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doing so would disable any ASSIGN settings in your Perfor-
mance. The “KNOBPFM.MID” file can be used to return all
Knob assignments to their factory presets.
Another small tip for tinkerers: If you decide to use the
above alternative Controller assignments as standard for
your song productions, it may be wise to label each Knob
with little stickers for reference, e.g. “Volume” below the
“Attack” label.
So, what‘s it like to work with these newly defined Multi
controllers? Quite comfortable actually, as it is now possible
to vary the sequencer‘s currently active MIDI channel with
them. You can use the sequencer to record each change you
make, particularly useful if you want to make real-time sound
changes during the song. However, we are currently only
concerned with the initial values at the beginning of the
song, so feel free to tinker with the controls – don‘t worry yet
about ‘writing’ those values. Any changes you make are
automatically stored in your keyboard as Part settings any-
way, but remember to use a Request to transfer the settings
to the sequencer and store them there, at least before you
turn off your keyboard. The procedure for this is exactly as
described above, but with one exception: use the file “REQP-
FALL.MID” this time, as its Request is limited to the Parts
available in the Performance mode, i.e. 5 – 16.
By the way, you can use the Knobs as described in Multi
mode too. This allows you to visually track any changes you
make on the display by selecting the relevant parameter –
handy.
If you are using only a few sequencer tracks for your com-
position, you can use single Part Requests to get the Part
data (REQPART 1 – 16). This method has two advantages:
For one the data bulk is significantly smaller as only neces-
sary settings are transferred. Secondly, a change to a single
Part doesn‘t require a repeat Request for all MIDI channels
every time.
Devotees of the ‘building block’ principle may spot yet
another advantage to this approach: each Part‘s settings can
be archived separately and can then be reused for other
songs. How about a Part library, sorted into categories such
as Drums, Bass, Sequencer and Hooklines, Chords, Pads,
etc.?
Saving settings per single Request will also be invaluable if
you are planning to set the Multi Parts using the faders or
mixer pages from within the sequencer.
By the way, there is no need to laboriously enter the mixer
page settings into a sequencer track as MIDI events. All fader
generated settings can be requested complete from the
sequencer using the Request command.
Despite our enthusiasm for Dump Requests, we should
also point out some of the disadvantages of this method:
•
Additional changes are somewhat laborious as they
always require a new Request. However, it is possible
to add Controller events after the Sys-Ex blocks to cor-
rect single settings without the need of a new Dump.
•
Sys-Ex data blocks do not necessarily follow the profes-
sional standard set by XG productions. None of the set-
tings are easily visible to third parties.
•
Using the Knobs to visually control parameters is
impossible in Performance mode, unless you record
these with the sequencer as Controller messages.