Midi Messages Explained; Program & Bank Changes Explained; Rpn/Nrpn's Explained; Sysex Explained - M-Audio Evolution MK425C User Manual

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Evolution MK-425C • MK-449C • MK-461C

MIDI Messages Explained

Program & Bank Changes Explained

The original GM MIDI speciﬁcation catered for only 128 voices, numbered from 0-127. It is possible to access a different voice by sending a program

change.

In order to expand on the GM set of voices, Bank changes were devised. Each bank contains 128 patches, that can be accessed using a program change.

There are 16,384 banks available, accessible by sending a 14-bit Bank change message. The ﬁrst 7 bits of this message are sent in a single byte known as

the Bank LSB. The last 7 bits are speciﬁed by another byte known as the Bank MSB. The BANK LSB is the most commonly used. This allows for 128 bank

changes, and often there is no need to send a Bank MSB.

You will ﬁnd almost all MIDI devices respond to the program change, but some that do not conform to the GM set of voices use the program change

message for other purposes. Many VST instruments have adopted this approach, allowing you to use a program change to change the instrument patch.

The FM7 by Native Instruments is a good example of this.

Bank changes are more rarely used, although they do exist. Bank changes are useful in manufacturer's extensions to the MIDI speciﬁcation, such as

Roland's GS speciﬁcation and Yamaha's XG speciﬁcation. Both of these require you to specify a Bank change, in order to access the extra voices and

effects that these speciﬁcations provide.

Sending Program, Bank LSB and Bank MSB data is made simple using the Mk-425C/449C/461C. Simply press the PROGRAM, DATA LSB or DATA MSB

button and enter the program or bank change you wish to send.

RPN/NRPN's Explained

Non-registered parameter numbers (NRPN's) are device speciﬁc messages that enable the control of synths via MIDI. The MIDI speciﬁcation deﬁnes

parameter numbers to allow scope for manufacturers to specify their own controllers. The more common of these have been registered by the MIDI

Manufacturer's Association and are part of the MIDI speciﬁcation (hence the term Registered Parameter Numbers – RPN's). (See Appendix F.)

MIDI controllers 98 and 99 represent the NRPN LSB and MSB respectively, while 100 and 101 represent the RPN LSB and MSB. This can be seen from

the MIDI controllers list in Appendix D. To transmit an NRPN/RPN, these two controller messages are sent along with their user-speciﬁed values. A

further controller message and value needs to be sent to specify the (coarse or ﬁne) value adjustment. This is speciﬁed by controller number 6 (Data

entry) for coarse adjustments or number 38 for ﬁne adjustments.

A list of NRPN's will always be given in the User Manual of a device that receives NRPN messages. It is always necessary that the NRPN MSB and LSB

are sent together. Both will be speciﬁed in the device's manual. You may ﬁnd the manufacturer's have only speciﬁed the numbers in Hexadecimal format.

In this case, use Appendix C to translate the value to Decimal.

Your Evolution keyboard makes the process of transmitting NRPN's easy. All you need is to enter the appropriate NRPN LSB by pressing the LSB/DATA

button twice, enter the NRPN MSB by pressing the MSB/DATA button twice, and as you move the controller, an appropriate NRPN message will be sent

out. Assign NRPN coarse to make big sweeps, or NRPN ﬁne to make slight adjustments.

SysEx Explained

System Exclusive (SysEx) messages were deﬁned in the MIDI speciﬁcation to allow individual devices to have individual control via MIDI. The format

of SysEx messages allows for virtually any function to be performed via MIDI – so long as the receiving device is able to translate the message, and act

accordingly. This allows devices to send audio sample memory data, memory dumps, controller settings, and much more. It also allows the controllers

of one device to be controlled by another.

It is not possible to program your own speciﬁed SysEx message into the MK- 425C/449C/461C. However, there are some useful SysEx messages pre-

programmed into the keyboard, that can be accessed by assigning the appropriate MIDI CC to a controller (see Appendix B).

It should be noted that a SysEx message is not transmitted on any speciﬁed channel. All SysEx messages contain a device ID, that is used to single out

devices to respond to the SysEx message. All other devices are ignored. If you are using a SysEx message on the MK-425C/449C/461C, the global channel

is ignored. When you press CHANNEL, instead of entering a channel for the controller, you will be enter a device ID instead. This is indicated by the

fact that the Chan symbol will not be showing.

Device ID's run from 00 to 127. 127 is the default device number setting on the MK-425C/449C/461C. This setting transmits the SysEx message to all

devices.

Although it is not possible to program the controllers of the MK-425C/449C/461C with your own SysEx messages, there are software applications that

can receive a MIDI input signal and transmit a different, user speciﬁed message. You can program your SysEx messages into the translator software, then

translate the incoming data from the keyboard to your SysEx, depending on the controller you are using.

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