ and sent on to the sound module part of the PC2, based
on what you currently have called up on the PC2. If you are in Internal Voices Mode, it
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PC2 Made Easy
will simply play the program you currently have called up (it will be sent on channel 1,
assuming you have not changed the default setting of the Internal Voices Setup). If you
are MIDI Setups Mode, then the information will be sent to various channels based on
how the zones are programmed in your Setup. For example, if you have a Setup with
two zones that are layered for channels 1 ands 2, all incoming information will be sent
on to the sound module part of the PC2 on both channels 1 and 2. But if you have a
Setup with a split, then the information would be sent on either channel 1 or channel 2,
depending on the note ranges you have set for the zones.
When using Remap, it is important to understand that in Internal Voices or MIDI Setups
Mode, ALL incoming MIDI information will be sent to the channel or channels assigned
in the current Setup. This means that you would not want to have a controller that has
its own Setup sending on more than one channel. For example, if your external controller
had Setup with 2 zones layered, then each channel being accessed on the PC2 would get
double note events. Indeed, the whole reason for having a Remap feature is so that some
one using an external controller which is limited to sending on one MIDI channel could
still play Setups on a PC2R (or a PC2 if you so choose).
If you are in MIDI Receive Mode, all data is remapped to whichever channel is currently
in the display.
The final setting for the MIDI In parameter is Auto. This is identical to Remap, with one
exception. With a setting of Auto, remapping will NOT occur when you are in MIDI
Receive Mode. Instead all incoming MIDI messages are sent to the appropriate MIDI
channels unchanged.
There is another feature of Remapping Ð certain incoming MIDI controller numbers will
be remapped, based on the settings within a PC2 Setup. This allows you to access the
special controller functions (for example the arpeggiator functions, Goto Setup, etc.) that
can be assigned in a PC2 Setup, by sending regular controller numbers from your external
controller. It also allows you to play the Preset Setups and have access to all the
functions programmed into them, by sending a standard set of controller messages.
For example, if you send MIDI controller #88 from your external controller when the PC2
is Internal Voices mode, it will turn on SW1, activating the Octave shift function (which
will transpose the notes down by an octave). Or if you are playing a Setup which has
slider A assigned to Volume in Zone 1, then MIDI controller #6 coming from your
external controller will be turned in to MIDI Controller #7 and sent on to the channel
assigned to that zone.
The controller numbers that are remapped are the ones that are assigned to the physical
controllers in the Setup #125, PC2R Control. Only these controllers are remapped Ð all
others are left unchanged. Following is the list of controllers that remap and the
parameters they remap to:
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PC2 Made Easy
Incoming Controller numbers
below will be remappedÉ
Éto the Controller number (or special controller
function) assigned to this physical controller
Using the Copy Function
To copy all the parameters from one zone to another:
1. Call up the Setup. If you have already entered the Setup Editor, make sure you are
NOT on one of the parameters within the Controllers, Arpeggiator, or Effects menu.
2. Press Copy, then press the zone button for the zone you want to copy. Then press
Enter.
3. Press the >> button, then press the Zone button for the zone you want to paste into.
Then press Enter.
To copy all the parameters from one zone to a zone in a different Setup:
1. Call up the Setup that has the zone that you want to copy. If you have already
entered the Setup Editor, make sure you are NOT on one of the parameters within the
Controllers, Arpeggiator, or Effects menu.
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PC2 Made Easy
2. Press Copy, then press the zone button for the zone you want to copy. Then press
Enter.
3. Press the MIDI Setups button. Select the Setup that you want to paste into.
4. Press the Copy button. Press the >> button, then press the Zone button for the zone
you want to paste into. Then press Enter.
To copy all the controller parameters from one controller to another:
1. Call up the Setup that has the controller data that you want to copy. Hold the
Controllers button and move the controller that you want to copy, to bring up the first
parameter for that particular controller. If you are not on the zone that has the controller
parameters you want to copy, press the zone button for the correct zone.
2. Press Copy, Enter.
3a. If you want to copy the data to the same controller but in a different zone, press the
appropriate Zone button, then press the >> button to get to the Paste parameter, then
Enter.
3b. If you want to copy the data to a different controller, hold the Controllers button
and move the new controller. You can also choose a different zone at this point by
pressing the appropriate zone button. (For example, you might want to copy all the
Zone 1, Slider A parameters to Zone 2, Slider B.) Press the Copy button, then the >>
button, then Enter.
3c. You can also copy the controller parameters into a different Setup. Press the MIDI
Setups button and select the Setup you want to paste into. Hold the Controllers button
and move the appropriate controller. Press the Zone button for the appropriate Zone.
Press the Copy button, then the >> button, then Enter.
It is important to keep in mind that you can only copy and paste into similar controllers
- the parameters for a switch controller can only go to another switch controller, and
those for a continuous controller can only go to another continuous controller.
To copy all the Arpeggiator parameters from one Setup to another:
1. Call up the Setup that has the arpeggiator data that you want to copy. Press the
Arpeggiator button.
2. Press Copy, Enter.
3. Press the MIDI Setups button. Select the Setup that you want to paste into. Press the
Arpeggiator button.
4. Press the Copy button. Press the >> button, then Enter.
You should be aware that this will only copy the parameters found within the
Arpeggiator menu. If you have any controllers assigned to function such as Arp Latch or
Arp Switch, they will not be copied.
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PC2 Made Easy
To copy the Effects configuration from one Setup to another or one Program to another:
This will copy both the effects (FX-A and FX-B) and their editable parameters. It does
NOT copy the FX Routing or Wet/Dry mixes for each zone in a setup
1. Call up the Setup (or Program) which has the effects data that you want to copy.
Press the FX-A Select or FX-B Select button.
2. Press Copy, Enter.
3. Press the MIDI Setups (or Internal Voices) button. Select the Setup (or Program) that
you want to paste into. Press the FX-A Select or FX-B Select button.
4. Press the Copy button. Press the >> button, then Enter.
Special characters for naming Setups and Programs
Following is a list of all of characters available for Setup and Program names, in the
order in which they are found. The easiest way to get to them is to press one of the
alphanumeric buttons to select a character close to the one you want, then scroll to it
with the alpha wheel. HereÕs the whole list:
! Ò # $ % & Ô ( ) * + , - . / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
: ; < = > ? @ A through Z
[ \ ] ^ _ Ô a through z (space).
Updating your Operating System
The PC2 has Flash ROM, which holds the operating System as well as all the preset
objects (Programs, Setups, etc.). As new versions of the OS are released, or when you
add one or more of the ROM Expansion options, you can update the OS and preset
Objects, by using a MIDI sequencer or other software capable of sending MIDI sysex
data. The current versions of the operating system and setups are available for
downloading from our web site, www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com. Once the files have
been downloaded and unzipped, you will find a ReadMe text file that has detailed
instructions on how to update your PC2.
We hope this tutorial has been helpful and you now have a much better understanding
of how to program the PC2. If you have any questions or comments, please send email
to support@kurzweilmusicsystems.com.
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