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Viscount Choir Master User Manual

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viscount
Choir Master
Manuale d'Uso -
IT
User Manual -
EN
Guide de l'utilisateur -
FR
Ver. 1.1

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Summary of Contents for Viscount Choir Master

  • Page 1 Choir Master Manuale d'Uso - User Manual - Guide de l’utilisateur - Ver. 1.1...

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Choir Master User Manual Viscount INDEX 1. Important notes ................69 1.1 Looking after the product ................ 69 1.2 Notes about the manual ................70 2. Introduction ..................71 3. Connections and controls..............72 3.1 Front panel ....................72 3.2 Rear panel ....................75 4.
  • Page 4 Choir Master Viscount User Manual 8.3 Deleting files or folders ................110 8.4 Rename files or folders ................111 8.5 Create folders ...................113 9. General settings ................115 9.1 Selectiong MIDI channels ..............116 9.2 Locking Quick Selection .................117 9.3 Pedal settings ....................117 9.4 Setting display contrast ................119 9.5 Selecting the numerical panel transmission mode .......120...

  • Page 5: Important Notes

    Choir Master User Manual Viscount 1. IMPORTANT NOTES 1.1 LOOKING AFTER THE PRODUCT • Do not apply excessive force to the product’s structures or the controls (knobs, connectors, push-buttons, etc.). • When possible, do not place the instrument close to units which generate strong interference, such as radios, TVs, computer videos, etc.

  • Page 6: Notes About The Manual

    Choir Master Viscount User Manual • If the product is to be out of use for lengthy periods, disconnect the plug from the power socket. 1.2 NOTES ABOUT THE MANUAL • Take good care of this manual. • This manual is an integral part of the product. The descriptions and illustrations in this publication are not binding.

  • Page 7: Introduction

    When lacking an organist/pianist, somebody with just some musical experience can use the Choir Master to provide an excellent accompaniment while avoiding the usual and too often inadequate backing track. In particular, the Choir Master works well as accompanist of choir and solo singing, during religious services.

  • Page 8: Connections And Controls

    Choir Master Viscount User Manual 3. CONNECTIONS AND CONTROLS 3.1 FRONT PANEL 1. QUICK SELECTION section: this section contains the buttons for the quick selection of the tracks (see chapt. 6). [BANK]: selects one out of four Quick Selection banks [A] ...
  • Page 9 User Manual Viscount external (USB drive) memory (chapt. 8). [SETUP]: Choir Master setup options (chapt. 9). 3. SELECT section: use these buttons to browse and load songs (chapt. 4). [SONG]: shows the content of internal and external (USB drive) memories.
  • Page 10 (read the user manual of the numerical display for further information). 10. GENERAL section: general controls of the song. [VOLUME]: adjusts the general volume of the instrument connected to the Choir Master. [TRANSP.]: adjusts transposition.

  • Page 11: Rear Panel

    Make sure that the switch is set as 0 before connecting the power cable. 3. MIDI connectors: [IN]: Choir Master receives MIDI data from an external unit through this input connector. [OUT]: Choir Master sends out MIDI data through this connector.
  • Page 12 For further information about the pedal functions, see par. 9.3. ] connector: connect here the Choir Master antenna. Thanks to the 7. [ antenna, the Annunciator Panel can be used without cables.

  • Page 13: Finding And Loading A Song

    4. FINDING AND LOADING A SONG 4.1 SONG SELECT FUNCTION When the Choir Master has been switched on (by pressing the [POWER ON] switch on the rear panel), a start page will appear on the display. This page contains information about the current operating system version. After a while, the display will show the SONG SELECT menu (this menu can be accessed from any other page by pressing the [SONG] button).
  • Page 14 User Manual : directory, press [ENTER] to access this directory. : .mid, .kar or .cms file (Choir Master Song): press [ENTER] on this field to load the song. The display will then return to the main screen. The LEDs of the [ ] and [ ] buttons indicate the presence of further fields (files or directories) before or after (respectively) the fields currently on screen.
  • Page 15 Choir Master User Manual Viscount The transfer speed of the USB drive might affect the time needed to show its content on screen. Should the system take time to load the content of the drive, this message will appear: It is not possible to access the drive (for the first time) while playing a song.

  • Page 16: Searching By Digits

    Choir Master Viscount User Manual 4.2 SEARCHING BY DIGITS While showing the content of a memory unit or folder, the SONG STRUCTURE LEDs will turn on, according to the first digit of the filename. If no file has a digit as first character, only the [ABC] led will be on.

  • Page 17: Searching By Notes

    Choir Master User Manual Viscount 4.3 SEARCHING BY NOTES Press the [KEYBOARD] button to use the SONG STRUCTURE buttons as if they were a musical keyboard. Pressing the [KEYBOARD] button while searching a song will activate the SMART HYMN SEARCH function.
  • Page 18 Choir Master Viscount User Manual N.B.: The SMART HYMN SEARCH function searches only files saved in the internal memory containing notes on the MIDI channel n. 5. The system cannot play songs while using the SMART HYMN SEARCH function. Attempting to access the function while playing...

  • Page 19: Playing A Song

    Choir Master User Manual Viscount 5. PLAYING A SONG 5.1 MAIN VIDEO PAGE AND PLAY When a track has been successfully loaded, the display shows the main video page containing general information about the current track. In detail: 1) Filename of the track. Press [ENTER] to read the full name and further information such as song key, author, year of composition, etc.
  • Page 20 Choir Master Viscount User Manual 2) Time signature and metronome tempo. 3) Current bar and beat. 4) Percentage variation from standard tempo. Adjustable through the TEMPO section buttons. (see par. 5.2). 5) Organ stops level, adjust through the STOPS section buttons (see par. 5.3).

  • Page 21: Tap Conductor Advancement

    5.2 TAP CONDUCTOR ADVANCEMENT Thanks to this function, you can control the tempo and rhythm of a song. This is particularly useful when using the Choir Master together with a singer or solo instrument. Indeed a common pre-recorded track, no matter how good, is always inadequate to these situations, as it cannot interact with musicians.
  • Page 22 Press the [+] button again to convert the syllables into english notes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G). N.B.: Thanks to the advanced functions of the Choir Master, accidentals (sharp and flat) are always coherent throughout the song. If the song is transposed, the Choir Master informs about altered notes.
  • Page 23 Choir Master User Manual Viscount Press the [-] button to return to the previous mode and to the main video page. Now you can use the TAP CONDUCTOR mode. Use the [BEAT] button to play the song controlling the beats. Please keep in mind that each time the button is pressed, the beat is played at the speed indicated on the top right of the display (3 in the picture above).
  • Page 24 Choir Master Viscount User Manual button is pressed, the system moves to the next beat and starts playing it. The tempo is determined by the frequency with which the [BEAT] button is pressed. However, holding the [BEAT] button for a short while will cause the...

  • Page 25: Adjusting The Play Speed

    Choir Master User Manual Viscount The [BEAT] button will be off and the corresponding function not available. The song can be played by pinpointing each syllable in time (or, in presence of melisma, each note). When using “Cantus Planus” mode, the music score on display is useful to control the progression of the song.

  • Page 26: Adjusting Volume And Transposition

    Choir Master Viscount User Manual Also, both buttons will turn red. The song will be played at the tempo shown on display. Tempo variations of the song itself will not be taken into account. The [SLOW] and [FAST] buttons can be used at any time to change the tempo.

  • Page 27: Controlling The Organ Stops

    Choir Master User Manual Viscount 5.5 CONTROLLING THE ORGAN STOPS The [DIM.] and [CRESC.] buttons can be found on the left of the Choir Master. Use these buttons to change the organ stop used for the current song. There are three different working options: 1) Each song has a organ stops level, shown on the bottom of the screen, under the “REGISTRATION”...
  • Page 28 Choir Master Viscount User Manual 2) A song contains information on single stops (whether they are on or off) and not on registration levels. The word “STOPS” will appear on the bottom screen. The display indicates stops that are active on the Great manual.

  • Page 29: Song Lyrics Display

    These can be selected through a menu. To access the menu, press and hold for a second the [LYRICS] button. First, you can choose whether to modify lyrics options of the Choir Master display (INTERNAL LCD) or of the external screen (EXTERNAL VIDEO).
  • Page 30 Choir Master Viscount User Manual ORIGINAL: the text is shown in its original format; usually, melismas are hyphenated. AUTOMATIC: each syllable is separated by a hyphen, melismas included. NOTE TAPS (not available for External Video): each syllable comes in square brackets; useful when working in [NOTE] mode as it highlights the syllables activated by pressing the [NOTE] button.
  • Page 31 Choir Master User Manual Viscount shown as ORIGINAL: shown as AUTOMATIC: shown as NOTE TAPS: ROWS: set the number of text lines updating at the same time. REFRESH1: one row at a time, REFRESH2: two rows at the same time.

  • Page 32: Quick Selection Locations

    User Manual 6. QUICK SELECTION LOCATIONS Choir Master has 64 memory locations. Songs saved in these locations can be recalled pressing a QUICK SELECTION button on the front panel. This saves time, as it is not necessary to look for the songs in the internal or external memory.
  • Page 33 Choir Master User Manual Viscount N.B.: The Quick Selection slot does not contain the song itself, only the path (memory bank, folder etc.) to it. If a Quick Selection slot is assigned to a song saved in a USB key, and the key itself is removed, the song cannot be loaded.

  • Page 34: Recorder

    User Manual 7. RECORDER Choir Master includes a MIDI recorder. The recorder memorizes inputs from the MIDI [IN] port on the rear panel. The recorder can also overdub tracks previously recorded and songs stored in the internal memory and USB pen.

  • Page 35: First Recording

    Choir Master User Manual Viscount 7.1 FIRST RECORDING To record a new song, enter the Recorder main page and select the RECORD NEW SONG field. Press [ ] to start recording. The input from the MIDI [IN] port will be saved on a temporary memory.

  • Page 36: Overdubbing

    Choir Master Viscount User Manual To save the file select the SAVE field and assign the file a name: For further information about this page see par. 8.4. 7.2 OVERDUBBING Overdubbing means overlapping the data received from the MIDI [IN] port to the currently loaded song (or recording).
  • Page 37 Choir Master User Manual Viscount select the OVERDUB field. In both cases, this page will appear: Now press [ ] to start overdubbing. Press [ ] to leave the recorder and return to the main video page. Press [EXIT] instead to return to the previous video page. To stop recording, press [ ].
  • Page 38 Registration and not those of the Combination selected. To record MIDI tracks with organs that are not produced by viscount, set the MIDI IN channels (see par. 9.1) as following: Pedal:1 Great:2 Swell: 3...

  • Page 39: File Manager

    Choir Master User Manual Viscount 8. FILE MANAGER All the necessary options for managing the file system and the memory banks can be found under the FILE MANAGER menu. To access this menu, press the [FILE] button in the MANAGER section on the front panel.
  • Page 40 Choir Master Viscount User Manual N.B.: Selecting the USB MEMORY field without connecting a USB drive will produce the following message: To access a USB drive, connect one to the [USB] connector in the rear panel. Should the pen drive be already connected, try disconnecting it and inserting it again;...
  • Page 41 Choir Master User Manual Viscount N.B.: The system cannot play songs while using the FILE MANAGER functions. Attempting to access the functions while playing a song, or start playing a song in the FILE MANAGER generates an error message: 8.1 COPYING FILES OR FOLDERS Use the COPY function to copy files or folders (content included, such as file and sub-folders).
  • Page 42 Choir Master Viscount User Manual The content of the root folder appears on screen. To see the content of a folder, locate the cursor on it using the [ ] and [ ] buttons, then press [ENTER]. Press [EXIT] to quit the current folder.

  • Page 43: Copying Files Or Folders

    Choir Master User Manual Viscount If the target folder contains files with the same name of the files you wish to copy there, this message will appear: asking if you wish to overwrite the original files. Press [ENTER] to overwrite or [EXIT] to cancel.
  • Page 44 Choir Master Viscount User Manual Now select the file or folder you wish to move. To see the content of a folder, locate the cursor on it using the [ ] and [ ] buttons, then press [ENTER]. Press [EXIT] to quit the current folder.
  • Page 45 Choir Master User Manual Viscount If the target folder contains files with the same name of the files you wish to move there, this message will appear: asking if you wish to overwrite the original files. Press [ENTER] to overwrite or [EXIT] to cancel.
  • Page 46 Choir Master Viscount User Manual 8.3 DELETING FILES OR FOLDERS To delete one or more files or folders from a memory unit, select the DELETE field under the FILE MANAGER menu. First, select the memory unit containing the data you wish to delete:...
  • Page 47 Choir Master User Manual Viscount To avoid mistakes causing data loss, the system asks for a confirmation: Press [ENTER] to delete or [EXIT] to abort the operation. 8.4 RENAME FILES OR FOLDERS To rename a file or a folder, enter the FILE MANAGER menu and select the...
  • Page 48 Choir Master Viscount User Manual To see the content of a folder, locate the cursor on it using the [ ] and [ ] buttons, then press [ENTER]. Press [EXIT] to quit the current folder. To rename a folder, enter it and move the cursor on the [RENAME DIRECTORY] field.
  • Page 49 User Manual Viscount N.B.: The filename of the standard songs created by Viscount and saved in the internal memory all begin with three digits. This is necessary for the Selection ([SONG STRUCTURE] buttons) and to visualize the song number on the optional digit panel. Please keep this in mind while renaming the files.
  • Page 50 Choir Master Viscount User Manual To enter a directory, place the cursor on the relevant field using the [ ] and[ ] buttons, then press [ENTER]. Press [EXIT] to quit the current folder. Enter the directory in which you wish to create a new directory, then locate the cursor on the [CREATE HERE] field and press [ENTER]: Now you need to enter a name for your directory (see instructions in par.
  • Page 51 Viscount 9. GENERAL SETTINGS All the general configurations of Choir Master can be found under the SETUP menu. To access the menu, press the [SETUP] button, which can be found in the MANAGER section, on the front panel. The display shows all the available functions: o MIDI CHANNELS: links MIDI channel to organ sections.
  • Page 52 This will cause the notes to be transmitted to the wrong sections. Should this happen, modify the Choir Master settings to match the instrument’s. To set the Choir Master channels, enter the SETUP menu and select the MIDI CHANNELS field. This page will appear: Use the [ ] and [ ] buttons to move the cursor;...
  • Page 53 Press [EXIT] to save changes and quit the function. 9.3 PEDAL SETTINGS All the main functions of you Choir Master can be performed through pedals, either foot-switch or expression pedals. As already stated in chap. 3.2 pedals can be connected to the FOOTSWITCH [1] and [2] connectors of the rear panel.
  • Page 54 [NOTE] buttons. o VOLUME: sets the master volume of the instrument connected to the Choir Master. Same function activated by the [VOLUME] button (front panel). Best used with expression pedals. At first use, the expression pedal needs calibration. To do so, press [ENTER]:...
  • Page 55 The system can automatically detect the pedal type (open foot switch, closed foot switch, expression pedal), even if the pedal is connected while the Choir Master is already on. However, since there is a multitude of different pedals, making self-detection difficult, it is recommended to plug in the pedal(s) while the Choir Master is off;...
  • Page 56 TRANSMISSION MODE The optional numerical panel, indicating the code of the current song, can be connected to the Choir Master by cable ([A. PANEL] or [MIDI OUT] ports) or wireless. For further information, read the Annunciator Panel Handbook. Once the panel has been successfully connected, it needs to be activated.
  • Page 57 User Manual Viscount 9.6 SELECT TV SIGNAL - PAL OR NTSC Choir Master can be connected to TV screens, either with PAL or NTSC format. To select the correct signal, enter the SETUP menu and access the TV SYSTEM function.
  • Page 58 Choir Master Viscount User Manual Choir Master. Press [EXIT] to return to the SETUP menu; press [ENTER] to check if there is an update file available. This video page will appear: showing information about the new available version. Press [ENTER] again to start the procedure, press [EXIT] to abort the update and return to the SETUP menu.
  • Page 59 In this case, try copying the file again from the computer to the USB key. Should the error occur a second time, contact the technical assistance at service@viscount.it and request a new update file. The flash drive used to update the organ must be formatted with FAT or FAT32 file system (not NTFS), otherwise, the organ will not be able to read from the flash drive.
  • Page 60 Disposal of old Electrical & Electronic Equipment (Applìcable throughout the European Union and other European countries with separate collection programs) Dir. 2002/95/CE, 2002/96/CE e 2003/108/CE This syrnbol, found on your product or on its packaging, indicates that this product should not be treated as household waste when you wish to dispose of it.
  • Page 61 Viscount International S.p.A. Via Belvedere Fogliense 154 – 47836 Mondaino (RN), ITALY Tel: +39-0541-981700 Fax: +39-0541-981052 Website: www.viscount.it Distribuito in Italia da TITAN MUSIC S.A. Strada Genghe di Atto, 80 47892 Acquaviva - Repubblica di San Marino Tel. 0549-999164...

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