Polyphonic Capabilities - Roland SK-50 Owner's Manual

6. POLYPHONIC CAPABILITIES

The SK-50 is capable of generating a maximum of 28 sound elements (voices) simultaneously.
Note, however, that this does not mean that you will always have 28 notes available. This is
because some sounds need to mix together the sound generated by two of these voices in order
to create their distinctive sound. And when the Fat effect is on, the total number of voices used
by the selected Part will be doubled.
For details on the number of voices used by each of the sounds, refer to the Tone Chart and
Drum Set Chart (
Priority Ordering of Sounds
This instrument provides a priority ordering system for the Parts (shown below) which helps to
assure that essential notes will not be left out whenever a large number of Note On messages
have been received around the same time, and the unit simply doesn't have enough voices
available to produce all the notes requested.
To free up voices, certain Parts have to stop sounding notes whenever all the Note On messages
cannot be satisfied. Those that are silenced first will be those that have the lowest priority, in the
order shown.
Priority
Part Number
When creating songs, you should try to assign all the essential instruments (those you definitely
don't ever want left out) to Parts that are always given high priority.
Assuring Note Production for Important Parts—Voice Reserve
The unit reserves a minimum number of voices that will always be made available for certain
Parts. This comes into effect whenever more Note On messages than the unit is able to satisfy at
one time have been received. The number reserved for each of the Parts is as follows:
The Voice Reserve feature reserves voices without being affected by the priority ordering. So, for
example, with Part 1 you can feel assured that notes will not be skipped, no matter what the
circumstances, as long as no more than 6 voices are required at once.
This setting can be altered using Exclusive messages.
p. 29).
Hight
10 1 2 3
Part 1: 6 voices
Parts 2—12: 2 voices
Parts 13—16: 0 voices
4 5 6 7 8 9
Low
11 12 13 14 15 16
21