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Master Mode
OBJECT
UTILS (UTILITIES)
Pressing the UTILS soft button calls up the UTILITIES page, which gives you access to two
analytic and diagnostic tool. Additionally, pressing the two right-most soft buttons will call up
the UTILITIES page from any mode or editor. The UTILITIES page appears as shown below:
Pressing the MIDI soft button launches MIDIScope™, a useful subprogram that lets you monitor
the MIDI messages from the PC3A and those received via MIDI. This is a good way to make sure
you're receiving MIDI from MIDI masters. It's also good for making sure your controls are
assigned as you want them, checking your attack velocities, checking your controller values, etc.
Pressing the Voices soft button calls up the Voice Status page, which shows the PC3A's active
voice channels as you play. The Voice Status pages displays each active voice as a solid
rectangular block—for mono voices—or displays stereo pairs of voices as a > for the left channel
voice and a < for the right channel voice. Whatever symbol the page displays, when the key of a
voice is released, that voice's symbol on the Voices Status page turns into a dot during the release
portion of that voice's envelope. When the voice decays to silence, it is no longer active, and the
dot disappears. The Voice Status symbols appears as shown below:
The Voice Status page gives you an indication of the envelope level of each voice, though not
necessarily the volume level. Nonetheless, this can give you a valuable indication of how your
voices are being used. For example, if all or most of the voices are active, then there's a good
chance that when voice stealing takes place an audible voice will be reallocated.
The Voices utility works a bit differently for KB3 programs. The PC3A uses one voice of
polyphony for every two tone wheels in a KB3 program. In the Voices utility, the voices used by
the tone wheels appear as solid rectangular block, meaning that the voices are used for the KB3
program. They don't get reallocated at any time, since they're always on, even if you're not
playing any notes. Any voices not dedicated to a KB3 program behave normally. So if you have a
setup that contains a KB3 program in one zone, and VAST programs in one or more other zones,
you can monitor the voice allocation of the non-KB3 voices in the section of the display that isn't
constantly filled with solid rectangular blocks.
CPU usage is displayed in percent on the bottom of the page, which reflects how much of the
PC3A's total available CPU power is being used from moment to moment. Generally, having
more voices, complex Programs and effects in use at once will result in higher CPU usage.
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