Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    
    It can get very complicated, but if you limit discussion to
    ONE midi channel:
    
    Synths and kbd controllers will send out ALL note on/off messages
    that relate to the keys you press on that channel. There better
    not be exceptions to this(!). 

    You have to separate the note info "generator" from the sound
    generator. Its the sound generator that determines how to handle
    all those midi note on/off msgs according to various algorithms.
    
    Most quit after turning ON all their voices and ignore other
    messages, BUT some (Matrix-6R is one) have a "Spill over" mode
    that will send the "extra" note ons to another unit, I guess on 
    another channel(?).
    
    Again on ONE channel, you have a 6-voice and a 8-voice midi-ed
    to some controller. 6 note ons and the 6voice is 'full'. So too
    will the 8voice have 6 notes on...but it has room for 2 more
    notes.
    
    Maybe someone else will explain Midi "Modes" Poly, Omni and how
    that complicates the issue...
    
    ron
    
    

    
    Oops. I think I may mislead you. Most(?) voice generators
    use an assignment algorithm that 'steals' a voice in
    order to accomodate a new note on msg when all voices
    are currently being sounded. So on a 6 voice when you
    play 7 notes, the last key down results in a new note
    sounding...get it?
    
    But there are exceptions. Help me out guys....  

    

    You've mostly got it.  Some synths just ignore incoming note-ons
    if all sound modules are "busy".  Some implement a "priority"
    scheme which may be user selectable.  The MIDIBass, an inherently
    monophonic synth, allows 4 choices - low note, high note, last note,
    first note.
    
    len.
    

    Kurzweil has the most choices, but the only one
    not mentioned that I can think of is lowest 
    volume voice sounding at new attack time.
    

All this rhetoric has me a bit confused.  What is the bottom line (or is it
unknown).  Can the CZ be midi-ed to the 106 without problems?

Todd.

    	Yeah, it's confused me somewhat, also.
    
    	What I would like to know, specifically is that if one uses
    the 106 (a six voice instrument) to drive the CZ (an eight voice
    instrument), when seven keys are depressed will the CZ play seven
    notes?  Or will it be limited to the six that the 106 recognizes?
    Does note-on info somehow pass through from the keys through the
    sound-generating module before it is passed out of the machine as
    transmitted MIDI data?  Or do the keys send simultaneous messages
    to the MIDI out DIN and the sound module of the master instrument?
    
    	Hope that makes it clearer.
    
    	Dan

    From my experience the answer to your first question is "YES".
    
    My DX will operate as two 4 note polyphonic synths in the split
    mode. (Consider each half of the keyboard as a separate synth.)
    If I play 5 notes on one half, the DX plays 4 of them and my
    Mirage will play all 5.
    
    The note-on info appears to be independent from the sound generating
    info.
    
    Edd 

    
    Re -1 : 'Note info is separate from the voice generation.'
    
    Gee, guys, that's what we were saying all along...
    
    Glad it's confirmed for DX and Mirage.

    Anyone find an exception?
    
   

    Oh yeah, it also works when driving the JX3-P from the DX....
    
    Edd

    My Juno-106 and CZ-101 are clearly compatible.  In general the
    keyboards send as many notes as you press; the synths play as many
    as they can.
    
    len.