Specifications

converter 1.5

2000 - 2005 urr Sound Technologies Inc.
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midi clock generation
There are a group of four keys which are used together to provide quick control of midi clock timing.
The [del] or delete key, shown above on the numeric keypad, acts as a sort of ‘play’ and ‘stop’ button
for the clock generator in converter. The [insert] key next to it serves as the tap tempo button; to
generate midi clock data at the tempo of some external music (for example a live drummer or recorded
music), tap the tempo of the external music in quarter notes four times. Try to be as precise as possible
in the tap timing, especially at faster tempos where minor inaccuracies can have greater impact on the
average tempo of the taps, resulting in greater clock drift. Using tap tempo enables midi clock data to
be generated at fine resolution fractional tempos unavailable in many hardware devices. To adjust the
clock generator’s tempo in 1 bpm steps, hold down the [ctrl] key and press the up and down arrow
keys. The midi clock generator in converter is automatically shut off as soon as external midi clock
messages appear at the midi input port – converter automatically synchronizes itself to any incoming
midi clock data (and un-synchronizes itself as soon as the external clock signals disappear).
standby mode
As a complete system “mute” button, or to prevent confusing outboard midi gear with certain midi
message streams when programming or experimenting, the [scroll lock] button can be pressed to put
converter into standby mode, where no midi data will be transmitted.
reset running status
In order to reduce the amount of data required to transmit information between midi devices, the midi
standard employs something called ‘running status’. What this means is that the statusbyte message
(or the first ‘byte’ of a midi message which tells a device what the message is) is only transmitted once
in a stream, unless the message type or midi channel changes. The problem that arises with midi
running status is that if a midi device is powered on after that first statusbyte has been transmitted, it
won’t understand the rest of the stream until it receives the next statusbyte; as a result, it may seem
that the device is not responding to midi data or has crashed. When this situation occurs, simply press
[R] to ‘resend’ the statusbyte for the stream; hence reset running status.
reset lfo cycles
Sometimes it is useful to be able to retrigger the lfos to the start of their wavecycles without using some
other retrigger control source such as a midi note on messages. The wavecycles of all the lfos can be
retriggered to their start points by pressing the [L] key.
quick patch selection
As a way to provide simple and quick patch selection, the [ctrl] and [+] or [-] keys can be pressed. This
will increment the patch selection for the current view channel (displayed at the bottom left corner of the
screen). If the current view channel is set to ALL, these program change keys will transmit their
messages on midi channel 1.
display keyboard controls
The following functions are hardwired to specific keys for quick data display control.
channel-specific data display
Three keys control the data (received or generated) which is displayed: [+], which increments the
current display midi channel; [-], which decrements the current display midi channel; and [*] which
toggles between displaying all the data on all channels, and just one channel.
clearing and resetting the display
To clear or reset display devices (for instance, the midi message textbox) without affecting the midi data
itself, press the [/] button.