Category Archives: Music

PSR effects for electric piano (Part 1)

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A common complaint about the electric pianos on the Yamaha PSR arranger workstations is their lack of “guts” or “grit.” The voice samples are reasonably good, but the effects programming is vanilla and way too polite, especially for rock and soul styles. Here is a table showing the default DSP effect for some of the electric piano voices in the PSR-S950:

    PSR-S950 voice  Category     Effect
    --------------  ----------   -----------------------
    SparkleStack    CHORUS       CHORUS3
    SweetDX         CHORUS       CHORUS3
    BalladDX        CHORUS       ENS DETUNE1
    DX Dynamics     CHORUS       CHORUS2
    BalladBells     CHORUS       CHORUS3
    SuitcaseEP      CHORUS       CELESTE2
    VintageEP       TREMOLO      EP TREMOLO    [DSP off]
    CP80            CHORUS       CHORUS3
    StageEP         CHORUS       CELESTE2
    SmoothTine      SPATIAL      EP AUTO PAN
    ElectricPiano   SPATIAL      EP AUTO PAN   [DSP off]
    Clavi           DISTORTION   DIST SOFT1
    WahClavi        WAH TCH/PDL  CLAVI TC.WAH
    PhaseClavi      PHASER       EP PHASER2

You can see that most of the voices use a chorus effect. In two cases, the DSP effect is turned off by default. (You need to turn it on using the [DSP] front panel button.) The Clavinet voices are a little more fun and use distortion, wah and phaser.

Chorus does not add much “heft” to a voice and it doesn’t add grit. Compression, mid-range boost (EQ) and overdrive are better choices when you need a punchy and/or grungy electric piano sound.

Let’s take a look at the effects programming for a few electric piano voices on the Yamaha MOX synthesizer workstation. The basic voices drive two insert effects connected in series:

    MOX voice             Insert A     Insert B
    --------------------  -----------  -----------
    Crunchy Comp          MltBndComp   CompDistDly
    Vintage Case          AmpSim 2     Auto Pan
    Chorus Hard           ClassicComp  SPX Chorus
    Drive EP AS1          AmpSim 2     Auto Pan
    Natural Wurli         AmpSim 1     Tremolo
    Wurli Distortion AS1  Tremolo      CompDistDly

On the MOX, every voice uses compression, amp simulation or distortion, even the voices employing the evergreen tremolo, pan and chorus effects.

At this point, PSR users tend to throw up their hands and say, “Well, that’s the Motif series!” and back away. Yamaha — bless them — share technology between workstation products. Quite often, you can find the equivalent PSR effect algorithm for an MOX (MOXF) or Motif algorithm.

Consider the MOX “AmpSim2” algorithm. This algorithm shares the same parameters as the PSR “DISTORTION AMP SIM2” algorithm. Here is a table showing the corresponence between MOX and PSR.

    MOX parameter  PSR parameter  MOX value
    -------------  -------------  ---------
    Preset         n/a            Stack1
    AmpType        AMP Type       Tube
    OverDr         Drive          16
    OutLvl         Output Level   70
    LPF            LPF Cutoff     6.3KHz
    Dry/Wet        Dry/Wet        D<W30

The parameter values given here are taken from the MOX “Drive EP AS1” voice. Bring up a PSR voice like “VintageEP,” edit its DSP effect and replace the tremolo effect with “AMP SIM2.” Plug in these values, listen and tweak!

My second example is taken from the MOX “Natural Wurli” voice. The MOX effect algorithm name is “Amp Sim1”. The equivalent PSR effect algorithm is “DISTORTION V_DIST WARM” and its siblings. Here is the equivalency table:

    MOX parameter  PSR parameter  MOX value
    -------------  -------------  ---------
    Preset         n/a            Stack2
    OverDr         Overdrive      2%
    Device         Device         Vintage tube
    Speaker        Speaker        Stack
    Presence       Presence       +10
    OutLvl         Output Level   53%
    Dry/Wet        Dry/Wet        D<W1

Again, change the PSR DSP effect to “V_DIST WARM” and plug in the values. Then, tweak away.

The final example is a multi-effect taken from the MOX “Wurli Distortion AS1” voice. The MOX effect algorithm is “CompDistDly” that is a compressor, distortion and delay effect chain. The equivalency table is:

    MOX parameter  PSR parameter         MOX value
    -------------  --------------------  ---------
    Preset         n/a                   Hard1
    OverDr         Overdrive             15%
    Device         Vin_tube              Vintage tube
    Speaker        Stack                 Stack
    Presence       Presence              +10
    DelayL         Delay Time L          307.3ms
    DelayR         Delay Time R          271.7ms
    FBTime         Delay Feedback Time   306.6ms
    FBLevel        Delay Feedback Level  +31
    FBHiDmp        Feedback High Dump    0.8
    OutLvl         Output Level          22%
    DlyMix         Delay Mix             0
    Compress       n/a                   -29dB
    Dry/Wet        Dry/Wet               D<W12

The almost equivalent PSR effect algorithm is “DISTORTION+ V_DST H+DLY”. The PSR algorithm is missing the compression component (parameter). If you want compression, then consider one of the other PSR distortion algorithms with mono delay.

Keep thinking “multi FX.” I’m going to visit the REAl DISTORTION multi FX algorithm in a future post.

Some of the MOX voices use VCM effects. I didn’t deconstruct the voices with VCM effects because my S950 doesn’t have them. However, if you have VCM effects, for heaven’s sake, use them!

Learn how to save your new creation in Editing and Saving PSR Effects (Part 2).

PSR effects for electric piano (Part 1)
Editing and saving PSR effects (Part 2)
Multi-effects for electric piano (Part 3)
Copy PSR DSP effects (part 4)

Chord Tracker revealed

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I am using the Yamaha Chord Tracker app to figure out the chords to some tunes. Chord Tracker analyzes the music in an MP3/audio file and displays a chord chart. This is great for learning new tunes and working out arrangements.

Chord Tracker can do much, much more! Yamaha really needs to produce a manual for this app to reveal all of these functions. Here are some useful tips including how to send a MIDI file for a transcribed song to your Yamaha PSR/Tyros arranger for playback.

First off, you can change the chords in the chord chart. If you don’t like a chord, just tap the chord and select a new one. Chord Tracker does a pretty decent job of identifying chords in “simple” music. For example, it did a great job with Hot Chocolate’s “Every 1’s A Winner.” (My guilty pleasure.) It didn’t do such a good job with Groovy Waters downtempo “Wicked Game.” The jazz chords (Dm/Eb, come on, man) threw Chord Tracker off. No problem, just edit the chord chart.

Here’s a crazy idea. Use a DAW to produce a three minute song with one or two chords at the beginning. Transcribe the song with Chord Tracker. When you need to create a new song from scratch, edit the new chords. Presto, a chord chart editor.

Next, you can send the chord progression to your PSR/Tyros. The Yamaha web site touts wireless connection, but you can send the song file via wired USB. I transferred the chord progression to my S950 using the Apple Camera Connection kit. (My iPad is a gen 4 running iOS9, BTW.)

The Yamaha web page for Chord Tracker states that Chord Tracker is compatible with the currently listed “Related Products.” That is true. However, Chord Tracker worked successfully with the S950 (not listed). So, even though you don’t own the latest and greatest, please give this capability a try.

On the iPad side, you need to establish a connection from Chord Tracker to your keyboard. Plug in the Camera Connection Kit and USB cable first. Then select your instrument in the Connection box on Chord Tracker’s main screen.

Choose an audio song to transcribe to a chord chart and turn Chord Tracker loose. Once you have a chord chart, tap the upload icon, i.e., that square box with an arrow shooting upward. Then tap the “Send to Instrument” button. Chord Tracker pops up a dialog in which you can enter/change the name of the song file to be created on the arranger workstation. Tap SEND and Chord Tracker sends the song file to the arranger.

Chord Tracker stores the song file in the arranger’s internal drive. It creates a directory named “ChordTracker” and stores the song file in this directory. Any other song file that you create this way is stored in the “ChordTracker” directory.

Press the SONG SELECT button on the arranger to find and select the song file. Navigate to the USER tab of the internal drive and then press the corresponding button for the “ChordTracker” directory. Then press the corresponding button for the song file itself, e.g., “every1s”, which is the name that I gave to the “Every 1’s A Winner” song file.

Press the play button. The arranger will play back the song using the currently selected style and section. Now have fun changing the style, section, tempo and so forth. You can change the style, section, etc. in real time while the song plays, making it easy to tune the song to your sonic wishes.

Of course, you can dive into SONG CREATOR and tweak away. The System Exclusive TAB reveals much of the magic behind the scenes.

Chord Tracker generates three MIDI metadata records for time signature, key signature and tempo, followed by three System Exclusive messages:

    F0 7E 7F 09 01 F7             GM reset
    F0 43 10 4C 00 00 7E 00 F7    XG system ON
    F0 43 60 7A F7                Accompaniment start

The preamble is followed by a slew of Yamaha System Exclusive messages for the chord changes:

    F0 43 7E 02 34 00 34 7F F7    Chord control (F maj/F)
    F0 43 7E 00 08 7F F7          Section control (MAIN A ON)
    F0 43 7E 02 23 00 23 7F F7    Chord control (Eb maj/Eb)

Chord Tracker does not generate the Yamaha proprietary CdS1 chunk in the MIDI file. All playback is controlled by metadata and System Exclusive messages.

We can expect to see more of these kinds of features from Yamaha. They have a US patent (number 9,142,203) for a formatted chord chart and accompaniment generator. The generator is driven by a simple, free form text chord chart.

All site content is Copyright © P.J. Drongowski unless otherwise indicated.

Innards of Krome and Kronos

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Plenty of discussion about Korg Kronos and x86 on the Keyboard Magazine forum, so it’s time to study up on Korg architecture and formulate an opinion.

Before diving in, I should say that I try to get my information from primary sources (e.g., service manuals) and to not rely on Internet “truthiness.” The Web is filled with people who want to believe something whether they are informed or not. Thanks, Stephen Colbert, for the notion of truthiness!

Not all service manuals are readily available (at no cost!), making the narrative a bit sparse. Nonetheless…

Korg have two distinct paths which have led to the current Kronos and Krome. My simplified take on the first thread of Korg workstation history is, starting from Triton:

  • Triton family begat the
  • M3 which begat the
  • M50 which begat the
  • Krome.

The second major historical thread is the multi-faceted OASYS which begat the Kronos series. Along side all of this “begatting,” Korg developed its professional arranger workstations, e.g., the PA80, PA500, etc. leading to the current PA900 and PA4x. The arranger workstations are kin to the Triton, M-series, and Krome, and share much of the underlying hardware technology.

Let’s take the Krome first because it is the most similar to Yamaha and Roland architecture.

The Korg Triton LE was released in 2002 and is a stripped down version (no sampling, no ribbon controller, smaller display, etc.) of the classic Triton. Its embedded CPU is a Renesas SH7043A, the same choice as Roland and Yamaha in that era. The embedded CPU handles all of the user interface (UI) processing and communicates with the keyboard, knobs, LCD and so forth. Samples are generated by a Korg proprietary tone generator chip designated “TGL96” or MB87F1710-PFV-G-BND. The TGL external clock frequency is 24.576MHz. The tone generator has a dedeicated memory channel to 32MBytes of wave ROM. Overall, the Triton LE internal architecture is similar to corresponding Yamaha and Roland products.

The TR61 was released in 2006 and resembles the Triton LE. It has more physical wave ROM (64 MBytes), USB-to-PC communication and an SD card slot. The embedded CPU is a Renesas SH7043A which, again, handles the UI components. The Korg proprietary tone generator chip is designated “TGL96” or MB87F170-PFV-S. Although the parts list uses the same identifier as the LE, this chip is probably just a slightly updated model in the same TGL family.

Korg marketing called its Triton-era synthesis “HI,” or “Hyper Integrated” synthesis. The PA80 arranger also uses HI synthesis and a Korg MB87F1710-PFV-S TGL96 tone generator. Thus, synths and arrangers using HI synthesis probably contain some variant of the MB87F1710 TGL family.

Skipping ahead to the M3 (released in 2007), the tone generator is designated TG01 or MB87M4080PB-GE1. Korg marketing switched to “Enhanced Definition Synthesis” or “EDS.” This chip is clocked using an external 24.576MHz crystal, yielding an internal clock speed of 98.304MHz. The TG01 has two dedicated memory channels (upper and lower PCM data bus) to wave ROM. The TG01 has a third memory channel to an 8MB DRAM for DSP working storage.

The main CPU in the M3 is a a Freescale MC9328MX1 ARM processor. The ARM is clocked at 196.608MHz. The M3 also uses a Renesas H8 (HD64F3687GFPV) for key scanning. H8s are 16-bit processors that are good for interface and “microcontrol.” The Freescale MC9328MX1 is the first appearance of an ARM processor in Korg synth. Yes, that’s right, folks. Korg have used embedded ARM processors since 2007.

The EXB-RADIAS is a synthesizer/vocoder option board for the M3 that uses Korg MMT (Multiple Modeling Technology). The EXB-RADIUS is no processing slouch, consisting of a Renesas SH7709S CPU and two Texas Instruments TMS320VC5502 DSP processors.

I located a service manual for the PA500 arranger from the same era (2007). The PA500 arranger implements EDS and contains a Korg MB87M4080PB-GE1 tone generator IC. The Freescale MC9328MX1 performs the work of a master embedded CPU (user interface, USB interface, LCD control, keyboard input, MIDI interface, etc.) The ARM core clock is 200MHz — fast enough for control, not fast enough for DSP. The DSP is handled by the MB87M4080PB tone generator.

Completing the early picture, the M50 (released 2008) is a reduced feature version of the M3. The M50 implements EDS and contains a Korg MB87M4080 tone generator.

I could not find a service manual for the Krome. Grainy images of its KLM-3119 motherboard show a Korg MB87M4080 TG01 tone generator and what is probably a TI OMAP ARM processor. Clock frequencies cannot be determined from pictures alone. The designers likely replaced the Freescale processor with the Texas Instruments OMAP. Korg marketing changed the pitch name to “EDS-X (Enhanced Definition Synthesis-eXpanded).” The meaning of “expanded” is not clear although the Krome supports more polyphony than the M50. The Krome employs an internal 4GByte micro SD card for sample storage. The TG01 appears to be driven by two ISSI IS42S16160G 256Mbit DRAMs which are organized 16Mx16bits. Very likely, samples are loaded into these DRAMs by the OMAP on demand. The SD card is relatively slow and continuous streaming from SD to the TG, to me, seems unlikely.

Up to this point in the narrative, we know that Korg have at least two generations of proprietary tone generator chip families:

MB87F1710     Hyper Integrated (HI) synthsis
MB87M4080PB   Enhanced Definition Synthesis (EDS)

Whether EDS-X represents a third generation is open to question. Summarizing further, Korg use ARM processors (low clock rate, low power) to handle UI and control tasks.

A desire for additional synthesis methods led to the Korg OASYS. The OASYS is built around the AOpen MX4GVR-GN micro-ATX motherboard (Intel Socket 478). The motherboard is fitted with an Intel 2.8GHz Pentium 4 processor and a minimum of 1GByte of RAM. The OASYS requires a fair bit of additional logic to handle all of the I/O and user interface including a Renesas H8 and a Texas Instruments embedded DSP. The operating system is a custom version of Linux.

Customers found the OASYS to be too expensive and about 3,000 were sold. Having learned from this experience, Korg developed the lower cost Kronos series. There are three major models in the series, where each model is built around a particular mini-ITX, x86 motherboard:

Kronos Lot A  Intel BLK D510M0      Intel 1.66GHz D510 dual-core Atom
Kronos Lot B  Intel D525MW          Intel 1.80GHz D525 dual-core Atom
Kronos X      Intel D525MW          Intel 1.80GHz D525 dual-core Atom
Kronos 2      ASRock IMB-140D Plus  Intel 1.86GHz D2550 dual-core Atom

The motherboard connects to an SSD memory device via SATA2 and to an ARM processor via USB. The ARM processor handles UI and interfacing duties just like the ARM processor in the Krome. The x86-based motherboard performs synthesis. Thus, the Kronos internal architecture is like the synths in the Krome line except the proprietary tone generator IC is replaced by an x86 motherboard running Linux! This internal organization gives Korg substantial cost savings over the OASYS.

According to Dan Phillips (Korg R&D), “… all synthesis, effects, and audio processing is done within the Intel CPU, and naturally the sequencer and KARMA as well.”

Two types of ARM processors were used: Texas Instruments Sitara AM1806BZWT3 (early models) and Texas Instruments AM1808BZWT3 (later models). I’ll focus on the AM1808. The AM1808 system on a chip (SOC) has an ARM926EJ-S core, 16KB I-cache, 16KB D-cache, 8KB RAM (vector table), 64KB built-in ROM (boot image), 128KB system RAM and a host of built-in interfaces (LCD, USB, SPI, etc.) The wealth of interfacing options makes this kind of ARM SOC ideal for embedded applications. The NEON signal processing extension supports 16-bit fixed point arithmetic including a single-cycle multiply-accumulate (MAC) unit. Hardware floating point is not supported. Although the NEON extension is handy, the heavy DSP is performed by the x86.

ARM core clock speed is a function of core voltage, external crystal frequency and software-level configuration. The external oscillator frequency (24MHz) and core supply voltage (1.2V) point toward a 375MHz core clock speed. In any case, the AM1808’s maximum supported speed is 456MHz. The ARM processor — unlike the high frequency dual-core Atoms — dissipates relatively little heat and does not require a heat sink and/or fan.

At this point, we have accumulated enough information to compare Krome’s synthesis hardware to the Kronos. Krome uses a Korg proprietary tone generator IC (TGL) to synthesize music. The TGL operates at a relatively low clock speed and does not require a heatsink or fan. The size and weight of the TGL are nearly negligible when compared with the mini-ITX motherboard. The Kronos x86 mini-ITX system has a big footprint (6.7in by 6.7in or 170mm by 170mm), needs a heatsink and fan, and weighs 0.61 kilograms (1.4 pounds). The heat generated by the motherboard (20 to 25 watts) must be externally ventilated, thereby complicating the mechanical design of the overall product. Thus, x86 motherboard synthesis comes with a significant system cost. The Intel chipset dissipates the most heat, so even if the extraneous motherboard components are eliminated, thermal design is a significant disadvantage of x86-based synthesis.

Here’s how the complete products stack up (61 key models):

                                    Krome    Kronos 2
                               ----------  ----------
    Synthesis                       EDS-X        HD-1
    Polyphony                      120/60         140
    Power consumption (Watts)          13          60
    Weight (pounds)                  15.9        31.5
    Weight (kilograms)                7.2        14.3

Performance is compared on the basis of sample-based synthesis while disregarding differences in tone quality. The Krome implements only sample-based synthesis, so the basis for comparison on this dimension is limited. As a complete system, the Kronos out-weighs and out-dissipates the Krome two-to-one.

Finally, here are a few words comparing Kronos SSD versus Krome Micro SD for sample storage and transfer. The Kronos SSD is SATA2 with a raw 3Gbit/sec transfer rate. Although the maximum transfer rate is 300MBytes/sec, the 30 GB Toshiba SSD (THNSNB030GBSJ) is specified at:

    Read transfer rate:  180MBytes/sec
    Write transfer rate:  50MBytes/sec

The Class 10 micro SD card is specified at:

    Read transfer rate:   10MBytes/sec
    Write transfer rate:  10MBytes/sec

According to the SD Association, these are minimum speeds and actual devices may operate faster. Further, two different SD bus speeds are rated: 12.5 MB/sec default speed and 25 MB/sec high speed. Without further testing or knowledge of the particular SD card in use, no further conclusions can be drawn properly. One should note, however, that Krome device-to-tone generator bandwidth is significantly lower than Kronos even when best SD performance is assumed.

SD device communication is simpler than SATA. SD is designed for low cost. An SD card interface is a frequent, integrated feature of an ARM SOC. The SD interface favors lower system cost and complexity.

SSD storage devices, on the other hand, are not simple devices. They contain a SATA bus controller, RAM cache and cache controller. Data caching gives SSD its speed advantage over naked flash memory. The SATA interface is part of the Intel NM10 Express Chipset IC on the Intel motherboard. Comparatively speaking, the SD card and bus win on the basis of cost and simplicity.

The complexity of the SATA interface would tend to preclude direct communication from SATA to a proprietary tone generator like the TGL. Cost and simplicity favor “raw” communication between tone generator ICs and RAM/ROM.

Whew! That’s quite a lot of detailed information. To keep things short and focused, I’ll address the suitability of x86 for conventional synthesizer design in another post.

Here is a link to my dive into some old Roland gear. You might also want to read my post about Yamaha MOX internal architecture. There are also three posts (here, here and here) about Yamaha arranger internals.

TC-Helicon Play Electric

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Sometimes the best inexpensive multi-effect stomp box is pitched as a vocal harmony processor.

The built-in effects on the Korg Triton Taktile (TT) are rather plain and unpronounced. So, I cast the net for stomp boxes to beef up the keyboard sounds with reverb, chorus, phaser, flanger, tremolo and the rest of the usual suspects. Something to spice up the guitar sounds is also nice. Vocal harmony processing never entered my mind since I rarely sing.

My first thought was to build a small pedal board of stomp boxes. Based on Internet reviews, I bought a TC-Electronic Hall of Fame (HOF) Reverb pedal. It’s stereo, clean and the preset algorithms are terrific. I love this little red box! Its Toneprint capability is really a gas. Through Toneprint, you can actually add chorus or flanger, making it a good, small, one pedal solution for keyboard effects. I also use the HOF for recording — the algorithms and cleanliness are that good.

Based on that success, my next thought was to add more TC-Electric pedals. TC’s guitar pedals hit the street in the $100 to $150 (USD) range. Thus, you can run up a bill pretty fast covering all of the bases!

Enter the TC-Helicon Play Electric (PE). After finding a very attractive price for the PE at ProAudioStar, I investigated its capabilities. Thanks to smart signal routing, the PE is really like two multi-effect processors in one — one side is a guitar chain and the other side is vocal harmony and effects processing. I’m going to concentrate on the guitar side here as I haven’t explored the vocal harmony processing yet.

The guitar effects chain consists of amp simulation, compression, modulation, delay and reverb. It covers all of the major effect food groups except phaser. What it does cover, it does very well. There are a small number of “greatest hit” algorithms from the Corona Chorus, Vortex Flanger and the HOF — all very usable. The user interface is a breeze and I quickly pulled together presets for chorus, flange, rotor, pan, tremolo and auto filter. The Triton Taktile electric pianos sound great through the PE effects. Thanks to the factory presets, U2 can sound like The Edge (pun intended). The rather lame electric guitars sound huge through the PE presets.

The quality of the rotor effect is a real surpise. Although the Neo Instruments Ventilator doesn’t have anything to fear, the rotor is not bad and it compensates for the TT’s inability to switch between slow and fast rotor speed. (If you can stand the sometimes maddening swirl of rotor-on-rotor violence.) I programmed slow and fast rotor presets in adjacent locations and can switch between fast and slow via the increment and decrement switches on the pedal.

What does the Play Electric give up in favor of lower cost? The individual pedal approach has the advantage of immediacy — lots of knobs and switches to play with. The PE effects are easily tweaked through the UI, but lack the immediacy of front panel knobs. Further, the PE exposes only the most important parameters through the UI, emphasizing convenience over tweaking. The compressor parameters roll up the whole lot of attack, release, etc. into “Amount” and “Makeup” parameters. TC-Helicon offer deeper editing in the much more expensive (and heavier) Voice Live. The Voice Live also has a wider range of effects. From what I’ve heard so far, however, I’m good with the Play Electric.

I look forward to trying the vocal side. The PE does not have MIDI IN for scale detection — it’s all audio, baby. The PE has built-in microphones and will detect scale out of the sonic ether as well as processing the audio signal at the guitar input. I’ll post results after experimenting.

The TC-Helicon Play Electric is normally advertised in the live sound section of on-line and print catalogs. Thus, it’s worth checking out vocal processors when looking for keyboard/guitar effects. You might be surprised at what you’ll find.

There is one alternative to the PE that looks viable for keyboard players. Keyboardists don’t usually chain effects together like a guitar player and often one additional effect through a reverb will do. The Line 6 M5 pedal is the “Swiss Army Knife” of effects. It does one effect at a time and has a very wide range of available effects (much greater than the PE). The M5 has stereo inputs (while the PE is mono). An M5 coupled with the HOF would be a capable duo at a reasonable total cost.

Switching gears a little bit, I don’t know why Keyboard Magazine and other keyboard-oriented publications don’t review effect pedals very often. These pedals are just as vital and useful to keyboard players as they are to guitarists. The Keyboard Magazine guys need to drop by the Guitar Player offices while they are writing their massive annual pedal round-up.

Whither XG?

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Once upon a time, the hardware tone module was king of “desktop music production.” A wide range of options were available from pro-level tone modules to desktop tone generators to ISA/PCI cards. The General MIDI (GM) standard came about in this era because people wanted to have consistent playback across hardware platforms.

Every manufacturer offered one or more modules. Two players — Roland and Yamaha — jumped in big. Each company offered desktop tone modules adhering to their own semi-proprietary extensions of the General MIDI standard. Roland had its GS while Yamaha had its XG.

Then, software plug-ins killed the tone module.

Native, computer-based signal processing became fast enough that hardware tone generation was no longer required.

Roland GS, meanwhile, has gone on relatively hard times. Today, Roland offers two products that are up-front GS: Mobile Studio Canvas and Sound Canvas for iOS. The Mobile Studio Canvas is a pricey little number that streets out at $429 USD. Not exactly cheap. Sound Canvas for iOS is an iOS app supporting Inter-App Audio and Audiobus. Roland claim that the app and its host can act as a tone module through a suitable Core MIDI compatible interface. Mobile Studio Canvas is $19.99 through the Apple App Store.

The Virtual Sound Canvas was a VST- and DXi-compatible, multi-timbral soft synth. Unfortunately, for desktop users, the Roland Virtual Sound Canvas (VSC-MP1) was discontinued.

Yamaha XG is battered, but is still breathing. XG-based hardware tone modules are nearly extinct. (Check ebay…) However, current arrangers from Yamaha offers XG compatibility, even if it’s only the XGlite subset. In fact, XG is the de facto voice architecture on arranger keyboards. Edit a voice on an arranger and you are tweaking XG parameters. Of course, this means that you must have space for an arranger on your desktop. A half-rack 1U tone module is far more compact and desktop-friendly.

“Pro” keyboardists still turn up their noses at GS, XG and arrangers. A large part of this is guilt by association with General MIDI. Beneath it all in Yamaha-land, the synths and the arrangers share hardware technology such as CPUs and tone generation circuits. XG is essentially a wrapper around pro-level samples and tone generation.

XG also lives at the heart of the Yamaha Mobile Music Sequencer (MMS) app. MMS has a software-based XG engine inside. It supports 9 reverb, 4 chorus and 26 variation effects. Yamaha cut down the XGlite sound set to just 42 GM voices plus 42 or so synth voices. In case you’re interested, I’ve documented many of the XG features in MMS here:

Mobile Music Sequencer Reference
Make music with MMS on PSR/TYROS

MMS demonstrates that it’s possible to host XG on an iPad with an ARM processor. Will Yamaha answer Roland’s Sound Canvas for iOS?

Needing an XG-compatible VST soft synth on Windows, I went in search of one and stumbled onto a retro cult. Turns out, there are a whole lot of other people who would like an XG-compatible VSTi on Windows, too.

First, there are enthusiasts who are trying to resurrect the S-YXG50 soft synthesizer on Windows 7 (and earlier). The S-YXG50 uses either a 2MByte or 4MByte wave table, so we’re not talking stellar sound quality. I experimented with S-YXG50 on Windows 7 with no success.

Then, there are enthusiasts who take old daughter boards (DB50XG or DB60XG) and fashion standalone tone modules from them. (Just add a power supply and a MIDI interface.) These daughter boards have a 4MByte wave table. Like XG tone modules, XG daughter boards are scarce as hen’s teeth.

The issue that always rears its head with this old tech is the availability of drivers. You can find the occasional Yamaha-based sound card or SW1000XG, but driver support usually stops with Windows XP (at best).

Finally, another sub-cult has discovered the joys of Yamaha MidRadio. MidRadio is a MIDI player application for Windows 8 (and earlier). It is XGlite compatible with 361 regular voices, 10 drum kits and 2 SFX kits. A few of the regular voices are so-called “panel voices” in the PSR E-series — an added bonus! Wave table size is about 11MBytes. And, guess what? It sounds pretty darned good. Here are links to the list of voices and effects in MidRadio version 7:

List of MidRadio voices and effects

If you try MidRadio, be prepared to use Google translate and be prepared to wade through a Japanese-only user interface.

A few intrepid souls discovered that the MidRadio sound engine (SGP2.DLL) is just a few bricks short of being a VST software instrument (VSTi). They developed a patch which turns the DLL into a VSTi. Yes, the patch works and I can send XG-compliant MIDI from Steinberg Cubase, Ableton Live and VSTHost to SGP2. It plays rather nicely.

In general, I do not recommend this approach. Anytime you download a patch from the Web and execute it, you put the privacy and security of your computer and its information at risk.

Given this enormous red flag, I wish that Yamaha would sell an XG-compatible VSTi for Windows and Mac. There are users waiting for properly a supported, street legal XG plug-in soft synth at a reasonable price. And certainly, we wouldn’t turn down a free one.

Reface CP: Yes, I played one!

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Finally got a chance to try a Yamaha Reface CP and a Reface DX. Given the genres of music that I play, I’m the most interested in the Reface CP and YC models. The CP and DX were on the floor at Guitar Center, so I decided to try the DX, too. I’ll catch the YC another day when it’s in stock.

As we all know, Guitar Center on Saturday afternoon is not the ideal environment for a trial. I demo’d through headphones mainly to cut out the din from the rug-rats randomly pounding on keyboards and the sonic self-stimulation from the guitar department.

Even under these degraded conditions, the CP sounds excellent. The sound is the stuff, if you know what I mean. (This is a family web site.) Quick impressions of the main sounds:

  • Rhodes I: Nice, mellow, laid back, smooth.
  • Rhodes II: Bright, snarky, barks like a dog (in the good way).
  • Wurli: Solid performer, not too polite, more Ray than Supertramp.
  • Clav: Solid performer, good body.
  • CP: Bright knife, brings make the old days without the back ache.

The effects are excellent. Dial in the drive and/or the appropriate effect and you’re good to cover:

  • Smooth Operator
  • Do It Again
  • What’d I Say
  • Higher Ground

and a whole lot more! Max out the drive and it doesn’t get that annoying digital fizziness. The wah needs to be tuned into the appropriate frequency range, but that’s SOP. The wah can be made so bright that it cuts glass and pokes holes in the eardrums. (Not a recommended practice.)

One part of Yamaha’s marketing pitch truly rings right. The CP is a “live panel” instrument. Be ready to dial everything in with no presets. Very old school and a nice change from menu diving. This kind of interactivity bodes well for the YC organ, when I finally find one.

Mini keys. Sigh. If you’re a player, then expect to MIDI the CP to a real keyboard. That said, Yamaha are right to be proud of these mini-keys. They are very responsive. I didn’t have too much trouble laying down block chords or noodling a solo line. However, three octaves is at least one octave too short for stretching out or laying down full right hand jazz chords while holding down any kind of bass. My chief adjustment problem with the mini-keys is playing left hand stride or arpeggios. You probably saw this coming, too.

Build quality is reasonably good for a small, light-weight instrument. The knobs have a solid feel. I’m somewhat less enamored of the volume slider and octave switch. They feel a little bit cheap. The toggle switches are retro in a Home Depot kind of way. Yamaha had better mind their Chinese suppliers because this board could easily degrade to trash if someone sneaks cut-rate components into it.

The built-in speakers are just OK. You’re probably going to connect the CP to a decent amp and speakers anyway.

Bottom line, the CP sound is nicely crafted. I hope to hear these sounds with this kind of interactivity in a new full-size ax soon.

I had to give the DX a try especially since I had a DX-21 back in the day. Turn on the DX and soon you’re back in 4 OP FM yesteryear. Folks in electronic genres (EDM, etc.) dig FM, but for the kind of music that I play today, I’m not ready to return to FM. If you are into FM, then you really should give the DX a try. It, too, is the real stuff.

Extra credit

It is a long drive to GC, so I tried a few other instruments, too.

I had a discussion with one of the salepeople about the CP, mentioning electric piano, jazz chords, etc. This guy was so desperate to make a sale that he insisted on trying the Roland JD-Xi. Only a Carpathian would recommend a JD-Xi to a retro-jazzer. Well, it turns out, the guys was a Carpathian — a guitar player trying to make sales in the keyboard department. Cheesh.

I did try the JD-Xi. Definitely not my cup of tea. Plus, the Yamaha HQ mini-keys really are much better than the JD-Xi.

The keyboard department had a used Tyros for sale. Yes, the original Mark I. I tried it just for grins and to see how much Tyros and mid-range PSRs have progressed over the years. Needless to say, the PSR-S950 — and definitely the newer S970/S770 — are light-years beyond the Tyros Mark I.

Finally, I gave the DigiTech Trio a try. The Trio is a stomp box accompanist. You put it in learn mode, play a rhythm pattern on guitar, and the Trio identifies the tempo and key. Then, in play mode, the Trio adds a bass and drum backing track selected from one of several genres. The Trio is based on musIQ® technology licensed from 3dB Research Ltd. Some of the backing tracks are provided by PG Music, developers of Band-In-A-Box (BIAB). (There’s quite a music technology mafia in Victoria, BC.) Harman, who own DigiTech, liked MusIQ so much that they bought 3dB Research, too.

I couldn’t teach the Trio a thing. I am a lousy guitarist, I was hungry and I definitely was tired of the sonic assault in the guitar department. The backing tracks that I heard were OK although I think BIAB itself sounds better. If you intend to try one in a store, be sure to read the manual ahead of time…

Scat voices the newest Yamaha arrangers

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The original Jazz Scat voices expansion pack for the Yamaha PSR-S950 arranger workstation remains a popular part of the site. With the Tyros5, Yamaha took a different direction and format for expansion packs. The new approach to expansion pack development and use is embodied in the Yamaha Expansion Manager, or “YEM” for short. Up to now, Tyros5 users have not been able to load and use the original Jazz Scat voices expansion pack.

That’s all changed! I’m pleased to announce the alpha test version of the Jazz Scat voices expansion pack for YEM-compatible Yamaha arranger workstations. The list of YEM-compatible arrangers include the Tyros5, PSR-S670, PSR-S770 and PSR-S970 workstations.

Why “alpha test?” At this time, I do not have access to a YEM-compatible workstation in order to do my own testing. (I’m happy with the S950, thanks.) In response to requests, however, I have produced a new YEM-compatible expansion pack. I’ve done as much testing as I can in YEM. Now, it’s your turn!

The expansion pack is in YEM project file format, sometimes called a “PPF file” because of its file extension. The PPF file must first be loaded into YEM. Once it is in YEM, you can send it to your keyboard, generate an install file (PPI format), copy voices to your own custom pack and even edit the voices themselves. That’s a lot of flexibility!

If you encounter problems, please post your issues to the PSR Tutorial Forum . If you are a PSR/Tyros user, you really should participate at the forum anyway. It’s a great place to meet other PSR/Tyros users and to learn new techniques.

Here is a link to the expansion pack. You need to download and UNZIP this file, read the README_PACK_YEM.TXT file, and then load the pack into the Yamaha Expansion Manager.

Both the scat voice expansion pack and the scat voice samples are released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons License
ScatVoices and ScatVoice samples by Paul J. Drongowski are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

You are free to use the expansion pack voice or samples (even for commercial purposes) as long as you provide a link to http://sandsoftwaresound.net from your own web site AND/OR explicitly credit me in your creative work, e.g., “Scat samples/voice by Paul J. Drongowski”.

If you would like to know more about the sampling and voice design process, please read this post. The original S750/S950 compatible pack is here. Or, feel free to listen to the MP3 demo.

XG effects: SYSTEM mode

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The last time that I took a look at Yamaha XG effects, I discussed using the VARIATION effect as a channel insertion effect. I’m now working on a PSR/Tyros style where I would like to apply an amp simulation effect to two channels. So, it’s time to learn about the configuration of VARIATION effects in SYSTEM mode. Even though I’m working on a style, you can apply these techniques to any Standard MIDI File (SMF) for play-back on an XG sound engine.

XG insertion effects are relatively easy to configure as the VARIATION effect is added to the signal chain of a single MIDI channel (XG part). Configuration of the VARIATION block as a SYSTEM effect takes more effort (i.e., more System Exclusive messages), but is well worth it. Now that I understand SYSTEM mode better, I may set up a DAW template for SYSTEM mode and use that template as my default effect configuration.

The diagram below shows the signal flow for the VARIATION, CHORUS and REVERB effect blocks when VARIATION is configured for SYSTEM mode. I show only one channel (Part NN) entering from the left in order to keep the diagram simple. Control “knobs” are drawn as ovals; these are XG/MIDI parameters under your control. The first four knobs — CC91, CC93, CC94 and DRY — are per-part parameters and need to be set for each of the sixteen channels (parts). The MIDI Continuous Controller (CC) knobs set the reverb, chorus and variation send levels for the part, respectively. In my project, I set the variation send (CC94) for two parts to non-zero levels and set CC94 for the remaining parts to zero. The non-zero levels pass the signal to the VARIATION block.

XG_System_Mode

The reverb, chorus and variation send levels are configured using MIDI Continuous Controller messages, but the DRY level is set using an XG System Exclusive (SysEx) message. Although this looks inconsistent, it follows Yamaha’s XG recommendations, i.e., use CC messages in preference to SysEx where possible. DRY level must be controlled using SysEx as no corresponding MIDI CC message is defined.

Please see the table at the end of this post for further message programming details.

The rest of the effect blocks and knobs are global (system-wide). The REVERB, CHORUS and VARIATION return levels (REV RET, CHO RET, and VAR RET) along with the DRY levels determine the amount and balance of effected and un-effected (dry) sound. All of the return levels default to 0dB (decimal 64 or 0x40 in hexadecimal notation). The default for each per-part DRY level is the maximum (decimal 127 or 0x7F). These default values enable signal flow right from the beginning and are a good starting point for experimentation and tuning. At least you are guaranteed to get some sound out of the effect section!

The VARIATION, CHORUS and REVERB blocks need to be configured through the usual XG SysEx voodoo. You need to select at least the effect type and be sure to configure the VARIATION effect for SYSTEM mode. In actual practice, you should do this before setting any send levels as the change to SYSTEM mode changes the level parameters to new default values.

Now the fun begins! The default configuration puts the three effect blocks in parallel. The inter-block send levels:

  • Send VARIATION to CHORUS (VAR to CHO)
  • Send VARIATION to REVERB (VAR to REV)
  • Send CHORUS to REVERB (CHO to REV)

establish serial effect routings between blocks. The level values determine the degree to which a series connection is made (i.e., how much signal is passed). Initially, all of these knobs are set to zero and the effects are full parallel. You can change these values to add reverb and/or chorus to the effected variation signal, for example, in the same way that you add reverb and/or chorus to a part.

The higher end arranger workstations offer a rich choice of CHORUS block effects — everything from chorus, phaser and flange to rotary speaker. Thus, you can create a long effect chain from VARIATION to CHORUS to REVERB, if you so desire. Want to phase a distorted guitar sound? You can!

The following tables summarize the low level details of effect programming. The addressable XG parameters must be set with the usual SysEx magic, e.g., F0 43 10 4C 02 01 40 4B 01 F7 to set the effect type.

Continuous Controller (Per part/channel)                    "Knob"

  CC91  Part/Channel REVERB SEND                            (CC91)
  CC92  
  CC93  Part/Channel CHORUS SEND                            (CC93)
  CC94  Part/Channel VARIATION SEND                         (CC94)

MULTI PART (per part/channel NN)

  Address   Parameter             Default
  --------  --------------------- -------
  08 NN 11  DRY LEVEL             0x7F                      (DRY)
  08 NN 12  CHORUS SEND           0x00
  08 NN 13  REVERB SEND           0x28 (decimal 40)
  08 NN 14  VARIATION SEND        0x00

REVERB effect block (global)

  Address   Parameter             Default
  --------  --------------------- -------
  02 01 00  REVERB TYPE           0x01, 0x00 (HALL1)
  02 01 0C  REVERB RETURN         0x40 (off:0x00, 0dB:0x40) (REV RET)
  02 01 0D  REVERB PAN            0x40 (center)

CHORUS effect block (global)

  Address   Parameter             Default
  --------  --------------------- -------
  02 01 20  CHORUS TYPE           0x41, 0x00 (CHORUS6)
  02 01 2C  CHORUS RETURN         0x40 (off:0x00, 0dB:0x40) (CHO RET)
  02 01 2D  CHORUS PAN            0x40 (center)
  02 01 2E  Send CHORUS to REVERB 0x00 (off, 0dB:0x40)      (CHO to REV)

VARIATION effect block (global)

  Address   Parameter             Default
  --------  --------------------- -------
  02 01 40  VARIATION TYPE        0x05, 0x00 (DELAY LCR2)
  02 01 56  VARIATION RETURN      0x40 (off:0x00, 0dB:0x40) (VAR RET)
  02 01 57  VARIATION PAN         0x40 (center)
  02 01 58  Send VAR to REVERB    0x00 (off, 0dB:0x40)      (VAR to REV)
  02 01 59  Send VAR to CHORUS    0x00 (off, 0dB:0x40)      (VAR to CHO)
  02 01 5A  VARIATION CONNECTION  0x00 (insert:0, system: 1)
  02 01 5B  VARIATION PART #      0x7F (off: 0x7F)

Crunchin’ da drums

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In my last post, I discussed Motif/MOX eight zone (8Z) drum kits. The eight zone concept lets you assemble eight different percussion sounds into a custom kit. The waveforms are assigned to voice elements and are stretched/limited to eight different keyboard (MIDI note) zones. The Motif/MOX have matching arpeggios that work with the 8Z kits.

By the way, the 8Z drum kits were first introduced with the Motif XS. My notes on the 8Z kits and this note on effects apply to all later models including the Motif XF and MOXF.

If you have ever tried the percussion sounds alone without effects, the drum sounds are kind of “plain Jane” without a lot of impact. This post deconstructs a couple of effects which can be applied to break beats and other styles that require crunch and animation.

The first effect chain is taken from the Voice PRE8:060 “8Z Romps.” The voice has two insert effects connected in series. INSERT A is a Lo-Fi algorithm with the following parameters (effect preset “Max Lo-Fi”):

    #  Parameter              Value    Numeric
   --  ---------------------  -------  -------
    1  Sampling Freq Control  4.01KHz  (10)
    2  Word Length            93       (93)
    3  Output Gain            +7 dB    (14)
    4  LPF Cutoff             20.0KHz  (60)
    5  Filter Type            Radio    (2) 
    6  LPF Resonance          10.0     (100)
    7  Bit Assign             2        (2)
    8  Emphasis               On       (1)
   10  Dry/Wet                D<W63    (127)
   15  Input Mode             Stereo   (1)

The parameter number, name, values, etc. are taken from the MOX Data List. (See the section titled “Effect Parameter List” in the PDF file). The numeric values — given here in decimal — are what you need to program the effect through System Exclusive MIDI messages. More about this in a minute.

The Lo-Fi effect adds a lot of crunch and crush. But, wait! There’s more. The INSERT B effect is the AmpSim 1 amp simulator. Its parameters are:

    #  Parameter              Value    Numeric
   --  ---------------------  -------  -------
    1  Over Drive             54%      (54)
    2  Device                 dst1     (2)
    3  Speaker                Combo    (2)
    4  Presence               +10      (10)
    5  Output Level           34%      (34)
   10  Dry/Wet                D<W63    (127)

This is the “Beat Crunch” effect preset.

Please remember that my goal is to use the 8Z break beats in a PSR/Tyros style. In order to do accomplish this, I found the equivalent effects algorithms for the Yamaha PSR-S950 arranger workstation. Here are the equivalent algorithms:

    MOX            PSR-S950
    --------       -----------------------------
    Lo-Fi    --->  Lo-Fi DRUM1 (MSB:94 LSB:18)
    AmpSim 1 --->  V_DIST CRUNC (MSB:98 LSB:18 )

Unfortunately, the XG effects architecture supports at most one system-wide variation effect or one per-part insert effect. So, I decided to use the Lo-Fi algorithm because it seemed to provide most of the grit and nastiness that I was seeking.

It took a little detective work to find and match up the corresponding effect algorithms between the Motif/MOX and the PSR/Tyros. The effect type is enough to get into the same neighborhood. The rest of the sleuthing involves comparing the parameter lists in order to find the exact (or best) match. The MOX has Virtual Circuit Modeling (VCM) effects and the S950 does not. Therefore, you may not always be able to find an exact match.

With the S950 Data List in hand, I translated the effect parameters into the hexadecimal System Exclusive (SysEx) messages to configure the Lo-Fi effect on the PSR:

    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 40 5E 12 F7   Variation Type
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 5A 01 F7      Variation Connection (SYSTEM)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 42 00 0A F7   PARAMETER 1 Sampling Freq Control (10)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 44 00 5D F7   PARAMETER 2 Word Length (93)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 46 00 0E F7   PARAMETER 3 Output Gain (14)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 48 00 3C F7   PARAMETER 4 LPF Cutoff (60)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 4A 00 02 F7   PARAMETER 5 Filter Type (2)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 4C 00 64 F7   PARAMETER 6 LPF Resonance (100)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 4E 00 02 F7   PARAMETER 7 Bit Assign (2)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 50 00 01 F7   PARAMETER 8 Emphasis (1)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 54 00 7F F7   PARAMETER 10 Dry/Wet (127)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 74 01 F7      PARAMETER 15 Stereo  (1)

I configured the effect as a system-wide variation effect such that multiple percussion parts may be sent to the effect. I inserted the SysEx messages into the set-up measure of the PSR style file using SONAR (my usual DAW/sequencer). Yow, the difference between the percussion sounds without and with this effect is like night and day!

The MOX insert effects are followed by a system-wide Tempo Cross Delay effect (effect preset “4beat Echo”). This effect adds a nice bit of animation to the overall sound. The MOX effect parameters are:

    #  Parameter              Value    Numeric
   --  ---------------------  -------  -------
    1  Delay Time L>R         4th      (11)
    2  Delay Time R>L         8th.     (10)
    3  Feedback Level         16       (80)
    4  Input Select           L        (0)
    5  Feedback High Dump     0.5      (5)
    6  Lag                    0ms      (64)
   10  Dry/Wet                D<W63    (127)
   13  EQ Low Frequency       250Hz    (22)
   14  EQ Low Gain            0dB      (64)
   15  EQ High Frequency      4.0KHz   (46)
   16  EQ High Gain           0dB      (64)

The equivalent S950 effect is TEMPO CROSS1 (MSB:22 LSB:0). I assigned this effect to the system-wide CHORUS block.

Here are the S950 (XG) SysEx messages to configure the delay effect in the CHORUS block:

    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 20 16 00 F7  Chorus Type TEMPO CROSS1
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 22 0B F7     PARAMETER 1 Delay Time L<R     (11)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 23 0A F7     PARAMETER 2 Delay Time R<L     (10)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 24 50 F7     PARAMETER 3 Feedback Level     (80)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 25 00 F7     PARAMETER 4 Input Selection    (0)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 26 05 F7     PARAMETER 5 Feedback High Dump (5)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 27 40 F7     PARAMETER 6 Lag                (64)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 2B 7F F7     PARAMETER 10 Dry/Wet           (127)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 32 16 F7     PARAMETER 13 EQ Low Frequency  (22)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 33 40 F7     PARAMETER 14 EQ Low Gain       (64)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 34 2E F7     PARAMETER 15 EQ High Frequency (46)
    F0 43 10 4C 02 01 35 40 F7     PARAMETER 16 EQ High Gain      (64)

A little bit of delay on a busy drum part goes a long way. The send level (not shown here) is relatively low — just enough to add a little animation to the sound without creating a lot of clutter. It sounds OK, but I might adjust the send level dynamically and add more delay to exposed parts like the break while keeping the MAIN sections clean.

I hope this short effects clinic helps you out!

Groovin’ in eight zones

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I heard a great interpretation of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” by Groovy Waters. Their work inspired me to create a down-tempo PSR/Tyros style with break beats that would let me jam over the changes (Bm-A-E-E).

And that led me into a whole new exploration in Motif/MOX and PSR/Tyros styles!

While goofing around with the Yamaha MOX6 workstation, I stumbled into some break beats with “8Z” in the name. I noticed that the “8Z” arpeggios are targeted for voices with “8Z” in their names. So, what is this “8Z” business?

The Motif XS (and MOX) added 8-zone drum kits and arpeggios, hence, the “8Z” in the names. A conventional drum kit has dozens of individual percussion sounds laid out across the MIDI note range (AKA “the keyboard”). An 8-zone kit is an extension of a regular synth voice where each voice element is assigned a percussion sound. The usual upper and lower note limits determine the key range for each sound. Here is the element information for the PRE8:060 “8Z Romps” voice:

                            Name        Note#
                         ----------   ---------
    Waveform             Low   High   Low  High
    ----------------     ----  ----   ---- ----
    BD T9-4               C0    C1     24   36  
    SD Elec7              C#1   F1     37   41  
    China St              F#1   C2     42   48  
    SD Rim SE             C#2   C3     49   60  
    Bd Jungle 2           C#3   F#3    61   66  
    Bd Distortion4        G3    C4     67   72  
    Bd Distortion RM      C#4   C5     73   84  
    Bd D&B2               C#5   C6     85   96

Each waveform is stretched across a multi-key zone. Thus, each of the notes within a zone have a slightly pitch-shifted tone, allowing for tonal variation in patterns where repeated notes are played in sequence. Since these are basically regular synth voices, you are also free to mess about with the filter, amplitude envelope and all the usual sound design goodies.

The arpeggios designed for the “8Z Romps” voice do just that. (See “MA_8Z Romps” and so forth.) The pitch shift, etc. breaks up the monotony of repeated notes.

The “8 zone” idea makes it easy to cobble new drum kits together from the diaspora of waveforms in the regular drum kits. You probably don’t need more than eight different percussion sounds for a set of basic beats. A quick survey of other “8Z” kits shows this to be true:

    8Z HeavyHearts      8Z Chilly Breakz    8Z Gated Beatz
    --------------      ----------------    --------------
    Bd T9-1             Bd HipHop6          Bd Gate
    Bd Hard Long        Sd HipHop9          Bd HipHop9
    SD Elec12           Sd T8-1             Sd HipHop6
    Sd HipHop6          HH Closed T8-2      Sd Hip Gate
    HH Closed D&B       HH Open T8-2        HH Closed T8-1
    HH Open T9          Electric Perc1      HH Open T8-1
    Clap AnSm           Sleigh Bell         Noise Burst
    Shaker Hip 2        Shaker Hip 1        Shaker Hip 1

These kits have a different key layout than “8Z Romps”. In fact, these 8Z kits have a few zones that resemble the conventional kit layout — the bass drums (Bd) cover the notes where bass drum is usually found, the snare drums (Sd) cover the usual notes for snare drum, etc. Thus, you can play “regular” drum arpeggios through these 8Z voices and they sound just fine. The upper range elements cover a wide range of notes and are the “catch all” for the usual percussion spice such as conga, shakers, guiro, triangle and the like. With the pitch shifting, the “catch all” approach can produce some hip patterns.

There is far more fun to be had. I came across the “8Z” kits and arpeggios while playing the Performance USR2:102(G06) Ibiza Growl Sax. This Performance had the feel that I was looking for, although I wasn’t too pleased with the sax voice. (A problem that is easily fixed.) The Performance assigns “8Z Romps” to the first voice, but, wait! It plays break beats through “8Z Romps” that were not designed for “8Z Romps”, having different zones, etc. Cool. Yamaha sound designers are not only good at following the rules, they are equally adept at breaking the rules, too.

I decided to go ahead with the break beats from Ibiza Growl Sax even though the PSR/Tyros do not have “8Z” drum kits. I had to unwind all of the 8Z-ness and map the percussion voices to standard PSR-S950 drum kits. Unfortunately, the repetitive patterns are a little bit plain even though the musical feel is still good.

Next up, crushing the drums and bouncing them around.