MIDI Receive
Musician’s Guide
8-1
Chapter 8
MIDI Receive
With its wide range of voices, high polyphony, and multi-timbral capabilities, the PC88 makes
an excellent instrument for use with a sequencer. Most sequencers have ÒThruÓ and
ÒChannelizeÓ functions, which means that the sequencer can determine how the MIDI signal
coming from a master keyboard (like the PC88) will be routed. If thatÕs the case, itÕs a wise idea
to turn Local Control (under the
Global
menu) off, so that you donÕt end up with doubled
notes and other kinds of confusion.
The PC88 can receive data on up to 16 channels at a time from an external MIDI source. The
MIDI Receive
button in the bottom row of the
Zone parameters
section lets you set up these
channels for reception.
Pressing
MIDI Receive
puts the PC88 temporarily into a single-instrument mode similar to
Internal Voices. After entering the mode, you can select the channel you wish to work on with
the cursor buttons, or you can use a special Intuitive Entry method: hold down the
MIDI
Receive
button and press one of the
Select
buttons. The display will jump to the MIDI channel
corresponding to the number on the
Select
button. If you now play the keyboard, you will hear
the sound assigned to that channel. Each channel has two parameters: on/off and program.
Channel On/Off
Turning a channel
Off
means it will not respond to any incoming data. Turning a channel off is
especially useful when you have another instrument receiving data on the same MIDI cable
that needs a channel of its own. Turning a channel off in this mode does not affect its MIDI
transmission
status: when you go back to your Setup, if a Zone is assigned to this channel, the
keyboard will continue to send data to all of the ZoneÕs selected destinations.
Program
The Program for the channel is chosen in the usual way, either with the
Select
and
Group
buttons, or the Alpha wheel or numeric keypad, or using Intuitive Entry. If you have the VGM
board installed, you can choose from any of its banks (1-3) as well as the PC88Õs Internal Voices
bank (0). The numeric keypad can be used to change banks quickly, with the Ò
+/-
Ó button acting
as a colon between the bank number and the program number. Example: to get program 50 in
the General MIDI bank, press
1
,
+/-
,
5
,
0
, and
Enter
.
When you change the program, you will hear the new sound on the keyboard, and a Program
Change command (as well as a Bank Select) is sent out the MIDI cable on the current channel. If
the current channel is assigned to one of the Zones in the Setup youÕve been working with,
selecting a new program in MIDI Receive mode will change the program on the corresponding
Zone. YouÕll hear the change when you go back to the Setup.
If you choose a bank that doesnÕt have any internal sounds, the Bank Select and Program
Change commands will still get sent over MIDI, but the PC88 will be silent, and the display will
say ÒNoneÓ. This provides an excellent way to conÞgure a large MIDI system: you can quickly
select programs for all instruments ÒdownstreamÓ of the PC88, on any MIDI channels.
To leave MIDI Receive mode, press any of the buttons in the top row of
Zone Parameters
to
return to editing your setup. Or, press
Internal Voices
followed by a Sound Select button to
return to Internal Voices mode. If you came from a Setup, and you changed the program on a
channel assigned to a Zone in that Setup, the Setup will now contain the new program in that
Zone Ñ otherwise, it will be just as you left it.
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