Standard Midi Files; The General Midi Standard; The Global Channel; The Chord 1 And Chord 2 Channels - Korg Pa3XLe User Manual

316 MIDI

Standard MIDI Files

Standard MIDI Files
Standard MIDI Files (a.k.a. SMF) are a practical way of exchang-
ing songs between different instruments and computers. Pa3XLe
uses the SMF format as its default song format, so reading a song
from a computer, or saving a song that a computer software can
read, is not a problem at all.
The internal Players are compatible with SMFs format 0 (all data
in one track; it is the most common format) and 1 (multitrack).
Pa3XLe can read SMFs in Song Play mode and modify/save
them in Sequencer mode. It can save a Song in SMF format 0
from Sequencer mode.
When in Song Play mode, Pa3XLe can also display SMF lyrics in
Ketron, M-Live (Midisoft), Tune1000, Edirol, GMX, HitBit, and
XF formats, and the chord abbreviations of SMF in Ketron, M-
Live (Midisoft), GMX, and XF format.
Note: The above trademarks are the property of their respective
holders. No endorsement is intended by their inclusion in this list.
Standard MIDI Files usually have the ".MID" or ".KAR" filename
extension. The .KAR extension is reserved for files conforming
with the Karaoke standard.

The General MIDI standard

Some years ago, the musical instruments world felt a need for
some further standardization. Then, the General MIDI Standard
(GM) was born. This extension of the basic MIDI sets new rules
for compatibility between instruments:
• A minimum of 16 MIDI channels was required.
• A basic set of 128 Sounds, correctly ordered, was mandatory.
• The Drum Kit had a standard order.
• Channel 10 had to be devoted to the Drum Kit.
A most recent extension is the GM2, that further expands the
Sounds database. Pa3XLe is sound-compatible with the GM2
standard.

The Global channel

Any channels with the Global option assigned (see "MIDI >
MIDI In Channels" on page 266) can simulate the Pa3XLe inte-
grated keyboard. When the Pa3XLe is connected to a master
keyboard, transmission should take place over the Global chan-
nel of the Pa3XLe.
The MIDI messages received over a Global channel and not over
a standard channel are affected by the status of the SPLIT button,
as well from the split point. Therefore, if the SPLIT button LED
is lit up, notes arriving to Pa3XLe over this channel will be
divided by the split point into the Upper (above the split point)
and Lower (below the split point) parts.
Notes arriving to a Global channel are used for the chord recog-
nition of the automatic accompaniment. If the SPLIT LED is
turned on, only the notes below the split point will be used.
These notes will be combined with the ones of the special Chord
1 and Chord 2 channels.

The Chord 1 and Chord 2 channels

You can set two special Chord channels (see page 266) to send
Pa3XLe notes for chord recognition. These notes will be com-
bined with the notes that go through the channel set as Global
(Global notes are recognized only under the split point, if the
SPLIT LED is lit up).
The Chord channels are not affected by the split point. All the
notes – both above and below the split point – will be sent to the
chord recognition.
However, the status of the SPLIT button has a particular effect
on the way chords are recognized on the Chord channels:
• When the SPLIT LED is turned on (Lower mode), the
chord recognition mode will be set by the "Chord Recogni-
tion" parameter in the Global > Mode Preferences > Style
page (see page 258). You can play a single note to play a
Major chord.
• When the SPLIT LED is turned off (Full Upper mode), the
chord recognition mode will always be Fingered or Expert,
depending on the previous situation. You have to play at
least three notes in order for the chord to be detected.
These two channels are especially useful for accordion players,
that wish to assign a different Chord channel to the chords and
the bass played with the left hand. This way, chords and bass will
both contribute to the formation of chords for the chord recog-
nition of the automatic accompaniment.

The Control channel

You can set a MIDI IN channel as the Control channel (see
page 266), to select Styles, Performance and SongBook Entries
from an external device. See the Appendix for a list of messages
corresponding to Pa3XLe internal data, and the "SongBook"
chapter for information about selecting SongBook Entries.

MIDI Presets

You can play Pa3XLe with an external controller, and use it sim-
ply as a powerful sound generator. To help you configure the
MIDI channels, we have provided a set of MIDI Presets that can
be accessed in the Global > MIDI > General Controls page (see
"Preset" on page 264).
We recommend you to consider each MIDI Preset as a starting
point you can freely tweak. Once you have selected the most
appropriate MIDI Preset for the connection to be made, you can
modify the parameters as needed and save them into a MIDI
Preset (see "Write Midi Preset dialog box" on page 281).