| I got my DX7 E!quipped last week, and it is great. $313 from Kurlan,
installed.
The absolute BEST thing about this upgrade is (in my humble
opinion, of course).
VELOCITY!
Per patch:
Six different curves--Two linear (one is just like the
old one) and four exponential.
Lower and upper velocity limits.
Both of the above parameters have separate
instantiations for MIDI and internal data.
So you can have one curve going out the MIDI
port and another one going to the internals.
Velocity values range from 1-127, and further more,
the resolution is improved over the old DX. With one half hour
of banging, I could only get 14 different values out of my old
DX and the best was 109. I saw 6 consecutive numbers and a 126
come of of the E! in almost no time at all. Really sounds great.
Makes this sucker a real controller!!!
This is worth the price alone, but there is a huge hodge podge of
other features included, as well.
The manual is lousy, and full of typos. But most of the information
is in there somewhere.
The system itself, despite its complexity, is fairly easy to get
around. I think that THIS is what a synth interface should be like.
The following things are done to the DX's ``internal'' (non-MIDI,
non-keyboard)
workings:
320 Ram patches.
256 Rom patches. (You blast it yourself (ROM not included))
Separate function settings for each patch, and one more global
one which can over-ride the others.
- The (non-MIDI) function information now includes:
Volume (0-7)
Random detune. (0-4) Detunes each voice a random amount,
The maximum amount is specified by this control.
Timbre control. (0-63 Scales down the output levels of all
modifier oscillators. 63 is ``as programmed''
Controller sensitivites are now 0-15 instead of 0-99.
Two different ROM/RAM cartridge formats, Yamaha, and Grey Matter
Response (GMR). GMR format holds function data per-voice,
or Scale tunings. Yamaha is what we all know and love.
Micro tuneable scales. 16 of these can be stored, but only
if you sacrifice 64 patches worth of RAM. Even if you
don't sac. this RAM, you can still experiment with the
tuning, you just can't save the result. Resolution
is 1200/4096=.29297 cents. There are several ways to
specify a scaling.
Other stuff which they call ``physical'' controls. There
are 16 memories for settings of physical characteristics.
Some of this stuff should really fall under ``function.''
but the must have run out of memory.
Master tuning with a numeric read out. Reads +-63.
Local filtering of all performance controls (including patch
changes).
2 voice stacking. Can sound really great when used in parallel with random
detune (Two voices playing per note, with each one detuned
a random amount).
Programmable controller assignment. The data entry slider,
mod wheel, foot control, and breath control can be assigned
to an arbitrary controller function. Too bad they didn't
include key-pressure in this list!!!
Portamento pedal can be programmed to advance through the MIDI
patch map (described below)
LED brighness. (0-4) ``To save power'' (good grief!).
MIDI features:
Function (per voice) MIDI stuff:
MIDI volume.
Two program change messages. One to go out of the patch's
main channel, and one to go out on a globally specified
``auxilliary channel''.
Transpose +-63 notes.
Splits. This stuff is wierd. You may specify limits
(lower and upper) for notes to go to the MIDI port,
and to go to the internal voices. In addition, there
are several modes that affect how the note data gets
split up:
Rolling: Every other note (within the appropriate
range) goes out the MIDI port, and the
others to to the internals. This
is to make a 32 note DX7. Useless,
in my opinion.
Track High: The highest note currently being
played goes out the MIDI port. All
notes go to the internals. This can
be pretty neat.
Floating Split: Computes the split point
as a fixed interval (specifable, but
not per patch) below the highest note
being played. The low notes go
out to MIDI and the upper notes go to
the internals. You really have to
plan in order to make use of this.
I don't like it much.
Output channel. Yay. Per voice!
Now the non per/voice MIDI stuff:
A global IN channel and Auxilliary channel.
Merging of MIDI in data with MIDI out. You can
specify what types of data you would like
to pass.
Guitar mode. Copes with non-equal numbers of
note-ons and note offs.
Enable/disable of active sensing and resets.
Patch map. Map any incomming MIDI patch change number
to any DX7 patch. Also you can step through
this map with a push of the portamento pedal,
if this feature is enabled.
Filtering of any type of controller message on input
and output. Also, controllers which
are remapped as mentioned above are remapped
for MIDI purposes, too.
Velocity shift of MIDI input.
Omni and Mono modes.
Sequencer control. Start, Stop, Continue. Also provides a
read out of current MIDI song position, and/or Midi
Time code position. The dot on the LED flashes with
each beat (24 MIDI clock pulses).
I can bring it to the JAM if anyone is interesting in playing with
it.
Steph
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