YAMAHA | X G R E A D I N G P A G E

Step 2 Actual usage and purpose of use

Now let's talk about the meaning of these parameters and how they can be used. In actual song data, it is usual to include these drum setup SysEx messages following the control change and NRPN data in the setup measures (figure 1).

Figure 1

1.ALTERNATE GROUPE
Every acoustic instrument has certain combinations of notes which cannot be played (or will not sound) simultaneously. For example, a single hi-hat cymbal in a drum set obviously cannot be played both open and closed at the same time. In the same way, there is no way to simultaneously play both muted and unmuted sounds on a single triangle (figure 2).

It is impossible to hear both muted and unmuted sound at the same time.
Figure 2

The Alternate Group function allows the performance techniques of actual instruments to be taken into account, and lets you specify instrumental sounds which should never be heard together. Even if note-on messages occur simultaneously for such sounds, the alternate group function will allow only one of them to be heard. Thus, even in the default state, there are several alternate groups, such as for the above-mentioned hi-hat, and these groups are numbered.

Figure 3

If you wish to create a new alternate group, select the instruments that you wish to specify (it goes without saying that this will be meaningful only if you select two or more instruments), and assign them to the same group number (figure 3). In the example shown in the diagram, Cuica Mute (#78) and Cuica Open(#79) are in the same group (number 4) as Scratch. In this case, these instruments have been intentionally placed in an existing group, but normally you should avoid using groups 1~4 (which are used by the default settings), and select a number of 5 or above. If you wish to remove an instrument from an existing alternate group, input the data string "F0 43 10 4C 30 rr 00 F7."

2.KEY ASSIGN
This parameter does not appear in the editing screen of the tone generator, nor is it given special attention in the manual of an XG tone generator, but it's not anything complex. This setting simply specifies whether the instrument will be able to sound polyphonically or only with single notes.
For example, consider the case in which you played a rapid 16th note fill on an acoustic snare drum. If this is done on a conventional PCM tone generator, and if the setting is monophonic (single notes), the next note will need to sound before the previous note has finished decaying, which means that the previous note will be forcibly turned off and re-triggered (figure 4).

Figure 4

If this happens, the groove will bog down for that part of the song, or the instrument itself may sound like it is being gated --- usually not a good thing for the music.
So if you specify a setting of Multi for the snare, the previous notes will have time to complete their natural decay. XG tone generators let you specify multi-note assign not only for normal voices but also for drum voices, so that the identical note number can be played by multiple notes. However depending on the setting of the multi part parameter "SAME NOTE NUMBER KEY ON ASSIGN," this can also be set to single (individual notes). For a drum part, it is also possible to select "INST," so that you will be able to choose for each instrument whether it will use single or multi. In this case, the KEY ASSIGN of each drum instrument will be "single" by default, but can also be set to "multi." In the case of drum voices, there will be cases in which "multi" will sound unnatural, and there is usually no problem with drum voices being sounded in "single" mode; however, the user has the freedom to change this setting. Be aware that this setting is valid only if the multi part parameter "SAME NOTE NUMBER KEY ON ASSIGN" is set to "INST" for the drum part.

3.RECEIVE NOTE OFF
This parameter specifies whether or not the instrument will execute a note-off message which it receives. For example, this is normally turned ON for instruments such as Samba Whistle or Guiro Long, so that if a note-off arrives while the instrument is sounding, the sound will stop at that point. On the other hand, most drum instruments are set so that note-off messages will be ignored, and the note will continue sounding for its full natural decay (figure 5).

Figure 5

One playing technique for a crash cymbal is to strike it and then immediately grasp the edge of the cymbal to mute it. Since by default, the crash cymbal will ignore note-off messages, it will continue sounding until the sound decays naturally. In such cases, you can turn "RECEIVE NOTE OFF" ON, so that you will be able to stop the sound whenever you want.

4.RECEIVE NOTE ON
This parameter specifies whether or not the instrument will execute a note-on message which it receives. If this is turned OFF, the instrument will not sound. As you would expect, the default setting of this parameter is ON.
For sequence data in which the same pattern continues to repeat, you can create some variation by turning this OFF for a specific instrument to mute them. In this way, you can mute specific instruments without changing the sequence data itself.

5.EG DECAY 1 RATE & EG DECAY 2 RATE
Since this parameter can be adjusted by NRPN as well, you may wonder why we are discussing it here in the SysEx section. The reason is that when NRPN is used, both decays 1 and 2 will change together. If you want to change only decay 1 or 2, or to change 1 and 2 with different values, you will need to use SysEx (figure 6).

Figure 6

In most cases, you will probably want to adjust only decay 2, so this is where you will need to use SysEx messages.

6.OUTPUT SELECT
At the present time, this parameter is (in practice) useful only for the MU100R. In addition to stereo OUT, this model has two individual OUT jacks (INDIV. OUTPUT), and specific instruments can be assigned to these jacks. This capability was designed in consideration of multi-track recording, and is actually very important in the recording studio.
No effects are applied to the sound of the instruments assigned to these jacks (figure 7).

Figure 7

This is actually convenient for the recording process, since it makes it easier to apply other external effects. Also, the sound of these instruments will no longer be heard from the headphone jack. Sounds which are assigned to both INDIV. OUTPUT 1 and 2 can be panned in the same way as sounds assigned to the stereo OUT. Sounds assigned only to one or the other will, of course, be monaural.

7.VELOCITY SENSE PITCH
This is one of the parameters beloved by really serious practitioners. In particular for instruments with a vibrating skin (such as a Japanese taiko drum), slight differences in pitch occur depending on how strongly the instrument was struck. This parameter allows the velocity (i.e., the strength with which the note was played) to control this change in pitch.
With a value of 0, the pitch will remain basically unchanged. Positive settings will allow stronger velocities to raise the pitch, and negative settings will allow stronger velocities to lower the pitch. It can be interesting to use this with conga or snare drum, etc.

8.VELOCITY SENSE LPF CUTOFF
Most instruments sound brighter as they are played (or struck) more strongly. In order to simulate this characteristic, the cutoff frequency of the low pass filter is normally raised slightly as the velocity increases. This parameter allows such sensitivity to be adjusted for each instrument.
An interesting possibility is to offset this parameter to a large negative value, so that as the velocity becomes stronger, the cutoff frequency is lowered, producing a darker sound. There's plenty of room for creativity here.

In this session we have discussed the details of using SysEx messages to edit drum setup parameters. Some of these are actually used in the sample files which you downloaded for our previous session, so you may wish to go back and look at these files again. See you at our next session!

Seminar Top

	Step 2 Actual usage and purpose of use
	Now let's talk about the meaning of these parameters and how they can be used. In actual song data, it is usual to include these drum setup SysEx messages following the control change and NRPN data in the setup measures (figure 1). Figure 1 1.ALTERNATE GROUPE Every acoustic instrument has certain combinations of notes which cannot be played (or will not sound) simultaneously. For example, a single hi-hat cymbal in a drum set obviously cannot be played both open and closed at the same time. In the same way, there is no way to simultaneously play both muted and unmuted sounds on a single triangle (figure 2). It is impossible to hear both muted and unmuted sound at the same time. Figure 2 The Alternate Group function allows the performance techniques of actual instruments to be taken into account, and lets you specify instrumental sounds which should never be heard together. Even if note-on messages occur simultaneously for such sounds, the alternate group function will allow only one of them to be heard. Thus, even in the default state, there are several alternate groups, such as for the above-mentioned hi-hat, and these groups are numbered. Figure 3 If you wish to create a new alternate group, select the instruments that you wish to specify (it goes without saying that this will be meaningful only if you select two or more instruments), and assign them to the same group number (figure 3). In the example shown in the diagram, Cuica Mute (#78) and Cuica Open(#79) are in the same group (number 4) as Scratch. In this case, these instruments have been intentionally placed in an existing group, but normally you should avoid using groups 1~4 (which are used by the default settings), and select a number of 5 or above. If you wish to remove an instrument from an existing alternate group, input the data string "F0 43 10 4C 30 rr 00 F7." 2.KEY ASSIGN This parameter does not appear in the editing screen of the tone generator, nor is it given special attention in the manual of an XG tone generator, but it's not anything complex. This setting simply specifies whether the instrument will be able to sound polyphonically or only with single notes. For example, consider the case in which you played a rapid 16th note fill on an acoustic snare drum. If this is done on a conventional PCM tone generator, and if the setting is monophonic (single notes), the next note will need to sound before the previous note has finished decaying, which means that the previous note will be forcibly turned off and re-triggered (figure 4). Figure 4 If this happens, the groove will bog down for that part of the song, or the instrument itself may sound like it is being gated --- usually not a good thing for the music. So if you specify a setting of Multi for the snare, the previous notes will have time to complete their natural decay. XG tone generators let you specify multi-note assign not only for normal voices but also for drum voices, so that the identical note number can be played by multiple notes. However depending on the setting of the multi part parameter "SAME NOTE NUMBER KEY ON ASSIGN," this can also be set to single (individual notes). For a drum part, it is also possible to select "INST," so that you will be able to choose for each instrument whether it will use single or multi. In this case, the KEY ASSIGN of each drum instrument will be "single" by default, but can also be set to "multi." In the case of drum voices, there will be cases in which "multi" will sound unnatural, and there is usually no problem with drum voices being sounded in "single" mode; however, the user has the freedom to change this setting. Be aware that this setting is valid only if the multi part parameter "SAME NOTE NUMBER KEY ON ASSIGN" is set to "INST" for the drum part. 3.RECEIVE NOTE OFF This parameter specifies whether or not the instrument will execute a note-off message which it receives. For example, this is normally turned ON for instruments such as Samba Whistle or Guiro Long, so that if a note-off arrives while the instrument is sounding, the sound will stop at that point. On the other hand, most drum instruments are set so that note-off messages will be ignored, and the note will continue sounding for its full natural decay (figure 5). Figure 5 One playing technique for a crash cymbal is to strike it and then immediately grasp the edge of the cymbal to mute it. Since by default, the crash cymbal will ignore note-off messages, it will continue sounding until the sound decays naturally. In such cases, you can turn "RECEIVE NOTE OFF" ON, so that you will be able to stop the sound whenever you want. 4.RECEIVE NOTE ON This parameter specifies whether or not the instrument will execute a note-on message which it receives. If this is turned OFF, the instrument will not sound. As you would expect, the default setting of this parameter is ON. For sequence data in which the same pattern continues to repeat, you can create some variation by turning this OFF for a specific instrument to mute them. In this way, you can mute specific instruments without changing the sequence data itself. 5.EG DECAY 1 RATE & EG DECAY 2 RATE Since this parameter can be adjusted by NRPN as well, you may wonder why we are discussing it here in the SysEx section. The reason is that when NRPN is used, both decays 1 and 2 will change together. If you want to change only decay 1 or 2, or to change 1 and 2 with different values, you will need to use SysEx (figure 6). Figure 6 In most cases, you will probably want to adjust only decay 2, so this is where you will need to use SysEx messages. 6.OUTPUT SELECT At the present time, this parameter is (in practice) useful only for the MU100R. In addition to stereo OUT, this model has two individual OUT jacks (INDIV. OUTPUT), and specific instruments can be assigned to these jacks. This capability was designed in consideration of multi-track recording, and is actually very important in the recording studio. No effects are applied to the sound of the instruments assigned to these jacks (figure 7). Figure 7 This is actually convenient for the recording process, since it makes it easier to apply other external effects. Also, the sound of these instruments will no longer be heard from the headphone jack. Sounds which are assigned to both INDIV. OUTPUT 1 and 2 can be panned in the same way as sounds assigned to the stereo OUT. Sounds assigned only to one or the other will, of course, be monaural. 7.VELOCITY SENSE PITCH This is one of the parameters beloved by really serious practitioners. In particular for instruments with a vibrating skin (such as a Japanese taiko drum), slight differences in pitch occur depending on how strongly the instrument was struck. This parameter allows the velocity (i.e., the strength with which the note was played) to control this change in pitch. With a value of 0, the pitch will remain basically unchanged. Positive settings will allow stronger velocities to raise the pitch, and negative settings will allow stronger velocities to lower the pitch. It can be interesting to use this with conga or snare drum, etc. 8.VELOCITY SENSE LPF CUTOFF Most instruments sound brighter as they are played (or struck) more strongly. In order to simulate this characteristic, the cutoff frequency of the low pass filter is normally raised slightly as the velocity increases. This parameter allows such sensitivity to be adjusted for each instrument. An interesting possibility is to offset this parameter to a large negative value, so that as the velocity becomes stronger, the cutoff frequency is lowered, producing a darker sound. There's plenty of room for creativity here. In this session we have discussed the details of using SysEx messages to edit drum setup parameters. Some of these are actually used in the sample files which you downloaded for our previous session, so you may wish to go back and look at these files again. See you at our next session!