Style Record Mode; The Style Structure - Korg pa 500 User Manual

104

Style Record mode

The Style structure

Style Record mode
By entering the Style Record mode, you can create your own
Styles, or edit an existing Style.
The Style structure
The term "Style" relates with music sequences automatically
played by the arranger of the Pa500. A Style consists of a pre-
defined number of Style Elements (E) (Pa500 features thirteen
different Style Elements: Variation 1-4, Intro 1-3, Fill 1-3, End-
ing 1-3). When playing, these Style Elements can be selected
directly from the control panel, using the corresponding but-
tons.
To explain the Style structure, we can use a tree-structure, as
shown in the following diagram:
Pop Ballad
Variation 1
CV1
Drum
Perc
Bass
Acc1
Acc2
Acc3
Acc4
Acc5
CV2
CV3
CV4
CV5
CV6
Each Style Element is made up of smaller units, called Chord
Variations (CV), but not all of them have the same number of
CVs. Variations 1-4 have up to 6 CVs each, while the other Style
Elements have only up to 2 CVs.
When you play on the chord recognition area (Lower or Full,
depending on the status of the SPLIT button on the control
panel), the arranger scans the keyboard and determines which
chord you are playing. Then, depending on the selected Style
Element, it determines which Chord Variation (CV) should be
played for the scanned chord. Which Chord Variation corre-
sponds to each scanned chord is a setting of the Style: the Chord
Variation Table. Each Style Element contains a Chord Variation
Table, whose prototype is the following:
Chord
Maj
6
M7
Variation 2 M7b5
Sus4
Variation 3
Sus2
M7sus4
Variation 4
min
Intro1
m6
m7
CV1
m7b5
mM7
CV2
7
Intro 2
7b5
7sus4
Intro 3/C.In
dim
Fill 1
dimM7
aug
Fill 2
aug7
augM7
Fill 3/Break
no 3rd
Ending 1
no 3rd, no 5th
b5
Ending 2
dim7
Ending 3
After deciding what CV to play, the arranger triggers the right
sequence for each track. Since each sequence is written in a par-
ticular key (for example, CMajor, GMajor or Emin), the
arranger transposes it according to the scanned chord. Notes in
the sequence are carefully transposed, to make them work fine
with all recognized chords.
Going deeper into the Style structure, we can see that each
Chord Variation is made up of Track Sequences, and the Pa500
supports 8 different tracks. DRUM and PERC are used for drum
and percussion sequences, BASS for bass and ACC1-5 are for
accompaniment sequences (string, guitar, piano or other accom-
paniment instruments).
Chord Variations (CVs)
Variation 1-4 Intro 1-3, Fill 1-3, Ending 1-3
CV1 – CV6 CV1 – CV2