Yamaha QX3 Manual page 17

the parts, or we will lose some of the voices on
the highest tracks.
If,
for example, we simply
assign a MIDI channel to Part 2 and delete Part
6, we will have the following: By the time we
get to Part 5, the FM Music Composer will have
counted seven MIDI voices, leaving only one
voice-and we need four. (Remember, once .the
program counts one MIDI voice, all subsequent
voices are counted as MIDI voices.)
Creating Subtle Harps Voices With The FB-
01
By Don F. Hill
I use an FB-01 FM tone module with my
Yamaha ME- 50 organ. The FB module has three
harp voices: 3-28 Harp,
7125
Harp2, and
7126
Harp3. I was dissatisfied with these. They didn't
sound the way harps ought to sound, especially
in a glissando-where a harpist runs his or her
hands over a series of strings, leaving them
vibrating. On a keyboard instrument, one can
try to produce a glissando effect, but the "pluck-
ing" and "snapping" of the strings doesn't sound ,
right.
Without other means of voicing, it occurred
to me to try to create better harp sounds using
voices already at hand in the FB-01. This could
be done by stacking in the Configuration mode.
I started with the 3/28 Harp voice on
Instrument # 1, channel 1, with 4 notes as-
signed as the maximum level of 127. I like the
harp set down one octave (- 1) on my upper
organ keyboard manual, since the lower harp
strings are the usual ones we hear. To modify
this basic sound, I tried to increase the plucked
effect, and found that if I set instrument #2 on
channel 1 also and gave it 3 notes, I was left
with 1 note for Instrument #3 (on channel l)
for another voice. It turned out that both were
needed.
On Instrument #2, I experimented until I
located 7
I 18
PluckGt. At a level of 116, with
octave at 0 and detune at
+
10, this addition
gave a bit more pluck to the harp string sound.
On Instrument #3, the voice added was the 7 I
22 Lute, also at level 116 and octave 0.
This combined harp sound seems much
more harp-like to me, and one can run a finger
over an octave of keys, holding the last by aim-
ing at it as one's finger glides-this causes a glis-
FB-0
1
FM digiwl
tone
module.
sando effect with more plucking sounds of
strings, the way a harpist catches them along
the way up or down a glissando.
For the sound of a softer harp, the same
Configuration can be used; but instead of
7122
Lute on Instrument #3, use the
7124
SftHarp.
The above two Configurations are much
alike, both recreating the sound of the harp's
lower strings. For the higher harp strings, a
third Configuration is needed, as follows: For
Instrument # 1, keep the 3/28 Harp set at vol-
ume 12 7 and octave - 1 as before. Add 7 I 2 7
SftKoto on Instrument #2, with a level of 110,
octave ofO, and detune of+ 10. On Instrument
#3, add
7124
SftHarp at level 116. Somehow,
this combination produces a higher sound, even
though the Instrument # 1 harp voice hasn't
changed. Evidently, the SftKoto creates the
effect.
These settings will give you three additional
harp voices on your FB-0 1. They can all be
stored as Configurations; or, you can store just
the first one as a Configuration, and make the
slight changes that create the other two setups
manually.
Setting Up An
AlB Balance Control For The
DX7 II In Voice Mode
By Eugene Beer
After playing with my new DX7 II for a cou-
ple of
weeks, I began to wish that it had an AlB
balance control to set the patch balance for
tone generators A and B in Dual and Split
modes. This capability is provided for in Perfor-
mance mode, but that requires one to decide in
advance what pairs of patches are to be stored
together in Performance memory. I have 64
Single patches, and, on the spur of the mo-
ment, I want to be able to hear any one of them
paired with any other with adjustable balance.
Continued on
page
20
Vol. 3 No. 8/ AITERTOUCH
17