Here's an old problem resurfaced from my X1 days:
I like to set up a L.H.Bass, R.H. chord sound, and change drum patterns at will (or Grace, whomever ... )
The PA80 seems to choose a new bass sound for each new drum pattern. WHY are they doing this to meeeeeee? All I want is a simple three sound instrument(piano/bass/drums) that has some extra goodies, good action and easy to lug around. What is the deal here?
There is a dedicated button for "manual bass" ... it should ALWAYS be available in the sound chosen, no matter what drum pattern is playing. I'm using the G7 until I figure this out. I need to play the instrument, Not have it PLAY me. I'm so sick of this ..... they take two steps forward and one back every time they do something new. Maybe I'll go back to that piano bar and rip my fingers doing glissandos again .......................naw.

A couple of ways around it that I think might work for you. . First way. Set up your registrations ( programs ) so that when you call up you have the left hand bass voice of your choice and any of the accomp that you dont want ( including bass ) is turned off via the mixer when you select the program. You won't use manual bass this way.. but you'll have manual bass via the split.

Second way.. rewrite the styles that you wish to play manual bass on so that when you access them the bass voice is correct and any accomp you don;t want is turned off. If you don't like the bass part that goes with that accomp, before you rewrite the style, go to mixer screen 21, change the parameter "prog" from "original" to "on", change the bass voice. Then rewrite the style. This is easier than it sounds and isn't permanent. Just shut off which ever parts you want, go to write disk in use ( like you would to save a program - reg ,and do current style instead ). In fact, I think you could probably set it up like that in a program instead, but I haven't tried it so I'm not sure.

If you want the old voices back.. just go back to screen 21, in prog go from "on" to "original", turn on the parts you want on, and save it again via the disk "write" disk in use function..

If you're not using the user styles, you can have 48 of the internal styles set up as users but in different ways. They are all available and can be loaded up from disk, I have them all on disk ( they came with the OS upgrade ).

AJ

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 06-30-2002).]

AJ,
All good thoughts - thanx. I'm going to write a bunch into the user styles, I think. That way I will have the "staple" patterns all together. I'll give it a whirl tonite !

Last night I wrote 8 programs (Performances, or Registrations to other brands) that had my left hand bass tone as the LOWER sound. This is not a terrible compromise, but it does limit the flexibilty somewhat. I like being able to route the sound to a separate output, and I plan to do that in larger situations. For small jobs, it's ok.
I tried to write the OTS sounds to the programs, but they did not take. I guess they are linked to the pattern, itself. I will have to rewrite each pattern that I modify to a USER location, I guess.
I'd hate to read the stinkin' manual, but I think I've gotten as far as I can from the book of Hard Knocks. Thanx, AJ for the tips, and John Smies ... if you're watching .... I will try to upload your new setups this week and see if anything lights my fire there. Very nice of you to share your work with us.

My real challange at this time is setting up the basic patterns I need, so I can access the manual bass and still have the flexibilty to change rhythms on the fly with NOTHING else changing. Looks like I need to rewrite the whole board to make it work the way I want. What a drag.

My friend had a dod named cigarette.
The dog had no legs ........
Every morning he took it out for a drag.

I guess he couldn't do that in California or Princeton NJ ? (NO smoking in public places)

That about sums it up for me too Uncle Dave. Yes, they make us do a lot of work with this board to get it set up as we might like it to be for live play. I've spent hrs setting mine up to make me comfortable with it. The good news I guess is that there is a lot of flexibility and that once you get comfortable on the OS you actually can just about rewrite anything you'll want to. It's definitely not a " play as you wish right outta the box " kinda board.

I spent some time on the PA tonight. (about 4 hours) I loaded John Smies total makeover, and there are some very nice song setups. I reverted to the original just because John & I have different styles of playing, and I wanted to start fresh with my own modifications. Thanx a million John - you showed us all how versitile the operating system is, and gave a few nice patterns in the mix! I may give it a listen at another time.

I set up what Roland used to call the Easy Eight patterns. This was an add on card for the E20/RA50 series that had eight simple patterns that could cover most any style .. with a little creativity added.

The eight patterns are:
1)8beat 16beat
(I was able to combine both by simply shutting off the added percussion track. pad #4 is set for the toggle between 8 and 16)
2)12/8 ballad (You know .... "Crazy" style)
3)Mowtown/Rock - this works for tons of R&R and even disco in a pinch
4)Shuffle (Louie P style - heavy backbeat)
5)Bossa - ala Jobim
6)Swing - a softer, cooler version on the shuffle .. great for jazz. easy on the ears.
7)Waltz - 3/4 is a "must have"
8)Polka - good utility 2/4 beat. Works for country and march time too.

These patterns work great as a starting point for SO many songs, and since I have the arrangements shut off - they are almost universal. Reminds me of my solo setup 20 years ago - Rhodes, bass & drum machine. All live except for the drum loops. I like that sound alot.

This week will be important to see if the PA handles better under pressure now that I have a staple setup to go back to if I need it.

I'm bleary eyed from staring at that LCD screen. Nite, nite kiddies...........

I thank John for his setups as well, and will tell him that you said so over at the IA forum Uncle Dave. I incorporated a few fro his earlier work but I haven't delved into the new ones just yet.

The reason I always liked the PA80 is because I am a "tweeker" by nature I guess, coming from the workstation environment to arrangers. The PA80 OS is different than say the Yamaha PSR's, but I like having the options available that the PA80 allows. It definitely isn't the user friendly "plays great right outta the box" arranger that any of the PSR series boards are, but it has a powerful OS for an arranger and I can do a lot more tweaking with it and I have set the board up so that it's " mine ". The manual kinda gets me there, but many things are not explained very clearly in it. Uncle Dave, I think you once called it a "workstation in disguise". I totally agreed with you at the time and still do as I think that's a good thing.

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 07-02-2002).]

Yeah, it's definatly a good disguise. You have to dig, and dig to find what you want. After a good night's sleep .... I turned it on this morning and I was still happy with my edits. (That's a good thing)
Tomorrow is the first "test run" with the modified styles, so I'll let you all know if the comfort level improves after personalization. after all ......... I played that antique i5s for YEARS, so this HAS to be better than that.

A good tip:

I assigned the #4 pad to toggle the percussion mute on & off. This allows for 8 effective variations for each pattern. The percussion track is usually very busy and it's nice to be able to call it up when you need it. There are some 8 beats that have tamborines that add that 16th flavor to them. It's a nice addition, and an easy modification.

Yeah that's the one thing I probably appreciate most.. all that OS and never any glitches. Everything comes up the same every time I access it. I hate getting surprises during live play like the ones my PSR2000 gave me. hey , excellent tip btw, That's the one thing I always forget to tell folks when they ask about the OS ( that you can assign different parameters to the multipads ).

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 07-02-2002).]

More hours tweaking tonight. I installed the Vocal board (again) even though I know it doesn't work the way I need it to. The reason is so I can have the benifit of the EQ for small jobs that require no other amplification. I always liked the tone from the Vocal board, it was that vocoder style triggering that makes me nuts.
Anywayyyyyyeeeeee...... I spent alot of time setting up just 8 simple patterns, as I said above. I wrote them into user locations and make some modifications, and now - they come up as expected. Simple, sweet and usable for THOUSANDS of different songs.

Another tip:

For those of you with a "favorite" sound or setup, like me & the rhodes ..... make your STS1 the GO-TO sound. That way after you change in the middle of a song, you can always get bact to square one again. if all 4 STS buttons are different for each pattern you can never "go home" with a single touch.
(Unless you re enter a performance first, then select the pattern)

This tip is for guys that play more live, generic styles than specific registrations. If you have everything programmed... then it will be of little use, but I love having a "Core" setup of Rhodes, bass & drums, and then I just change the rhythms as I need to, or call up a sequence or an audio file .... depending on the need.

Wednesday, I'll put it through it's paces again, then I'm hittin' the Jersey shore for a little R&R over the 4th - 5th, then back on the job Friday nite. See you there Donny !