Kurzweil PC3LE6 Musician's Manual page 87

Selecting The Desired Key (Root Note):
Shift Key (ShiftKey, controller destination 177) allows the user to select the key (root note) of
the Shift Pattern triggered by Shift Key Number. A Shift Pattern is a relative pattern based on a
root note. All notes triggered by a Shift Pattern are shifted from the root note by the value of
each pattern step (in half-steps.)
Shift Key Settings
Value
0-9
10-19
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60-68
69-78
79-88
89-98
99-108
109-118
119-127
When using a Shift Pattern with Shift Key Number you can select the key with one or more
controllers set to the Shift Key destination. You can use a continuous controller such as a knob to
cycle through keys, or switches set to predetermined keys. For example, if you are playing a
song that moves between 2 or 3 keys, a couple of switches could be programmed in order to
send the appropriate Shift Key message for each key change. That way all the notes you are
triggering with a Shift Key Number controller will be in the appropriate scale. You could also
create a setup for a song with multiple zones, each with its own pre-set key and appropriate
shift pattern. That way, for each chord change you could move a different controller that would
create the correct harmony.
Another way to choose a key is to set Shift Key to Last Note Played mode, in which the last note
played in the zone will set the key. For example, you could set the zone being used for Shift Key
Number to have a Key Range that covers only a few of the keyboard's lowest octaves. This
would allow you to play root note bass lines that change the key that Shift Key Number plays in,
leaving the upper octaves of the keyboard open for use by other zones.
If Shift Key is set to Last Note Played and no note is played, the default key is C. Each zone can
have a different Shift Key, so you can have zones preprogrammed with the keys you want to
use, or have them all in the same key, or just change the key in real time while you are playing.
A Note About Octave Range:
When using Shift Key Number, shift patterns with more than 12 steps begin triggering notes in
higher octaves. This is done because longer shift patterns use up more of a controller's range,
and limit the number of octaves that a single controller can trigger. Since the lowest octave of a
program is often too low to be musically useful, the PC3LE will automatically start triggering
notes from longer shift patterns in higher octaves. This saves room in the controller's range of
Key (root note)
C
C#
D
D#
E
F
F#
G
G#
A
A#
B
Last Note Played
Setup Mode
The Setup Editor
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