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Generalmusic 271221 Owner's Manual

Synthesizer workstation
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Read Before Using Keyboard!
Congratulations on your purchase of the new Equinox Synthesizer Workstation from
Generalmusic. This instrument is equipped with cutting edge Flash ROM memory, so that your
new keyboard can be permanently updated by disk with the latest operational advantages and
new features. It is important that you follow the procedure below before using your instrument
for the first time to ensure that the instrument functions properly. Check with your authorised
Generalmusic dealer for exciting new features to load in your Flash ROM in the future.
STEP 1
STEP 2
FINAL STEP
Note: There may be a Battery Warning message when you initially turn on the instrument.
This message will not appear after the instrument has been plugged in and turned ON for a
few hours. During this time, the internal battery that holds new information in memory
will recharge. For now, just press ENTER or ESCAPE to continue on if the message appears
when you power-up the instrument.
IMPORTANT
With the instrument turned OFF, insert the Generalmusic Equinox
Operating System Disk included in your materials packet into the disk
drive. After you have inserted the disk, turn the instrument ON.
You will see a message in the instrument display screen that says:
Loading OS-DISK clears ALL MEMORY!! <Enter to Load/Escape to
abort>
Press ENTER and wait about 3 minutes for the new Operating System
to load. When the new system has finished loading, you will see the
following message in the instrument display screen:
Loading Successful!! <Enter to continue>
At this time, Press ENTER again and the instrument will proceed
through the normal operating display screens. You can now Turn
OFF the instrument in preparation for the final step listed below.
IMPORTANT: REMOVE THE OPERATING SYSTEM DISK BE-
FORE PROCEEDING TO THE FINAL STEP!
As you turn the instrument ON, KEEP ROTATING THE DIAL until
the following message appears in your display screen:
!!WARNING!! Dial on Power-Up Requests Memory Clear!!
<Enter to clear/Escape to abort>
Press ENTER. You have now completed the
update process, and your Generalmusic Equinox
has been permanently upgraded.
271221

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  • Page 1 This message will not appear after the instrument has been plugged in and turned ON for a few hours. During this time, the internal battery that holds new information in memory will recharge. For now, just press ENTER or ESCAPE to continue on if the message appears when you power-up the instrument. 271221...
  • Page 3 Owner’s manual Cod. 271221 English...

  • Page 4: Important Safety Instructions

    The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol, within an equilateral triangle, is intended to alert the user to the CAUTION presence of uninsulated “dangerous voltage” within the product’s enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons. DO NOT OPEN The exclamation mark within an equilateral triangle is CAUTION: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC...

  • Page 5: Table Of Contents

    Contents Introduction The Owner’s Manual QUICK GUIDE Front Panel layout Rear Panel (Connections) Setting up and getting to know the instrument Connecting a set of headphones Connecting to an amplification system Turn on the power Adjust the volume Connect the pedals Using the wheels Using Aftertouch Playing with or without the effects...
  • Page 6 Effects Menu 1. 24 Effects functions 1. 25 Other Menu 1. 27 2 • PERFORMANCE MODE Parts List 2. 2 Parts Menu 2. 2 The Parts List functions 2. 4 Part selection 2. 6 Mixer Menu 2. 7 Effects Menu 2. 8 Other Menu 2.
  • Page 7 6 • ARPEGGIATOR Edit Menu 6. 2 7 • GROOVES Groove Library 7. 1 Groove Patches 7. 3 Creating a Groove Patch 7. 4 Storing your Groove Patch 7. 7 Transposing a Groove in real time 7. 8 Shuffle 7. 9 Editing single Grooves 7.
  • Page 8 Clear Menu 11. 41 Undo Menu 11. 42 Effect Menu 11. 43 Track Menu 11. 44 Mixer Menu 11. 44 12 • USER PANEL Creating a new Panel configuration 12. 2 Slider settings 12. 4 Button settings 12. 5 13 • NOTEPAD 14 •...
  • Page 9 Introduction Thank you for purchasing the new Equinox Synthesizer Work- station from Generalmusic. The Equinox, available in 61 key and 76 key versions, contains enormous technological potential to give professional musicians the essential tools for just about any situation - whether it’s for composition, live or studio work.

  • Page 10: Introduction

    The Owner’s Manual To ensure long, trouble-free operation, please read this manual carefully. The Owner’s Manual is supplied in a 3-ring binder which can easily be updated as new features are added. The Quick Guide introduces you to the functions of each button on the con- trol panel and shows how to move around the display.

  • Page 11: Quick Guide

    Quick Guide This Quick Guide explains briefly what each button and control does on the Front panel and explains more about the jacks and connectors of the Rear panel. Following this you’ll find information about setting the instrument up and some basic operating instructions. CAPS SPACE DELETE...

  • Page 12: Front Panel Layout

    Front Panel layout 1. Two programmable Wheels: The left wheel is spring load- ed and normally used for Pitch Bend. The right wheel is free- moving and normally used for Modulation. 2. Disk Drive: Handles 3.5” double density (2DD) or high den- sity (2HD) floppy disks.
  • Page 13 8. Octave –/+: Master and section octave transposer (range +/ – 5 octaves). 9. Solo: Isolates a single sound from the rest in multi-track situations. 10. FX OFF: when on (LED on), the effects processors are by- passed and the sounds are emitted dry. 11.
  • Page 14 18. Data Entry Dial, Navigational cursors and Enter/Escape buttons: A data entry Dial for the continuous selection of data. 4 directional buttons (cursors) which move the display’s negative highlight cursor in the direction of the arrow (up/ down/left/right). The Enter button is used in different situa- tions either to delve deeper into a function or to confirm a decision.

  • Page 15: Rear Panel (Connections)

    Rear Panel (Connections) 1. SCSI port (optional). Allows external storage media to be connected to the unit (CD-ROM, Jaz™, Zip™ etc.). 2. Pedals: Damper, 1, 2, Volume. Three programmable pedal jacks (Damper, 1, 2) for continuous control pedals and switch action pedals (with reversible polarity) and a Volume jack for a volume pedal.

  • Page 16: Setting Up And Getting To Know The Instrument

    Setting up and getting to know the instrument The Equinox does not have it ‘s own built in amplification so either headphones or an external amplifier/speaker system are required. For external amplification, a high quality stereo keyboard ampli- fier system is recommended. Connecting a set of headphones If you prefer to play with headphones for high quality personal monitoring, plug a standard stereo headphone set (8 ) into one...

  • Page 17: Turn On The Power

    Turn on the power The power switch is located on left side of the rear panel (when sitting in front of the keyboard). Turn the power on only after all the connections to other equip- ment (amplifiers, Midi devices, etc.) have been made. After a short scanning period, the display will appear showing the last used mode (Sound, Performance, Drawbar, etc.).

  • Page 18: Using The Wheels

    The pedal jacks 1, 2 and Damper are function assignable and can be independently enabled or disabled for each of the 16 parts in a Performance. All three pedals (1, 2, Damper) can be programmed to accept Switch action (on/off) or Continuous (graduated levels) control pedals (Volume type).

  • Page 19: Playing With Or Without The Effects

    Playing with or without the effects Whether you are playing single Sounds, Performances, Draw- bars, etc., you’ll find that in all cases one or more effects will be applied to the sounds you are playing. If you prefer to play with- out effects, you can instantly bypass the internal digital effects processors by pressing the FX OFF button.

  • Page 20: Using The Solo Button

    Section transposer (Octaves) If you are playing a single Sound (in Sounds mode), you can transpose in octave steps within the range +/– 5 octaves (60 semitones) by means of the Octave +/– buttons. If you are playing in Performance mode, the Octave +/– buttons affect the currently selected part (shown in negative highlight in the parts list).

  • Page 21: The Basics Of Equinox

    The basics of Equinox The more you work with the Equinox, the more you will appreci- ate the user-friendly and logical panel layout. The panel layout allows simple and direct access to all the func- tions and the backlit 128 x 64 pixel LCD graphic display tells you where you are at all times, using simple, concise terminology combined with easy to understand graphics.
  • Page 22 Selection, Navigation and Data Entry In Play modes, the Dial and the Cursor buttons operate as the principal selection tools. In other modes (Sequencer, Function, Edit, Store), these controls transform into navigating and data entry devices. Selection - the Dial and the Cursors In Play mode, the Dial is the principal selection device (Sounds, Performances, etc.).
  • Page 23 Navigating and entering data In all modes other than Play mode, the Cursors are the principal navigating tools and the Dial the data entry device. The display cursor is a negative highlight zone which is moved up or down with the cursor up/down buttons. In all displays that show a menu, two small up/down arrows representing the cursors tell you at a glance whether or not additional features are out of view.
  • Page 24 Text entry When entering names (Sound name, Performance name, Song name, etc.), the keys of the keyboard become a kind of typewrit- er where most of the keys are assigned to a particular letter, symbol or number. The alphanumeric configuration of the key- board is shown in the following illustration:: The white keys (A2 - B6) insert letters (A-Z) and various punctu- ation marks.

  • Page 25: User Guide

    User Guide The chapters of the User Guide explain all you need to know about the Equinox. The subjects discussed here are: 1. Sound mode, Quick Edit & Advanced Edit. 2. Performance mode. 3. Drum mode. 4. Sample mode. 5. Drawbar mode. 6.

  • Page 26: Sound Mode

    1 • SOUND MODE Note: All examples in this section require that the Equinox is in SOUND MODE. If you are uncertain how to return to the instrument to SOUND MODE, simply turn the unit on from scratch and press the SOUND button beneath the screen.

  • Page 27: Drum Kits And Drum Sounds

    SYNTH A, B, C, D These are the “core” sounds of the Equinox. Many of these sounds have been specially created by some of the most prom- inent programmers and musicians in the world. The sounds in these families will also give you some insight of the creative pos- sibilities of the Equinox as a synthesizer.

  • Page 28: Selecting Sounds

    Selecting Sounds Sounds can be selected in three different ways. 1. Scrolling with the dial Moving the dial in either direction will scroll sequentially through all the sounds in the instrument’s memory. When you reach the last sound of a particular family you automatically pass into the next family until you have reached the end of all sounds in the instrument’s memory.
  • Page 29 Example: How to directly select the sound SOLO VOX from the keypad. SOLO VOX is sound number 86 in family number 6 (GMX 1). Step 1. Press any numbered key on the numeric keypad. Step 2. Type the number 86. Step 3.

  • Page 30: Moving Between Families

    Moving Between Families Sometimes you might want to jump directly from one sound fam- ily to another when looking for a particular sound. Pressing ei- ther the Cursor Left button or the Cursor Right button will open the BANK SELECT window. The current family is highlighted and you can select any other family by moving up or down in the families list using the cursor controls.
  • Page 31 point, to either save the new sound you’ve made or to just quit editing and go back to using the instrument as before. This pro- cedure is explained in detail under STORING SOUNDS . There are two different ways to edit a sound. The first method is Quick Edit which lets you modify the sound quickly and easily using the eight sliders on the left side of the instrument.

  • Page 32: Quick Edit - (Using The Sliders)

    Quick Edit - (using the Sliders) The eight sliders on the left side of the instrument’s control panel allow you to instantly edit the most essential characteristics of any sound. LEVEL: The overall volume of the sound. The level increases as the slider is moved upwards.
  • Page 33 sound to decay, (in the case of our piano sound that would be the amount of time it took between when the sound is at maximum level and the point at which we no longer hear anything). Since this slider can be used to either increase or decrease the decay time of the original sound, the original decay time of the sound can be restored by setting the slider to its centre position.
  • Page 34 LFO DEPTH: This control is used to set the amount of “vibrato” or modulation applied to a sound. If the current sound includes some type of modulation or vibrato, you can use this slider to either increase, decrease or completely remove the effect, (by setting the slider to minimum).

  • Page 35: Storing Sounds

    Storing Sounds Whenever you edit a sound you will, at some point, decide that you either want to save your new sound or simply forget it and return to using the instrument as before. A modified Sound that has not been stored to memory shows a small mark at the top left hand corner before the name.

  • Page 36: Mirror Locations

    instrument starts out by suggesting a location which might make your sound easy to find in the future. We call this the “mirror location”. Mirror locations We know that the Equinox’s factory sounds are stored in 11 fam- ilies containing up to 128 sounds each. We also know that there are 16 User families available which are also capable of storing up to 128 sounds each.

  • Page 37: Advanced Edit - (Using The Menus)

    Advanced Edit - (using the Menus) If you’re serious about creating and editing sounds then it won’t be too long before you yearn for a little more flexibility than is offered by the sliders in Quick Edit mode. The advanced editing controls are always visible in the screen when you’re in SOUND mode.

  • Page 38: Wave Menu

    Wave Menu Layers The first thing you need to know, when you enter the WAVE menu to create or edit a sound, is that all Equinox sounds are created using either 1, 2 or 3 layers. After pressing the WAVE button, as soon as the WAVE menu is visible, look over at the first 3 buttons below the slider panel.

  • Page 39: Layer

    For advanced users wishing to know more about the various dual layer types here’s a quick guide; Dual 1: Separate Volume, Amp Envelope, Filter and Pitch Envelope for each waveform. Dual 2: As above but the two filters are in series and common to both waveforms.

  • Page 40: Waveform

    WAVEFORM Here you can select the waveform which this layer is going to use. The other controls in this menu allow you to adjust the tun- ing and the way in which the waveform is affected by velocity and aftertouch. VOLUME This menu allows you to control the overall volume level of this layer and also to set by how much the volume level will change...

  • Page 41: Filter

    In the KEY OFF envelope screen, the shape you draw will de- scribe the way the volume changes after the key is released. Under the CONTROLS sub-menu, you will find a number of func- tions which control the way the sound responds to the envelopes which you have drawn.

  • Page 42: Pitch Envelope

    In the KEY ON envelope screen, the shape you draw will de- scribe the way the Cut-off point will change while the key is held down. In the KEY OFF envelope screen, the shape you draw will de- scribe the way the Cut-off point changes after the key is released. NOTE: In order to hear the effect of these two envelopes, you must first set the ENV.

  • Page 43: L.f.o

    In the KEY OFF envelope screen, the shape you draw will de- scribe the way the pitch changes after the key is released. In the CONTROLS menu, you will also find some parameters which allow you to modify the speed and depth of these enve- lopes according to velocity and aftertouch.

  • Page 44: Pan

    AMPLITUDE or FILTER . Each of these three menus contain identical features. In each case you choose how much modulation to apply in general, ( OS- CILLATOR 1 ) and how much extra modulation to apply when aftertouch is applied, ( A/T OSCILLATOR1 ). The PAN menu offers two different methods of varying the pan position of this layer.
  • Page 45 In a similar fashion to PITCH ENVELOPE, FILTER ENVELOPE and AMP ENVELOPE, you can draw both a KEY ON; and a KEY OFF envelope for the pan position. As with the other envelope functions on the Equinox, you’ll need to set the ENV. AMOUNT , (in the CONTROLS menu), before these envelopes will have any effect.

  • Page 46: Control Menu

    Control Menu PITCH BENDER Here you can set the amount of pitch shift available from the pitch bend wheel. You can independently set the amount of pitch bend when the wheel is moved up and the amount of pitch bend when it is moved down.
  • Page 47 SPEED: The time taken for the pitch slide to occur. TIME/RATE: This control affects the way that the SPEED setting is interpreted. When this parameter is set to TIME, the SPEED value controls the actual amount of time it takes to slide from any note to any other note regardless of the “distance”...

  • Page 48: Effects Menu

    Effects Menu Three effects processors, (DSPs) are provided. They can be used individually or in any combination - series or parallel. REVERB This section contains a library of different reverbs presets. Choose a reverb preset from the library by selecting TYPE . Below the selected type, you will see all of the available param- eters for editing the current reverb.

  • Page 49: Effects Functions

    PROEFX This section is the most important and powerful of all three ef- fects sections. In addition to containing a variety of high quality stereo effects, (Flanger, Chorus, Overdrive etc.), it also contains a number of popular studio post processing functions, (3D, EQ, Loudness Maximizer, Audio Exciter etc.).
  • Page 50 cases, it will have a WET/DRY parameter, (for example, STER- EO WAH has this parameter). This is a value which can be set from 0 to 100 where value 0 represents 100% dry, (no effect), value 100 represents 100% wet and value 50 represents a 50/50 wet dry mix.

  • Page 51: Other Menu

    Other Menu MODE Here you can set the polyphonic or monophonic mode of this sound as follows; POLY Normal polyphonic mode; MONO L : Left note priority; MONO R : Right note priority; MONO T : Last note priority without retrigger; MONO L+R: Last note priority with retrigger.
  • Page 52 1•28 User Guide...

  • Page 53: Performance Mode

    2 • PERFORMANCE MODE A PERFORMANCE is a combination of up to 16 sounds either layered together or split across the keyboard in any configura- tion. Pressing the PERFORM button will put the Equinox in Performance play mode. In this way you can scroll through all performances which al- ready exist in memory.

  • Page 54: Parts List

    Parts List The Parts List can be viewed by pressing the PARTS button (F1). You can move from one part to another with the cursor up/down keys. The part shown selected (negative highlight) is the active zone of the display, therefore, sound selection is made either from the dial or numeric keypad as in Sound mode.
  • Page 55 TRANSPOSE: Here you can change the pitch of the sound in half tone steps, within a maximum range of 60 steps up or down. To shift the sound up or down by an octave you can use the OCTAVE +/- buttons on the front panel. DETUNE: This allows you to adjust the fine pitch of the sound in 64ths of a half step.

  • Page 56: The Parts List Functions

    DELAY TIME: Selecting a value here will cause the sound to be delayed for a brief period of time after a key is pressed. This allows you to create a number of special effects using real time delays. The delay time value is shown in “Ticks”. These ticks are subdivisions of the beat based on the current “Clock Speed”, (the tempo of the internal sequencer - this can be changed by pressing SONG EDIT and using the dial).
  • Page 57 As you select each part in the list, you can assign it’s position, either to the left or to the right of the split point, by pressing the INCREASE or DECREASE buttons of the keypad. For each part in the Parts List , you will see a small arrow icon indicating which side of the split the sound is assigned to.

  • Page 58: Part Selection

    Velocity Switch For example, to make a three part velocity switch, switch on parts 1, 2 and 3. Then assign the VELOCITY range as follows; PART 1: 0 to 40 PART 2: 40 - 80 PART 3: 80 - 127 NOTE: On any velocity sensitive This will give you one sound across the whole keyboard.

  • Page 59: Mixer Menu

    Mixer Menu The mixer controls the final output of the sounds in this perform- ance. Essentially it lets you select volume, pan position, and output jack selection for each part. As with the PARTS edit menu, you can stay in the MIXER screen while using the part select buttons to select which part you want to adjust.

  • Page 60: Effects Menu

    Effects Menu For instructions on using the effects, see the EFFECTS section of SOUND MODE. In Performance mode, the procedure for assigning effects to the parts is fairly simple. First you choose the effects mode and set up the actual effects you would like to use. Then, for each part, you assign the amount of SEND to each effect.

  • Page 61: Other Menu

    Other Menu A few extra features are available under this menu which allow you to activate or deactivate the various controllers on the in- strument. This includes the three pedals (whose actual functions can be selected under SYSTEM/CONTROL ), the pitch bend and mod- ulation wheels and the keyboard velocity and aftertouch con- trols.
  • Page 62 2•10 User Guide...

  • Page 63: Drum Mode

    3 • DRUM MODE There are two different ways to get to DRUM MODE. The first method is to simply press the DRUM button in the LIBRARIES section. The second method is, from within SOUND MODE , call up the BANK SELECT window, (with the cursor left or right button), and scroll down to one of the three drum banks.

  • Page 64: Editing A Drum Kit

    Editing a Drum Kit Select any DRUM KIT, (DK1 - 1 through DK1 - 128) and press the WAVE button, (F1). You should now see the DRUM PATCH EDITOR as shown here. In the top right corner of the display you will see the name of a key.

  • Page 65: Transpose / Tuning

    TRANSPOSE / TUNING Coarse and fine pitch adjustments which allow any note in audi- ble range to be triggered regardless of the current key’s location on the keyboard. FILTER A simple lowpass filter which allows you to make fine adjust- ments to the timbre of the sound assigned to the current key.

  • Page 66: Dynamic Switch

    DYNAMIC SWITCH Each key can actually have two sounds assigned to it. Only one of the sounds can be triggered at a time depending on the veloc- ity of the keystrike. If you look over to the first two buttons be- neath the slider panel, you see that there are two layers availa- ble for editing .

  • Page 67: Copy Button

    COPY BUTTON, (F1) Pressing the COPY button will copy all the parameter settings of the current layer to the other. This function is a utility for creating multi layered sounds. If you are editing a key, you might make extensive changes to LAYER1 before you’ve changed anything in LAYER2.

  • Page 68: Restore Button

    RESTORE BUTTON, (F4) Pressing this button will undo all editing and restore the current DRUM KIT to its original settings. CONTROL, EFFECT and OTHER The CONTROL, EFFECT and OTHER menus in DRUM MODE are identical to those in SOUND MODE. For this reason, details of their operation are not described here as these functions have already been covered in the SOUND MODE section of this man- ual.

  • Page 69: Sample Mode

    4 • SAMPLE MODE The Equinox can load new sound samples into memory which can then be edited and saved as new Equinox sounds. Before new samples can be loaded, you must be sure that sufficient memory has been installed to accommodate the samples you wish to load.

  • Page 70: Sample Mode -Playback/Edit

    SAMPLE MODE - PLAYBACK/EDIT If the Equinox already contains some samples then pressing the SAMPLE button will bring up the SAMPLE MODE - PLAY- BACK/EDIT screen. This screen allows you to select both the original samples which you’ve loaded plus any edited sounds you’ve subsequently cre- ated which incorporate your new sample waveforms.

  • Page 71: Sample Translator

    SAMPLE TRANSLATOR The Equinox is capable of loading many different samples types from a number of different companies’ formats. Because the list of compatible sample types is constantly being updated, check with your Generalmusic dealer or distributor to see which for- mats are compatible with the operating system version you are currently using.
  • Page 72 3. Select the device from the options list and press ENTER. 4. Use the cursor controls to locate and highlight the sample file you wish to load. 5. Press ENTER. To load a sample via MIDI using Sample Dump Standard: 1.

  • Page 73: Assigning Samples

    the same time. These 16 samples can be mapped to different regions of the keyboard and then saved as a single Equinox waveform when you’ve finished. If you want to load another sample at this time, move the cursor down to the second line of the SAMPLE LIST, press LOAD, (F1) and proceed as before.
  • Page 74 You will now see a small check mark at the extreme right of the sample name indicating that this sample has been assigned and is now ready to be saved. Now you can press STORE and select a destination and a name for your new sound.

  • Page 75: Other Assign Functions

    You must assign unique and specific regions of the keyboard to each sample in the list before you will be able to save your multi- sample. When you’ve finished assigning all samples in the list, press ESCAPE to return the main SAMPLE TRANSLATOR screen.

  • Page 76: Editing Samples

    EDITING SAMPLES Some simple tools have been provided which allow you to edit individual samples after they have been loaded. To edit a single sample, highlight it from the main SAMPLE TRANSLATOR list and press the EDIT button, (F4). The functions available are as follows; PITCH The pitch reference shown here is the name of a key on the keyboard.
  • Page 77 the keyboard, you will hear that the sample now finishes at an earlier point. At this stage you can also choose to “trim off” the surplus data which still remains after the newly set end point. To do this, press the CUT button, (F3).
  • Page 78 CUT BUTTON, (F3) See SAMPLE END for information about how to use this feature. EXPORT BUTTON, (F4) After editing, your sample can be saved back to a disk or sent to a MIDI sample dump source with it’s new values. To use this function, press EXPORT, choose the device you want to send the sample to and press ENTER.

  • Page 79: Drawbar Mode

    5 • DRAWBAR MODE Pressing the DRAWBARS button allows you to use the sliders ® like a set of Hammond Organ drawbars. In DRAWBAR mode, you work in a separate environment with special features and controls that are dedicated to coloring and controlling organ sounds.

  • Page 80: Function Buttons

    Function buttons The last 5 buttons of the slider and button panel, (beneath slid- ers 4-8), operate as switches for traditional organ effects in DRAW- BARS mode. KEY CLICK: A typical effect of early drawbar organs, Key Click is an important part of the classic rock or jazz organ sound. Switch- ing off Key Click will give you a sound more reminiscent of later drawbar organs.

  • Page 81: Setup Menu

    JAZZ: Similar in nature to the HARD setting but with a more per- cussive attack. ROCK: This version of the classic drawbar organ sound is a little thinner than the HARD setting and is perfect for “screaming Ham- mond” effects, (especially when used with the Overdrive effect). Setup Menu The SETUP menu allows you to change the attributes of each Drawbar.

  • Page 82: Effects Menu

    PERC 2 VOL: This is a general setting for the volume of the percussion effect assigned to button #6. CLICK VOL: This is a general setting for the volume of the Key Click effect assigned to button #4. Effects Menu In DRAWBARS mode there are three different effects available, REVERB, ROTARY and OVERDRIVE.

  • Page 83: Split Menu

    Split Menu In DRAWBARS mode, it is possible to split the keyboard and assign one additional sound to the left side of the keyboard split point. Press the SPLIT button to turn the split function on and set the split point. The remaining features in the split display allow you to select the sound for the left side of the split and also to adjust it’s relative volume, pitch and effect send levels.

  • Page 84: Storing Drawbar Settings

    Storing Drawbar settings Once you have made a drawbar setting that you like, everything can be memorized into a “Drawbar performance”. Simply press the STORE button and select one of the 16 Drawbar perform- ance locations (from 113-128) as a destination. You can enter a name for your Drawbar performance during the store procedure.
  • Page 85 The parts of Drawbar performance are configured in the follow- ing way; Parts 1 - 8 : Drawbar voices. Parts: 12 - 13 : Click and Percussions. This means that, in order to retain the original Drawbar sound, you should not change anything in these parts. You can use parts 9-11 and 14-16 exactly as you wish.
  • Page 86 5•8 User Guide...

  • Page 87: Arpeggiator

    6 • ARPEGGIATOR The Arpeggiator works in both SOUND and PERFORM modes. In PERFORM mode the Arpeggiator will control the part which is specified under the ARP setting, (in the OTHER menu of the PERFORM screen). 16 factory patterns have been provided to let you explore some of the different possibilities of the Arpeggiator.

  • Page 88: Edit Menu

    Edit Menu You can create and store your own arpeggio patterns. Press EDIT, (button F1), to see the menu; BEAT: Here you choose the speed and style of the arpeggio. The first options are simple subdivisions of the beat, 8th notes, 16th notes and so on.
  • Page 89 VELOCITY: Although it is effectively a volume control, the veloc- ity parameter actually controls “how hard the arpeggiator hits the keys”. Depending on the sound selected, reducing the velocity will reduce the volume of the arpeggio but it also reduces any other parameters which have been assigned to velocity in that sound, (e.g.
  • Page 90 HOLD: This setting allows you to choose what happens to this pattern when the HOLD button is pressed. There are two modes; Build: When HOLD is pressed, the current arpeggio will continue to play. If new notes are subsequently pressed they will be incorporated into the current arpeggio pattern.

  • Page 91: Grooves

    7 • GROOVES The Grooves section of the Equinox contains over 1000 MIDI grooves. These provide a valuable resource of inspiring drum, bass and keyboard “riffs” which can be used either for real time playing or can be incorporated into sequences and edited to your taste.
  • Page 92 BASS 2 BASS 3 KEYS 1 KEYS 2 KEYS 3 KEYS 4 KEYS 5 GUITAR COMBI 1 COMBI 2 COMBI 3 With so many grooves available, the LIBRARY function has been provided to give you a quick and easy way to audition all of the grooves.

  • Page 93: Groove Patches

    Groove Patches Once you find some grooves that you like, you can incorporate them into a “Groove Patch”. A Groove Patch is a set of grooves which can be recalled any time you need it. Within a Groove Patch, you can define which grooves you want to assign to which keys, how each groove will behave when triggered and also, if you wish, modify the voicing, effect sends, transposition of each groove independently.

  • Page 94: Creating A Groove Patch

    Creating a Groove Patch Creating you own groove patch is easy. To make a Groove Patch from scratch, press the CREATE button. The first step is choose a groove template. You can assign as many keys as you want to play grooves. Those keys which you do not assign to the grooves can be played normally in PER- FORM mode.
  • Page 95 For this example, go up and select the COMBI1 Group and press ENTER. If you try to play the keyboard you will see that only the lowest octave is assigned to triggering grooves while the rest of the key- board is assigned to whichever performance was last selected. Now you can explore the EDIT environment.
  • Page 96 Here are some of the main features of the edit menu; TRIGGER This controls how long the groove will continue playing after this key is released. There are three choices; MANUAL: The groove will start when you press the key and stop when you release it.

  • Page 97: Storing Your Groove Patch

    VELOCITY This allows you to select whether or not the volume of the groove is affected by the velocity of the keystrike. EXCLUDE GROUP This feature is designed to make it impossible for certain grooves to be played together. When two or more grooves are assigned the same exclude group number, it will no longer be possible to play them both at the same time.

  • Page 98: Transposing A Groove In Real Time

    Transposing a Groove in real time While a groove is playing, either from a GROOVE PATCH or from the SHUFFLE function, you may transpose its pitch from the original to any other key. In Groove Patch At any time while using a GROOVE PATCH, press the EDIT but- ton, (F1).

  • Page 99: Shuffle

    Shuffle In simplest terms, the SHUFFLE function is a automated “idea generator”. Drawing from the 16 factory groove families and the 8 user families, the SHUFFLE function can instantly create a multi track groove, (up to 8 tracks), by randomly selecting a drum groove, a bass line, a guitar riff and more, and letting you hear how they sound together.
  • Page 100 If you want to assign a specific groove to a particular track, first place the cursor over the track and then press GET . Now you can select the groove you want from any of the availa- ble groove families. After you confirm by pressing ENTER, your selected groove will be locked into that track.

  • Page 101: Editing Single Grooves

    Editing single Grooves Individual grooves can also be edited by pressing the EDIT but- ton, (F1), and selecting the name and location of the groove you want to edit in the bottom line of the display. When you press ENTER, the groove will begin to play and you will be presented with a menu of edit options.
  • Page 102 Creating new Grooves New grooves can be created by using the Equinox’s internal sequencer in conjunction with the EXPORT TO GROOVE func- tion. You can also load MIDI grooves or extract grooves from longer MIDI files using this feature. See the sequencer section of this manual for more information.

  • Page 103: Groove Lab

    “GROOVE LAB” Whenever you’re using grooves and viewing the GROOVES PROGRAM display as shown here, the control sliders and pitch wheel take on special functions which allow you to manipulate the groove in real time to create some unique ”DJ” like effects. These functions collectively are known as the “...
  • Page 104 SLIDER 4: RELEASE SLIDER 5: FILTER CUT-OFF SLIDER 6: FILTER RESONANCE SLIDER 7: MODULATION SLIDER 8: TEMPO SLIDERS 9 - 16, (lower row selected) When the lower row of sliders is selected, the entire section func- tions as a mixer for the 8 tracks of the groove. They are assigned as follows: SLIDER 9: VOLUME - DRUM 1 SLIDER 10: VOLUME - DRUM 2...

  • Page 105: Disk

    8 • DISK The DISK section of the Equinox allows you to work with a number of different types of storage devices. The first step of any disk operation should be to select the type of device you want to access. There are three choices available: FLOPPY: The Equinox can work with MS-DOS formatted disks, either HD, (1.44 Mbytes) or DD, (720 Kbytes).

  • Page 106: Understanding The Ramfile

    Understanding the RAMFILE The easiest way to learn about how data is saved and loaded on the Equinox is to try an example. Save Let’s try saving everything from the instrument’s memory onto a floppy disk. Take a blank, MS-DOS formatted floppy disk and insert it in the drive.
  • Page 107 If you haven’t stored anything into the instrument then the only folder you should see is SYSTEM. If you have already stored something, you will see a screen similar to the one shown here: This “directory tree” is where you specify exactly what you want to save.
  • Page 108 side of the display. Following any of the above SAVE operations, after pressing EN- TER, the right side of the display will show you what it finds on the disk. At the top, you will see the MS-DOS icon. This is what is known as the “root directory”...
  • Page 109 BLOCK S are primarily used as a convenient way of organizing data on large storage devices such as hard disks and hi capacity removable media. In theory, it would be possible to store millions of different Equinox sounds on a single hard disk. This, howev- er, would make it almost impossible to find a particular sound quickly when you needed it.

  • Page 110: Load

    Load Loading data into the Equinox is a fairly simple procedure. It uses the same “directory tree” structure that we’ve already seen in the SAVE example. When you first try to LOAD from any device, you will see the familiar “root directory” at the top, (usually called “MS-DOS”) and, if they exist, a list of the blocks that the disk contains.
  • Page 111 be loaded into the exact same location in the RAMFILE. Press ENTER while the cursor is on the name of the single element in the right side of the display. It will open a new window where you can specify a new location in the RAMFILE for it to be loaded into.

  • Page 112: Utilities

    Utilities The contents of the UTILS menu will be different depending on whether the current device is FLOPPY, INT. HD or SCSI. Here are the main options: FORMAT 1.62 This can be used to format HD floppy disks to the Equinox’s own high capacity standard.
  • Page 113 SLEEP TIME Since even the most efficient internal hard disks can create un- wanted audio noise, this feature allows you specify the amount of time, following it’s use, after which the hard disk motor will shut down. REPAIR TOOL From time to time, small errors can creep into hard disks and other media making them unstable and troublesome.
  • Page 114 8•10 User Guide...

  • Page 115: System

    9 • SYSTEM The SYSTEM button contains a number of important features which affects the overall performance of the instrument. In most cases, the settings found under the SYSTEM button are “glo- bal”. This means that, unlike many other features, once set, they will remain the same regardless of which performance you se- lect.

  • Page 116: Controls

    CONTROLS The CONTROLS button is where you set up any pedals which have been connected to the unit. The Equinox can accommodate a maximum of three pedals and each of the three pedal jacks on the rear panel can be set to accommodate any type of pedal.
  • Page 117 set up the pedal functions while in the process of creating a PER- FORMANCE, these pedal functions will be memorized along with the rest of the PERFORMANCE when you press STORE. If you want your pedal settings to remain in effect even when the PERFORMANCE is changed, press the LOCK button, (F1).

  • Page 118: Tune

    TUNE Here you can control the tuning and intonation of the instrument. PITCH This function allows you to adjust the Equinox’s master pitch so that it can be made to match the pitch of other instruments which are not perfectly in tune. TUNING PRESETS At the top of the TUNE menu, you can select from a number of different tuning presets (Scales).
  • Page 119 When the cursor is on the correct note. Use the dial to adjust it’s tuning offset. You can instantly hear the results by playing any- where on the keyboard. When you are satisfied with your new tuning preset, press EN- TER and you will see a prompt to select where you want to store it.

  • Page 120: Master

    MASTER The time and date for the internal system clock can be set here. The internal clock has two functions. It’s first function is as a regular clock which you will see every time you press the SYS- TEM button. This can be useful for reference in live situations or for timing performances.
  • Page 121 NOTE: As an alternative to using RESET ALL, you can also try the MEMORY CLEAR procedure if you are having problems and need to clear everything from memory. Although it takes a little longer to perform than RESET ALL, MEMORY CLEAR is a more thorough procedure and will ensure that the instrument starts up from cold with the memory completely empty.

  • Page 122: Other

    OTHER KEY VEL. KEYA/T The main features of the OTHER screen are these master set- tings for keyboard velocity and aftertouch. These settings are “global” and will affect the overall velocity and aftertouch response of every sound and performance. INFO This button will give you information about which options have been installed in this instrument.
  • Page 123 BATT&R, (Battery level and release number) This button opens a window which contains two important piec- es of information. At the top of the screen, you will see the release date of the operating system version which your Equinox is currently using. This information is important to know, especially when seeking technical support in case of problems.
  • Page 124 9•10 User Guide...

  • Page 125: Midi

    10 • MIDI The Equinox contains two identical, 16 part multi-timbral, syn- thesizer engines. One is used by the synthesizer section, (for sounds and performances), while the other is used by the se- quencer, (for songs and grooves). The MIDI menu allows you to select independent MIDI configurations for each engine.
  • Page 126 SYNTH MENU This menu allows you to set the midi configuration for each of the 16 available parts of the Equinox’s synth engine. Each part can have separate assignments for MIDI IN and MIDI OUT. After pressing the SYNTH button, (F1) from the MIDI menu, choose IN , (F2) or OUT , (F3) and select the part who’s parame- ters you want to edit by using the part select buttons.

  • Page 127: Seq Menu

    SEQ MENU This menu allows you to set the midi configuration for each of the 16 available tracks of the Equinox’s sequencer engine. Each track can have separate assignments for MIDI IN and MIDI OUT. After pressing the SEQ button, (F2) from the MIDI menu, choose IN , (F2) or OUT , (F3) and select the part who’s parame- ters you want to edit by using the part select buttons.

  • Page 128: Master Menu

    MASTER MENU These settings affect the overall MIDI configuration of the instru- ment: COMMON CHANNEL This channel, independent from the settings defined under the SYNTH menu, allows a remote controller keyboard to emulate the internal keyboard of the Equinox. For example, if you selected a multi-part performance on the Equinox and then tried to play this performance from an exter- nal controller keyboard connected to either of the Equinox’s MIDI IN ports, you would normally only be able to play one of the con-...
  • Page 129 CLOCK SOURCE This allows you to select whether the sequencer, groove and arpeggio sections will synchronize to the internal clock or to an external clock. CLOCK SEND Selects whether or not the Equinox’s internal MIDI CLOCK in- formation will be sent via MIDI OUT. MIDI MERGE Allows the data received at both MIDI IN 1 and MIDI IN 2 to be passed to MIDI OUT 1 and MIDI OUT 2 after having been proc-...
  • Page 130 LOCAL OFF BUTTON, (F1) When the LOCAL OFF function is selected (shown in negative highlight), the built in keyboard of the Equinox will be discon- nected from the internal sounds. G.M BUTTON, (F2) The G.M function allows optimum compatibility with the General MIDI standard.

  • Page 131: Dump Menu

    DUMP MENU The DUMP menu allows you to transfer the contents of the Equi- nox’s internal memory to external storage devices, (such as Home P.Cs or MIDI Data Filers), via MIDI. Dump list To send a MIDI dump: Step 1 : Select which part of memory you want to dump from the Setup available list.
  • Page 132 10•8 User Guide...

  • Page 133: Sequencer

    11 • SEQUENCER The on-board sequencer of the Equinox offers 16 tracks with 250,000 events of memory available. Unlike other synth work- stations, the sequencer in the Equinox has it’s own independent sound generation. This means that, while the sequencer is play- ing up to 16 tracks, you can still play a 16 part performance using 16 different sounds over the top of it.

  • Page 134: Recording A Sequence - The Basics

    Recording a sequence - the basics Let’s try a “hands-on” example of recording a sequence. The initial stages of setting up the instrument for recording a se- quence have been simplified for you by the inclusion of 32 “Se- quencer Performances”. These are special templates which will automatically set up each of the 16 tracks with an appropriate sound for creating a song in a particular musical style.
  • Page 135 The screen will invert to a white-on-black display and we are now in RECORD MODE. You will notice that the TRACK #1 button is flashing and a sound is displayed in the screen which is also playable from the keyboard. You’re ready to record track #1. Flashing Press PLAY but don’t play anything for a moment.

  • Page 136: Changing Sounds And Volume Levels

    so that the track is ready to be recorded. Press PLAY and record something into this track. When you fin- ish, press STOP twice as before. When you’re satisfied with what you’ve recorded into this track, press the TRACK #2 button one more time to switch from record to playback as we did with the first track.

  • Page 137: Navigating Around Your Song

    While the song is playing back, you can also use the sliders above the track buttons to adjust the volume levels of those tracks. If you want to memorize your new volume levels into the song, press STORE followed by ENTER as before. Navigating around your song Using the PLAY, STOP, FORWARD and REWIND , (>>...

  • Page 138: Recording Another Song

    MODE, (for which the screen returns to a normal black-on-white display). Now you can listen to your song and move around within it using the PLAY, STOP, FORWARD and REWIND buttons. If you want to re-enter RECORD MODE, just press the RECORD button again.

  • Page 139: Record Mode Functions

    Record Mode functions MODE Under the MODE button, (F1), you will find three different op- tions which affect the way in which the instrument records. The three modes available are: REPLACE: When a track is in record mode, (flashing), each time you press START it will erase everything that was previously recorded from the start point on- wards.
  • Page 140 to occur, hold down the punch pedal and play the part correctly. When you finish correcting the track, make sure you release the punch pedal so as not to accidentally erase any of the good stuff. OPTIONS The OPTIONS button in RECORD mode offers a number of dif- ferent functions;...
  • Page 141 TEMPO REC. Setting this feature to ON allows the current song to record tem- po changes which are made while the song is playing. P. VOLUME REC. Setting this feature to ON allows the current song to record the movements of the volume pedal while the song is playing. EFFECTS REC Setting this feature to ON allows the current song to record any effects changes which are made while the song is playing.

  • Page 142: Playback/Edit Mode Functions

    Playback/Edit Mode functions SONG PLAYBACK/EDIT MODE offers a number of different play- back options and also contains the buttons used to access the four main edit menus of the sequencer. The SONG PLAYBACK/EDIT MODE main screen will be seen when you exit from recording by turning off the RECORD button. In the main screen you can use the cursor controls to move be- tween the various functions available.

  • Page 143: The "Undo" Button

    The “UNDO” button All recording and editing on the Equinox is monitored by the UNDO function. Any time you record something into a track or perform any kind of edit, the UNDO function keeps a record of the way things were before that last recording or that last edit.

  • Page 144: Edit Menu

    Edit Menu The EDIT button, (F1) displays the main song editing menu: REPEAT TRACK This menu allows you to repeat all or part of any track as many times as you wish. To use it, first select the track you want to repeat by pressing it’s track select button.
  • Page 145 QUANTIZE TRACK This menu allows you to quantize all or part of any track. Quan- tize is used to correct minor timing inaccuracies by adjusting the positions of notes that have been played so that they fall into a specific timing pattern. To use it, first select the track you want to quantize by pressing it’s track select button.
  • Page 146 COPY TRACK This menu allows you to copy all or part of any track to another track. You can also use it to copy portions of the entire song, (all 16 tracks) to a different part of the same song or even to a differ- ent song.
  • Page 147 Copying a portion of the entire song: Press the TRACK but- ton, (F4) and select “All 16 Tracks”. Now use the RANGE button, (F1) to specify which portion of the song you want to copy, (from measure X to measure Y). The “To Bar”...
  • Page 148 ERASE EVENTS This principle use of this feature is to erase sections of a track or sections of an entire song. It’s second application allows you to strip out specific unwanted events from individual tracks. First select the track you want to erase from by pressing it’s track select button.
  • Page 149 SHIFT EVENTS This feature allows you move recorded events either forwards or backwards in time. To use it, first select the track you want to shift by pressing it’s track select button. You should see the name of the selected track in the top right side of the display.
  • Page 150 the value of the other. For this reason, you only need to adjust one of them - whichever seems more convenient for your pur- pose. Press ENTER to complete the operation. NOTE: If you find that you cannot shift a track backwards, it’s probably because the RANGE is set to start from 1 1 1 and a track cannot be moved to an earlier point than this.
  • Page 151 NOTE VALUES This menu allows you to change both the velocity and the pitch of any notes in the selected track. First select the track you want to change by pressing it’s track select button. You should see the name of the selected track in the top right side of the display.
  • Page 152 also transpose down by setting negative values. Press ENTER to complete the operation. 11•20 User Guide...
  • Page 153 INSERT BARS This feature allows you to increase the length of the current song by inserting a number of extra measures at a particular point. These new measures can even have a different time signature from the rest of the song. DELETE BARS This feature allows you to delete a number of measures from any point in the song.
  • Page 154 EXPORT TO GROOVE This function is used to extract a section of the current song and make it into a groove. In order to use this feature effectively, it’s important to understand something about the structure of grooves. Groove Format A groove can contain up to 8 tracks.

  • Page 155: Creating A Groove From A Song

    Creating a groove from a song While the song is selected, choose EXPORT TO GROOVE . At the top of the export menu, you select which groove, in which of the eight user families you are going to create. Each family can hold 64 grooves.

  • Page 156: Events

    EVENTS This menu allows you to precisely modify any “event” which has been recorded into one of the 16 tracks. What is an “event” ? If you are already familiar with the concept of MIDI “events”, (as used in many software sequencers), then you can skip to the next section - Using The Event List.
  • Page 157 LOCATOR The LOCATOR tells us exactly when the event occurred. This is represented by three numbers separated by spaces. The first number, in this case 1, tells us which bar the event occurred in. The next number, also 1, tells us at which beat of that bar it hap- pened.
  • Page 158 note that, for a different type of event, (like a CONTROL or PITCH BEND event), the three values will have quite different mean- ings. In the case of a note event, the first value will always be the Note Value - the actual name of the key that was pressed. In this case it was F3, (F below middle C).
  • Page 159 es” that we discussed earlier. Therefore if a note had a GATE TIME of 192, it was held for exactly one beat. The Equinox’s EVENT LIST allows you to view and instantly modify any of these events. In this way, even the smallest of errors can be quickly and accurately corrected.
  • Page 160 minimum position, (0), to its maximum position, (127) will gener- ate 128 individual volume control events like the one we just stud- ied. PITCH BEND The PITCH BEND event is easily recognized by its name in the event’s STATUS line. Unlike the CONTROL CHANGE event, we do not need to be concerned with the value of 1V when using the pitch bend wheel for the Equinox’s internal sounds.
  • Page 161 apply extra pressure to a key already being held down. Only 1V is used to show how much aftertouch was applied at the speci- fied time. The range is from 0 to 127. NOTE: Since many of the Equinox’s internal sounds are pro- grammed with this feature on, you may often generate a large quantity of MONO TOUCH EVENTS without realizing that you’re doing so.

  • Page 162: Using The Event List

    Using the Event list To use the event list, select EVENTS from the EDIT list and press ENTER . Now select the track whose events you want to edit by pressing its track select button. You should see the name of the selected track in the top left side of the display.
  • Page 163 METHOD 2: Catch Locator. Quite often, you will be listening to the playback of the track when you suddenly notice an error which needs to be fixed. When this happens, simply press the STOP button once so that it flashes. The sequencer is now paused at the point where you pressed STOP.

  • Page 164: Editing Events In The List

    METHOD 3: Go To Bar. You can use this function to display the events for a specific section of the current song. 1. Once in the event list view, press the LOC button, (F2), select GO TO BAR and press ENTER. 2.
  • Page 165 SHOW BUTTON, (F1) Often, when trying to pinpoint specific errors, you will find your- self having to scroll through streams of events which are of no interest to you. For example, maybe you’re trying to find a wrong note which was played while the pitch bend wheel was being moved up and down.
  • Page 166 After you’ve made your choice, press ENTER and your new event will appear in the current screen position. The location of the inserted event, (Bar, Beat, Pulse), in this case a Program change event, will be identical to that of the event which was selected prior to pressing the INSERT button.
  • Page 167 MASTER EVENTS The Equinox’s sequencer provides a second event list called the MASTER EVENT LIST which allows you to view the contents of the instrument’s MASTER TRACK . This track has already been discussed briefly in the ERASE EVENTS and COPY TRACK sec- tions.
  • Page 168 ROTARY: Sets the fast or slow speed of the rotary effect, (for DRAWBARS mode). SCALE: Switches to the specified alternate tuning, (from those available under SYSTEM / TUNE). Under RECORD / OPTIONS , we’ve already seen the settings for TEMPO RECORD , VOLUME PEDAL RECORD and EFFECT RECORD.
  • Page 169 METHOD 2: Catch Locator. To show the exact point in the MAS- TER EVENTS list at the current point of playback, press the STOP button once so that it flashes. The sequencer is now paused at the point where you pressed STOP. It is now possible to view the MASTER EVENTS list for the exact point where you paused the playback by using the CATCH LOCATOR function.
  • Page 170 METHOD 3: Go To Bar. You can use this function to display the MASTER EVENTS for a specific section of the current song. 1. Once in the MASTER EVENTS view, press the LOC but- ton, (F2), select GO TO BAR and press ENTER. 2.
  • Page 171 SHOW BUTTON, (F1) Often, when trying to pinpoint specific errors, you will find your- self having to scroll through streams of events which are of no interest to you. For example, maybe you’re trying to find an ef- fect selection which was made during a tempo change. In this case, you would have to scroll through hundreds of tempo events to look for a single effect type event.
  • Page 172 After you’ve made your choice, press ENTER and your new event will appear in the current screen position. The location of the inserted event, (Bar, Beat, Pulse), in this case the Tempo event, will be identical to that of the event which was selected prior to pressing the INSERT button.

  • Page 173: Master Menu

    MASTER MENU, (F1) Under this button you will find options to change the name of the current song, (press ENTER while the cursor is over the name), and also to adjust the master tempo and master volume level. OPTION MENU, (F2) Here you will find some options which we’ve already seen in RECORD MODE / OPTION.

  • Page 174: Undo Menu

    UNDO MENU, (F4) This menu allows you to set the function of the UNDO button, (just above the dial). When the UNDO button is enabled, it ab- sorbs half of the available sequencer memory. For this reason, the option to disable it is provided, allowing you to use all of the available memory.

  • Page 175: Effect Menu

    EFFECT MENU Most of the functions in the EFFECT menu should be familiar by now because we’ve already seen them in both SOUND and PER- FORMANCE mode. The only unique feature offered by the sequencer’s EFFECT menu is found under the MODE button, (F3). Although the Equinox has two separate sound engines for the sequencer and synthesizer respectively, there is only one set of effects which is common to both.

  • Page 176: Track Menu

    and one ProEFX but this time, their settings will be governed by the EFFECT menu of the PERFORMANCE . When you recall a different performance, the effects will change and the sequencer will share them with the performance. TRACK MENU This menu is used to configure tracks of the sequencer engine in same way that we configure the various parts of a performance.

  • Page 177: User Panel

    12 • USER PANEL The USER button is where you can completely reconfigure the 8 sliders and 8 buttons to perform the functions you specify in- stead of their normal functions. You can store up to 16 different configurations for the slider and button panel which can then be easily recalled with the dial whenever the USER PANEL screen is displayed.

  • Page 178: Creating A New Panel Configuration

    Creating a new Panel configuration To create a new configuration, first press the USER button and then press EDIT, (F1). Now can choose which control you’re going to program by sim- ply touching any one of the sliders or buttons. As soon as you operate one of these controllers, you will see it’s name appear in the top right corner of the screen and you’re ready to begin edit- ing it.
  • Page 179 PART # BUTTON, (F1) Each slider and button can be set to control any number of parts, tracks or channels at the same time. Here is where you define which parts, tracks, or MIDI channels the selected control is go- ing to affect.

  • Page 180: Slider Settings

    SLIDER SETTINGS FUNCTION Here you can choose which function you want this slider to have. The choice of available functions will be different depending on whether you set internal or external mode. CURRENT VAL This setting allows you to see the value represented by the posi- tion of the selected slider at the moment.

  • Page 181: Button Settings

    BUTTON SETTINGS FUNCTION Here you can choose which function you want this button to have. The choice of available functions will be different depending on whether you set internal or external mode. DATA 1 and DATA 2 Up to two values can be assigned to the button. These values will have a different effect depending on the selected FUNCTION.
  • Page 182 TYPE Type 0 sets the button to operate as a “momentary” switch, (only ON when it is being held down). Type 1 sets the button to oper- ate as a “latching” switch, (press once for ON then again for OFF). SAVING YOUR CONFIGURATION Once you’re satisfied with your USER configuration it can be saved into one of the 16 USER PANEL memories.

  • Page 183: Notepad

    13 • NOTEPAD The Notepad function is a simple but useful utility which allows you to load a standard MS-DOS text file, (.TXT format) into the instrument which can then be read from the display whenever you need it. The NOTEPAD feature can be useful for storing set lists, per- formance notes, pick up lines etc.
  • Page 184 In the top right corner of the display, you can see the current line number which can be used a reference if you need to find a spe- cific section in the future. Pressing TOP will automatically return to the beginning of the file.

  • Page 185: Credits

    14 • Credits A product like the Equinox does not evolve without a great deal of effort. Many thousands of hours of work and dedication, from some of the most creative minds in the music industry, have gone into creating the instrument you see before you today. For all their hard work and dedication we would like to use this space to give credit to everyone involved in the development of the Equinox;...
  • Page 186 14•2 User Guide...

  • Page 187: Appendix

    Appendix • Sound tables • Groove tables • Performance table • Drawbars table • Arpeggio table • Effects table • ProFx Block diagrams • MIDI Implementation • Index (alphabetical)

  • Page 188: Rom-Sounds

    ROM-Sounds Eqx num. Name Sound group Eqx num. Name Sound group 001-01 Equinox(3) Synth lead 055-01 Stationer(4) Synth effects 002-01 SinginSolo(3) Synth lead 056-01 DigiVox(3) Synth pad 003-01 Technoid(2) Synth lead 057-01 Gargantuan(5) Synth effects 004-01 Outburst(2) Synth lead 058-01 Timespin(6) Synth effects 005-01...
  • Page 189 ROM-Sounds Eqx num. Name Sound group Eqx num. Name Sound group 109-01 WarmGlow(5) Ensemble 035-02 Saw_Me(3) Synth lead 110-01 ArtOfVoice(3) Ensemble 036-02 MkSynth(1) Synth lead 111-01 Tooter(4) Pipe 037-02 Buzz(1) Synth lead 112-01 ColorBrass(2) Brass 038-02 OlFaithful(3) Synth lead 113-01 DynSection(2) Brass 039-02...
  • Page 190 ROM-Sounds Eqx num. Name Sound group Eqx num. Name Sound group 099-02 Vang.Bass2(1) Synth bass (short) 048-03 PrettyPad2(3) Synth pad 100-02 An A.Logic(1) Synth lead 049-03 MarimVox(1) Synth pad 101-02 Spiral(1) Synth lead (short) 050-03 StarTheme3(2) Synth effects pd 102-02 Phat Pulse(2) Synth lead (short) 051-03...
  • Page 191 ROM-Sounds Eqx num. Name Sound group Eqx num. Name Sound group 009-04 Tibet(2) Synth pad fx 070-04 JMContact(4) Synth effects 010-04 OcBreath(2) Synth pad fx 071-04 JMMvieEFX1(3) Synth effects 011-04 PercoPad(3) Synth pad fx 072-04 JMTech1(3) Synth effects 012-04 NativeCall(4) Synth effects 073-04 JMElKoto(3)
  • Page 192 ROM-Sounds Eqx num. Name Sound group Eqx num. Name Sound group 045-05 ContraSynB(2) Bass 099-05 Trumpet2(1) Brass 046-05 SynSlapBs(1) Bass 100-05 NoiseTrp(3) Brass 047-05 SynthBass(2) Bass 101-05 TrombnSlop(2) Brass 048-05 WowBass(1) Bass 102-05 ClassicBrs(1) Brass 049-05 SerialBass(2) Bass 103-05 BrassTrp(2) Brass 050-05 ToneBass(1)
  • Page 193 ROM-Sounds Eqx num. Name Sound group Eqx num. Name Sound group 025-06 NylonGtr(1) Guitar 079-06 Whistle(1) Pipe 026-06 SteelGtr(1) Guitar 080-06 Ocarina(2) Pipe 027-06 JazzGtr1(1) Guitar 081-06 SquareWave(2) Synth lead 028-06 CleanGtr(1) Guitar 082-06 SawWave(2) Synth lead 029-06 MutedGtr(1) Guitar 083-06 SynCalliop(2) Synth lead...
  • Page 194 ROM-Sounds Eqx num. Name Sound group Eqx num. Name Sound group 005-07 ThinRhodx(2) Piano 059-07 ShortTuba(1) Brass 006-07 E.Piano3(2) Piano 060-07 MutedTrp2(1) Brass 007-07 Harpsich2(2) Piano 061-07 Dyn.FrHorn(3) Brass 008-07 SynClav(1) Piano 062-07 Brass2(2) Brass 009-07 CelestaPlk(2) Chrom.percuss. 063-07 SynBras2(2) Brass 010-07 GlockVibes(2)
  • Page 195 ROM-Sounds Eqx num. Name Sound group Eqx num. Name Sound group 113-07 DK_STAND.1 Percussive 039-08 TecknoBass(2) Bass 114-07 DK_ROOM Percussive 040-08 RaveBass(2) Bass 115-07 DK_POWER Percussive 041-08 ViolinOrch(2) Strings 116-07 DK_ELECT. Percussive 042-08 ViolaPad(2) Strings 117-07 DK_HOUSE Percussive 043-08 CelloEns(2) Strings 118-07 DK_JAZZ1...
  • Page 196 ROM-Sounds Eqx num. Name Sound group Eqx num. Name Sound group 093-08 Prophet2(2) Synth pad 031-14 JAZZ_KIT Percussive 094-08 Analogic(2) Synth pad 032-14 BRUSH_KIT Percussive 095-08 Atmosphere(2) Synth pad 036-14 ELECT_KIT Percussive 096-08 Decay3(2) Synth pad 037-14 HOUSE_KIT Percussive 097-08 BigRoom(2) Synth effects 038-14...
  • Page 197 ROM-Sounds Eqx num. Name Sound group Eqx num. Name Sound group 030-15 BDHOUSE2(1) Synth effects 088-15 ROLL_F(1) Synth effects 031-15 BDJAZZ(1) Synth effects 089-15 ROLL_F_LN(2) Synth effects 032-15 BDORCH(1) Synth effects 090-15 ROLLSNARE(1) Synth effects 033-15 BDPOWER(1) Synth effects 091-15 SD_909(1) Percussive 034-15...
  • Page 198 ROM-Sounds Eqx num. Name Sound group Eqx num. Name Sound group 072-16 QUICAHIGH(1) Ethnic 018-16 HHFT_70(1) Ethnic 073-16 QUICALOW(1) Ethnic 019-16 HHOP_70(1) Ethnic 074-16 SHAKER(1) Ethnic 020-16 HHOPEN1(1) Ethnic 075-16 SQCLICK(1) Percussive 021-16 HHOPEN2(1) Ethnic 076-16 STICK(1) Synth effects 022-16 HHPEDAL(1) Ethnic 077-16...

  • Page 199: Grooves List

    EQUINOX GROOVE LIST : Single Grooves # 1 ROM 1 ROM 2 ROM 3 ROM 4 ROM 5 ROM 6 ROM 7 DrSwing1 DrRap1 DrumPatt1 Conga1 HipHopBs1 BassRiff1 SlapBass1 DrSwing2 DrRap2 DrumPatt2 Conga2 HipHopBs2 BassRiff2 SlapBass2 DrSwing3 DrRap3 DrumPatt3 Conga3 HipHopBs3 BassRiff3 SlapBass3...
  • Page 200 EQUINOX GROOVE LIST : Single Grooves # 2 ROM 8 ROM 9 ROM 10 ROM 11 ROM 12 ROM 13 FunkEP1 FunkClav20 KeyRiff1 Rhodes1 Sequence1 GtrPik1 FunkEP2 FunkClav21 KeyRiff2 Rhodes2 Sequence2 GtrPik2 FunkEP3 FunkClav22 KeyRiff3 Rhodes3 Sequence3 GtrPik3 FunkEP4 FunkClav23 KeyRiff4 Rhodes4 Sequence4...
  • Page 201 EQUINOX GROOVE LIST : Composite Grooves ROM 14 ROM 15 ROM 16 Amb.01 Funk1 Arithm1 Amb.02 Funk2 Arithm2 Amb.03 Funk3 Arithm3 Amb.04 Funk4 Arithm4 Amb.05 NewFunk1 Arithm5 Amb.06 NewFunk2 Arithm6 Amb.07 NewFunk3 Hybrid1 Amb.08 NewFunk4 Hybrid2 Amb.09 NewFunk5 Hybrid3 Amb.10 NewFunk6 Hybrid4 Amb.11...

  • Page 202: Performances List

    Performances list Drawbars list Arpeggio list The Dream JazzQintet B3Rotary Up-Down 1 WaitForMe BrittlePad B3ScanVib Up_Down 2 Speilberg OnTheRun Brian’s B3 Up_Down 3 DeathSlide Labyrinth C3Wheels Up_Down 4 DoTheStrat Hollywood Full 1 Down_Up 1 ThePianist HeavnStack Jazz 1 Down_Up 2 Saxuality Droplets Rock 1...

  • Page 203: Effects List - 3 Effect Configuration

    Effects list - 3 Effect Configuration Effects list - 2 + 2 Effect Configuration Reverb list ProEFX list Reverb list MultiFX list Hall 1 Stereo Wah Hall 1 Mono Delay1 Hall 2 Guitar FX Hall 2 Mono Delay2 Hall 3 Overdrive/Delay Hall 3 StereoDelay1...

  • Page 204: Profx Block Diagrams

    PROFX Block diagrams STEREO WHA Wet / Dry Left Right Wet / Dry GUITAR FX Left Wet / Dry Distortion Gate Drive 4 band EQ DELAY Right OVERDRIVE/DELAY Left Wet / Dry OVERDRIVE GATE Drive DELAY Right COMPRESSOR Pre Gain Post Gain Left COMPRESSOR...
  • Page 205 10 BAND EQ Left 10 BAND EQ Right STEREO GRAPHIC EQ Left 5 BAND EQ Right 5 BAND EQ LOUDNESS Mid Gain Left Low + High Compressor Pre Gain Post Gain Mid Gain Right Low + High Compressor Pre Gain Post Gain STEREO PARAMETRIC Left...
  • Page 206 PROFX Block diagrams EQ 3D Left STEREO 5 Band EQ ENHANCER Right AUDIO EXCITER Left Wet / Dry Pre Gain EXCITER STEREO ENHANCER Pre Gain EXCITER Wet / Dry Right 2XPITCH SHIFT / 4XPITCH SHIFT Left Wet/Dry PITCH SHIFTER Right Wet/Dry HEX CHORUS Left...
  • Page 207 STEREO CHORUS Wet / Dry Left CHORUS DELAY CHORUS DELAY Right Wet / Dry STEREO CHORUS DELAY Wet / Dry Left DELAY CHORUS CHORUS DELAY Right Wet / Dry STEREO PHASER Wet / Dry Left Feedback High Damp PHASER PHASER High Damp Feedback Right...
  • Page 208 PROFX Block diagrams STEREO FLANGER Wet / Dry Left Feedback High Damp FLANGER FLANGER High Damp Feedback Right Wet / Dry STEREO FLANGER / DELAY Wet / Dry Left DELAY FLANGER FLANGER DELAY Right Wet / Dry STEREO TREMOLO Wet / Dry Left TREMOLO DELAY...
  • Page 209 3 TAP DELAY Left Wet / Dry L Depth L Delay C Depth C Delay Feedback High Damp Low Damp R Depth R Delay Right Wet / Dry MULTI TAP DELAY Left Wet / Dry Tap 6 Delay Tap 5 Delay Tap 4 Delay Tap 3 Delay Tap 2 Delay...
  • Page 210 PROFX Block diagrams STEREO DELAY Wet / Dry Left High Damp Low Damp Depth Left DELAY Feedback Normal/Cross Feedback DELAY Depth Left High Damp Low Damp Right Wet / Dry CHORUS / TREMOLO Left Wet/Dry HEX CHORUS TREMOLO Right Wet/Dry CHORUS / FLANGER Left Chorus Wet/Dry...
  • Page 211 ROTARY / EQ Left Wet/Dry 5 BAND EQ ROTARY Right Wet/Dry OVERDRIVE / CHORUS Left Wet / Dry OVERDRIVE GATE CHORUS Drive Right OVERDRIVE / FLANGER Left Wet / Dry OVERDRIVE GATE FLANGER Drive Right EXCITER / CHORUS Left Ch Wet / Dry EX Wet / Dry Pre Gain EXCITER...
  • Page 212 PROFX Block diagrams EXCITER / FLANGER Left EX Wet / Dry Pre Gain Fl Wet / Dry EXCITER FLANGER Pre Gain EXCITER Fl Wet / Dry EX Wet / Right RING MODULATOR ( Mod Source = Internal Oscillator ) Wet / Dry Left RING MODULATOR Sine Osc.
  • Page 213 Tables A•27...
  • Page 214 A•28 Appendix...
  • Page 215 Tables A•29...
  • Page 216 A•30 Appendix...

  • Page 217: Index

    Chorus 1. 24, 1. 25 Index Clear Menu (Seq Edit) 11. 41 Clear the keyboard transpose setting 9 Click vol (Drawbar mode) 5. 4 Clock send (Midi) 10. 5 Add modulation 1. 19 Clock source (Midi) 10. 5 Adjust the volume 7 Clock Speed 2.
  • Page 218 Dial 12 Exclude Group (Grooves) 7. 7 Direction (Arpeggiator) 6. 2 Exit on Stop 11. 9 Directory tree 8. 3 Exiting Record mode 11. 5 Disk 8. 1 Expand button, Drumkit edit 3. 5 Display 11 Export (Sample editing) 4. 10 Distortion 1.
  • Page 219 Loudness Maximizer 1. 25 Imp button (Notepad) 13. 1 In (Midi) 10. 2 Macintosh 10. 6 Independent MIDI configurations 10. 1 Manual (Grooves) 7. 6 Initial Velocity 11. 26 Map your samples 4. 6 Input (Arpeggiator) 6. 2 Master (System) 9. 6 Insert Bars (Seq Edit) 11.
  • Page 220 One-Shot (Grooves) 7. 6 Port (Midi) 10. 2 Open Switch (System) 9. 2 Port Com Ch. (Midi) 10. 4 Option Menu (Seq Edit) 11. 41 Portamento 1. 22, 2. 3 Options (Sequencer) 11. 8 Portamento mode 2. 3 Oscillator 1. 20 Post send controls 1.
  • Page 221 Reverbs presets 1. 24 Smooth (drawbar organ types) 5. 2 Rewind (Sequencer) 11. 5 Solo 10 Right note priority 1. 27 Solo button 10 Rives (Grooves) 7. 1 Song Edit button 11. 1 Rock (drawbar organ types) 5. 3 Song Playback/Edit mode 11. 10 ROM-Sound tables A.
  • Page 222 Transpose (Arpeggiator) 6. 3 Transpose (Drawbar mode) 5. 3 Wave 1. 13 Transpose b/# buttons 9 Waveform 1. 16 Transpose, Drumkit edit 3. 3 Wet signal 1. 24 Transposing a Groove 7. 8 Wet/Dry mix parameter 1. 25 Transposing the instrument 9 What is an “event”...
  • Page 223 FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation.
  • Page 224 Stock Code 271221 Specifications are subject to change without prior notice. PRINTED IN ITALY Sales Division: I -47048 S.Giovanni in Marignano (RN) - Italy – Via delle Rose, 12 Tel. +39 541 959511 – fax +39 541 957404 – tlx 550555 GMUSIC I...

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