Glossary - Yamaha MU50 Owner's Manual

Glossary

Assignable Controller 1 Certain functions on the
MU50 (such as the Filter, Volume or Variation ef-
fect) can be changed in real time by controllers on
a connected MIDI instrument. Assignable Control-
ler 1 lets you determine which controller (for ex-
ample: modulation wheel, breath controller, foot
controller, etc.) is used for that purpose.
AWM2 Abbreviation for Advanced Wave Memory 2,
an enhanced version of Yamaha's original tone
generation system, featuring digital filters for su-
perior sound.
bank A set of Voices or programs. The MIDI stand-
ard supports up to 128 banks, each of which can
contain up to 128 Voices or programs.
edit Editing is the process of changing or adjusting
the settings of the MU50.
EG Abbreviation for Envelope Generator, a common
control on electronic instruments that affects the
"shape" (or envelope) of the sound in time. The
MU50 provides two types of EGs: one for level
and the other for pitch.
Filter A control for affecting the frequency content
of a sound. Filters are used to selectively cut or
boost certain frequency ranges in the sound —
subtly enhancing the sound, or dramatically
changing its character. On the MU50, the Filter
can be controlled in real time with the Assignable
Controller 1.
General MIDI (GM) An addition to the MIDI stand-
ard which effectively ensures that any General
MIDI-compatible song data can be properly
played back on any General MIDI-compatible tone
generator. The standard specifies that a GM-com-
patible tone generator must have at least 24-note
polyphony, 16-part multi-timbral capacity and 128
standard voices.
host computer The controlling computer in a com-
puter music system. The host computer is con-
nected to the MU50 (via the TO HOST or MIDI
terminals) and runs the software necessary for re-
cording and playing back song data, which is re-
produced by the internal sound sources and effects
of the MU50.
LFO Abbreviation for low frequency oscillator,
which generates a low frequency signal that is
used to modulate certain aspects of the sound,
such as pitch or level. Chorus, Flanger, Tremolo,
Vibrato and other modulation effects use LFOs.
MIDI Acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Inter-
face, a worldwide standard that allows MIDI-com-
patible instruments and devices to communicate
with each other. For the instruments to communi-
cate, they normally must be set to the same MIDI
channel.
modulation wheel A controller found on most
MIDI keyboards which is normally used to control
pitch and other types of modulation. It can be used
to control various aspects of the MU50 sound by
proper setting of the Assignable Controller 1. (See
pages 77.)
multi-timbral This refers to the capacity of a tone
generator to produce several different sounds at
once. The MU50 is a 16-Part multi-timbral tone
generator, capable of playing 16 different instru-
ment Voices at once, each over an independent
MIDI channel.
Mute The Mute function of the MU50 allows you to
silence one Part to hear how all of the other Parts
sound without it.
parameter The word "parameter" refers to any ad-
justable setting of an electronic musical instru-
ment. For example, the Filter function of the
MU50 has two parameters: Cutoff Frequency and
Resonance.
Part The Voices of the MU50 are assigned to sepa-
rate Parts, and up to 16 of these Parts can sound
simultaneously. Parts are analogous to the various
instrumental parts in music: e.g., piano part, guitar
part, etc.
Performance In the MU50, "Performance" refers to
an operation mode and the programs that are used
in that mode. A Performance can contain up to
four different Parts, all controllable over the same
MIDI channel. The preset Performances of the
MU50 are special multi-Part sound programs de-
signed particularly for live performance and studio
recording purposes.
APPENDIX
127