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PROGRAMMING VOICES: A TUTORIAL

ence whether the envelope had reached LEVEL 3 and
was sustaining, had just reached LEVEL 2, or had not
yet reached LEVEL 1. Whatever the level when you
release the key, the sound immediately moves toward

LEVEL 4 at RATE 4. At the slowest setting for RATE 4,
the sound can linger for so long that you think the note
is stuck (up to 3 minutes). Typically LEVEL 4 is set at

zero (minimum or "off") so that the note eventually turns

off. RATE 4 is analogous to the release time in a stand-
ard ADSR.

A major advantage of the DX7 envelope is that each

of the 8 parameters can be set to any of 100 values, pro-

viding precision and repeatability The maximum value

of each LEVEL setting is 99, with a minimum value of
zero (off). Similarly, the maximum rate is also 99 (fastest
change in level). Mathematically, this works out to pro-
vide something over 1,000,000,000,000,000 different

envelopes (that's right, 15 zeroes!).

NOTE: If you program a carrier envelope so LEVEL 4

is greater than 0, the sound will not die. If you pro-
gram RATE 4 at or new 0, the sound will seem to last

"forever" Even if you then reset LEVEL 4 to 0 and

RATE 1 to 99, the sound will continue until you play

16 notes, the 16th note cancels the last "lingering" note

that was programmed with the previous settings.

Two basic approaches to creating your

own sounds on the DX7.

There are two basic approaches to programming the

DX7. First, you can run through all the available preset

voices, choose one that is close to the sound you want,

and then edit that voice to create the sound you want.
Second, you can "initialize" the editing buffer of the DX7

and create a voice "from scratch," one that does not rely

at all upon any previously created voice.

The first method, editing a preset voice, is generally a

much more efficient approach, provided the sound you

want is close to something that already exists. (We don't

mean to say that you can't edit an existing voice into

something radically different, but the knowledge and

effort required to do that in a predictable fashion are
formidable.) If you are looking for a unique voice that is
totally unlike any preset, it is probably best to start "from

scratch." The decision about which approach to use will

become easier as you gain experience with the DX7.

Initially we urge you to read this section and follow

instructions carefully as we give you a "guided tour" of
the DX7 and show you how to program a voice "from
scratch." This may seem more difficult, but it is actually

a much better way for you to learn how each of the

editing parameters (functions) really works. In the begin-

ning, it may seem almost overwhelming due to the
unfamiliar terminology and technology. However, as you

become familiar with the instrument and gain a working
knowledge of envelopes, frequency ratios, keyboard

scaling, and so forth, you'll find creating a voice "from

scratch" will become much easier, and editing an exist-
ing voice (a preset or one of your own prior creations)

will become a fast, relatively simple process.

Programming a voice "from scratch"

In order to begin programming a voice "from scratch,"

you'll want to have a clear memory location so that
when you've completed working on the voice, you can
save it. Actually, any of the DX7 internal memories can

be used. Nothing is erased while you are creating a

voice, but when you're done and you store the new
voice in one of the memories, whatever voice had been

in that memory will be erased.

CAUTION If you are using the synthesizer after

someone else has been programming voices,

make sure those voices have first been stored

on a RAM cartridge before proceeding. Other-

wise you might accidentally "erase" or change

someone else's efforts.

In this section of the manual, we present information

in an order which should make it possible for you to
achieve immediate, audible and satisfying results as you
learn to program a voice. To aid in organization of the

information, we have used subheadings that often use

the name of the button, or that describe the use of sev-
eral buttons which, together, achieve the programming

function being discussed. Many of these subheads

include their own step-by-step instructions. We intention-

later review a single subhead and follow the steps for
programming that particular parameter. Once you have

become familiar with the DX7, there is no "rule" that

you have to follow this order. For now, however, please

read and follow these instructions as presented.

NOTE If you do jump ahead and "get lost" or should

you accidentally program one parameter when you

thought you were working on something else, an

"emergency bail out" is always available: return to the

[VOICE INIT] function presented here at Ihe beginning
of this section. Turning power off and on will NOT

reset your voice.

VOICE INITiaIization

When you want to program a voice "from scratch,"

you do it by initializing a voice. That is, regardless of
which voice you are currently playing, you reset all its

parameters to a starting point which is about the sim-

plest setting that will still produce a sound. This could

take many minutes of button pushing if you had to
manually check each programmable item. To save time,
you can instead use the [VOICE INIT] function.
Although you gain access to "Voice Initialize" from the
FUNCTION mode, the actual voice is not programmed

with the DX7 in FUNCTION mode. As soon as you have

performed the steps below to initialize the voice, the

DX7 is automatically placed in the EDIT mode, and then

the programming begins.

1. To gain access to the "Voice Initialize" function, press

[FUNCTION], and then [VOICE INIT], and answer

the displayed prompts.

27

 ally restart with Step 1 for each subhead so that you can  

Содержание Vintage DX7 Special Edition ROM

Страница 1: ...YAMAHA AUTHORIZED PRODUCT MANUAL DX7 DIGITALPROGRAMMABLE ALGORITHMSYNTHESIZER...

Страница 2: ...YAMAHA DigitalProgrammable Algorithm Synthesizer OPERATION MANUAL...

Страница 3: ...oth and dry with a soft cloth Never use solvents such as benzine or thin ner since they can melt or discolor the instrument Electrical Storms Lightning Computer circuitry including that in the DX7 is...

Страница 4: ...u program them with the preci sion and repeatability of digital control you ll be able to create voices that are a giant step beyond the capability of former synthesizers Pure sounds Richly textured s...

Страница 5: ......

Страница 6: ...ument does indeed appear to be the source of the interference one or more of the following corrective measures should be tried 1 Relocate either the instrument or the electronic device that is being a...

Страница 7: ...ALGORITHMSELECT KEYBOARD RATE SCALING and LEVEL SCALING 38 LFO Modulation The relationship between the LFO settingsandthe MODSENSITIVITY settings and how to program these 40 Programming the remaining...

Страница 8: ...ks like this OPERATOR ON OFF 1 The same button used in context b is described like this EG COPY 1 When the DX7 is in the FUNCTION mode rather than the EDIT mode the brown label below it applies instea...

Страница 9: ...tors These jacks include the line level output from the DX7 to an amplifier foot control jacks and MIDI interface connections Refer to the Setup and MIDI sections of this manual for details Volume and...

Страница 10: ...of these buttons prepares the DX7 to PLAY any of the voices that are stored in the 32 INTER NAL memories or in 32 memories of whatever CAR TRIDGEisinstalled Oncethe INTERNAL or CARTRIDGE source is des...

Страница 11: ...en it is used to change the amplitude of a carrier tremolo may result changing the amplitude of a modulator can create wah wah WAVE This lets you set the LFO waveform to any of the following triangle...

Страница 12: ...rammable with each button and the range of adjustment is from the minimum of 0 to a maximum of 99 100 steps RATE Pressing this button 4 successive times gives you access to programming the 4 rates in...

Страница 13: ...ally refer to frequency excursions The Pitch EG can be used for automatic pitch bending effects including the slight pitch changes that occur with plucked strings However the 8 octave range of this fe...

Страница 14: ...nal note or chord GLISSANDO When the Glissando feature is turned ON the glide in pitch occurs in discrete steps This effect is best heard with a slower rate and when two widely sepa rated notes are pl...

Страница 15: ...settings NOTE ifthe Amplitude or EG Bias is turned On with a low Range setting certain voices may be inaudible or nearly so due to their high modulation sensitivity RANGE This lets you program the am...

Страница 16: ...us or minus one octave The smoothness depends on the PITCH BEND STEP setting 11 Modulation Wheel The Modulation wheel permits you to introduce LFO modulation of pitch and or amplitude and or EG bias a...

Страница 17: ...ne plug None of these jacks needs to be used for normal opera tion of the DX7 but if the foot controllers are used be sure you plug in the proper type of controller The picto rial diagrams on the rear...

Страница 18: ...uitar type cable and connect the center conductor to XLR s hot pin Then wire the shield to the other two pins of the XLR if hum is a problem cut the shield connection to pin 1 ofthe XLR The nominal ou...

Страница 19: ...at voice name will appear The LCD display INT 1 is really redundant here it tells you that internal voice 1 is selected which you can read from the top line of the LCD window and the red LED voice num...

Страница 20: ...CARTRIDGE button has already been pressed and the top line of the LCD display already indi cates CARTRIDGE VOICE ifnot do so now There fore you should only have to press the 8 button Press this The d...

Страница 21: ...narrow range 75 cents we make it easier to tune precisely with the slider However since each voice can itself be programmed to a unique pitch or can be easily transposed as explained elsewhere there i...

Страница 22: ...of these When the DX7 is set for a pitch bend range ofplus or minus an octave the display should look like this 3 Notice that if you hold a key and hold the PITCH wheel at a given position moving the...

Страница 23: ...KEY P RETAIN Then ifnecessary movethe slider downor press this but tonso thedisplay indicates SUS KEY P RETAIN 4 Now play several notes one after the other while stepping on the SUSTAIN pedal Play a b...

Страница 24: ...NO andthentheDATAENTRY button 3 Select the Fingered Portamento mode by pressing PORTAMENTO MODE and then the DATA ENTRY button 4 Observe that if you hold down one key then press a second key that is a...

Страница 25: ...them to a DX9 once SYS INFO AVAIL is displayed press the MIDI button 8 again and when the display asks MIDI TRANSIT press the YES but ton memory protect must be OFF in the other synthe sizer Individua...

Страница 26: ...just one modulation source the MODULATION WHEEL First make sure all modulation is OFF NOTE While you may not be using a given source of modulation it can still affect the voice ifits FUNC TION control...

Страница 27: ...WHEEL RANGE 99 leave these controls set and try other voices Other voices may be programmed to be sensi tive to pitch modulation From this point you can access other voices by press ing MEMORY SELECT...

Страница 28: ...OFF EG BIAS OFF OFF OFF OFF These settings are not ideal for all voices If for in stance you re playing the voice called SAX BC1 you will want to turn ON the Breath Controller EG bias and perhaps set...

Страница 29: ...stack the car rier and any operators that are above and which feed its input are known as modulators By increasing the output level of the modulators going into a given the carrier you increase the nu...

Страница 30: ...CK path The feedback is usually wrapped around a single operator with a few exceptions noted below The feed back returns a portion of the operators output back to an additional input on the same opera...

Страница 31: ...ze the line defined by R1 and L1 as the attack portion of the envelope There are parallels between a conventional ADSR EGs and the DX7 s EGs However the DX7 envelopes are much more flexible than ADSR...

Страница 32: ...nd gain a working knowledge of envelopes frequency ratios keyboard scaling and so forth you ll find creating a voice from scratch will become much easier and editing an exist ing voice a preset or one...

Страница 33: ...changes when you play a note In the initialized voice all the operator s EG are set to produce an envelope with a square shape That is when you press a key to play a note the operator the sine wave ca...

Страница 34: ...OP1 EG LEVEL 4 0 4 Lets look at the 4 envelope rates Press the EG RATE button and the display will now show you Rate 1 Press it 3 additional times to see the remain ing 3 rates Both EG Rate and EG Lev...

Страница 35: ...the last portion of a long release time With all maximum levels at 99 except Level 4 Rate 1 at 25 and Rate 4 at 25 the note builds up slowly when you press a key and turns off even more slowly when yo...

Страница 36: ...t at zero In fact Rate 4 sets the release time from whatever levelthe envelope has achieved at the instant you release the key This may seem a subtle distinction but you can hear it by experimenting w...

Страница 37: ...amming dog whis tles or ultrasonic alarm simulations you won t ever use a ratio near 31 00 as a funda mental pitch tor a carrier NOTE The pitches you hear as you move the DATA ENTRY slider constitute...

Страница 38: ...2 times that frequency which is too high to be audible on all but the lowest notes of the keyboard 8 Slowly bring the DATA ENTRY slider all the way down so the pitch returns to a ratio of 2 00 Then pr...

Страница 39: ...or that is set as the current operator 3 Now press OPERATOR SELECT several times and observe that the display only moves between OP1 and OP2 Leave it set to OP2 34 Theheavy lineshowswhichoperatorscont...

Страница 40: ...raise it or use the 1 and 1 buttons while playing Only the frequency should change in the display From a minimum of 0 50 to a maximum of 31 00 Listen to each ratio You are changing the entire harmonic...

Страница 41: ...only be set to an operator that is on And see the display change to this Note the current operator stays at OP1 If you again want to adjust any parameters for Operator 2 you will have to press the OP...

Страница 42: ...e to become pure when you release the key We ll correct that situation next There is no need to change the EG levels for now Operator1levels remain unchanged Initialized levels forOperator1 EG LEVEL 1...

Страница 43: ...NOTE These instructions assume you have followed the instructions in the previous section and that the DX7 is in the EDIT mode Before you go on the dis play should appear as shown here and Operators 1...

Страница 44: ...but instead changes the rates for each group of 3 keys on the keyboard When you ve tried the maximum reset the scaling to a value of 4 And push up DATA ENTRY leave it set like this In this case the ra...

Страница 45: ...the DATA ENTRY controls to see this Now play up the scale from E4 and hear how you have removed just a bit of volume from the highest notes NOTE In the examplesjust given the keyboard level scaling ma...

Страница 46: ...be greater than zero Lets program a small amount of sine wave modula tion of the pitch to give the sound some character 1 Press the WAVE button You can now use the DATA ENTRY section to select any of...

Страница 47: ...LFO section to automatically add a small amount of vibrato to the voice simulating the natural vibrato in a reed instrument However the effect is there all the time whereas in a real instru ment the v...

Страница 48: ...fect And adjust the DATA ENTRY controls to see this 13 Press MOD SENSITIVITY AMPLITUDE and then press OPERATOR SELECT to set Operator 2 as the current operator Then use DATA ENTRY to bring up the sens...

Страница 49: ...maximum level R1 L1 for the hammer strike followed by a slow fall to an inter mediate decay level R2 L2 which has the effect of widening the hammer strike and making less of a click There is no susta...

Страница 50: ...e operators 3 4 5 6 16 Press OPERATOR SELECT as many times as needed to set operator 3 as current Then press OSCILLATOR FREQUENCY COARSE and you ll see the ratio is now set at 2 00 To transpose an oct...

Страница 51: ...CTION button to place the DX7 in FUNCTIONmode b Press the EDIT RECALL button then press the DATA ENTRY YES button to answer the two prompts edit recall and are you sure c You have now recovered the lo...

Страница 52: ...to compare the newly edited sound to the original sound you can press the EDIT COMPARE button once Notice the decimal point in the LED voice number display disappears and the number itself begins to...

Страница 53: ...ana lyze and record the parameters of several preset voices strictly as a learning tool for you Play the voices look at the way the voice is programmed and try to understand how the settings affect t...

Страница 54: ...voice The LCD display will briefly indicate Under Writing and will then return to the voice name and number indicating the voice has been stored NOTE Ifyou attempt this step with either the software...

Страница 55: ...voice you want to move and then press STORE and the voice selector of the memory in which you wish to store this voice 3b If you want to move the voice into the same or a dif ferent position within th...

Страница 56: ...d be worthwhile to reprogram the attack rate or to add some Keyboard Rate Scaling if the problem is pri marily at the upper end of the keyboard All of the preceding suggestions may be completely inapp...

Страница 57: ...ture Regardless of the algorithm you select use the fewest number of operators you can when you begin to pro gram Turn off the others while programming by using the OPERATOR ON OFF buttons ifyou want...

Страница 58: ...low hard into the BC 1 the level comes back up to the maximum level permitted by the enve lope at any given instant you must have played the note first on the keyboard so that the EG bias is bringing...

Страница 59: ...er or ON and OFF buttons will toggle the keyboard between polyphonic and mono operation 5 Press MEMORY SELECT internal or cartridge to enter the PLAY mode When you select a voice like the Fretless Bas...

Страница 60: ...voice assignments For example moving the Mas ter s MODULATION Wheel to full forward deflection might cause a slight bit of LFO pitch modulation on that instrument while on the Slave there might be a...

Страница 61: ...e you press a voice selec tor buttons 1 32 both instruments will go to that numbered voice memory Both will play and will respond to modulation controls if the FUNCTION mode programming is appropriate...

Страница 62: ...IT mode information from 1 voice on the Master and apply it to another voice on the Slave As soon as you select or alter any EDIT parameter on the Master that value change is auto matically transmitte...

Страница 63: ...e selected a voice which has a lot of amplitude modulation sensitivity programmed into its carriers and that one of the modu lation controls is programmed with a significant amount of amplitude modula...

Страница 64: ...rned off due to an internal battery The other voice storage medium is the cartridge There are two types of cartridges RAM and ROM see thesedefinitions Cartridge Form This is an abbreviation for cartri...

Страница 65: ...contain some data some numbers that describe a voice If all data were set to zero you would hear nothing and it would take a lot of programming to get any sound at all Therefore when you INITialize th...

Страница 66: ...vided the MODULATION SENSITIVITY PITCH setting is greater than zero Preset A preset is a voice which can be played without having to be programmed Some synthesizers force the player to program any voi...

Страница 67: ...Sustain Key Pitch Retain See Key Pitch Retain Sustain In a synthesizer the sustain describes the level which a note settles into while a key is held down or while the sustain foot pedal is pressed do...

Страница 68: ...PITCH BEND RANGE STEP PORTAMENTO MODE POLY MONO GLISSANDO TIME MODULATION WHEEL RANGE PITCH AMPLITUDE EG BIAS FOOT CONTROL RANGE PITCH AMPLITUDE EG BIAS BREATH CONTROL RANGE PITCH AMPLITUDE EG BIAS AF...

Страница 69: ...yboardratescaling 8 38 39 46 51 59 63 key sync see sync LCD C 3 5 6 14 16 18 21 22 47 49 56 58 60 63 LFO includes LFO AMD delay modulation PMD speed sync wave 6 7 10 11 21 22 40 43 51 56 59 63 load C...

Страница 70: ...YAMAHA VOICE DATA LIST...

Страница 71: ...DX7 OM 5 20 99 19E0112 international Corp Box 6600 Buena Park Calif 90622...

Страница 72: ...YAMAHA Yamaha Corporation of America 6600 Orangethorpe Avenue P O Box 6600 Buena Park CA 90622 6600 10 11 99 19J0062 DX7 OM...

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