Kurzweil PC3x - Chapter 10 Keymap and Sample Editing; The Keymap Editor

Keymap and Sample Editing
The Keymap Editor
10-1
Chapter 10
Keymap and Sample Editing
The Keymap Editor
TheKeymapEditorletsyoucustomizethePC3’sfactorypresetkeymapsandsavethemtoRAM.
Youcanalsobuildyourownkeymapsfromscratch(seeBuildingaKeymap on page 10‐7.)
Keymapsareanintegralpartofeverylayerofaprogram.Eachkeymapcontainsasetof
parametersdeterminingwhichsample(s)
thePC3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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PC3identifiesthekeyrangewhe re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PC3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something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