9
Important Features
Panel logos
The logos printed on the PSR-740/640 panel indicate standards/formats it supports and special features it includes.
GM System Level 1
“GM System Level 1” is an addition to the MIDI standard which guarantees that any data con-
forming to the standard will play accurately on any GM-compatible tone generator or synthesizer
from any manufacturer.
XG
XG is a new Yamaha MIDI specification which significantly expands and improves on the GM
System Level 1 standard with greater voice handling capacity, expressive control, and effect
capability while retaining full compatibility with GM. By using the PSR-740/640’s XG voices, it
is possible to record XG-compatible song files.
XF
The Yamaha XF format enhances the SMF (Standard MIDI File) standard with greater functional-
ity and open-ended expandability for the future. The PSR-740/640 is capable of displaying lyrics
when an XF file containing lyric data is played.
Vocal Harmony
Vocal Harmony employs state-of-the-art digital signal processing technology to automatically add
appropriate vocal harmony to a lead vocal line sung by the user. Vocal Harmony can even change
the character and gender of the lead voice as well as the added voices to produce a wide range of
vocal harmony effects.
DOC
The DOC voice allocation format provides data playback compatibility with a wide range of
Yamaha instruments and MIDI devices, including the Clavinova series.
Style File Format
The Style File Format — SFF — is Yamaha’s original style file format which uses a unique
conversion system to provide high-quality automatic accompaniment based on a wide range of
chord types. The PSR-740/640 uses the SFF internally, reads optional SFF style disks, and creates
SFF styles using the Style Recording feature.
* Chorus enriches the voices by making them sound
warmer and thicker — as if several instruments were
playing together at the same time. (
→
Page 52)
* The DSP effects let you process the sound in special,
unusual ways — such as applying distortion or tremolo to
a specific part. (The PSR-640 has one DSP system; the
PSR-740 features three DSP systems that can be used
simultaneously.) (
→
Pages 53-55)
* Harmony/Echo lets you enhance your right-hand melo-
dies with a variety of harmony and echo effects. (
→
Page
56)
* Master EQ (on the PSR-740) gives you fine control over
the overall sound by letting you adjust the tone in five
separate frequency bands. (
→
Page 59)
Disk Drive
• The PSR-740/640 also features a built-in disk drive that lets
you save all your important original data (such as User
songs, User styles, User Multi Pads, Registration Memory,
etc.) to floppy disk for future recall. (
→
Page 65)
Vocal Harmony (PSR-740)
• The amazing Vocal Harmony feature (on the PSR-740)
automatically produces backup vocal harmonies for lead
vocals that you sing into a microphone. You can even
change the gender of the harmony voices — for example,
letting you add female backup to your own male voice (or
vice versa). (
→
Page 82)
MIDI
• MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a worldwide
standard interface that allows various electronic music
instruments, computers and other devices to communicate
with each other. The MIDI features let you seamlessly
integrate the PSR-740/640 into a variety of systems and
applications:
* Play other instruments from the PSR-740/640. (
→
Page
124)
* Play the sounds of the PSR-740/640 (including the auto
accompaniment) from a connected keyboard. (
→
Page
124)
* Connect the PSR-740/640 directly to a computer, for
advanced recording, editing and playing back of song
data. (
→
Page 126)
* Use pre-programmed templates to instantly configure the
PSR-740/640 for your specific MIDI system/application.
(
→
Page 128)
7
Summary of Contents for PortaTone PSR-640
Page 1: ......
