Tone Generator Block; Tone Generator Block In The Voice Mode - Yamaha S70XS Reference Manual

Tone Generator Block

The tone generator block is what actually produces sound in response to the MIDI messages received from the
Sequencer block, the Controller block, the Arpeggio block and from the external MIDI instrument via the MIDI IN
connector or the USB connector. The MIDI messages are assigned to sixteen independent channels, and this
synthesizer is capable of simultaneously playing sixteen separate parts, via the sixteen MIDI channels. However, the
sixteen-channel limit can be overcome by using separate MIDI "ports," each supporting sixteen channels. The tone
generator block of this instrument can handle MIDI messages over Port 1. The structure of the tone generator block
differs depending on the mode.

Tone Generator Block in the Voice Mode

Part structure in the Voice mode
Only one MIDI channel can be recognized in the Voice mode because only one part is available in this
mode. This status is referred to as a "single timbre" tone generator. A Voice is played from the keyboard,
using a single part.
To set the MIDI receive channel for single timbre operation (Voice and Performance modes), use the
Basic Receive Ch parameter
recognizes only data over MIDI Port 1.
NOTE
If you want to play song data on an external MIDI sequencer or computer consisting of multiple MIDI
channels, make sure to use the Multi mode
Voice
A program that contains the sonic elements for generating a specific musical instrument sound is
referred to as a "Voice." Internally, there are two Voice types: Normal Voices and Drum Voices. Normal
Voices are mainly pitched musical instrument type sounds that can be played over the range of the
keyboard.
Each Voice consists of up to eight Elements (Normal Voice) or up to 73 keys (Drum Voice).
An Element or Drum Key is the basic and the smallest unit for a Voice. This means that only one Element
or key can produce the musical instrument sound. In addition, a Normal Voice can produce the realistic
sound or various types of sound by combining multiple Elements. Each Voice is created by editing
parameters unique to each element/key (Element Edit parameters/Key Edit parameters) and
parameters common to all the elements/keys (Common Edit parameters). In Element Edit and Key Edit,
you can edit the parameters only on the S90 XS/S70 XS Editor.
NOTE
For instructions on editing a Normal Voice, see
58.
Normal Voices & Drum Voices
Normal Voices
This is a Voice which is played conventionally from
the keyboard, with standard pitches sounding for
each key. A Normal Voice consists of up to eight
Elements. Depending on the settings in the Voice
Edit mode, these Elements are sounded
simultaneously, or the different Elements are
sounded according to the note range, velocity
range and the XA (Expanded Articulation) settings.
The illustration is an example of a Normal Voice. Since the six Elements here are distributed across both
the note range of the keyboard and the velocity range, a different Element sounds depending on which
note you play and how strongly you play it. In the note distribution, Elements 1 and 2 sound in the lower
range of the keyboard, Elements 3 and 4 sound in the middle range, and Elements 5 and 6 sound in the
higher range. In the velocity distribution, Elements 1, 3 and 5 sound when playing the keyboard softly,
while Elements 2, 4 and 6 sound when playing it strongly. In a practical example of this in use, a piano
Voice could be composed of six different samples. Elements 1, 3 and 5 would be the sounds of the
piano played softly, over the respective note ranges, while Elements 2, 4 and 6 would be strongly
played sounds, for each respective note range. Actually, the S90 XS/S70 XS is even more flexible than
this, since it allows up to eight independent Elements.
(page 137) in the Utility MIDI display. In the Voice mode, the instrument
(page 6).
page
Reference Manual
Basic Structure
34. For instructions on editing a Drum Voice, see
Element 2 Element 4
Velocity
Element 1 Element 3
Basic Structure
Functional Blocks
Tone Generator
A/D Input
Arpeggio
Sequencer
Audio Record/Play
Controller
Effect
Internal Memory
Reference
Voice
Performance
Multi
SEQ Play
Master
Remote
File
Audio Rec/Play
Utility
Appendix
About MIDI
Display Messages
Troubleshooting
page
Element 6
Element 5
3