Preventing Glitches When Changing Studios - Kurzweil K2600 Musician's Manual

Advanced KDFX
Real-time Control of KDFX
notes, and use up none of the K2600Õs polyphony. Use the <more> buttons to get to the KDFX
page, and start setting up your studio and FXMods, or, if you have another program already set
up with the studio and FXMods you want, use Import FX to bring that studio and FXMods into
the current program.
Now save the program to a new location, giving it a name like Studio Controller1. You can now
use this studio with your sequencer: start by calling up its bank and program number, and then
put appropriate MIDI commands into the sequencer for controlling the studioÕs parameters.
If the MIDI sources for the FXMods are also K2600 on-board controllers, then you can record
your parameter changes from the K2600 into the sequencer.
ThereÕs a step-by-step discussion of this procedure, beginning on page 12-21.
Changing Studios With a Sequencer
If you need more than one studio available in a piece, or you want a selection of studios to use in
different pieces, simply create new programs the same way, with different studios speciÞed on
their KDFX pages. To switch from one to the other, send an appropriate Program Change
command on channel 16 from your sequencer.
Setting up static FXMods in different programs, all of which address the same studio, as we saw
earlier, is a good way to make one-shot changes in KDFX parameters without having to
construct a bunch of different studios.
Also as we saw earlier, this technique can be useful even when you are playing the K2600 in
Setup mode along with a sequencer. If FX Mode is Program, and the FX channel is 16, the
sequencer can control the FXMods independently of which setups are in use on the keyboard.

Preventing Glitches When Changing Studios

As with any digital effects unit, you need to take some care when you are sending KDFX real-
time commands that radically alter the nature of the processing it is doing. The trickiest
situations will occur when you are changing studios, and calling up new FX presets, algorithms,
and/or signal routings.
Under the best of circumstances, the transition between two studios can be seamless, and the
effects in one will ÒmorphÓ into the effects of the other. Under the worst of circumstances, there
will be a momentary ÒholeÓ in the sound, as the effects from the Þrst studio are cleared out and
the effects of the second studio build up.
The chances of a smooth transition between studios will be highest if the algorithms on the
FXBuses in the two studios are the same. (In some reverb algorithms, the Room Type parameter
should also be the same.) For example, if FXBus1 in Studio X uses an FX preset based on the
reverb in algorithm 4, and FXBus1 in Studio Y uses a different FX preset based on the same
reverb algorithm 4, then when you switch from Studio X to Studio Y, the signals going through
FXBus1 should experience a smooth reverb change.
However, if the FX preset for FXBus1 in Studio Y uses a different algorithm, say a multitap delay
in Algorithm 35, then at the moment the studio changes, the reverb effect will ramp down
quickly, there will be a very brief point at which the signal will pass dry, and then the multitap
will quickly ramp up. This ramping will take place any time the two algorithms (or Room
Types) are differentÑeven if on the surface they seem very similar, like a Room and a Hall.
Even if the algorithms are the same, however, there is a chance that the transition will not be
completely smooth. Some parameters cause glitches if they are changed in real time even within
a studioÑdelay lengths, for exampleÑand so if a parameter like that changes when you switch
studios, the software will clear it out as the studio changes, and a small hole will appear. In some
15-30