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6

Preparation

Using Batteries

Your keyboard can use six AA batteries
(not supplied) for power. For the best
performance and longest life, we recom-
mend RadioShack alkaline batteries.

Cautions:

• Use only fresh batteries of the

required size and recommended
type.

• Do not mix old and new batteries,

different types of batteries (stan-
dard, alkaline, or rechargeable), or
rechargeable batteries of different
capacities.

Follow these steps to install batteries.

1. Slide 

POWER/MODE

 to 

OFF

.

2. While pressing the tab on the bat-

tery compartment cover on the bot-
tom of the keyboard, pull up the
cover to remove it.

3. Place the batteries in the compart-

ment as indicated by the polarity
symbols (+ and –) marked below the
compartment.

4. Replace the cover.

When the keyboard stops operating
properly, replace the batteries.

Warning:  Dispose of old batteries
promptly and properly. Do not burn or
bury them.

Caution: If you do not plan to use the
keyboard with batteries for a week or
more, remove the batteries. Batteries
can leak chemicals that can destroy
electronic parts.

Using AC Power

You can power the keyboard using a 9V,
800-mA AC adapter and a size M
Adaptaplug™ adapter (neither sup-
plied). Both are available at your local
RadioShack store.

Cautions:

You must use a Class 2
power source that supplies
9V DC and delivers at least

800 mA. Its center tip must be set to
negative and its plug must fit the
keyboard's 

DC 9V 

jack. Using an

adapter that does not meet these
specifications could damage the
keyboard or the adapter.

• Always connect the AC adapter to

the keyboard before you connect it
to AC power. When you finish, dis-
connect the adapter from AC power
before you disconnect it from the
keyboard.

Follow these steps to connect an AC
adapter to the keyboard.

1. Slide 

POWER/MODE

 to 

OFF

.

2. Set the DC adapter’s voltage switch

to 9V.

3. Insert the Adaptaplug adapter into

the adapter’s cord so it reads – TIP. 

4. Connect the AC adapter’s barrel

plug to the 

DC 9V 

jack on the back of

the keyboard.

!

DC 9V

42-4042.fm  Page 6  Friday, April 28, 2000  11:18 AM

Summary of Contents for MD-981

Page 1: ...Owner s Manual Please read before using this equipment MD 981 MIDI Keyboard 42 4042 fm Page 1 Friday April 28 2000 11 18 AM ...

Page 2: ... Playing Along with a Prerecorded Tune 11 Turning Applause Off On 12 Consecutively Playing Back the Tunes 12 Using the Preset Tones 12 Selecting Playing a Preset Tone 12 Keyboard Split Tones 13 Layered Tones 13 Percussion Sounds 13 Using the Preset Auto Rhythms 14 Selecting Playing an Auto Rhythm 14 Using SYNCHRO 15 Using FILL IN 15 Using Auto Accompaniment 15 Adjusting the Accompaniment Volume 15...

Page 3: ...out MIDI 21 Making the MIDI Connections 21 MIDI Data 22 Changing MIDI Settings 22 Notes About the MIDI Implementation Chart 23 Troubleshooting 24 Standard Fingering Chord Charts 26 Note Table 29 MIDI Implementation Chart 31 Care and Maintenance 32 Specifications 33 42 4042 fm Page 3 Friday April 28 2000 11 18 AM ...

Page 4: ...ong with the fingering current tone rhythm volume melody and tempo The display also shows a metronome icon to indicate the beat 100 Tones you can set your key board to sound like anything from a harpsichord to a honky tonk piano 100 Auto Rhythms give you a steady beat for many styles of music from rhumba to slow rock 100 Prerecorded Tunes let you hear a sample of what you and the keyboard can do Y...

Page 5: ... interference in a residential area However your equipment might cause TV or radio interference even when it is operating properly To elimi nate interference you can try one or more of the following corrective mea sures reorient or relocate the receiving antenna increase the distance between the equipment and the radio or TV use outlets on different electrical cir cuits for the keyboard and the ra...

Page 6: ... the keyboard with batteries for a week or more remove the batteries Batteries can leak chemicals that can destroy electronic parts Using AC Power You can power the keyboard using a 9V 800 mA AC adapter and a size M Adaptaplug adapter neither sup plied Both are available at your local RadioShack store Cautions You must use a Class 2 power source that supplies 9V DC and delivers at least 800 mA Its...

Page 7: ...3 Set the DC adapter s voltage switch to 9 volts 4 Connect the DC adapter s barrel plug to the DC 9V jack on the back of the keyboard 5 Plug the DC adapter s other end into your vehicle s cigarette lighter socket CONNECTING HEADPHONES To listen to your keyboard without dis turbing others you can connect an op tional pair of stereo headphones with a 1 4 inch 6 4 mm plug Your local Ra dioShack store...

Page 8: ...such as AUX IN or TAPE IN Your local RadioShack store sells a full line of amplifiers speakers and connec tion cables USING THE SHEET MUSIC STAND To easily view sheet music while playing your keyboard insert the supplied sheet music stand into the holes on the top back panel ˆ A Quick Look at Your Keyboard PHONES OUTPUT List SONGS 100 TONE RHYTHM SONG CHORD BOOK TRANSPOSE TUNE MIDI ACCOMP VOLUME 1...

Page 9: ...MAIN VOLUME or to increase or decrease the volume The current setting ap pears Notes The keyboard s volume ranges from 0 no sound to 9 maxi mum Each time you turn on the keyboard the volume is set to 7 To quickly change the volume set ting hold down MAIN VOLUME or To quickly return to the default volume setting of 7 press both MAIN VOLUME buttons at the same time The volume level differs depend in...

Page 10: ...Step 2 even while a tune is play ing The new tune immediately begins to play As a tune plays the display shows a score to show you the notes that are playing right side of the display a keyboard to show you the fin gering and which keys are pressed bottom of the display a metronome to show you the selected tempo the metro nome s bar swings along with the tempo you selected and the black dots above...

Page 11: ...rded tune so you can Note You can find the scores for most of the prerecorded tunes in the Play Guide for the Prerecorded Tunes sup plied with your keyboard 1 Select and enter the tune you want to play 2 Press ON OFF RIGHT to turn off the melody R disappears from the hands indicating that the key board is not playing the right hand portion of the music Press ON OFF LEFT to turn off the accompanime...

Page 12: ...rd s preset tones Some of the keyboard s preset tones however are capable of only 6 note polyphony Most tones on this keyboard have been recorded and processed using a technique called digital sampling To ensure a high level of tonal qual ity samples are taken in the low mid and high ranges and are then combined to sound amazingly close to the originals You might notice very slight differences in ...

Page 13: ...ed Tones The preset tones numbered 80 through 89 on your keyboard let you automati cally play two different layered tones at the same time when you press one key For example STR PNO No 80 plays string and piano tones when you press a key Percussion Sounds PERCUSSION No 99 lets you play the 35 different percussion sounds shown here The symbol for each sound ap pears above the corresponding key on t...

Page 14: ...choose an auto rhythm from the 100 RHYTHMS list and enter its two digit number on the keypad Or repeatedly press or to move to the next higher or lower numbered rhythm Notes Precede a single digit number with a 0 For example press 0 5 to select POP BALLAD No 05 If you incorrectly enter the first digit of the rhythm press RHYTHM to clear the entry and return to the last selected auto rhythm 3 Press...

Page 15: ...keyboard to play two dif ferent types of auto accompaniment us ing the accompaniment keys Concert Chord lets you play chords on the accompaniment keys using chord formations of from one to four notes The number of keys you press determines the type of chord that plays see Concert Chord on Page 16 Standard Fingering lets you play chords on the accompaniment keys using standard chord formations of t...

Page 16: ...ant seventh or minor seventh chord Follow these steps to start concert chord auto accompaniment 1 Set POWER MODE to CONCERT CHORD 2 Enter a two digit auto rhythm num ber 3 To start the auto rhythm before the auto accompaniment press START STOP Or to synchronize the start of the selected auto rhythm with your accompaniment press SYNCHRO FILL IN 4 Begin the accompaniment at the desired interval by p...

Page 17: ... preceding chart to produce a 7 m7 M7 mM7 9 or m9 chord This chart shows only one possible fingering position for each chord It is possi ble to play a chord using several different positions For example the following three fingering positions produce the same C chord Major M Minor m Augmented aug Suspended 4th SUS4 Dominant 7th 7 Minor 7th m7 Major 7th M7 Minor Half Diminished m7 5 Major Half Dimi...

Page 18: ...e rhythm simply press the auto accompaniment keys required to form the new chord 7 To stop auto accompaniment and the auto rhythm press START STOP USING THE CHORD BOOK You can use your keyboard s chord book display feature to see which keys to press and which fingers to use to form a chord You can also display the name of a chord you play Follow these steps to use the chord book feature 1 Set POWE...

Page 19: ... have finished press CHORD BOOK to turn off chord book ˆ Special Features CHANGING KEYS The keyboard automatically selects the key of middle C each time you turn it on For added flexibility as you play the keyboard lets you change transpose the musical key in which it plays Note You cannot change the key while a prerecorded tune is selected or play ing 1 Repeatedly press TRANSPOSE TUNE MIDI until ...

Page 20: ... shows Tune and the current pitch setting Note The number on the display is the number of cents to which the keyboard is currently tuned com pared to its default pitch A cent is the measurement that represents the acoustical interval between two tones 1200 cents equal 1 octave You can tune the keyboard to within 50 cents 101 levels of its default pitch 2 Within 5 seconds repeatedly press or to low...

Page 21: ...not actually carry sound between them like a speaker wire carries sound from a receiver to a speaker Instead MIDI equipped devices communicate with each other using digital codes in structions One MIDI device sends digi tal instructions representing exactly what is being played on it The other MIDI device receives and translates those instructions then produces or records the sound exactly as it w...

Page 22: ...tone The keyboard sends program change data in the range of 0 to 99 correspond ing to tone numbers It receives data within the same range if GM tone map ping is set to N or in the range of 0 to 127 if GM tone mapping is set to G In the latter case tones in the range of 100 to 127 are translated to the closest tone that the keyboard has Pitch Bend supplies pitch bend infor mation The keyboard s pit...

Page 23: ...this fea ture The following notes explain what the keyboard can do Basic Channel MIDI uses up to 16 channels to exchange data As in a TV broadcast different channels send dif ferent data The keyboard can send data in any of 16 channels but receives data only on channels 1 through 4 or 10 Mode The chart shows that Mode 3 is OMNI OFF POLY This means the keyboard sends and receives polyphon ic data o...

Page 24: ...ume is turned down Repeatedly press MAIN VOL UME to increase the volume Headphones are con nected Disconnect headphones Power supply problem Check the power supply Are battery symbols facing correctly Are the batteries fresh Is the AC or DC adapter con nected properly You are pressing too few accompaniment keys while POWER MODE is set to FINGERED Set POWER MODE to NOR MAL or CONCERT CHORD Press 3 ...

Page 25: ...ne octave lower Tone map parameter is set to N Set the tone map parameter to G see Changing MIDI Set tings on Page 22 Sounds sent to another MIDI device by the key board do not sound cor rect The other device s MIDI THRU function is turned on Turn off the MIDI THRU func tion on the other device Trouble Possible Cause Remedy 42 4042 fm Page 25 Friday April 28 2000 11 18 AM ...

Page 26: ...the chords you play most often This illustration shows which fingers on your left hand match the num bers on the charts The illustration also appears on your keyboard s dis play Note You cannot play chords marked with an asterisk in the fingered mode on this keyboard 42 4042 fm Page 26 Friday April 28 2000 11 18 AM ...

Page 27: ...27 Standard Fingering Chord Charts 42 4042 fm Page 27 Friday April 28 2000 11 18 AM ...

Page 28: ...28 Standard Fingering Chord Charts 42 4042 fm Page 28 Friday April 28 2000 11 18 AM ...

Page 29: ...29 Note Table ˆ Note Table Legend 1 Tone number 2 Maximum polyphony 3 Range type see Page 30 4 Corresponding general MIDI number see MIDI Data on Page 22 42 4042 fm Page 29 Friday April 28 2000 11 18 AM ...

Page 30: ...ving MIDI data Range transposed to nearest octave when receiving MIDI data or using the keyboard s transpose function 1 The received MIDI data is played one octave lower 2 The received MIDI data is played one octave higher 42 4042 fm Page 30 Friday April 28 2000 11 18 AM ...

Page 31: ... the main vol ume value is 1 or 0 3 no relation After Touch Keys Channels X X X X Pitch Bender X O Control Change 1 6 38 7 10 11 64 100 101 120 121 X X X X X O X X X O X O O X O X X X Modulation Data entry Volume Pan Expression Hold1 RPN LSB MSB All sound off Reset all controller Program Change True O 0 99 O 0 127 4 4 Depends on GM Tone Map setting When set to N only the 100 normal list tones from...

Page 32: ...eyboard so you can en joy it for years Keep the keyboard dry If it gets wet wipe it dry immediately Liquids might contain minerals that can corrode the electronic circuits Use and store the keyboard only in normal temperature environments Temperature extremes can shorten the life of electronic devices dam age batteries and distort or melt plastic parts Keep the keyboard away from dust and dirt whi...

Page 33: ...s DC 6 AA batteries AC 120V 60Hz with AC adapter Vehicle Battery 9V with DC adapter Power Consumption 7 7 W Use only fresh batteries of the required size and recommended type Batteries can leak chemicals that damage your keyboard s electronic parts Wipe the keyboard with a damp cloth occasionally to keep it looking new Do not use harsh chemicals cleaning solvents or strong deter gents to clean the...

Page 34: ...t Without Batteries 8 lb 14 oz 4 kg Included Accessories Sheet Music Stand Play Guide for the Prerecorded Tunes Specifications are typical individual units might vary Specifications are subject to change and improvement without notice 42 4042 fm Page 34 Friday April 28 2000 11 18 AM ...

Page 35: ...35 Notes ˆ Notes 42 4042 fm Page 35 Friday April 28 2000 11 18 AM ...

Page 36: ...oduct defect during the warranty period take the product and the RadioShack sales receipt as proof of purchase date to any RadioShack store RadioShack will at its option un less otherwise provided by law a correct the defect by product repair without charge for parts and labor b replace the product with one of the same or similar design or c refund the purchase price All replaced parts and product...

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