The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

On 25 juil. 2004, at 10:33, James Acker wrote:

>> None of these synths has the 2 buttons I want. I want one button to
>> normalize all the patches so they're the same volume. I want another
>> button to boost the patch for solos. Why is this so difficult?
>>
>> Rainbow Jimmy
>
> Yeah, agree totally. I have wanted that feature on many items,
> like guitar pedals and synths. But really it is three things I think,
> one button for normalizing all the patches, another for a different
> vol for solos, and a third parameter setter that wil let you set
> the value for the two settings. Oh yeah...also that it will let you
> revert back to individual when the buttons are off.

I think there are booster pedals that are made for guitar - how about 
one of those?  I think synth these days being digital, this feature on 
an instrument itself can be a bad thing.  Digital stuff never gets 
louder than 0dBFS, so your option is to trim down the non-solo part.  
That means, you are going to loose some 'bits' from your digital 
signal, and your non-solo part may sound wimpier.  This could be a 
problem in a music store, too - the synth will sound quieter without 
"solo boost" switch engaged.

Normalising patches would be too complex a task for a computer, I 
think.  You can't really tell how loud a signal is by looking at the 
peak levels, and how would you know how loud a patch is going to be 
when you could play 1 or 6 voice on a same patch?  What about the 
frequency response on PA?  Since this is a situation dependant problem, 
I think it's a musicians' job.

Anyway, I'm a bit disappointed by the NAMM show this time.  Did anyone 
find something interesting?

Keytar was funny, though.  :-p


-Yutaka