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Nice!

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“The longest journey starts with the first step." ?- Lao Tzu

The following files and folders have been uploaded to the Files area of the YamahaQY70AndQY100@groups.io group.

• /QY70 & QY100 User Notes/QY100 Styles Notes.pdf

By: Rocky <Wsbsub@...>

Description:
List of QY100 Preset styles which I use in composing and performing, with notes about what acts they are similar to..

Hi, I uploaded a small PDF with notes I've taken about preset styles and what bands they remind me of..

Does anyone else have similar observations to share?

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?QY100 Styles Notes.pdf

Wow, that’s really cool about the 24 part synth concept…

Thanks for all of the excellent information!

Cheers,
Eric
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“The longest journey starts with the first step." ?- Lao Tzu

Well, actually I use the QY-70 as an hardware sequencer for my synths and as a drum+bass machine at the same time. I put drum on D1 and bass on BA and play them with the internal engine. Then on C1 and C2 I compose the lines for the two external synths, first using internal sounds and then, when finished, silencing the internal sounds on both tracks via the playback mixer (vol = 0) to let the MIDI-connected external synths play them.

Yes, this is a great trick. And by hard panning the two internal voices used, you can get each on its own physical output for external mixing.

Because XG parts can be individually assigned, and even turned off, I recommend reassigning any parts that default to a track being used for external MIDI equipment.

For example, if using the internal tones on the D1 and BA tracks, assigning parts 18 (defaults to control from D2), 19 (same from PC), and 20-24 (C1 - C4) to 'Off' using Sysex. The benefit of this is that you can still use MIDI volume CC messages with the external gear without accidentally 'unmuting' an internal sound.

BTW, the track numbers for the 8 pattern tracks are 17 to 24 (since 1-16 are taken by song mode), however you can map patterns to tracks 1 to 8 or 9 to 16 in the utility section of the menu… but if you are muting via Sysex or the QY you should just use tracks 17 to 24 to keep the first 16 for song tracks.
(The reason for the remapping capability is that alot of midi equipment can’t deal with track numbers greater than 16, but since everything you are doing in on the QY, you should be fine).

Just wanted to clarify some terminology here, because it confused me for a long time.

Yamaha XG introduces the concept of 'parts'. It's important to distinguish between this and 'tracks' or 'MIDI output channels'.

The QY70 has 24 XG parts (these are like synth voices, each with their own wavetable sound, envelopes, LFO, etc). Each one can be set to respond to any MIDI channel (16 of them on the QY70). So, if you set parts 1 and 2 to both respond to MIDI input channel 7, you are effectively making a layered synth patch. Any standard MIDI messages that come in on channel 7 (from a keyboard, the included pitch keys, or external MIDI being piped in) will then control both voices.

There are also Sysex messages that let you specify which part to tweak, so in a layered patch, you can still adjust each individual part.

As mentioned, the Pattern tracks are assigned internally using channels 17-24. The QY700 handles 16+ channels by using two physical MIDI output ports. But since the QY70 has a single physical output port, the setting Eric is describing lets you route the Pattern tracks to the MIDI out (either MIDI output channels 1-8, 9-16, or none). This happens in the sequencer block, which is different than the whole part aspect of the tone generator block.

The cool thing about this, is you can assign all 24 parts to respond to a single sequencer track. By setting them all to something like a sine sound, and transposing each part purposefully, you can simulate the first 24 harmonics of the overtone series and create that additive synth.

Also important to note, there is no way to play the pattern tracks from an external source, unless you are using the RecMonitor mode, which reroutes any incoming data to the currently selected track. But, because parts can be individually assigned to MIDI in channels, you can still make use of parts 17-24 in the tone generator when playing from an external MIDI source.

the XG chip is not bad at all despite being 25+ years old

Yes, the chip is a full implementation of Yamaha's mid-nineties version of MIDI XG.

It can handle sound layering, splits, and velocity layering. In addition to the amp envelope and filter, each voice has a pitch envelope under the hood, and the LFO can be set to modulate filter, amp, or pitch.

If you dig deeper, each note of a custom drum kit has individual filter, amp, and send parameters, including a second delay parameter you can only access with Sysex.

Sound On Sound has a great three-part series on using XG tone generators for sound design:

With all of this functionality, you can create additive synthesizer patches, various subtractive permutations including transwave emulations, and a bunch more. There's even a way to make it into a step sequencer with per-step, realtime adjustable pitch/volume/pan/sends (described in the article). And if you get familiar with the voices, some of them let you control filter envelopes.

For reference, Roland and ESI have reliable USB to MIDI cables.

I got tired of all the issues with cheapie $10 ones, so bought the ESI and have been very happy with it:

It has the additional benefit of automatically sensing if either of the two plugs is being used as an input or output, and automatically toggling between the behaviors.

Happy to hear you succeeded!

Cheers,
Fernando

That was my fear as well (I even researched for DIYing the serial cable), but happy to confirm it works with regular MIDI.

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Hi Fernando, thanks to you I now have the QY100 Data Filer working on my PC.
It installed from the installer on this site just fine...?
I also installed the MIDI drivers in that folder, but I don't think they are necessary as I ended up choosing the USB MIDI port in the setup window anyway.
My regular USB MIDI cable was able to receive data from the QY100 but unable to successfully transmit, so I tried my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 with 'proper' MIDI cables and it all worked just fine in both directions.
I verified that the save and load were working as expected.

Thanks again Fernando..

Rocky

Thanks for all the details Fernando.

I'll try the QY100 Data Filer download from the FILES sections and see how it goes. Hopefully it'll be as trouble-free as your QY70 experience.
I have a couple of MIDI interface options so I'm optimistic about that.

I had originally assumed that the Data Filer only connected via a serial port (which would be problematic these days) but happy to hear it can use a MIDI connection.

Thanks again.

Rocky

A word of caution: it is important to find a good USB-to-MIDI interface.
Stories on the net say some cheap ones have too little an internal buffer, so while they work for common MIDI duties, they may fail when transferring some SysEx chunks.

I don't know if this is still a problem nowadays, maybe it's a thing of the past, but just in case: mine is this one and this seems to be appropriate too https://www.amazon.com/iConnectivity-mio-1-out-MIDI-Interface/dp/B00CO5IRSG

Hello Rocky,

I installed the QY-70 Data Filer from the .rar in the Files section, yes:
/g/YamahaQY70AndQY100/files/QY70%20DataFiler%20Software/QY70%20DataFiler%20Setup.rar

To my surprise, it worked immediately, without having to set Compatibility Mode, Admin rights or whatever. Just worked straight away, which is not common for a software its age.
The QY-70 is connected to my PC via a MIDI cable (I have an USB-to-MIDI interface).
Both MIDI-OUT (to PC MIDI-IN) and MIDI-IN (to PC MIDI-OUT) have to be connected for the Data Filer to work, and the Host Select switch on the right side of the QY-70 has to be on "MIDI" (or at least, it works for me this way).
Finally, the MIDI Sync has to be set to Internal in the appropriate QY-70 settings menu (Menu->Utility>MIDI).

Best,
Fernando

Hi Fernando...

I am really interested to hear that you are using the data filer under Windows 10.
- May I ask how you have your QY70 connected to the PC?
- Also, did you install it from one of the files here in the group's FILES section?

I have a QY100 and am interested in using the data filer to save and organize my songs.
I work mostly on a Mac so I'd prefer to use a Mac version of the data filer but the version I have will not install under Monterey. A working?PC version would be great..

Thanks, Rocky

A word of caution, I would definitely test the restore of your songs before assuming the backup worked perfectly.

I always do a double backup: full dump + individual conversion to SMF
of all the songs. Multiple backups are an old habit of mine.
I am also thinking about a DIY box to read MIDI events and storing
them to micrSD, a bit like the old Yamaha MDF, just in case.

The QY100 is nice since it has the smartmedia save option (as well as it’s own filer)

The QY100 is another very nice box. I always keep an eye for it on the
local online 2nd hand lists. The card reader is nice to have and the
audio input too: I could plug in one of the synths, so no need for the
small mixer I have to use now.

since everything you are doing in on the QY, you should be fine).

Well, actually I use the QY-70 as an hardware sequencer for my synths
and as a drum+bass machine at the same time.
I put drum on D1 and bass on BA and play them with the internal engine.
Then on C1 and C2 I compose the lines for the two external synths,
first using internal sounds and then, when finished, silencing the
internal sounds on both tracks via the playback mixer (vol = 0) to let
the MIDI-connected external synths play them.
At first the external synths did not play, then studying the manual I
found the mapping setting you mention. Very versatile.

So nice!

Fernando