Optimus MD-1600 User Manual

42-4043.fm Page 1 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Electronic Keyboard

Cat. No. 42-4043

OWNER’S MANUAL

Please read before using this equipment.

MD-1600

42-4043.fm Page 2 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

WARNING:

shock hazard, do not expose this product to rain
or moisture.

CAUTION:

ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT REMOVE
COVER OR BACK. NO USER-SERVICE­ABLE PARTS INSIDE. REFER SERVICING
TO QUALIFIED PERSONNEL.

!

To reduce the risk of fire or

CAUTION

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK.

DO NOT OPEN.

TO REDUCE THE RISK OF

This symbol is intended to alert
you to the presence of uninsu­lated dangerous voltage within
the product’s enclosure that might
be of sufficient magnitude to con­stitute a risk of electric shock. Do
not open the product’s case.

This symbol is intended to inform
you that important operating and
maintenance instructions are
included in the literature accom­panying this product.

!

THE FCC WANTS YOU TO
KNOW

This keyboard complies with the limits
for a Class B dig ital device as spec ified
in Part 15 of
provide reasonable protection against
radio and TV interference in a residential
area. However, your keyboard might
cause TV or radio interference even
when it is operating properly. To elimi­nate interference, you can try one or
both of these corrective measures:

• increase the distance between the
keyboard and the radio or TV

• use outlets on di fferent ele ctr i ca l c ir­cuits for the keybo ard and the radi o
or TV

Consult your local RadioShack store if
the problem still exists.

FCC Rules

. These limits

We recommend you write your MD­1600’s serial number he re. The number
is on the bottom of the MD-1600.

Serial Number _________________

©

1999 Tandy Corporation.

Optimus and RadioShack are registered trademarks used by Tandy Corporation.

All Rights Reserved.

2

42-4043.fm Page 3 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

FEATURES

Your Optimus MD-160 0 Electronic Key­board is a state-of-the-art musical instru­ment that offers you a vast array of
sounds, with 2-way bass reflex speakers
for stunning sound reproduction. You
can choose from 200 different musical
instruments or sound effects and 100
rhythms, as well as accompaniments
and percussion sounds.

The MD-1600 also include s a MIDI fea­ture (Musical Instrument Digital Inter­face), which lets you conn ect it to other
MIDI-equipped musical instruments or
devices — even your personal comput­er! This versatile keyboard can provide
hours of fun and is i dea l for anyone who
wants to make music, from the begi nner
to the experienced musician.

The MD-1600 conforms to most,

Note:

but not all, General MIDI spe cifications.
Therefore, you might experience some
incompatibility when using the MD-16 00
with another General MIDI device. For
more information, see “Using MIDI” on
Page 41.

light makes it easy to read the display
even in darkness.

24-Note Polyphonic Sound

play and hear up to 24 notes at the
same time, so yo u c an pl ay or c r eat e a l­most any type of music.

Memory

record up to 2 songs, 6 tracks, and
5,200 notes. The recording remains
stored even while the keyboard is off.

Pitch Bender Wheel

note by altering i ts pit ch to creat e rea lis­tic effects for reed instrument or guitar
tones.

200 Tones

to sound like anything from a harpsi­chord to a honky-tonk piano. You can
even create your own tones with the
custom tone synthesizer feature.

100 Auto-Rhythms

beat for many styles of music, from
rhumba to rock.

— lets you set the MD-1600 to

— lets you bend a

— let you set your MD-1600

— provide a ste ady

— lets you

Your MD-1600’s features include:

73 Full-Size Keys with Touch Re­sponse

ies in response to the force of your
touch, just like an acoustic pi ano or or­gan, so you can add emotion to your
music.

Backlit Liquid Crystal Display

shows the notes and ch ords as you play
them, along with the current tone,
rhythm, and tempo. The built-in back-

— the keyboard’s volume var-

—

Headphones/Output Jack

connect (optional) headphones so you
can play without distu rbing o the rs, or a n
external amplifier (neither supplied) so
you can play for a crowd.

Assignable Jack

sustain pedal (not suppli ed) to the MD­1600 so you can sustain or soften your
keyboard’s sound, or start/stop an au to­rhythm.

— lets you connect a

— lets you

3

42-4043.fm Page 4 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

100 Free Sessions

— let you set the
MD-1600 to automatically play an ac­companiment consisting of a prerecord­ed chord progression with a matching
rhythm.

Synthesizer Function

— lets you cre-

ate up to 32 of your own original tones.

Tune Function

— lets you adjust the
pitch of your keyboard so you can play
in tune with other instruments.

Transpose Function

— lets you in­stantly change the key of music, even
when you are playing.

Tempo Control

— lets you spe ed up o r
slow down the tempo of any selected
music pattern.

Fill-In Rhythm

— lets you insert a short

variation into any auto-rhythm.

Auto Accompaniment

— lets you auto­matically play a pr eset harmo nic patter n
to match the selected auto-rhythm.

Reverb

— lets you add depth and space

to the sound.

Layer Function

— lets you set the key­board to play two differe nt tones at the
same time, giving your music a “layered”
effect.

Split Function

— lets you use different
sounds for the low-end and high-end
keys.

Mixer Function

— lets you make the
MD-1600 sound mul tiple tones for auto
accompaniment, memory playback, or
to play MIDI data receiv ed from anot her
MIDI device.

Automatic Intro/Ending Rhythm

—
lets you set the MD-1600 to automatical­ly add a 3- to 8-measure introduction or
3- to 8-measure ending to the selecte d
auto-rhythm.

Drum Pads

— play drum sounds re-

gardless of the keyboard’s tone setting.

Two Built-In Speakers

— let you hear

the sound you create.

Two Power Options

— let you power
the keyboard from internal batter ies (no t
supplied) or standard AC power (with an
optional adapter) , so you c an make m u­sic almost anywhere.

Notes:

• If the keyboard is left in one place
for a very long time, its feet could
mar your furniture’s finish. We rec­ommend you place the feet on felt
cloth pads to protect your furniture
or use a keyboard stand, available
at your local RadioShack store.

• This Owner’s Manual explains how
to use this electronic keyboard. It
does not teach music.

4

42-4043.fm Page 5 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

CONTENTS

Preparation .......................... ............................................. ....................................... 7

Connecting Power .............................................................................................. 7

Using Batteries ............................................................................................ 7

Using AC Power .......................................................................................... 8

Connecting Headphones .................................................................................... 8

Listening Safely ........................................................................................... 8

Connecting an External Amplifier ....................................................................... 9

Using the Music Stand ....................................................................................... 9

Operation ............................. ............................................. ..................................... 10

Basic Operation .................... ....... ...... ....... ...... ....... ...... ....... ...... ........................ 10

Playing the Demonstration Tunes .................................................................... 10

Using the Preset Tones .................................................................................... 11

Using the Drum Pads ....................................................................................... 13

Using Reverb .................................................................................................... 13

Using Split ........................................................................................................ 13

Using Layer ...................................................................................................... 14

Using Split and Layer Together ........................................................................ 14

Using the Preset Auto-Rhythms ....................................................................... 15

Selecting/Playing an Auto-Rhythm ............................................................ 15

Using SYNCHRO ....................................................................................... 16

Using INTRO ............................................................................................. 16

Using FILL-IN ............................................................................................. 17

Using VARIATION ...................................................................................... 17

Using ENDING ........................................................................................... 17

Using Auto-Accompaniment ............................................................................. 17

Adjusting the Accompaniment Volume ...................................................... 18

Concert Chord ................................................ ...... ....... ...... ....... ................. 18

Standard Fingering .................................................................................... 20

Full-Range Chords ..................................................................................... 21

Using FREE SESSION .............................................................................. 21

Using the Mixer ................................................................................................ 22

Editing the Status of a Channel ................................................................. 23

Editing the Parameter ................................................................................ 24

Using the Custom T one Synthesizer ................................................................ 24

Understanding 1DCO and 2DCO Tones .................................................... 25

Creating and Storing a User Tone ............................................................. 25

Hints on Creating a User Tone ................................................................... 27

5

42-4043.fm Page 6 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Special Features ....................................... ....... ....................................... ...... ...... .. 29

Changing Keys ................................................................................................. 29

Tuning the Keyboard ........................................................................................ 29

Using Touch Response ..................................................................................... 30

Changing Auto Power Off ................................................................................. 30

Using Pitch Bend .............................................................................................. 30

Setting the Pitch Bend Range .................................................................... 31

Using a Sustain Pedal ...................................................................................... 31

Using the Memory ................................................................................................. 32

Real-Time Recording ........................................................................................ 32

Playing Back from Memory ............................................................................... 34

Step Recording ................................................................................................. 35

Specifying Chords in the Normal Mode ..................................................... 36

Specifying the Length of a Note ................................................................. 36

Correcting Mistakes ................................................................................... 37

Recording Multiple Tracks ................................................................................ 37

Real-Time Recording ................................................................................. 37

Step Recording .......................................................................................... 38

Changing Navigation Track ........................................................................ 39

Editing Memory Contents ................................................................................. 39

Editing Techniques and Display Contents .................................................. 40

Deleting Individual Data ............................................................................. 40

Deleting All Data in a Specific Track .......................................................... 40

Using MIDI ............................................................................................................. 41

About MIDI ......................... ...... ....... ...... ....... ...... ....................................... ...... .. 41

Making the MIDI Connections .......................................................................... 41

MIDI Data ......................................................................................................... 42

Changing MIDI Settings .................................................................................... 44

Dumping/Importing Data ................................................................................... 45

Dumping Data ............................................................................................ 45

Importing Data ........................................................................................... 45

Notes About the MIDI Implementation Chart .................................................... 46

Troubleshooting .................................................................. .................................. 48

Care and Maintenance .......................................................................................... 49

Specifications ......................... .......................... .......................... ......................... .. 50

Appendix ................................. .......................... .......................... ......................... .. 52

Note Table ........................................................................................................ 52

Free Session Chord Progression Chart ............................................................ 54

Drum Assignment List ...................................................................................... 56

Standard Fingering Chord Charts ....................................................................... 57

MIDI Implementation Chart .................................................................................. 58

6

42-4043.fm Page 7 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

PREPARATION

To connect a MIDI device, see

Note:

“Making the MIDI Connections” on
Page 41. To connect a sustain pedal,
see “Using a Sustain Pedal” on
Page 31.

CONNECTING POWER

You can power your MD-1600 from ei­ther:

• internal batteries (see “Using Batter­ies”)

• standard AC power using an
optional AC adapter (s ee “Usin g AC
Power” on Page 8)

Notes:

• Connecting an AC adapt er auto mat ­ically disconnects internal batteries.

• Always disconnect the adapter
when you finish using the MD-1600.

Cautions:

• Use only fresh batteries of the
required size and recommended
type.

• If you do not plan to use the MD­1600 with batteries for a week or
more, or if you will be usin g only A C
power, remove the batteries.

• Do not mix old and new batteries,
different types of batteries (stan­dard, alkaline, or rechargeable), or
rechargeable batteries of different
capacities.

1. Press the tabs on the batte ry com­partment cover, then pull up to
remove the cover.

• Disconnecting the keyboard’s power
clears the contr ol settings, memory
contents, and user tones (see
“Using the Custom Tone Synthe­sizer” on Page 24 and “Using the
Memory” on Page 32).

Using Batteries

Your MD-1600 can use six D batteries
(not supplied) for power. For the best
performance and longest life, we rec om ­mend RadioShack alkaline batteries.

2. Put the batteries in the compartment
as indicated by the polar ity symbols
(+ and –) marked beside the com­partment.

3. Replace the cover.

If the MD-1600 sounds weak or does not
work properly, replace all six batteries.

Warning:

promptly and properly. Do not burn or
bury them.

Caution:

batteries; batteries can leak chemicals
that can destroy electronic parts.

Dispose of old batteries

Always remove old or weak

7

!

42-4043.fm Page 8 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Using AC Power

You can power your MD-1600 from
standard AC power using a 12-volt AC
adapter (not supplied) and a Size M
Adaptaplug.

Cautions:

You must use an AC
adapter that supplies 12
volts and delivers at least

1.5 amps. Its center tip must be s et
to negative, and its plug must cor­rectly fit the MD -1600 ’s
Using an adapter that does not meet
these specifications could damage
the MD-1600 or the adapter.

• Always press
keyboard before you c onnect or dis­connect the adapter.

• Always plug the AC a dapter i nto the
MD-1600 before you pl ug it into the
AC outlet. Always unplug the AC
adapter from the AC outlet before
you unplug it from the MD-1600.

POWER

DC 12V

to turn off the

jack.

CONNECTING
HEADPHONES

To listen to your MD-1600 without dis­turbing others, you can connect a pair of

1

/4-inch (6.35-mm) plug stereo head­phones (not supplied). Your local Ra­dioShack store sell s a wide selection of
headphones.

To connect a p air of head phones, i nsert
the headphones’
into the
back of the keyboard.

Note:

nects the MD-1600’s built-in speakers.

PHONES/OUTPUT

Connecting headphones discon-

Listening Safely

1

/4-inch (6.35-mm) plug

jack on the

Follow these steps to power your MD­1600 from AC power.

1. Insert the adapter’s barrel plug into

DC 12V

the
MD-1600.

2. Plug the adapter into a s tandard AC
outlet.

8

jack on the back of the

To protect your hearing, follow these
guidelines when you use headphones.

• Set the volume to the low est setting
before you begin liste ning. A fter yo u
begin listening, adjus t the volume to
a comfortable level.

• Do not listen at extr emely high vol­ume levels. Extended high-volume
listening can lead to permanent
hearing loss.

42-4043.fm Page 9 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

• Once you set the volume, do not
increase it. Over time, your ears
adapt to the volume level, so a vol­ume level that does not cause dis­comfort might still damage your
hearing.

CONNECTING AN
EXTERNAL AMPLIFIER

To amplify your MD-1600’s sound, you
can connect it to an external amplifier
(not supplied) using an a udio cable (not
supplied) with a

1

/4-inch (6.35-mm) plug.

To connect an external am plifier to you r
keyboard, insert the cable’s
(6.35-mm) plug into the

PUT

jack on the back of the keyboard,

PHONES/OUT-

1

/4-inch

and connect the cable ’s oth er end to the
amplifier’s input jack(s) (such as AUX IN
or TAPE IN).

Your local RadioSha ck store sells a full
line of amplifiers, speakers, and connec­tion cables.

USING THE MUSIC STAND

To easily view she et mu si c whi le pl ay ing
your keyboard, insert the supplied music
stand into the slot on the top back panel.

9

42-4043.fm Page 10 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

OPERATION

POWER MODE

VOLUME

BASIC OPERATION

1. Slide

VOLUME

Important:

age, always set th e MD-1600’s vol­ume to

MIN

2. To turn on the MD-1600, press

POWER

. The POWER indicator

lights and the display turns on.

To save power, the keyboard

Note:

automatically turns off after about 6
minutes if you do not press a key. To
turn the keyboard on again, press

POWER

. To cancel the auto power
off feature, see “Changing Auto
Power Off” on Page 30.

3. Slide

4. Slide

MODE

VOLUME

and begin playing the keyboard.

Notes:

• The MD-1600 selects the tone

GND PIANO (No. 000) the first
time you turn the powe r on. Each
time you turn it on after that, it
recalls the last selected tone. To
select a different tone, see “ Usi ng
the Preset Tones” on Page 11.

MIN

to

(minimum).

To prevent hearing dam-

before you turn it on.

NORMAL

to

toward

.

MAX

slightly

• To select an auto-rhythm, see
“Using the Preset Aut o-Rhythms”
on Page 15.

• To play auto accompaniment, see
“Using Auto-Accompaniment” on
Page 17.

5. Slide

VOLUME

toward

MAX

to

increase the sound level or toward

MIN

to decrease it.

6. To turn off the MD-1600, press

POWER

. The red POWER indicator

and the keyboard’s display turn off.

PLAYING THE
DEMONSTRATION TUNES

To showcase its many sounds, your
MD-1600 can play tw o pre-programme d
demonstration tunes.

To start the demonstration, press
The MD-1600 begins to play the first
demonstration tune (No. 0). To select
the other tune, press

+

or – on the key­pad. The selected tune’s number ap­pears and the tune begins to play.

DEMO

.

10

42-4043.fm Page 11 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Tone Number/Name

Chord Symbol

Tempo
Sound Level

Keyboard

The

tone number and name

appear at
the top of the display. The middle row
shows the
beats per minute, the

measure playing

each measure. The

clefs

to the right of the display show the

chord symbol

and the

treble and bass

, the

tempo

in

number of the

beat count

in

notes as they play. The bar graph shows
the

sound level

on each of the 16 chan­nels (see “Using the Mixer” on Page 22).
The

keyboard

at the bottom of the dis­play shows the lo cation of the keys be­ing pressed.

USING THE PRESET
TONES

Your MD-1600 can sound like 200 differ­ent musical instruments or sound ef­fects. The name and three-dig it number
of each preset tone is listed on the MD­1600’s top panel.

Notes:

Treble Clef

Bass Clef

Measure/Beat Count

tones, however, are capable of on ly
12-note polyphony.

• Most tones on this keyboard have
been record ed and p roce ssed usin g
a technique ca lled

digital sampling

To ensure a high level of tonal qua l­ity, samples are taken in the low,
mid, and high ranges and the n co m­bined. You might notice very slight
differences in volume or sound qual­ity for some tones when you play
them at different positions on the
keyboard. This is an unavoidable
result of multiple sampling and is
normal.

Follow these steps to select and play a
preset tone.

1. Press

TONE

.

TONE

and the current

tone’s number appear.

The MD-1600 automatically

Note:

selects the tone GRAND PIANO
(No. 000) the first time you turn on
power.

.

• The MD-1600 has 24-note (maxi­mum) polyphonic sound. This
means that you can play up to 24
different notes at the same time with
most of the keyboard’s preset tones.
Many of the keyboard’s preset

2. To play a different tone, choose a
preset tone from the 200 TONES list
and enter its three-digit number on
the keypad. For example, to select
ELEC PIANO 1, press

0 0 4

. As you
press the keys, the selected digits
appear.

11

42-4043.fm Page 12 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Notes:

• You can select the next highest or
lowest numbered tone by simply
pressing

+

or – on the keypad.

• The names of tone numbers 000–
127 are marked to the right of the
MD-1600’s display. The names
for tone numbers 128–167
appear in the table below. Mem­ory locations 168–199 are
reserved for custom tones that
you create (see “Using the Cus­tom Tone Synthesizer” on
Page 24).

No. Tone

128 SYNTH PAD 1
129 SYNTH PAD 2
130 TOUCH STRINGS
131 DO AHH
132 STRINGS HIT
133 VIBES PIANO
134 SAW SYNTH
135 TOUCH BASS
136 STRINGS PIANO
137 E. PIANO STRINGS
138 STEREO PIANO
139 12 STR GUITAR
140 BRASS FALL
141 BASS SLIDE
142 FEEDBACK GT
143 PIANO
144 ECHO ORGAN
145 ROTARY ORGAN
146 CHORUSED EP
147 STRINGS GT
148 PAD ENS 1

STRINGS

→

No. Tone

149 PAD ENS 2
150 SEQUENCE 1
151 SEQUENCE 2
152 SYNTH PAD 3
153 SYNTH PAD 4
154 SYNTH PAD 5
155 SYNTH PAD 6
156 SYNTH PAD 7
157 SYNTH PAD 8
158 REVERSE ECHO
159 FAST TREMOLO

160–167 DRUM SET 1–8

• When you select o ne of the dru m
sets (tone numbers 160–167),
each key plays a di fferent p ercu s­sion sound. See “Drum Assign­ment List” on Page 56.

• The drum set sounds change
when you change the rhythm
number, play back data stored in
memory, or receive MIDI program
change data.

• Tone numbers 168–199 are user
tones. See “Using the Custom
Tone Synthesizer” on Page 24.

3. Play the keyboard to hear the
selected tone.

4. Adjust the volume to the desired
level.

To select a different tone, while

TONE

appears, simply enter the desired tone
number.

12

42-4043.fm Page 13 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

REVERB

Drum Pads

RHYTHM

TONE

LAYER

SPLIT

USING THE DRUM PADS

The MD-1600 has six drum pads that
you can use to play percu ssion sounds
independent of the key board keys . Sim­ply tap on a drum pad to play the per­cussion sound currently assigned to it.
To change the drum pad sounds, use
the mixer function to change the tone
assigned to Channel 10. See “Us ing the
Mixer” on Page 22.

USING REVERB

The REVERB feature creates ambiance
effects by causing the sound to linger
and reverberate . Press
indicator appears next to the type of re­verb you want.

HALL

— creates a concert hall effect.

ST AGE

— creates the acoustics of a

small club.

ROOM

— adds the acoustics of a studio.

REVERB

so the

USING SPLIT

The MD-1600’s SPLIT feature lets you
play two different tones on opposite
ends of the keyboard, so the low-end
keys play one tone, and the high-end
keys play another . Fol low thes e s tep s to
use SPLIT.

1. Press

2. Enter the three-digit number for the

3. Press

4. Enter the three-digit number for the

5. Hold down

TONE

.

tone you want the high-end ke ys to
play.

SPLIT

. The

SPLIT

indicator

appears.

tone you want the low-end keys to
play.

SPLIT

, and press the key
where you want the hi gh-end tones
to begin. The selected key’s name
appears on the display.

For example, if you set the split
point to be F below middle C,

F3

appears.

To turn off REVERB, press

REVERB

no indicator appears on the display.

so

You can change the split point

Note:

at any time.

13

42-4043.fm Page 14 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

6. Play both the low and high-end keys
to hear the selected split tones.

To select a different low- end tone, e nter
the three-digit numb er for the new low­end tone while the SPLIT indicator is on
the display.

To select a different high-end tone,

SPLIT

press

to turn off its indicator, th en
enter the three-digit nu mber for the new
high-end tone. The n press

SPLIT

again

so the SPLIT indicator appears.
To cancel SPLIT play, press

SPLIT

again so its indicator turns off.

Notes:

• If SPLIT is on when you turn off the
keyboard, SPLIT will still be on the
next time you turn on the keyboard.

• When you turn on SPLIT, the last
selected settings appear.

USING LAYER

The MD-1600 lets you se t the keyboard
to play two different preset tones at the
same time, creating a “layered effect”
when you press one key.

The first tone you select when us-

Note:

ing LAYER is called the
the second tone is called the

1. Press

TONE

.

2. Enter the three-digit num ber for the
base tone.

base tone

layer tone

and

3. Press

LAYER

. The LAYER indicator

appears.

4. Enter the three-digit number for the
layer tone.

5. Play the keyboard to hear the
selected layered tones.

To select a different layer tone, enter the
three-digit number for the new layer tone
while the LAYER ind icator is on the dis­play.

To select a different base tone, press

LAYER

to turn off its indicator, then enter
the three-digit number for the new base
tone. Then press

LAYER

again so the

LAYER indicator appear s.
To cancel LAYER, press

LAYER

so its indicator turns off.

Notes:

• If LAYER is on when you turn off the
keyboard, LAYER will still be on the
next time you turn on the keyboard.

• When you turn on LAYER, the previ­ous tone settings appear.

USING SPLIT AND LAYER
TOGETHER

You can combine the SPLIT and LAYER

.

features, so you can play one layered
combination of tones on the low-end
keys and another on the high-end keys.

1. If either indicator i s on, press

LAYER

or

to turn it off.

again

SPLIT

14

42-4043.fm Page 15 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

2. Enter the number for the high-end
base tone on the keypad.

3. Press

4. Enter the number for the low-end

5. Press

6. Press

7. Enter the number of the layered

8. Press

9. Enter the number of the layered

10. If desired, hold down

11. Play the keyboard to hear the

To cancel the SPLIT/LAYER combina­tion, press each button so both the
SPLIT and LAYER indicators disappear.

SPLIT

so the SPLIT indicator

appears.

base tone.

SPLIT

so the SPLIT indicator

disappears.

LAYER

tor appears.

tone for the high-end keys.

appears.

tone for the low-end keys.

press the key where you want the
high-end tones to begin.

selected tones.

so the LAYER indica-

SPLIT

. The SPLIT indicator

SPLIT

and

USING THE PRESET
AUTO-RHYTHMS

You can play a preset auto-rhythm on
the MD-1600 in any of these ways:

• Select and play a rhythm. See
“Selecting/Playin g an Auto-Rhythm”
on Page 15.

• Synchronize the start of a rhythm
with your music. See “Using SYN­CHRO” on Page 16.

• Start a rhythm with a special intro­duction. See “Using INTRO” on
Page 16.

• Stop a rhythm with a special ending.
See “Using ENDING” on Page 17.

• Briefly vary the patte rn of a rhythm.
See “Using FILL-IN” on Page 17.

• Play an alternate version (variation)
of a rhythm. See “Using VARIA­TION” on Page 17.

Selecting/Playing an
Auto-Rhythm

1. Press
name and number of the current
auto-rhythm appear on the display.

Note:

selects the rhythm CLUB POP (No.

00) the first time you turn it on. Each
time you turn it on after that, it
recalls the last selected rhythm.

RHYTHM

The MD-1600 automatically

.

RHYTHM

and the

Your MD-1600 has 100 preset auto­rhythms that provide a steady beat for
your music. The name and two-digit
number of each preset auto-rhythm is
marked to the left of th e MD-1600’s di s­play.

2. To select a different rhythm, choose
an auto-rhythm from the 100
RHYTHMS list and enter its two­digit number on the keypad. For
example, to select 8 BEAT BALLAD
2 (No. 05), press

0

then 5.

15

42-4043.fm Page 16 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

VAR/FILL-IN

TEMPO

SYNCHRO/
ENDING

INTRO

NORMAL/
FILL-IN

START/STOP

You can select the next high -

Note:

est or lowest numbered auto-rhythm
by simply pressing

+

or – on the key-

pad.

3. Set

MODE

START/STOP

NORMAL

to

. Then press

to start the selected

auto-rhythm.

4. Adjust the volume to the desired
level.

5. To change the auto-rhythm speed,

TEMPO

press

. or . The current

tempo setting appears on the dis­play .

Notes:

• You can adjust the tempo to play an
auto-rhythm from 40 to 255 beats
per minute.

• To quickly slow down or speed up
the tempo, hold down

TEMPO

.

• You can also adjust the tempo by
first pressing

TEMPO

. or , then

entering the desired number of
beats per minute in three digit s (040
to 255), or by holding down

+

or – on

the keypad.

. or

• To reset the tempo to its default
(original) speed, press

TEMPO

and at the same time.

To select a different rhythm, repeat
Steps 1 and 2.

To stop the auto-rhythm, press

STOP

.

START/

Using SYNCHRO

The MD-1600’s SYNCHRO feature lets
you synchronize the start of an auto­rhythm with the beginning of your music.

After you select and enter an auto­rhythm, press

SYNCHRO/ENDING

, then
begin playing the keybo ard. The rhythm
automatically starts to play when you
press any key within the first 1

1

/2 octaves
of the lower end of the keyboard (the
first 18 keys from the left).

Using INTRO

The MD-1600’s INTRO feature lets you
start the selected auto-rhythm with a
light, 3- to 8-measure introduction that
blends easily into the selected rhythm.

.

16

42-4043.fm Page 17 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

To start a rhythm with an introduction,
select and enter the rhythm, then pres s

INTRO

. The introduction pla ys, then the
selected auto-rhythm automatically
starts.

Using FILL-IN

The FILL-IN feature lets you insert a
short (1- to 2-measure) fill-in segment
into a selected auto-rhythm.

To insert the fill-in segment, press and
release
rhythm is playing. Th e MD-1600 inserts
a 1- to 2-measure variation in the
rhythm, then the original rhythm auto­matically resumes.

NORMAL/FILL-IN

while the auto-

Using VARIATION

Each of the MD-1600 ’s 100 p rese t auto­rhythms has a built-in variation (alter­nate) to its normal beat pattern. The
variation differs slig htly from the normal
rhythm, so it is almost like having two
rhythms in one!

To play the alternate rhyt hm , pres s

FILL-IN

at the selected tempo.
To insert the fill-in s egment in the alter-

nate rhythm, press
keyboard adds a 1- to 2-m easure varia­tion in the rhythm.

To return to the normal rhythm, press

NORMAL/FILL-IN

. The variation plays continuously

VAR/FILL-IN

.

VAR/

. The

To stop the auto-rhythm, press

STOP

.

START/

Using ENDING

To end the se lected rhythm with a spe­cial 3- to 8-measure flourish, press

CHRO/ENDING

playing, about 3–8 measures before you
want the rhythm to end. The MD-1600
plays a special ending, then automati­cally stops the rhythm.

while the auto-rhythm is

SYN-

USING
AUTO-ACCOMPANIMENT

The 18 keys on the left side of t he key­board with note labels above them are
called

accompaniment keys

You can set the MD-1600 to play three
different types of auto accompaniment.

Concert Chord

on the accompaniment keys using chord
formations of from one to four notes.
The number of keys you press deter­mines the type of chord that plays.

Standard Fingering

chords on the accompaniment key s us­ing standard chord formations of three
or four notes (see “Standard Fin gering”
on Page 20).

Free Session

dy using the entire keyboard while the
MD-1600 plays accompaniment based
on your auto-rh ythm selection (see “Us­ing FREE SESSION” on Page 21).

— lets you play chords

— lets you play the melo-

.

— lets you play

17

42-4043.fm Page 18 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

ACCOMP VOLUME

Notes:

• After you press the auto accompani-

ment keys when using concert
chord or standard fingering, the MD­1600 plays the same ch or d unti l you
press other accompanim ent keys to
play a different chord or you press

ST ART/ ST OP

.

• You can use the MD-160 0’s rhythm

controls (

VAR/FILL-IN
ING

) with all three types of auto

INTRO,NORMAL/FILL-IN

, and

SYNCHRO/END-

accompaniment.

Adjusting the Accompaniment
Volume

The MD-1600 lets you adjust the volume
of your accompaniment s eparately from
the overall volume of the keyboard.

1. Press

2. Within 5 seconds, enter a number

ACCOMP VOLUME

. The three­digit number of the last selected
accompaniment vol ume appears on
the display.

from

0 0 0

(softest) to

1 2 7

(loudest)

on the keypad. The numbers appear

on the display as you press the
keys.

To select the next highest or lo west
accompaniment volume number,
you can also press
pressing
down

ACCOMP VOLUME

+

or – to quickly increase or

+

or – after

decrease the accompaniment vol-

,

ume.

To reset the accomp animent volume to
its default value of 87, press

VOLUME

then press + and – at the same

time.

The auto-accompaniment pat-

Note:

terns consist of four parts: chord 1,
chord 2, bass, and rhythm. You c an de­lete any of the parts by using the mixer
function. See “Using the Mixer” on
Page 22.

Concert Chord

The concert chord method lets begin­ning keyboard pl ayers easily select an d
play a chord.

. Hold

ACCOMP

18

42-4043.fm Page 19 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

The number of accompaniment keys
you press determin es the type of chord
that plays. This ta ble shows the type of
chord that plays when you press one,
two, three, or four accompan iment keys
at the same time.

Number of Keys

Pressed

Chord Type

Major

Minor (m)

Dominant
Seventh (7)

Minor
Seventh (m7)

Follow these steps to start concert chord
auto accompaniment.

1. Set

MODE

CONCERT CHORD

to

.

2. Select and enter an auto-rhythm.

3. To start the auto-rhythm before the
auto accompaniment, pr ess

STOP

or

INTRO

.

START/

To synchronize the start of the
selected auto-rhythm with your
accompaniment, press

ENDING

.

SYNCHRO/

4. Begin the accompan iment b y pr ess­ing the desired accompaniment
key(s).

To play a melody along with the
accompanim ent, press any key(s) to
the right of the accompaniment
keys.

5. To change chords without int errupt­ing the rhythm, simply press the
auto accompaniment key(s)
required to form the new chord.

6. To stop accompaniment and the
auto-rhythm, press

START/STOP

.

The lowest note you play determines the
key of the chord. For example, if the low­est note is C, the keyboard plays a C
chord.

You can play any labeled note(s)

Note:

to the right of the lowest note in the
chord to produce a minor, a dominant
seventh, or minor seventh chord.

19

42-4043.fm Page 20 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Standard Fingering

The standard fingerin g method uses standar d formations of 3– 4 notes, and lets the
experienced musici an play a wider variety o f accompaniment chords. Y ou can play
these 15 chord types on your MD-1600, in any key, using the standard fingering
method.

Major (M) Minor (m) Augmented

Minor 7th (m7) Major 7th (M7) Minor Half-

Major 9th (add9) Minor 9th

(madd9)

(aug)

Diminished

(m7-5)

Minor/Major 7th

(mM7)

Suspended 4th

(sus4)

Major Half

Diminished (7

Diminished Diminished 7th

Dominant 7th (7)

-5

)

Suspended 4th

Dominant

(7sus4)

(dim7)

Notes:

• To produce a si mple variati on of a 7, m7, M7, mM7, add9, or madd9 c hord, you
can omit the finger positions shown in parentheses (on the keys).

• When producing an aug, 7-5, or dim7 chord, the lowest note you play determines
the root of the chord. Be sure your fingering correctly defines the root you want.

• The diagrams abo ve s how only one poss ible finge ring posi tion for e ach chor d. It
is possible to play a chor d using several different po sitions. For example, th ese
three fingering positions produce the same C chord.

20

42-4043.fm Page 21 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Follow these steps to star t standard fin­gering auto accompaniment.

1. Set

MODE

FINGERED

to

.

2. Select and enter an auto-rhythm.
(See “Selecting/Playing an Auto­Rhythm” on Page 15.)

3. To start the auto-rhythm before your
auto accompanim ent, press

STOP

or

INTRO

.

START/

To synchronize the start of the
selected auto-rhythm with your
accompaniment, press

ENDING

.

SYNCHRO/

4. Begin the accompaniment at the
desired interval by p ressing at least
three accompaniment keys to play
the desired chord.

To play a melody along with the
accompaniment, press any key(s) to
the right of the accompaniment
keys.

Set

MODE

FULL RANGE CHORD

to

and
follow the steps under “Standard Finger­ing.” If you press three or more keys
anywhere on the keyboard that form a
chord, the MD-1600 plays that chord.
The MD-1600 responds with melody
sounds if you press fewer than three
keys.

Notes:

• In the full-range chord mode, the
MD-1600 recognizes these 23
chords in addition to the 15 c hords
in the standard fingering mode
(examples show C as the base
note):

C6 Cm6 C6/9 C/C D/C E/C
F/C G/C A/C B/C BCm/CDm/C

Fm/C Gm/C Am/C Bm/C Dm7-5/C

A7/C F7/C Fm7/CGm7/CAadd9/C

5. To ch ange chords without interrupt­ing the rhythm, simply press the
auto accompaniment keys required
to form the new chord.

6. To stop accompaniment and the
auto-rhy thm, press

ST ART/ST OP

.

Full-Range Chords

While the easy random and standard fin­gering methods limit c ho rd for ma tio ns to
the accompaniment k eys, the full-range
chord method lets you play chords of
any type on any of the MD-1600’s keys.

• When the composite notes of a
chord are more than five notes
apart, the lowest sound becomes
the base note.

Using FREE SESSION

The MD-1600 lets you se t the keyboard
to play an automatic accompaniment
(based on your auto-rhythm selection)
while you play the m elody using a tone
you select. Refer to the “Free Session
Chord Progression Chart” on Page 54
for the chord progression, tempo, and
tone associated with each auto-rhythm.

21

42-4043.fm Page 22 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

FREE SESSION

MIXER

Follow these steps to use the keyboard
free session feature.

1. Press

RHYTHM

.

2. Sele ct and enter an auto-rhythm.

3. Press

FREE SESSION

. The FREE
SESSION indicator, the auto­accompaniment tone name and
number, and tempo appear.

4. To start the free session accompani­ment, press the accompaniment key
for the root of the first chord key. For
example, if the tune you are going to
play is in G, press the key for G on
the accompaniment keyboard.

CURSOR

5. Each free session has its default
tone. If desired, yo u can chang e the
tone by pressing

TONE

and entering

the tone number.

6. Adjust

TEMPO

and

VOLUME

to the

desired levels.

7. Play your melody using the entire
keyboard.

8. To stop the free session accompani­ment, press

START/STOP

.

To end the free session accompan i­ment with a short automatic end ing,

SYNCHRO/ENDING

press

.

Note:

Pressing

ST ART/ST OP

starts the free ses sion, but the root
key is automatically set to C.

To start the free session accompani­ment with a short introduction, press

INTRO

.

22

also

USING THE MIXER

The MD-1600 plays multi ple parts at the
same time during auto accompaniment,
or memory playb ack, or when receiving
MIDI data, in up to 16 separate chan­nels. You can contr ol the on/off setting,
volume, and parame ters of each of the
keyboard’s channels just as you would
with a sound mixer.

42-4043.fm Page 23 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

This chart shows t he parts assigned to
each channel.

Channel Part

1 Main tone
2 Layered tone
3 Split tone
4 Layered/split tone
5 These channels o nly produce
6

7 Auto accompaniment chord

8 Auto accompaniment chord

9 Auto accompaniment bass

10 Auto accompaniment rhythm

11 Memory Track 1
12 Memory Track 2
13 Memory Track 3
14 Memory Track 4
15 Memory Track 5
16 Memory Track 6

sound when they receive
MIDI signals

part 1

part 2

part

part , drum pa d

• When you use the MD-1600 as the

sound source for another MIDI
device, all 16 channels are assigned
musical instrument parts (Channel
10 is reserved for drum parts only,
per MIDI standard).

• The mixer settings also affect the

corresponding MIDI output.

Editing the Status of a Channel

You can edit the status ( on, off, solo) of
a channel to dele te a specific part o r to
play a specific part by itself.

Follow these steps to edit the status of a
channel.

1. Press

2. Use

3. Press or to display the current

4. Use

MIXER

. The MIXER indicator
appears and the last se lected chan­nel appears on the display.

+

or – on the keypad to select

the channel you want to edit.

status of the channel

(solo).

SoL

+

or – to select the status yo u

on,oFF

, or

want.

on (default): Turns on the current

channel. A bar appears at the bot­tom of the level meter for the
selected channel.

Notes:

• Normally, keyboard play is assigned
to Channel 1 and the drum pads are
assigned to Channe l 10. When you
use auto accompa niment, ea ch part
is assigned to Channels 7–10.

oFF: Turns off the current channel.

The bar at the bottom of the level
meter disappears.

SoL: Turns the current channel on

and all the other channels off. A bar
appears over only the c urrent chan­nel.

23

42-4043.fm Page 24 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

5. To edit other channels, press or
to return to the channel selection
screen and repeat Steps 2–4.

To exit the edit mode, pres s
display shows the performance status of
the channels as edited.

MIXER

. The

Editing the Parameter

You can change the settings of six pa ­rameters such as tone, volume, and pan
(relative position of the tone between the
left and right speaker c hannels) for the
selected channel.

Follow these steps to edit the parame­ters.

1. Select the channel you want to ed it
as described in Steps 1 and 2 of
“Editing the Status of a Channel” on
Page 23.

2. Press under
enter the parameter edit mode.

3. Repeatedly press or to select
the parameter you want to change.

CURSOR ENTER

to

Pan (000 to 127)

pan. 000 is fully l eft, 6 4 i s the cen ter
position, and 127 is fully right.

Fine Tune (–50 to +50)

tunes the pitch of the selected chan­nel in cent units . A cent is on e hun­dredth of a semitone. There are 12
semitones per octave.

C (Coarse) Tune (–12 to +12)

coarsely tunes the pitch of the
selected channel in semitone units.

Express (Expression ) ( 000 to 1 27)

— controls the volume of the
selected channel . Similar t o the vo l­ume setting, this is often used to
control crescendo/decrescendo.

4. Use the number buttons or
change the parameter setting.

5. To edit other channels, press to
return to the channel selection dis­play, select the channel, then repeat
Steps 2–4.

6. To exit the parameter edit mode,

MIXER

press

— controls the

.

— fine

—

+

or – to

Program Change Number (000 to

— sets the tone assigned to

199)

the channel.

Channel 10 is reserved for

Note:

percussion, so only tone numbers
160 (DRUM SET1) through 167
(DRUM SET 8) can be set for Chan­nel 10.

Volume (000 to 127)

volume of the selected channel.

24

— controls the

USING THE CUSTOM
TONE SYNTHESIZER

The MD-1600’s custom tone synthesizer
lets you create up to 32 of your own
original tones. To create a “user” tone,
you simply sele ct one of the keyboard’s
preset tones, change its parameters,
then store the new tone in any memory
location from 168–199. You can select
and use a user tone the same as a pre­set tone.

42-4043.fm Page 25 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

SYNTH

Notes:

• You cannot use tones 160–167
(drum set tones) as base tones.

• The preset tone you use as the
basis for a user tone is not changed.

• The tone locations 168–199 are not
empty (before you st ore user tones
there). They initially contain dupli­cate versions of tone numb ers 128–

159. The user tone you store i n any
of those locations replaces the exist­ing tone. If you dele te a user tone,
the keyboard automatically stores
the initial, duplicate tone there
again.

The parameters you can change are di­vided into four groups . For the detai ls of
each parameter, see “Creating and Stor­ing a User Tone.”

•

Tone Characteristic Waveform

PCM Set

—

•

Tone Characteristic

Rate, Release Rate, Level, Touch
Sensitivity, and Pan

— Attack

Understanding 1DCO and
2DCO Tones

A Digital Controlled Oscillator (DCO)
controls th e so und ou t p ut o f a di g it al sig­nal. Some of the MD-1600’s built-in
tones are simple tones (1DCO), and
some are layered tones (2DCO ). When
you select a 2DCO tone as the bas is for
creating a user tone, you need to
change the parameters of both tones.

When you select a layered tone,
appears on the display, indicating that
this is the first tone of a layered tone.

dCo1

Creating and Storing a User
Tone

•

Volume Characteristic

Envelope Set

•

Tone Pitch

Envelope Set

— Pitch and Pitch

— Amp

Follow these steps to create and store
your own tone. (Refer to “Hints on Cre­ating a User Tone” on Page 27.)

25

42-4043.fm Page 26 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Notes:

• A new or revised use r tone re place s
the existing user tone.

• Layer, split, auto accompaniment,
demo tune play, and MIDI functions
are all disabled while the keyboard
is in the Custom Tone Synthesizer
mode.

1. Select the preset tone (any of the
preset tones except 160–167) you
want to use as a basis for your user
tone.

2. Press

SYNTH

. The keyboard enters
the Custom Tone Synthesizer mode
and the first parameter (PCM Set)
appears on the display. The display
also shows whether the tone you
selected is a

DCO1 O2

tone (if it is a

layered tone).

To cancel the save operation

Note:

at any time, press

SYNTH

twice.

TONE

, or press

3. Repeatedly press or to display
the parameter you want to change.

PCM Set (0 to 173)

— Determines
the characteristic of a tone by
changing its d igitally sam ple d wave ­form.

Amp Envelope Set (
to 137)

— Selects the volume en ve -

Amp.Set

lopes. 000 to 048 set vo lume enve­lopes for a d ecaying note (how fa st
or slow the sound dimi nishes). 049
to 137 set volume envelopes that
sustain the note.

) (0

Attack Rate (

Atk Rate

) (1 to 127)

— Sets the sp eed of the attack (th e
period from when you press a key to
when the tone reaches it s ma xi mu m
volume). The greater the value , the
quicker the attack. Use this par am e­ter to make fine adjus tments to the
tone characteristics of the amp
envelope.

Release Rate (

— Controls the sp ee d of a t one

127)

Rel.Rate

) (1 to

release (the period from when you
release a key to when the tone
stops sounding). The greater the
value, the quicker the release. Use
this parameter to ma ke fine adjust­ments to the tone char acteristics of
the amp envelope.

Pitch Envelope Set (
(0 to 49)

— Selects the pitch enve-

PitchSet

lopes. 00 specifies no change, a
value from 01 to 19 changes the
vibrato, and a value from 20 to 49
changes a parameter oth er than the
vibrato.

Pitch (

Pitch

) (–64 to +63)

—
Controls the overall pitch of the
tone. A positive value increases the
pitch, a negative value lowers it. A
setting of zero sets the pitch to the
standard setting for the selected
tone.

Level (

Level

) (0 to 127)

— Con­trols the overall volume of the tone.
The greater the value, the greater
the volume. Setting a level of zero
means that the tone does not soun d
at all.

)

26

42-4043.fm Page 27 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Touch Sensitivity (
(–64 to +63)

the volume of the tone depending
on how hard you strike the keys.
You can specify more volume for
stronger striking and less volume for
lighter striking, or you can specify 00
to set the same volume regardless
of how hard you strike the keys.

Pan

Pan (

the relative position of the tone
between the left and right speaker
channels. A greater positive value
moves the center point further to the
right, a negative value moves it to
the left.

4. Use

5. Press

+

ter’s setting. You can also use the
number buttons to directly enter a
value for the parameter.

Notes:

• If you want to change another
parameter, repeat Steps 3 and 4.

• If you selected a layered preset
tone, press to recall the DCO2
parameters (
repeat Steps 3 and 4 to set the
parameters. Press again to
return to the DCO1 parameters.

To exit the Custom Tone Synthe­sizer mode without storing a new
tone, press twice so
appears, then press .

— Controls changes in

) (–64 to +63)

or – to change the parame-

SYNTH

TchSense

— Controls

appears), and

d Co2

. Save? appears.

Delete?

)

6. Use

7. To give a name to your tone, press

8. Repeatedly press

9. Press to move to the next charac-

10. Press to save the user tone.

+

or – until the tone number you
want appears on th e display. If you
do not want to assign a name, skip
to Step 10.

. The first character of the tone

name flashes.

+

or – until the first
character of the ne w name appears
on the display.

ter position. Repeat Steps 8 and 9 to
enter the rest of the characters in
the new name.

Press to change the tone

Note:

number (the name of the tone
returns to its preset name).

Save OK

keyboard exits the Custom Tone
Synthesizer mod e.

appears briefly and the

Hints on Creating a User Tone

• Use a preset tone th at is similar to
the one you are trying to create.
When you already have a general
idea of the tone you are trying to
create, it is a good ide a to start with
a similar preset t one. If you want t o
use a layered tone, s tart out with a
2DCO tone.

To store the settings, press to
display the tone numb er where you
want to save the user tone.

27

42-4043.fm Page 28 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

• Determine the most important
parameter. The PCM Set and Amp
Envelope Set parameters are the
major factors that determine the
overall tone characteri stic. Start out
by setting these two parameters to
get the general sound you want, and
then set the other parameters to add
the finishing touches.

• Experiment with different settings.
There are no real rules about what a
tone should sound like. Let your
imagination run free a nd e xp er iment
with different combinations. You
might be surprised at what you c an
achieve!

28

42-4043.fm Page 29 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

SPECIAL FEATURES

CHORD/1

TRANSPOSE/
TUNE/MIDI

TOUCH
RESPONSE

CHANGING KEYS

The MD-1600 automatically selects the
key of middle C each time you turn it on.
For added flexibility as you play, the
MD-1600 lets you change (transpose)
the musical key.

Follow these steps to change keys .

1. Repeatedly press

TUNE/MIDI

until 00 Trans appears

on the display.

The number on the display is

Note:

the number of semitones to which
the keyboard is set, co mpared to its
default key. You can transpose the
key up or down 12 semito nes (one
octave).

2. Within 5 seconds, press
raise or lower the key. Each time
you press the key, the number on
the display increases or decreases
by 1 (semitone).

Notes:

• The MD-1600 automatically resets
the key to the default value of 0

TRANSPOSE/

+

or – to

(middle C) each time you turn off the
keyboard.

• The transpose setting also affects
memory playback (see “Playing
Back from Memory” on Page 34)
and auto accompaniment.

TUNING THE KEYBOARD

Although your MD-160 0 never goes out
of tune, it does l et you ad just its pitch to
match other instruments or musical re­cordings.

You cannot adjust the pitch while

Note:

the demonstration songs are playing.

1. Repeatedly press

TUNE/MIDI

until 00 Trans appears.

2. Press or so
The number on th e display is

Note:

the number of
keyboard is currently tuned, com­pared to its default pitch. A cent is
one hundredth of a semitone. You
can tune the keyboard up or down
50 cents (a half semitone).

TRANSPOSE/

00 Tune appears.

cents

to which the

29

42-4043.fm Page 30 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

3. Within 5 seconds, press + or – to
raise or lower the keyboard's pitch.
Each time you press the key, the
number on the displa y increases or
decreases by 1 (cent).

Notes:

• The MD-1600 automatically resets
the tuning pitch to the default val ue
of 00 (cents) each time you turn off
the keyboard.

• Memory playback uses the pitch
with which it was recorded.

• Auto accompaniment uses the cur­rently set pitch.

USING TOUCH RESPONSE

The MD-1600 has a touch response fea­ture that lets you adjust the volume of
your music’s tone based on how hard
you strike the key(s), so you can add
emotion to your music.

To turn off this feature, press

RESPONSE

To turn on touch respo nse again, press

TOUCH RESPONSE

pears.

Notes:

• The touch response setting does not
affect auto accompaniment or
received MIDI data.

• The MIDI data sent out from the
MD-1600 is affected by the touch
response setting.

so its indicat or disappears.

so its indicator ap-

TOUCH

CHANGING AUTO POWER
OFF

When you operate the MD-1600 with
battery power, the keyboard automati­cally shuts off after about 6 minutes if
you do not press a key. Press
again to turn power back on.

To have the keyboard not aut omatically
turn off during a session, turn the key­board on while holding down

The next time you turn the MD-1600 off
then back on again, it automatically
turns off after about 6 minutes.

POWER

TONE

.

USING PITCH BEND

PITCH BEND lets you bend a note by al­tering its pitch. It he lps to c r eate reali s tic
effects for saxophone , other re ed ins tru­ments, and guitar tones.

Follow these steps to use PITCH BEND.

1. Select a tone.

2. While holding dow n
a keyboard key,
rotate and hold

PITCH BEND

pitch of the tone
slides smoothly up
or down.

3. Release
the original pitch.

. The

PITCH BEND

PITCH BEND

to return to

30

42-4043.fm Page 31 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Setting the Pitch Bend Range

You can adjust the bend ran ge of pitch
controls from 1 to 12 semitones.

The keyboard automatically se-

Note:

lects a bend range of 2 semitones the
first time you turn it on after connecti ng
power. Each time you turn it on after
that, it recalls the last selected bend
range.

Follow these steps to adjust the pitch
bend range.

1. Repeatedly press

TUNE/MIDI

until a number and

TRANSPOSE/

Bend

appear on the display.

2. Within 5 seconds, press

+

or – on
the keypad until the pitch bend
range you want appear s on the dis­play, or enter a number from 01–12.

USING A SUSTAIN PEDAL

For added flexibility and control as you
make music, you can connect a sustain
pedal (not supplied), available through
your local RadioShack store. A sustain
pedal lets you sustai n or soften th e key­board’s sound, and even start or stop an
auto-rhythm.

To connect a sustain ped al to your MD­1600, insert the plug on the pe dal ’s c or d

ASSIGNABLE JACK

into

on the back of

the keyboard.
You can adjust the MD-1600’s assign-

able jack to t h es e s et tings when you u se
a sustain pedal.

Setting Description

(Sustain) Causes one or more

SUS

notes to linger after
they are pla yed

(Sostenuto) Similar to SUS, but

SoS

only sustains one
note at a time

(Soft) Softens the sound

SFt

(Rhythm) Starts or stops the

rHy

selected auto-rhythm

Follow these steps to change the as­signable jack’s setting.

1. Repeatedly press

TUNE/MIDI

until

TRANSPOSE/

appears.

Bend

Then press until the assignable
jack’s current setting and

Jack

appear on the display.

2. Within 5 seconds, p ress
the desired setting (
or

rHy) appears.

+

or – until

SUS, SoS, SFt,

ASSIGNABLE
JACK

Press the sustain p edal as you play to
hear the desired sound or to start/stop
the selected auto-rhythm.

31

42-4043.fm Page 32 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

USING THE MEMORY

MEMORY

The MD-1600 lets you record up to two
separate songs in memory for later play­back. You can use either of two meth­ods to record a song —

recording
step recording

(you record as you play) or

(you enter notes and

real-time

chords one-by-one).
You can record on each of the MD-

1600’s six tracks separately. Besides
notes, each trac k can ha ve it s own to ne
number. Then, when you play ba ck the
tracks together, it s ounds like an entire
six-piece band. Also, you can use differ­ent mixer settings for each track.

Track 1 is the main trac k, and you can
use it to record auto accompaniment
and drum pad sounds, as well as key­board play. Tracks 2 through 6 are m el­ody tracks, and you can use these for
recording a secondary melody that in­cludes keyboard play and the drum pad.

Because each track is independent of
the others, you only need to re-r ecord a
single track if you make a mistake while
recording on it.

REAL-TIME RECORDING

With real-time recording, the notes are
recorded as you play them on the key­board. Before you start, read these tips.

• To record without an auto-rhythm,
skip Step 5 of “Real-Time Record­ing.” Recording starts when you
press a key.

• To start recording with synchro start,

SYNCHRO/ENDING

press

START/STOP

in Step 5 of “Real-Time
Recording.” Recording starts when
you play a note or a chord on the
accompaniment keys.

• To record using an intro, ending, or
fill-in, use

ING

,

IN

as you normally would.

INTRO,SYNCHRO/END-

NORMAL/FILL-IN

• To synchro start auto accompani­ment with an intro pattern, press

SYNCHRO/ENDING

instead of

START/STOP

“Real-Time Recording.” Recording
starts with the intro pattern when
you play a note or a chord on the
accompaniment keys.

instead of

VAR/FILL-

, or

and then

in Step 5 of

INTRO

32

42-4043.fm Page 33 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

• To start auto accompa niment dur ing
a recording, press

ING

instead of

SYNCHRO/END-

START/STOP

in Step

5. Play the melody keys to start
recording. When you reach the point
where you want accompaniment to
start, play a chord on the accompa ­niment keys.

• To record while using free sessi on,
between Step 4 and 5 of “Real-Time
Recording,” press

FREE SESSION

This makes the entire keyboard a
melody keyboard, regardless of the

MODE

setting. See the “Free Ses­sion Chord Progression Chart” on
Page 54.

• Pressing

FREE SESSION

while
recording with a free session
accompaniment turns off the accom­paniment; however, the keyboard
continues playing the last chord
played before FREE SESSI ON was
turned off. You can change the
chord by specifying a different chord
using the appropriate method (Fin­gered, Concert Chord, etc.) as
determined by the

MODE

setting.

Follow these steps to record as you
play.

1. Repeatedly press

MEMORY

until

Rec. No. appears.

Note:

MEMORY

switch. When you press i t once, the
keyboard enters the memory play­back mode. When you press it
again, it enters the memory record
mode. When you press the button a
third time, it returns to memory off.

is a three-way

2. Within 5 seco nds, press
or 1) to select a song number.

3. Press

CHORD/1

to select Track 1.

While the keyboard is in memory
record mode, the level meters for
channels 11 through 16 correspond
to memory tracks 1 through 6. When
all four bars are lit, that channe l has
something in memory: if only one

.

bar is lit, that track is empty.

4. If desired, you can change these
settings:

• tone number

• rhythm number

• tempo

•MODE

Do not change the tempo

Note:

unless you alre ady know th e de sired
tempo. Pressing

START/STOP

hear the tempo causes r ecording to
begin.

5. Press

START/STOP

to start record-

ing.

6. Play the keyboard.
You can also record auto a ccompa-

niment chords, the dru m pad, pitch
bender, and pedal operations.

7. Press

ST ART/ST OP

to end record-

ing.

+

or – (or

0

to

33

42-4043.fm Page 34 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

If you make a mistake, press

STOP

to stop recording a nd begin again

START/

from Step 1, or you can edit the con­tents. See “Editing Memory Contents”
on Page 39.

Press after you select Track 1

Note:

in Step 3 to use the drum pads. You can
start recording by playing a drum pad.

This data is s tored on Track 1 al on g wit h
the notes you played:

• tone number

• rhythm number

• rhythm controller (

FILL-IN

, etc.) operations

INTRO,NORMAL/

• pitch bender operations

• pedal operations

• drum pad operations

See “Recording Multiple Tracks” on
Page 37 to record on the other five
tracks.

Notes:

• When you record on a track that
contains data, the new recording
replaces the previous reco rd ing .

• The touch response setting (on/off)
is not recorded. However, the
strength of the strike is recorded.

• Channel 1 mixer parameters are
automatically recorded to Track 1.

• The memory can store a total of
about 5,200 notes. If t he remaining
memory is less than 100 note s, the
measure and beat number s flash on
the display. When memory becomes
full, recording automatically stops
(auto-accompaniment or rhythm
stops playing, if used) .

• Memory contents are sav ed as long
as power is supplied to the key­board. Unplugging th e adapter with­out batteries or with wea k batteries
erases the memory. To prev ent dat a
loss, connect an adapter before
replacing batteries.

• Turning off the keyboard while
recording erases the contents of the
track you were record ing.

• You can transfer memory contents
to another MIDI device. S ee “Dum p­ing/Importing Data” on Page 45.

PLAYING BACK FROM
MEMORY

1. Press
appears.

2. Within 5 seconds , us e

1

3. Within 5 seconds, press

STOP

selected.
You can use

playback tempo.

MEMORY

until

Play No.

+

or – (or 0 or

) to select a song number.

to play back the song you

TEMPO

to adjust the

START/

34

4. Press
playback.

START/STOP

again to stop

42-4043.fm Page 35 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Notes:

• You can use layer and/or split during
memory playback.

• You can change the rhythm during
playback.

• Pressing

START/STOP

during the

song resets it from the beginning.

• You can set the volume and pan
position of the playback tracks using
the mixer. This setting data is output
through

MIDI OUT

.

• The entire keyboard fun ctions as a
melody keyboard during playback,
regardless of the

MODE

setting.

STEP RECORDING

With step recording, you can record a
chord progression one chord at a time.
Before you start, r ead these ti ps. (If you
want to record one n ote at a time, refe r
to “Recording Multiple Tracks” on
Page 37.)

• To start accompaniment with an
intro pattern, press

CHRO/ENDING

INTRO

in Step 6 of “Step

Recording.”

• To switch to a rhythm variation,
press

VAR/FILL-IN

immediately
before entering the c hord in Step 6
of “Step Recording.”

• To insert an ending or fill in, press

SYNCHRO/ENDING
IN

VAR/FILL-IN

(

NORMAL/FILL-

or

for variation rhythm)
immediately before entering the
chord in Step 6 of “Step Recording.”

after

SYN-

• To step-record chords without a
rhythm, skip Step 5 of “Step Record­ing.” The chord of the specified
length is recorded. A rest can be
specified there, so you can create
an original chord pattern.

• To add chord accompaniment dur­ing rhythm play, enter rests from the
beginning of the recording up to
where you want accompaniment to
start. Then enter only the chords (no
rests).

Follow these steps to record chords with
step recording.

1. Press

MEMORY

until

REC.No.

appears.

2. Within 5 seconds, use

+

or – to

select a song number.

3. Press

CHORD/1

to select Track 1.

4. If desired, you can change these
settings:

• rhythm number

• tempo

•MODE

5. Press

6. Press

STEP

to start recording.

SYNCHRO/ENDING

, then play

a chord.

• Use the chord p lay metho d deter -

mined by the current

MODE

set­ting (Fingered, Concert Chord,
Full Range Chord, or Normal).

35

42-4043.fm Page 36 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

• When

MODE

is set to

NORMAL

specify the chord using the root
keys and chord-type keys. See
“Specifying Chords in the Normal
Mode.”

7. Use the number buttons to specify
the length of the chord. See “S peci­fying the Length of a Note” on
Page 36.

8. For each additional c hord you want
to enter, play the chord and use the
number buttons to specify its length.

9. When you finish recording, press

MEMORY,STEP

START/ STOP

, or

.

To play back the song at this time, press

START/STOP

.

Notes:

• To correct entry mistakes, see “Edit­ing Memory Contents” on Page 39.

• When you record on a track that
already contains data, the ke yboard
automatically locates the end of the
previous recording — measure,
beat, or clock (

1

/48 of a beat) — and

adds your new entry to it.

See “Recording Multiple Tracks” on

,

Page 37 to record on the other five
tracks.

Specifying Chords in the
Normal Mode

To enter chords when

NORMAL

during step recording, you
need to specify them using a method
other than Concert Chord or Fingered.
You can enter 18 chord types using only
two keys.

While holding down the desired chord
root key, press the chord key to specify
the chord.

The root and chord types are labeled
above each key. The chord root letter
and type of chord also appear on the
display.

MODE

Specifying the Length of a Note

During step recording, use the number
buttons (or
of each note.

+

or –) to specify the length

is set to

• You can enter a 0 (a rest) in Ste p 6,
but the rest is ignored when the
accompaniment plays.

• This data is stored on Track 1, along
with the notes you played:

rhythm number

INTRO,SYNCHRO/ENDING,NOR­MAL/FILL-IN

, and

VAR/FILL-IN

oper-

ations

36

Use numbers
whole notes (
notes (

5

(

3

), eighth notes (4), 16th notes

), and 32nd notes (6).

Hold down

1

press

through 6 to enter the leng ths o f

1

through 6 to specify

1

), half notes (2), quarter

7

(dot) or 9 (triplicate), then
the notes.
To enter a tie, pr ess

8

then the second notes.

and enter the first

42-4043.fm Page 37 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

To enter a rest, press 0 then use num-

1

bers

through 9 to specify the length of

the rest.

Correcting Mistakes

Before finishing your s tep recording en­try, you can move the entry point back to
correct the data you entered. Howev er,
this operation deletes all data after the
point where you make corrections.

1. Before you press

START/STOP

. This moves the entr y point back

one “space.”
The data recorded at the current

entry point appears on the display.

2. While monitoring the data on the
display, press or to move the
entry point to the data you want to
change.

3. At the entry point you want to
change, press
time.

Rewrite?

display.

4. Press to clear all data after the
current entry point.

5. Press , ,
rewrite operation. After that, you can
press or to move the entry point
to another location if you want.

MEMORY,STEP

to end recording, press

+

and – at the same

appears on the

+

, or – to cancel the

, or

RECORDING MULTIPLE
TRACKS

In addition to the Track 1, where you
record auto accompaniment as well as
keyboard play, there are five other melo­dy tracks that you ca n us e to re cord mel­ody parts only. You can record different
tones on these tracks and build a full en­semble of instruments.

You can play back what you al ready re­corded on Track 1 (or any other track)
while you record on Tracks 2–6.

Real-Time Recording

1. Repeatedly press

Rec. No.

2. Within 5 seconds, use
select a song number.

3. Press the desired
button (2–6) to select the track you
want to record on.

Note:

nels 11–16 to see which memory
tracks contain data and which are
empty.

4. If desired, you can change these
settings:

• tone number

appears.

Check the display for Chan-

MEMORY

MEMORY TRACK

until

+

or – to

Note:

display if yo u press at the e nd of
the recording.

TrackEnd appears on the

TEMPO

•

for you to follow)

(to a tempo that is easy

37

42-4043.fm Page 38 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

5. Press

START/STOP

to start record­ing. The contents of any tracks
already recorded start to play.

6. Play on the keyboard what you want
to record on the selected track.

7. Press

START/STOP

to end record-

ing.
This data is stored on the selected

track in addition to the notes you
played:

• tone number

• optional pedal operation s

• pitch bender operations

• drum pad operations

Step Recording

1. Repeatedly press

Rec. No.

appears.

2. Within 5 seconds, use
select a song number.

3. Press the desired
button (2–6) to select the track y ou
want to record on.

4. Change the tone if desired.

5. Press

STEP

to start recording.

6. Use the keyboard or
notes, or

0

to enter rests.

• When you enter the note using

the keyboard with touch response
turned on, the pressure on the
key is also recorded.

• You can also enter the chords

using the keyboard.

MEMORY

MEMORY TRACK

+

or – to enter

until

+

or – to

• When you use

+

or – to enter a
note, a staff on the display shows
the note you enter.

• To delete a rest entry, press
again.

7. Use

1–9

to enter the length of the

note or rest.

8. Repeat Steps 5 and 6 to enter more
notes.

9. Press

STOP

MEMORY,STEP

to end recording.

, or

START/

Notes:

• If you make a mistake, see “Correct­ing Mistakes” on Page 37.

• When you record on a track that
already contains data, the key board
automatically locat es the end of the
previous recording — measure,
beat, or clock (

1

/48 of a beat) — and

appends your new entry from there.

• To record a drum pad part, play a
drum pad in Step 5.

• During recording on Tracks 2
through 6, the entire keybo ard func­tions as a melody key board, regard­less of the current

MODE

setting.

• This data is stored on the selected
track in addition to the notes you
played:

tone number
drum pad operations

• You can turn off a specific track dur­ing playback by using the mixer
function (see “Using the Mixer” on
Page 22).

0

38

42-4043.fm Page 39 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Changing Navigation Track

After you record, the display shows the
contents of the last recorded or edited
track. To display a different track, re­peatedly press
until

Bend

Navi. Tr.

until the track you want appears on the
display.

TRANSPOSE/TUNE/MIDI

appears, then press until

appears. Then press + or

EDITING MEMORY
CONTENTS

You can recall and change individual
notes and parameter settings (such as
tone number) in memory contents.

Follow these steps to edit memory con­tents.

1. Repeatedly press

Play No.

2. Within 5 seconds, use
select a song number.

3. Press

4. Use the

PAD

buttons to select t he track you

want to edit.

5. Repeatedly press or to move to
the entry point you want to change.

You can change the parameter that
is flashing on the di s pla y. To c han ge
a different parameter, press so
the parameter you want to edit
starts flashing.

appears.

STEP

.

MEMORY TRACK/DRUM

MEMORY

+

or – to

until

The actual procedures you use to
change a parameter depend on the
type of data it contains. Se e “Editin g
Techniques and Display Contents”
on Page 40.

Notes:

–

• Do not change a note id entical to
the preceding or succeeding note.
Doing so might alter th e length of
the note and you will have to re­record the entire track.

• When you change note, key pres­sure, chord, or drum pad data, the
keyboard sounds the new setting
so you can hear what it sounds
like.

6. Repeat Steps 5 and 6 to edit ot her
parameters.

7. Press

STOP

Notes:

• When you interrupt playback of a
song and immediatel y start an edit­ing operation, the entry point (or
point of inter ruption) a ppears on the
editing screen.

• The only parameters that can be
edited for Tracks 2–6 are notes,
chords, tone, rhyth m, key pressure,
and drum pad.

• You cannot add data to a recording.

• You cannot move portions of a
recording to a different location
within the recording.

MEMORY,STEP

when you are finished.

, or

START/

Make the desired changes to the
selected parameter.

• You cannot change note lengths.

39

42-4043.fm Page 40 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Editing Techniques and
Display Contents

Key Pressure (Velocity)

keyboard, number butt ons, or
adjust the key pressur e. To change the
key pressure using the keyboard, be
sure to turn on touch response.

— Enter a new note on the key-

Pitch

board or use

+

or – to change to the next
higher or lower note. The keyboard and
the staff on the display sh ow your new
entry.

— Use the appropriate chord fin-

Chord

gering method as determined by the

MODE

setting.

Tone Number/Rhythm Number

the number buttons or

Rhythm Controller (

FILL-IN
ING

VAR/FILL-IN,SYNCHRO/END-

,

)/Drum Pad

— Press the button you

want to change to.

— Use the

+

and – to

— Use

+

or –.

INTRO,NORMAL/

Deleting All Data in a Specific
Track

1. Press
appears. Within 5 seco nds, us e + or

–

2. Hold down

Tr.Del.?

3. Within 5 seconds, press

TRACK

delete.

• You can specify more than one

• To deselect a track, simply p ress

The track contents indicator(s) for
the selected track flash(es).

4. To delete the data in the selected
track(s), press . The keyboard
goes into playback standby mode.

To exit the track dele te procedure with­out changing any data, press

MEMORY

until

Rec. No.

to select a song number.

MEMORY

until

appears.

MEMORY

for the track(s) you w ant to

track by pressi ng more than one
button.

its button again.

MEMORY

.

Deleting Individual Data

1. Follow Steps 1–5 under “Editing
Memory Contents” on Page 39.

2. Press

DataDel? appears.

3. Press to delete the selected
data.

Or press or (or
the procedure without deleting any­thing.

40

+

and – at the same time.

+

or –) to cancel

Notes:

• You cannot change the song num­ber after

Tr.Del.? appears.

• You cannot select a track that does
not contain any recorded data.

42-4043.fm Page 41 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

USING MIDI

Your MD-1600 includ es a feature call ed

MIDI

(Musical Instrument Digital Inter­face) — the universal standard for send­ing and receiving performance data
between electronic musical instru­ments, regardless of manufacturer.

Using MIDI, you can play music on you r
MD-1600 and another instr ument at the
same time while pressing the keys on
only one, record your music to a se­quencer, acquire a wider selection of
preset tones from a sound module, and
much more.

ABOUT MIDI

Every MIDI-equipped instrument has
MIDI OUT and IN termi nals. Some also
have a MIDI THRU terminal. Each termi­nal serves a different purpose.

MIDI OUT sends MIDI data to (“talks to”)
the other MIDI instrument(s).

representing exactly what is being
played on it. The o ther MIDI device re­ceives and translates those instruc­tions, then produces (or records) the
sound exactly as it was played on the
first device.

MAKING THE MIDI
CONNECTIONS

MIDI OUT

Your MD-1600 has
minals. To connect your MD-1600 to an­other MIDI-equipped device, you must
use a MIDI cable, available at your local
RadioShack store.

MIDI IN

MIDI OUT

and IN ter-

MIDI IN receives (“listens to”) MIDI d ata
sent by the other MIDI instrument(s).

MIDI THRU lets you connect (“network”)
additional MIDI instruments, and sends
along to other MIDI devices a copy of al l
data it receives through its MIDI IN ter­minal.

The cable that connects MIDI devices
does not actually carry sound between
them, like a speaker wire carries sound
from a receiver to a speaker. Instead,
MIDI-equipped device s talk to eac h oth­er in digital codes (instructions). One
MIDI device sends digital instructions

Cautions:

• Always turn off power to your MD­1600 and the other MIDI device
before you connect or disconnect
MIDI cables.

• As you make the cable connections,
be sure to alig n the MIDI c able pins
with the matching hol es on the MI DI
OUT and IN terminals. If you have
trouble plugging in the cable, do not
force it! You might damage the plug
or the instrument.

41

42-4043.fm Page 42 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

To send MIDI data fr om your keyboar d,
use a MIDI cable to connect the MD­1600’s

MIDI OUT

terminal to the other

device’s MIDI IN terminal.
To receive MIDI data on y our keybo ard,

use a MIDI cable to connect the MD­1600’s

MIDI IN

terminal to the other de-

vice’s MIDI OUT terminal.

You do not need to make both

Note:

connections if you are only e ither send­ing or receiving.

MIDI DATA

Your MD-1600 can send and receive
several different ty pe s o f MIDI data. The
MD-1600’s tones, rhythms, and other
types of MIDI data are sent auto matic al­ly as you play.

Notes:

• If the keyboard rec eives a “request”
to play notes outside of its range
(higher or lower), it automatically
selects the same note in the nearest
octave.

Program Change

Pitch Bend

specifies the tone.

supplies pitch bend infor­mation. A Pitch Bend operation on this
keyboard changes the pitch of the built­in sound source and sends a Pitch Bend
message through the

Control Change

MIDI OUT

terminal.

adds effects such as
vibrato and volume changes applied
during keyboard p lay. The message in­cludes a control number (the effect type)
and a control value (the on/off and depth
of the effect).

Here is the data that can be sent and re­ceived with this keyboar d and the corre­sponding control number.

• The MD-1600’s demonstration
tunes cannot be sent as MIDI data.

• For detailed specifications of the
MIDI function, see th e “MIDI Imple­mentation Chart” on Page 58.

Note On/Off specifies which keys are
pressed (Note On) or released (Note
Off). Also includes how loud a note is
played as a value from 0 to 127.

Notes:

• The pitch of a note de pends on the
tone that is being used, as shown in
the “Note Table” on Page 52.

42

Effect

Bank Select 0, 32
Volume 7
Pan 10
Expression 11
Hold1 (Sustain) 64
Sostenuto 66
Soft Pedal 67
RPN (Registered Parameter

Number)
Data Entry 6/38

Control

Number

100/101

42-4043.fm Page 43 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Use the Bank Select setting to select the
MD-1600’s tone groups to be changed
by the Program Number message.

• Bank 0 — 0 to 127 (General MIDI

tones)

• Bank 1 — 128 to 159 (synthesized

tones)

• Bank 2 — 160 to 167 (drum sets)

• Bank 3 — 168 to 199 (user tones)

Just before sending a Program Change
message, send two Control Change
messages with this data to the MD­1600:

• Control Number = 0, Control Value =

<bank number>

• Control Number = 32, Control Value

= 0

For example, to select tone number 190
(user tone number 22), enter:

used to set pitch bend range, transpose,
and tune control fro m an external MIDI
device.

All Sound Off

forces all sound on the
current channel to turn off, r egardles s of
how the sound is being produced.

All Notes Off

turns off all note data sent
from an external device on the channel.
The notes being sustained b y the pedal
continue to sound until the next pedal off
signal is received.

Reset All Controllers

initializes pitch

bend and all other control changes.

System Exclusive

controls fine tone
adjustments unique to a particular sys­tem. Basically, the system exclusives
are unique to a particular system; h ow­ever, there are “universal ” sys tem ex clu­sives that are common among devices
produced by individual manufacturers.

• Control Number = 0, Control Value =
3 (bank number for user tone)

• Control Number = 32, Control Value
= 0

• Program Change = 22 (22 nd t one in
bank 3)

Channel 10 is rese rved for drum

Note:

sounds only, so it is not necessary to
send bank select data when changing
tones.

RPN is used when combining multiple
control changes. RPN (100 and 101) se­lects the parameter to control, and D ata
Entry (6 and 38) sets th e co nten ts of the
parameter. On the MD-1600, RPN is

These are the system exclusive mes­sages suppor ted by this keyb oard.

•

GM Mode On ([F0][7E][7F][09]
[01][F7])

— used to turn on the MD­1600’s GM mode from an external
MIDI device.

Notes:

• GM (General MIDI) is a standard

list of specifications that allows
music created on one MIDI
device to sound the same when
played on another MIDI device.
This keyboard ’s GM mode incor­porates most of these specifica­tions.

43

42-4043.fm Page 44 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

• This message take s more time to
process than other messages;
when you program GM Mo de On
in the sequencer, leave at least a
100 msec pause before the next
message.

•

GM Mode Off ([F0][7E][7F][09]
[02][F7])

1600’s GM mode.

•

Reverb Change

[F7])

reverb function. yy determines the
type of reverberation effect.

The contents of the System Ex-

Note:

clusive message affect the entire key­board. Other messages affect only the
current MIDI channel.

— used to turn off the MD-

([F0][44][0E][09][yy]

— switches the keyboard’s

yy Value Reverb

00 Room
01 Stage
02 Hall
0F Off

Follow these steps to change MIDI pa­rameters.

1. Repeatedly press

TUNE/MIDI

appears.

2. Within 5 secon ds, repeatedly press
or to select the pa rameter you

want to change.

until

TRANSPOSE/

oFF GM Mode

GM Mode on/off (Default: Off): set to

when you want to have the ke y-

on

board receive GM data from another
MIDI device. Turning GM mode on
automatically turns
since GM mode and MIDI In Chord
Judge cannot be used at the same
time.

Set to
The tone, volu me and other param­eter settings of each channel are ini­tialized. When playing received
MIDI data, bass tones are lowered
one octave and the piccolo tone is
raised one octave.

Keybd Ch

nel) (Default: 01): sets the channel
for sending MIDI dat a to an exter nal
device.

to turn GM mode off.

oFF

(Keyboard Basic Ch an-

CHORD

off,

CHANGING MIDI
SETTINGS

The MD-1600 lets you change a number
of MIDI parameters, including turning
General MIDI mode on/off and selec ting
a MIDI channel.

44

Chord (MIDI In Chord Judge)

(Default: Off): when set to on, the
keyboard determines basic channel
note data as auto accompaniment
chords per the current chord fin ger­ing method. Turning GM mode on
automatically turns
since GM mode and MIDI In Chord
Judge cannot be used at the same
time.

Chord off,

42-4043.fm Page 45 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Local

On): set to on to se nd data simu lta­neously to the key board’s speakers
and as MIDI data. Set to
send data only as MIDI data (the
speakers on the keyboard remain
silent).

AcompOut

(Default: Off): set to on to sen d auto
accompaniment as MIDI data. Set to

oFF

3. Within 5 seconds, use
change the setting of the parameter.

(Local Control) (Default:

(Accompaniment Out)

to turn it off.

+

or – to

oFF

to

DUMPING/IMPORTING
DATA

The MD-1600’s internal data, including
data recorded to memory and synthesiz­er data, can be sent and received in bulk
as MIDI exclusive data th ro ugh the M IDI
terminals. Thus, you can us e a comput­er or other MIDI device as an external
storage device.

First make connec tions from the

MIDI OUT

and
device using MIDI cables.

Some software does not support

Note:

MIDI exclusive data.

terminals to an external

MIDI IN

See the Owner’s Manual that comes
with the receiving device for details.

2. Repeatedly press

TUNE/MIDI

display shows

3. Within 5 seconds, pre ss to start
data send.
MD-1600 automatically exits the
data transfer mode af ter all the dat a
is sent.

on the MD-1600 until th e

BulkSnd?

Sending

TRANSPOSE/

.

appears. The

Importing Data

Follow these steps to import dumped
data from another device.

1. Repeatedly press

TUNE/MIDI

BulkSnd?

2. Within 5 seconds repeatedly press

or so the display shows

BulkRcv?

3. Within 5 seconds, press to pre­pare the keyboard to receive data.

4. Start the send operation on the
sending device. See the manual that
comes with the connected device for
details. The MD-1600 automa tically
exits the data trans fer mod e a fter all
the data is received.

so the display shows

.

.

TRANSPOSE/

Dumping Data

Follow these steps to dump data from
the keyboard to an external device.

1. Put the other device in its receive
standby mode.

45

42-4043.fm Page 46 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

NOTES ABOUT THE MIDI
IMPLEMENTATION
CHART

The “MIDI Implementation Chart” on
Page 58 illustrates the details of the MD­1600’s MIDI function. A n O in the chart
means that the MD-1600 has this fea­ture; X means it does not ha ve this fea­ture. This section ex pla in s what the MD­1600 can do.

Basic Channel

channels to exchange da ta. As in a TV
broadcast, different channels send dif­ferent data.

— The chart shows that Mode 3 is

Mode

OMNI OFF, POLY. T his me ans the MD ­1600 sends and receives polyphonic
data on only one channel at a time.

Note Number

sents each key of the keyboard. The
lowest number (0) is five octav es below
middle C. Since the MD-1600’s lowest
note is two octave s below middle C a nd
the highest is t hree octaves above m id­dle C, your keyboard can send a note
number between 36 and 96 . But, it can
receive all 0 through 127 not e numbers,
so those keys outside the MD-1600’s
key range are interpreted as notes in­side the key range.

Velocity

fast the key was pressed, or how loud
the note should sound. 1 is the lowest
velocity, pian issimo; 127 is the lou dest,
fortissimo. 0 means the key is released.

— This number shows how

— MIDI uses up to 16

— This number repre-

— This means that the Note On mes-

9n

sage is 9 hexadecimal, and n is the
channel number.

For example, if you select Channel 16
and press Key D in m ezzo-piano, 9E (E
is 15 in hexadecimal ; note that Channel
1 is 0 in MIDI data) is first sent from MIDI
OUT, then 3D (decimal 61) is sent as
the key number, final ly 21 (decimal 33)
is sent as velocity.

Pitch Bender

and receives pitch bending signals.

Control Change

data on various co ntrollers , each hav ing
its own number. Fo r the details of each
parameter, see “MIDI Data” on Page 42.

Program Change

changes the preset sounds. Each sound
number corresponds to a prog ram num­ber between 0 and 127.

System Exclusive

sends special s ignals unique to th e MD-

1600. For details, see “MIDI Data” on
Page 42.

System Real Time

metronome to send the synchronizing
signal.

System real time com mands send th ree
kinds of signals —
board to start playing from the begin­ning,

stop

instruments to stop pla ying, and

ue

is similar to start, but it signals the
music to begin at wh atever point it was
last stopped.

— The MD-1600 sends

— This feature sends

— This feature

— This feature

— “Clock” is like a

start

tells the key-

tells all the synchronized

contin-

46

42-4043.fm Page 47 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

All Notes Off

— This feature is a kind of
panic button: it stops the sounds cur­rently playing. The MD-1600 only re­ceives this message.

Active Sensing

— This means the MD­1600’s sound turns off in t he event the
connection cable to

MIDI IN

terminal is

accidentally disconnected.

47

42-4043.fm Page 48 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

TROUBLESHOOTING

If the MD-1600 is not performing as it should, these suggestions might help. If you still
cannot solve the problem, take the keyboard to your local RadioShack store for assis­tance.

Trouble Possible Cause Remedy

No sound, even if keys are
pressed.

No sound when connected
to an external amplifier.

The ke yboard h as turned off
automatically.

Volume is turned down. Turn up the volume.
Headphones are c onn ec ted. Disconnect headphone s.
Power supply problem. Make sure the batteries are

You are pressing too few
accompaniment keys while

is set to

MODE

Volume is turned down. Turn up the volume on the

Defective connection cord. Replace the connection

FINGERED

Turn

POWER

facing co rrectly to match th e
marked polarity (+/–).

Replace the batteries with
fresh ones.

Connect the AC adapter
properly.

Set

MODE

CONCERT CHORD

.

Press 3 or 4 keys to form a
chord while

FINGERED

keyboard and amplifier.

cord.

on again.

to

NORMAL

MODE

.

or

.

is set to

48

42-4043.fm Page 49 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

CARE AND MAINTENANCE

Your

Optimus MD-1600 Elec troni c Keyb oard
craftsmanship. Th e following suggestions will help you care for your MD-1600 so
you can enjoy it for years.

Keep the MD-1600 dr y. If it gets wet, wip e it dry immediately. Li quids
might contain minerals that can corrode the electronic circuits.

Use and store th e MD-160 0 only in normal te mperature environme nts.
Temperature extre mes ca n shorten the life of electr onic de vices, da m­age batteries, and distort or melt plastic parts.

Keep the MD-1600 away from dust and dirt, which c an cause prema­ture wear of parts.

Handle the MD-1600 gently and carefully. Dropp ing it can damage cir­cuit boards and cases and can cause the MD-1600 to work improperly.

Use only fresh batteries of the required size and recommended type.
Batteries can le ak chemicals that damage your MD-1600’s electronic
parts.

is an example of superior des ign and

Wipe the MD-1600 wi th a damp cloth occasionally to keep it looking
new. Do not use harsh chemi cals, cleaning solvents, or strong deter­gents to clean the MD-1600.

Modifying or tampering with the MD- 1600’s i nternal com ponents can c ause a ma l­function and might inval idate its warranty. I f your MD-1600 is not pe rforming as it
should, take it to your local RadioShack store for assistance.

49

42-4043.fm Page 50 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

SPECIFICATIONS

Number of Keys ...................................................................................................... 73

Drum Pads ................................................................................................................ 6

Polyphonic Sound ............................................................................... 24-note (Max.)

Preset Tones ............ 200 (128 General MIDI, 32 synthesized, 32 user, 8 drum sets)

with Layer and Split

Rhythm Instrument Tones ....................................................................................... 61

Digital Effects ................................................ 3 reverb types (HALL, STAGE, ROOM)

Auto Accompaniment

Rhythm Patterns ................................................................................................... 100

Tempo ........................................................................ Variable (216 steps, 40 to 255)

Chords .......................... 3 fingering methods (Concert Chord, Fingered, Full Range)

Rhythm Controller ............................ Start/Stop, Intro, Normal/Fill-In, Variation/Fill-In,

Synchro/Ending

Accompaniment Volume ............................................................. 0 to 127 (128 steps)

Free Session .................................100 patterns (auto accompaniment in accordance

with selected chord progression)

Memory Function

Songs ................................................................................................................. 2

Recording Tracks ............................................ 6 (2 through 6 are melody tracks)

Recording Methods ..................................................................... Real-time, Step

Memory Capacity ....................... Approximately 5,200 notes (total for two songs)

Edit Function .......................................................................................... Equipped

Demo Tunes .............................................................................................................. 2

Custom Tone Synthesizer Function

Parameters ............................ PCM set, amp envelope set, attack rate, release rate,

pitch envelope set, pitch, level, touch sense, pan

50

42-4043.fm Page 51 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Mixer Function

Channels .......................................................................................................... 16

Parameters .................................. Program change number, volume, expression,

pan coarse tuning, fine tuning, on/off/solo

MIDI .................................................... 16 multi-timbre receive, GM Level 1 standard

Transpose ................................................................ –12 semitones to +12 semitones

Tuning ................................................................... Adjustable A4 = 440 Hz ±50 cents

Pitch Bend Range ............................................................ 12 semitones up and down

Built-In Speakers ..........................................................................12 cm × 2, 5 cm × 2

Terminals

MIDI Terminals ........................................................................................ IN, OUT

Assignable Terminal ..............................................................

1

/4-Inch Phone Jack

(sustain, sostenuto, soft, rhythm start/stop)

Power Supply .................................................................................. 12V DC Jack

Headphones Stereo Standard Jack ..................... Output Impedance: 200 Ohms

Output Voltage: 4.9 V (RMS) MAX

Power Sources ................................................................................ DC: 6 D batteries

AC: 12V with AC adapter

Power Consumption ........................................................................................... 18 W

Dimensions (HWD) .............................................................. 5

3

*4

4

/

453/

4

×

16

1

/2 Inches

(14.7 × 116.2 × 42.1 cm)

Weight (Without Batteries) ................................................................................. 20 lbs

(9.1 kg)

Included Accessory ....................................................................... Sheet Music Stand

Specifications are typical; individual units might vary. Specifications are subject to
change and improvement without notice.

51

42-4043.fm Page 52 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

APPENDIX

NOTE TABLE

52

42-4043.fm Page 53 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Legend:

1. Tone number

2. Maximum polyphony

3. Digital Controlled Oscillator

4. Range type

5. Recommended sound range for General MIDI
* Tones without scale
* The following shows maximum polyphone for synthesized tones 128 through 159:
141 BASS SLIDE: 24 notes
Other tones: 12 notes

53

42-4043.fm Page 54 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

FREE SESSION CHORD PROGRESSION CHART

54

42-4043.fm Page 55 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

55

42-4043.fm Page 56 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

DRUM ASSIGNMENT LIST

56

42-4043.fm Page 57 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

STANDARD FINGERING CHORD CHARTS

57

42-4043.fm Page 58 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

MIDI IMPLEMENTATION CHART

FUNCTION TRANSMITTED RECOGNIZED REMARKS

1

Basic
Channel

Default
Changed

Mode Default

Messages
Altered

Note
Number: True voice

V elocity Note ON

Note OFF

After
Touch

Keys

Channels
Pitch Bender O O
Control

Change

0, 32

1

6, 38

7

10

11

64

66

67

100, 101

120

121
Program

Change: T rue #
System Exclusive O
System

Common

: Song Pos

: Song Sel

: Tune
System

Real Time
Aux

: Clock

: Commands

: Local ON/OFF

: All notes OFF
Messages

: Active Sense

: Reset

Remarks

*3

Modulation and after to uch for each channel are the same effect.

*4

Pitch bend sense, fine tune, c oarse tune send/receive, and RPN Null receive

*5

In accordance with assigna ble jack setting

*6

GM on/off GM ON:[F0][7E][7F][09][01][F7]

*

1–16
1–16

Mode 3
X

❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊

24–96

❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊

O 9nH v=1–127
X 9nH v=0

X
X

O
X

*4

O
O
O
O

*5

O

*5

O

*5

O

*4

O
X
X

O 0–99

❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊

*6

X
X
X

O
O

X
X
X
X

1–16
1–16

Mode 3
X

❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊

0–127

2

*

1–108
O 9nH v=1–127

X 9nH v=0, 8nH v=XX
X

O

*3

O

*3

O

*4

O
O
O
O
O
O
O

*4

O
O
O

O 0–127

❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊

*6

O
X

X
X

X
X

X
O
O
X

GM OFF: [F0][7E][7 F ] [0 9][02][F7]
Reverb change [F0][ 44][0E][09][XX][F7] XX=00: ROOM, 01: STAGE, 0 2: HALL, 0F: OFF
Bulk dump [F0] [44][0E][01]

ID Number Data (128

[0L0][0H0]...[0L

2 = 256 Bytes) Checksum (1 × 2 = 2 bytes)

×

127

][0H

] [0LCS][0HCS] [F7] × 255 Block

127

1

*

Held in memory with

power supplied

2

*

See “Note Table” on

Page 52
XX=no relation

Bank Select
Modulation
Data entr y
Volume
Pan
Expression
Hold 1
Sostenuto
Soft pedal
RPN LSB, MSB
All sound off
Reset all controller

Mode 1: OMNI ON, POLY Mode 3: OMNI OFF, POLY O: Yes
Mode 2: OMNI ON, MONO Mode 4: OMNI OFF, MONO X: No

58

42-4043.fm Page 59 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

NOTES

59

42-4043.fm Page 60 Tuesday, August 3, 1999 6:51 AM

Limited One-Year Warranty

This product is warrante d by RadioSha ck against manufac turing defects in material and work man­ship under normal use for one (1) year from the date of purchase from RadioShack company-owned
stores and authorized RadioShack franchis ees and dealers. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED HEREIN, Ra­dioShack MAKES NO EXPRESS WARRANTIES AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING
THOSE OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE LIMITED
IN DURATION TO THE DURATION OF THE WRITTEN LIMITED WARRANTIES CONTAINED
HEREIN. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED HEREIN, RadioShack SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY OR RE­SPONSIBILITY TO CUSTOMER OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTI TY WIT H RESPECT T O ANY
LIABILITY, LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY BY USE OR PERFOR­MANCE OF THE PRODUCT OR ARISING OUT OF ANY BREACH OF THIS WARRANTY, IN­CLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM INCONVENIENCE, LOSS
OF TIME, DATA, PROPERTY, REVENUE, OR PROFIT OR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDEN­TAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF RadioShack HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
Some states do not allow the limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts or the exclusion of in­cidental or consequential damages, so the above limitations or exclusions may not apply to you.
In the event of a pr oduct defect durin g the warranty pe riod, take the pro duct and the R adioShack
sales receipt as proof of purchase date to any Rad ioShack stor e. RadioS hack will, at its option, un­less otherwise provided by law: (a) correct the def ect by product rep air wit hout char ge for parts and
labor; (b) replace the product wi th one of the same or similar design; or (c) refund the purch ase
price. All replace d parts a nd prod ucts, and p roducts o n which a refund is made, become th e prop­erty of RadioShack. New or recond itioned parts a nd products may be used in the performance of
warranty service. Re paired or replace d parts and pro ducts are warran ted for the remaind er of the
original warranty period. You will be charged for repair or re plac eme nt of the pr od uct m ade afte r the
expiration of the warranty period.
This warranty does not cover: (a) damage or failure caused by or attributable to acts of God, abuse,
accident, misuse, improper or abnorm al usage, fa ilure to follow instr uctions, imp roper installat ion or
maintenance, altera tion, lightning or ot her incidence of excess voltage or current; (b) any repairs
other than those provided by a RadioShack Authorized Service Facility; ( c) consumables such as
fuses or batteries; (d) cosmetic damage ; (e) tra nsport ation, ship ping or ins urance costs; or (f) costs
of product removal, installation, set-up service adjustment or reinstallation.
This warranty give s you specific le gal rights, and you may also have other righ ts which vary from
state to state.

RadioShack Customer Relations, 200 Taylor Street, 6th Floor, Fort Worth, TX 76102

We Service Wh at We Sell

04/99

RadioShack

A Division of Tandy Corporation

Fort Worth, Texas 76102

08A99 Printed in Japan