Using Pressure (Aftertouch) As An Arpeggiator Controller - Kurzweil PC2R Musician's Manual

Programming Your PC2R
Using the Arpeggiator
The PC2R's arpeggiator can be a lot of fun to play with; you can get many interesting and
unusual effects. The following tutorial will get you started.
1. Start in MIDI Setups mode. To best hear the effects of the arpeggiator, you might want to
2. Press Edit, then find the Arpeggiator menu and press Enter.
3. The Arp Active parameter appears. Set its value to On, if it isn't there already. Play a note
4. Select the Hi parameter. Hold Enter and play Middle C to set the Hi parameter to C 4.
5. Select the Zone Enable parameter. This enables you to arpeggiate one or more setup

Using Pressure (Aftertouch) as an Arpeggiator Controller

In this example, we'll use aftertouch to control the volume of arpeggiated notes. We're assuming
that you can send standard Mono Pressure messages from you MIDI source.
1. Make sure that the PC2R is responding to aftertouch. Find the Ctrl Num parameter for
4-34
start with a program that has a percussive attack, such as piano, marimba, or guitar. Select
a program you like, then mute the other zones in the setup.
on your MIDI source, and hold it on. You should hear arpeggiated notes. If you hear
nothing at all, go to the Global menu and check to make sure the Clock parameter is set to
Internal. If you hear notes but they aren't arpeggiated, go back to the Arpeggiator menu
(if you've left it), find the Zone Enable parameter, and make sure its value is On. Find the
Latch Mode parameter and make sure its value is Keys.
Play and hold a single note. Notice that it is repeated. Try adding more notes. As you press
them they are added to the arpeggio. Let go of one of the keys. Notice that note is dropped
from the arpeggio while the others continue. Notice that the arpeggiator plays the notes in
the specific order that you strike them. Also notice that the loudness of the arpeggiated
notes depends on how hard you strike the keys.
Hold the sustain pedal and let go of the keys. Notice that even though the notes sustain
normally, the arpeggiation stops. In order for the arpeggiator to work, the keys must be
held down, or otherwise latched (see the descriptions of the arpeggiator parameters
beginning on page 5-26).
Now play a chord in the bass and a melody in the treble. Notice that any notes up to C 4
are arpeggiated but all notes above that are played as normal. The Key Range parameter
lets you set a range of notes that will be affected by the arpeggiator while others can be
played regularly. Hold Enter and play the top note to put the arpeggiator back to playing
across the "keyboard."
zones, and play others normally. Several of the preset setups do this.
MPressure (in the Controllers menu in the Setup Editor), and set its value to Pressure (it's
near the end of the list of values).
Aftertouch is somewhat similar to the Pitch Wheel, in that it functions like a spring; it
returns to 0 as you release the pressure. You can assign aftertouch to send any MIDI
controller number. However typically, aftertouch is assigned to Pressure, which is a
separate MIDI message.
One final thing to understand: There are actually two different types of aftertouch: Mono
Pressure and Poly Pressure. On most MIDI keyboards, Mono Pressure has a single strip
running across the keyboard, so pressing down on any note will generate controller info
that will affect all the notes played on that MIDI channel. Poly Pressure has a separate
sensor for each key, so pressing down on a key only affects that key. The PC2R uses Mono
Pressure.