User Manual

Tutorial: Song Mode
15-15
Part 7: Learning More About Song Mode
Factory ROM Songs
ThePC3Kincludesanumberofpre‐recordedsongsstoredinthefactoryROM.Investigatethese
songstoseethepossibilitiesofSongmode.Feelfreetoeditoraddtoanyofthesesongsinorder
tolearnmoreaboutsongmode.Youcansavethedemosongsyou’ve
experimentedwithunder
newIDnumberssothatyoucancomparebetweenyourversionandtheoriginal.Also,ifyou
replaceafactoryROMsong,youcanreverttotheoriginalsongbydeletingthesongusingthe
SongModeDelete softbutton.
Quantizing
Quantizingisamethodofadjustingthetiming
ofnotesrecordedintoasequence.Itcanbeused
toadjustnotetiminginordertofixmistakesinaperformance,ortomakenotesadheretoa
stricttiminggridasastylisticchoice(asinmuchmodernelectronicmusic.)Quantizednotes
havetechnicallyperfecttimingbuttendto
soundlesslikeahumanperformance.Quantization 
canbeappliedautomaticallytoeachtrackasitisrecorded,oritcanbeappliedafterrecordingto
onlyspecificselections.FordetailsseetheQuantparameteronpage 12‐17intheSongMode:The
MISCPagesection,andtheQuantizefunction
onpage 12‐27intheSongEditor:TrackFunctions
section.
Creating Loops With The Big Time Page
OntheBigTimepageyoucansetthesequencertoloopaselectionofbars.SettheLoop
parametertoLoop,andsetatimefortheTimeInandTimeOutparameters.Now,pressing
Play/Pauseonthefront
panelwillcauseyourselectiontoplayrepeatedlyandseamlessly.You
willmostcommonlywanttosetyourTimeInandTimeOutpointstoequalanevennumberof
barssuchas2,4,8,etc.Recordingintoaloopedsectionofbarsisacommontechniquefor
recording
sequencebasedmusic.Forexample,withadrumprogramselectedforatrack,you
couldrecordadrumpartbyplayingonedrumsoundeachtimethrougha2barloop,untilthe
entire2bardrum“beat”soundscomplete.
Next,youcouldsettheRecModeparametertoUnloop.(Touse
theUnLoopsetting,theLoop
parametermustbesettoLoop,andalooplengthmustbesetwiththeTimeInandTimeOutparameters
ontheBIGpage.)WiththeRecModeparametersettoUnloop,anyexistingtrackswillbeplayed
backasiftheywerelooping
fromtheTimeIntotheTimeOutpoint,buttheyareactuallybeing
re‐recordedlinearlyoverabsoluteBarsandBeatsuntilyoupressStop.UnLoopallowsyouto
recordalineartrackoverashortloopingsectionwithoutfirsthavingtocopythesectionover
andoveragainto
achieveanewdesiredSonglength.TheEndpointoftheSongisextendedto
thedownbeatofthe(empty)BarimmediatelyfollowingthelastBaryouwererecordingwhen
Stopwaspressed.SeeRecMode on page 12‐11fordetails.
Youcanalsocopy,paste,duplicate,ordeletesectionsofthesong
ifyouwanttoreusesectionsor
makesectionsshorterorlonger(seeSongEditingAndStructureWithTrackFunctionsbelowfor
details.)Keepinmindthatyoucanloopanylengthofasong,andrecordintoaloopwith
multiplelayersofinstrumentsondifferenttracks.Thisisalso
acommonmethodforrecording
sequencebasedmusic,inwhichyoucreateeachsectionofyoursongfromloopedsequences,
andthenarrangetheloopsintothedesiredorderforyoursong’sst ructure.Afterwardsyoucan
makevariationstoeachsectionifyouwantthe songtohavelessof
a“looped”sound.