Using The Mdr Functions - Yamaha SY99 Owner's Manual

APPENDIX
You will probably use the SY99's disk drive most
often to save voice, multi, sequencer, and setup data
from the SY99 on a floppy disk. In addition to these
more obvious uses of the disk drive, however, the
MIDI data recorder utility allows you to save bulk
data from other MIDI devices, such as tone genera-
tors or rhythm programmers.
By making the most of the SY99's disk drive,
you can use the SY99 to perform all of the functions
that would normally be performed by a stand-alone
sequencer or personal computer. What's more, if
you combine these functions with the SY99's mas-
ter control utility, the SY99 can be adapted to a
wide variety of uses, serving as the core of an ex-
tended MIDI system.
Basic application: The fundamental MDR opera-
tions have been explained in the description of
the MIDI Data Recorder utility (page 279). To
perform any of these operations, you must first
press UTILITY to enter Utility mode, then press
F6 (MDR) to display the MDR utility job direc-
tory (if it is not already showing).
The basic MDR procedure consists of two steps:
1. Use job 02:Input to input data to the SY99 from
an external device via MIDI bulk dump.
2. Use job 04:Save to disk to save the data to a
floppy disk using the SY99's floppy disk drive.
Data will be retained in the MDR memory area
even if the SY99's power is turned off; however,
it is a good idea to save it to a disk in case you
accidentally erase it by inputting other bulk data.
You can return the data to the external
device for use by simply reversing the above
procedure:
3. Use job 03:Load
into the SY99 from a floppy disk.
4. Use job 01:Output
to the external device.
These two step procedures naturally take
more time than it would require to load or save
the same data using data cards. The advantage
of this method lies in cost, as disks tend to be
less expensive than data cards. However, some
people may find that a little speed is worth the
316

Using the MDR functions

from disk to load MDR data
to output data from the SY99
added cost; in the end, it is a matter of personal
taste.
Advanced applications: The MDR functions be-
come most convenient when used in combination
with the SY99's master control utility. Taken
together, these two functions allow the SY99 to
adapt flexibly to a variety of MIDI system con-
figurations. Of course, it is impossible to de-
scribe all of the possibilities these functions
permit. A single suggestion is presented here to
get you started.
Imagine using the SY99 as the core of a
MIDI system used for live performance, such as
that shown below:
You have connected the SY99 to a tone
generator and a rhythm programmer. The SY99
transmits sequencer data to the tone generator
on several channels, while the rhythm
programmer plays rhythm patterns in synch with
the SY99's rhythm voice.
You are to perform ten songs using this
setup; but since the songs all involve detailed
drum parts, the rhythm programmer can hold
enough data for only five songs at one time. It
will therefore be necessary to load new data to
the rhythm programmer before the sixth song. At
the same time, you would like to load some new
voices to the tone generator for use in the next
five songs.
To effect these changes using data cards,
you would have to insert cards to both the tone
generator and the rhythm programmer, and then
perform the necessary load operations. This
could take a while; but the SY99's MDR and
master control utilities allow you to perform
these both of these tasks from the SY99's con-
sole, with the press of a couple buttons!