Synthesizer Control Articulations

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Synthesizer Control Articulations"

Kevin Gallagher
5 years ago
Views:

Synthesizer Control Articulations User Arpeggios for the Yamaha Motif Production Synthesizer From KEYFAX NewMedia INTRODUCTION Some people think that Arpeggios are a form of cheating; that using

1 Synthesizer Control Articulations User Arpeggios for the Yamaha Motif Production Synthesizer From KEYFAX NewMedia INTRODUCTION Some people think that Arpeggios are a form of cheating; that using arpeggios means you don t (have to) use your brain, or even your fingers. If that s you, think again. This product contains hundreds of User Arpeggios for loading into the Yamaha Motif. But if you think they will just instantly make you sound wonderful this may not be the product for you. Arpeggios, especially on the Motif, are creative tools. To use this product properly you will need to get used to loading and re-loading different type of Arps; playing around with the different play modes and Play FX, experimenting with different Voices, different settings, multi-track recording them, perhaps even going back to the raw MIDI data which we supply here and creating completely new Arps on multiple arpeggio tracks. The list, frankly, goes on and on.

2 But first, what is a Synthesizer Control Articulation? What s an arpeggio for that matter? In the context of Yamaha s Motif many hitherto familiar sounding tools and techniques take on a whole new meaning. ARPEGGIOS Yamaha has been dragging this time-honored synthesizer feature into a new era since the EX5. Arpeggios of old were, as their classical music counterparts might suggest, simply repetitive sequences of notes based upon the notes or chords you play on the keyboard: up and down, up, up, up, down, down, down. Hey, sometimes you d even come across an instrument offering the rather daring random mode. On Motif, an arpeggio is used not only as way of generating a thousand and one strictly regimented note patterns but also as a way of imposing lifelike instrumental articulations or motifs onto the notes you trigger from the keyboard. Some of Motif s Preset Arpeggios were taken from parts featured in the KEYFAX Twiddly.Bits libraries. Some of these User Arpeggios were also adapted from Twiddly.Bits grooves, and some have been recorded from scratch, specifically for this collection. Some of you may already have purchased the sister volume to SCA, the Natural Instrument Articulation or NIA collection, which takes some classic MIDI Samples and turns them into User Arpeggios that let you create guitar strums, harp runs and glisses, brass runs and the like arpeggios that that re-create a range of natural instrument articulations and playing techniques. SYNTHESIZER CONTROL ARTICULATIONS AN OVERVIEW This collection creates control and stylistic patterns for which there is no natural instrumental equivalent. Synthesizer Control Articulations range from sample & hold patterns, to TB- 303 articulations, filter and resonance patterns, gate effects, worms, classic synth motifs, modulation effects, and much more. 2

3 ARPEGGIO TYPES and MODES [Very important: do not skip this bit] There are two fundamentally different types of Arpeggio in Motif: Ones based on MIDI notes (prefixed Sq, Ph, Dr, Sp) Ones based on MIDI controllers (prefixed Ct) Arpeggios based on MIDI notes can be called Sequences (SQ), Phrases (PH) Drum (DR) Arps. Arpeggios that are based on MIDI controller data are prefixed Ct. These Arps generate different pitches (i.e. different notes) by using pitch bend data. They can also control things like filter, and volume. When using Ct Arps you must set the Voice, Performance, or Part to DIRECT Mode or else you simply won t hear anything. We also use a wide Pitch end range (+ / - 12) on the Ct Arps. Please make sure the Voices you want to use with these types of Arps are both set to DIRECT KeyMode and + / - 12 Pitch Bend range. If you re not sure how to do this please refer to the Quick Guides below. 3

4 DATA CONTAINED IN THIS COLLECTION This product comprises four types of data. It is important to understand what these are, and what they do. If you are loading data from SmartMedia you will see the following folders in the root directory (i.e. when the left hand File Type screen is set to Dir ) 1. ALL_LOAD.W2A 2. SCADEM.W2S 3. USER_ARP folder 4. MIDIDATA folder (SMF) 1. ALL_LOAD.W2A The ALL file is really for demo purposes only. BEFORE YOU LOAD ANYTHING... An ALL File will overwrite your User Data: Voices, ARPs, Patterns, Performances, Songs etc. MAKE SURE all of your own work is safely stored onto SmartMedia or other external storage device. This file contains the following data: A demo Song (called SCA DEMON) 19 USER Voices 14 Performances 1 bank of SCA Arps (MIXCTLS.W2G) Loading instructions With the SCA collection loaded onto your SmartMedia card (or other SCSI storage device), call up ALL in the (left hand) File Type area of the Motif screen, and highlight ALL_LOAD.W2A in the right hand screen. Press [ENTER] and it will load. Press the SONG button and SONG # 1 should now display SCA DEMON. Press [PLAY and you ll hear a cool squeaky bonk piece of music, several tracks of which have been created using different Arps in the SCA collection. When we recorded this song we recorded the output of the arpeggiator, so you won t find the actual arpeggios used in this demo s creation at the moment; just the result of various different arpeggios that were used during the recording process. 4

5 NOTE: ResetCt. On the Controller Arps we provide a Reset Arp at the end of the list. If ever you find your sound has disappeared it may be because you stopped playing while the Arp volume/expression level was way down. If this happens just select the Reset Arp and it ll normalize the volume/expression value back to 127. The Voices and Performances that load with this file we created simply for the purpose of testing SCA arpeggios. If you look at these Voices and Performances you ll see that they contain certain Arpeggio mode settings, pitch bend ranges etc. You may find it quite helpful to look at these Voices (in [EDIT]) to investigate the range of set-up options that Motif offers. The MIXCTRL Arpeggio bank that loads with this file contains several nice multi-track Arps. These particular items are all Controller Arps, so you will only hear them on Voices or Performances whose KeyMode is set to Direct. 2. SCADEM.W2S If you just want to load the Demo Song you can do it by selecting SONG as your File Type in the left hand display screen, and calling up SCADEM.W2S. Press Enter and you ll see just one Song, entitled SCA DEMON. Load it into a spare Song location and hit Play. 5

6 3. USER_ARP folder This is the meat of the collection! We have broken up the ARPs into 20 folders and categories, as follows: 303_CTLS.W2G BEATER_1.W2G BEATER_2.W2G BOUNCY.W2G FILTER_1.W2G FILTER_2.W2G FILTER_3.W2G ELECTRO.W2G JAQUES_1.W2G JAQUES_2.W2G MIX2CTLS.W2G MOD303_A.W2G MOD303_B.W2G MOD303_C.W2G MODSQD_1.W2G MODSQD_2.W2G PITCH_FX.W2G SUB_CTL.W2G THEMBONZ.W2G WORMS_1.W2G Each folder contains a varying number of individual User ARP banks. Loading instructions Call up UserARP in the File Type (left hand) screen, highlight the USER ARP folder and press Enter. You will now see all 20 ARP files. Highlight the bank you want to load and press [ENTER]. The Arpeggio bank will now load. When you next look in the Arpeggio pages, i.e. [VOICE] - [F6 ARP], and select user as the bank, you ll be able to see all of the Arps that are contained in that particular bank. At this point some of your smarter users might be wondering why we have not loaded all of the Arps into one single bank. Well, the short answer is that it is not possible. Motif has only allotted a small amount of memory for both User Arpeggios and their names. In time this may be expanded but for the moment this is the simplest, and most direct way of loading in User arpeggios. 6

7 4. MIDIDATA folder These are kernels, the raw material for the SCA ARPs. Why have we given them to you? As we outlined above, Motif only provides a small amount of memory for User ARPs. Problem is, what if you would like to use one of the MOD303 Arps with one of the BEATER Arps? Solution: load in the source.mid file for each ARP you want to use. This way you can create your own custom banks. Loading instructions With SMF in the File Type (left hand) screen, select the MIDIDATA folder and press [ENTER]. You will now see two more folders: MIDINOTE MIDI_CTL MIDI NOTE contains all the.mids that were created out of note data. MIDI_CTL contains all of the.mids that were created solely out of MIDI controller data. Choose one of these and press [ENTER]. Now you ll see more folders (will this fun never end?) with names like BEATS and FUNKY. Choose one of these, press [ENTER] and finally you will see the actual.mid files that were created to produce the Arpeggios in this collection. Select the Song you wish to load a file into, press [ENTER] one final time and it will load. Once the file is loaded into a Song go to [SONG] - [JOB] #7 Put Phrase To ARP. Make sure you load the entire length of the.mid file into your User ARP location if you want to produce the same result as you heard on the demos and in the User ARP folders. If you only copy 2 bars of a 4 bar.mid file you ll get different results. User Arps remain in memory on power down so once you have created your own custom User collection you won t need to re-load them every time; they ll just stay in place until you decide to actively overwrite them 7

8 SCA CONTENTS File: 303_CTLS.W2G # of Arps: 12 A collection of strong riffs and patterns based on the articulation and style of the TB-303 Bassline. You can play single notes or chords. Typically, use with bass / synth voices. File: BEATER_1.W2G # of Arps: 11 Arp Type: Phrase (use Sort / Thru ) Beater-style phrases that work with a variety of voices from Moog basses to marimbas. The more notes you hold down the more intricate the pattern will become. Particularly useful in new-age. If you want to make these more responsive to your playing change the Voice Velocity Mode. Voice. EDIT (Common). [F3] Vel Mode. Switch to Thru. File: BEATER_2.W2G # of Arps: 12 Arp Type: Phrase (use Sort / Thru ) More beater-style phrases with rolls / shakers. Again, if you want to make these more responsive to your playing change the Voice Velocity Mode. Voice. EDIT (Common). [F3] Vel Mode. Switch to Thru. File: BOUNCY.W2G # of Arps: 12 Arp Type: Sequence (use Sort / Thru ) Lively patterns taken from drum and percussion breaks. These work well on most percussive synth voices. You can also use these as drum arpeggios. Hold down different notes using a drum voice and you ll get a range of different beats, If you want to turn these into regular drum arps go back to the original.mid file and Put Song To Arp using the Fixed Note option. 8

9 File: ELECTRO.W2G # of Arps: 9 Melodic but still very rhythmic phrases for electro settings. File: FILTER_1.W2G # of Arps: 11 A range of synced filter effects, from straight sixteens to syncopated. Each Arp is named so you can see which ones do what. File: FILTER_2.W2G # of Arps: 11 More synced filter effects. These tend to be longer items than in Filter_1, including some 4-bar filter sweeps. Again, each Arp is named so you can see which ones do what. File: FILTER_3.W2G # of Arps: 8 A further 8 filter FX. As before, each Arp is named so you can see which ones do what. 9

10 File: JAQUES_1.W2G Arp Type: Sequence (Fixed Note) A collection of swimmy keyboard runs. These have been made using Fixed Note conversion so no matter what you play on the keyboard the resulting arp will be the same (Tempo is still alterable of course). These work well as effects either within in a sequence or played live. Just switch on the Arp button to initiate the effect and then switch it off when you want to play an actual part. File: JAQUES_2.W2G Arp Type: Sequence These Arps do not use Fixed Note and so offer a wide range of possibilities in terms of playing and application. They also contain filter movement on Track 2. A cool way to use these is to set the Hold parameter On, hold down a fistful of notes in order to get the full note playback, and then use Motif s filter cutoff and resonance knobs to create dramatic filter runs. File: MIX2CTLS.W2G # of Arps: 12 A mixed bag of pitch and filter effects using multiple arpeggio tracks. You can create more Arps along the same lines by going back to the.mid files and creating your own multi-track Arps using the various pitch, filter, and mod patterns as your raw material. 10

11 File: MOD303A.W2G Arp Type: Phrase More wild and crazy 303-style riffs and runs. You can exaggerate or minimize the slur effect by playing around with the Pitch Band parameter in (Common Edit) on your Voice. A wide setting makes a more dramatic effect. To produce the full Arp you need to hold down at least 3 notes, but this does then enable you to keep the effect moving along with your chord changes. File: MOD303B.W2G Arp Type: Phrase As above only different Arps. File: MOD303C.W2G Arp Type: Phrase As above. File: MODSQD1.W2G Arp Type: Sequence Techno-orientated arpeggios here from single note to chords. As with all of these types you get more of the complete Arp the more notes you hold down. These are great for mixing and matching File: MODSQD2.W2G Arp Type: Sequence The same techno-orientated arpeggios as above but with an additional track on track 2. 11

12 File: PITCH_FX.W2G These are extremely useful Arps for creating pitch slides and bends. Each of these is named so you can see the range and type of pitch effect on offer. File: SUB_CTL.W2G # of Arps: 12 Mainly designed for bass, offering some interesting filter mod squelches to boot. File: THEMBONZ.W2G # of Arps: 10 Arp Type: Sequence Breakbeat-inspired Arps. File: WORMS.W2G # of Arps: 12 Short melodic phrases you can transpose and slot into your tracks wherever and whenever you like. 12

13 QUICK GUIDE (Some useful edit / set-up routines) These are some of the common edit and set-up routines you should try and get used to if you re going to be playing with User Arpeggios: How do I apply a User Arpeggio to a Voice? VOICE [F6} ARP Set Bank to User Set Type to your chosen Arpeggio How do I apply User Arpeggio to a Part in a Performance? PERFORMANCE [F6] ARP Set Bank to User Set Type to your chosen Arpeggio Select which Part you want to be arpeggiated by cursoring over to it and pressing YES. How do I change the speed of an Arp? VOICE [F6} ARP Alter Tempo parameter. Or use select Knob Control Function [top LED lit] Use Knob #4 How do I change Arpeggio Mode? VOICE EDIT Button COMMON EDIT button (the button is labeled DRUMKITS, FAVORITES, COMMON) [F3] ARP Set KeyMode to Direct, Sort, or Thru 13

14 How do I change the Pitch Bend range on a Voice for the Control Arps? VOICE EDIT Button COMMON EDIT button [F1] GENERAL [SF5] OTHER Set PB Upper and PB Lower to +12 / -12 respectively NOTE: Once you have altered this parameter you must SAVE YOUR VOICE to a User Voice location. If you are doing this in a Pattern or Song make sure you then call up your new i.e. Pitch Bend range-edited Voice in your Mix. And then Save your Mix! How do I record a User Arp to a Pattern or Song? REC [F3] ARP Choose your Arpeggio. Set Part Sw to ON Then either Switch ON or press Arpeggio button. If you don t hear anything, the Part is probably not in the right Arpeggio Mode for that particular Arpeggio, so go to: PATTERN/SONG MIXING EDIT COMMON EDIT Button Change Mode: Direct, Sort, or Thru. How do I create my own User Arp from a.mid file? LOAD.MID file into SONG SONG JOB #7 Put Phrase To ARP ENTER Choose your source Track and to/from measures Select ARP destination then cursor over to your right and name the ARP (using the dial, or holding down INFORMATION button) Select Arpeggio Track ENTER 14

15 How do I record multiple/different Arps in a single Pattern? To do this you simply need to record the output of each ARP so that the sequencer actually records the MIDI notes that have been generated by the Arpeggio. REC [F4] ARP Make sure note icon is ON. After recording each track make sure you turn the Arpeggio button OFF or else you ll be arpeggiating an arpeggio, which ll most likely sound awful. TIP: When recording Arps in Pattern mode turn the Loop parameter to OFF. If you don t, once you start looping you ll be arpeggiating arpeggiation which, as in the example above, will most likely not sound so good KEYFAX NewMedia 15

POWER USER ARPEGGIOS EXPLORED

y POWER USER ARPEGGIOS EXPLORED Phil Clendeninn Technical Sales Specialist Yamaha Corporation of America If you think you don t like arpeggios, this article is for you. If you have no idea what you can