User Guide

PC2 Made Easy
45
4. Press the Layer 2 button twice to mute it and play the keyboard. Notice that the
remaining layer 1 sound is panned partially to the left. Layers 1 & 2 in this program are
very similar sounding with each layer panned partially to opposite sides. (Layers 3 & 4
follow the pattern.) This gives a richer sound to the program. It also means that by
editing only one layer, you can get some real variations in the sound by choosing to either
change both layers or only one of them.
Press the Layer 1 button once to make it the editable layer. For each layer, there are a
number of parameters, including 2 DSP parameters. Although the other parameters
remain the same in all programs, the two DSP parameters will change, depending on
how that layer of the program has been designed. Each layer can have different DSP
parameters. (In this particular program, all layers have the same DSP parameters.)
When you press the Timbre parameter, you will always enter the menu at the first DSP
parameter.
Now change the value of the 2P Lowpass parameter (the alpha wheel is good for
changing in this example.). Notice that as you raise the filter cutoff, the sound gets
brighter, and as you lower it, the sound gets duller. The display shows you the cut off of
the filter in both a note value and the actual frequency.
Set the parameter as high as it can go (a value of G 10). Now move Slider C. Notice that
it has no effect on the sound. The Slider is set to open the filter as you send higher MIDI
values, but since the slider is all the way open, it canÕt be raised any higher. This points
out an important concept to remember. The basic parameter settings are initial amounts,
and those amounts can then be modified by a MIDI controller (if the program is set up
so that the controller will modify that parameter).
Set the value to C 5, the press the zone 2 button twice to unmute it. Now play the
keyboard. Notice that the sound is stronger on the left side, since layer 1, which is
panned to the left, is brighter. Now move Slider C up while playing the keyboard and
notice that the sound moves more to the center. This is because as the filter is opened up
and layer 2 gets brighter, it gains in volume. Now move Slider C all the way back down
and mute Layer 2 again.
5. Press the Layer 1 button to make it active and then press the >> button. Now you are
on the Resonance parameter. Resonance is a DSP function in which the amplitude of the
frequencies surrounding the filter cutoff frequency are increased or decreased. Try
changing the value of this parameter to hear the change in the sound.
As we mentioned earlier, Slider D controls the amount of resonance. This works in the
same way as we saw with Slider C Ð you set the initial amount with the resonance
parameter and then you can increase that amount with the slider. Since resonance is tied
to the filter cutoff, you will also find a big change in the sound based on the relative
settings of both parameters.
6. Press the >> button to get to the Amp parameter. This parameter controls the basic
overall amplitude of the layer and can be very useful for balancing the volumes of
different layers, particularly if they use different keymaps (which we will be exploring in
a few more steps).
7. Press the >> button again and you will see the first of several Initial Value
parameters, this one for the mod wheel. Most programs typically have up to 7 different
physical controllers, which can be used to alter the sound in one way or another.