DISCLAIMER: The QY70 FAQ was provided originally as a public Service by Joe Orgren (qyguy) at www.geocities.com/qyguy/qy70faq.htm. However, it is now offline for some time now and since it is really THE resource for this nice Sequencer QY70 that goes well along with non-Workstation Synths such as the XP-30, I decided to put a version I downloaded two years ago here.

UPDATE: I just found that Reocities kind of keeps the old geocities webpages alive, including the original QY70Faq: http://reocities.com/Hollywood/Prop/8991/

NEW: Formatted PDF of this FAQ which should be nicer to print out or read: download

new FAQs (added by Johannes):

Q: What are the differences between the QY-70 and the QY-100?
Q: How can I play a song back in the Loop mode, e.g. for practicing?
Q: Can I use the TO-HOST connector with my Computer without a Serial Port?
Q: How can I more quickly access the Job/Edit Menu?

Q: What will I lose if Iget a QY70, rather than a QY700?
Q: How are the sounds on theQY70? Are they editable?
Q: How do I reset the QY70after a crash? (Thanks, Frank Cabacungan)
Q: Is there any easy way to shape control change messages (volume curves, filter sweeps)?
Q: How will I live without my computer sequencer? And what's all this pattern business?
Q: Can the QY70 do bothlinear and loop-based recording?
Q: Can I convert linear tracksto loops, cut/paste notes, etc...
Q: What is it like tostep-record on the QY70?
Q: Don't the Patterntracks force you to do certain things on certain tracks?
Q:In Pattern mode, can I drop preset phrases (single-track patterns) intothe "wrong" tracks (e.g. a drum phrase on a chord track)?
Q: What are AutomaticReharmonization and Chord Templates?
Q: Haven't I heard thatStyle before?
Q: How do I make my drumsounds come out on separate MIDI channels?
Q: Can you build your owndrum kit on the QY70?
Q: How do I editindividual drum sounds?
Q: Got any tips on coolstereo effects? (thanks Jason Anniballi)
Q: What does it mean when asound name begins with 'S.' or ends with 'K'? (thanks Jason Anniballi)
Q: Will I need to use acomputer once I add (x synth) to my setup?
Q: Is there any good PCsoftware for the QY70?
Q: Are there anyQY->MIDI conversion programs for Windows?
Q: How do I connect my QY tomy PC? Do I need a wacky cable?
Q: Can the preset phrasesbe output to a PC based midi editor for notation?
Q: What toys can I add to myQY70?
Q: Do I need a controllerkeyboard and synth or could I use a synth that has acontroller?
Q: How did you make those drumpads?
Q: Got any tips for takingadvantage of the portability of my QY70?
Q: I've had a blast playingwith Groove Templates...
Q: How do I make my QY70ignore my MIDI keyboard's channel, and always record on the activetrack?
Q: How do I selectdifferent patterns under MIDI control?
Q:Whenever I play a generalmidi file (not an XG file) through my QY70 Ihave to reset channel 10 to the drum kit
Q: It takes a very long timeto scroll through all the sounds and get to the drums.
Q: Are there any midi stringsto let me assign pattern tempo control andglobal pitch change/transpose to faders on my PC1600x?
Q: Does the QY70 use MIDI TimeClock (MTC)?
Q: How do I transfer songsbetween my QY70 and my other hardware sequencer?
Q: How do I get "into theguts" of my QY70 and play with the sounds?
Q: I'm trying to use SysExmessages from the List Book, but they don't work.
Q: I'd like to ask my QY70 NOT to receive on a particular channel...
Q: How do I make the QY70 play some tracks on an external synth, and NOT internally?
Q: How do I use my QY70 as a drum machine and preview the variouspreset beats, without hearing those pesky chords and bass lines?
Q: Why not just controlvolume and other parameters with CC messages?
Q: Can I set up myPeavey PC1600x to control Pattern tracks?
Q: I want to use my drumpads and PC1600x to trigger pattern changes.
Q: What's the best method ofworking with the QY70?

Q: What are the differences between the QY-70 and the QY-100?

• While its basic operation is the same as the QY70, the QY100 comes with the following additional features:
• Guitar/Mic input with gain adjustment.
• Amp Simulator with 18 editable/customizable guitar amp presets and 5 editable/customizable microphone presets.
• Storage for Songs, Patterns and Amp Simulator settings on 3.3V SmartMedia cards.
• A foot switch jack; allowing for Start/Stop control of a Song or Pattern, progress control of Sections in Song or Pattern mode, and On/Off control of the Amp Simulator.
• A [PARAMETER] function button to access Amp Simulator setups and parameters for guitar and microphone input.
• An additional 28 Voices for a total of 547 Voices.
• Two additional Drum Kits for a total of 22 Drum Kits.

Q: How can I play a song back in the Loop mode, e.g. for practicing?

Just start playing a song pressing [SHIFT]+[PLAY], then it'll loop infinitely.

Q: Can I use the TO-HOST connector with my Computer without a Serial Port?

YES!! All you need is a Serial-to-USB connector and you can basically give the QY-70 a USB Midi Connection. Works great and saves you lot of hassle when chnageing the connections with your other synths for connecting it with your DAW or just for loading other songs or backup.

One that definitvely works and on top is a steal (2.99$ incl. worldwide Shipping!!!) is this one from DX: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.24512

Q: How can I more quickly access the Job/Edit Menu?

This is an undocumented feature: Too avoid to scroll the long Job Menu, once in the Job menu, just press the MENU button again and with the right four Soift buttons you can select the four principal categories e.g. to directly go to SONG operations.,

Q: What will Ilose if I get a QY70, rather than a QY700?

The majordifferences are inscreen size, memorysize, number of tracks and measures, and the availability of a floppy.Also the 700 features knobs for direct manipulation of some things, aseparate numeric keyboard, and more sophisticated editing.

In terms ofpolyphony, the QY700 has twice the power (64 simultaneous notes vs 32).

But in terms ofvariety of presets, the QY70 hasabout 20% more voices, at least going by names. However, they don't allsound completely unique to me, especially in the drum kits area.
Comparison of the Pattern Mode:
1) QY-700 = 16 tracks, QY-70 = 8 tracks
2) QY-700 = 256 measures, QY-70 = 8 measure

Q: How are thesounds on the QY70? Are they editable?

This is a verysubjectivequestion, and I haven'theard as many devices as some have. Generally IMHO, the sounds on theQY70 are quite serviceable. Pianos and percussion sound very good,synth sounds, bowed and plucked strings are pretty good. Wind/brasssounds are weaker.

The real key isthat all sounds are editable, and youcan really polish 'em up this way. The QY70 has excellent voice editcapability. I'd be lost without it. By editing voices (and embeddingon-the-fly edits with SysExcMulti messages), I can really bring thebuilt-in sounds to life. I like to program filter sweeps andattack-time sweeps. As time goes by I expect to be programming allsorts of real-time parametric changes.

There are severalclasses of synth sounds. There aresynth versions of many basic sounds (e.g. you get strings, but alsosynth strings, voice and synth voice...). There are some smokin' synthbass sounds, some of which are velocity sensitive so the filter opensup and gets nasty when you pound the keys harder (external keyboard isrecommended, but you can program velocity as well). There's a lovelyfamily of pads, from New Age to tribal-sounding.

On the QY70 youcan graphically edit the following parameters for each voiceor drum kit, or even individual sounds within a drum kit:

• Filter Cutoff
• Filter Resonance
• Attack Time
• Decay Time
• Release Time
• Pitch Bend Range

Many moreparameters can be changed through SysExcMulti messages, which youcan hand edit to insert into a sequence.

Don't forget tobeef up your sounds with the built-ineffects, including chorus, reverb, flange, distortion, and delay. Youcan edit the effects parameters too (e.g. delay time, feedback, moddepth).

Q: How do I resetthe QY70 after a crash? (Thanks, Frank Cabacungan)

To Reset the QY70:
Simultaneouslypress OCT UP, OCT DOWN, F#,while turning on the unit on.
Note: You mustuse the F# nearest the OCT UP/DOWN keys, otherwise it won't work.

To Enter Test Mode:
Simultaneouslypress SONG, PATT, FAST FWD,while turning on the unit.

Q: Is there any easyway to shape control change messages (volume curves, filter sweeps)?

It's not exactlygraphical,but you can tell it to do alinear or curved (convex OR concave) sweep of most common parameters(CC's, volume, etc). You specify start and end points, start and endvalues, and the density of points in between.

Or, you can get aPeavey PC-1600X or Keyfax Phat Boy,and tweak these parameters in real time. I also still do the poor man'smethod, which is reasonably adequate. I have a programmable slider onmy cheapie keyboard controller, and I set it to, say, CC#74 (XGbrightness), and slide away at will while recording in overdub mode.

Q: How will I livewithout my computer sequencer? And what's all this pattern business?

You won't miss yourcomputera bit. Your QY won'tever crash. It won't intimidate you with a clunky user interface. Andthe way it encourages you to think about the structure of a song can betruly liberating.

Using Patternmode on my QY70, I feel like I canshove chunks of song around at will, and the structuring by namedSections (Intro, Main A, etc.) gives me a feeling when I sit down tocompose, that all I have to do is "fill in the blanks." I fill up MainA and Main B with notes, hopefully using some common elements (voiceselection, rhythm patterns, or whatever) so Main A and Main B soundlike they're related.

Then I do theA->B and B->A transitions byblending elements of both (e.g. a couple bars of chords from A, then acouple bars of chords that could fit in A or B, then some chords fromB). Or I might "break it down" to just raw percussion in these bridges,perhaps with a little filter sweep or something to perk it up.

Finally, I makean Intro and Ending. For these, Imight highlight tracks that seemed kind of buried within the A and Bsections. For example, the Intro might feature the a bass line that waspropelling, but underneath, the A section. The Ending might featuremight feature a little melodic line that was intentionally subtle inthe B section mix.

I'm sure thisall sounds either pathetically simpleor very standard to you experienced folks, but it's all new andexciting to me.

Anyway, thepoint is that working with patternsreally helps you manipulate a song from the level of "the big picture".Plus, it's a gas, when you're building a section, to just let it loopand loop and loop, so you shove yourself into the groove of the song(or into a trance). Let it loop long enough though, and you begin tohear the section's flaws. NOW you can go in and tweak your loop tosound better.

And don'tforget, loops don't have to be static! Youcan use SysX MultiPart mesages to program filter sweeps, track muting,or whatever, so that each time a section plays, it sounds a littledifferent.

Q: Can the QY70 doboth linear and loop-based recording?

The QY70 has twomain modes:Song and Pattern. A typical song willactually use both modes. In either mode, you can record in realtime orstep, replace or overdub.

In Song mode youhave 16 linear tracks, and your Song can be as manymeasures as you like. You can record on the linear tracks, plus therearethree "virtual" tracks where you specify chord changes, Patternchanges, andtempo changes.

In Pattern modeyou have 8 tracks. The units of organization in Patternmode are Styles. Each Style contains 6 Patterns (Intro, Main A,A->B, MainB, B->A, and Ending). Each Pattern contains up to 8 measures.The Main Aand Main B Patterns are looped. The others will all act as a transitionofsome kind (e.g. the Intro Pattern will automatically kick in the Main APattern when the Intro is done).

Pattern tracksdefault to certain allocations (Drum1, Drum2, Percussion,Bass, Chord1, Chord2, Chord3, Chord4), but you can easily override thefunctions, if not the names, of the tracks. One of the coolest thingsaboutPattern mode is that you can make it automatically reharmonize on thefly.For example, you can write all your pattern tracks in C major, then inSongmode (or in realtime), make it play a chord progression (C-E-G, or C,Ebm6,Dmaug, whatever).

A typical songwill combine some Song (linear) tracks and some Pattern(looped) tracks, though I have certainly composed songs using onlyPatternTracks, or only Song Tracks.

Q: Can I convertlinear tracks to loops, cut/paste notes, etc...

You can pretty easilycut/paste chunks from track totrack, or between Song and Pattern tracks. You can transpose, timeshift, or add controller curves. You can selectively move some datafrom one track to another. These are all called "Jobs", and there areabout two dozen different functions you can do with Jobs.

Q: What is it like tostep-record on the QY70?

In step-record modein theQY70, you have a display that looks very muchlike that shown below. You can see one measure, divided into 32nd noteintervals, and by hitting a key you can place any note/drum sound orcombination of sameinto each interval. You can then move to the next measure and do thesame.

If you use PatternMode, you step record the same way, and you can create apattern (loop) anywhere from 1 to 8 measures long.

If you want to dotweaks on your sequence (e.g. shift some hits by a 64thinterval), you can go back and edit it, specifying timing with480ppq resolution, and also velocity and other more exotic parameters.Bothstep record mode and edit mode let you scroll back and forth throughthepattern and see and hear the hits as you move.

On the QY70, youcan edit patterns in either event list format or grid/piano rollformat (the latter is called "Step Record" on the QY70). The gridformat ispretty basic, but it's been OK for me. All you have is two rows ofhyphens('-'), 32 per measure (in 4/4, or 24 dashes in 3/4, etc.). At eachposition, if there's a dot, that means there's at least one Note Onevent.You get no visual indication of note value or how many notes aretriggeredsimultaneously, but if you cursor to a dot, you hear the note(s). Itlookssort of like this:

--------|*-------
  ^
--------|*------- 

As shown here, thecursor is on the third 32nd-note position of the firstbeat of the measure. There are Note On events at the beginning of the2ndand 4th beats of the measure.

There are a numberof controls to select what note durations and gate timesto use, velocity value (if you are playing on the rubber keys), andcursormovement (within the measure, or from measure to measure). You canmanuallyspecify finer timing than the grid can show.

I use the grid modeto edit notes, and the event list to edit controllervalues, SysEx commands, etc.

Q: Don't thePattern tracks force you to do certain things on certain tracks?

No. There aresuggesteduses (the tracks arenamed D1, D2, Pc, Ba, C1, C2, C3, C4 to indicate drums, percussion,bass, and chords). But you can easily override these settings (not thetracks names). Do MENU/EDIT, MENU/PHRASE TABLE. Here you can selectwhich instrument to use on the track, how it is harmonized, etc.

Q: In Patternmode, can I drop preset phrases (single-track patterns) into the"wrong" tracks (e.g. a drum phrase on a chord track)?

I don'tactually use thecanned phrases in my work, so I haven'tdone this exact thing, but it seems to me that at least with aroundaboutmethod, you should be able to make this work.

The idea is,keep working with your D1 track as a "scratchpad". Set it touse a certain phrase. Then use a "Put" Job to send the phrase to a SongMode track. Finally, use a "Get" Job to bring it back to any PatternModetrack you like. Repeat as needed. I believe the D1, D2, and Pctracks will let you directly specify a drum phrase, so you shouldn'tneed touse the trick on those tracks. After you're done using D1 asscratchpad,you can set it to whatever drum phrase you like.

After you'vedropped the phrases into the various tracks, you'll probablyhave to manually set the tracks to use the right drum kits. That'swhereMenu/Edit, Menu/Phrase Table comes in.

Q: What areAutomatic Reharmonization and Chord Templates?

I have usedAutomaticReharmonization and ChordTemplates to good effect on the 70. It takes a pattern you've writtenall in one chord, and morphs it to follow a chord progression. You canselect from many preset Chord Templates for various genres of music.You can also create your own chord progressions to apply to patterns.Each track in the pattern can have its own "rule" for how the chordprogression is applied.

Choices of rulesinclude Bypass (e.g. for drum tracks, so you don't suddenlyget different drum sounds), and several modes which follow the root ofthe chord only, the whole chord, or the chord including a bass note.I'llconfess I'm still a little confused by the exact meanings of the modes,andmy music theory is weak, but I'm of the "push buttons til it breaks orsomething cool happens" school. It's definitely fun, and inknowledgeablehands would probably be useful too.

There is a track(called Cd) in Song mode which is dedicated to specifying chords toapply to Patterns.

Q: Haven't I heardthat Style before?

Kory suggested that these bits are ripped off:

Q: How do I makemy drum sounds come out on separate MIDI channels?

If you put yourdrum soundson separate tracks,they'll come out on separate MIDI channels. You could "prototype" thepercussion on one track, then use the Extract Events Job to sort thedifferent sounds to different tracks.

Q: Can you buildyour own drum kit on the QY70?

You can't reassigndrumsounds within a kit, though you can tweak some ofthe sounds in each one. One kit is GM compatible, the other 19 or soarevariations on it (Electro, Jazz, etc).

Q: How do I editindividual drum sounds?

You need to setthe trackto use DS1, DS2, or DS3 asits intrument. DS1 & DS2 are only for song tracks, and DS3 isonlyfor pattern tracks. You have to skip all the way past all the drum kitsto select DSx for your track. Then within the Drum Voice editor, youselect which kit you want to start with. There's a little picture of akeyboard; you can edit only those sounds with a dot on thecorresponding key.

Q: Got any tips oncool stereo effects? (thanks Jason Anniballi)

Q: What does itmean when a sound name begins with 'S.' or ends with 'K'? (thanks JasonAnniballi)

Many of thewavetable soundsare stereo. For example,the piano sound where the lower keys are panned left and the high keysare panned right. I think that all the sounds that end in "K" arepanned this way (all bank 1 sounds are "Key Scale Panning"). A few ofthe other sounds are stereo, like "S.Strings", "S.SlwStr", "S.Choir",and one of my favorites "StBrsSec" (bank 3 sounds).

But as was alreadymentioned, the Chorus, Reverb, andVariation effects sound great in stereo. A cool combination for thosewho like the Hammond+Leslie organ sound is to take an organ sound (oneof the more vanilla ones) and send it through the Rotary SpeakerVariation effect. You can then use the AC1 (controller 16) to changethe speed of the rotary effect.

Other great stereoeffects are the Delaysand a really trippy one - the Auto Pan. Try the LTurn and RTurnsettings of the PAN Direction parameter - sounds 3d!

Try setting thepan for a track to zero (Random).Especially with staccatto high pitched notes (rapid fire is great),you'll get a sensation of being immersed in a rainfall of notes.

Q: Will I needto use a computer once I add (x synth) to my setup?

I can think ofno reasonto switch to a computer, just becauseyou've added external equipment to your QY. I use an external keyboardcontroller, a PC1600x slider box, and an external synth. Alsooccasionallya drumpad to MIDI box.

Q: Is there anygood PC software for the QY70?

There are manyinterestingprograms out there, none specifically for the QY70, but several whichare very useful with it.

You already ownQYFiler, which comes with the QY70. Ifind it very handy for periodically backing up my QY70, splitting outindividual songs to MIDI files, etc.

XGEdit isshareware, can be found at yamaha.co.uk, I believe, or perhaps alink away. It's a general purpose XG parameter editor. I haven'tactuallytried it, but I hear it's good.

XGWorks isactually made by Yamaha, downloadable from yamaha.co.uk ($80,free demo). It's a combination XG editor and sequencer. The sequenceruserinterface is something like Cakewalk. The XG editor is menus, buttons,etc.I've tried it briefly, and it's pretty good.

As far as I know,neither program will let you embed continuous CHANGES toXG parameters in a song. By that I mean, you can't make your soundmorph asthe song plays. The best way to do that is with a real PC1600x, usingtheQY as sequencer.

You might alsolook at

VMIDIJoy

It lets you do CC sweeps with your joystick.VMIDIJoy lets you plug ina joystick and create MIDI data byswirling it around and pushing the buttons.

MIDIYoke

lets you connect MIDI applications to each otherinsidethe computer, using virtual MIDI cables.

MIDI Thruway

lets you take MIDI data on either virtual orphysicalcables, and merge it, split it, or filter it. Also check out theirarpeggiator for some real insanity!

Q: Are there anyQY->MIDI conversion programs for Windows?

There is a QY-Filerutilitysupplied with your QY70,in both Mac and PC versions. It lets you doMIDI->QY->MIDIconversions in a jiffy. Be aware that patterns don't translate to MIDI,so you have to expand 'em before sucking them out of your QY. I useQY-Filer very often, to make backup bulk dumps of my entire QY70. Takesless than a minute, and it's real peace of mind. I've needed to go backto these bulk dumps on more than one occasion. QYFiler also lets youhandle songs separately and convert to/from standard MIDI files.

Q: How do I connectmy QY to my PC? Do I need a wacky cable?

No need to mess withthe 8-pinmini-DIN. I actually did buy a Mac-to-modemcable, and a gender changer, but realized this would be foolish to messwith(installing drivers, swapping genders, flipping the switch betweenPC1/PC2on the QY). Too many variables. Here's the easy way:

Get one of thosesoundcard-to-MIDI cables (about $20 at most music storesand computer stores). Plug it in and you're done, with no fuss. Worksbeautifully with QY-Filer and with Cakewalk. I'm assuming you have anordinary soundcard with MIDI/joystick port.

If you're feelingadventurous, you could go get theMac/modem cable and so forth, and you may actually get some benefit.This would leave your soundcard MIDI port free so you could have a morecomplex MIDI rig. Don't forget to install the special serial/MIDIdriver supplied with your QY70.

Q: Can thepreset phrases be output to a PC based midi editor for notation?

You should beable to useyour favorite sequencer software to display/printthe preset phrases. Use the "Put" Job from pattern mode to copy thephrasetracks to Song Mode tracks. Then use QY-Filer to convert to StandardMIDIfiles, and read directly into your sequencer. Tedious, but effective.

Or, just makea pattern track which selects a series of styles, then do anExpand Pattern Job.

To maximizeyour efficiency, you could build giant "songs" with many phrasesstrung end-to-end (kind of like the QY70 demo song).

Q: What toys can Iadd to my QY70?

I started out bygetting an ACadapter (9 Volt, 500 mA,center positive - about $12 at Radio Shack). I've used it for monthsthis way, so if this saves you a few bucks or the hassle of findingYamaha's, feel free. I'm told by others that you have to get a 12V,700mA adapter, or your adapter burns up. So that may be the betterchoice, though mine's been fine.

Next I got a tinypair of Sony earphones, the kind thatcoil up in a little "makeup compact" and fit in your pocket. Then I gotan insulated (padded) lunch box from Arctic Zone (bought it atWal-Mart), the perfect size for the QY70, its manuals, and a bunch ofacessories and cables.

I threw in a couplemore Radio Shack items: One ofthose fake cassettes meant to let you play CD's in your car. And acigarette-lighter DC power supply, meant for Game Boy afficionados. Itie-wrapped the two together into one little assembly. It's a blast topark somewhere and compose music while it blasts out of my car stereo.

I've also gotten aPC game port to MIDI cable so I canconnect the QY70 to my PC through the sound card. This works nicelywith the QY Data FIler software that came with the QY70. I also bought(but never used) a Mac serial to normal serial cable which can pluginto that little round connector next to the MIDI jacks on the QY. Inever used this because the book made it sound pretty complicated toselect the right switch setting on the QY, and I knew I'd be foolingwith null modems, baud rates, and installing special drivers 'til thecows came home. The MIDI/soundcard thing just worked first try.

I control my QY70with a Quickshot MIDI Composerkeyboard. For $99 at Micro Center (I've seen it mail order for a bitmore), it's a real deal. It has 49 velocity sensitive keys, PB&Mod wheels, and an assignable slider. It comes with sound card MIDI andnormal MIDI cables, and a sustain pedal, and can be powered by an ACadaptor (same as the QY, but NEGATIVE center), batteries, or thesoundcard. I have two minor complaints about the keyboard. The keys areever so slightly sticky, because they rest on rubber rather than felt.And the Pitch wheel has a little dead zone in the center, then kicks insort of suddenly outside the dead zone. But overall I'm happy with it.

I got an old drumpad to MIDI converter made by Cheetahin 1989. I whomped up some pads from Radio Shack piezo crystals, andended up with a nice drum control setup for under $200 (compare with$1200 for packaged drum setups). I give construction details (below) onthe pads if you're curious. They cost me less than $5 each.

I was given a cutelittle vintage Korg synth and awonderful A-frame keyboard rack by my mother-in-law's husband. This hasbeen a big help, as the setup was getting pretty ungainly, spread outall over my living room.

I compose standingup, due to my back problem, and thissetup has proven very ergonomic, though I still need to improve thelighting for the QY's display. I wish it was backlit. One thought is totake the mic boom in the keyboard rack and stick a light on the end.

For the ultimate incheesy mixers, I use a headphonesplitter. I plug it into the headphone jack of one synth, and wire itto the other. This is technically a no-no, but what the heck - it addsno noise at all, and it costs $1.29. The only drawback I've noticed isa reduction in volume.

But the ultimateaccessory is definitely the PeaveyPC1600x MIDI Command Station. This box and a little programming willbring your QY70 to life. Directly manipulate sound parameters withsliders. Adjust the levels of the tracks with something that feels likea real mixer. Mute tracks with the push of a button. Go wild, programthis puppy to send any MIDI message in response to any fader or button.At

Peavey

there's an "interactive forum" about the PC1600x.The PC1600x doesn't exactly add NEW capability,but it makes it so mucheasier to use some EXISTING capabilities, that it may as well be new.Withthe PC1600x, you can control many many parameters in real time, whichwouldotherwise require laborious hand editing.

Q:Do I need acontroller keyboard and synth or could I use a synth that has acontroller?

There's no reason notto usethe synth's keyboard. Just turn off localcontrol in the synth, then plug its MIDI in/out to the QY out/in jacks.Theonly reason I have a separate controller keyboard is that my synth isso oldthat it's not velocity sensitive.

Q: How did you makethose drum pads?

I've found I canreally have agreat time tapping out a rhythm on these.

First of all, youneed a pads-to-MIDI converter, whicharen't as common as they used to be. I know of one available from Paia,the same company that sold analog synth kits in the 70's. I think theirweb site is www.paia.com.

Normally, thesethings take 1/4" jack inputs.Electrically, each pad is trivially simple. Just connect a piezotransducer (several sizes are at Radio Shack; get the biggest) to a1/4" mono phone plug. I recommend shielded cable; RS should have thattoo. I connected the black lead on the transducer to the shield, and tothe "ring" (long section) of the plug. The red wire goes to the plug'stip.

Mechanically, it'sa little more involved. There aretwo main problems to solve. First, the transducer (I think RS calls ita speaker) is buried inside a plastic can, so you can't tap on it(unless you poke a pencil through the hole). Second, you need someacoustic isolation so that when you tap on one pad, you don't triggerall the others.

What I did is get arazor saw (very important - yourproduct will look like crap without this tool try MJ Designs, BenFranklin, or a hobby shop), and saw off the top of the can, exposingthe metal backside of the transducer. The correct way to saw this offis to lay the saw flat on the table with a little spacer under it,about 2 mm thick (sheet rubber is good). Lay the transducer upside downand go around it a few times, briskly sawing away. You'll get a niceclean cut. WATCH OUT THOUGH! You have never used a tool as sharp as arazor saw. It'll slice you to the bone, and you won't even realize itat first.

I sanded theremaining cut rim so it's smooth and attractive, but not too thin(leave at least 1 mm).

I cut some sheetrubber (gasket material from theplumbing section at Home Depot) to fit just inside the rim of thismetal piece, and stuck it down with double faced tape (cut at the sametime). I got the double-faced tape at HD also; it's outdoor carpettape. I love this tape by the way; I've had a piece holding carpet tothe underside of my front door for years. It gets dragged across thethreshold many times a day, and is still absolutely perfect. It's aswonderful an invention as gaffer's (duct) tape.

Anyway, if you tapheavily on this thing, you'll popthe transducer out. What you have to do is pry the back off the case,and run a bead of hot glue around the rim of the transducer, on theinside. This will give excellent strength. Hot glue the back back inplace. By the way, it'll come off more cleanly if you run an exactoblade around the rim of the back. Watch you don't cut the wires or yank'em off the crystal.

OK, the final thingis isolation. I cut two pieces ofrubber the size of the bottom, and stuck 'em on with double-faced foamtape. I used several little squares of foam tape around thecircumference of the bottom of the case, then a layer of rubber, thenmore foam tape pieces (OFFSET from the first ones), then the bottompiece of rubber, for anti-slip. Looks kinda like a tiny wedding cake.

   -------------------------    rubber
  -------------------------    carpet tape
 --------------------------   transducer 
 |_________________|  transducer case (glue inside)
 =   =   =   =   =   =    =     foam tape
 --------------------------- rubber
   =   =   =   =   =   =    =   foam tape
 --------------------------- rubber
 

It's not as tall asit lookshere!

By the way, Paiaalso sells something called "ThumDrum" which puts several tiny pads into a finger pattern on top of abox. You may like this, and it's easy, because it's a kit, or I thinkyou can buy it assembled. But I like my little separate pads, 'cause Ican arrange 'em to fit my apish hands.

I also made acouple of large pads (4" dia). I poppedthe transducer right out of the plastic case. I stuck 'em to a tin canlid (thin lid, minimal ridges stamped in - try French's French FriedOnions, 6 oz size). Same rubber material on top. Used some roundelectrical fittings from HD (Lamp fixture ring and a matching cover andmatching round gasket). Stuck the rubber/tin can/transducer assembly tothe lamp fixture ring with foam gasket between for 1 stage ofisolation. Stuck the ring to a flat cover with round 1/2" poly foamwindow seal material between, giving another isolation stage. Addedfoam and rubber feet to the botom, for more isolation and anti-slip.Passed the cable out through a hole drilled in the side of the fixturering.

 ----------------------------------------- rubber
 ----------------------------------------- carpet tape
 ===-------------------------------=== foam ring/tin can center
 -------    --------------------    -------- carpet tape
 ****        -----------------         **** fixture ring/trans. center
 @ *                                               * @ round foam
 *************************** fixture cover
  =   =   =   =   =   =   =  =  =  =   =   =   foam/rubber feet

I hope you can readthesesilly diagrams. This large pad is also quite thin - only about 5/8" tall.

I saw an article onthe net about a guy who made padsfrom Remo practice pads. These go for about $20-$25, in 6" and 8"sizes. He slipped a tin can lid and transducer right under the "skin"of the Remo pad. Costs about $30, vs about $100 for a commercial drumpad, but I'm way too cheap for that. I'm sure the result is lovelyloking though, and you can mount it rather than throwing it on a table.

Q: Got any tipsfor taking advantage of the portability of my QY70?

First, getyourself decentbatteries. Good batteries(Duracell, Energizer) will last 4-5 hours. Cheapies (Store brands) willlast 1 hour. Verified repeatedly by my personal experience. Iunderstand there are also 1.5V lithiums available, which will last evenlonger.

A couple oftips, if you want to fly QY:

(1) Put your QYin a kid's lunch box. I guess I'm pretty old, but I justrecently discovered lunch boxes aren't metal any more. They'repadded/insulated bags, with straps and extra pockets. The one I got istheexact right size for my QY70, and has enough room to include manuals,headphones, audio adapter plugs, AC adapter, extra AA's, and acar-cable.The whole thing is so small, it hardly counts as carry-on luggage. Iput alittle scrap of terry cloth (towel) in the bottom of the bag, and laytheQY70 in, face down. After a fair amount of travel, there isn't so muchas ascratch on the display.

(2) On thenoisy plane, it's best to use big earcup headphones, like my SonyMDVR-600's. The isolation and extra loudness are a real help. Yes, Imanaged tocram these into my lunch box. I also brought a pair of those tinyin-earstrapless jobs that come in a pocket case, and a headphone splitter.Moreabout that later...

(3) I got allthe way to LA one one set of batteries. I've found thatDuracells last about five hours. Store-brand batteries last about onehour.Even at half the price, cheapie batteries are a ripoff, giving abouthalfthe usage per dollar. Make sure you tuck a spare set of batteries intoyourlunch box. You might consider those new lithium AA's - I hear goodthings about 'em

Whythe extra headphones? The QY70 is very intriguing andalluring to yourfellow passengers. They will naturally be very curious why your head isbobbing as you type on that little box. It's a real kick to hand yourheadphones over and blow 'em away! I had a cute girl doin' the JohnTravolta thing in the aisle, and a guy who exclaimed he was gonna runfromthe plane to a music shop to grab a QY70. I played a new-agey, relaxingsongfor the poor white-knuckled lady next to me, and it soothed and cheeredherconsiderably.

Onward andupward!

Q: I've had a blastplaying with Groove Templates

but it's reallyhit-and-miss. Some appeared to have no effect on my 4/4pattern; others dropped some notes entirely, some were really kick-ass.I'm sure the ones that didn't work would be great with differentpatterns. Anyone got info on the intended usage or other properties ofGroove Templates?

No good infoavailable. You just have to try 'em onyour song. And what works with one song may not on another, so you'llhave to repeat for each song.

Q: How do I makemy QY70 ignore my MIDI keyboard's channel, and always record on theactive track?

Thisis convenient, because you can leave your keyboard on channel 1 all thetime, and just hop to different tracks in the QY70. This feature isundocumented. Do MENU/UTILITIES, MENU/MIDI. The MIDI THRU setting canbe OFF, THRU, or RECMONTR. In RECMONTR mode, the QY70 will translateyour keyboard's output to whatever track you're working on. It willalso apply any MIDI filter you've selected (on the same screen). Whenwould you NOT want RECMONTR? If your MIDI input contains severalchannels, meant to trigger multiple tracks in the QY70. Be aware thatthe RECMONTR setting also affects what comes out the MIDI Outconnector.

Q: How do I selectdifferent patterns under MIDI control?

It depends. If youare inPattern mode, the standardMIDI "Song Select" message will instead, select a Style (see QY70 ListBook, page 53). But if you are on a Preset Style, you can only selectother Preset Styles. And if you're on a User Style, you can only selectother User Styles. And if you're in Song mode, the Song Select messageonly selects a song. Song Select is F3 ss, where ss is the song orstyle number.

Somepossibilities do come to mind.

(1) You couldprogram multiple tracks within apattern to contain different beats, which will each sound good ifplayed alone. You can then use SysExcMulti Volume messages to"mute/solo" the various tracks. On a QY70, this would give a choice of8 different beats.

(2) There is amessage to select different sectionsof one style (Intro, Main A, Main B, etc.) The only sections that willactually loop are A & B, though the lead-ins may be useful toyouas well. But just using A & B, you still double yourpossibilitiesto a max of 16 different beats. The Section Control message is F0 43 7E00 ss 7F F7, where ss is...

(3) If you needto have the song itself still there(e.g. melodic lead track along with the beats), you could make multiplecopies of the song, each set up to use a different pattern style. Youcould switch song to song, and within a song, switch between A& B.Within A & B, "mute/solo" individual pattern parts. It's messyandconsumes lots of space, but this might come close to your needs.

Q:Whenever I play ageneral midi file (not an XG file) through my QY70 Ihave to reset channel 10 to the drum kit

Actually, the filesyou areplaying use a layer beyond GM. I can't rememberthe name of the spec (MM or MPC something?), but it's a PC thing thatdrums are on CH 10 bydefault. But anyway, I don't think there's any special mode in the QY70tomake it default to CH 10 = drums.

Q: It takes a verylong time to scroll through all the sounds and get to the drums.

You can type in thenumbercodes for sounds (see theList Book). But this won't go to the next group (melodic sounds, the FXbanks, drum sounds). However, you can skip through much faster by usingSHIFT + instead of just +.

Q: Are there anymidi strings to let me assign pattern tempo control andglobal pitch change/transpose to faders on my PC1600x?

I know there is amultipartmessage for transpose, but I don't believe thereis a global transpose.

Unfortunately,there doesn't seem to be a tempocommand. I welcome anyone else's input. Tempo control would be terrificto do with a fader. I believe the closest things would be either SongPosition Pointer (SPP), or MIDI Time Clock (MTC), neither of whichlends itself to our needs. What's needed is a firmware change for thePeavey PC1600x, so it could send MTC 24 times per quarter note, at afader-controlled rate.

Q: Does the QY70 useMIDI Time Code (MTC)?

Yes, you can set it toeithersend or receive MTC, forsyncing to other MIDI devices. See MENU/UTILITIES, MENU/MIDI, MIDIClock (Internal or External).

Q: How do I transfersongs between my QY70 and my other hardware sequencer?

I suppose for aQY-to-hardware sequencer dump, you would make the QY "play"the song, and put the MC-50 in MIDI "record" mode. Make sure that theyaresynced with MTC (the QY can either send or receive MTC, as you prefer).What squirts out of the QY is this: Song Mode Tracks 1-16 come out onMIDIchannels 1-16.

If a Pattern isplaying, its tracks 1-8 come out on MIDI channels 1-8, or9-16, as you prefer. This implies that if you are using all 24 possibletracks (16 Song, 8 Pattern), you may want to separate the Song& Patterntracks before transferring, and do two transfers.

Q: How do I get "intothe guts" of my QY70 and play with the sounds?

You can use the builtingraphical sound editors (Voiceand Drum Voice). These cover the basics. On the mixer screen, doMENU/VOICE EDIT. If you want to do more detailed editing,you need to learn about SysEx messages, especially SysExMulti... Seeyour List Book for details, starting around page 54; multipart voiceparameters are listed on page 57. You can easily insert any of theQY70's SysEx messages in "English" by doing MENU/EDIT, MENU/INSERT,then you scroll through all the types of events to insert (Notes, PB,... SysExMulti, ...) Also see the various SysEx topics here.

Q: I'm trying touse SysEx messages from the List Book, but they don't work.

If you enter SysExmessagesin the QY70 with its built-in editor, you're OK, because yousee the messages in "English". But if you're, say, programming aPC1600x tosend QY70 SysEx's when you move sliders, you'll have a big problem.

Here it is: Onpages 54 and 55 of the List Book, they give the formats forthe various classes of SysEx messages used by the QY70. Unfortunately,theModel ID shown in each format is incorrect. They list it as 5F, when itshould be 4C. I'm guessing that 5F is the Model ID for the QY700, andsomeone forgot to edit it.

Here's anexample. The format for a Parameter Change is shown as:
F0 43 10 53 aa aa aa dd F7
It should be:
F0 43 10*4C*aa aa aa dd F7

In this message,you look up values for"aa aa aa dd" in the various MIDI Parameter Change tables on thefollowingpages, for example (EFFECT 1) or (MULTI PART).

Here's aspecific example: To change the vibrato rate to maximum for the C1pattern track, send the message:
F0 43 10 4C 08 14 15 7F F7
In this message, 08 means (MULTI PART), 14 means track C1, 15 meansVibratoRate, and 7F means the maximum value.

Q: I'd like to askmy QY70 NOT to receive on a particular channel...

Q: How do I makethe QY70 play some tracks on an external synth, and NOT internally?

Q: How do I use myQY70 as a drum machine andpreview the various preset beats, without hearing those pesky chordsand bass lines?

Embed a SysExcMultimessagein any track, which either
(a) commands the undesired track to a volume of zero
or
(b) commands the undesired track to respond to NO MIDI channel (127)

For method (a) or(b), make sure you play the songlong enough to hit the SysExcMulti message, before you start yourexternal sequencer, or before you jump into Pattern mode for beatpreviews. Method (b) is more powerful, because (a) will be undone assoon as you jump to a new style. Also note that it doesn't matter whattrack you throw a SysExcMulti into, because the message itselfspecifies a target track. Consult your list book for System ExclusiveMultiPart messages. Song tracks 1-16 = Parts 1-16; Pattern tracks 1-8 =Parts 17-23.

JasonAnniballi's original writeup:

This solutionworks by telling the tone generatorvoice (Yamaha calls them "Parts") to ignore all midi messages,effectively muting them. Of course you need to turn them back on againto un-mute them. By default, each Part "listens" to midi data on thesame channel channel as it's Part number (Part 4 plays MIDI channel 4),but you can change it to any channel you want or tell it not to listento ANY channel. This feature can be useful in live situations if youwant to setup keyboard splits or layers and have different Parts playon the same channel.

As far as I cantell (on the QY70) Parts 1-16 correspond to the 16 tracks in Song mode.The Pattern parts are as follows:

So in order toturn off the D2 track at measure 2 then on again in measure 3, you needto do the following:

In ANY song track,go to the "Edit" screen and the tothe "Insert" screen. Change the "Note" parameter to "XG Exc Multi",then change "ElRsrv" to "RcvCh.". The first number is the Part and thesecond is the receive channel. Set the first number to "18" for D2 andincrement the second number up until it says "OFF" (i think the valueis 127). Of course you want to set the Measure:Beat:Clock to where youwant the mute to occur. It should look like this:

M002 XG Exc Multi

1:000xRcvCh. 18 OFF

To turn D2 back on in measure 3, just set Part 18 to listen to channel 18 again:

M003 XG Exc Multi

1:000xRcvCh. 18 18

Be careful about setting the receive channel to matchup with the Part number when you want to unmute it. I think you couldreally screw things up otherwise! Also it may be possible to get"stuck" notes depending on where you actually place the Mute. It mightbe safer to use the MultiPart volume messages:

M002 XG Exc Multi <--Mute - Volume 0

1:000xVol 18 0

M003 XG Exc Multi <--Full On!

1:000xVol 18 127

I think there areother tricks you could play with thePattern tracks on the fly with MultiPart messages (panning, Effectssends, etc.). So try 'em out!

Q: Why not justcontrol volume and other parameters with CC messages?

You DO need sysexto mutepattern tracks from a songtrack, which is a very useful thing to do. The reason is that MIDIchannels (as supported by the generic Peavey setup) support 16 tracks.Pattern data is on tracks(multi-parts) 17-24.

SysEx techniqueswill also work perfectly fine forSong tracks, but may be overkill. If your desire is to mute a track soit'll be played only on external equipment, use the System ExclusiveMulti message which sets the MIDI receive channel. Set it to 127 todisable it. But if you just want to automate fades and simple soundparameter morphs, you can use ordinary CC messages for Song tracks. Forexample, CC7 is track volume. I think CC74 is "Brightness" (filtercutoff), etc. See your list book. By the way, the QY70 (as a trick)lets you embed CC messages in your Pattern tracks, but they will ofcourse repeat with the pattern, and you probably want to use yourchanges to make your pattern LESS repetitive.

So to summarize:SysExMulti messages can be placed ina Song track to control a pattern track. They can completely mute atrack which will be played externally, and save on QY polyphony. AndSysExcMulti messages can control very obscure XG sound parameters. ButSysExcMulti messages eat more memory than CC messages, so should beused only when you need the above mentioned features.

Q: Can I set upmy Peavey PC1600x to control Pattern tracks?

Use thesestrings to makeyour Peavey sliderscontrol Pattern track volume and morph a single track. You can set thebuttons to Mute or Solo, as desired. I set the buttons for sliders9-16, just to ID the slider. I set the buttons for sliders 1-8 to Mute.In performance, I have the display showing the Utility screen whichlets me set the "dv" (device number) value to the track that I want tomorph. 0-15 = Song tracks, 16-23 =Pattern tracks (In hex, that's 00-0F,and 10-17).

F0 43 10 4C 08 10 0B pr F7 Slider 1/D1 Track

F0 43 10 4C 08 11 0B pr F7 Slider 2/D2 Track

F0 43 10 4C 08 12 0B pr F7 Slider 3/Pc Track

F0 43 10 4C 08 13 0B pr F7 Slider 4/Ba Track

F0 43 10 4C 08 14 0B pr F7 Slider 5/C1 Track

F0 43 10 4C 08 15 0B pr F7 Slider 6/C2 Track

F0 43 10 4C 08 16 0B pr F7 Slider 7/C3 Track

F0 43 10 4C 08 17 0B pr F7 Slider 8/C4 Track

F0 43 10 4C 08 dv 18 pr F7 Slider 9/Filter Cutoff

F0 43 10 4C 08 dv 19 pr F7 Slider 10/Filter Res

F0 43 10 4C 08 dv 1A pr F7 Slider 11/Attack

F0 43 10 4C 08 dv 1B pr F7 Slider 12/Decay

F0 43 10 4C 08 dv 15 pr F7 Slider 13/Vibrato Rate

F0 43 10 4C 08 dv 16 pr F7 Slider 14/Vibrato Depth

F0 43 10 4C 08 dv 28 pr F7 Slider 15/Tremolo Depth*

F0 43 10 4C 08 dv 27 pr F7 Slider 16/Filter Mod**

For the last two to work, you must insert a maximum pitch bend (+8191) message at the beginning of your control (Song) track.

Here is a

containing the PC1600x preset described above.NOTE: After you download this file, you must rename it to "PC1600x.blk"before using it. It is not aZIP file; I had to fake the name in order to get it pastthe geocities censors. The PC1600x sysx message is in Song 5 within thebulk file. Use the QYfiler software that came with yourQY70 to load it into your QY70, then play it into your PC1600x. Youhave to set the MIDI input channel of the PC1600x to 16, soit will see the sysx message.

Q: I want to use mydrum pads and PC1600x to trigger pattern changes.

The QY70 has twomessagesyou will find useful. One is "Song Select" (page53 in the QY70 manual):

F3 ss

Where ss is anumber from 00 to 7F. In Song Mode, this will select a song(ss is limited to 00-14 for actual song selection). For your purpose,thecool thing is that in Pattern mode, this message selects a Style. Thetricky bit is that ss is limited to 00-7F (0-127). Since there are 128Preset Styles, and 63 User Styles, you have to select either any PresetStyle or any User Style manually with the QY70's buttons, before youstart.If you manually selected a User Style, then the F3 ss message willselectother User Styles from then on (ss = 00-3F). And if you manuallyselected aPreset Style, F3 ss can select other Preset Styles after that (ss =00-7F).

If the QY70 is inPattern Play Mode when it receives an F3 ss message, itwill finish playing the current measure, then switch to the new Style.Whenit switches, it will play the same Section (Intro, Main A, etc.) in thenewStyle, as it was playing in the old Style.

The other QY70message of interest is "Section Control":

F0 43 7E 00 ss 7F F7

where ss is thesection number, 08-0D for Intro, Main A, Main B, etc. Thismessage works in both Song and Pattern modes.

I programmed twosliders on the Peavey PC1600x to send these strings. I setup the first one with this string:

F3 pr

and the secondslider with this string:

F0 43 7E 00 pr 7FF7

Now (in PatternMode), the first slider selects a Style, and the secondslider selects a Section. Remember to manually choose between eitherUseror Preset styles on your QY70 before you start.

Now, how totrigger this stuff externally?

What you need todo is program the PC1600x buttons to send these messages.For example, you might make 10 buttons select 10 different Styles, andtheother 6 buttons select the 6 sections within each style. Set up thebuttonstrings similar to the slider strings, but substitute specific numbersforthe "pr" variables.

Next, you want toprogram each PC1600x button to respond to an externallysupplied MIDI Note On message ("Remote Mode"). See page 15 in thePC1600xmanual.

I did all this,and now I can hit buttons on my MIDI keyboard and selectpatterns on the QY70 in real time.

The only otherthing you will have to do is program your drum pads to sendMIDI Note On messages with note numbers that match the range youprogrammedinto the PC1600x, and send on the channel you programmed in thePC1600x.

Q: What's the bestmethod of working with the QY70?

The following is 100%personalopinion. I have usedseveral different techniques, and I'm always evolving my methods. Onething I haven't tried is using the built-in patterns and phrases.They're remarkably good, but I really prefer to "roll my own." Here'swhat I've done.

I did a songentirely from handmade patterns with no"foreground" (song mode). I step-sequenced all six sections (intro,main a, etc.) Then I recorded the "Pt" track in real time (selectingwhich section I wanted as I felt the urge). Then I recorded the "Cd"track in realtime, hitting a new fingered chord whenever the moodstruck. Note that I set up the pattern so that chord changes would workwell with automatic re-harmonization. I selected a simple set of a fewnotes to play the melody in my patterns, and told the box to includethose tracks in the re-harmonizing. I know little to nothing about thetheory of chord progression, but I diddled around until my fingeredchords sounded good in succession. The result is pretty convincing tomy novice ear; it sounds like a real song with key changes. Way cool,Yamaha! I doubled the lead line to an external Korg synth, which addeda nice thickness. I put the Korg on a separate track, and laid out-ofsync mod wheel and velocity changes to the Korg and internal leadtracks, so the filters sweep at different times for the two sounds,even though they play the same melody. The Korg isn't velocitysensitive (it's from 1985), so I "muted" the Korg's track by settingthe velocity of all notes to 1. I have learned on this list how to dothat in a better way, now. This song has a very techno feel to it.

My next song is theopposite extreme from the first,which was all step-sequenced. For the next song, I started with a leadline that I had tried to play "live" over the patterns of the firstsong. The combination sucked, because the patterns were already busyenough, and I couldn't play to the beat very well anyway (hey, I'm anovice). But I still felt the lead line had potential. I plopped itinto a new song, and made two time-shifted copies of it on separatetracks, for a kind of "round" or call/response. I selected differentsounds for the three tracks. Next I live-played some slow string chordsbehind it. My sleazy method of chord progression was just to keepmoving one finger at a time, so the chords just gradually evolved fromone to another. At the end, I lifted one finger at a time til thestrings died away. The result is haunting and spooky.

On the next song, Ididn't use patterns either; Istep-sequenced the lead line and bass track. I used only a lead line(again, doubled on the Korg), an occasional bass riff, and a constantlyvarying wind sound (with some flanging and "chords" to make it soundfar more real). I "played" the wind sound in real-time. I used the CopyEvents Job to lay 3 copies of my "AB" section end-to-end.

On my current song,I'm mixing patterns and song modetracks. I've discovered the Groove PlayFX thing, and boy is it fun! Imade a little bass line pattern, and looped it for hours while I wentthrough all the Groove Templates. Found several that made my dopy 4/4pattern really kick ass. It's important to try 'em all, there's such avariety. And I'm quite sure some that sounded like nothing would bevery different with the right pattern to groove against. I wish therewas some info on what each Groove Template really does, and whatpatterns it might work well on. Advice, anybody?

The other thing I'mdoing is using a lead sound whichI've crafted to sound like a MiniMoog (I think). I started with "SqLead" and softened the attack and decay. I also boosted the filter'sresonance. I used SysExMulti commands to make my pitch bend wheelcontrol the filter instead of pitch. So I can play a lead and sweep thefilter all over the place. I set the PB->Filter sensitivity to+6450. I found that just using "Brightness" (CC 74 I think) controller,or programming my mod wheel, gave only a slight sweep to the filter,but the PB wheel is far more dramatic. Any ideas why this is?

I changed my QY70working style a little for my next composition.

I wrote it almostentirely in pattern mode. I made astyle that uses all 8 tracks in each phrase. The tracks are all playedin the same "key" (my own oddball scale). I wrote them to sound prettygood when played all at once, but I don't use them all at once verymuch. I have 3 percussion tracks, two bass lines, and some assortedothers.

In song mode, I havededicated track 1 as a "mixerautomation" track. It is a long list of Sys Exc Multi messages, whichturn the pattern tracks on and off (or up and down), sweep filters, andso forth.

In this way, I cantake the one phrase (e.g. Main A) andloop it for quite a while, with no sense by the listener that the songis repetitive. As the mix shifts, the song morphs into very differentthings over time. But because it's always coming from the same basicloop, there's always a feeling that the groove is continuous.

Since I have enjoyedthe Play FX Groove Templates somuch, I've decided to also experiment with Chord Templates on thissong. I like the result. Because I made all the tracks fit into a fixedkey, the chord changes work decently on every track (a major benefit ofPattern Mode). This also contributes to the sense of continuous groove.

I'll confess myskills with keys and chords are limited,so I'm really appreciative of the automation offered by pattern mode. Imay not have a clue of the name of a chord or scale I'm using, but theQY figures it out and forces everything to play along correctly.