A3000 Guide
31
Organizing Multis
If you intend to use the A3000 for complete song production, you should clearly
organize the Samples and Sample Banks within the Program. It is easy to lose track
when many Samples are loaded. Please do use the Sample Sort function to create
the same clear order within your A3000 Program that can be achieved in a Multi of a
workstation with a Part type structure. Following below is a description of how to
accomplish this.
Please begin by loading the Volume "XMPMULTI" on the supplied disk into the
A3000. In this "Example Multi" (Program 1), MIDI channels 1 to 16 already contain
one sound each. Crucial for the clarity of this Program is the fact that the names of
the Sample Banks correspond to MIDI channels (e.g., 01 Arpeggio = MIDI-Ch. 1). In
the "SmpSort" page, settings have been made so that the Samples and Sample Banks
assigned to the Program are shown first (Pgm = top) and that the names are sorted
in a forward direction (Name = forward). The Samples contained within Sample
Banks are not displayed (InBank = hide).
The 16 sounds contained within the Program are organized as Sample Banks
without exception. This principle has also been obeyed for sounds comprising of one
single Sample, e.g. for drum instruments with their own MIDI channel. This has a
definite advantage: The parameter values of the Sample Bank (e.g. MIDI channel,
Level, Pan, Output, EQ…) are maintained even if another Sample is assigned to the
Sample Bank. You can, for example, exchange the Sample assigned to the Sample
Bank "11Snare" at any time without having to set the playback parameters again.
The Drums have not been combined into a complete set and set to MIDI channel 10.
This would be possible though, since single drum instruments in a drum set
programmed as a Sample Bank can still be individually edited as Samples. However,
editing is less comfortable than direct editing of Sample Banks which have their own
MIDI channel. Another advantage is that drum sounds which have their own MIDI
channel can better be configured for Controller response. Volume, pan, and other
parameters of (say) a bass drum, hi-hat, snare etc. can be controlled individually on
a MIDI mixer, depending however on the programming of the Controller Matrix.
It does seem sensible however to combine some of the drum instruments, especially
considering the maximum number of 16 MIDI channels: hihats, toms, cymbals,
percussion can easily be combined into one Sample Bank each.
For bass drums, which are usually exchanged frequently, it can be useful to map
several “kicks” in different transpositions (e.g. C1, C2, C3, C4...) within the
corresponding Sample Bank. This allows the selection of several bass drums, which
in addition can be played at differing pitches.
These considerations may seem somehow complex and confusing. Bear in mind
though, that a well-designed organization saves much work and “grey matter” in the
long run, particularly in multitimbral situations. You may use the supplied XMP
Multi as a working basis for your own work – as an "Initial Multi" so to speak.
Due to the limited capacity of the floppy disk (1.4 MB) the synthesizer and drum
sounds have been kept rather small. The demo song "Satellite" however is a good
example of what is indeed possible with this Multi (UTILITY – SEQUENCE –
PLAY).
Try working with this Multi simply by playing the 16 sounds in turn. The sounds can
be selected by selecting MIDI channels on your keyboard (Transmit Ch.) or on your
sequencer (MIDI Ch. of the selected track).
