Answer: £500 synthesiser
In reply to Peter Miller's question in AMPLINEX 012, I can
recommend the Kawai K1 synthesiser, which has an RRP of £595, but which I
purchased for £505 and have seen advertised for even less. The K1 has full-size
keys and has velocity and after-touch sensitivity. It comes with 64 Single preset
sounds which include some excellent vocal, string and piano sounds. There are
also some great synthesised sounds, ranging from the really nice 'Reflection'
to the definitely weird 'Terminator'.
Up to eight of these Single sounds can be combined into a
Multi patch. The K1 comes supplied with 32 Multi patches. A Multi patch can be
a split, layer, velocity split in any combination. Each section of a Multi
patch is assigned to its own MIDI receive channel, so from the Music 2000, you could
play bass on channel 1, piano on channel 2, and guitar on channel 3.
There is also a feature called 'variable polyphony' which redistributes
voices not in use. What this means is that while the K1 is only eight-voice
polyphonic, you need not worry about how many voices you assign to each part in
a piece of music, because the K1 gives voices to parts as and when required.
The K1 is also very easy to program and it was only a short time before I was modifying
the preset sounds to suit myself and storing them on to RAM cards.
Overall, I would say that the K1 is a great instrument for
the first-time synthesiser user (like myself) because of its ease of
programmability. It is also powerful because of its flexible multi-timbrality.
Other instruments in the same price-range that I would recommend a look into
are the Yamaha DX11 and YS100 and the new Roland D5 - but do shop around
because prices of these instruments can vary greatly. All these instruments
have retail prices around the £600 mark, but they can very often be purchased
for less.
C Needham
Question: Using Solidisk Sideways RAM
I have got the Solidisk 128K SWRAM board in my BBC B. No
matter what I try I have not been able to use it as a RAM disc in the AMPLE
environment although I have successfully used an image of the AMPLE ROM in
Sideways RAM.
I can use the RAM disc in BASIC, and my AMPLE System disc
copies to the RAM disc OK. But as soon as I type *AMPLE, the SWRAM is
corrupted, and none of the modules can be INSTALLed from the RAM disc.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Do I, for example, need to
connect a write-protect switch to my SWRAM?
Andrew Leahy
Answer: Transposing instruments
Further to the discussion in AMPLINEX 012, it has been
brought to my notice that in orchestral scores the tenor and bass trombones and
the tubas are not written as transposing instruments. Whereas in band scores, of
these three, only the bass trombones are written as non-transposers.
I see that in an Elgar score which I have timpani are
written without a key signature but they are not transposers. Otherwise the key
signatures shown are our best clues.
As regards saxhorns (abbreviated horns) in band music here
is a table of transpositions:
Soprano in Eb sounds 3@
Cornet in Bb -2@ Horn in Eb -9@ Euphonium in Bb -14@ Bombardon in Eb -21@ Bass
Tuba in Bb -26@ (Helicon is the same)
Saxophone transpositions are similar.
Lol Taylor
Question: Korg DDD-5
Does any member who owns a Korg DDD-5 drum machine know how to
access via MIDI the 'intro/fillin' and 'ending' function as provided by the two
Preset panel buttons?
I'm not sure if it actually possible. When I asked Korg the
same question at a recent music fair in Wembley, I got the impression that they
didn't know, and wondered why should I want to do that anyway instead of using
the Programmable mode.
Has anyone managed to find out if there is a way to do it? I
find the technical section on MIDI at the back of the manual somewhat lacking.
(Maybe it's because I don't know enough about MIDI).
Ivor Abiks
Question: Voice dumps
Does anyone know of a source of a librarian/editor or even a
simple voice dump program for the Yamaha TX81Z or the PSR 70, which would enable
me to load to and from disc on the BBC computer.
I would prefer to do so via AMPLE and/or the Music 2000
interface but would consider purchasing or making another type of interface if necessary.
To send system exclusive bulk data on the TX81Z you have to
send a checksum as part of the data. This checksum consists of 'twos complement
of the lower 7 bits of the sum of all databytes'. Can anyone please explain to
me in plain language what this means and how to work out such a checksum?
Ken Hughes
Editor's note:
This is one of the shortest Questions and Answers section I
think we have ever had. Does this mean that all your questions about the Hybrid
Music System have been answered? If not, please send those which remain to us in
time for the next issue.
Published in AMPLINEX 013, September
1989
