I love to play brass too.
And I thought about this feature long ago, and wanted to add it on vArranger. The only problem with that feature is that you need to add some LATENCY. Because the player can't play 2 notes or 3 or 4 exactly together.

So it need to add a rule.

When it get the first note, it wait for some milliseconds, to see if new notes is coming together.

If no, it plays every channels (trombone, trumpet, sax, brass)

If yes, then it then assign every note, to an instrument.

So, how much latency you want to add to your playing?

Ketron keyboards have a function called DUET, TRIO who allow that too, but it's not perfect.

I will give my take on it.

One of the earliest Oberheim analog synths, the Oberheim 4-Voice, was essentially four monophonic synths slung in a case and wired up together...without lingering on this drastic oversimplification, what you were presented with was a number of SEM's, or Synthesizer Expander Modules, each one a self-contained monophonic synth.

Each of the four notes then played on the keyboard, harnessed one SEM apiece. (there were also 2-Voice and 8-Voice versions).

In order to give a homogeneous polyphonic sound, the SEM's had to be individually programed to the same sound, and this combination was stored in a programmer that had 16 locations.

If you had different sounds in each SEM, you could assign the instrument to move sequentially through the SEM's in turn, or remain "frozen" on one, or remain on one for the first note played, and then step through the other three....you could also split the keyboard.

Depending on what you were looking for, the tuning discrepancies of early analog could either be a boon or a bust, and I remember the sound was very spacious, especially so since each SEM could be placed in it's own position in the stereo field.

I'm not sure if the type of keyboard scanning was involved in how each was accessed sequentially, but I do remember the one a friend of mine had (a 4-Voice) where the first note played activated SEM-1, and subsequent notes sounded SEM-2, 3, and 4 in that order...at least that's how I remember the way the voices (or SEM's) were allocated.

In that way, with different sounds programmed on each SEM, you could stack or diversify sounds depending on how you played, as in how you suggested..."trombone, an alto and a trumpet playing unison. Then they play a chord. Six other players don't join them! Each of them takes ONE note in the chord."

There is a VST that replicates the Oberheim synth's "diversi" here in the OP-X PRO-II version : http://www.sonicprojects.ch/obx/comparisontable.html

I am not aware of any present day hardware arrangers/workstations that do this, but maybe there is.

One thing for sure...it would be a very cool idea to implement.

Ian

Yep that is pretty much what the Korg sound editing gives you , except way WAY more advanced...

So, if you play a 3 or 4 note chord, each individual note will be a completely different sound? What is the limit?

Don't think I can do this on the Tyros4.

Ian

Ian, each oscillator can have a totally different sample and totally individual ADSR, velocity and modulation source parameters to name few (not necessary to name them all here), but I think that gives you the idea..

Polyphony, as is the case as you know with ANY synth is limited to the overall poly limits on any synth, on the PA it is limited to 120. On the Motif it is 128, same as the Tyros, and all have excellent voice allocation algorithms..

But the HUGE advantage the Roland cards have, is that they actually GIVE more polyphony as they have their own dedicated dco's.

Dennis

I understand that each oscillator can have a different sample...what I am asking, is that if you play a chord (C root, for example C-E-G),in your right hand with three different sounds assigned to the right side, let's say Trombone, Trumpet and Saxophone...can you have Trombone on C, Trumpet on E, and Saxophone on G...all sounding individually as if it were three seperate players, each playing a note in the chord?

I know you can stack them, but what about as described above?

Ian

Ian, go to Roland support and check page 90 of the owners manual for the VP770. Look at both 'Stack' and 'Unison' mode. This will give you a precise explanation of how it works with the Roland implementation.

chas

Got it...thanks Chas...that appears to work much like the Oberheim 4-Voice, but, of course, far more advanced.

Cool. Do Roland Arrangers work the same, I wonder?

Ian

Hi Ian

View the NAMM video at the Roland link I posted and it will become as clear as a bell.

Regards

Bill

Thanks Bill...the bell has rung clearly.

I wonder if Korg's PA operates in much the same manner, as I think this type of voice assignment (divisi) is what Diki referred to in his original post.

Ian