Yamaha QX3 Manual page 10

QX3
An
lntroduc ..
tion To
Yamaha's
Newest Digital
Sequence
Recorder.
By
Tom Darter.
T
HE NEW QX3 digital sequence recorder is
a 16-track MIDI sequencer with a built-in
3.5" disk drive. Each of the 16 tracks can con-
tain unlimited simultaneous polyphony. The
total capacity of the QX3 is 48,000 notes with
velocity (in Chain Play mode). Up to 24,000
notes can be recorded in one pass. The time
resolution of the unit is 96 clocks per quarter-
note.
The QX3 is designed to be a full-feature se-
quencer like the QX1; at the same time,
though, the QX3 offers a number of significant
improvements over its older brother. Some of
the most obvious ( 16 tracks instead of 8 and a
disk drive that uses the smaller, denser, more
durable 3.5" disks) are mentioned above, but
there are many more. Unlike the QX1, the
QX3 receives and records aftertouch data. It
generates and receives MIDI Song Position
Pointer, and can be synced to an external MIDI
clock or tape clock for both recording or
playback. The QX3 features 512K of internal
RAM, which almost completely eliminates the
long "executing now!" delays found on the
QXl. Finally, the QX3 offers a combined Play/
Record mode and greater accessibility to all
functions, both of which make the QX3 signifi-
cantly easier and less time-consuming to operate
than the QXl.
The unit's front panel includes a number of
features designed for ease of operation. These
include a 40x2 LCD with a variable contrast
control, Note Value and Note Name keys, a
numeric keypad for entering data, Track Select
keys, an Editing Dial, F1 and F2 keys, and
much more. The Editing Dial can be used to set
tempo, move through measures (in Play/Record
mode), move through events in a track (in Edit
mode), or to select a file number (when saving
to or loading from disk). The Function Key fea-
ture allows you to assign any procedure up to
128 keystrokes long to the F1 or F2 keys.
Record/Play Mode
The QX3 offers Real Time, Step Time, and
Punch-In recording. Punch-In recording may
be performed manually or automatically.
Punch-In can begin or end anywhere (even in
the middle of a measure), and can be used in
conjunction with a fully-implemented Auto-
Locate feature.
The QX3 offers great range in defining time
signatures. The basic beat for a time signature
ranges from whole notes (x/1) to thirty-second
10
AITERTOUCH!Vol. 3 No.8
notes (x/32), and the number of beats ranges
from 1 to 64. As with the QX1, different time
signatures may be used in a single song, and
time signature changes are shared by all tracks.
However, unlike the QX1, the time signature of
a measure cannot be changed once the measure
has been recorded.
Each track on the QX3 holds data for one
MIDI channel. In other words, channel data is
not recorded. The MIDI channel of outgoing
data is determined by the Output Channel set-
ting for each track. If you want to record incom-
ing data that involves a number of MIDI chan-
nels simultaneously, you need to record on two
or more tracks, and set each track to receive on
a different MIDI channel. Receive Channel
and Output Channel settings may be different.
The QX3 has two MIDI OUT ports, and
each track may be assigned to either or both of
these two OUTs for playback. The unit also has
an Echo Back function that allows incoming
MIDI data to be merged with outgoing MIDI
data at the unit's MIDI OUT ports.
The QX3 has 32 Job Commands available in
the Record/Play mode, as follows:
1) Click
2) Click Beat
3) Count In
4) Measure Locate
5) Auto Punch Point
6) Foot Switch
7) Setup Save
8) Setup Load
9) Song Clear
10) Erase Track
11) Sync Clock
12) Echo Back
13) Output Channel
14) Output Port
15) Receive Channel
16) Receive Event
17) Remote In
18) Remote Out
19) Song Select In
20) MIDI Monitor
21) Memory Status
22) Disk Status
23) Disk Format
24) Disk Copy
25) Number ofFiles
26) File Rename
27) File Kill
28) E-Seq File Load
29) QX1 Data In