And one thing I forgot to add: Unlike my Roland in its multi-timbral
mode, I believe the VFX series must have a different midi channel
number for each sound. If you assign the same midi channel to two
different sounds, only one of them will play.
(The Roland does the arguably more reasonable thing and layers the two
sounds on that channel; but (a) it's a newer design, and (b) there is
no other way to layer sounds on the Roland.)
Another trivial piece of info, for use in controlling external gear:
When you call up a preset, all the midi program changes are sent out,
from left to right, even for non-activated parts; if you select a part
from within the preset, by using one of the soft buttons, it sends the
program change again. I have a bunch of presets where I set up all 3
parts on the same channel, and I switch between the three program
change values with the soft buttons. As long as the rightmost part
is the one selected when I store the preset, it works as expected.
But if I store it with the left part selected, it's the rightmost
part's program change that "wins" when I call up the preset.
BTW, Gordon, I saw your message that you have a vanilla VFX. What
exactly are you trying to accomplish? Controlling the VFX from a
computer or sequencer, or something more exotic like a set of external
midi controllers, or something I haven't even thought of? We might be
able to give you more useful answers if we knew that.
--> Steve
On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 02:51:17PM -0500, Steve Wahl wrote:
> I have a few things to add:
>
> On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 07:14:35PM -0000, Dan Rue wrote:
> > Hi Gordon,
>
> > The global MIDI setting to Multi is correct.
>
> I don't think I've tried it, but if you REALLY want to use 3-sound
> presets via midi, in POLY mode you may be able to play multiple sounds
> of a preset if it's set up as a split, but you'll only be using one
> channel. Keep in mind: you can use note numbers outside the 61-key
> range of the keyboard, and transpose to get them back in the range you
> want. On the other hand, there's only one sustain pedal that will
> apply to all three sounds unless turned off for the particular sound.
>
> Otherwise, Multi setting is the way to go. If you have a (vanilla)
> VFX, you've got a single multi (set of 12 sounds), the rest of the
> family have 60 sequences/songs that each hold a separate multi setup.
> So on the VFX, you go into MULTI mode, and on the VFX-SD you go into
> sequencer mode.
>
> (I believe the 3-part presets in performance mode can actually be
> played live via the keyboard WHILE the multi part is playing back
> midi, by the way).
>
> If you have a vanilla VFX, I think it was really designed to have the
> multi loaded via sys-ex from an external sequencer to switch multi
> setups. But you can also select different sounds within the multi by
> using program change commands. I believe you have the multi-A and
> multi-B buttions, which directly compare to the two track buttons
> (tracks 1-6 and tracks 7-12) on a VFX-SD, and you have no SEQ button,
> so you press one of the two multi buttons to access the multi mode
> settings. All the stuff Dan mentioned below, MIDI status, MIDI
> channel, effects, etc., applies to the multi like it applies to the
> sequences on a VFX-SD.
>
> One might ask why the presets have midi channel numbers then? The
> answer is (mostly?) for transmitting, for controlling external sound
> modules.
>
> --> Steve
>
> > The trick is that the Presets are really intended for live performance, providing a quick and easy way to layer and switch Programs. What you want -- for multi-timbral, multi-track recording and playback with your computer -- is to set up a Sequence (see section 5 in the manual):
> > - press the Seq button (next to the Presets button)
> > - create a new Sequence clicking an empty slot and following the prompts
> > - add the Programs you want to the 12 Tracks (2 pages of 6) available for each Sequence (see page 5-8)
> >
> > Then -- this is the key -- for each Track, you want to set Performance/Track parameters:
> > - MIDI Status set to either Both (local keyboard and MIDI are active) or MIDI (just receives MIDI from your sequencer). The default is unfortunately Local, which does not send MIDI, so you'll have to change all the Tracks.
> > - MIDI Channel, give each track it's own MIDI channel number.
> >
> > That's really it. That should have you up and running.
> >
> > One more note - in Seq mode, you can only have one double-layer Effect working. You can change the Effect with the Performance Effect button, and use the FX parameter for each Track to determine whether that track gets FX1 or FX2 or BOTH or neither (DRY).
> >
> > For example, if you want a delay just your guitar Sound, but reverb on both guitar and piano, choose one of the Reverb+Delay effect, then set the guitar track to VOICE for both effects, piano to FX1 for just reverb.
> >
> > Hope this helps,
> >
> > Dan Rue
> >
> > --- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, Gordon JC Pearce <gordon@...> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi all, two questions
> > >
> > > First off, I'm having some problems getting Presets working. If I set
> > > the MIDI mode to MULTI then it just picks up whatever the last-selected
> > > Multi setting was and ignores the patches and channel numbers in the
> > > Preset. Can someone explain how (if it's possible) I can set up three
> > > channels with different Sounds and play them over MIDI?
> > >
> > > Also, I'm wondering if this has something to do with the firmware
> > > version. I'm running 2.10 but apparently the most recent firmware is
> > > 2.30. Has anyone got a set of ROM images so I can upgrade it?
> > >
> > > Gordon
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> --
> Steve Wahl steve@...
>
> "On this employee survey form, it asks, 'Do you trust your manager?'
> If I trust him to do the wrong thing, is that a 'yes'?"
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
--
Steve Wahl steve@...
<Telius> Nobody escapes the Spanish Inquisition!
<codepoet> \S\p\a\n\i\s\h\ \I\n\q\u\i\s\i\t\i\o\n
-- bash.org #694821
