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Conference napalm::commusic_v1

Title:	* * Computer Music, MIDI, and Related Topics * *
Notice:	Conference has been write-locked. Use new version.
Moderator:	DYPSS1::SCHAFER

Created:	Thu Feb 20 1986
Last Modified:	Mon Aug 29 1994
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	2852
Total number of notes:	33157

1340.0. "Problems With Certain Patches on Yamaha DX7II" by CREME::LSIMPSON () Fri Apr 29 1988 15:43

    Hi.
    
    I just recently purchased a DX7 IID used.  I think it has a problem,
    but I'm not sure.  I wrote to Nancy Mcatee, a DEC employee who has
    one and she seems to think it's a defect.  However, although I was
    unable to talk to the original salesman, who knows a lot about the
    Yamaha equipment, I did talk with some of the other people in the
    store.  They said they had all played this unit and had no problems.
     Here goes.
    
    On both the built-in sounds and on the Rom cartridge which came
    with it, 2 of the sounds have this problem.  About half the notes
    in each octave, whe same half of each octave, seem not to respond
    as they should.  Half of the octave plays as normal, meaning that
    the notes respond to touch and so forth.  The other half plays very
    softly, no matter how hard the keys are pressed.
    
    One of the people at the store I talked to said it might be some
    kind of odd even thing.  He seemed to think it was a setting which
    could be corrected.
    
    Has anyone else ever experienced this?  If it was not a deffect,
    what did you do?
    
    Laurie

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1340.1	Pure fantasy	ANGORA::JANZEN	Tom LMO2/O23 296-5421	`Fri Apr 29 1988 16:21`	9
	Maybe there is a hardware fault with the velocity detection transducer cable, like it's disconnected for parts of the keyboard. It could be a cable or a component under the keyboard or related to it. In other words, it's acting like there is no velocity info and it's defaulting to soft. I have never seen a DX7 or played a mass-produced synth of that size. I just make this stuff up. Tom
1340.2	(More fantasies)	DSSDEV::HALLGRIMSSON	Eir�kur, CDA Product Manager	`Fri Apr 29 1988 16:38`	9
	Check to see which voices have this problem. Are the voices that don't have the problem the ones that would not normally be velocity sensitive (organ, harpsichord)? If that's the case, then Tom is right--there is a hardware problem in the velocity sensing, and the reason that it works OK on some voices is because they ignore the velocity info. Eirikur
1340.3	Re: .2	CREME::LSIMPSON		`Fri Apr 29 1988 16:57`	5
	Yes. Organ and harpsicord work fine. One of the voices is some type of horn, (I think.) There are also some strange voices which seem to be velocity-sensitive and they have no problem. Laurie
1340.4		PAULJ::HARRIMAN	That's me	`Fri Apr 29 1988 17:04`	9
	aha. how about the wind controller parameter? don't those things want input from a wind controller? My dx-100 (God rest it's little silicon soul) used to have a couple of voices that wanted the BC and wouldn't play for squat unless you had the pacifier in yer mouth. just another WAG /pjh
1340.5	Do you have any more information?	BOLT::BAILEY	Steph Bailey	`Fri Apr 29 1988 17:05`	20
	Tom, you should become a repairman for those comercial synths that you don't know and dislike! Tom Janzen, fantastic repairman... I'm not quite sure exactly what you mean by ``2 of the sounds... have this problem''. Does that mean that of all the different ``timbres'' that you can possibly select, only two (e.g. the harpsichord and the Mac truck sounds) result in the phenomenon which you have described. Are the problems with ``single'' or ``multi'' programs? I think the salesman is probably correct in that there is some parameter set in the programs which cause them to behave strangely. If this is the case, then you should only experience the problem with the programs in RAM (the ROM programs should not do this, I hope). Try looking through the manual for a section describing ``voice assignment''. Steph
1340.6	An answer, perhaps...	AKOV68::EATOND	Where is he when the music stops?	`Fri Apr 29 1988 17:06`	15
	RE < Note 1340.3 by CREME::LSIMPSON > > Yes. Organ and harpsicord work fine. One of the voices is some > type of horn, (I think.) ... On my Yamaha unit (TZ), if a voice (patch) is set up to work in cooperation with a breath controller, it will hardly sound without one, no matter HOW hard you hit the keys. When you mentioned a horn sound, this could be the case on the DX as well. If this is so, you need to check for a parameter called something like 'BC amplitude' or 'BC EG bias' something like that. Dan
1340.7	Thanks guys.	CREME::LSIMPSON		`Fri Apr 29 1988 17:21`	19
	Thanks guys for the suggestions. I suspected that it might be some paramater which was set up. It seemed to be too regular a pattern to be a deffect. Only 2 voices have this problem, one is a horn sound, and the other is I don't know exactly what. My husband and I are both blind so cannot readily look at the display when playing a voice. At any rate, I just talked with the fellow who sold it to me and he said there was a parameter set by the previous owner which did this. Apparently, he checked the unit out thoroughly befor selling it to me. Seems he felt like he should after he tried to sell me the Alesis sequencer. He told me that it would be very easy to use and very user-friendly. Well, if your sighted, I guess it is. I took it back and got a QX5, which is not really more user-friendly but somehow I don't seem to be having as much trouble with it. Thanks again. Laurie
1340.8	Your welcome and I'm late...	JAWS::COTE	Is the last peeping frog embarrassed?	`Fri Apr 29 1988 18:05`	7
	I also believe the DX7-II supports some sort of "fractional scaling" where you can modify the response by 'key-groups'. The group can be as small as 3 keys... Knowing if it was in split or single mode would be real helpful. Edd
1340.9	re: .8	CREME::LSIMPSON		`Fri Apr 29 1988 18:24`	4
	It was in single mode. Laurie
1340.10	Look at the voice functions	MCIS2::ROACH		`Sun May 01 1988 22:41`	7
	Some of the earlier comments are right. I've had problems when the voice parameters on my DX7 were set wrong. Try this - for each of the controllers - Modulation Wheel, After touch, breath controller, and foot control - set EG bias off, Pitch mod off and amplitude mod off. This might help.
1340.11	Blanked out notes.	IOENG::JWILLIAMS	Zeitgeist Zoology	`Mon May 02 1988 18:50`	12
	This reminds me of a problem I have once in a while with my MT-32. I got a bunch of extra patches with the editor librarian I got for it, most of which are really terrible, and I noticed on a few of them, they would occasionally not sound fully when I hit the key. I did some exploring, and the culprit patches had doubled synth voices, meaning, two identical frequencies. It seems that every once in a while, the two would cancel each other out, by what would appear to be blind luck. How did I fix this? I got rid of the redundant voice. There is no reason to use more than one voice per frequency, although this is a potential gotcha. John.