Kurzweil PC3K8 - Chapter 14 Keymap and Sample Editing; The Keymap Editor

Keymap and Sample Editing
The Keymap Editor
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Chapter 14
Keymap and Sample Editing
The Keymap Editor
TheKeymapEditorletsyoucustomizethePC3K’sfactorypresetkeymapsandsavethemto
RAM.Youcanalsobuildyourownkeymapsfromscratch(seeBuildingaKeymap on page 14‐7.)
Keymapsareanintegralpartofeverylayerofaprogram.Eachkeymapcontainsasetof
parametersdeterminingwhichsample(s)
thePC3Kwillplaywhenyoutriggeranote.Each
layerhasatleastonekeymap,butitcanhavetwokeymapswhenyou’reworkingwithstereo
samples.Eachofthesestereokeymapsusestwoofthe128availablevoices.
Eachkeymapconsistsofasetofkey(note)ranges—C4
toG4,forexample.Theentirespanof
eachkeymapisfromC0toG10.Eachrangehasasamplerootassignedwithintherange.Each
samplerootisadistinctROMorRAM sample.Withineachkeyrange,thesamplerootis
transposedupanddown 
toplayoneachoftherange’snotes.Youcanvieweachrangeby
changingthevalueoftheKeyRangeparameterontheKeymap‐editorpage.Youcanmix
samplesofdifferenttimbreswithinasinglekeymap,andeventuneindividualkeystoanypitch
bydefiningkeyrangesto
singlenotesandassigningsamplestoeachofthosenotes.
Whenyoutriggeranote,thePC3KidentifiesthekeyrangewheretheNoteOneventoccurred.It
alsocheckstheattackvelocityvalueofthenote.Itthenaddressesitsmemory,andretrievesthe
samplerootthat’sassignedtothat
keyrangeandattackvelocityvalue.Ifthenotethat’s
triggeredisnotthenotewherethesamplerootisassigned,thesampleistransposedtoplayat
thecorrectpitch.ThePC3Kthengeneratesthedigitalsignalthatrepresentsthesoundofthe
note.Atthispointthekeymap’s
jobisdone,andthesignalproceedsthroughthelayer’s
algorithmandontotheaudiooutputs.
Youcanassignasmanykeyrangestoakeymapasyoulike,evencreatingaseparaterangefor
eachnote.Thiswouldallowyoutotuneeachkeyindependently,tocreatemicrotonaltunings.
Forkeymapsthatuseasingletimbre,liketheGrandPiano,there’sakeyrangeforeachsample
rootstoredinmemory.Foracousticinstrumentalsounds,themorekeyrangesyouhavefora
keymap,themorerealisticthesoundwillbe,sincetherewillbelesspitchshiftingofthe
sample
rootwithinthekeyrange.
Ofcourse,youcanassignsamplerootswithdifferenttimbreswithinthesamekeymap.Manyof
thedrumkitkeymapsinROM,forexample,haveabout20keyranges,withseveraldifferent
timbresassignedasthesampleroots.Youcanalsocreateakeymapwith
asinglekeyrangethat
spansfromC0toG10,ifyouwanttostretchasinglesamplerootfromC0toG10.Keepin
mind,however,thatsamplescanonlybetransposedupwardbyanoctavefromthesample’s
originalpitch.Samplescanbetransposeddownward
withoutlimit.
Thinkofakeymapasifitwereasinglepieceofstring,dividedintodifferentsectionsthatadjoin
oneanother.Sectionscannotoverlap.IfyouhaveonerangethatgoesfromC4toF4andanother
thatgoesfromF#4toC5,thenifyouchangethefirst
rangetobeC4toG4,thesecondonewill
changetobeG#4toC5.
Also,youcan’thave“nothing”assignedtoakeyrange.EvenifitisSilence(#999),therewill
alwaysbeasampleassignedtoeveryrangeinthekeymap.Thisissomethi n gtowatchout
for
whencreatingdrumprograms.Forexample,let’ssayyouarecreatingaprogramwith20layers.
Eachlayerhasitsownkeymap,whichhasjustonesampleassignedtopartofthekeyboardwith
therestofthe keyrangeassignedtoSilence.Makesurethatyoulimitthenote
rangeofeach