The Mu80 - What It Is And What It Can Do; What It Is; About General Midi - Yamaha MU80 Owner's Manual

THE MU80 — WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT CAN DO
The MU80 — What It Is and What It Can Do

What It Is...

The MU80 is a compact, highly portable and easy-to-use tone generator. It
features full General MIDI Level 1 compatibility with 128 General MIDI
Voices and 9 drum kits. It also provides new XG-MIDI (Extended General
MIDI) compatibility, with a total of 537 Voices and 11 drum kits. The
MU80 has 64-note polyphony and is 32-Part multi-timbral. In other words,
the MU80 has 32 different Parts, each with its own Voice, so that up to 32
different Voices can be sounded simultaneously. Since the MU80 features
dual MIDI input ports (A and B), 16 Parts can be played from one MIDI
port and the remaining 16 from the other port.
computer, allowing you to play the Voices using your favorite music soft-
ware. This is where the advanced multi-timbral capabilities come in, letting
you playing sophisticated arrangements using up to 32 different Voices at
the same time.
are played simultaneously over a single MIDI channel. Connected to a MIDI
keyboard, this effectively gives you four tone generators in one. The MU80
gives you two sets of 64 factory-programmed Preset Performances plus 128
Internal Performance locations for your own original Performances.

About General MIDI

General MIDI is a new addition to the worldwide MIDI standard. MIDI, as
you know, stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and makes it
possible for various electronic musical instruments and other devices to
"communicate" with each other. For example, by connecting a sequencer
to the MU80's MIDI IN terminal, you could play back a song on the
sequencer using the Voices of the MU80.
tant features of General MIDI is in the standardization of Voices. This
means that a song recorded in the General MIDI format can be played back
on any General MIDI compatible tone generator and sound just as the com-
poser intended. For example, if there is an alto sax solo in the song, it will
be played by an alto sax Voice on the General MIDI tone generator (and
not by a tuba or harpsichord!). Since the MU80 is fully compatible with
General MIDI, you can take advantage of the vast wealth of musical mate-
rial recorded in that format.
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The MU80 also has a TO HOST terminal for easy interfacing with a
The MU80 also features a special Performance mode, in which four Parts
So, where does General MIDI fit in all of this? One of the most impor-