Setups and Zones
Analyzing a Setup
Musician’s Guide
4-1
Chapter 4
Setups and Zones
The full power of the PC88 is available when it is in the Ò
MIDI Setups
Ó (or just ÒSetupsÓ)
mode. In this mode, the PC88 can take on the identity of four distinct instruments and four
distinct MIDI transmitters, all of which can use the same set of physical controllers, or any
subset thereof. For example, you can create a keyboard which is split into four different regions,
each of which has its own instrument (say, drums, bass, piano, and sax), and each of which also
transmits on its own MIDI channel, so that four different external MIDI instruments can be
played individually by playing on different parts of the PC88 keyboard.
Each region is called a ÒZoneÓ. Zones can be next to each other on the keyboard, or on top of
each other, or overlap, or be nowhere near each other Ñ there are no limitations. Zones can
even be deÞned that arenÕt
on
the keyboard Ñ they are above or below the PC88Õs 88-key range
Ñ but they will still produce non-note MIDI data.
Besides Voice and MIDI channel, each Zone can also have its own velocity characteristics,
transposition (for internal sounds or for outgoing MIDI data), and deÞnitions for each physical
controller. Any controller Ñ wheel, slider, button, or pedal Ñ can perform up to four different
functions in the four zones. For example, a slider may control volume in two different zones,
but with opposite ÒsensesÓ, so that moving the slider causes the sound in one zone to fade out
while the other fades in. Or a pedal can control the pan position of two different synths, set in
opposition to each other, so that moving the pedal causes the sounds to literally move past each
other in the stereo Þeld.
This ability to use a single set of physical controllers to independently and simultaneously
address parameters on four internal sounds and/or MIDI channels gives the PC88 tremendous
ßexibility as a master keyboard for studio or live performance.
If your studio or performance rig includes synthesizers or processors that can respond to MIDI
controllers to modify their timbre or effects parameters, the varieties of expression available
with the PC88 are even greater: for example, a single pedal motion could simultaneously
brighten one sound, increase its vibrato speed, and move it further back into a reverb space,
and at the same time make the timbre of a second sound rougher, pan it hard to the right,
lengthen the release segment of the envelope, and give it Doppler-effect pitch shift.
Analyzing a Setup
Before we start making Setups, letÕs examine one and see what goes into it. The PC88 is shipped
with 32 pre-programmed Setups (64 if the VGM board is installed), which are selected, like the
Internal Voices, in groups of 16. The factory Setups make good templates for designing your
own. To get to them, press the
MIDI Setups
button, then use one of the data entry methods to
indicate the Setup you want.
For this example, press the
MIDI Setups
button followed by the
Synth Pad
button (#16).
The display (as shown below) now shows the name of the Setup, ÒVolume Sliders,Ó as well as
its numbers. The top number (starting with ÒSÓ) is the number of the Setup. There are 128 slots
for Setups altogether. All of them, even the ones that come with factory programs in them, are
user-programmable. (Factory Setups will never be erased from ROM, however. What you are
actually doing when you modify a Setup is saving over it into RAM with the same Setup
number. If you later delete the Setup in RAM, the preset ROM program will again be stored at
that number.) Next to the Setup number is the Setup name.
The bottom line of the display shows the group letter for the Setup (A-H), the number of the
preset button that calls it, the Zone number (1); a colon (Ò:Ó); and then the name of the Voice (if
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