Polyphony Tips for the JV1080 SynthesizerThe JV1080 synth module has got a decent polyphony (64 voices is not bad at all), but also got a lot of features that tend to eat up that polyphony excessively and that you should be aware of: - First, in case you are still confused about it, the 64 independent polyphony voices in the JV applies to the Tones that make up Patches, not to individual Patches that you play. So, if you take a three-note chord, using, say, "Piano 1" patch, you actually grab 9 voices of polyphony because the "Piano 1" is made up of 3 Tones. This alone, without anything else, makes your voice capacity go really fast when you do a simple four-five instrument sequence. Solution: use Patches that use less Tones (like "64voicePiano" instead of "Grand Piano" -- yes, it sounds lame, but it uses just one Tone. That's the reason, BTW, it's called "64-voice"). Also, turning off a Tone in a Patch that contains three or four of them may be an acceptable solution, and sometimes does little harm to your sequence. However, if you intend to spend much time sequencing, it would be a good idea to learn from the beginning how to handle another solution that the JV itself provides. There are two user-assignable settings by means of which you tell the JV how to behave when the number of voices played exceeds 64 -- namely, which voices it should steal and which it should leave alone. In the PATCH mode, somewhere under "Patch Common" menu, you will find a [PRIORITY] parameter, which you can set for every Patch to either "Last" or "Loudest". "Last" means that, when voices go over 64, the last notes you play won't be affected and the stealing will occur among the previously played notes. "Loudest" setting will tell the JV to leave alone the loudest voices and steal the quietest ones. Pretty cool, huh? The second parameter is called [VOICE RESERVE] and it can be found under "Common" menu, while in the PERFORMANCE mode. It is technically simple, but will require some experimentation before you figure out how exactly it affects different instruments within your sequence. Here you just set, for every Part you are using in your Performance, a number of voices that the JV must leave under any circumstances for each particular Patch, when the polyphony goes beyond the scale. (Naturally, the sum of all voices you set here cannot be higher than 64). For instance, if a three-note chord of a "Jet Pad" patch runs through your sequence and you want it to be there no matter what, you should set the "Voice Reserve" for the appropriate Part (where the "Jet Pad" is located) to "6" -- because the "Jet Pad" is a 2-tone Patch (2x3=6). And don't leave this setting at 8 or 10, if for some reason it is set so, because these two or four extra voices you just ignored here (you actually reserved them, although don't really intend to use them) will be stolen elsewhere when worse comes to worse. So use it wisely. "Voice Reserve" is a great feature! (Actually, many other synths don't have anything of the sort). - Second, watch the sustain pedal. It eats up your polyphony in a most mean way. You take two quick three-note chords without releasing the pedal, say, with the same "Nice Piano" patch, and you have 18 voices gone! (How about that?). Pedal, in fact, is one of the overused things, and in many cases it can be successfully substituted in a Performance with appropriate Reverb settings. See if you need it at all. - Third, there is such feature as REDAMPER, which is another hidden polyphony eater. Redamper is a Tone parameter, and is located under "Control" menu (PATCH mode). It may be only turned on and off. Actually, Redamper does a wild thing -- when you hit the pedal, it sustains the notes that have been already released, but are still in the decaying state. The effect is similar to the one you get by releasing the damper pedal on the piano. Many JV patches (like Pianos, Clarinets), for better acoustic emulations, have their Redampers enabled. Quality is quality, but, as you now see, there are in fact even more voices to be lost when you use your pedal. So, for sequencing purposes, checking and turning Redampers off is a very good idea (this advice, actually, came from Roland Tech Support) -- and if you use the pedal frequently, this will make a BIG difference. One problem with this feature is that you can permanently disable Redamper settings only in the User Bank patches -- alas, there is nothing you can change in the Preset Banks. However, there are two ways to go around that. 1) Copy those Presets that have Redampers on, and that you use most frequently, into the User Bank. Turn Redampers off (remember to check all 4 of them in a patch!), and save the patch that way. Use it from the User Bank, instead of the Preset location, when you sequence. 2) When you are in the PERFORMANCE mode (and apparently you are, if you are sequencing), you can send a short system exclusive message to the JV (which you can easily embed in your .mid, .wrk, or other file), which will turn off all Redampers in all patches, regardless of whether they come from the User Bank or Presets. Redampers will be disabled for the whole time your sequence plays. When you leave this sequence and this particular Performance, the Redamper settings in all patches will be restored to their original. I've made this SysEx command ready for you in the form of a .syx file that you can simply insert in the beginning of your sequence (many PC sequencers, like Cakewalk, allow that). You may download the package REDAMPER.ZIP here. It contains several .syx files (for turning off Redampers globally and for each given Part within a Performance). A text file with HEX strings is included, in case your sequencer does not work with *.syx files. Enjoy!
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