[ Please note: This text is still under construction. Especially the open questions have to be answered. ] SSSSSS YY YY FFFFFF AAAA QQQQ SSS YY YY FF AA AA QQ QQ SSSSS YYYY ----- FFFF AAAAAA QQ Q SSS YY FF AA AA QQ Q SSSSSS YY FF AA AA QQQ QQ ===================================================== Q == with answers! Version: August, '95 (3nd release) ============================================================================== ## Table of contents ============================================================================== - Table of contents - Introduction to this text - On the SY list - Where to find stuff on the Internet - Other sources of information - Software - editors / librarian - Software - other software - managing patches - managing samples - converting sounds (Can I use ... sounds on my ...?) - sound programming - YAMAHA-specials: user interface etc. - Problems: Why does ... (not) do this? - Expansions for the SY-series - Applications with the SYs - Questions about MIDI with SY-synths - Technical differences between different SY/TG models - Detailed technical specifications - Tips and other stuff ============================================================================== ## Introduction to this text ============================================================================== This is (as you have already read) the SY-FAQ, a text with frequently asked questions and answers about the YAMAHA SY-series and compatible machines (the TGs). This text is a collection of questions posted in the SY-mailing-list on the one hand, and includes also tips and experiences of SY-users on the other hand. **** IMPORTANT: ****************************************************** This text contains much valuable information about the YAMAHA synths, especially for newcomers in the SY-scene. So please: if you have any problem regarding the SYs, ->FIRST<- read this text! If you find a solution here, you save others from always hearing the same questions. Thank you! You should take a look at the SY-homepage at: http://www.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/ini/PEOPLE/heja/sy-list.html It's a *VERY* good starting point for SY-related netsurfing and probably you will find there, what you have always been looking for! (infos, programms and data for SYs/TGs) ********************************************************************** There is no guaranty at all for the information given in this text, if you find something useful, enjoy it! If you find errors PLEASE report them, the best would be a correction (e-mail adress see below)! Thanks in advance. The text is managed by me, Ulrich Koepping. If you have got any contributions to the text, found any errors in it or want to add something to it, please send me an e-mail to "un62@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de". It is impossible for one person to keep such a text up to date, so it is VERY important that many people participate in expanding and correcting this FAQ. The latest version of this text can be downloaded via anonymous ftp from the site ftp.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de in the directory /pub/outgoing/heja/sy-list/DOC . The version of the text is mentioned at the beginning. Usage: Every new topic is marked with "##", every new question with "#Q:". You can move to this text easily by serching these marks with an editor. You can also search for your synth, e.g. search for "99"! If you search for a special info, also look under related topics, e.g. if you look for a sample-manager look in "managing patches/samples" and also in "Internet". I have added some comments to the text, marked with [ ... ]. And: +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ ! Thanks to all people mentioned in the text for their contributions! ! +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ [ Some topics to write more about: Synthesis: AFM ( What is AFM?, PitchEG ) AWM/AWM2 ( What is AWM and AWM2? ) Sample-dump-standard (SDS), Standard-midi-file (SMF) ] ============================================================================== ## On the SY list ============================================================================== [ WARNING: The sy-list may not exist any more as mentioned here! There were administrative problems because of to much traffic. See the SY-homepage, probably there is more information about that. ] #Q: What machines is the SY list about ? ---------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) It is about the newer Yamaha synths: SY 22: 16 voice 12bit sample + 4-op FM vector keyboard TG 33: 32 voice 12bit sample + 4-op FM vector module (2 SY22 in a module) SY 35: 16 voice 16bit (?) sample + 4-op FM vector keyboard (SY22 successor) SY 55: 16 voice 16bit sample + filters keyboard (sample section of SY 77) TG 55: rack version of SY 55 SY 85: 30 voice 16bit ROM/RAM-sample + filters keyboard TG 500: 64 voice 16bit ROM/RAM-sample + filters module (rack version of two SY 85) SY 77: 16bit sample + FM + filters keyboard (2*16 voice polyphony) TG 77: rack version of SY 77 SY 99: SY 77 plus sample RAM, and several extensions #Q: How is the list organised? ------------------------------ >From owner-sy-list@spice.com.sg Mon Jun 19 20:01:19 MET 1995 Maynard Kang has accepted the responsibility of managing the sy-list distribution. The new administrative addresses are: majordomo@spice.com sy-list-request@spice.com The new sy-list is managed by a specialized server instead of being a simple mail alias. The server accepts various commands in addition to the basic subscribe and unsubscribe ones. Below is the answer to the "help" query, which explains more. Note that abbreviations, like "sub", are not presently accepted. >>>> help This is Brent Chapman's "Majordomo" mailing list manager, version 1.93. In the description below items contained in []'s are optional. When providing the item, do not include the []'s around it. It understands the following commands: subscribe [
] Subscribe yourself (or
if specified) to the named . unsubscribe [
] Unsubscribe yourself (or
if specified) from the named . get Get a file related to . index Return an index of files you can "get" for . which [
] Find out which lists you (or
if specified) are on. who Find out who is on the named . info Retrieve the general introductory information for the named . lists Show the lists served by this Majordomo server. help Retrieve this message. end Stop processing commands (useful if your mailer adds a signature). Commands should be sent in the body of an email message to "Majordomo@spice.com.sg". Commands in the "Subject:" line NOT processed. If you have any questions or problems, please contact "Majordomo-Owner@spice.com.sg". In addition, mail addressed to owner-sy-list@spice.com.sg will be distributed to human operators, ie. Maynard Kang, Herbert Janssen and me. Note that "spice.com" and "spice.com.sg" are equivalent host addresses. #Q: Do I need to resubscibe on the new list? -------------------------------------------- [ The sy-lsit was not located at this site in earlier times. ] >From owner-sy-list@spice.com.sg Mon Jun 19 21:49:45 MET 1995 You do not need to re-subscribe. The list of subscribers has been copied from the old list to the new one. #Q: Is the whole conversation logged and where can I download it? ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: mir@chorus.fr (Adam Mirowski) I have uploaded sy-list archives since its creation in December 1992 until May 1994 to our ftp server at ftp.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de, directory /pub/outgoing/heja/sy-list/mail-archive. The whole stuff has been cleaned, keeping only From/To/Cc/ In-Reply-To/Subject/Date fields in headers, and removing misdirected and irrelevant messages. That yields about 30% savings in size. Here is the list: [ I cut unneccessary stuff, the number is the size ] sy9212.zip 24712, sy9301.zip 35209, sy9302.zip 21489, sy9303.zip 7827 sy9304.zip 21096, sy9305.zip 3304, sy9306.zip 4328, sy9307.zip 8047 sy9308.zip 2564, sy9309.zip 2738, sy9310.zip 18618, sy9311.zip 15647 sy9312.zip 16881, sy9401.zip 18261, sy9402.zip 33392, sy9403.zip 23085 sy9404.zip 41125, sy9405.zip 49635 ============================================================================== ## Where to find stuff on the Internet ============================================================================== [ This part is probably the most interesting! I changed the question / answer concept to a kind of list, this is more compact and better to read. Everything is shortened. It is hard to stay up to date with this part, because everything changes very fast. If you find errors, please report them. ] [ *********************************************************************** You should take a look at the SY-homepage at: http://www.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/ini/PEOPLE/heja/sy-list.html It's a *VERY* good starting point for SY-related netsurfing and probably you will find there, what you have always been looking for! (infos, programms and data for SYs/TGs) *********************************************************************** ] From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) FTP server ftp.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de [ ********************************************************************* BTW: This ftp-server in Bochum is a kind of inofficial SY-ftp-server. The amount of software and info you will find there is expanding enourmously fast, so take a look at this site. Read the file README in the directory /pub/outgoing/heja/sy-list . And remember: Also uploads are important! (to: /pub/incoming/heja ) Ther is also a mirror of this archive, look a few lines down. ********************************************************************* ] in directory /pub/outgoing/heja/sy-list you will find - ~5000 DX7 patches converted to SY77/99 disk format - 10 banks (ALL files) from my own sound collection (edited + original). - some more docs there - more SY-85 stuff from Graham Turner (gwt@mail.soton.ac.uk). - a description of the SY-85 wave format from Thomas Gruen - Graham uploaded several SY-85 sounds - uploaded WAVE-2, a sample editor/format conversion program for windows. It is also able to communicate via MIDI-SDS (sample dump standard). (from GKRISTIN@SWITCHNG.remnet.rockwell.com) [ Comment to Wave-2 from: Fluxline@aol.com The installer keeps asking for disk 1. A work around is to use the dos EXPAND command ( like this: expand file.xx_ file.exe) to expand all of the programs files. ] [ On registering Wave-to: From: Ulrich Zukowski this is what is said in the docu of version 1.8: Intended future enhancements include: Dump Request Macros and Sample Dump Recieve. SYSEX message editor. Support for Casio Ensoniq sample formats, and UltraSound .PAT files. Time-Stretching. Audio Card Support. Adress:Richard R. Goodwin, Clare Cottage, 106 Clare Lane, East Malling. KENT. ME19 6JB. England CIS:Richard Goodwin 100330,2442 INTERNET:100330.2442@compuserve.com] - MIDIAN_E.ZIP: MIDIAN is a universal patch/sample librarian program for the Atari ST/STE/F30 computers. It also supports MIDI SDS (sample dump standard). The file "midian.zip" is the latest German version (including SY99 support, thanks dil !), while midian-e.zip is the English version (without any SY-support at the moment). So if you want the english version for your SY you need to download both files and merge them (I'll do this as soon as I have time to). - two self-modified disks from a German SY-99 PD collection (nice samples) from Joerg Kluever, and I found 5 other disks... - a handful of SY-77 sounds [ In the directory is a README, there you will find the most updated info. ] - the PD Editor/Librarian TAKE500 (for Atari ST). There is still a problem with TAKE500 itself (transmission error?) but it comes bundled with 100 drumpatterns. The doc says they are the same that come with every SY-85. Thanks to Andrew Concerning the ftp site in general: 1. We have now reached my 10 MB ftp quota limit ... - no problem though, I just convinced our sys-op to give me another 10 MB (nice guy!). 2. So far there are only sounds for the SY-77 and SY-99 on the site, but feel free to upload things for other machines. 3. There have been only very few people actually uploading anything, while the downloads are currently 95% of our ftp requests (nobody seems to be really interested in scientific papers ...). It's the old story of course. Anyway, aren't you challanged to put your own creations in the public ? Combined sound-banks/compositions would be fine too ! Anybody want to flame my musical taste as expressed in my own sound banks ??? [ On accessing problems to ftp@neuroinformatik... ] Since some people reported problems accessing our ftp-site: There is automatic logging enabled at out site for security reasons. This means not only our sys-op can see who tried to log in etc, but also that the identity of your computer (internet addr) is checked (by nameserver service). If your computer/node is not properly installed/registered at your site, access will be denied. Sorry if this causes problems, but I don't think it is desirable to change this behavior. From maynard@technet.sg Sun May 14 15:12:16 CES 1995 SY-list archive mirror SY-LIST Archives from ftp.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de are now available at Technet Singapore. The path is ftp.technet.sg:/pub/music/sy-list/ You can also check out the Technet E-ZAK Electronic Music Archives available at ftp.technet.sg:/pub/music/ From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) FTP for Yamaha TX16W: ftp-ls7.informatik.uni-dortmund.de in dir:/pub/tx16w The ftp server carries a lot of those 12bit TX16W samples! (The SY99 can load samples in TX16W format, the SY85 should too, but there have not been positive reports so far.) (if I remember well they have also documents about Yamaha and SDS formats there and some sample conversion software as well.) Mailing List for TX16W, Postings/Requests: selick@acs.bu.edu Mailing list for DX7: dx7@iastate.edu. To subscribe, mail xeno@iastate.edu WWW Pages (Mosaic): http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/map/analog/analog.html Analogue Heaven mailing list http://web.city.ac.uk/~cb170/notator.page.html Logic-Users http://www.oulu.fi/music.html Music Virtual Library http://www.acns.nwu.edu/jazz/ WNUR-FM Jazz http://www.cecer.army.mil/~burnett/MDB/musicResources.html WWW Music Resources http://www.eeb.ele.tue.nl/midi/index.html MIDI Home Page http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/jdg/www/music.html Music Meta List http://stjohn.gsfc.nasa.gov/EMUSIC-L/welcome.html EMUSIC-L http://www.acns.nwu.edu/jazz/cadence/cadence.html Cadence Search (Jazz Database) http://mozart.mw3.com:80/yamaha/ studio gear and home keyboards, http://www.hoovers.com/yamaha.html Yamaha Corporation, its history and financial state and http://www.ysba.com Yamaha XG developers forum These are - AFAIK - 3 Yamaha pages on the net. MIDI-Sysex-Editor http://brahms.fmi.uni-passau.de/~zukowski/midi/index.html Drumpatterns ftp.uwp.edu has some in their midifile collection From: Jeff Leane Usenet groups interesting for SY-listers: alt.emusic alt.exotic-music alt.music.alternative comp.music de.rec.music.misc (only germany) rec.music.compose rec.music.industrial rec.music.info rec.music.makers.synth rec.music.marketplace rec.music.misc rec.music.newage [ Also via mailbox/internet gateways (e.g. news.belwue.de) in Germany: maus.midi fido.ger.midi fido.ger.musiker ] Periodic posting to rec.music.info on the subject of "List of Internet Musical Resources" and "List of Internet Musical FTP Sites." Lots of good information there. From: boogie@iastate.edu If there is interest in posting sites for other SYs, it takes me about 10 minutes to compile a list like this, so write me. Host Directory File ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ louie.udel.edu /pub/midi/patches/SY99 louie.udel.edu /pub/midi/patches/SY77 ftp.ucsd.edu /midi/patches/SY22 /midi/patches/SY77 sol.cs.ruu.nl /MIDI/DOC SY99 SY77 athene.uni-paderborn.de /pcsoft3/mac/sound/midi sy77voicelibrarian.cpt.hqx cs.utk.edu /pub/martin/K2000/samp sy77tine.krz ftp.luth.se /pub/misc/midi/mac sy77voicelibrarian.cpt.hqx isfs.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp /Mac/info-mac/app patch-libr-sy77-synth.hqx lth.se /mac/info-mac/app patch-libr-sy77-synth.hqx metten.fenk.wau.nl /pub/mac/info-mac/app patch-libr-sy77-synth.hqx nic.switch.ch /mirror/info-mac/app patch-libr-sy77-synth.hqx plaza.aarnet.edu.au /micros/mac/info-mac/app patch-libr-sy77-synth.hqx /micros/mac/umich/sound/midi sy77voicelibrarian.cpt.hqx sics.se /pub/info-mac/app patch-libr-sy77-synth.hqx sumex-aim.stanford.edu /info-mac/app patch-libr-sy77-synth.hqx swdsrv.edvz.univie.ac.at /mac/info-mac/app patch-libr-sy77-synth.hqx From: dil sy-voices at louie.udel.edu /pub/midi ftp.ucsd.edu /midi sample-dump-standard-files at alf.uib.no /pub/sds sweaty.palm.cri.nz /sds TX16W-samples: ftp-ls7.informatik.uni-dortmund.de /pub/tx16w/samples ftp.aii.com /pub/midi/tx16w From: Jeff Leane ftp.uwp.edu is another one. [ These archie lists are awful long, so I (Ulrich) compressed them. ] SY85 ---------------------------------------------------------- archie -s -h archie.sura.net sy85 ftp.ucsd.edu /midi/patches/SY85 SY77 ---------------------------------------------------------- archie -s -h archie.sura.net sy77 mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu /pub/info-mac/app patch-libr-sy77-synth.hqx nctuccca.edu.tw /Macintosh/info-mac/app patch-libr-sy77-synth.hqx /Macintosh/umich-mac/sound/midi sy77voicelibrarian.cpt.hqx nic.switch.ch /mirror/umich-mac/sound/midi sy77voicelibrarian.cpt.hqx sol.cs.ruu.nl /MIDI/PROGRAMS/MAC sy77voicelibrarian.cpt.hqx.gz YAMAHA ---------------------------------------------------------- archie -s -h archie.sura.net yamaha ftp.germany.eu.net /pub/os/Linux/Mirror.SunSITE/X11/devel/supervga-info yamaha.doc june.cs.washington.edu /pub/map/analog/gear yamaha.RY30.txt kirk.bu.oz.au /pub/OS/Linux/packages/X11/devel yamaha.doc louie.udel.edu /pub/midi/patches/DX7 yamaha.bank /pub/midi/sequences/Yamaha mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu /pub/linux/X11/devel/supervga-info yamaha.doc nic.switch.ch /mirror/linux/sunsite/X11/devel/supervga-info yamaha.doc nz20.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de /pub/linux/mirror.sunsite/X11/devel/supervga-info yamaha.doc optima.cs.arizona.edu /japan/kahaner.reports yamaha.94 sol.cs.ruu.nl /MIDI/DOC Yamaha-CS, YamahaAnalogs, YamahaDXs swdsrv.edvz.univie.ac.at /unix/systems/linux/sunsite/X11/devel/supervga-info yamaha.doc ftp.ucsd.edu /midi/patches/DX7 yamaha.bank /midi/patches/yamaha ugle.unit.no /disk2/pub/linux/X11/devel yamaha.doc unix.hensa.ac.uk /pub/sunsite/pub/Linux/X11/devel/supervga-info yamaha.doc /pub/uunet/doc/literary/obi/Standards/VGA yamaha.txt.Z world.std.com /obi/Standards/VGA yamaha.txt Samples at: louie.udel.edu /pub/midi/samples From: sck@unstable.demon.co.uk (Simon Kunath) Midi files (great) at: ftp.cs.ruu.nl pub/midi From: Tarun the Audio Guy Samples for the SY85/99 at ftp.ucsd.edu. They have a ton of samples in .AU format. These waves can be converted to .WAV through SOX, and then to .SDS via the SDX program. Drawbacks: eight bit, low sampling rates. From: "JOEL STERN" FTP-sites for sample-postings ftp.ls7informatik.uni-dortmund.de (=129.217.52.140); 161.66.1.11 /pub/midi/? (don't know the names) 134.10.2.20 in pub/samples. From: JLEE@VAX2.LUTON.AC.UK TX16W ftp: informatik.uni-freiburg.de (132.230.150.1) /pub/sounds/tx16w/samples decompress using UnZip, convert samples to WAV. (e.g. Sound converter for Mac, on same site), then loading to an SY85 formatted disk using Wave To for Windows (available from the sy-list ftp site). From: Ulrich Zukowski http://brahms.fmi.uni-passau.de/~zukowski/midi/index.html ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/pub/sounds/tx16w/samples/drums/ there are drum files tr_808.zip + tr_909.zip from Roland ftp://sol.cs.ruu.nl/pub/MIDI/SONGS/MISC/drumpats.zip TG55 GM drum setup http://brahms.fmi.uni-passau.de/~zukowski/midi/index.html tg500 SysEx Editor 1.0 at http://brahms.fmi.uni-passau.de/~zukowski/midi/files/tg500/wsysex.zip fetch also WinSysEx http://mozart.mw3.com:80/yamaha/ Seems to be some kind of offical Yamaha WWW site. http://www.hoovers.com/yamaha.html Some Yamaha-related page. From Fredrik_Johansson%hermes.ics.lu.se@nomina.lu.se Mon May 15 14:49:16 CES 1995 ftp://hyperreal.com/music/machines/sounds/drum-machines/909KIT.ZIP I found a place at Hyperreal where you can download 4.5 MB of 909 drums (the most popular drummachine in techno/trance music) use Wave 2 or Convert14 to convert to whatever format you like and enjoy the (23)BASSDRUMS(!!!)HIHATS,CLAPS,SNARES,RIMS,HIGH-MID-LOW-TOMS!! the samples are High-quality (44.1 HZ mono?)!!! From ramsayd@smtp-gw.spawar.navy.mil Thu Jun 8 22:43:36 CES 1995 130.236.253.5 (winona.rydnet.lysator.liu.se) in pub/tx16w. Oskar Enokkson's TX16W FTP site From lothar@bintec.de Mon Jun 26 16:11:53 MES 1995 ftp.mfi.com --> /pub/keyboard/patches From: mruss@midi.dungeon.com (Martin Russ) Fri, 30 Jun 1995 20:20:49 +0000 http://www.dungeon.com/~midi/MIDIsync.html The 'MIDI Clock Sync Pages' about sync'ing the LFO in an SY99 to MIDI Clock. Other music related FTP sites you may wish to explore: NIC.FUNET.FI OAK.OAKLAND.EDU WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU #Q: What to do with .Z, .GZ, .tar, .uu, .TZ, .TGZ etc? ------------------------------------------------------ From: aim09@rs3.rrz.uni-koeln.de (Ulrich Koepping) All these file-extensions indicate, that the corresponding file is compressed, archived and/or encoded. All these is needed to create one compact file out of many which is also transferable by mail. Extension file is remove with comand .Z compressed uncompress .Z .gz gnu-zipped gunzip .zip zipped unzip .tar archived tar -xvf .uu uuencoded uudecode .TZ = .tar.Z .TGZ = .tar.GZ #Q: How can I download stuff if I just have e-mail access? ---------------------------------------------------------- From: "McEnroe, Brendan" Send the message "help" to ftpmail@src.doc.ic.ac.uk This is a ftp server and will do the ftping for you chop it up in to little bits uuencode it and mail it back to you. You send all the commands the the ftp server through e-mail ============================================================================== ## Other sources of information ============================================================================== #Q: How can I contact YAMAHA on the internet? --------------------------------------------- From: "J. Rossi" Wed, 28 Jun 1995 10:59:40 GMT >From a YAMAHA official Mr. Vimal: > I did find a way for you to address your support questions to our > support division using internet. Please send your email to > steve-t@yca.mhs.compuserve.com. This will send your email to Mr. Steve > Thatcher, who is the Director of Customer Support. He will be able to > get the answers to your questions. #Q: Are there books/papers about FM synthesis? ---------------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) There are no books specially about the SY-series, however for all people interested in synthesis basics, I would recommend "The secrets of analog and digital synthesis" by Steve deFuria (publisher ???) It was written at the times of analog synths and the DX7, but explains the basic concepts of envelopes, filters, etc and also FM. A "scientific" paper about FM is: J. Chowning "The Synthesis of Complex Audio Spectra by Means of Frequency Modulation" J. Audio Eng. Soc. 21, no. 7 (1973):526-534 The standard reference for FM is: J. Chowning and D. Bristow "FM Theory and Applications by Musicians for Musicians" Yamaha Music Foundation, Tokyo, 1986 ISBN 4-636-17482-8 however it seems this book is impossible to get nowadays. F"ur deutsche Leser, die an FM-Programmierung interessiert sind, ist das Buch von Gorges "uber den DX7 *sehr* zu empfehlen. Es behandelt Theorie und Praxis der Sound-Programmierung und enth"alt auch viele Beispiele: Peter Gorges Das komplette DX7 Handbuch GC Gunther Carstensen Verlag M"unchen 1988 In general I think good books on DX7 FM programming will give a lot of ideas ... I also tried "The secrets of analog synthesis" by Steve deFuria, an American book which starts very much on beginner level but explains all the basic synthesis concepts and contains a lot about how to use the classical Oscillator->Filter->Amplifier paradigm of synthesis. Also it has a short but useful section about FM programming. Recommended for people which start programming or are confused about the concepts (by reading too much commercial hype ?). From: mchugh@telco.com (Mike McHugh) I have a good book called "FM Theory & Applications (by Musicians for Musicians)" by Dr. John Chowning & David Bristow. It was published by Yamaha Music Foundation in 1986. The ISBN# is 4-636-17482-8 COO73. It has good examples for the DX7, which should be applicable to the SY77/99 (I wouldn't know as I don't have one YET!). It starts with the small components of a sound which you build on to produce complete voices. Of course, this deals only with the FM stuff and not the wave stuff. I don't know if this is what you are looking for. From: jensenq@qcj.icon.com (Quinn Jensen) To SY list members, FYI, in case you were not already aware: As Jeff Harrington alluded to some months ago, the winter issue of CMJ contains the article on matching FM to samples using genetic algorithms. Andrew Horner, James Beauchamp, and Lippold Haken, "Machine Tongues XVI: Genetic Algorithms and Their Application to FM Matching Synthesis," Computer Music Journal, 17:4, pp. 17-29, Winter 1993. Abstract: Historically, frequency modulation (FM) synthesis has required trial and error to create emulations of natural sounds. This article presents a genetic-algorithm-based technique which determines optimized parameters for reconstruction through FM synthesis of a sound having harmonic partials. We obtain the best results by using invariant modulation indices and a multiple carrier formant FM synthesis model. We present our results along with extensions and generalizations of the technique. A very interesting paper. From: jcrystal@moose.uvm.edu (Jon Crystal) The two best sources on FM programming I've found are Chowning & BRistow's "FM Applications" (or something like that - originally published by Yamaha) and Howard Massey's "COmplete DX7" (or Complete CX7II). The Chowning/Bristow book is fairly mathematical although they do try to approach an understanding of the impact from a musician's perspective, with many hands on exercises. I think it is the most accessible way to grasp the underlying theory of simple FM programming. Unfortunately, it is out of print, but can be found in libraries. Howard Massey is a *great* writer, makes technical issues easy to grasp. His book is much more complete than the other one, somewhat less theoretical/technical but very practical. It too has many hands on experiments to get an intuitive feel for what FM programming changes accomplish. He also has great advice on programming approachs. He's also written another classic - "A Syntheist's Guide to Acoustic Instruments" - which does a reasonably in-depth analysis of the sonic properties of dozens of acoustic instruments, and how to replicate them with various synthesis approaches, including FM. I have little interest in replicating acoustic instruments, but since they provide a good reference point these can be viewed as great practice cases of achieving a desired goal with FM programming. Not as good for a beginner, but an invaluable source for continuing to fathom FM. #Q: What other books might be interesting? ------------------------------------------ From: ramsayd@smtp-gw.spawar.navy.mil (Douglas Ramsay) Has anyone heard of the "Yamaha MIDI System Guide" entitled "DIGITAL X BOOK" It doesn't appear to have a named author but the publisher is: RITTOR MUSIC (Amsco Publications). The US ISBN is 0.8256.10613. Ok...for those who don't know, the book only pertains to Yamaha's "X" series (DX/TX/RX/KX/QX) of instruments. I believe the book came out in '86 so not even all of the series is covered. It covers digital applications of using synths, sequencers and drums in differnet setups and has a short section on recording among other things. Basically a good book for "X-fans" >From heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de Tue May 16 14:19:20 CES 1995 About Chowning/Bristow's "FM, Theory and Applications" This is a really amazing book. I was shocked when I found that they really started with a short *math section* - in a book for musicians. Instead of giving tips&tricks, they explain everything on the basis of *bessel functions*, and with many examples try to give the reader a grip on what FM math means sonically. That is not to say that the book is written for mathematicans - it is just that they seem to think a musician will sit down for a couple of days and try to understand FM math instead of just fiddling around with knobs'n buttons. BTW, I also found that the German book by Peter Gorges "Das komplette DX-7 Handbuch" is partially a watered down ripoff of the Chowning/Bristow. The section on explaining FM was shortened, but most of the "X-amples" given are identical. Probably the other half of the book is a ripoff of Masseys "Complete DX-7" - which I still don't have. ============================================================================== ## Software - editors / librarian ============================================================================== [ ********************************************************************** Very important: If you know any software not included here which might be usefull PLEASE send me a short description! ********************************************************************** ] [ I compressed this section also, because always reading the same "Where can I find ... for my ...?" is really annoying. So this entries are in this form: , , , ] From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) SY99, ATARI-ST(E) TT F30, MIDIAN, MIDI librarian with sample support SY77 TG77 partly An adaptation for the SY99 for the midian is available at our ftp-site: ftp.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de in directory /pub/outgoing/heja/sy-list (please cd *directly* into this dir, then there will be no problems). The sy99 adaptation should also be usable in most parts for the sy/tg77, however I encourage any 77 user to supply the missing parts... (and also the rest of the sy-gang to do the same for their baby). SY99, ATARI-ST(E) TT F30, ?, MIDI editor/librarian It is made by a German company (Y.NOT) and costs 290,- DM. My personal opinion: - I had better spent the money on a general librarian (like Soundsurfer) - :-[ The editor section is nearly useless since many things can be done *better* on the SY99: - Envelopes are displayed in much too low resolution, - no possibility to display more than one thing (e.g. operator parameters) - no way to synchronize editing between operators or elements. + selection of samples, effects etc (from a name list) + editing of related parameters (e.g. controller parameters on one page). - general problem: Yamaha synths cannot send the edit buffer over MIDI, which makes parallel editing (synth and computer) hard. (shame on you, Yamaha engineers) + Librarian section: it only works with Voices, but stores them compressed, also some nice things like delete doubles, sort in various ways etc. However I find this PRG overpriced if one only wants to use the library section. TG-500, ATARI ST, TAKE500, editor Andrew put TAKE500 on our ftp-site ftp.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de in /pub/outgoing/heja/sy-list Please report any problems you have since I could not test the program (I have no 500/85). [ (Matthew G Overton)" wrote: It's available free in the UK by sending a blank formatted DD disk to Yamaha and they'll send you TAKE_500 in return. Documentation is in German and English and there are some sounds, the rhythm sequences from the 85 in Cubase format (and some other) and some songs. Check also out your local distributor--they'll probably know the score and send you a copy, especially if you offer to port it and send them back a copy :-) ] synth with sample dump, ATARI ST, AVALON, sample editor / transmitter A little older, German product, loads/saves several file formats and sample dumps, a full blown sample editor (looping, filtering, FFT, and in the latest version even software synthesis), it is expensive though (on the used market here in Germany 300-350 DM). SY77, ATARI, Polyframe by C-LAB, generic editor 99,- DM or less new, probably the cheapest, supports many other synths SY77, ATARI, ??? from Steinberg, editor 350,- DM, should be great SY77 SY99, ATARI also Mac? and PC?, EMAGIC Souddiver, editor improvement on Polyframe by the same author and about 600,- DM (also for many synths including the SY-99) What I know from descriptions (see http://web.city.ac.uk/~cb170/EMAGIC/ss.html if you have WWW access) this thing beats everything else by far. SY77, ATARI, ??? by Geerdes (German software company), editor don't know any details. From: Jean Alexis Montignies SY22/35 TG33, Amiga, SynthLibrarian v_1.0, librarian for several synth You should find it on aminet in the mus/midi directory. Every synth needs a driver. Existing drivers are for Yamaha SY22 Sy35 TG33 (tested only on SY22) + Yamaha Electone (tested only on yamaha HS4). [ By programming drivers or even an Editor the program could get very useful, contact the Jean if you want to do so. ] The docs are still in french and the program is localized for English and French, i am interested in people writing other catalogs files or translating the docs. From: ?? SY85, ATARI ST, TAKE500, editor I used TAKE500 with my SY85 and it worked; the display of the SY85 shows transmission errors, but all voice data are transmitted correctly. Problems are: 1. It transmits/receives only Internal voice banks I1 and I2 (128 voices) and performances I1 (64 performances). That`s the limits of the TG500. 2. Controller functions are different on the TG500. From: Fluxline@aol.com TG55, PC Windows 3.1, TG55 editor v2.0b, editor It was uploaded to ftp.uwp.edu under \pub\incoming\misc.music.files . From: Clifford_L_Spears.Roch805@xerox.com SY22 SY55 SY77 TG33, PC DOS or Windows, Quest, Editor/Librarian Roland MPU or compatible or KEY MIDI interface required The program is not copy protected. Contact adress: Sound Quest, Inc. #2-131 W. 13th Ave. Vancouver, BC V5Y 1V8 CANADA Tech Support (604) 874-9499 BBS/Fax (604) 874-8971 From: sck@unstable.demon.co.uk (Simon Kunath) SY55 TG55 SY77,ATARI, X-OR, editor/librarian costs about 150 UKP, has librarian & edit functions for about 150 midi devices.(no '99 or '85 ), *real fine* software, gathers current settings with one key-press, file that, & get it all back to-morrow...the same.... From: Glenn Deardorff -- GDP SY77 TG77, ATARI AT TT Falcon, Synthworks 77 from Steinberg, ed/lib 200 U.S. smackeroos - er, dollars, graphical interface to every SY-77 parameter (algorythm, resonance amount, levels, pan positions, FM start phase). graphical depiction of all of the FM algorithms And convert DX-7 patches to TG77 format, etc. powerful and intuitive editor TG33 Editor (Demo on the neuroinformatik ftp site) The program features: Graphical editing of envelope, vectors. Print out of voice lists. multiple banks open at once, transfer between banks, reads tg and sy voices. voice common, element tone, envelope, fm presets, waves, output dialog boxes edit the "hidden fm presets " ! full help file (context sensitive) toolbar, 3d controls etc. The full version is available for $15 US. From: garyc general, PC Windows, MIDI QUEST I tried MIDI-QUEST out on my SY22: It's not possible to change the preset FM elements, only access the carrier/mod FM parms There is a fairly comprehensive review of MQ in this months (April 95) Sound On Sound mag. The summary is: Pros: Wide range of instrument support; A common front end to synth editing; Not obsolete when gear changes; Librarian and database functions for versatile data storage; Instantly create whole new banks of sounds using randomisation, maixing and blending of existing patches Cons: Looks horrible! Manual is a little sketchy; Some drivers don't cater for instrument specific features; Drivers don't always edit every available parameter You would be well advised to make sure it does what you want it to do for your own synth(s) before parting with the dosh. From: "J. Rossi" TG/SY general, Mac, Midiex Mac, dump utility for SysEx and Samples on ftp.neuroinformatik TG-500, PC Windows 3.1, WinFIVE, editor available from Yamaha UK for the TG (works with the SY85 as well). To be uploaded soon (sy-ftp). From: "Arend, Matt" TG-33, PC Windows, ??, editor librarian in /pub/outgoing/heja/sy-list/PC on the sy-list ftp site features: Graphical editing of envelope, vectors. Print out of voice lists. multiple banks open at once, transfer between banks, reads tg and sy voices. voice common, element tone, envelope, fm presets, waves, output dialog boxes edit the "hidden fm presets " ! full help file (context sensitive) toolbar, 3d controls etc. The full version is available for $15 US. From: Ulrich Zukowski general, PC Windows 3.1, WinSysEx v3.0, programmable midi sysex editor http://brahms.fmi.uni-passau.de/~zukowski/midi/index.html From i.moyes@trl.oz.au Tue Jun 6 10:31:54 CES 1995 Dumpster, dump-programm, simple & uncluttered ftp.cs.ruu.nl under the usual pub/windows/midi (?) ============================================================================== ## Software - other software ============================================================================== #Q: Where can I get the DX7 to SY77 converter from? --------------------------------------------------- From: david robert bieling You can get a program from Yamaha. They sent me a floppy to run on an IBM type PC. The keyboard scaling needs to be adjusted on most sounds and occasionally an oscillator is switched between fixed and non-fixed. #Q: What is WaveSE? ------------------- From: LOKE MUN CHOY WaveSE is a Windows based program by Turtle Beach Systems. It is a fully functional, not shareware/freeware Sample Editor. In order to use Maui's Sample editor/looper, you MUST have an existing soundcard (SoundBlaster 16 card works) to record new samples. All the features work EXCEPT those that are MAUI-specific like dumping the sample to the MAUI's memory via MAUI's own sample language(not SDS!). Exapmle with WaveSE: waves can be recorded, truncated, amplified, filtered loop points can be set with the Loop Editor Here's the real power of WaveSE : There is this Loop Editor which is really powerful. Not only does it search for the next zero crossing for you, it can also match the loop points for non-zero crossings.. Using WaveSE samples with loop point in for example Wave-to you have to write down the loop-points. Get both programs from our site: ftp.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (134.147.96.18) Dir: /pub/outgoing/heja/sy-list <-- Go straight to this dir. Filenames: wavese.zip & wave-2.zip #Q: What about MIDIQuest for Windows? ------------------------------------- From: Harry Haecker (haeckerh@nwrc.gov) (bthaec@lsuvm.bitnet) I've got a friend who uses MIDIQuest for Windoze, and let me hook up my TG-77 to his 'puter to check it out (in case I'd like to purchase it). In general I think it's a good program, allowing one to create mixes, blends, and random patches, and graphically edit them; however, it doesn't handle the fact that 4 element patches can only be saved to Bank D. That is, when a bank of 16 voices is created, it gets sent to Bank A . One has to send each voice, one at a time, to the desired bank address. Is there an TG/SY-77 editor/librarian for Windows that handles this problem in an intelligent manner? ============================================================================== ## managing patches ============================================================================== #Q: How can I rearrange patches, e.g. merge patches from two banks? ------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "arnshea clayton" Load in the synth file that has the most of your favorites on, into the internal ram. Save it as an ALL file (not a synth all, an ALL DATA file). Do the same thing for every synth file that has a sound on it you like. Now, load in the one with the most. From there, you can go into load, and select (load 1 voice). It will display every ALL data file on the disk. You push DIR (f8 I think) and it should give you a list of all the voices. Move the cursor over the one you want to move then press f2 (for destination). Choose where you want to put it in the internal memory. In this way, you can move all your voices! BTW: You can do a similar task for multi's by loading 1 multi. #Q: Is it possible to save/load single patches? ----------------------------------------------- From: " (Matthew G Overton)" To the RAM card, yes. To a disk, no. From: smuth@sosi.com (Stephen Muth) No. Not unless you do Sysex dumps from your computer.... assuming you have a MIDI card. Probably the biggest pain in the buttski surrounding the SY-85. I save both voice and performance data as Sysex dumps. To receive, turn Bulk Protect off, set the synth to the voice you want to overwrite and send the voice data. Do the same for the performances, but then go into the performance edit to make sure the performance accesses the right voices. #Q: Anyone know how to backup the RAM card to disk? --------------------------------------------------- From: " (Matthew G Overton)" Working from memory (always suspect), I seem to remember that it's under System, sub option Card, and then there's a page that you load/save all. Load all patches into the RAM area (ie normal Internal Performances and Voices) and then do a usual System/Disk/Save/Synth and that should do it. I'm not aware of any direct method from card to disk, only via the Internal memory. From: smuth@sosi.com (Stephen Muth) Not this kid... I opted for the internal waveform RAM, and so am hosed on the RAM cards. #Q: Can I load individual voices from a SYNTH ALL file? ------------------------------------------------------- From: 1loebner@rzdspc1.informatik.uni-hamburg.de (Dietrich Loebner) No, that's not right. The SY99 and surely also the SY77 is not able to load individual voices from an synth-all-file. I don't understand that, too, but it's a fact. #Q: Can the TG load/dump patches into it although it lacks a disk drive? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Glenn Deardorff -- GDP A SysEx file dump/load utility that runs on your computer d' preference (e.g. MIDIEX, I think its called, for the Atari) will load the many SysEx bank files available on the Internet. ============================================================================== ## managing samples ============================================================================== #Q: Can you still save "All Data" with more than 512K sample RAM on a SY85? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From patrickr@afpsol.co.uk Thu May 25 14:57:07 CES 1995 Yes you can, yes it does and yes it takes forever. #Q: I converted a sample to '.w00' using convert14. And loaded to the SY85 from the disk. It became wave 01. Now how do I play this? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From anthony.lockwood@ernie.almac.co.uk Wed May 24 10:43:32 CES 1995 Go into Voice Edit Mode using [VOICE]-> [EDIT]-> [MENU]-> 1:Oscilator -> [ENTER/YES] (P58 of the manual) Make sure the cursor is under the OSC section using the F1/CS1 key and then press the "Internal 2" key, you will see I063 appear under the OSC, after this just chose the sample you wish with either the slider or the wheel (for want of a better word :) Either Edit the voice as you would any other voice or Press [STORE]-> [ENTER/YES] Display say "Are You Sure ?" and if you are press [ENTER/YES] again. #Q: How do I manage all the parameters from SOX? ------------------------------------------------ From: JLEE@VAX2.LUTON.AC.UK >From the TX16W faq: How to use sox: Here is an example of a MSDOS batch file for using SOX to convert TX16 waves to Windows '.wav' files: rem TX2WAV.BAT @echo off echo Converting %1 to %2 sox -v 1.5 -t .txw %1 -t .wav -u -b %2 ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^_____ Output file name | | | | | |________ output sample data in bytes | | | | |___________ output is in unsigned format | | | |______________ output is MS WAV format | | |______________________ Input filename | |_________________________ Input is TX16W format |_________________________________ volume = volume * 1.5 example command line: tx2wav a:pig.w03 c:\samples\pig.wav Don't let SOX assume anything; spell it out! For those who have Sun's or things that support '.au' formats sox -t .txw pig.w03 -t .au -r 8000 -U -b pig.au rate This 'resamples' the input rate from the TX wave down to 8000 for the Sparcs, outputs in U-Law (log) format in Bytes #Q: How can I load TX16W files into my SY85? -------------------------------------------- From: JLEE@VAX2.LUTON.AC.UK I've only used Sound Converter for the Mac but there is a program for the PC called SOund eXchange (sox.exe). You might try using that to convert from TX16W format to perhaps the .WAV format. You can then use Wave2 to convert to the SY85 format. #Q: How can I read .MID/.WAV Files to Sy-85? -------------------------------------------- From: dguedry@selu.edu To write .WAV files to SY-85 format, use Wave-To. It'll write a .WAV file to a .W0? file. As far as .MID files, they can be read by the '85 without any conversions. Just load it from the drive. #Q: How can I dump new samples in the SY-85? -------------------------------------------- From: "The Keagal, Keagal and Vark Club" Firstly any intsturment that supports sample dump standard will work. (e.g. K2000 manages various sample formats, Akai, newer roland samplers) Connect the SY85's MIDI out to the sampler, and the samplers MIDI out to the SY85. Next load the samples you want into the sampler. Press "shift" and "utility" on the SY85 (sample mode), then press "midi" sub-mode button (sample dump mode). Use the page arrow keys to make sure you are in "recieve" page not "transmit" page. Next select the sample number that you see on the screen, you can start with 0 and go up to 1, 2, 3, ect ( I think to 64). Press "enter". If all is connect properly then you should see a count of "sample packets transmitted" on the SY85. If nothing happens probably the two synths are not connected over MIDI, or one of them isnt set to recieve MIDI - there is a handshaking going on between the two so both need to know the other is there. If all goes well sample data should be transmitted. Same procedure with the following samples for multi-samples. The next step is to get the sample to play! You must turn the waveform "on", and set the sample numbers that you want to correspond to that waveform. These functions are under "shift-utility,sub-mode synthsetup". If you have gotten this far I am sure you can figure the rest out. Assign the waveform to a sound and your all set. The waveform can be saved, as a set of wave forms and sounds by SAVE ALL. Or as an individual sample under the "shift-utility submode disk" function. Some tips: first make a dry run: try to find all the modes and pages I mentioned by using your wits or your manual. Second set a whole afternoon a side with a sampler the first time you want to do this...the second time took me only minutes a disk. Some more advice...try drum sample first cause they short and you can fit lots in the 512k and you can have fun trying to mapp them. Make sure any sample you want to dump is less than 512k (or less than you memory). Dont try to use the popular ensoniqs samplers, they dont support midi dump (darn!!!). #Q: Could someone please advise me on the best way to convert a sample which has been created from REPLAY 8 (file extension of *.spl) into a format which MIDIAN will understand (I am using SOX for the PC and SDX for the PC). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #Q: Did any SY-85 or TG-500 user ever successfully load a TX sample ? --------------------------------------------------------------------- From: smuth@sosi.com (Stephen Muth) Kevin White got me clued in as to how to load TX16W samples to the SY-85. The .Wxx files must first be converted to samplevision (SMP) format, using a utility on the same system as the TX16w samples.... I'm away from all my notes on this stuff.... after this, SOX can be used to transform the SMP files to SDS files, which is the true internal representation of the samples for the TX16W, SY-85 and SY-99 systems. SDS = MIDI sample dump standard format. The SDS files must then be beamed into the SY-85 using a MIDI interface. This is the only way we've been able to crack the code so far. If y'all want more specifics.... E-mail me directly, and I'll get mo' organized an' whip up mo' info pronto-like. #Q: What program can I use for sample-conversion? ------------------------------------------------- From: "GEORGE KRISTINA" I have uploaded the program Wave-to for Windows to the unofficial ftp site for SY users: ftp.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de As I mentioned in a previous note, this file will convert between many different sample types, including SDS, and will execute sample dumps from a PC. The program supports .wav, .aiff, SDS, SY85 waveforms, and about 5 or 6 other types. The file is pkzipped. #Q: What program can I use for sample-conversion on the Mac? ------------------------------------------------------------ From: "J. Rossi" SoundApp 1.4 will play or convert sound files dropped onto it. Currently, it supports the following sound formats: SoundCap* (including Huffman compressed) SoundEdit* (including stereo) AIFF, AIFF-C System 7 sound Sun Audio AU NeXT .snd (including 5-law, a-law, 8-bit linear, 16-bit linear, G.721 ADPCM and G.723 ADPCM) Windows* WAVE (including MS ADPCM-compressed) Sound Blaster* VOC Many varieties of MODs Amiga IFF/8SVX (including compressed) Sound Designer* II DVI ADPCM Studio Session Instruments Any 'snd ' resource file. SoundApp can convert all of these formats to: System 7 sound, sound suitcase AIFF, WAVE and NeXT formats. Using QuickTime 1.6 or later, SoundApp can also convert QuickTime soundtracks and audio CD tracks to: AIFF, System 7 sound or sound suitcase formats. #Q: How can I dump samples from Macintosh into the SY-85? --------------------------------------------------------- From: A_MOSCH@PAVO.CONCORDIA.CA Most sample editors will let you open standard Mac sound files and dump them to your synth.. i.e. Alchemy. Keep in mind that anything recorded at 8 bit, 22 kHz doesn't sound too hot, even after you've added effects... #Q: Can I get samples into the SY-85 without using MIDI? -------------------------------------------------------- From: alord@b29hp.bt.co.uk The procedure in outline is this: 1. Get your samples from where ever you like (I got some samplevision from err 129.217.52.140 (I think) 2. Get hold of the brilliant software 'WAVE2' which runs under windows and is available on 134.147.96.18 3. Save the WAVE2 files to a floppy disk, and then install them from WINDOWS (You are going to need the visual basic file: 'VBRUN300.DLL' to get this to work. I had it anyway but apparently it is available at 134.129.111.64 under /pub/pc/utils) 4. Use WAVE2 to convert your samples from Samplevision format (or many other formats) directly into SY85 format. 5. Save your files directly onto an SY85 format disk (or a double density MSDOS disk will do nicely - don't try high density!) 6. Get yourself down to your SY and get into wave edit mode (Shift + Utility - see the last few pages of the manual). Go to the disk sample receive page (explained in the manual - very simple) and stick in your disk. You can load in one sample at a time and they seem to go in consecutively numbered from 0 to 63. When you've done this you need to name them and assign them to waveforms. Presumably you can then save an ALL file to save you having to go through the whole process again. BTW, the Yamaha TX16w samples are not quite so straightfoward as they need some preprocessing before they hit WAVE2. This method is so much quicker and less painful than MIDI sample dump. If you have any more problems - let me know! #Q: How can I dump WAV-samples from PC into my TG500? ----------------------------------------------------- From: kjs@uvo.dec.com The followng steps are what I take to get a sample (*.wav) file into my TG500 from my PC using a sound blaster card with a MIDI cable connected: Note : This example demonstrates a 52k drum loop file sampled @22khz which took roughly 1 Minute 17 Seconds. Prepare the TG500 taking the following steps: --------------------------------------------- o Push the UTILITY/SELECT button o Take option 5:Wave, then hit ENTER o Push the EDIT/COMPARE button o Take option 4:Sample Dump, then hit ENTER o Select Sample Number (0-63), then hit enter followed by the YES button The above will place the TG500 into a receive state where it will then await a dump request. On the PC using Wave-To for windows (3.1): ------------------------------------------ o Open File o Select Midi menu, followed by the Sample Dump Transmit option. o Click on the O.K button to transmit the sample. o The display on the PC and TG500 will show how much of the sample has been received/transmitted. On the TG500: ------------- o After the TG500 has received the final end packet the display on the TG500 will say "Bulk Received Hit [EXIT]" o Press the EXIT button twice o Take option 1:Waveform, followed by ENTER button o Press the PAGE button, then option 1-2:Enable, press ENTER, then press YES o Press the PAGE button, then option 1-3:Name, press ENTER , then enter name o Press the EXIT button o Take option 2:Sample, then press the right hand cursor key (>) and move along to the Loop option, then press YES/NO to toggle the looping type o Press EXIT. Once the above steps have been made you can now edit a Voice and select the waveform from the INTERNAL wave list (hit MEMORY button), remember to check the likes of FILTER and EFFECTS when editing the waveforms. #Q: Has the SY85 got a format to store multisamples? ---------------------------------------------------- From: smuth@rmii.com (Steven Muth) To my knowledge, Yamaha hadn't the foresight to include a WAVE all disk file format. Only single samples allowed, unless you want to shoot the moon and load the entire synth with the ALL file (.Gxx). #Q: Is there a newer release of wave-to? ---------------------------------------- From: "The Keagal, Keagal and Vark Club" I've just ordered a current version of wave-to, unfortunately this version isn't shareware (the one on the sy-list ftp site is) so I can't upload it to the ftp site. To bad, cause there are a lot of cool new features that I am sure many of you would love to try out: sample support for Roland S50, TX16W, SY85/99, SDS, Etc., auto-loop finding, and a few other new things. I tried to track down a demo version of the new software but there isn't such a thing. I wrote the auhtor of the program, and he told me he is just finishing support for AKAI, and ENsoniqs sample fromats! I ordered the program through old fashioned real mail, but he told me the contact person over email for ordering is Kim Boulton, who's adress is 100114.2136@compuserve.com #Q: How much does the new version of Wave2 cost? Where do I get it? ------------------------------------------------------------------- >From Eyre@Intermedia.co.uk Sat May 13 00:39:27 CES 1995 If you have a lot of time to kill and don't pay your own phone bill you could download it from the SY-List FTP site :-). Alternatively it's available on ftp.cs.ruu.nl IN THE DIRECTORY //pub/midi/programs/mswindows (it is also a more recent version here). Otherwise contact the author: Richard R Goodwin by email: 100330.2242@compuserve.com. At the moment it doesn't accept Akai or Roland samples :-( But Richard is working on it. Last time I spoke to him he was working on the format to read Akai & Roland CD-ROMS which will be nice! ============================================================================== ## converting sounds (Can I use ... sounds on my ...?) ============================================================================== #Q: Is there a way of transfering SY85 info/sounds (either off DISK/CARD) into my TG500 as I would like the same sound pallette from the SY85 library on my TG. -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: " (Matthew G Overton)" Since a normal RAM card (MCD64?) stores patches, not waves, a card will only transfer patches accurately that use common waves on both machines (this shouldn't be a problem 85->500--maybe a bit of adjustment is reqd--but the 500 has a larger ROM of waves (8mb vs 6mb?) so it's not so good 500->85). If there's a ROM card of new waves, that's OK course :-) I've never been able to dump card waves to disk. Anyone else? Other than connecting an SY85 to a TG500 and using the MDR capabilites or simply doing a SysEx to a sequencer/bulk dumper and playing it back, I've got no ideas. (This should transfer samples that have been loaded into the 85's RAM OK, just not ones from ROM cards.) #Q: How can I load standard MIDI-files into my SY85? ---------------------------------------------------- From: JLEE@VAX2.LUTON.AC.UK I've successfully managed to load midi files into my SY85 by changing the files from songname.mid to songmame.X01, songname.X02 etc. and loading them in under the Other option in the disk menu. #Q: Can I convert sounds from the SY to the TG77? ------------------------------------------------- >From vittet@pascal.u-strasbg.fr Wed Jun 14 11:42:04 MET 1995 I have made the prog sy2tg77, and just have tried on this file (keymastr.j01) : It ... *WORKS*. You must unzip it (and perhaps uudecode it) before running sy2tg77. #Q: Why cannot I use the output of DX2SY as input for SYCONV? ------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike Schacht I had to do the same conversion with a few billion TX802 patches. As far as i understand SY77 formats, not personally having the gear, SYCONV needs an ALL file but dx2sy generates a SYNTHALL file (or something like that, i forget the details). And the two are apparently different so i could never get SYCONV to work. But sy2tg77, also at the sy-list ftp site, does work on my UNIX system. I seem to remember trying in on a PC as well and got it to compile but it wouldn't run right. It would probably only take a little fiddling to get it right. #Q: Are the smapledisks of the SY85, SY99 and TX16W compatible? --------------------------------------------------------------- From: LOKE MUN CHOY Here's what Peter Peck(Hi-Tech Marketing Assistant, YAMAHA) said(I quote) : "TX16W and SY99 sample disks are NOT compatible with the SY85" #Q: Can TX802 voices be used on SY77/TG77? ------------------------------------------ >From doctor@doctor.phys.washington.edu Wed May 31 19:50:01 MES 1995 It turns out I was almost completely right about the TX802 32 voice bulk dump. This data gets sent in two pieces, first a 1128 byte block, then a 4104 byte block. I have no clue what is in the first, but the second is all the DX7 compatible voice data, suitable for munging by dx2sy. Run that block through this program and you get some huge 64K SY77 "SYNTH ALL" file. Run that file through sy2tg77, also available at the SY ftp site, and get a string of pure TG77 sysex voice data blocks in the usual 64 voice bulk dump format. The sy2tg77.c source compiled and ran instantly on my NeXT (UNIX) and compiled but didn't quite work on a PC. The converted patches are mostly completely right on, except for some occasional LFO wierdness, though I only had the chance to verify a few banks. This, of course, will only take care of the voice data, TX802 performance patches you will have to reconstruct by hand, using a MULTI, or something like the 2AFMpoly voice mode. (How come there's no 4AFMpoly mode? That's what I'd like to know.) >From heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de Tue May 30 20:35:51 MES 1995 As far as I know the TX802 is DX compatible in that it at least reads DX7 (I) 128 byte voice dumps. I assume it also writes its own voice dump as a 128 byte DX compatible message plus an additional message with the new parameters. (The 77 and 99 are compatible in the same way.) Can you verify this ? If so, you should be able to use your sequencer (assumed you have a decent one), delete the superfluous data and load the rest into dx2sy. Concerning the TX81z: If you think it is really worth it (I'm now talking about the quality of the TX81z, just about the need to automatically convert a lot of its patches), you could probably write a converter yourself. You will find some infos in the DOC directory of our ftp site - and maybe the DX-SY conversion table in MISC/sy-prog.zip helps too. (noticed the shameless plug ?-) ============================================================================== ## sound programming ============================================================================== [ On the SY-homepage you will find a _LARGE_ text about this topic, written by Herbert Jansen. It is worth to take a look at it. ] #Q: I'm desperately looking for the typical TB 303 sound for my TG77. I doubt that any currently marketed digital synth can come close. OK, keeping in mind that it is impossible to do it, you can nevertheless try: A good start is using a sawtooth wave and route it to a 24 dB lowpass filter with resonance as high as possible (around 83). ALthough you will want to do filter sweeps use EG mode for the filters and set up a percussive envelope (nothing fancy), route a controller to filter cutoff with full range and maybe +3 LFO depth. Although the result should come close in principle, the sound just doesn't cut it. Try some specials: program the whole thing as described in an AWM element in voice mode 9 (1AFM&1AWM), shut off the output of the AWM element, and just patch the AWM output into a carrier on the AFM side: frequency 0 Hz fixed, full input and output levels. This gives you some distortion, that may do something good to the sound - play around with the OP waveforms and the phase. If you want to emphasize the resonant filter some more, you can use the AFM elemnts filter too. I found that just copying the filter settings as given above made the sound very thin, try bandpass mode instead. Since with high resonance settings, the sounds are always thin/low volume on digital synths, use the FX section to boost the volume. I don't know the TG77 FX, but on the SY99 any of the algorithms featuring a 3-band EQ will work - or even better use the early reflection algorithms with smallest room size, and almost minimal delay times for really boomy bass. Don't forget to put portamento on/off messages in your sequence and eventually a max range pitch bend event (with PB range set to 12 or so). #Q: Can I use patches from Internal and Card in Multi mode on the SY99? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- >From spowy@unm.edu Thu Jun 1 20:42:21 MES 1995 you cannot use sounds from internal/preset and card in one multi like said in the manual. for example: if you use sounds from the card in your multi - you can only use a multi saved to your card and vice versa with the internal and presets. when you save your sequence - save all. transfer the sounds from the card you want to use to the internal if your multi is in the internal and if you want only sounds on your card do the same with the sounds in the internal. #Q: Is it possible to controll multi mode effect settings on the SY85? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >From zukowski@forwiss.uni-passau.de Sat May 27 00:33:18 MES 1995 It seem's to be impossible to do this by normal control change messages. But the days I will provide an additional dialog window for WinSysEx (IBM PC Windows) to control exactly these 16 parameters using sysex messages. You can already use my TG500 editor for this purpose, but you can only control one channel at a time with the current setup. With the multi client compatible mpu-401 midi driver (see separate mail) you can you use the WinSysEx dialog simultaneously with your sequencer. #Q: How does the frequency spectrum depend on carrier / modulator? ------------------------------------------------------------------ From: d91-pjo@nada.kth.se It depends on the difference between the frequencies of the carrier and modulator, and the freq distance between the partials will be equal to the modulator freq. If you use a FM-carrier with freq f1, and a modulator with freq f2, the resulting freqs will be ... f1-2*f2, f1-f2, f1, f1+f2, f1+2*f2... The negative freqs become positive, phase shifted 180 degrees. If the carrier waveform contains more than one frequency, the same principle as above is applied to all those freqs. This means that if you use freq ratios and _only_ sine wave ops, it's fairly easy to predict the freq content of the resulting waveform. For example, a carrier:modulator ratio of 1:2 will produce a square wave (depending on the modulation index), which has only odd partials. With a fixed carrier freq of 0.000, all freqs in the modulating wave will be present in the FM spectrum. That's why you can hear the original AWM waveform if the carrier input level is low. #Q: What's the difference between Phase Distortion and FM? ---------------------------------------------------------- From: Dean Rubine In FM, we have, in the simplest form, y(t) = sin(w t + a sin(u t)). It's actually phase modulation, where the "normal" argument of the outer sine, wt, has a modulation term added to it, a sin(ut). In pratice, the two sine waves can be any periodic functions whose periods each fit in a wave table. So it's really something like y(t) = p(wt + a q(ut)), where p and q are periodic functions with, e.g., period 2 pi. In PD, a la Casio, we have y(t) = p( q(wt) ), where both p and q are periodic functions as above. But q, instead of being implemented by a wave table, is actually a distorted version of q(t)=t mod 2pi. Instead of a single linear segment from 0 to 2pi, q (if I remember correctly) consists of two segments, with an adjustable breakpoint. That is to say q(t)=bt for 0<=t<=c and is also linear for c<=t<=2pi, which q(c)=bc and q(2pi)=2pi. (I'm too lazy to figure out the equation for the second segment, and q is to be made periodic with period 2pi, so the statement q(2pi)=2pi is a white lie. Anyway...) The net effect is to distort the waveform p so that a fraction of it is played back slower than normal, and then the remainder is played back faster than normal (or vice versa) so that the period remains constant. Phase Distortion is a pretty good term to describe this, as manufacturer's names of algorithms go. Note that q doesn't need a wave table-the simple adder/incrementer that is typically used to get phase from frequency is modified so that it can switch between two frequencies. This make PD pretty cheap to implement. If you can in an SY77 sample something like q(t) (difficult because of the big steps every 2pi) you can probably simulate phase distortion. But I believe the Casio lets you manipulate b and c in real time, something that's harder to simulate. All this is from memory, with me filling in details where I wasn't sure, so take it with a grain of salt. I'm sure the gist of what PD, as implemented by Casio, is correct. #Q: Where can I start with programming an (A)FM sound? ------------------------------------------------------ From: ochikubo@etdesg.trw.com (Craig F. Ochikubo) Just start very simple to get the basic feel for the FM "thing": Start with just two operators, a modulator and a carrier (do this by either muting the rest of them or setting their outputs to zero). then make a simple envelope (quick attack, medium decay and relatively high sustain, medium release). copy the envelop to both operators. max out the bottom operator you generally do this, then start cranking up the level on the modulator. check out how the sound changes with that, change the attack rate, change the ration of frequencies (make the top 2x of the bottom, make them the same, make them some oddball ratio, make one of them fixed). After doing all of that ... which took me the better part of 1 year with the old DX7 (ha, just kidding). you will have a pretty good feel for things. then when you go to create a more complex sound, you'll remeber ... oh yeah if I set the ratio of frequencies this way then I get this ... and if I make the modulator attack fast and the carrier attack slow ... then .... then just add more operators and then feedback, and just go wild and guess at shit, and just twiddle away. but the basics do help. What do I remember ... a brass attack is a 1 to 1 ratio of freqs between mod and carrier, then slow down the modulators attack time and you will get a brass-ish attack (1 to 1 frequency ratio simulates a sawtooth, and 2 to 1 simulates a more square marimbaish wave). #Q: Where can I start when creating AFM synth sounds? ----------------------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) There are 2 algorithms which are nice to emulate a 2-osc or 3-osc synth: (was that #24 and #32 ?) 3 6 2 4 6 | | | | | v v v v v 2 5 1 3 5 | | v v 1 4 you may also set the feedback loops to the highest modulators (3, 6 resp. 2, 4, 6) If all frequencies in such a 2- or 3-stack are set the same, the result is a saw-like spectrum. You can experiment with the levels and the feedback strength, usually set all carriers (i.e. 1, 4 resp. 1, 3, 5) to highest level (127) the modulators a bit lower (80-110) depending on the brightness/distortion you like. It's very nice to experiment with velocity sensivity/wheel modulation for the modulators, gives you expressiveness of play much more than in any sample player. For just 2 stacked operators without feedback, 1/1 freqency ratio of carrier/modulator gives you more saw-like spectra (all harmonics), 1/2 ratio gives square-like spectra (odd harmonics), higher ratios give more pulse-like spectra (many harmonics missing, which sounds more "digital"). For envelopes, obviously the carrier envs give the volume shape, while the modulator envs give something comparable to filter cutoff control in analogs. It's really not that hard to make a "wah"-like sound for instance. By choosing several modulators routed into one carrier and assigning envs with "shifted" peaks for the modulators, more complex timbre shifts are possible. For a metallic "pling" attack sound (like in typical e-piano and bass sounds) use a modulator with high freq ratio (1/5 to 1/13 maybe) and a very short percussive env setting. If you want to get an ultra fat synth sound (I still like making them altough they are nearly useless for my kind of music), you can use a lot of techniques: of course detuning the operators/elements especially by setting random tune to 1 (everything more is rather extreme IMHO) using slight vibrato with different amounts on the operators (with main LFO, different PMS). Also you can use operators as additional LFOs by e.g. setting an operator in a 3-stack to fixed freq around 1 Hz (at the moment I forgot what exactly the setup for a pulse width emulation is). Easy individual timbre/volume LFOing can be obtained by looping the second half of the envs (e.g. loop point=2) with low rates and not too drastic level differences. One nice thing (I found out recently) is controlling the feedback level by velocity or realtime modulation by using an "RCM loop": Mode = 1 AFM + 1 AWM AWM wave = AFM AFM external in = AWM this gives you the output of the complete 6 OP AFM configuration routed through the AWM as an additional feedback into any of your AFM OPs. By using volume or filter control on the AWM element, you achieve realtime control on the feedback level. #Q: How can I simulate pulse width modulation with AFM? ------------------------------------------------------- From: naw@biccdc.co.uk Someone posted a few days ago about emulating analogue sounds on FM machines. They mentioned getting the effect of pulse width modulation but couldn't remember how to do it. Well you can get a pretty good approximation out of 2 operators like this: Set op2 as an input to op1. Set op1 with fixed frequency of about 0.2 Hz (this will be the frequency of the PWM) and op2 to a ratio of 1:1. Set op1 to full output and adjust the level of op2 to give the desired harmonic content. Using three operator pairs like this with the the carriers set to slightly different frequencies gives a really good 70s string synth sound. From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) What I roughly remembered was to stack 3 operators, use one as an LFO and use a frequencey ratio of 1:2 on the others, since this is the basic setting for square waves (odd harmonics only). I didn't really solve the problem of perfect PWM emulation (well it was late already :-) but came up with some nice settings nevertheless: one possible variation of the theme is of course what Ab. wrote (thanks!), needing only 2 OPs (best with some feedback IMHO). For hollow timbre plus LFO effect you need 3 OPs though, in a 3 stack set the carrier to 1.0, the middle OP to a fixed low freq. and the top to 2.0 and experiment with the levels a bit: I could not find a setting where you can get a completely hollow square *and* a nice sharp pulse sound with one setting, but at least you get the basic appeal. Also I experimented a little with using a looped EG on a modulator (let's say in a 2 stack with freq 1:2) to modulate the timbre that way. Unfortunately you get some tremolo effect with that, but with only slight level changes (I used a loop between 60 and 57, rate about 15) and using several EG-loop wise desyncronized stacks it still sounds nice. From: naw@biccdc.co.uk The patch I ended up with used an algorihtm like this: +------------------+ | | | + +--+ + +--+ + + | [ 2 ] | [ 4 ] | [ 6 ] | | | | | | | [ 1 ] | [ 3 ] | [ 5 ] +---+ +---+ +---+ | | | ie one big feedback loop. I had the carriers set with sync off to fixed frequencies with a relationship like this, freq(op5) = 2*freq(op3) = 2*freq(op1) which gave a nice feeling of movement without sounding too extrem or chaotic. The modulators were ratios with ratio(0p2) = 1:1, ratio(op4) = 1:2, ratio(op6) = 1:0.5. I set up the EG biases for for ops 1, 3 and 5 so that op3 was scaled negatively and op5 was scaled strongly positively and assigned that to the modulation wheel. This gave some very big tonal variations as it was effectively controlling the level of the feedback loop. I then routed this through the filter set with resonance on about 80 and cutoff controlled by expression (I do this with all my voices), pulled up a key editor from cubase and drew in some nice spikey controller patterns. Jobs a good un. #Q: Is it possible to do waveshaping on an SY77/99? --------------------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) I was thinking about the easy case of FM/RCM with a carrier of fixed frequency = 0. If you write down the FM equation: A(t) = wave_c[ 2 PI f_c t + phi_c + M wave_m( 2 PI t ) ] where A(t) output signal wave_c, wave_m waveform-functions of carrier and modulator M modulation strength f_c, f_m frequencies of carrier and modulator phi_c carrier phase t time you can see that by setting the carrier frequency f_c to 0 you will have an output that is simply the (carrier waveform)-function of the modulator plus the constant carrier phase. So if e.g. the carrier waveform is a identity function (sawtooth or sin(x) for small x), you will get the raw modulator as output and if the carrier waveform is nonlinear, the phase will shift the transfer function. Now what 's that good for soundwise ? Take an AFM/AWM voice (e.g. French Horn on the SY99), switch off the direct AWM output by setting Voice Common->Output Group->AWM" to off and initialize the AFM element. Then set frequency of OP1 to 0 (fixed) and its external input to AWM with a small level, say 3. (This is what Yamaha calls RCM synthesis in my understanding.) Now you should hear something like a (low volume) Horn sound. Try changing the phase of OP1: around 32 and 96 the sound will be lower volume and "distorted", while around 0/127 and 64 it will be identical to the original AWM sound. Other waveforms of OP1 will give you more "distorted" sounds or even no sound at all (try waveform #3 with phase>64), also the input level of OP1 will affect the sound. The waveform and (in case of low input level) the phase of OP1 detemines the "waveshaping function", while at least for waveforms which are linear for small input (1, 13, 16) the input level will control the waveshaping "amount". So basically I can think of three possible sound applications: - "distort" sounds depending on their volume (I still have to find out if you can use it for a "crunchy" guitar patch) - simulate resonating sweeps (that what the Korg synths also use it for) by selecting something like wave #4 and setting OP1 frequency to around 0.1 Hz or using the Pitch EG ... - get repeated sounds with waves like #3 with small fixed frequency #Q: How can I produce speech with a SY? --------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) Formant frequencies for the German vowels (should not make much a difference): A 800 Hz - 1.2 kHz E 400 Hz - 600 Hz, 2.2 kHz - 2.6 kHz I 200 Hz - 400 Hz, 3 kHz - 3.5 kHz O 400 Hz - 600 Hz U 200 Hz - 400 Hz To put a sawtooth through the filters in bandpass mode (HPF+LPF) I didn't find the results very convincing though: The "A" was quite recognizable, but the U was just plain dull and the double formant vowels I and E were not recognizable at all. From: Randy Walters I got most of my information on vocal synthesis from books on *linguistics* - there were all sorts of interesting graphs/charts that showed formant frequency shifts. Strangely enough, I got some of my best sounding results not from the formant filter method, but by kicking a lowpass filter into oscillation and modulating it with an audio freq sine wave & an envelope generator. From: akra@di.uoa.ariadne-t.gr (Argiris A. Kranidiotis) Here is the method I have used to produce vowel sounds: Use the FM algorithm below _____ _____ _____ | | | | | | | P | | P | | P | |_____| |_____| |_____| | | | __|__ __|__ __|__ | | | | | | | F 1 | | F 2 | | F 3 | |_____| |_____| |_____| (optional) The schematic shows you the (fixed) frequency of each operator.F1,F2 are the formant frequencies P is the pitch of your vowel (100 Hz , typical). Now you have to play with operator levels and different modulating waveforms to achieve best results... This method produces recognisable vowel sounds , especially if you put them on a "phrase". #Q: How can I get a sustaining synth sound on SY85? --------------------------------------------------- From: Donnie Guedry You're gonna have to loop the sample. Use some type of sample editing program (such as Wave-To) to set the begin and end loop points. So the synth will repetedly play the portion of the sample within the loop until key-release. If you've never set loop points, you're in for lot's of work. Wave-To, has only a few features that aid in looping. #Q: Has anyone been able to develop a delayed loop on the SY77? --------------------------------------------------------------- From: mruss@midi.dungeon.com (Martin Russ) I assume that you mean a DECAY loop, not a 'delayed' loop. Easiest way is using the SY77's built-in Pattern Sequencer. Record the notes you want, assign the second mod wheel to filter cut-off or volume. Setting the pattern to play then loops the notes, and real-time filter decay can be added by hand. Controller messages can also be recorded into the pattern to automate everything. From: akra@di.uoa.ariadne-t.gr (Argiris A. Kranidiotis) Try to examine the FM part of the "Wayfarer" (sp?) sound of the SY77. Each operator plays a different note delayed and looped. When I want to decay such a loop , (no other EG's left) I use the filter to simulate a fade out. #Q: Where to start with sound programming? ------------------------------------------ From: clayton@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Speaker4TheDead) #Q: I know I've hardly scratched the surface of the synth's capabilities. I'd like to move in to the arena of sound programming, combining AFM and AWM to make up my own sounds, but I have no idea where to begin. I don't know much about algorithms, inputs, etc. I have a very incomplete understanding of things like attack, decay, and other waveform characteristics. I know these apply mainly to AFM, but I've no idea how to program sounds. #A: [ This is no direct answer. Also some text skipped. Refers to SY-85. ] From: smuth@sosi.com (Stephen Muth) Envelopes are always a bitch, aren't they? Not only that, but it is mostly the envelope that fools your head into thinking "hey, I'm listening to a trumpet". The actual wave has less to do with it than most people think. Try checking out the SY's stock envelopes. If you need LOTS of sustain, try the synth envelopes, one by one. They have lots of sustain... but you might lose the piano attack. You could try mixing and matching... look at what the SY offers automatically, and compare envelopes. You could then create your own from a bastardisation (did I spell it correctly, for the British spelling?) of the suggested Yamaha envelopes. Also.... consider using performances. Try mixing and matching E-paino sounds. If you like the attack of one, use it at the beginning. Then you can create a voice that takes care of the sustain part but may have a crummy attack. The performance editor can then be used to mix and match pieces of voices at different times to crweate something you can live with. #Q: Where shall I start when creating a AFM-sound? -------------------------------------------------- From: idealord The wretched truth is that it's a bitch to do FM programming from scratch. What I almost always do when I'm looking for a new sound is take an old DX7 patch and tweak it. There's every type of genre of sound in those 9,000 patches at ucsd.edu and by adding AWM modulation, feedback loops, noise modulation, plus the effects you can make them into something fantastic without re-inventing the wheel. It's always good to have some theory, though and "Foundations of Computer Music" edited by Roads? has the big FM papers. In the context of Yamaha and away from the theoretical - FM is chaos. I've programmed a few patches in my banks (I've forgotten which ones) from scratch - but you never can tell when a good patch is going to suddenly go bad from a mis-tweak. When you have six operators and all those Feedback loops it's easy to take a cheesy DX7 sounds and fatten them up fine. There's some books around about programming the SY series, don't know much about them, though. Some basic mental concepts to start -> 1. FM is a distortive process. Take a sine wave and make its frequency dependent on another sine wave. Modulate a wave by a non-integral wave and you get a dissonant wave with lots of inharmonic frequencies - bells are arrived at by this method. 2. Start with operators that have integral relations to the carrier. Brass sounds can use lots of 1's. Modulating a wave by a wave of the same frequency basically fattens it up. Mistune it a little and you get chorussing. Change the phase parameter - more chorussing. 3. Use a couple of operators at a time. Turn off the operators which are not being tweaked. Start with simple 2->1 4->3 6->5 algorithms. When you have modulators modulating modulators there's no telling what will happen, really it's like any other non-linear process. 4. Don't forget the Pitch Envelope Generators. A big fast slide down can add a lot of punch. You can set these things so that not all the operators can access them. #Q: What does "lp" in a sample name mean? ----------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) Probably this is only the looped part of the sample. On the 99 such waves are called "Stuff xx" with xx being some number (not very informative). Those samples without attack phase are nice for doing more experimental stuff with "natural" samples. #Q: What is a good sampling frequency? -------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) When experimenting with my SY99 sample RAM I mostly used sampling rates of about 30kHz which will give frequency response up to 15kHz. I can hear a difference only for very few sounds (e.g. very clear sampled ride cymbal) compared to the original rate (something >> 40kHz). Note that (1) synths usually don't have D/A converters as good as a good CD/DAT, (2) they transpose the samples anyway which will give you aliasing/interpolation artifacts, and (3) most sounds don't really need bright ultra highs, just have a look at the amp of your favourite guitar player... Concerning (2) however I think for interpolation schemes a high sample rate will help a little. BTW, I once used one of the TX16W grand piano samples and converted it to 8-bit, 20kHz(?) and loaded into the 99: real great sound, I like such stuff !!! #Q: How can I create an E-piano with a long sustain? ---------------------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) I don't know about the SY-85 specifics but a good method to "make" e-pianos is to combine 2 elements (Voices on the 85 ?). Use 1 element for the attack sound (there should be different samples of those in ROM) and try to adjust the key attack sound by using a percussive envelope with the key rate scaling (which varies the envelope of the sound depending on the key you play) properly adjusted. Use a second element for the sustained sound. This can be anything from a sinewave (very dull) to a synth wave (sawtooth etc). If you want to vary the sound you can use a low pass filter on a bright sample here and let it be controlled by a mod wheel. #Q: What synthesis methods are the SYs capable of? -------------------------------------------------- From: Christian Stiens I made the following list of all synthesis methods the SYs can emulate: 1) PCM Synthesis (AWM2) 2) FM Synthesis (AFM) 3) RCM Synthesis (AWM2 waves modulating AFM operators) 4) Subtractive Synthesis (AFM/AWM2 Waveforms w/ filters & LFOs) 5) Additive Synthesis (upto 24 components in 4 AFM Mono mode) 6) Waveshape Synthesis (RCM with 0 Hz Carrier) 7) LA-Synthesis (AWM2 Attack followed by AFM waveform) 8) Vector-Synthesis (Mix 2 or 4 waves w/ controllers) 9) Phase Distortion (I never knew the difference between PD and FM :-) [ Look at the document on sound programming by Herbert Jansen on the SY homepage. ] #Q: What does LFO, EG, PitchEG and Envelope mean? ------------------------------------------------- [ My short explanation: LFO stands for Low Frequency Oscilator, and is it used to change some parameter continuously with a low change rate (e.g. vibrato) EG stands for Envelope Generator PitchEG stands for an EG modulating the pitch of a sound (frequency) Envelopes in general are used to change a sound paramter in time, do an increase first and then decrase slowly to a minimum for example.] #Q: What are the effects of modulation and the effect of carriers on sound? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- #Q: What is the significance of different algorythms? ----------------------------------------------------- #Q: How can I use the filter link mode? --------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) Try and experiment with 24db LPF filter mode with high resonance (up to 99 if you like - I'm shure you will) and the filer freqs or the Envs set to values differing a bit (works good with a 100 vs 127 pair) this way you get a completely different sound than for thightly coupled filters (where resonances above ~82 will produce self oscillation). It sounds as if the resonance peak is wider -> the effect of sweeping cutoff is much more pronounced, less bass loosed. I was reminded of this programming technique when I browsed through the better patches of the SY77 banks Jim uploaded (check out the wsvoxes and the R&D banks). Only drawback of the 77/99 compared to the 85/500 and RM-50 (?) is the missing notch filter mode. Worth cheking out the "emulation" of this mode by using 2 identical elements in a voice with HPF and LPF setting appropriately though. ============================================================================== ## YAMAHA-specials: user interface etc. ============================================================================== #Q: What are the extra outputs on the back of the sy85 for? >From Eyre@Intermedia.co.uk Sat May 13 00:39:27 CES 1995 They are different outputs and what comes out of them depends on the effects bus routing etc. The SY85 effects are very good but this also means very complicated. I'm afraid you'll have to get your manual out for this one! #Q: Are there undocumented Diagnostic Modes on the SY/TGs? ---------------------------------------------------------- From: "J. Rossi" Fri, 30 Jun 1995 05:28:09 GMT I found some information on diagnostic modes! SY22: [>] + [<] + [voice] : test mode SY35: When turning it on, [>] + [<] + [voice] : test mode, display version number [Bank Select 4]: initialise [demo] : return to play mode SY77 / SY99: [voice] + [bank D] + [8] : test mode [copy] : initialise SY85: [shift] + [store] + [exit] : test mode [menu], then [1] : initialise TG500: [play] + [utility] + [exit] : test mode ( [no] for manual, [yes] for auto) [copy] + [yes] : initialise RM50: [play] + [macro play] + [sound] : test mode [sound], then [yes] : initialise QY10: [menu] + [enter] + [oct. up] : test mode [shift], then [enter] : initialise QY20: When turning it on: [-1] + [+1] + [->] : test mode [F3] : initialise RY10: [util] + [memory] : test mode [+1] : initialise [+1] + [start/go] : return to play mode RY20: [dec] + [pattern] + [perc2] : test mode [stop/cont] : initialise TG100: Link MIDI IN to MIDI OUT, Position selector 'Select Host' on 'MIDI', When turning it on, [cursor] + [-/no] + [+/yes] : test mode [+/yes], then [cursor] : initialise. For your older Yammies (all are 'test mode'): DX11: [16] + [32] + [edit], then [yes] DX21/27: [voice 1] + [voice 2] DX7: [16] + [32] + [function], then [yes] DX7II: [16] + [32] + [edit] FB01: [system setup] + [inst select] + [data entry No] TX7: [data yes] + [mode] TX81Z: When turning it on, [master volume] + [cursor] TX802: [8] + [9] The following instructions will describe how to activate and navigate the TG55 test program. A.) Preparations 1. Measuring instruments, Frequency counter, Oscilloscope, AC voltmeter Distortion meter, Low-pass filter with the cutoff freq. of 12.47 kHz and -6db oct., Amplifier speaker system, MIDI cable, RAM card 2. Once the system has entered the test program mode, the factory preset data is stored in the memory. B.) Test Program Entry 1. While holding down the SELECT button, press the EXIT button, and then press the UTILITY button. 2. The following message will appear on the LCD: TG55 Test Entry V#, ## $$ -@ @ @- EXT-EXT SEL-FACT -1 -AUT +1 -MAN 2-1 Pressing the EXIT button will return to the VOICE PLAY mode. 2-2 When the SELECT button is pressed, the factory preset data will be stored in the memory, and then the system will return to the normal operation mode. 2-3 Pressing the +1 button will initiate the test program and the following message will appear on the LCD, then the system will enter the [C] state. 00; TEST No. ? C.) Panel Switch Event Queue 1. After each test is performed, the system automatically enters this (Panel Event Queue). 2. The corresponding tests can be executed by pressing the following panel buttons. [+1]: The test immediately following the previous one is performed. [-1]: The test just performed is re-executed. If the system has just entered the Test program mode, the switch does not work. [ENTER]: The test just selected will be initiated. [Page +]: The system will proceed to the next test. [Page -]: The system will return to the previous test. [EXIT]: If the +1 button is pressed, the system will return to the VOICE PLAY mode. Pressing the -1 button will return to the [C] state. 3. If the test result is "No Good" for some reason in Panel switch check, Card Insert check, Data Entry check, Card Protect switch check, and Wave Card Insert check, you might press the +1 button of the panel to advance the test, or press the [EXIT] button to return to the [C] state. But the +1 button will not work in the Panel switch check. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- What follows in the service manual is a reasonably detailed description of 24 separate tests. I'm not going to type all of that, but if you have any questions please feel free to ask. A good friend of mine asked our local music store to order the manual directly from Yamaha. I think I paid $15 (Can.). #Q: How are the naming conventions for the file extensions of saved files? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) All the disk file formats seem to be a kind of embedded sysex dump, i.e. they have some headers etc, but are otherwise more or less the same as one or several MIDI bulk dumps. You can look into the sy2tg77.c file to get the idea and also to find that it is not that easy to do the conversion right... Here's what I know about the formats: *.Wxx single sample (WAVE), actually two formats: one for the SY-99 and SY-85, and another one (12bit) that the SY-99 can read and the TX16W sampler reads/writes *.Gxx ALL file (mnemonic "global"?) of the SY-85: voice bank, samples and songs *.Txx ALL file (mnemonic "total"?) for the SY-77 and SY-99: multis, voices, pan tables, samples and songs. The SY-99 can read the SY-77 ones but not the other way round. *.Jxx SYNTH ALL file, multis, voices, pan tables (?), 99 reads 77 format *.Cxx CARD file, simple dump of the 64kB data card in the 77/99, same 77->99 compatibility *.Kxx song format, seems to be the older Yamaha KSEQ (?) format used by some hardware sequencers *.Xxx standard MIDI file, read/writable on the SY-99 and SY-85 Notably, the SY-85 users seem to almost exclusively use the *.Gxx format (because it's the only way to store multisamples!). Correspondingly the SY-99 needs to use *.Txx for anything with samples. Also these global/total formats are the only ones that allow to load only a part of the data (e.g. one voice) into the synth. In general the 99 can read and write all 77 formats. The 99 can also read/write the SY wave files (*.Wxx) but only *read* the TX16w wave files (*.Wxx too). Anyway, for the TG-500 users the optimum thing to have would be a *.Gxx to MIDI dump converter just like the above mentioned sy2tg77.c, anybody? I don't have all the possible MIDI dump options in my head, but I use them rarely anyhow since the disk drive is much easier to use as long as you accept its limitations. #Q: Self changing parameters, or: the SY-85 slider problem ---------------------------------------------------------- >From charlieh@dddandy.dundee.NCR.COM Wed Mar 9 15:17:03 1994 #Q: I have a specific problem when editing - I find that the CS parameters have an annoying habit of changing by themselves. Eg if I'm editing a performance voice using CS2, the SY will 'jump' to CS8 AND assign a value to it. This effect tends to happen if I've been editing for a period of time, normally about 15 minutes, but the effect is sporadic. I can cure the fault by switching the SY off and on again and this gives me another 15 minutes of editing time. From: "Thomas Gruen" A:The problem: I guess that the `continuous sliders' (CS) are realized via ============ potentiometers and (7 Bit) A/D converters. If the slider is near to the point where the value changes, a slight touch (or even a heavy keystroke) is sufficient to let it change. If there is dust on the potentiometers the effect will still increase. The work-around: Don't use the sliders for data entry and make sure that ================ they are at the lower or upper end position. Just press the keys corresponing to the sliders and use the data wheel for editing. #Q: Where comes the noise burst from, when moving the volume sliders? --------------------------------------------------------------------- From: 1loebner@rzdspc2.informatik.uni-hamburg.de (Dietrich Loebner) #Q: I've notice the following on my 99: If I push up the two output sliders as a voice is playing, I hear a short burst of noise as they hit the top 1/8th of their range. A: I registered exactly the same problem. Could the contacts be oxidated? #Q: Can magnetic fields cause patch data changes? ------------------------------------------------- From: " (Matthew G Overton)" Could this be the mysterious ROM chip fault that was talked about. Or that the slider that can altered the patch was knocked? Don't know about maf fields tho'. From: smuth@sosi.com (Stephen Muth) Could be the infamous slider problem.... they're glitchy. Because the sliders "creep" this can cause patch cahanges - solved by moving sliders all the way down and using the wheel to change patches. #Q: Why do some disks load faster on the SY-99 than others? ----------------------------------------------------------- From: aim09@rs3.rrz.uni-koeln.de First possibility: if you load files saved by an SY-77 (or an SY-99 with save file type set to SY-77) the SY-99 converts them while loading. This takes time and so disks from an SY-77 take more time to load. Second possibility: YAMAHA uses a special disk format, with larger gaps (free space between sectors) on the disk. If you use a disk not formated with a SY, a sector is simply to close to the next. When loading, the SY misses the following sector and needs to wait a full disk rotation to read it again. (Takes time!!!) Work around: 1) Use just YAMAHA formated disks or 2) use a special format programm with your computer, that is able to format with interleaving. Interleave must be set to 2 (= interleave factor 5), so the sectors must be on the disk in this way: 1 6 2 7 3 8 4 9 5. Or enlarge the gaps. A programm with interleaving is Hyperformat for the STs (PD). #Q: What format have the .Wxx files? (Sample files on SY-85) ------------------------------------------------------------ From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) Well there is still no last word spoken on this (on this list at least). The SY-99 can read and write TX16W samples which use *.Wxx format. The TX16W format is documented in the TX16W FAQ and also can be found on ftp.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de in /pub/outgoing/heja/sy-list :-] However, some SY85 users reported that reading of TX file did not work and also by reading the TX16W format definition you will see that the format is somewhat ugly and some parameters are only defined for the TX16W (e.g. only 3 different sample rates are defined). I assume that the SY format is an extension to the TX format and maybe the SY-85 is not fully backward compatible. #Q: Can my synth play 32 notes at the same time as said in the handbook? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: aim09@rs3.rrz.uni-koeln.de (I refer to my SY-99, on the others this might be a little different.) The synth has got a total amount of elements, 16 AFMs and 16 AWMs. The number of 32 notes is the maximum which is possible if you use simple voices (that means voices using just 1 AFM or 1 AWM element). Then you can play 32 notes simultanous by using an optimal mix of these. If you use more complex voices, the number of playable notes at one time decreases. Worst case is for example a voice with 4 AWM element, you just can play 4 notes at one time!! (16 total AWM element divided by 4 is 4) Another exapmle: using a 2AWM and 2AFM voice give you 8 notes. #Q: Has the TG breath control and footswitch inputs? ---------------------------------------------------- From: Ken.Beesley@xerox.fr (Ken Beesley) It does not. It has to be MIDI all the way. #Q: What happens if I press shift-bypass? ----------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) It does change the meaning of the 2 Output Faders: Out 1 carries the dry and Out 2 the wet signal then. #Q: Are there problems with some older ROM versions on the SY99? ---------------------------------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) I always had problems with my SY-99 doing MIDI-SDS (sample dump): - the end of the sample somtimes seems to get lost -> wrong looping - I did successfully circumvent this problem by putting some useless samples behind the end of the sustain loop. :-/ (My guess is that the last SDS block is lost in some cases.) In an old KEYS (German keyboard mag) I found a little note that the ROM version 1.40 is buggy and having this (and only this) version might be a reason to change ROMs to avoid problems with the sample RAM expansion. #Q: What are the differences between the ROM-releases for the SY-99? -------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================== ## Problems: Why does ... (not) do this? ============================================================================== #Q: When the output volumes are up all the way, I can clearly hear what sounds like short-wave radio interference in the background on my SY85 Where does this come from? #Q: SY-85: With some samples there's all kinds of weird extra sounds swimming around after the note decays. What is this? From: smccrory@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu (Scott McCrory) I h've found the samples on my SY-85 to be very clean and appealing to my ear. Try some of the SY-85 downloads to see if they sound OK on your system. In particular, test another set which don't have thier own samples included, and then some which do - that should help isolate it. ============================================================================== ## Expansions for the SY-series ============================================================================== #Q: Is the SYEMB06 board available? ----------------------------------- From: Ulrich Zukowski Thu, 22 Jun 1995 17:56:51 +0200 (MET DST) yesterday I visited my local music shop. They said there is no reason why the SYEMB06 memory module should not be available. It is listed in the newest catalog. #Q: Where can I get TG500 RAM cards? ------------------------------------ >From pboudry@ifremer.fr Mon Jun 19 15:41:47 MET 1995 Here is the address of the shop where I recently bought my TG500 RAM extension card: SOS MUSIQUE 250, rue du Faubourg St Martin 75010 PARIS FRANCE tel. (33) (1) 46 07 46 31 Fax. (33) (1) 40 38 25 00 Please note that I have NO connection of any sort with this compagny. #Q: What different soundcards are there for the SY55? ----------------------------------------------------- >From raymond@dataweb.nl Tue May 23 20:23:50 CES 1995 I have six soundbankcards for the SY55: - Analog synthesizer sounds 1 - Digi synthesizer sounds 1 - Extensions - Midi recording - Synth goes live - Fantasy - Drums 1 The Analog Synthesizer Sound 1 - card contains: 01. AnaTradBrs - A spacious analog synthesizer type brass sound. 02. AnaRiseBrs - Showy brass with a slow attack. Aftertouch controls vibrato. 03. AnaSoftBrs - A VCO type sound that's soft but fairly fat. Modulationwheel controls filter cutoff. 04. TrickBrass - This voice combines rising and dropping pitches. A good choice for intros and endings. 05. WowTrumpet - In this voice the filters have been used to produce a wah-wah type effect. 06. Brass Lead - A sound that really stands out when used to play single-note solos. Aftertouch controls vibrato. 07. Wood Ens. - A woodwind ensemble simulated in analog-synth style. 08. Flute Sect - Several flutes played simultaneously - with an analog synthesizer feel. 09. Ana Oboe - A sharp oboe voice that can also sound a bit like a saxophone. 10. Brass Str. - A fairly spacious brass and strings ensemble. 11. Ana Violin - Solo violin with a distinctive sound. 12. Hi Strings - Play in the high register for a light, fresh string section. 13. Cool Str. - An analog string ensemble in which the cello part is emphasized. 14. Warm Str. - An orthodox stringpad. Set the modulationwheel for the filter cutoff point that matches the mood you want to create. 15. Slow Str. - Strings with a slow attack an very laid-back feel. 16. Melo Str. - This voice uses the full complement of four elements for extra presence. A good choice for melody lines. 17. P.Concerto - Piano with strings in the background. An excellent mood-setter for melodies. 18. 70's Piano - A combination of electric and acoustic pianos produces the perfect pops piano sound. 19. 50's Piano - This piano has a slightly 'dark' feel - right out of a '50s nightclub. 20. Ana CP - The CP sound reproduced in analog synth fashion. 21. Click EP - An analog electric piano in which the attack has been built up from a bassdrum waveform. 22. Fat EP - A blend of digital synthesizer and electric piano. 23. Western - A honkey-tonk piano that could use a tune-up. 24. Pop Clavi - This clavi voice has been softened to suit the pop idiom. 25. Wow Clavi - In this voice the filters have been used to produce a touch-wah effect. 26. Dual Clavi - A combination of light, sparkling clavi-sounds. 27. ClickOrgan - mellow organ sound with an attack click. 28. Dist.Organ - Heavy organ suited to rock-music. Play in fourths or fifths for a heavy rock feel. 29. Light Regi - A nostalgic pop-group organ voice. 30. Pipe Organ - This is the classic sound you'd expect from a pipe organ in a small church. 31. Paris - This accordion voice will transport you to the streets of Paris. 32. Brass Pad - A soft brass pad that would be an excellent choice for background work. Use the modulation wheel while playing for interesting effects. 33. Cloud Pad - A pad that brings up the image of floating clouds. Use the modulation wheel while playing for spacey effects. 34. Vox Pad - A chorus pad that's perfect for backgrounds. 35. Mild Pad - This one is a little thicker than "Vox Pad". "Mild Pad" can also be used for solo work. 36. SweepChoir - A good example of how filter resonance can be used to create sweeping voices. 37. AnaTradBs. - An exeptionally versatille traditional synth bass voice. 38. AnaSweepBass - The basics are the same as with "AnaTradBs" except that a filter sweep has been added. 39. AnaChoBass - Bass with a strong attack amd a pleasant chorus effect. 40. Seq Bass - The relatively hard 'edge' on this bass makes it ideal for sequenced frases. 41. Reso Bass - The perfect bass for a funk feel. 42. Woman Tone - Guitar with soft distortion and a delay effect. 43. VCO Lead 2 - A familiar analog-synth type voice with filter sweep applied to the attack. 44. Light Lead - This lead voice is well-suited for fast passages. 45. FusionLead - A lead voice with a funky feel and a short delay effect. Perfecy for the contemporary pops scene. 46. Pop Lead - A very showy synth lead voice. Aftertouch vibrato control makes this a perfect choice for solos. 47. Wood Lead - A square wave type lead voice with a touch of echo. This one should sound quite familiar. 48. Air Castle - Layered resonant sweeps give this voice a very spacious sound. 49. Ana Seq 1 - This crisp voice has a plucked-string effect. Perfect for sequenced patterns. 50. Ana Seq 2 - This one is a little faster that "Ana Seq 1". Also features a delay effect. 51. Ana Decay - This voice is obviously analog, and makes full use of filter resonance. 52. Fusion Now - Play with both hands for the best effect. 53. Saw Bell - Try this voice when you need to add a bit of sparkle to a tune. High register arpeggios work well. 54. FunnyChord - Electric piano + acoustic piano x filter = "FunnyChord". 55. PianoHarp - It's hard to decide whether this voice is a piano or a harp. Ideally suited for contemporary compositions. 56. AnaWhistle - A somewhat lonesome whistle voice. Adjust the reverb effect to match your music. 57. Planet - A humorous voice that could be the sound of a space creature humming. 58. Ana Ethnic - A composite analog synth voice with a folk-guitar flavor. 59. FutureWood - Although this sounds a bit digital, it has a very warm ethnic atmosphere. 60. Velo Noise - This is how sound might be transmitted under water. 61. Bad Trip - The perfect sound for dangerous situations. Modulation wheen produces a drastic change in the balance of the sound. 62. Emergency - Earthquake! Flood! Fire!... 63. Room Set - A light high-tuned drumset. 64. LowTuneSet - A heavy sounding drumset with a low overall tuning. Here are the descriptions of the sounds on the Digi Synthesizer Sound 1 card for the SY55. VC 5502W Digi Synthesizer Sound 1 01. StarDust - The sparkling sound of stardust. Well suited for obbligato lines that accent a tune. 02. Clock Bell - The sound of a large bell with a slightly dark mood. Fine for obbligato lines or single-note melodies. 03. Chime Bell - A bell that is light but at the same time deep. Resembles chimes. 04. Digi Celst - A cute little celeste voice that also resembles a music box. 05. Ethnic Seq - This one has a metallic ring with a touch of analog synth sound mixed in. Play ethnic type scales for maximum effect. 06. DayDream - This decay voice is quite definitely digital. Superb for arpeggios. 07. GateMarimb - A 'synthesized' marimba that also has a touch of reality. Excellent for sequenced phrases. 08. Digi Decay - Play piercing notes in the higher register for the best effect. Best for phrases consisting of half-notes or longer. 09. Digi Guit. - This guitar voice has a digital type sound when played hard. 10. Pick Guit. - A guitar voice with emphasized picking sound. Ideal for sequenced 'comping' phrases. 11. Tropic Drs - Ethnic percussion that sounds somewhat like steeldrums. This one has an irregular harmonic structure and should be used thinly for backing. 12. DoubleHarp - An orthodox harp resembling voice. 13. Guit.Steel - A realistic folk guitar simulation. Play with a glissando-like stroke for extra realism. 14. Gut Guitar - A nylon-string guitar simulation. Be sure to play this one in the right range. 15. LightMallt - This is a rather orthodox vibraphone voice. Careful use of touch response can produce some very realistic effects. 16. TightMallt - Vibraphone that is slightly metallic and glassy. Choose either "LightMallt" or "TightMallt" to match the mood of your music. 17. Cool Air - This voice was created to convey the image of cool air. Use the modulation wheel for filter control. 18. Fantastics - A thick strings sound with a metallic attack. 19. ChorusBell - Chorus with a bell-like attack. This sound is virtually indispensable for intros and endings. 20. Future Cho - A chorus with 'noisy' high-end harmonics. A bell sound has been mixed in to provide a slightly metallic feel. 21. Metal Flake - Something like the sound of a thin metal fragment falling from the sky. Best effect in the middle range. 22. Metal Pad - This backgroundsound has a slightly cold timbre. Pitch can be raised a maximum of one semitone via aftertouch. 23. SFX's pad - This voice plays a ninth interval. Even normal harmonies become rather abnormal when played with this one. Aftertouch raises pitch by up to one semitone while opening the filter. 24. MorningVox - Electric piano with a unique attack. An excellent choice for a wide variety of musical situations. 25. DX's Vox - A simulation of a DX7 type voice. This voice stands out very well in an ensemble. 26. Ring Sound - This one has a sharp attack but a soft overall image. Based on an electric piano voice. 27. Digi Ens. - An ensemble of digital instuments. A mandolin-like timbre appears after a brief delay. 28. Digi Shot - This voice produces a dramatic increase in harmonics when played hard. Be careful with the velocity response when playing "DigiShot". 29. Guit. EP - The sound of this voice lies somewhere between that of a guitar and an electric piano. 30. DX'sMildEP - A mellow electric piano in the DX7 vein. Can be played over the entire keyboard range. 31. DX'sChoEP - Electric piano with a brilliant chorus effect - also based on the DX7 sound. Great for chords. 32. Ring EP - A metallic electric piano with lots of harmonics. Stronger touch produces more harmonics. 33. PCM MildEP - This mild electric piano is very close to the sound of an acoustic piano. Excellent for chords and backing. 34. GrndHarpsi - A DX-like harpsichord voice complete with return effect. Can also be played percussively for clavi effect. 35. Glass Org - Electric organ with a rather strange set of harmonics. 36. Noisy Org - As the name implies - a noisy organ. Try an unrestrained solo for more noise impact. 37. MarimbaOrg - Organ with a marimba attack. The looped portion of the original waveform is used to good effect in this voice. 38. DigiBrass1 - Digital sounding brass with a rich harmonic structure. Use the modulation wheel for filter control. 39. DigiBrass 2 - The modulation wheel controls a filter that is set up to vary attack. 40. DigiAnaBrs - This brass voice is a blend of digital and analog brass sounds. A very funky feel. 41. 3 Horns - An ensemble consisting of trumpet, trombone and sax. Most effective when used to play fast single- or double-note passages. 42. Big Brass - A big band ensemble. Also a good choice for playing block chords. 43. Digi Str. 1 - Cool digital strings. 44. Digi Str. 2 - Strings with a digital yet soft timbre. The modulation wheel can be used for filter control. 45. Fresh Pizz - This voice combines the WoodBass and Tube waveforms. Use the modulationwheel for filter control. 46. DigiBass 1 - This voice is more than a bass - use the high range for backing too. 47. DigiBass 2 - Contemporary bass with an emphasized attack. 48. DigiBass 3 - Contemporary bass with a strong 'slap' content. Good for funk phrases. 49. Vox Bass - This voice is composed of two elements and features a reverse attack. Can be used for bass solo phrases. 50. Oct. Melo - A digital lead voice that stands out well in an ensemble. Created to simulate the sound of digital oscillators. 51. Vibe Lead - Although fundamentally vibe-like, this is actually a lead voice. Good for light solos. 52. Pluck Lead - A lead voice with a strong attack. 53. Piano Lead - The ability to sustain a piano-waveform is one of the strong points of AWM2 synthesis. 54. ForestLead - Flute with a noisy breath component. 55. Tutti Shot - Use this when you want a classical feel. Try playing four octaves at once. 56. NGC 1300 - The image of a distant star cluster. Set the balance between the two components of this voice using the modulation wheel. 57. DevilHands - Here comes a subterranean demon with a huge hammer in one hand... 58. Pluto - We imagine that the solar system's furthest, coldest planet might sound something like this. A cowbell waveform was used as the fundation for this sound. 59. Night Eyes - A metallic sound effect. This one is complete with reflections. 60. Japanese - A set of impressive Japanese instruments. A perfect choice for 4-voice split performance. 61. Africa - This voice has a boxy resonance produced by the filters. Similar to the sound of kalimba. 62. DualSynDrs - This synthesizer drum set should sound familiar. Two voices are split across the keyboard range. 63. Light Set - A high tuned drumset. Select the right sounds and you can simulate the sound of an old rythm-machine. 64. ContempSet - A contemporary drum set - complete with gate reverb. #Q: What memory upgardes are there for SY85 and the TG500 and for which price? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Kevin Gary White T500: ONLY upgradeable with Yamaha's 512K propriety memory boards. (no standard-SIMMs) SY85: 1) These can also be used (up to two of them) in the SY85. They are expensive but they are non-volatile: if you load some samples, and shut the machine off they will still be there when you turn the synth back on! ...no waiting for disks loads or sample dumps. 2) For less money you can use SIMMS. You have to install two simms at a time, but contrary to what the manual says they can be of 1, 2, or 4 megs in size, but both must be of the same size (two 1s , 2 twos, etc).I dont know what useing the larger sizes does to your waranty but my machine works fin). I use the same simms as my pc clone. OFcourse samples loaded into simms memory are volatile...they go poof after shutdown. #Q: Is it possible to upgrade the SY-85 to 8 MB? ------------------------------------------------ From: filippis@corpsyndev.ml.com (Frank Filippis) I have installed 2 80 pin 70ns 4 meg simms in my SY-85. The SY-85 successfully recognizes the new simms and reports 8 or 8.5 meg, using the internal test functions the SIMM R/W returned OK as a result. From: LOKE MUN CHOY Here's what Peter Peck(Hi-Tech Marketing Assistant, YAMAHA) said(I quote) : Re: SIMMs expansion "The SY85 will accept standard SIMMs boards to expand the waveform memory. It is not necessary to state whether these should be Mac or IBM on the provision that they have 72 pins. Yamaha recommend 1Mb of SIMMs, however, we do know of many users who have inserted larger SIMMs boards with GREAT SUCCESS. The SY85 has only been tested with 1Mb boards but there are no forseeable problems in using boards of a larger capacity" "Recommended access time is 80 nano-seconds. We do not forsee a problem using slightly slower boards, however this is not recommended and boards of different speeds should not be mixed" #Q: Where can I get RAM boards for the TG-500? ---------------------------------------------- From: dguedry@selu.edu I've had an SYEMB06 memory module on order for 4 months and I don't think I'll get one anytime soon. The problem is that Yamaha's stopped making them...They've discontinued the entire SY series along with the SYEMB06. With any luck, you'll be able to find a company that has some in stock. #Q: Is there a 5 megabytes RAM upgrade for the SY-99? ----------------------------------------------------- From: 1loebner@rzdspc2.informatik.uni-hamburg.de (Dietrich Loebner) After a long while I got information material about the musitronics 5MB-RAM-expansion-board for the SY99. Here it is: "Our SY99 RAM-expansion consists of a board that works with a capacity of between 1 and 5 MB and works also with possibly installed RAM-expansions from Yamaha. We're using only low power static RAMs of named producers on our board (for safety the board is buffered by two lithium-batteries)! The installation is easy: After you opened the backside of the SY99 you put the board in an existing slot on the SY99's mainboard. Then you've to connect a three-pole connector to one IC - that's all. A detailed installationguide and manual is part of the package, of course. And we give two years warrenty on all pieces of the expansion. Prices: 1MB - 490.-DM, 2MB - 980.-DM, 5MB - 1890.-DM Please write us the versionnumber of your SY99 in your order. It is shown on the SY99's display after you press simultaniously the buttons VOICE, INTERNAL and BANK 1. Tell us also the size of your SY99's RAM-memory." The prices in $ are nearly (1$ = 1.66DM): 1MB - ~300$, 2MB - ~600$, 5MB - ~1140$ If you pay with a cheque you have to add 5DM in Germany and 20DM elsewhere. If you pay the money when you get the paket (in Germany we call that "per Nachnahme") you have to add in Germany 10DM and 30DM elsewhere. You can order from: Kaeng-Kong Productions Music Soft/Hardware Marketing Thomas Klimisch Alfterer Str. 181 D-53347 Gielsdorf Tel: +49 2222 63280 Fax: +49 2222 63611 What I don't know surely but what I read in Keyboards is that the 1 and 2MB board could be expanded to 5MB. I think it is a hard work but the static RAMs they probably use should cost not more than 25DM/128kB (~15$). If anybody installs the board it would be very nice to get a report. #Q: Are there cheap SY-99 RAM expansion boards (cheaper than the originals)? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- #Q: Are there good ROM-expansion boards for the SY-99? ------------------------------------------------------ #Q: Is there a board for the SYs that doubles the sample library? ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: Brendan S McEnroe It is available from AMG The Advanced Media Group Hurst Lane Privett Nr. Alton Hants GU34 3PL England Tel. 073088 383 Just for the SY77. The tel number is (in new UK format: 01252 717333 When talking to tech support, they said that no board would be made for any other SY synth (such as SY85) Musitronics SY/TG77 PCM.EX Expansions. New expansions for the Sy that add 4 Megs of new PCM samples doubling the total memory to 8 Meg. Samples are available 113 to 255 I have a list of all the samples but roughly: - Some pianos, a number of different guitars, Trumpts, horns ... - Synthesizer Sounds: Warm Pads, Moog Slides, 7 Vocals, Fat Syn, 7 Attachs - Drums another 60 or so samples including 808 kit - 8 Digital waves - 2 Wavesequences >From m.g.overton@aston.ac.uk Wed Jun 7 16:11:31 CES 1995 >No, no, the PCM.EX definitely exists. It was reviewed at the time in the German >keyboard mags (it was built by a German company if I'm not mistaken), >and a local dealer had it for a sell-out price about 1 year ago. >Is it possible that AMG wanted to do the British distribution ? The board *was* German manufactured and AMG has/had the UK distribution rights. The SY77 flavour was released in the UK, but the SY55 version was never completed by the German co -- AMG reckoned there was demand enough for it. >From jr10@leicester.ac.uk Thu Jun 8 00:00:00 CES 1995 > I sent this a couple of years ago to the list AMG never made this board, > although I got a list of samples what was on it from them, I think they > were just testing the water to see if they got enought responce. I called them (the new phone number comes from me) and they said they had the board available. >From B.S.MCENROE@NET4LS.boat.bt.com Thu Jun 8 15:15:18 CES 1995 I have spoken to AMG they have got three of these boxes they run with ver1.2 of the SY77. They said they normally retail at 350 (uk pounds). They could do all three for 750 (ukp) if we can get a few of us together Or 265 (ukp) each Let me know if any body is interested. #Q: Is there such an expansion for the SY85? What do they do? ------------------------------------------------------------- >From jr10@leicester.ac.uk Fri Jun 9 07:02:16 CES 1995 AMG only manufacture expansion boards for the SY77 and the M1. They are extra Mb of waveforms. Eg: the M1 gets 8Mb of waveforms as opposed to the factory 4Mb. No PCM card will give you that much #Q: Are there problems when upgrading the SY-85s memory to the maximum? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From: " (Matthew G Overton)" I read in the manual that using the Yamaha non-volatile boards (0.5 mb each) means that samples from ROM cards cannot be loaded. And seeing as I've never been able to crack the copy-protection thing on the cards, this means to say that you'll never be able to use such cards. Can non-volatile boards also be used? #Q: Has somebody in the nederlands produced a SCSI-interface for the sy99? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #Q: Are the expansion-cards for the SYs PCMCIA-cards? ----------------------------------------------------- From: A_MOSCH@PAVO.CONCORDIA.CA The cards don't appear to be PCMCIA. The data cards have only one row of sockets (38), and the wave cards don't have sockets. They have about 50 copper "lines" (whatever you call them) directly on the circuit board -- like you would see on a Nintendo cartridge or a card for your computer. #Q: Are PCM cards for the 77 series available? ---------------------------------------------- From: A_MOSCH@PAVO.CONCORDIA.CA The ones I know of are as follows: Sax1, Drums1, Rock&Pop, Brass Section, String Section, Synth Wave 1 Synth Wave 2, House and Latin House/Latin and Rock & Pop are the mostversatile (greatest number and variety of samples). Sax1 and Drums1 didn't impress me. You can also use waveform cards from any SY series synth, or the cards from the RY30 drum machine. One caveat: Since the RY30 has a filter (which can be controlled with a modulation wheel), it seems to me that the samples on RY30 cards have been recorded with a LOT of high end. And, since you can't have a filter on a Drum Set patch, I find myself having to make a separate patch for the snare, one for the bass drum, etc. for best results. #Q: What about expansion cards for the TG-33? --------------------------------------------- From: wilson@EE.MsState.Edu I'm thinking about getting three TG-33 cards. They are Stage Studio Shofunku ever heard of these? Know what sounds they offer? If there an update for the SY-99 operating system? -------------------------------------------------- From: 1loebner@rzdspc1.informatik.uni-hamburg.de (Dietrich Loebner) According to one sy-marketing-man of Yamaha Europe the OS-Update V1.5 for the SY99 don't contents any new features. It is only made in conjunction with newer product lines of the SY99. #Q: What sound expansions are there for the SY85? ------------------------------------------------- From: LOKE MUN CHOY Some disks, like the DEMO supplied by YAMAHA do contain additional PCM waves. Others only contain PERFORMANCES,VOICES... 3rd party Waveform data cards: NO but Floppy disks: YES! Try PRO-REC, SoundSource, Livewire Audio (look in KEYBOARD for more details) They do sell Sample disks as well as patch disks. As far as i know, YAMAHA is the only one selling waveform cards. They're pretty expensive here. The alternative is to buy them in disk form if available or like me, sample new waves and dump them to my 85 via SDS. ============================================================================== ## Applications with the SYs ============================================================================== >From Eyre@Intermedia.co.uk Sat May 27 00:38:59 MES 1995 Here's an article from June's Future Music Magazine which might be of interest: W h o i s S Y n t h i a ? Desisgned and written by Michael Clarke and Stuart Hunter of the Music Department at the University of Huddersfield, SYnthia is part of a development success story that could help us all get to grips with mastering synthesis on systems we use now and those of the future. At the moment, SYnthia incorporates basic Hypercard-style multimedia on the Mac to open up the secrets of Yamaha SY synthesis in a fascinating and brilliantly conveived learning program. Since 1992, it has been used for helping students get their heads around Huddersfield University's workstation studio of SY99s. SYnthia walked off with a major prize at 1994 European Academic Software Awards in Heidelberg and is currently being redeveloped for Power PC. Hardware manufacturers could learn a lot from the approach this software takes in getting around the information overload new systems present to musicians. This is the first truly interactive synthesis tutorial that dispenses with the yards of text and the plastic record insert approach found in Amsci's Howard Massey DX tutorials. All you need is SYnthia (on one floppy disk), a Mac and your SY synth. Look out for a SYthia demo on the FM CD [Future Music magazine cover CD-ROM] later in the year. #Q: Can I use the SY-77 as a storage utility for other MIDI-instruments? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: clayton@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Speaker4TheDead) Set up the module who's information you want to store in the SY as the master, and the SY as the slave. Set them to the same channel. In my case, I used channel 15, which I will always use (if you define a multi, do NOT assign any sounds at all to the channel you use) to store the sequence data. On the SY77, the only things you should take care of are in the setup (in song mode). Make sure the messages you wish to record are set as on, and make sure midi control is on. Change the sync (normal song mode) mode to midi. Change the receive setting (after pressing record) to the appropriate channel (in my case, 15). Then push play on the module you wish to record (in my case the DR660). The only drawback is timing. You are literally recording all of the sysex data in real time. I tried to speed this data up by changing the tempo of my DR660 up very high. The SY misses a lot of notes if the tempo is set much higher than 100 (by miss I mean it will record them in the wrong sequence, a few notes off). To check if the sequence-recording worked, make the SY the master, and the module the slave. Make sure the slave is set to trigger the appropriate sounds (in the case of the drum machine, the kit must be the same or you get noise). Set the receive channel on the module to the channel you recorded on SY sequencer. Playback! This is a cheap way to use your SY as an editor (you can edit the sequence with the SY's edit function) and as a storage facility. #Q: Can I use the SY for recording dump-sysex-messages of other keyboards? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jensenq@qcj.icon.com (Quinn Jensen) Unfortunately, the SY77 will only record sysex packets up to 32 bytes long. I wish it could handle more. Does the SY99? ============================================================================== ## Questions about MIDI with SY-synths ============================================================================== #Q: How can I change SY-22 (35) memory bank (Internal/Preset) with sequencer? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #Q: How about the sysex-compatability between the tg77 and the sy99? -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) If I got it right the SY77, TG77 and SY99 transmit Sys-Ex information for every voices (in a voice bulk dump) in two parts: one contains all the synth parameters ond a second one does define the FX settings/routings. Since the latter are not compatible between the 77s and the 99, they are ignored, that is if you send a 77 voice bulk dump to a SY99, the FX will be off. I don't remember what happens with bank dumps though (should be the same). Note that if you want to keep/convert the FX settings too, there is a way: you have to put your 77 voices into a SY77 *file*. The 99 can load this and automatically converts it to its FX processors. If you don't have a SY77 there are two other possible (?) ways: 1. A guy in rec.music.makers.synth said that he is writing a 77-SysEX -> SY77-file converter 2. try it with a voice card (I'm not shure if this works but the 99 allows you to use 77 cards). #Q: Is it possible to use Band-In-A-Box to emulate General MIDI on SY77? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: HTOYRYLA@ntcclu.ntc.nokia.com (Hannu Toyryla, tel. +358-0-5118366, fax. +358-0-5118400) I use both regularly. You can't really make the SY77 emulate General MIDI because SY77 only responds to program numbers 1 to 64 whereas General MIDI makes use of up to 128. But with Band-In-A-Box you can map the General MIDI patch numbers to the SY77 (or whatever) program numbers. This means that you can gather all your favorite patches into the INTERNAL BANK, and map the General MIDI patch numbers to what you put into the internal bank. The limit, of course is that you can only have 64 different patches, not 128. It takes some experimenting to find just the right sounds. #Q: Can I synchronize non-sequencer things by MIDI? --------------------------------------------------- From: mruss@midi.dungeon.com (Martin Russ) Here's a couple of ways to do much the same without the sync: 1. Working backwards from the tempo, work out the period you need for your LFO to approximate to the tempo, and then use an envelope (or a retriggerable LFO) with that timing. By triggering the note (and thus the envelope) on beats you can produce notes which pan or are filtered in time with the tempo. For a single beat or bar you can usually get it close enough that the mis-timing does not matter, and anyway the asynchronicity can actually sound interesting. Notes which do things which are timed to the beat can be quite compelling - rather like the 'de rigeur' echo that Tangerine Dream sequence addicts often use. 2. Using a computer-based sequencer which allows you to draw controller curves on the screen allows you to quickly produce LFO filter effects, S&H (random) filter cliches and complex pans very easily. So easily that you may be distracted from the other possibilities - like splitting the track into several sub-tracks and having different pans, LFO filter effects (or whatever) on them. If you hocket the notes (distribute successive notes to different tracks) them you can have several 'independent' sets of notes all doing different things, which is probably going to be very difficult using LFO sync to MIDI Clock. (On most Yamaha workstations, you can add your own controller messages into a track, and so with some careful beat counting it is possible to add in an LFO sync 'simulation' manually! I've done exactly this on an SY99) 3. Hardware/software hackers might consider making something that converts MIDI Clocks into a control voltage! Here's a text description of what is needed for the hardware. Use a monostable (even a 555 timer might work) to filter out everything but MIDI Clocks - look carefully at a MIDI serial byte for a MIDI Clock message to see how to do this), and then divide the filtered clock pulses down with an up-down counter to produce a stepped triangle waveform (flick through a CMOS data book for some suitable chips). A simple R-2R ladder and an op-amp buffer ought to produce a control voltage which can be interfaced to the pedal input of the 'synth to be controlled'. Software-wise, the filtered MIDI clock needs counting again, but probably the best option is to produce MIDI Controller messages, something like mod wheel, volume or pan... #Q: How can effect parameters be changed via MIDI in multi mode? ---------------------------------------------------------------- From: Seppo Valimaki In the multi mode, you cannot dynamically control the effects (such as wet-dry balance) of the individual tracks during the song. I figured out a workaround, though: with a Program Change message you can swap the patch on a track to the one with different effect send values with: song -> edit -> insert(F1) -> program change(shift+prog). Value of 0 loads the 1st patch on the internal bank A, 1 the second, etc. For the Program Change method to work you have to check that: 1) multi -> effect -> effect send -> source = voice 2) utility -> midi -> program change = on 3) you have not disabled prog change in the master controls From: pnajar@zonk.geko.com.au (Paul Najar) But you can modulate the effects in a multi as in a voice by using the midi ch. that the SY is set to recieve on in page807. Althougt this does not give you complete independance with a little juggleing of your effects configuration and your sends you can usually isolate the instrument through the effect that you want to modulate . #Q: What does SYSEX stand for? ------------------------------ From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) "sysex" is the abbreviation for "system exclusive", which is a special kind of message type defined in the MIDI specifications, which is specific to a certain system (i.e. synth or manufacturer). sysex messages are commonly used for editing capabilities over the MIDI line and for voice and bank dumps from/to e.g. a computer. #Q: What is general MIDI? ------------------------- [Look at the FAQ posted in the rec.music.makers.synth newsgroup.] #Q: Can the SY-85 directly load MIDI-files? ------------------------------------------- From: LOKE MUN CHOY Here are the steps: 1. The STANDARD MIDI Files file extension *.mid must be renamed to *.Xnn(X01....X99) 2. Load the GM Voice SET using the DISK ALL. FYI, GM-SET.zip is available at our ftp site. 3. To load a MIDI file, goto (UTILITY+DiSK mode:5:Other Load/Save) Choose the file you want to load and the destination(SONG No.) if sequencer memory is full(20,000), the file is not loaded. 4. Goto SONG mode, press PLAY. If the MIDI file sounds like TRASH, then you'll have to change the VOICE on some tracks. (e.g. drum tracks). Always use the GM Drum kit - Internal(III)H8 DB GMIDI for drum sounds. Limitations of the SY85 with MIDI files: 1. You cannot play a MIDI file which uses more than 8 MIDI channels on the SY85, because the internal sequencer has only 8 tracks. 2. The SY85 can only play MIDI files in Format 1. What's that? Read on. Format 0 files have all the sequencer data on a single multi-channel track. Format 1 files puts each channel of Midi data on its own track. Format 2 contains multiple patterns which are arranged as a song. Why only Format 1? Because in this format each track plays its own independent data thus allowing you to assign VOICES on every track. 3. How do I change the Format? If you've got a computer based sequencer, there is usually a function called EXTRACT channels that will put each MIDI channel on is own separate track. Sorry, can't do it on the 85 though. ============================================================================== ## Technical differences between different SY/TG models ============================================================================== #Q: Can I use files from the hardware sequencer Yamaha QX5FD on Max? -------------------------------------------------------------------- The only possile way in a situation of this type normally is to play back the sequences with the QX5FD and record them with the Mac. Do you already have the hardware sequencer? #Q: What are the main differences between SY77 and TG77? -------------------------------------------------------- From: nwilson@morgan.com (Ab Wilson) The TG77 doesn't have a built in sequencer and a disk drive. But it has eight additional outputs besides the two stereo pairs and different factory presets. I think these are the only differences. #Q: In how far do the effects of the SY-99 differ from the SY-77? ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: A_MOSCH@PAVO.CONCORDIA.CA - SY-99 effect are WAY better. It is like you would hear CD - two processors, not four, based on the SPX900 effects processor (the 77's are based on the SPX90). - each processor can be assigned an algorithm which will allow two effects to be run in series or in parallel on a single processor; i.e. you could have symphony + reverb on output 1 and chorus+delay on output 2 as you would on a 77. - You can set the wet/dry mix and effect send level for EVERYTHING: you could simply set the effects level for each individual patch in multi. - more parameters, up to 10 - You can assign MIDI controllers two modulate up to two effects parameters or they can be modulated by an independant effects LFO (!!!) with a choice of five waveforms (sine, triangle, saw up, saw down, sample/hold), and the phase can be free(!!) -- - You can set the velocity for its effects send level; - and finally, there are more effects -- including pitch shifting, phasing, rotary organ and ring modulator. #Q: Which SY synths can read each others patches? ------------------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) SY/TG-77 and SY-99 are somewhat compatible: the SY 99 can read/convert SY-77 files from disks comletely and understands the 77 MIDI dump mostly (ignoring the FX/routing section). MIDI transfer from 99 to 77 should also work within these limits. I assume TG-500 and SY-85 are also mostly compatible via MIDI dump. Sample transfer via MIDI (SDS) should (!) work between all machines with sample RAM. #Q: Do the data formats of the SY-99 differ from other YAMAHA-formats? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) The disk drives on Yamaha synths are all roughly compatible to DOS/Atari 720 kB format. Roughly means: do never create directories on these disks, do not use lowercase letters or special characters in filenames (which is possible from the SY side), and if you want to be shure format disks only on the SY. The SY 99 can read disk files, Data Cards and MIDI dumps from the SY/TG77. However only the disk files will be converted completely, for MIDI dumps the FX settings will be ignored (Data Cards ???). Wave Cards (the ones with samples on them) should be compatible across the whole SY series. The SY-synths equipped with sample RAM (SY99, SY85 and TG500) can all receive/transmit MIDI sample dumps. The SY99 can also load samples from disk in the TX16W format (a Yamaha sampler), the SY85 should also do this, but people reported problems with that. From: ochikubo@etdesg.TRW.COM (Craig F. Ochikubo) The SY99 can load SY77 voices, even saved in all format (although the effects transfer is terrible - reverb times are too long, dealy times are off too. ============================================================================== ## Detailed technical specifications ============================================================================== From: "Synthetic Man BH (03) 695 4497" Just letting people know about the new MU80 module. Absolutely brilliant, not much I can say negatively on this one. Features: 64 note polyphony; 32 parts; A/D input Stereo plus effects; interface; 2 midi ins; excellent display; TG300 compatible; 4 layered effects plus EQ. Distortion, Reverb, Chorus and Variation.; 1/2 rack 1u module, as big as a TG100.; New sounds and very nice ones as well.; Performance mode for layering 4 parts. Negatives: No drums in performance mode. No SYsex show like on the TG300. Still no editable drum map, but drums are fully editable otherwise. Drum sounds used in GM patches are not varied enough or compatible enough to other machines. Variation effect has been permanently stuck on controller 94 instead of on 89 with the ability to change. From: heesen@MI.Uni-Koeln.DE (Rainer Heesen) Producer: Yamaha Model: TG300 Release-date: 1994, 2nd quarter List-price: 1590 DM Street-prince: 1399 DM (MusicStore Cologne) Used-price: ARCHITECTURE: Synthesis-typ: Samples ("AWM2") Voice-arch: A voice is composed of 1 or 2 elements Sample-res: 16 bits PCM Sample-memory: 6 Mb with 195 samples Voices: 456 Presets, 128 Internal Polyphony: 32 AWM2 gen. Drum-sounds: 16 Drum-Kits Effects: 3 Effects Jacks: MIDI-In, -Out, -Thru, Line-In, Audio-Out, To-Host VARIOUS: Weight: 1.9 kg Dimensions: 220x91.6*257.2 mm Accessories: Comments: GM-compatible big display From: mir@chorus.fr (Adam Mirowski) GENERAL: Producer: Yamaha Model: SY77 (TG77 is its rack version) Release-date: 1990, 1st quarter List-price: ??? Street-prince: France: 13.5 kF Used-price: ??? $_Id: sy77 1.1 93/01/24 12:57:12 ROOT_DOS Exp $ ARCHITECTURE: Synthesis-typ: Samples ("AWM2"), 6-op FM ("AFM"), FM modulation of FM operators by an AWM2 generator ("RCM"), subtractive. Voice-arch: A voice is composed of 1, 2 or 4 AFM or AWM2 elements; AFM has 45 algorithms, 3 feedback loops, 16 waveforms, 2 modulation inputs for each of 6 operators; AWM2 elements can FM selected AFM operators; such a "voice" should rather be called a "performance". Sample-res: 16 bits; 32 or 48 kHz; internal 24 bit processing; 22 bit DACs Sample-memory: 4 Mb with 112 samples (multi-samples?) Keyboard: 61 keys, velocity sensitive, mono AT Voices: 128 in ROM, 64 in RAM, 64 on card Performances: a voice is actually a performance Multis: 16 in ROM, 16 in RAM, ??? on card Polyphony: 16 AFM generators, 16 AWM2 gen. Multitimbral: 16 parts Note-assign: priority to last note, dynamic or static voice allocation Filters: time-variant; 1 LPF 12dB/octave + 1 LPF/HPF 12 dB/octave per generator; adjustable resonance; Yamaha speaks about "digital convolution filters", but I think real-time digital filters are necessarily based on convolution. LFO: 2 per generator Envelopes: 6 segs for each of 6 AFM operators; 6 segs on each of 2 filters; 5 segments on volume, pan and pitch. Drum-sounds: 61 samples (but not General MIDI compatible) Effects: 4 stereo programmable effect processors: 2 reverberation-style and 2 modulation-style (chorus, flanger, symphonic, tremolo) SEQUENCER: (SY77 only) Tracks: 16 tracks Songs: 1 Simult-notes: 32 through dynamic voice allocation Capacity: 16 000 notes Modes: real-time, step, punch-in Records only one track and one channel at a time; Resolution: 1/96th of a quarter note Patterns: 99 Audio-outputs: 2 stereo (TG: 8 additional mono), phones On the TG77, an individual output can either receive an element in voice mode, or an entire voice in multi mode. Ext-storage: RAM voice cards: MCD64 (64 KB); sysex; 3.5" DD, MSDOS-compatible drive (TG: no) Card-slots: 1 for parameter data, 1 for waveforms (512 KByte or 1MB) Yamaha provides either data cards using internal samples, or 2-card sets composed of each card type. MIDI-support: TG: complete Display: LCD 240x64 backlighted, ??? LEDs (TG: 4) Int-controls: keyboard, wheels: pitch (??? bits), modulation, programmable mod with center detent (TG: no) volume x 2, data entry pot Ext-controls: Foot controller, Sustain switch, Volume pedal, Breath ctrl, MIDI in/out/thru VARIOUS: Weight: SY: ??? TG: 8 kg Dimensions: SY: ??? TG: 3U, ??? Accessories: SY: ??? TG: 3-meter MIDI cable) Back-door: ??? Pos-comments: Big potential Neg-comments: No master controller possibilities - only one channel; Sends/recognizes only program changes 0-63; Doesn't recognize HD diskettes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ GENERAL: Producer: Yamaha Model: SY85 (TG500 is its rack version, approximatively) Release-date: 1992, 3rd quarter List-price: France: 14.9 kF Street-price: France: 11.8 to 12.8 kF (TG: 8.99 kF) Used-price: ??? $_Id: sy85 1.1 93/01/24 12:57:12 ROOT_DOS Exp $ ARCHITECTURE: Synthesis-typ: Samples ("AWM2"), subtractive Voice-arch: A voice is based on either a ROM or a RAM multi-sample, called a "waveform". 1 to 4 voices can be superposed in a "performance". The synth can work in either the "voice", or "performance", or "multi" mode. Sample-res: 16 bits, ??? kHz Sample-memory: 6 Mb ROM, 244 waves, many multi-sampled; (TG: 8 Mb) 0.5 Mb volatile RAM; RAM can be expanded to 2.5 MB volatile using two 80ns SIMM modules and to 1 Mb non-volatile, using SYEMB06 modules (TG: no RAM, extensible to 1MB of non-volatile RAM). Keyboard: 61 keys, velocity sensitive, mono AT Voices: 256 in RAM, 256 on card (TG: 252 in ROM, 126 in RAM) Performances: 128 in RAM, 128 on card (TG: 128 in ROM, 64 in RAM) Multis: 10 in RAM, ??? on card Polyphony: 30 AWM2 generators (TG: 64) Multitimbral: 16 parts Note-assign: dynamic voice allocation Filters: time-variant; 1 per generator; 12 or 24 dB/octave LPF, 12 dB/octave BPF or HPF. Adjustable resonance. LFO: 1 per generator Envelopes: volume enveloppe, pitch enveloppe, 6 segs for the filter envelope (acts +/- on cutoff freq) no pan-enveloppe (effects are used instead in presets) Drum-sounds: 4 sets in RAM (TG: 4 sets in ROM, 2 sets in RAM) Effects: 2 stereo programmable dual DSP units; 90 programs per unit SEQUENCER: (SY85 only) Tracks: 9 (8 normal + 1 rhythm) Songs: 10 songs, non-volatile, chainable Simult-notes: 30 Capacity: Approx. 20 000 notes, Yamaha dixit. Modes: Real-time, step, punch-in; can record from MIDI-in; records only one track and one channel at a time; Resolution: 1/48 of a quarter using internal clock, 1/24 of a quarter using external MIDI clock. Patterns: 100 RAM drums patterns Comments: microscopic editing; can import and export up to 8-track midifiles; all sequencer memory is cleared when using MIDI Data Recorder (MDR) functions. Audio-outputs: 2 stereo (TG: 1 stereo + 4 individual), phones Ext-storage: RAM voice cards: MCD64 (64 KB) (TG: 2 RAM cards); sysex; 3.5" DD, MSDOS-compatible drive (TG500: no); MIDI Sample Dump for sample reception and transmission; samples from waveform cards can be transferred to internal RAM, but will be probably appear as "copyrighted." Card-slots: 1 for parameter data, 1 for waveforms. (TG: 2 of each) MIDI-support: complete as far as sysexes are concerned. Display: 40-character x 2-line LCD backlighted (TG: 24 x 2) 27 LEDS, some two-color (TG: 2) Int-controls: keyboard, wheels: pitch (7 bit), programmable modulation, volume x 2, 8 control sliders can control sound parameters in real time; first 4 also send CS1 - CS4 midi messages (control change 16 to 19) Ext-controls: Foot controller, Sustain switch, Volume pedal, MIDI in/out/thru VARIOUS: Weight: SY: 14 kg; TG: ??? Dimensions: SY: 102.4 x 36.7 x 11.9 cm; TG: 1U Accessories: In Europe, 3 manual sets (French, German, English): "Getting started" and "Feature Reference"; a "Job card"; "MIDI data format" documentation; 1 green "factory-set" and 1 orange "demonstration" diskettes. Contrarily to some flyers, no MCD64 card is provided. From system@aberdeen.wireline.slb.com Wed Jun 14 16:31:24 MET 1995 I have an SY85, I just bought it about 5 months ago. These machines DO come with an MDC64 card (certainly in Europe). Back-door: Press "SHIFT", then "STORE", then "EXIT/NO". Some screen use "+1" and "-1" keys to say yes or no. Comments: Pretty impressive presets (all are erasable on the SY), good effects, including a rotating speaker and Aural Exciter. No master controller possibilities, sends on one channel only; Recognizes only program changes 0-63; Doesn't recognize HD diskettes Questions about the SY85: From: LOKE MUN CHOY 1) Can I modify the start/loop/end point of a sample? No. Everything has to be done on your sampler before loading over. 2) What's the maximum number of samples I can use to form a multi-sample VOICE? Up to 64(max) samples can reside in the memory, if they fit into. 3) How many multi-sample VOICES can I construct using samples in RAM? You ca customise your own VOICES(with all the stuff like amp, filter,fx...) and store them in any RAM location i.e. 256 internal 256 on card. 4) Can samples be set to play backwards? Yes, samples can be played forward(no loop), backwards(no loop), forward(loop), backward(loop), forward(alternate loop), backward(alternete loop). 5) Can a multi-sample VOICE be saved to floppy disk like those not in sample RAM or is a global memory save (ALL file) the only way? There are 2 ways that i know of to save samples. First, you can save a single sample to disk with inly its sample data Or alternatively, you can save ALL(Voices,Perfs,SEQ,sample data,global,paterns...) in one file. 1) Does the sequencer still only have 1/48 quarter note resolution? I know it's rather coarse, but that's the way Yamaha built it, unfortunately! 2) Can patterns in the rhythm track be quantized? Yeah, sure. 3) Can the sequencer be controlled by a footswitch (start/stop/continue)? I don't think so. Correct me. 4) Can a note range be specified for edit functions? No, but editing is done event-list style. You can choose which track(1 at a time) to edit. 5) Can the slider be recorded as control changes? In SONG(sequencer) mode, all 8 sliders do not transmit Ctrl change messages. They are however used as real-time volume sliders for each of the 8 tracks(rhythm track not inc.) The slider movements cannot be recorded by the seq. Although in other modes, CS1, CS2, CS3, CS4 respond/transmit CTRL change #16,, 17, 18, 19 respectively. 1) Can effects levels be set for each of the multi-timbral instruments when sequencing? Yes, you can send where each voice/perf goes plus fx send level. 2) I know there are two effects processors. Can both use all 90 effects? Yes, you're free to allocate ANY 1 out of the 90 to EACH FX slot. ============================================================================== From: 1loebner@rzdspc2.informatik.uni-hamburg.de (Dietrich Loebner) GENERAL: Producer: Yamaha Model: SY99 Release-date: 1991, 2nd quarter List-price: ??? Street-price: Germany: 5000DM Used-price: Germany: 4000DM ARCHITECTURE: Synthesis-type: RCM: Realtime Convolution and Modulation - a combination of AFM and AWM2 AWM2: Advanced Waveform Memory 2 - sampling part, two digital realtime-filters AFM: Advanced Frequency Modulation - 6 operators, 45 algorithms (with editor-software also an absolut free one), 3 free feedback operators per algorithm, 16 waveforms selectable per operator, 2 inputs per operator, FM-modulation by an AWM-output possible Voice-arch: A voice is a composition of 1, 2 or 4 AFM- or AWM2-elements, a combination 1AFM&1AWM or 2AFM&2AWM or a drum set. You could give each element (drum set mode is different) its own volume, detune, note shift, note limit, velocity limit, dynamic pan, outgroup selection and the whole voice a volume, a random pitch depth, portamento (only affecting AFM elements), effects, microtuning and a controller setup. Sample-res: Up to 16 bits (but you can also use 12 bit samples from the TX16W-sampler for example), up to 50kHz; the SY99 works internally with 24bit, the DACs with 22bit Sample-memory: 8MB ROM with 267 waveforms (several multisamples) sampled with an Akai S1000 (16 bit, 48 or 32 kHz) 512kB RAM, up to 3MB with external Yamaha modules and up to 8MB with an internal 5MB board from Musitronics (distributed by TSI GmbH, Neustr. 9-12, D-53498 Waldorf, Tel: +49 2636 7001, Fax: +49 2636 7935), all sample-RAM is battery backuped Keyboard: 76 keys, velocity sensitive, special channel aftertouch called "zone-aftertouch": you can specify, if all notes are affected, or only the highest, the lowest, notes upside or downside of a split point Voices: 128 ROM-presets, 64 in RAM and 64 on an optional ROM- or RAM-cardridge Performances: On the SY99 there is no difference between a performance and a voice Multis: 16 ROM-presets, 16 RAM-slots Polyphony: 16 with the AFM tone generator and 16 with the AWM2 one; with a splitted keyboard (one side AFM the other AWM2) you can use 32 different notes at once Multitimbral: 16 Note-assign: Dynamic Voice Allocation (DVA), priority for the last note Filters: 2 dynamic digital filters per element; 1 LPF/HPF (12dB/oct) and 1 LPF (12dB/oct), both with an EG and a resonance parameter LFO: 1 for an AWM2- and 2 (main and sub) for an AFM-element; 6 waves: triangle, saw down, saw up, square, sine, sample&hold Envelopes: 6 segs for each of 6 AFM operators; 5 segs for an AWM2-element; 5 segs pitch-EG for every element; 6 segs on each of 2 filters (cutoff); 5 segments on volume and pan Drum-sounds: 3 sets (ROM), 70 waveforms, the presets are not GM but you can configure your own GM-drumsetup. Effects: 2 independent SPX900 units with 63 effects and up to 4 effects at the same time. Two free assignable parameters could be controlled in real time. SEQUENCER: Tracks: 15 normal + 1 pattern track Songs: 10 songs, chainable Simult-notes: 32 Capacity: approx. 27 000 notes Modes: Realtime, step, punch-in Resolution: 96 points per quarter note with internal sync 24 ppq with MIDI-sync Patterns: 99 patterns of any kind with a maximum of 32 masures per pattern Audio-outputs: 2 stereo, phones Ext-storage: Internal 720kB disk drive (MsDos compatible), several MIDI dumps Card-slots: One for voice-data, one for waveforms MIDI-support: Very complete in my opinion Display: 240 x 64 dots, 40 x 8 chars, graphical, backlighted, 11 red and 21 red/green LEDs Int-controls: keyboard, pitch-, modulation1- and modulation2-wheel, data-entry-slider, volume x 2 Ext-controller: Sustain- and another foot switch, foot volume and another footcontroller, breathcontroller, MIDI in/out/through VARIOUS: Weight: 19.6kg Dimensions: 125.4 x 40.7 x 12.0 cm Accessories: Three manuals (german, english, french, > 300 pages), a MIDI-implementation-guide, two demodisks with songs and voices Back-door: Press voice and hold it, then bank D, then voice no. 8 and you'll be in the testmode Comments: Positive: - Masterkeyboard functionality - MIDI-data-recorder (MDR) built in - excellent effect section with aural exciter, rotary speaker etc. - though the SY99 is a very complex synthesizer the handling is good (especially that of the sequencer unit) Negative: - Not a HD-floppydrive - No SCSI-interface - No digital SPDIF-output (AES/EBU seems to be available as an option) -> a very impressive and complete board - especially for people who don't have the money for a complete sampler, masterkeyboard etc. system ============================================================================== GENERAL: (if you want to add one...) Producer: Instrument's producer: Yamaha, Kurzweil, etc. Model: Model identifier: SY77, SY99, etc. Please also indicate the rack version identifier, even if its characteristics differ from the keyboard version. Release-date: year, month, the show during which the machine has been introduced. List-price: country: price/currency; Streat-price: Used-price: $_Id: sy-templ 1.1 93/01/24 12:57:10 ROOT_DOS Exp $ ARCHITECTURE: Synthesis-type: additive (from overtones), substractive, FM, AWM, sample replay, etc Voice-arch: Voice architecture, as long as necessary. Sample-res: 8, 12, 16 bits Sample-memory: XXX kilo or megabytes Keyboard: key number, velocity sensitiveness, after-touch type Voices: "simple" waveforms Performances: several waveforms at once Multis: different voices or performances on every MIDI channel Polyphony: How many different-pitch notes can be played at once? Multitimbral: How many different sounds can be played at once? Note-assign: How are available voices mapped to parts? Filters: what types are available, how many per generator LFO: idem Envelopes: volume, pitch, modulation, pan, etc. Drum-sounds: yes/no, programmability, GM compatibility, usual MIDI channel Effects: how many independent, what kind of routings and programs are available SEQUENCER: Tracks: How many? Songs: How many? Chainable? Simult-notes: How many simultaneous notes can be played? Capacity: in notes, or events Modes: how can the sequencer be used? Record modes? Resolution: 48, 96 points per quarter note, etc. Patterns: if any, and what kind Audio-outputs: number, type Ext-storage: External storage means: sysex, sample and/or voice ROM cards, RAM cards, diskettes, hard-disks, SCSI, network, etc. Card-slots: what kinds are available MIDI-support: general quality Display: resolution, graphical or not, backlighted or not, etc. Int-controls: What controllers are built-in? Ext-controller: What controllers can be connected to the instrument? What MIDI plugs does it have? VARIOUS: Weight: in kilogrammes Dimensions: in centimeters and/or vertical rack units Accessories: provides ones: cables, diskettes, manuals, cards, ... Back-door: How to enter diagnostic/engineering screens, obtain the version of the internal synth/sequencer software, etc. Comments: Positive and negative comments From: jensenq@qcj.icon.com (Quinn Jensen) [ This is from above, what machines is the SY list about ? ] > SY 22: 16 voice 12bit sample + 4-op FM vector keyboard > TG 33: 32 voice 12bit sample + 4-op FM vector module > (2 SY22 in a module) > SY 35: 16 voice 16bit sample + 4-op FM vector keyboard > (SY22 successor) I have not seen any concrete documentation that states how many operators are used in the FM in these machines. They allow you to adjust a single modulator and feedback level which implies 2-op. I suppose that could also apply to 4-op but it's a moot point anyway since you can't edit most of FM parameters. The SY-35 is still AWM. Is AWM anything but 12 bits? "The SY-35 AWM system is particularly effective thanks to an extended waveform ROM that allows longer samples and therefore superior sound." (From the sales literature) I read "longer" to mean longer in duration, not longer in word length. Besides, they always make a big deal out of AWM2 being 16 bits. #Q: Differences between TG500 and SY85 -------------------------------------- From: Bastian Pusch The TG500 is a slightly expanded brain of the SY85: You have a couple of waveforms added. On the other hand: the sequencer is missing in the TG500 (should not be a big disadvantage). Also missing is the possibility to upgrade your memory with normal PC-Simms. A TG500 is only upgradable with (max 2) 0.5 MB Yamaha-memory boards that are non-volatile but quite expensive. That's life! ============================================================================== ## Tips and other stuff ============================================================================== From: Ulrich Zukowski Thu, 22 Jun 1995 18:07:52 +0200 (MET DST) german Yamaha software distributor called Easy Sounds, P. Krishker, Hamburg, 040/7386223 who advertises in the june Keyboards magazine on page 172. But in this ad only the sy99/tg500 "info-packages' are listed, i.e. some sound banks etc. There is another ad in the mag (page 177) by a shop called Sound Art, R. Person, Hannover, 0511/852495 who promises "Atari/PC/Mac Software Editors for nearly all synthesizers". # AWM->AFM Modulation Techniques -------------------------------- From: idealord@dorsai.com (Jeff Harrington) I've recently been experimenting with the use of "excessive" filtering with a large resonance factor in the AWM input. This creates a shifting modulator (AWM) which gives a great deal of momentum/activity to the resulting waveform. Band filters with a slow sloping up and down EG work well in this regard. # Strange things with samples on the SY-99 ------------------------------------------ From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) I experimented a bit with the SY99 sample engine (using Avalon, a sample processing software for the ST), and found out, that the 99 can only use the start/attack phase and the loop phase of samples, it never (?) plays any samples behind the loop phase, like one would expect. Another strange thing is that if you use a very short low tuned sample and play a high note, the sample engine does miss the loop end and starts to play back the whole internal sample memory (including all the ROM waves). Besides the fact that this is obviously a bug, its nice hearing the ROM in fast forward mode ... # Pipe organs for the SY85/TG-500 --------------------------------- From: "dr. funk" I`ve also tried playing with the EQ on pipe organ sounds. The best I can do is to knock the sharp edge (high end freqencies) off the top. EQ never seems to alter the basic timbre of a sound, it must be at the beginning. (Over the last N years, I`ve tried to compensate for "cheap instrument sounds" via EQ without success.) I managed to program one satisfactory sound in performance mode using a mixture of strings, reeds (oboe and bassoon) and a little pipe. I remember using both layers and splits as I did not care for the sound of the oboe "in the left hand" below middle C. The lower part of the keyboard has more string and no oboe; the upper part which has more oboe and less string. Thus, I get a good split which allows my left hand to play a foundation while soloing with the right. From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) 1. voice coupling: by coupling different voices, you get organ feel with most (?) waveforms, the usual organ series is like 16",8",5 3/4", 4", ... which translates to semitone note shift of -12, 0, 7, 12, 19, ... Of course this can be easily done with FM synths (parallel carriers), while on sample based machines it will eat up polyphony. Did you try to use simple waveforms like triangle ? (I'll try myself tonight.) 2. changing/switching timbre: on an acoustical organ this would be more like switching, therefore using a footswitch is a nice idea. Possibilities include changing the cutoff frequency of the filter (this one is nice with a foot pedal or slider) and changing the attack time (this is not possible on the SY99 but maybe the SY85 and definitely the DX7 !!!). A slow attack time, especially for the lower octave of the sound - will give the feeling of big pipes in a big room. One can also try to edit/control the reverb parameters accordingly: a long early reflection time will do the job. I also tried (with only mediocre success) to switch the footage (? Fusslage in German) by using the LFO with frequency 0 and square waveform plus the footswitch (CC #65) to control pitch mod sensivity. By finetuning the pitch sens and mod sens parameters of one element/voice you can therefore switch between a 8" and a 4" pipe. However it sounds better in theory than in my actual patch. # Funny reset ------------- From: HTOYRYLA@ntcclu.ntc.nokia.com (Hannu Toyryla, tel. +358-0-5118366, fax. +358-0-5118400) By the way, has anybody experienced SY77 making a reset on it's own ? When I was in the middle of something, the SY77 suddently showed a picture and a text "Sorry we have to show you that initial screen again..." (quoting from memory =my own :-). Then it went on to show the screen you get on power up. # Playing General MIDI files on the SYs --------------------------------------- From: Ulrich Zukowski Possible Solutions to play general MIDI files on the TG500: Program-Change Mode normal/direct: In Multi-mode program changes are received and switch the sound of their channel to the patch number in the actual sound bank. This would be ok, but each bank has only 64 programs, so the GM- Specification cannot be satisfied, even if I copy all needed sounds to a free bank. Program-Change Mode PC-table: When a program change is received in multi-mode, not the actual channel is switched to the needed sound, but the TG500 leaves the multi-mode and switches to voice or performance mode according to the entry in the pc-table. What I need is, that the TG500 stays in multi-mode and switches the instrument of one channel to the sound, which is stored in the PC-table entry with the number of the received program change. From: " (Matthew G Overton)" You need TAKE_500. This has a GM setup for Performances and Voices contained on the disk (or at least the one in my dealers did), plus there was also a Multi with the correct effects and choice of instrument. All the factory voices are rearranged so that there is one bank of 8 pianos, another of 8 basses, etc., as per the GM spec you posted. It is also possible to gain access to more than 64 patches by sending a bank change message. For the TG500 I saw, all the sounds were assigned as Performances rather than Voices and they were arranged thus: Perf Int I A1-H8 = 1-64, Perf Int II A1-H8 = 65-128. However, GM Drums was not located in a Performance but Voice Int I H8 as might be expected. From: Ulrich Zukowski That won't work, because the TG500 has only one internal performance bank (64 programs) !!!! The other two are ROM-Presets. And it has only two internal voice banks with 63 programs, respectively. That makes 126 internal voices, but GM requires 128 !!! From: " (Matthew G Overton)" Well, I stand corrected. I contacted tech support at Yamaha UK and they said that no satisfactory solution to GM has been created for the TG500, only for the SY85. I'll look into how my dealer arranged it... For those interested in the SY85, the file that may or may not be distributed is called "GM-friendly voice disk" from Yamaha European Music Software (code OM 23308 or EMS SY86001) (P) and (C) 1993 Omnibus Records & Tapes (MCPS). Also it states that "All rights of the record producer [!!!] and the owner of the works recorded reserved. Copying, public performances and broadcasting of this recording prohibited." From: " (Matthew G Overton)" It's a 800K floppy disk that loads directly into the SY85's disk drive. It comes in a CD case with a short manual in English and French... I received my disk direct on application to Yamaha UK. I have no idea whether Yamaha European Music Software is at the same address or who they are. Their address: Yamaha-Kemble Music (U.K.) Ltd. Sherbourne Drive Tilbrook Milton Keynes MK7 8BL United Kingdom. Fax +44 (0)908 368872. Hi-tech software support person is Peter Peck. # Controlling portamento-time via MIDI CC #5 -------------------------------------------- From: heja@neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Herbert Janssen) In the MIDI manual CC #5 is documented to control portamento time while in the MIDI implementation chart, it is not referenced. However I'm quite shure that it is *NOT* implemented this way, since I not only tried to control it via CC #5 in various ways (fingered, full time etc) which did not work, but I tried to control it via CC #5 mapped in an extrenal sequencer to the appropriate SysEx String: and voila, it worked without problems. BTW, I'm currently trying to get weird things out of my SY by controlling usually "uncontrollable" sound parameters (LFO speed, resonance, feedback) via Cubase using SysEx. Therefore I wrote a rudimentary editor for the SY99 in the Cubase MIXER page. Since the MIXER page is limited to 127 objects and some of the SYs parameter codings (s/m) are not implementable in Cubase it really has only some of the basic parameters, but if anybody is interested I'll put the file on our ftp server. From: Randomizer@cup.portal.com Each operator has an on/off switch with regard to the pitch EG. Simply turn the carriers off with respect to the pitch EG and keep them on for selected modulators. Kind of sounds like funky osc. sync. From: LOKE MUN CHOY If you change values (e.g. in the song edit mode) you have to press ENTER before you press EXIT, otherwise the new value will be lost. # Influence of effect setting on output volume ---------------------------------------------- From: LOKE MUN CHOY The output level increases tremendously when this fx config is used: EF Mode : Parallel Set everything(EF outlevel, wet:dry balance, EF mix level) to 100(max) Set individual voices and EFsend level to 127. EF1 54 : EQ -> Echo Low freq = 2.0 kHz Low gain = +12 dB High freq = 500 Hz High gain = +12 dB Other parameters -as you wish EF2 52 : EQ -> ER Low freq = 2.0 kHz Low gain = +12 dB High freq = 500 Hz High gain = +12 dB Type = Smll Diffusion = 10 Init delay= 0 ER Level = 0(for direct sound) or 100(processed, small room ER) set it below 10 for ths example. I've noticed that whenever an fx algorithm(especially #52) with EQ is set to the above settings, the output level almost DOUBLES!! **WARNING** Make sure you turn down both sliders and gradually increase them. The output level can easily damage your monitors, headphones. # General MIDI with the SY85 ---------------------------- From: LOKE MUN CHOY Here's what Peter Peck(Hi-Tech Marketing Assistant, YAMAHA) said(I quote) : GM on the SY85(text from "INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING SY85 GM FRIENDLY DISK") Please note the following adjustments which will need to be made to your GM sequence file in order for it to work effectively with the SY85. 1. Program Numbers The SY85 does not recognise 128 Program Change numbers and also has a special command for receiving program changes in SONG mode. Therefore, a Bank Select command must be used. A few ticks in front of each patch change from 0-63 you must insert Cntrl #0:000, Cntrl #32:80. In front of each patch change 64-128, subtract 64 from the patch number to find the SY85 equivalent patch number and then insert Cntrl #0:000, Cntrl #32:83 just before this number. (This procedure will cause the corrct bank and program numbers to be selected.) Note: If the SY85 jumps out of SONG mode when you start a sequence, it means that not all of the program change commands in the sequence file have been properly adjusted. 2. Expression(Controller 11) The SY85 Voices have been programmed to respond to 'expression' on controller 4(not 11). If controller 11 is used in a GM file, this will need to be re-assigned to controller 4 within your sequence file, to make the SY85 respond correctly. This control will give an authentic expressive feel as it slightly also controls the brightness of the sound. Note: If you are just using the sound bank for playing and do not have a foot controller, use voice set 2(GM*play) which has had the controller 4 effect removed otherwise voices will be left at the last value of Cntrl #4 sent from a sequence file, which may be zero after a fade. In this case the voice will not be heard until Cntrl#4=127 is re-sent to the patch. 3. Pitch Bend The SY85 will not recognise NRPNs, therefore pitch bend has been set to 2 throughout the bank. This will suit most GM files. Ocassionally, you may find that a lead-line uses a patch with an expected pitch bend value of 2. In this case you will have to modify the preset to have the correct pitchbend range on the synth. If you are interested in getting hold of this GM Friendly Disk, you could: 1. Request a copy from YAMAHA UK(like me). If you do write to them, you can also ask for the WINDOWS version of TAKE500(mentioned above) to be sent to you once it is completed. 2. Get it off the sy-list ftp site. When I d/l the file from our ftp site, only one file was present after i unzipped it. Only (LOAD GM*PLAY). If you want both files(LOAD GM*PLAY) & (LOAD GM*SEQ), you can tell me and i will upload them to the site...