Beats; Initial Tempo; Duration; Velocity Mode And Fixed Velocity - Kurzweil PC88 Musician's Manual

The Arpeggiator
others have played (Schoenberg would have approved). Walk is Òrandom walkÓ: each
successive note is either the next highest or the next lowest pitch in the cycle. For example, if
the latched notes were (in ascending order) C, D, E, F, and G, and the Þrst note was an E, the
next note could be an F or a D. If itÕs an F, the next note will be an E or a G, but if itÕs a D, the
next note will be a C or an E; and so on.

Beats

Beats subdivides the Tempo setting. At its lowest value, 4th notes , the Arpeggiator plays at the
indicated tempo. Setting Beats to 8th notes doubles the tempo, while setting it to 8th trips
triples it. The highest setting is 32nd trips , in which the notes spew out at 24 times the Tempo
setting.

Initial Tempo

Initial Tempo is the tempo, in beats per minute (bpm), at which the Arpeggiator will play when
Þrst turned on. This tempo can be changed in real time by assigning any of the PC88Õs physical
controllers in the Setup to Tempo . The range is 20 to 300 bpm.
Note that this parameter will be relevant only if the Clock parameter in the Global menu is set
to Internal . If it set to External , then the Arpeggiator will follow the timing of MIDI Clocks
coming from an external source, such as a sequencer or drum machine.

Duration

Duration determines how long the notes will play within the rhythmÑi.e., the articulation.
100% means that a note will sustain until the next one soundsÑvery legato. 50% means that the
note will Þll half the space between itself and the next note. The lowest value is 1%Ñ
stacattissimo . This parameter has no effect on percussion sounds or other sounds whose
duration is Þxed.

Velocity Mode and Fixed Velocity

Vel Mode sets the velocity of the played notes. Fixed means they all sound at the same level,
determined by the Fixed Vel parameter (which is next on the menu). Played means each note
repeats with the same velocity you played it at. Last means all notes play at the velocity of the
most-recently played note. ÒPressureÓ means the velocities are controlled by keyboard
pressure: as you push down on any key, the velocities get higher, and as you ease up they get
lower. Finally, Ctrl 117 means the velocity is controlled by MIDI Controller number 117, which
can be assigned to any PC88 physical controller or can come from an external MIDI source.
Fixed Vel , as we mentioned, sets the velocity of all notes if Fixed mode is selected.

Note Shift

You can tell the Arpeggiator to transpose all of the currently-latched notes each time it plays
through them. Note Shift determines how much transposition will occur. The transposition is
cumulative from one cycle to the next: if you choose 2 as the value then after the initial cycle,
the next cycle will be up a whole step, the one after that will be up two whole steps (a major
third), the following one will be up three whole steps (an augmented fourth), and so forth. The
values can be from -12 to 12, with 0 (the default) being no transposition.
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PC 88