[sdiy] MIDI DCOs

[WeAreAs1 at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/8/04 3:33:22 PM, jlarryh at iquest.net writes:

<< The Korg DSM-1 actually has 16 individual outputs in addition to it's mix

output.  However, the output assignment is quite odd and does not follow any

kind of rotation.  The individual outputs were designed to provide outs for

individual samples typical of drum sounds where different EQ and effects

might be desired on the individual sounds. So, the outputs are predetermined

or pre-mapped to certain sections of the keyboard. >>
Hello Larry,

Thanks for the info.  Yes, that's kind of what I thought was going on in 
there.  The Prophet 2000 hardware voices are simply hard-wired to its 8 separate 
outputs, so each voice always goes to the same output jack, no matter what mode 
the sampler is in (poly, mono, layer, stack, multitimbral, whatever..).  This 
makes it easier to use it in this application, especially if you want to use 
it polyphonically.  I don't remember if the Prophet 2000 voices are rotated 
sequentially (as in the Oberheim OBx/OBxa/OB8 and the Roland JP-8) or if they 
are allocated by "note order stacking" (as in the Prophet 5).  

The sequential rotation (Oberheim type) is actually much easier to utilize, I 
think - it also sounds better in many cases, since every new note comes from 
the next voice.  It's more animated sounding, since each repeated depression 
of the same note will sound slightly different, and in my opinion, it also 
sounds better for sounds with long releases, unless you're trying to emulate a 
piano or vibraphone!  I think Sequential only used the other allocation method 
(note order stacking) in the Prophet 5 in order to make the instrument feel like 
it had more apparent polyphony while playing long release patches.

Mike B.