Reference Manual
Basic Structure
4
Drum Voice
Drum Voices are mainly percussion/drum sounds that are assigned to individual notes on the keyboard.
A collection of assigned percussion/drum waves or Normal Voices is known as a Drum Kit.
Unlike Elements, the Drum key is equivalent to the corresponding note, meaning that you cannot
change its range. Drum or percussion sounds are assigned to each Drum Key. You can create various
types of Drum Voices by changing the drum or percussion sound assigned to each key and edit the
parameters such as pitch and EG.
Expanded Articulation (XA) is a specially designed tone generation system that provides greater
performance flexibility and acoustic realism.
This feature, adopted from the MOTIF XS synthesizer, allows you to more effectively recreate realistic
sound and natural performance techniques—such as legato and staccato—and provides other unique
modes for random and alternate sound changes as you play.
Realistic legato performance
Conventional synthesizers recreate a legato effect by continuing the volume envelope of a previous note
on to the next one, in the mono mode. However, this results in an unnatural sound different from that of
an actual acoustic instrument. Like the technology of the MOTIF XS series, the S90 XS/S70 XS more
accurately reproduces a legato effect by allowing specific Elements to be sounded when playing legato
and other Elements to be played normally (with the XA Control parameter settings “normal” and
“legato”).
Authentic note release sound
Conventional synthesizers are not good at realizing the sound produced when the note of the acoustic
instrument is released. The S90 XS/S70 XS realizes the sound produced when the note of the acoustic
instrument is released, by setting the XA Control parameter of a certain Element to “key off sound.”
Subtle sound variations for each note played
Conventional synthesizers attempt to reproduce this by randomly changing the pitch and/or filter.
However, this produces an electronic effect and is different from the real sound changes on an acoustic
instrument. The S90 XS/S70 XS more accurately reproduces these subtle sound variations by using the
XA Control parameter settings, “wave cycle” and “wave random.”
Switching among different sounds to recreate the natural performance on an
acoustic instrument
Acoustic instruments have their own unique characteristics—even specific, unique sounds that are
produced only at certain times in a performance. These include the flutter tonguing on a flute or the
playing of high harmonics on an acoustic guitar. Conventional synthesizers (before the MOTIF XS
series) could realize such sounds, for example, by triggering them through high (strong) velocity. The
S90 XS/S70 XS, on the other hand, recreates these special sounds by allowing you to switch between
the sounds while you play-using the ASSIGNABLE FUNCTION buttons and the XA Control parameter
settings, “AF 1 on,” “AF 2 on” and “all AF off.” This gives you a level of natural, expressive control
previously unavailable.
NOTE
You can turn the ASSIGNABLE FUNCTION [1]/[2] button on or off also by transmitting the Control Change
number specified as “A Func 1/2 Ctrl No.” (
) in the Utility Controller display from an external device.
New sounds and new styles of playing
The highly versatile functions above can be applied effectively not only to acoustic sounds but also to
synthesizer and electronic Voices as well. The XA feature opens up enormous potential for realizing
authentic sounds, performing expressively and coming up with creative new styles of playing.
Expanded Articulation (XA)
C0
C1
C6
Individual drum sounds
(different for each key)
Key 1 Key 5 Key 10 Key 18
Key 73
