ENSONIQ SQ-R User Manual

SQ-R Musician's Manual Section 5 - Programming the SQ-R
Section 5 — Programming the SQ-R
WhatisaSound? 5-1
Voices and Polyphony 5-1
Compare — Using the Edit Sound Button/LED 5-2
Edit Buffer 5-2
Abandoning Your Edits 5-2
Saving a New Sound into Memory 5-3
Copying an Existing Sound to Another Location 5-4
What is a Sound?
SQ-R Sounds are divided into two categories; Standard Sounds, which are
dynamic structures made up of three voices and an effect, and Drum Sounds,
which feature 17 voices and an effect. Drum Sounds have slightly different
programming features due to having the added voices.
Standard Sounds and Drum Sounds each have their own programming
guidelines. See Sections 6 and 7 for details. This section of the manual will
cover the "common ground" between the two types of sounds.
Voices and Polyphony
When referring to the number of voices in a SQ-R sound, we are not talking
about polyphony (as in "you can only play so many notes," see below). We are
referring to the number of voices that will sound on each MIDI note received as
you play the sound.
The SQ-R has a total of 21 voices which are dynamically assigned among the
different sounds that you play. How many voices a sound uses on each MIDI
note received depends on the sound. Many sounds use only one voice — in the
case of these sounds you can play 21 notes before "voice stealing" occurs. On
sounds that use two voices, you can play 10 notes before any voices are stolen.
Three voices, seven notes. Up to three voices can be active in one Standard
sound.
Drum Sounds are inherently "one voice" sounds and always use only one voice
per MIDI note received.
Bear in mind that the SQ-R is "smart" about voice allocation — there are many
things that a programmer can do to increase the apparent polyphony of a sound
and to minimize the effects of voice stealing. For example:
• As soon as a voice is done playing (either because it reached the end of the
wave or because the volume envelope went to zero) that voice becomes free and
a new note can use that voice rather than stealing one that is still sustaining. See
"Voice Triggering/Stealing Notes," in Section 6.
• Also, you can assign low, medium or high priority to each voice in a sound,
which allows you to control how voices are reassigned. See Output Bank in
Section 6.
WhatisaSound? 5 - 1

ENSONIQ SQ-R Specifications

General

Brand	ENSONIQ
Model	SQ-R
Category	Synthesizer
Language	English