DRIVING THE WS - Part 2

By Dave Williams

The Workstations flexibility in owner settings is one of its great assets. One area which
owners sometimes have a problem is in the understanding of the various volume levels on
offer and with this in mind, this months Driving the WS hopes to clarify this feature.

Volume levels are provided in three main areas:

A) Individual instruments levels, one for each of the 128 voices. Excluding 'Drums'
but a separate level for each percussion instrument in 'Drumkit'.

B) Section level mixer and panning, one for each of the 128 Globals.

C) Master level and instrument equalisation.

On the WS, the facility has been provided to individually adjust each of the 127 voice volume
levels. This is quite an important feature in that should we find for example that the 'Trumpet'
is generally too loud or the 'Vibes' is generally too soft, then we are able to increase or
decrease the level accordingly only once, wherever the voice is used.

To examine an instruments voice volume level, first choose the voice by tapping the section
buttons <A-E> and selecting the required voice so that its name is flashing on the display.
Now press the <VOICE EDIT> button which is located on the EDIT section, followed by
pressing <B> [ADSSR], then <PAGE +> and finally <D> [LEVEL]. The parameter displayed is
the level in dB (decibels) for this particular voice that you selected.

By turning the <ALPHA DIAL> you are able to adjust the level from -8 dB to +6 dB. Pressing
<ENT> twice will save (store in memory), any change made for this voice. Should you not
wish to store the change made, simply press the <ESC> button twice and this will return you
back to the normal display.

Adjusting the voice level does not alter the volume level of the voice on either of the two
dynamic switches. Should you have one or two dynamic switches set, you will require to
select the voice used on each dynamic switch and adjust in turn that level separately.

Should you wish to listen to the voice whilst adjusting the level or indeed while editing any
parameter of a voice, you may do so by simply hitting one or more notes. The only time this is
not true is when you are setting/changing the keyboard split points, as hitting any note will
change the desired split. This also applies to MIDI input as notes received via MIDI will also
change the split points but only if you are on the split menu of course.

Changing the voice volume level, will effect this selected voice everywhere that it is used.
This includes the use in any Global, Dynamic switch or sections A-E. Thus it can be very
effective and save a lot of unnecessary mixer level adjustment.

Drumkit voices have individual volume levels for each percussion instruments, so that should
you want more level from your 'Bass drum' or less from your 'Bongos' you can taylor as
required. To examine the current setting, first select the 'Drumkit' so that it is flashing in the
display and then press the <VOICE EDIT> button.
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By hitting single notes on the keyboard you will see the various percussion instruments
appear on the display including the note number. Now if you press the <D> [MODIFY], you
will see the panning setting, effects used, sampling frequency and volume level for the
current percussion voice. Hitting any note will change the percussion voice (as listed in
GemWorks issue three magazine) and the appropriate settings for that voice.

Should you wish to change either settings, simply press <A,B,C or E> so that the display is
flashing and turn the <ALPHA DIAL>. If you wish to change another voice, hit the appropriate
note and finally to save/store the settings, press <ENT> twice or <ESC> to abort.

You may have noticed on the first 'Drumkit' voice edit menu, an option called [FLD]. This
enables you to unfold and have access to the C7 octave, in effect replacing the C6 octave
which is the last octave on the WS2 keyboard.

Each percussion instrument on the 'Drumkit' may have a dynamic switch set in much the
same way as a normal voice. To examine or change the dynamic switch (from the normal
display), ensure that the 'Drumkit' is flashing on display. press <VOICE EDIT> followed by
<E> [SPEC]. You will now see above <A> either [SW.=OFF] or [SW.=ON] and above <B> a
percussion instrument to be used on the dynamic switch, if set on.

Unlike a normal voice dynamic switch the 'Drumkit' dynamic switch does not allow you to set
a velocity for the switch, for the technically minded it is preset to velocity 104. If all else fails,
above <E> is a [RESTORE] feature that restores the original factory 'Drumkit' settings.

The five channel digital audio mixer enables you to adjust both the volume level and/or
panning on each track or section. One important point is that a separate mixer setting may be
stored in each of the 128 Globals and that like the voice levels, these mixer settings may be
saved to disk in an ALL file. This means that if you subsequently load a new ALL file from
disk, your modified voice and mixer levels will assume the settings of the loaded file. A
VOICE file only contains Voice settings and a GLOBAL file only contains Global settings and
must not be confused with an ALL file which contains both.

In simple terms, loading an ALL file from disk will change ALL current settings. So if you
would like to use the current levels in the future you MUST remember to perform a SAVE to
disk.

Side tracking slightly, many owners ask me 'What is a Global ?', (If only I were given a pound
for every time I have been asked this!). A Global may be thought of as 128 WS memories or
registrations (plus a lot more!), as each one contains separate settings for the section Mixer,
section Panning, keyboard Polyphony/Mono, section Detuning, section Transposer,
Dynamics, Pedal 1-3 assignments, Pitch & Modulation, Effects 1 & 2, keyboard Split points,
MIDI channels, MIDI filters and Local keyboard control. So you see by loading a ALL file or
selecting a new Global, you can completely change the instruments operation, at a touch of a
button!.

The Main/Master volume, bass (low) and treble (high) settings are not saved to disk. they are
stored only in the WS memory. Assuming that you have version 2 (1.10) software, the
settings of any master levels will be restored when you turn the power on. Loading ANY file
will NOT change these settings. These also include all of the Status menu options such as
keyboard tuning, keyboard transposer, volume pedal, common chords, pedal switch etc. A
MEMORY PUFF will however restore these MASTER and STATUS settings to the factory
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values.

The WS module contains all of the features of the WS2/WS400 with exception to the
keyboard and pitch/modulation wheel. As with any expander that is designed to be controlled
by another instrument such as an Accordion, Master Keyboard or Organ, you have to setup
the MIDI channels to ensure that the equipment functions correctly. This is where some
owners are finding some difficulty.

The WS has five sections, each of which contains a voice and can be controlled on a
separate MIDI channel if required. As default section A is on channel one through to section
E which is on channel five. In addition you have what is called the 'COMMON CHANNEL'
which defaults to channel sixteen.

The Common Channel is used to send and receive MIDI messages such as automatic
accompaniment note information for both the internal and external styles, special WS
reserved control change messages, pitch and modulation wheel messages irrespective of the
pitch/modulation wheel assignments in GLOBAL page 6/7.

Should you find that your WS performs correctly when playing manually but if you start a
rhythm and only get the drums and not the automatic accompaniment, then you require to
setup the Common Channel.

The first operation is to ensure that the MIDI copy is turned on. The reason for this is that
each GLOBAL has its own MIDI setup and by turning on this COPY function on, any
subsequent changes made to the MIDI channels will be automatically copied to every one of
the 128 globals. This is a real time saver!.

The MIDI copy function can be found on the MIDI menu by pressing <MIDI> on the 'Edit
Section' and pressing <PAGE +> twice. You will see above button <E> the function [Copy=],
this may be changed by tapping button <E> so that the display is flashing and then turning
the <ALPHA DIAL> so that [Copy=on] is displayed.

Assuming the copy is now turned on, press the <A> button so that [Com=] is flashing on the
display and turn the <ALPHA DIAL> so that the channel is setup to the MIDI channel
corresponding to your instrument chord channel, lower manual/keyboard, left hand section
etc. Finally press <ENT> to store the changes you have made in memory. Now is you select
a style/rhythm and play a chord, you should hear the automatic accompaniment section.

A small point about the setting of any MIDI channel using copy. If the channel is already
displayed and then you turn copy on, simply pressing <ENT> will not copy the appropriate
MIDI channel to each Global. You must turn the <ALPHA DIAL> so that any other channel is
displayed and then return to you original channel and then press <ENT>, the channel info will
now be copied.

Loading a file from disk will replace the contents in the WS memory with information from the
disk. This includes the Global settings and in turn the MIDI settings. It is important therefore
to remember to save the contents on the WS memory to disk, so that you may recall at a
later date.

A special software upgrade is now available for WS module owners only, that protects or
locks the current MIDI channels. This is so that when you load a file from disk, your existing
MIDI channels won't change and can save much valuable time/frustration in having no longer
to keep setting up the MIDI to your requirements.
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You may of course alternatively load each and every file that you have on disk, subsequently
setup the MIDI for that file and then save back to disk. This can take in some cases many
hours and may not be correct for your next instruments setup.

The Module MIDI lock upgrade is available from GemWorks complete with a copy of the MIDI
setup disk for only £25.00 complete.
_

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