Kurzweil PC88 A Step By Step Manual
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Kurzweil PC88 A Step By Step Manual

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THE PC88 MADE EASY
A Step by Step Guide
Includes 27 Different Tutorials Designed For Specific Applications
Plus Programming Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts
by David Fox

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Summary of Contents for Kurzweil PC88

  • Page 1 THE PC88 MADE EASY A Step by Step Guide Includes 27 Different Tutorials Designed For Specific Applications Plus Programming Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts by David Fox...
  • Page 2 PC88 Made Easy Young Chang Distributors Young Chang America, Inc. Young Chang Canada Corp. PO Box 99995 3650 Victoria Park Ave. #105 Lakewood, WA 98499-0995 Toronto, ONT Tel: (253) 589-3200 Canada M2H 3P7 Fax: (253) 984-0245 Tel: (416) 492-9899 support@kurzweilmusicsystems.com Fax: (416) 492-9299 www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com...

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    17. Assigning a Slider to Arpeggiator Velocities 18. Using the Arpeggiator with a Sequencer or External Controller 19. Using the PC88 to Control External Slaves 20. Bank Controller Issues for External Slaves 21. Switching Programs on External Slaves without Playing Them 22.
  • Page 4 PC88 Made Easy 26. Using SysEx to Store Your Setups 27. Trouble Shooting ADDITIONAL INFORMATION A Note About the Physical Controllers Some info on the Global Parameters Using the Copy Function Special characters for naming Setups...

  • Page 5: Basic Concepts & User Interface Issues

    If you have a regular PC88, then you have one bank of 64 Programs that you can access. These are most easily accessed by using the 16 Sound Select Buttons, which are labeled by Sound Category.

  • Page 6: User Interface Basics

    PC88 Made Easy MIDI Setups mode allows you to have up to 4 zones, with a different program on each zone. Therefore, the maximum number of programs you can split or layer from the keyboard is four. (But the instrument can still respond on all 16 MIDI channels from an external MIDI controller or sequencer.)

  • Page 7: Data Entry

    Setups of your own and you need to switch between them quickly in a performance. You can save them all within the same group, saving them between Setups #65-80 (a PC88 has preset Setups from 1-32 and a PC88MX has preset Setups from 1-64). Once you go to MIDI Setups mode, you can use the Next Group buttons to get to Group E.

  • Page 8: Zone Select

    PC88 Made Easy 1. Press the MIDI Transmit Button. The display shows that you are on the MIDI Channel parameter. 2. Press the >> button. You are now on the Destination parameter, which by default is set to Local+MIDI. 3. Press the Ò-Ó button under the alpha wheel. The value changes to MIDI. Rotate the wheel clockwise.

  • Page 9: Effects

    In Internal Voices mode, each program can have its own effects settings. No special saving procedure is necessary - the PC88 simply remembers the last setting you chose for that particular program. This applies to all the programs, including the ones on the VGM board.

  • Page 10: Editing Shortcuts

    As you go through the tutorials below, you will find examples of many different things you can do on the PC88. When you start to create your own Setups, you may find that you want two or more zones to have the same types of control oriented functions, with...
  • Page 11 Setup to another. The PC88 makes it easy to do this. Details on using the Copy function can be found at the end of this document, after all...

  • Page 12: Tutorials

    Setups, please be sure to look in Appendix E of the manual to see the controller assignments for that Setup. Another thing to be aware of - whenever you call up a Setup, the PC88 copies all of the parameter values into an edit buffer. Any changes you make are made in that edit buffer, and the changes donÕt go into memory until you Store that Setup.
  • Page 13 PC88 Made Easy still follow the example, using the ÒEÓ, ÒFÓ, and ÒGÓ buttons in the Assignable Controllers area to do the same thing.

  • Page 14: Layering Two Or More Programs

    PC88 Made Easy 1. Layering Two or More Programs To play two or more programs, you must create a Setup with a zone for each program, and each zone set to a different MIDI channel. 1. Press the MIDI Setups button, then type 127, then press Enter on the numeric keypad.
  • Page 15 Once you have the name the way you want it, press Enter. 9. The PC88 now j umps back to the Store dialog. The display will read ÒReplace Setup 127?Ó. You donÕt want to save over the preset Setup 127, since you will want to have it available as a template to start from.

  • Page 16: Splitting Two Or More Programs

    PC88 Made Easy 2. Splitting Two or More Programs 1. Go through steps 1-4 in tutorial #1. 2. Press the Key Range button. The display will show the key range for zone 1, from C-1 to G9. (C4 is middle C on the keyboard.) You are going to make zone 1 be the right side of the split, so you need to change the lowest note for this zone.

  • Page 17: Assigning Sliders For Volume In Different Zones

    PC88 Made Easy 3. Assigning Sliders for Volume in Different Zones 1. Go through steps 1-4 in tutorial #1. 2. Hold the Controllers button and move Slider A. The display now shows Zone:1 Slider A, Ctrl Num:None. Press 7, then Enter to assign Slider A to Volume. (Controller #7 is MIDI Volume.

  • Page 18: Setting Initial Volume Levels For Different Zones

    To avoid this problem, the PC88 is designed so that once you set an Entry value, the slider wonÕt become active until you pass the point of the Entry value. So as you move the slider down, nothing will happen until you reach 95 and at that point, it will follow the slider as you bring it down, thereby creating a smooth fade out.

  • Page 19: Returning Volume Levels To Full Values When Exiting A Setup

    PC88 Made Easy 5. Returning Volume Levels to Full Values when Exiting a Setup OK, so now you have created a Setup with the sliders set to control volume. LetÕs say that you are performing a song and you have faded out one or more zones and you go to a new Setup.

  • Page 20: Adjusting Relative Volumes With One Slider

    PC88 Made Easy 6. Adjusting Relative Volumes with One Slider So far we have only shown assigning a controller to one zone. But there is no reason that you canÕt use one controller to affect two or more zones. LetÕs say that you want to create a Setup with three layered zones - Piano, Electric Piano, &...
  • Page 21 PC88 Made Easy So how are the two methods different? The Offset method will keep a fixed amount of value between the two zones whereas the Scale method will give you a sliding amount of difference, based on the percentage. If you move the slider to the halfway point, the Offset method would give you 64-37=27 and the Scale method would give you 64 x .71=45.44 (sent as 45).

  • Page 22: Crossfading Zones

    PC88 Made Easy 7. Crossfading Zones A nice musical effect is to be able to smoothly fade from one sound into another. You can easily do this with a single slider (or other continuous controller). 1. Follow tutorial #1 to create a 2 zone, layered Setup. To best demonstrate the crossfade effect, you should pick two sustaining sounds for the two zones, such as strings and organ, or two different sounding organs.
  • Page 23 PC88 Made Easy same level as when the slider is all the way up or down. Try setting both zones to Linear and hold notes while you move the slider, and compare that to using the Sine+ and Cosine+ curves. You should be able to hear a difference.

  • Page 24: Velocity Switching

    The PC88 doesnÕt have programs which are like this, so you would most likely use this technique when controlling an external module. But the following example demonstrates the technique with internal PC88 sounds.

  • Page 25: Switching From One Setup To Another With A Pedal

    To do the following tutorial, you will need a switch pedal plugged into the Switch Pedal 2 j ack in the PC88. (You could use Switch Pedal 1, but then you wouldnÕt be able to use it for Sustain.) 1.

  • Page 26: Switching From One Program To Another With A Pedal

    PC88 Made Easy 10. Switching from One Program to Another with a Pedal If you have created a multiple zone Setup and only want to change a single program, you can use the GoTo Program function instead of using the GoTo Setup function. This can be useful if you donÕt want to make a bunch of extra Setups.

  • Page 27: Switching Banks & Programs With A Pedal

    PC88 Made Easy 11. Switching Banks & Programs with a Pedal A limitation of the GoTo Program function described in the previous tutorial is that it only sends a program change message, and not the bank controller. So what if you want to switch between programs in two different banks.

  • Page 28: Customizing The Effects Settings

    Internal and VGM effects processors. If you have a regular PC88, you can still follow this tutorial, but simply ignore the steps that refer to zone 3. 1. Create a three zone layered Setup, following tutorial #1. In zone 1, for the Program, select #44 Marimba from the Internal Voices Bank.
  • Page 29 PC88 Made Easy 7. To hear the effect changes better, it will be easier to temporarily mute the VGM effect while you edit the Internal effect. Press the Zone 3 button. Since Zone 3 was already selected, the second button press mutes the zone and the light turns orange. Play the keyboard and you will only hear the Marimba and Metal Marimba patches.

  • Page 30: Transposing A Zone With A Button

    PC88 Made Easy 13. Transposing a Zone with a Button LetÕs say that you need to be able to play a song in two different keys (maybe you have two different singers for your band) and you have only learned how to play the song in one key.

  • Page 31: Panning Zones Hard Left & Right

    14. Panning Zones Hard Left & Right If you are using the PC88 in a recording studio or playing live and have the need to run different sounds out of different outputs, then you need to be able to pan individual zones hard right or hard left.
  • Page 32 PC88 Made Easy This Setup was designed so that simply by calling it up, the zones would be panned the way we wanted, but when we leave the Setup, panning is returned to normal. This way, other Setups which use the same MIDI channels wonÕt be panned. Of course, you might want to have all of your Setups panned in the same manner.

  • Page 33: Using The Arpeggiator

    PC88 Made Easy 15. Using the Arpeggiator One often overlooked feature of the PC88 is the arpeggiator. This can be a lot of fun to play with - you can get many interesting and unusual effects. Basically, an arpeggiator takes notes that you play and repeats them in a pattern. Typically, you might use it to arpeggiate chords that you play, but it can have other uses such as playing percussion patterns.
  • Page 34 The Key Range parameter lets you set a range of notes which will be affected by the arpeggiator while others can be played regularly. Hold Enter and strike the top note on the PC88 to put the arpeggiator back to playing across the keyboard.
  • Page 35 Press the >> button. The next parameter, Shift Limit will determine how far the PC88 will keep shifting from the original pitches. Set the Shift Limit to 12 and play the keys again.
  • Page 36 PC88 to control an external sound module in which you can edit the sounds, you can create many interesting patterns.

  • Page 37: Using The Various Arpeggiator Latch Modes

    PC88 Made Easy 16. Using the Various Arpeggiator Latch Modes The Latch Mode parameter allows you great variation in deciding which notes that you play should be used (latched) by the arpeggiator. In the previous tutorial, Latch Mode was set to Keys, so that the arpeggiator simply latched any note you pressed and held it only as long as the key was held down.
  • Page 38 PC88 Made Easy If you have a second switch pedal, make sure it is plugged into the Switch Pedal 2 jack. Hold the Controllers button and step on that pedal. If you donÕt have a second pedal, hold the Controllers button and press the ÒEÓ Controllers button. Make sure that the Switch Type is set to Momentary.

  • Page 39: Assigning A Slider To Arpeggiator Velocities

    (The PC88 programs donÕt do this, but you might have an external module which does).

  • Page 40: Using The Arpeggiator With A Sequencer Or External Controller

    But if, for some reason, you need to have the sequencer or other external controller send notes to the arpeggiator itself, you must use the Remap function in the PC88. To do this, press the Global button, the press >> 7 times to get to the MIDI In parameter. If you set this to Remap, then ALL incoming MIDI note messages will be treated as if you played those notes on the keyboard of the PC88 itself.

  • Page 41: Using The Pc88 To Control External Slaves

    MIDI (to play the external slave) and other zones to Local (to play the PC88). It is possible to have a zone set to Local+MIDI (and in fact that is the default). In this case, one zone can play both the PC88 and external slave.

  • Page 42: Bank Controller Issues For External Slaves

    Global menu, it causes the PC88 to display the bank values in a very confused manner. Therefore, we recommend that you DO NOT use this parameter - leave it set at the default value of 0/ 32, which is the same as the default Global Bank Mode value.
  • Page 43 PC88 Made Easy When you are on the Bank parameter in the PC88, it shows you both the 0/ 32 value and the bank number equivalent. When you are on other parameters, it will only show you the bank number equivalent, followed by a Ò:Ó, followed by the program number.

  • Page 44: Switching Programs On External Slaves Without Playing Them

    You can also use the same technique for zones assigned to the PC88 itself! LetÕs say you have two keyboards. On the PC88 keyboard, you want to play an internal program or...
  • Page 45 PC88 has for calling up different programs. So you create a zone in the PC88 Setup to call up the internal sound you want, but set the Note Map for that zone to Off. So when you call up the Setup, it chooses the sound you want to be played from...

  • Page 46: Playing Programs On External Slaves Without Sending Program Changes

    This is the opposite of the previous tutorial. What if you have an external module or keyboard that you want to play from the PC88, but you donÕt want to send program changes to it? (Maybe you want to leave that module always on the same sound, or you want the ability to choose the sounds directly from the front panel of that external module or keyboard).

  • Page 47: Working With An External Sequencer

    23. Working With an External Sequencer 1. To state the obvious, you need to have MIDI cables going from the Out of the PC88 to the In of the sequencer or MIDI interface, and the In of the PC88 hooked to the Out of the sequencer.
  • Page 48 PC88 Made Easy what happens is that when you go to the MIDI Receive button and call up a sound for a specific channel, the display changes but the sound doesnÕt actually change to the new sound! So in this situation, using the second method is better.

  • Page 49: Recording Setups To A Sequencer

    PC88 Made Easy 24. Recording Setups to a Sequencer Again, this is less of a tutorial than an explanation. The thing that you need to remember about a Setup is that it transmits MIDI information on multiple MIDI channels, playing different programs on different channels.

  • Page 50: Customizing The Internal Voices Mode

    Since there is only one location for the Internal Voices parameters in memory, any changes you make using this method will wipe out the defaults that currently exist for those parameters. But if you Reset the PC88, those defaults will return. (See page 9-5 in the manual for information on resetting the PC88.) There are two parameters which canÕt be changed from the defaults - the Program and...

  • Page 51: Using Sysex To Store Your Setups

    A note for K2000/ K2500 users: The sequencer in the K2000/ K2500 can only allow songs up to 64k. A dump of the entire PC88 memory is larger than 64k. So you canÕt use this method. Instead you must dump individual Setups. If you need to dump all 128 Setups, you can put half of them in one song and half in another.
  • Page 52 Setup and have #65 currently called up. If you dump the Setup back into the PC88 and then play the keyboard, you wonÕt hear the older version - you have to call up the Setup by typing in 65 and Enter on the keypad, or scrolling away and back to it.

  • Page 53: Trouble Shooting

    Therefore it can be confusing if you are sending multiple channels of information at the same time. If you are testing the PC88 itself, it is best to mute all the zones but one so that you can see what info that zone is sending (or you could use the Solo button). If you are testing info coming from an external source, such as a sequencer, you would also want to mute all the tracks but one.

  • Page 54: Additional Information

    For example, you could assign a Slider to the Arpeggiator On/ Off function (controller #116 in the PC88). If the slider is moved to the halfway point or higher it is On, and if the slider is moved below the halfway point, it is Off.

  • Page 55: Using The Copy Function

    MIDI In port.) All Notes Off - If you set this to Ignore, the PC88 will ignore the MIDI All Notes Off message. Some instruments and sequencers (notably older Roland instruments) will send this message when no notes are being held, even if the sustain pedal is still held.
  • Page 56 PC88 Made Easy To copy all the parameters from one zone to a zone in a different Setup: 1. Call up the Setup which has the zone that you want to copy. If you have already entered the Setup Editor, make sure you are NOT on one of the parameters within the Controller menu.

  • Page 57: Special Characters For Naming Setups

    [ \ ] ^ _ Ô a through z (space). We hope this tutorial has been helpful and you now have a much better understanding of how to program the PC88. If you have any questions or comments, please send email to support@kurzweilmusicsystems.com.

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