Connecting Other Equipment; Connecting Midi Equipment69; What Is Midi; Midi Connections - Korg SP-500 Owner's Manual

Connecting other equipment

1. Connecting MIDI equipment

What is MIDI?

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a
standard for connecting a variety of MIDI instru-
ments together allowing to talk to each other. By
playing the SP-500, you can connect other MIDI-
equipped instruments.
When doing so, your sound selections and damper
pedal operations etc. will control the other instru-
ment as well.
Conversely, other MIDI keyboards or sequencers
(automatic playback devices) can control the SP-
500 to play its sounds. By combining two or more
MIDI devices, you can expand the SP-500's sound
selection. You can also use MIDI to transfer data
from the SP-500's built-in recorder for external stor-
age.
This section will explain how you can take advan-
tage of the SP-500's MIDI functionality. If you
would like to learn more about MIDI, please refer
to one of the many introductory books that are
commercially available.

MIDI connections

MIDI cables are used to transfer MIDI data.
Connect this cable to the MIDI connectors of the
SP-500 and the MIDI connectors of an external
MIDI device. There are two MIDI port types.
MIDI IN connector
MIDI messages are received at this connector.
This lets you use an external MIDI device (e.g.,
MIDI keyboard or sequencer) to play and control
the sounds of the SP-500. Use a MIDI cable to con-
nect the SP-500's MIDI IN connector to the MIDI
OUT connector of the external MIDI device.
MIDI OUT connector
MIDI messages are transmitted from this connec-
tor.
The MIDI messages that are transmitted when you
play the SP-500 can control an external MIDI
device. Use a MIDI cable to connect the MIDI OUT
connector of the SP-500 to the MIDI IN connector of
the external MIDI device.
MIDI cable
MIDI IN
MIDI tone generator module

MIDI channel settings

After you have finished making connections to your
MIDI devices, set the MIDI channels of the SP-500
and the connected MIDI device to the same number.
There are sixteen MIDI channels; 1–16.
1
Press the [FUNCTION] switch
2
Access the "Func 6/10" page
3
Set the value of each cell
Press each cell, and use the dial or the
[VALUE] switches to set the MIDI chan-
nel.
"Chord Rx1," "Chord Rx2"
Receive channel functions
This is used when using an external MIDI
device to control the chords for the auto-
matic accompaniment.
Chords can be specified by receiving
MIDI note events from an external device
on the specified channel. With this type of
input, chords can be detected over the full
range of the keyboard, regardless of the
split point setting.
Since the normal keyboard input and the
Chord Rx channels can function simulta-
neously, unexpected results may occur if you
use keyboard input together with MIDI input.
MIDI OUT
MIDI keyboard
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