Keyboard Mode - Yamaha PLG150-AN Manual

Let's explore this Voice, PHATTY, as an example of
how you can see the possibilities of the PLG150-
AN. This Voice is a split. It is polyphonic when
played above C3 and has a STEP SEQUENCE
pattern (triggered by notes B2 and below). The
Step Sequence will transpose with each note that
you play on the keyboard below the split point.
Notice that it transposes immediately upon you
touching another note (Step Sequence: Keyboard
Mode = Mode 1). The tempo, as we will learn
about, has been synced to "MIDI". When a
PLG150-AN board Voice has an arpeggio or a step
sequence and its clock is set to "MIDI" – it will
automatically follow the clock of the host product.
The MIDI Tempo setting will allow it to slave to
the host (Motif) clock. It has a FREE EG (a user
created control track). Let's take a closer look.
Open the AN EXPERT EDITOR file on your
computer. Take a
GENERATOR section in the upper right hand
corner of the main screen and click on the
"DETAIL" button. The PATTERN GENERATOR of
the PLG150-AN can
ARPEGGIATOR or as
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SEQUENCER . In this Voice it is a 16-step
sequence. Notice that the parameters have a
SPLIT POINT that is set to C3. This is of
significance because you can split the keyboard
and have the lower portion playback the step
sequence and the upper portion play normally.
This is tied in with
parameter located in the STEP GRID. It is set to
"NOTE SHIFT & NORMAL" – all notes in the lower
portion will note shift the step sequence up and
down, all notes in the upper portion will play
normally. With a split point set to G8, all notes will
NOTE SHIFT; with a split set to C-2 all notes will
play normally. There are four parameters for each
step of the sequence: NOTE, VELOCITY, GATE
TIME (Duration) and CONTROL CHANGE. 'Note'
and 'Velocity' need no explanation
will control how long the step is held – a low
number can create a staccato step, a setting of
100 will create a legato step, and a setting of 200
will make the note overlap its neighbor. CONTROL
CHANGE (not used in this particular sequence)
can be assigned to any Control Change number 1-
95 or to Aftertouch. If, for example, you wanted
to add modulation to the step sequence you could
program Control Change 001 (modulation) with a
2 Those old enough to remember the earliest sequencers
remember that there was nothing real-time about data
entry. You had a limited number of steps, typically 16,
and each pitch was entered manually (usually with a
knob or slider). A rest (or pause) cost you a step! Ah,
those were the days!!!
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Although remember not all analog Voices are velocity
sensitive, by design.
look at the PATTERN
be configured as
an 'old school'
the KEYBOARD MODE
3
. GATE TIME
value for a particular step. This particular step
sequence is playing FORWARD, is 16 steps in
length and each step is a 1/16 note. HOLD MODE
1 means that it will change as soon as you play a
note (Mode 2 will wait until the 16 steps complete
before changing). And HOLD is ON meaning you
do not have to keep a finger on the keyboard in
order for the sequence to continue...once triggered
it will continue on the last note played. As you will
see when you start to customize, the PLG150-AN
board will respond immediately to your changes
(however, I will mention again that you are
editing in an EDIT BUFFER.)
FREE EG – From the main screen find the FREE
EG section DETAIL button. FREE EG (Envelope
Generator) is so named because the user can
freely 'draw' four control tracks for any of 59
parameters. It behaves like a user envelope
generator – thus FREE EG. There are four tracks
in the FREE EG – only two are used in the PHATTY
Voice. Track 1 is assigned to control the "VCF
an Voltage Control Filter Cutoff" frequency (opening
STEP and closing the filter) and track 2 is assigned to
control "PWM1/detune" or pulse width modulation
detune of VCO 1. Both the filter and the pulse
width open up over a 4-measure time, then close
back over the next 4-measures – referenced to
the current tempo. Hit and hold a note in the
upper portion of the keyboard to hear this
function. What is going on here is that the sound
source VCO (Voltage Control Oscillators) in this
sound are pulse waves. A pulse wave is either ON
or OFF. A 10% pulse wave is on 10% of the time
and off 90% of the time. A 25% pulse wave is on
25% of the time and off 75% of the time. A pulse
wave that is on 50% and off 50% is a special case
we call a "square" wave. The less time the wave is
ON the more nasal it sounds (oboe/clavinet-like),
and at
(clarinet/woody-like). A PWM sound is one where
an LFO is assigned to change the % of the On/Off
period of a pulse wave. If you examine the main
screen closely you can see that LFO2 is assigned
to control the "pulse width". The effect of this type
control is sound that swells from nasal to hollow
back to nasal, depending on the depth of the
PWM. The filter and PWM detune movement are
on a 4 measure cycle, based on the clock setting
of the Step Sequencer. You will see that the step
sequencer is set to MIDI clock – this will allow the
PLG150-AN to follow the master clock of the host
product, the Motif. When this Board VOICE is
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In order to save your data permanently is a multi-step
process. First you store the change to the AN Expert
Editor via the STORE button on the main screen. Then
you must bulk it over to a "036/002" bank location. This
will be covered later in the article.
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4
50% ON it sounds "hollow" –