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MIDI BASE CH: 1
BANK: Low
MIDI BASE CH: 1
BANK: Low
5. MIDI Bank Selecting
Many MIDI devices permit access to a variety of sounds in addition to the General MIDI
sounds. Normally these additional sounds are stored in groups called BANKS. A BANK
in MIDI terminology means a group of voices or sounds. There are two levels of banks.
One level offers two choices, High Bank and Low Bank. Each of these, High Bank and
Low Bank, has as sub-groups other level of banks, BANK Numbers.
MIDI devices can have as many as 128 sounds/voices per BANK Number. There can
also be 128 available BANK Numbers (Ø through 127). With 128 BANK Numbers, each
could contain up to 128 voices/sounds, for a total of 16,384 sounds. For an easier
explanation, think of these BANK Numbers as floors or stories in a tall building. Each
floor would contain 128 rooms and each room could then contain 128 voices.
There are MIDI devices that are High Bank and
Low Bank compatible. It would be
possible for these MIDI devices to have as many as (128 X 128 X 2 = 32,768
voices/sounds) 128 voices/sounds in each of the 128 BANK Numbers, in each of the
High and Low Banks. Most MIDI devices do not use all of the locations available. It
would be very expensive as well as difficult to remember the address for each sound
location. There are also MIDI devices that offer only General MIDI sounds/voices.
These General MIDI devices may operate using High Bank or Low Bank, but only the
sub-group Ø Bank Number is used to store the 128 General MIDI sound settings. Allen
Organs are able to access any of the Banks and therefore can communicate with all MIDI
devices.
Note:
You MUST know the capabilities of, and understand how to operate, the MIDI
device you intend to use with the organ!
Selecting High Bank or Low Bank:
Advance to the 'MIDI BASE CHANNEL' window function
(see Section A-2)
.
Press the
CURSOR
button until the cursor is positioned on the BANK value.
Turn the
ROTARY DIAL
to select either HIGH or LOW Bank priority.
MIDI BASE CH: 1
BANK: Low
MIDI BASE CH: 1
BANK: High