In the previous video we added a Phaser Effect to Part 2 of our ‘P EP Morph’ Performance. In this video we’re going to add an On / Off switch for the Phaser Effect. Unfortunately the On/Off switches that are available on the Effect > Routing screen can not be assigned to any control. We’re going to use a workaround … we’ll assign Var Send to one of the Assign Buttons. When the Assign Button is Off, Var Send will be 0, and when it’s On, Var Send will be 127. Scroll down for text and images. Click the images to enlarge.
This is the Performance we created in the previous video, the Piano + Electric Piano Morph (via the Super Knob) with a Phaser in the Variation Effect and Phaser Depth controllable via Knob 3.
The goal now is to add an On/Off switch for this Phaser Effect.
Well … we know how to assign a parameter to a control, we already did that in video 12. We could think to simply assign the Variation Effect ON/OFF switch to Assign Button 1 or 2.
The problem is though … this Var ON/OFF switch is NOT an assignable parameter. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea, it’s just a fact of life.
We’ll need a workaround …
Without using this ON/OFF switch there still are multiple ways to accomplish what we want. One possible way is to use the Var Send parameter, which happens to be an assignable Parameter.
By the way … to check which parameters are assignable to controls and which are not, the Data List Manual that can be downloaded from the Yamaha website for Montage or MODX contains a table that starts on page 178.
Go to the Mixing screen. Tap the Part 2 Var Send knob to activate it. Because it is an assignable parameter, the Control Assign button should now be dimly lit. Press the Control Assign button …
… and the Control Assign screen opens.
Press the Assign 2 Button.
The Mod/Control > Control Assign screen now automatically opens. Here we see that Var Send has been added as a destination for AsgnSw2, exactly what we wanted.
But wait … there also is another destination, AEG Release … where did that come from? Well, when we first added this Electric Piano Part to the Performance, the controls it had came with it. So, this one was already there. We can delete it (bottom right) if it interferes, or we can just leave it there if it sounds OK.
One more thing to do … the Curve Type. Does a button have a curve? Yes it does, but it only switches between the far left and the far right ends of the curve.
With Curve Type Threshold the curve looks like a switch, that’s elegant. In the Mixer the default value for Var Send was on 64. When we select Polarity Bi and Rate 63 we’ll get fully down to zero on the left, and to 127 on the right. Other values are possible too if you’d want, just change the Rate value.
All done … Assign Button 2 now is the Phaser On/Off switch. Try it out.
In the previous video we made a Performance with a one Part, an acoustic piano, and we assigned Volume and Reverb to two Assignable Knobs. The goal we set ourselves in this video is:
Add Part 2 to the Performance, with a Fender Rhodes sound.
Assign Common Knob 2 to control the volume of Part 2.
Assign the Super Knob to control the volume of Parts 1 and 2 simultaneously. However, for Part 1 we’ll do this reversed such that when we rotate the Super Knob to the right the volume of the piano lowers, while the volume of the Fender Rhodes increases. This is called ‘morphing’.
We want to leave Part 1 Reverb on Assigned Knob 4 untouched by the Super Knob so we can control this separately.
We start with the Performance we created in the previous video.
The first thing we’ll do is to add a second Part, for which I like to find a warm sounding Fender Rhodes.
We’re on the lookout for a Single Part, these show in green text. To make things easy we can apply ‘Single’ as a filter, that way only the Single Part Performances show.
Tap the Attribute field at the top and select Single from the list.
To find Fender Rhodes keyboards we can further filter on Keyboard and on Electric Piano.
Tap the Vintage Case piano to add it to our Performance.
Our Performance now looks like this.
Tap the Arp field to switch it off. Then use Slider 2 or tap the volume field and use the Dial Wheel to bring Part 2 volume to zero. We do this because we like zero to be our start value for the Volume Knob we’re now going to assign.
Press the EDIT button to enter edit mode.
Go to Mod/Control > Control Assign.
Select Part 2 in the blue field bottom left.
Tap Auto Select and rotate Knob 1 to select AsgnKnob1.
Most Preset Parts already have Assigned Knobs. Often these can be of use, but when we want to start with a clean slate we first have to delete any available Knob Assignments.
With Auto Select on, rotate Knob 1 and if it has any Assignments, delete them by tapping Delete bottom right.
There can also be assignments for Knobs 2 – 8, so best also check those and delete any Assignment you come across.
We now have a clean Part 2 to start creating our own Assignments. We want to control the volume with Knob 1 … Part 2 Knob 1 that is. Tap the + and select Part Param > Volume as the parameter to be controlled by Part 2 Knob 1.
Set the Curve Type to Standard, set Polarity to Uni, set the Ratio to 32 and set Param 1 to 5. (Param 1 controls the curve shape as we’ll see later on).
We’ve now made the settings needed to control the Volume of Part 2 with Part 2 AsgnKnob 1.
What we want though is to control it with Common Knob 2, so we’re now going to assign Part 2 Knob 1 to Common Knob 2.
Select Common in the blue field bottom left and rotate Knob 2 to select Common AsgnKnob 2.
Tap the + and then select Part 2 > Part Assign 1.
We can change the Display Name to Volume 2.
The complete assignment should now look like the image.
The result on Performance screen now should look like this.
We can try out the Knobs for Volume 1 and 2 and Reverb 1, they should all work as planned.
If they do, it’s time to get to work on the Super Knob now.
Go to the Motion Control > Super Knob screen.
Switch Knobs 3 – 8 OFF. This way our Knob 4, the Reverb of the piano, is under control of only the Knob itself, the Super Knob won’t change it.
What we do want though is to set the min and max values if Knob 1: we want the piano volume to start at 127 and to go to 0 when the Super Knob is turned to the right. At the same time Knob 2, the Fender Rhodes piano will increase, which creates the ‘morph’ between the two.
Time to try it out. Let’s turn the Super Knob and listen. Well … yes … the piano volume decreases and the Fender Rhodes increases. But … in the middle the total volume feels a bit softer than at the extremes.
We can change that. Let’s go back to edit mode (press the EDIT button) and change the Param 1 setting of the curve from 5 to 3. Notice how this changes the graph from linear to curved. Do this for both Part 1 and 2 and we’ll definitely have some more volume in the middle.
Two more things … important:
1. Set all the Knobs and the Super Knob to the setting you like them to have when you startup this Performance. 2. Press STORE to save the Performance and give it a name.
In the next video we’ll see how we can add attributes (instrument categories) to a Performance such that it becomes easier to find them back using Performance Category Search.
We can program Assignable Knobs to make them control parameters that we can choose from a list. In this video we’ll start simple, with a Performance that has just one Part.
Our goal is to assign the Part 1 volume to Common Knob 1 and to assign Part 1 Reverb to Common Knob 4.
Why assign volume while that can already be controlled by the slider? Because in one of the next videos we are going to make the Super Knobs morph the volume of two Parts, one becomes louder while the pother becomes softer.
Why assign Reverb to knob 4 while it already is available as a parameter under knob 4? This is for ease of use. To tune Part 1 Reverb we would first have to press the Parameter Tune Button, then select Part 1 in the Performance screen and then rotate the knob … far too much work when in a live performance. By assigning it to Common Knob 4 the Reverb for Part 1 is readily available from the moment we activated the Performance.
Let’s open the ‘Init Normal (AWM2)’ Performance. This can be found via a press on the CATEGORY button and tapping the ‘Init’ category.
This is a one Past basic piano sound without any knobs assignmed and with only a Reverb effect.
This is the goal we set ourselves to accomplish: – Assign Common Knob 1 to Part 1 Volume. – Assign Common Knob 4 to Part 1 Reverb Send.
Press the EDIT button to enter Performance Edit Mode and tap Control > Control Assign.
Tap the Auto Select field and rotate Knob 1.
It’ll be automatically selected and it now is the knob that we can edit.
Bottom left it shows we’re in the Common section. Tap this field and select Part 1. It should look like the picture now.
Now tap the + to create a new assignment for Knob 1. We can now selects a parameter to be controlled by Part 1 AsgnKnob1, which is called the source.
By default parameter InsA Param 1 is shown. This is called the Destination.
We want to change this to Part 1 Volume.
Tap Destination 1.
We can now select a parameter from the left side menu.
Volume can be found under Part Param.
In the screen that opens we can set the details of this source / destination couple to our liking.
One of these settingsis Polarity. By default Uni is selected. The graph shows what it does … when we rotate Knob 1 the parameter will increase. Notice how the graph does not start at zero. The value at Knob = 0 will be the volume the Performance was stored with … with this Uni curve this is the minimum value. The Uni curve will increase this value from its minimum to max 127.
The minimum volume can be set in the Mixer screen.
If we set the default volume to zero this does not mean the Performance has to start with Part 1 volume zero … we can set Knob 1 at any position we like, say 73, and then store the Performance. Both the Mixer value of zero as well as the Knob value of 73 are stored, and now at startup the volume will be 73.
We could also set the Polarity to Bi … this makes the knob can both add to (turn right) or subtract from (turn left) from the default value.
If for example the default Mixer volume was set at 40, we can increase the volume by turning right, or decrease the volume by turning left. With the Uni curve we can only increase and 40 would be the minimum volume.
Volume on Knob 1 is done. Let’s now make Knob 4 control the Reverb.
Rotate Knob 4 … with Auto Select turned on it’ll automatically become selected.
Take care Part 1 is still selected in the blue field bottom left.
Press the ‘+‘ to add a destination and select Part Param > Rev Send.
Select Uni or Bi as to your liking. Personally I use Uni most of the time because to me it’s easy to understand:
Give the parameter the desired minimum value.
Set the Knob at the desired startup value.
Store the Performance with these values.
Done. From here the knob varies the parameter between the stored minimum and the maximum of 127.
Knob 4 now controls Reverb Send of Part 1. We can only hear the effect when the value of Reverb Return on the Mixer Master channel is larger than zero.
Got to the Mixer screen. Set the minimum Reverb Send to your liking (zero means you can go to a completely dry sound). Set the Reverb Return, it controls the maximum amount of reverb we’ll hear in the sound mix.
Set Knob 1 to the desired volume and Knob 4 to the desired Reverb level and press the STORE button to save the Performance. These Knob values will now be the default after startup.
OK, looks we’re ready, let’s try it out.
Hm, it looks like as long as Part 1 is selected in the Performance screen all is working well, but if Common is selected (tap the Performance name), which will be the case after opening the Performance via Live Set or via Category Search, the knobs control Common but nothing seems to be assigned to them!?
That’s because Knobs (can) do different things on Common level as on Part level, which they are on when a Part is selected / active on the Performance screen.
To make them work for a Part while we are in Common, we need to assign the Knob on the Common level to control the Part level.
Select Common in the blue field, bottom left
With Auto Select on, rotate knob 1.
Tap the ‘+‘ to add a destination.
Select Part 1 > Part 1 Assign 1 as destination.
Rotate Knob 4 to auto select it. This time select Part 1 > Part 1 Assign 4.
The result now is that on Common level Knobs 1 and 4 control Knobs 1 and 4 of Part 1.
Let’s give the knobs a useful name. Tap the Display Name field and enter a name. Let’s rename Knob 1 to ‘Volume 1’ and knob 4 to ‘Reverb 1’.
Now the Performance screen looks like this. We can see what each knob does. If you prefer an even cleaner screen you could also rename the other knobs so Assign# does not show there.
Don’t forget to now press the STORE button and save our hard work. As soon as we (accidentally) select another Performance not having saved this one first it has all been in vain.
It has happened to me that I touched the Dial Wheel while the Performance name was the active field, which made the next Performance become active … and all work was lost!
The next step is control the knobs via the Super Knob. The Super Knob can operate the 8 Assignable Knobs simultaneously. What we just did is transfer Common control to Part control, this makes it possible to control Part 1 volume via the Super Knob. Now imagine we add another Part, with reversed volume control, then we have created a Morph between two Parts. This is what we’ll do in the next video.
Yamaha Montage & MODX FAQ 