Internal Voices
Customizing the Internal Voices Mode
Musician’s Guide
3-3
Customizing the Internal Voices Mode
In keeping with the Òdigital pianoÓ concept of the Internal Voices mode, and in order to make
the PC88 as easy as possible to use, the sounds in the Internal Voices are always going to be the
same, and you cannot change them. (In Setups mode, you can do all sorts of things, as weÕll
soon see.) You can, however, change certain aspects of PC88 operation in Internal Voices mode.
These fall under the category of ÒZone parametersÓ, and are discussed fully in Chapter 5. They
work much the same way in Internal Voices mode as in MIDI Setups mode, with some
important differences. The Internal Voices mode uses only one ÒZoneÓ (Setups can use up to
four), so there is only one set of Zone parameters to adjust. Even more signiÞcantly, while in
Setups mode each of the 128 possible Setups has its own set of parameters, in Internal Voices
mode there is a single set of parameters that applies to
all
of the Internal Voices.
HereÕs an example of how to change the Internal VoicesÕ parameters. From any Internal Voice,
press the
MIDI Transmit
button under
Zone Parameters
. The bottom line of the display says
ÒMIDI Channel: 01Ó, meaning that the PC88 is transmitting all MIDI data on channel 1. Use the
alpha wheel to change the MIDI channel to Ò06Ó, and then press the
Store
button. The display
asks if you want to store a Setup with a particular number. Instead of pressing
Enter
, press the
Internal Voices
button. The display will change to ask if you want to store the changed
parameter to the Internal Voices. Now push
Enter
(in the numeric keypad) and the new data is
stored. From now on, whenever you are in Internal Voices mode, the PC88 will transmit on
MIDI channel 6, until you change it again.
LetÕs try another example. Press the
Velocity
button under
Zone Parameters
. The display shows the
velocity scale factor (Vel Scale), which is 100%: the sound responds directly and faithfully to the
keyboard velocity. Hold down the
Enter
key and move any slider upwards until the display reads
Ò200%Ó. Now play the keyboard. The velocity response has been ÒexpandedÓ: the keyboard is now
much more sensitive to louder notes. If you were now to press
Store
,
Internal Voices
, and
Enter
, this
would become a permanent characteristic of every Internal Voice. Of course, if you donÕt want to do
that, we wonÕt blame you. (Reset the velocity to 100% or press
Internal Voices,
then a Sound Select
button,
without
pressing
Store
to go back to the old settings.)
When you store anything to the Internal Voices, you are storing all of the current operating
parameters: velocity, transposition, controller deÞnitions, etc. There is only one storage area for
Internal Voices parameters, so when you store parameters to it, all previous settings are erased. Of
course, if some parameters havenÕt been changed, the new settings will be the same as the old.
Effects do not have to be manually stored with a Voice Ñ that happens automatically. As weÕve
seen, each Voice
can
have its own Effects settings. If you change the effects on any Voice, the settings
are remembered, so the next time you call up the Voice, the effects will be as you left them.
440-Tuned Piano Voices
Unless otherwise noted, piano programs are ÒbeatÓ tuned, like an acoustic piano. Since the
higher harmonics of a stretched string tend to be sharper than those of the real harmonic series,
beat tuning ensures that the piano remains in tune with itself harmonically. Beat tuning is
sometimes referred to as ÒsoloÓ or ÒstretchedÓ tuning. Some programs, though, such as
ÒClassPiano 440Ó, offer straight tuning, where the fundamental of each note is tuned to A440.
This allows for better mixing with other acoustic and electronic instruments. This type of
tuning, therefore, is sometimes known as ÒensembleÓ tuning.
Ride Cymbal and Metronome Click
Ride Cymbal and Metronome Click are two special voices that are layered with the ÒE Bass &
RideÓ and ÒA Bass & RideÓ Internal Voices. Metronome click is available as the notes A0 and
A#0, which happen to be the lowest two notes on the keyboard when you use the default key
range and transposition. Ride cymbal is included along with the bass notes (check out Setups 1
and 2, ÒA Piano TrioÓ and ÒE Piano TrioÓ to see how useful this can be), and is also assigned to
the notes that are above the range of the bass. You can get the ride cymbal by itself (without the
bass sound) by setting
Note Map
to ÒConstÓ on the
Key Range
menu, then going to the
Transpose
menu and transposing above the range of the bass.
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