User Guide

PC2 Made Easy

30. Using Effects when Sequencing

As we mentioned in the Basic Concepts Tutorial, only a single effects configuration can

be called up at any one time. With the PC2 at its default values, if you are in Internal

Voices, KB3, or MIDI Setups Mode, the current Program or Setup is controlling the

effects, determining which effects get called up for each bus, along with the routing and

wet/dry amounts.

But once you start sequencing, things get a bit more complicated. You need to be able to

determine which effects get called up and what the routing and wet/dry amounts for

each individual MIDI channel will be. There are several different ways to control the

effects in this situation, and we will take a look at the different methods and their

advantages and disadvantages.

As we saw in tutorial #27, by going to MIDI Receive Mode, you have the ability to set

the FX Routing and wet/dry levels for each channel, and to control those settings via

MIDI controllers. This allows you to set initial amounts for each track, or even change

the amounts throughout the sequence.

What you CANÕT do via MIDI is select the Effects themselves directly. This must be

done either manually from the front panel, or by calling up a program that selects the

effect you want.

1. Press the FX Mode button. The display shows the FX Change Mode parameter. It has

two possible values, Auto and Panel. Auto is the default. Change it to Panel.

When set to Panel, the PC2 ignores the individual effects settings found in each program

and Setup. Instead, whatever effects you choose with the FX Select buttons will be the

effects you hear. You can also select the FX Routing and wet/dry settings for the channel

you are currently transmitting on (by default, channel 1). The advantage to this method

is that it is obviously quite simple Ð just select the effects you want and you are ready to

go.

However, there are a couple of disadvantages to this method. If you are working on

several different songs, using different effects, you have to manually set them correctly

each time you go to work on the song. In addition, if you have FX Routing or wet/dry

settings in your tracks, the channel you are transmitting on will not respond to the FX

routing or FX-A and FX-B controller messages while you are in Internal Voices mode. If

you switch to MIDI Receive Mode, the channel WILL respond to those messages. (All

other channels will respond correctly no matter what mode you are in.) Also, if you go

back and forth between sequencing and playing live, you will need to set FX Change

Mode back to Auto or you wonÕt hear the correct effects you have chosen for your

Programs and Setups.

2. Instead of manually selecting an effect, you can set things up so that you assign the

effects you want to a specific program, then call up that program in the sequence,

thereby automating your effects selection.

First set FX Change Mode back to Auto. Then start by editing one of the programs you

are using in your sequence and set the effects the way you want them. We covered

editing the effects and saving them in tutorial #18.