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POWER USER
Motif and the Modular Synthesis Plug-in System
PLG100-VH
Vocal Harmony Effect Processor
Plug-in Board
A Getting Started Guide
Tony Escueta & Phil Clendeninn
Digital Product Suppor t Group
©Yamaha Corporation of America
• The PLG100-VH board is part of the Modular Synthesis Plug-in System. It is an effect processor that can be
used in Performance mode or ‘live’ in a Song or Pattern to effect a microphone plugged into the A/D input
(analog-to-digital). Please follow all the instructions in the Owner’s Manual concerning installation. You can
verify proper installation by power ing up and viewing the UTILITY/ F6 PLUG s creen. This Guide will take yo u
through setting up the A/D input and editing the PLG100 -VH from the front panel of the Motif. (There is also
available a free stand alone VH Editor that brings the front panel parameters to your computer screen).
This Guide assumes you are at the Motif with the PLG100-VH p roperly installed in s lot 1 and have a quality microp hone
plugged into the LEFT (L) A/D input on the back panel of the unit. Follow this guide step-by-step at least the first time
through. When you are comfortable with the se tup pro c edures feel free to experiment creating your ow n setups .
Some terminology that you will find in the VH area:
Lead (Melody) – Refers to your natural voice or the synthesized lead Voice w/pitch correction. Can be assigned an
independent MIDI channel from the Harmony
Harmony (H) – MIDI controlled backing voc a ls (3 max.) follow chord/MIDI input. Can be triggered on it’s own channe l.
Gender (G) – male or female voice. Change gender withou t expe ns iv e, painful medical procedures.
Depth (Dpt) – how much a parameter will effect the sound
Threshold (Thresh) - the level at which a particular effe c t kicks in. Signals below the threshold are not effected.
Pitch Correction (PchCorrect) - when activated and a Gender type is selected you can create a ‘vocode’ effect that will
follow your played notes. You can balance this with yo ur normal voice or mix it completely to the vocoder effect.
ABOUT THE PLG BOARDS
The PLG-Modular Synthesis Plug-in
System: This innovative feature allows
you to add hardware plug-in boards that
can be either complete synthesizers or
specialized effect processing, as in the case
of the PLG100-VH.
The PLG 100-VH Vocal Harmony
The PLG100-VH provides a sophisticated
vocal effect that takes a microphone i nput
and reproduces up to 3 harmony parts.
These parts can be voiced under MIDI
control to make for intricate 4 part
choruses; (3 + your voice). This MIDI
control can be real time (as you play) or
controlled from a prerecorded MIDI track
(you can have prerecorded track the
controls the harmonies). It can also create
effects where you control the pitch of a
lead "synth voice" from your keyboard, and
where you can transpose the pitch you are
singing and can change the gender of the
voice, as well. Th is is great, allowing you to
talk, grunt or otherwise make noises into
musical pitches or into wild robot-like
sound effects.
Once it is connected, the PLG 100-VH
becomes another effect block in the Motif
and can be applied to one of the Parts
within a PERFORMANCE. Although
Harmony can be applied to normal
instrument Parts, it is designed specifically
to work with the A/D Input.
You can pre-program the pitch interval of
the harmony, o r you ca n pla y the harmo ny
from the Motif keyboard and even have the
harmony interval change, depending on
the chord you pl ay. As long as your ow n
voice is in pitch and you play the
appropriate chords, the PLG 100VH
ensures that the harmony “voices” will be
enharmonically correct and stay in pitch
with the chord changes of the song.
It also includes a gender changer effect
that turns a male voice into a female voice
(or vice versa), and a vibrato effect that
can add vibrato to your voice.
The VH EFFECT EDITOR
There is free stand-alone PLG100-VH
Effect Editor software available
gives you
PLG 100-VH settings and parameters. It
also provides exceptionally easy and
intuitive editing, with graphic controls .
comprehensive control o ver all
.
It
BOARD INSTALLATION
To install the PLG100-VH, follow the
instructions in the MOTIF Owner’s Manual.
The PLG100-VH must occupy slot 1 of the
Motif (All Blue wires, 1 Orange wire) in
order to use t he mic rop hone inp ut. Be sure
to place the board in the slotted grooves
and that boards do not touch each other or
the chassis of the Motif.
__________________________________
Using a Microphone & the A/D I nput
Before we get started with the PLG 100VH, it is necessary to understand how to
use the A/D Input of the MOTIF.
This next section of the guide will instruct
you how to use the A/D input of the MOTIF
with a microphone , in conjuncti on with the
PLG 100-VH. You can sing into a
microphone t hat is pl ugged into the MOTIF
and apply effects to the vocals.
Plug a micropho ne into one t he A/D Inputs
of the MOTIF. Check the MIC/LINE
parameter found in [UTILITY]/ [F2] I/O
/SF1 Input. Select MIC.
__________________________________
Three Easy Steps To Using The A/D Input and the PLG 100-VH.
Each PERFORMANCE stores A/D input
settings and these can be unique per
Performance.
To start from the beginning you will need
to “initiali ze” a PERFORM ANCE. If you have
a PERFORMANCE that you want to use,
skip step 1.
1>Initialize A PERFORMANCE:
• Select the PERFORMANCE yo u wish
to “Initialize”.
• Push [JOB]. Select the Initialize job
[F1].
• Push [ENTER] and then push
[INC/YES]
2>Select the Source Input Level:
• Press the [PERFORM] button to
select the main Performance
screen.
• Press [F2] AD to make and verify
microphone settings. Adjust the
signal “gain” level by turning the
small (GAIN) knob (located to the
left of the A/D input jack).
• Set the VOLUME = 127
• Set the MONO/STEREO input to “L
mono” or “R mono” as is
appropriate for your microphone.
This will place your voice in the
center of the mix.
• Set any effects or pan position to
taste.
3>Applying the PLG 100-VH:
• Press the [EDIT] bu tton.
• Press the [COMMON] button next to
the Data Wheel to enter Common level
parameters
• Press [F6] Effects/ [SF1] Connect. The
PLG100-VH is an effect processor and
logically this is where you will program
all of its parameters. (Your PLG1
button will not work. The PLG100-VH is
an effect processor and does not have
Voices, per se).
• In the upper left corner of the screen
you will see a diagram with two signals
coming in from the left. The upper one
is VCE INS or Voice Insertion Effect
(the Part with the Insert Effects
active). The lower one is reserved for
the PLG-EFF or Plug-In Effect
Processor. That’s us! It reads “off’ in
the diagram below. Move the cursor
down to highlight the word “off”.
• Use the [DEC/NO] button to set the
EFFECT PART as “PART A/D” (your
Microphone)
• Highlight the PLG-EF box to view the
various VH board modes: Thru
(bypass), Vocoder HM, Chordal HM,
Detune HM, Chromatic HM. Use the
Data Wheel to make selec tions.
Important navigation tip: The screen
above is very informative and changes
when you activate or highlight particular
areas. Notice in the screen shot above both
F6 (Effect) and SF1 (Connect) are currently
selected. When you install a PLG board
that is an effect board, the “PLG-EF” box
(which represents the VH board in this
case), SF2 will display a button that will
allow you to drop down and see the native
PLUG IN EFFECT parameters. To return to
this screen while editing the Vocal
Harmony parameters remember to hit SF1
Connect.
What Are the Four Vocal Harmony Types?
VOCODER HM: This prod uces up to three
synth voice harmony notes whose pitche s
correspond to the exact notes you play on
the MOTIF. In other words, you can sing
the melody and "play" the harmony or
harmonies from the keyboard (or have
them follow from a sequencer track). The
Harmony sound can be edited. The Lead
voice can be synthesized, as well (Pitch
Correct = ON). This is very useful when
you want to Pitch Correct your voice,
forcing the sound of your voice to the
notes you play on the keyboard. You can
edit this synth lead voice from 'almost'
natural to robot-like to munchkin-like
(Lead Gender Depth). You can use your
mouth shape and t he sound of your voice
to create unusual and bizarre out-of-thisworld vocal effects. Changing the gender of
the Voice uses one of the harmony voices
and reduces the number of synth backing
voices to 2.
Chordal HM: This produces up to three
harmony notes that correspond to the
chord-type you play on the MOTIF (or
chords recorded to a sequencer).
For example, if you play a C major
triad on the keyboard and sing a ‘C’ note
(and Chordal Mode is set to “trio”), the
resulting harmonies will be ‘C’, ‘E’, and ‘G’.
Thirty-four different chord types are
recognized in this mode - giving you an
amazingly full and flexible palette of
harmonies, suitable for nearly any music
style. The number of harmonies produced
and their position above or below the
melody is set in the Mode parameter .
In general, the Chordal Type is
best suited when you want to si mply play
the chords and have the Harmony effect
automatically sor t out the suitable notes.
DETUNE HM: This produces a slightly
“detuned” pitch and mixes it with the input
signal for a rich, chorusing effect. The
amount of the d etuning is edit able via the
MODE parameter.
MIDI note data from a keyboard or
sequencer has no effect in this mode.
CHROMATIC (CHROMAT.HM): This
produces a harmony at a fixed pitch
interval from the original sound (such as
an octave, or a third). The amount of the
pitch shift is set with the MODE parameter.
MIDI note data from the MOTIF or
sequencer has no effect in this mode.
EXAMPLE 1
This first example will use the PLG 100VH’s VOCODER Harmony type and the
MOTIF A/D Input.
To do this:
• Follow STEPS 1-3 of “Easy Steps
To Using The A/D Input and the
PLG 100-VH”.
At this point, you s hould be able to:
a) Hear audio through the microphone
b) Play the MOTIF and hear a piano
Voice.
c) Sing into the microphone while
playing a chord on the MOTIF. The
harmonies produced (up to three
harmony notes) are pitches
corresponding to the notes you
play on the MOTIF.
Now let’s turn the piano Voice off so that
we can concentrate on the Vocal Harmony
board. To do this we go to the lower level
of edit parameters – individual Part edit.
• Push Program (Track) button [1] to
select PART 1
• Set the Part Switch to OFF for the
piano voice currently in Part 1. [F1]
Voice / [SF1] Voice. Part Sw = OFF
*At this point, you should only hear the
original microphone signal and the
harmonized parts (when you play the
keyboard and sing into the microphone).
The next objective will be to alter the
balance of the harmony signal so that no
actual dry microphone signal is heard, just
the VOCODER effect.
keyboard and sing into the microphone).
Don’t be afraid to sing OUT LOUD. Many
people never hear the effect because they
don’t give up enough signal to the
microphone. But don’t overload the signal
either. It may take a minute for you to
adjust to how to sing to get maximum
benefit. Remember you have 3 parts so
playing more notes than that is, well, silly.
Using the PLG100-VH in this manner will
allow you to actually play your vocal parts
from the keyboard. The “synthesizer”
harmony pitches will be completely
determined by what is played on the
keyboard of the MOTIF. Controllers such
as pitch bend can also be applied to the
harmonized effect. STORE this
Performance, if you would like to keep it.
_________________________
EXAMPLE 2
the “Classic” Vocoder setting
The next setting will give you the classic
robot-like vocoder effect with key control.
To do this:
• Follow STEPS 1-3 of “Easy Steps
To Using The A/D Input and the
PLG 100-VH”.
• Push Program (Track) button [1] to
select PART 1
• Set the Part Switch to OFF for the
piano voice currently in Part 1. [F1]
Voice / [SF1] Voice. Part Sw = OFF
*At this point, you should only hear the
original microphone signal and the
harmonized parts (when you play the
keyboard and si ng into the mic rophone ). If
not, check the Lead/Harmony balance
(L=H).
While still in EDIT mode, return to upper
level parameters:
• Press [COMMON]/ [F6] Effect/ [SF2]
PLG-EF.
• We now can view the edit parameters
of the VOCODER.
• Use the right cursor to select the page
with the LowerG.Dpt (Lower Gender
Depth) and the Lead/Harm
(Lead/Harmony) balance parameters in
the right column.
• Adjusts the balance between the “lead”
and the PLG 100-VH’s vocal h a rmonies.
• Set the L=H parameter to “L<H63”
*At this point, you should only hear the
harmonized parts (when you play the
The next objective will be to:
• Adjust the settings of the PLG100-VH
to put the finishing touches on the
robot-like voice eff ect.
• Alter the balance of the Lead/Harmony
signal so that no actual dry microphone
signal is heard, just the VOCODER
effect.
Set the parameters as f ollows:
• ‘Mode’ to –1 OCT
• ‘H.Gender’ (Harmony gender)to auto
• ‘L.Gender’ (Lead gender) to male
• ‘Pitch Correct’ to ON
• Upper Threshold to “5”
• Set Lower Thrsh to “6”.
• Set Upper Gender Depth to “+00”.
• Set the ‘Lower Gender Depth to -20
(minus values move toward Barry
White; positive values toward
mechanical-man
• Lead-Harmony to L63>H
Backup your data in an ALL Data file to an
optional SmartMedia Card or SCSI storage
device. Performance data can be stored in
the ALL data type file (.w2a), or bulked to
an external device as system exclusive
data.
*The idea of this setting is to get a
monotone, ro botic sounding effect. At this
point you are ready to determine what
pitch the PLG board will drive by simply
playing a key on the MOTIF.
Please feel free to experiment with a
parameter. Certain parameters will work
together. For example, with the Pitch
Correction ON – the VH will force the ‘lead’
voice to the pitch you play on the keyboard
when you select a Lead Gender Type,
male/female. The Threshold parameters
will set sensitivity for the male or female,
or upper and lower voices.
Keep in mind, ho w you ‘shape’ your word s
(shape of the mo uth), the regis ter of your
voices and volume t hat you speak or sing
into the microphone, all determine the
results of the synthesized voice(s). This
allows endless and unique performance
possibilities.
__________________________________
EXAMPLE 3
This next example will use the PLG100VH’s CHORDAL harmony type.
To do this:
• Follow STEPS 1-3 of “3 Easy Steps
To Using The A/D Input and the
PLG100-VH” and select CHORDAL
in “Step 3”.
In general, the Chordal Type will allow you
to simply play the chords and have the
Harmony effect - automatically sort out the
suitable notes. Select the parts that the
synth voice will create: duet, trio, above,
above & below, below, etc.
Can I record this wacky stuff in the
Motif Integrated Sampling Sequencer?
That’s a fair question whose answer may or
may not be what you expect. Becau se the
Motif does not route incoming signals
through the effect processors when it
samples (it does when you resample), you
cannot record yourself using the Vocal
Harmony, directly. However, that said,
once you lay down your vocal you can
process it like a ny other s ignal t hrough the
VH processor and resample that to an
audio track. By assigning the Harmony
parts to follow a specific MIDI channel you
can ‘orchestrate’ your backing vocals with
any track containing the controlling note
data.
Visit www.Motifator.com and download the
files called VH_PLG_2.w2a and
VH_PLG_2.w3a and transfer them to your
SmartMedia card or SCSI drive. There are
15 examples. 10 are Chordal setups, 1
Detune, and 4 are Vocoder examples. Also
you will find several Songs and Patterns
setup to use the various setups.
Duet Above Chordal
Duet Below
Duet Above & Below
Trio Above
Trio Above & Below
Trio Below
Trio Above & Below + Bass
Quartet Above
Quartet Above & Below
Quartet Below
Detune Detune
The same setup method can be applied for
using DETUNE and CHROMATIC types.
Additional settings can be altered within all
of the Harmony Types to change the type
of voicing of the harmonization, gender
type of the harmonies, and detuning,
transposition and pitch correction
parameters.
You must name and save the
PERFORMANCE to r etain these changes .
Vocoder Vocoder
Barry
Jane
Weird
Tony Escueta and Phil Clendeninn
File examples prepared by Athan Billias
Digital Product Suppor t Group
©Yamaha Corporation of America
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