BrettM

I reckon you can get pretty close with just a couple of detuned saw waves in the solo synth. Definitely not a hex layer, they didn't have 'em in them days.

Try Syn1 set to Sawtooth detuned +006 cents and Syn2 set to Sawtooth-L detuned -006 cents, played in the fifth octave. This creates two detuned saw waves an octave apart. Solo synth Delay DSP is essential, of course; Total Filter cutoff and resonance can be used to get the right mix between smoothness and buzz.

The guitar sound is a clean or slightly crunchy guitar sent through a very fast phaser. Try the Phaser1 DSP preset with LFO Rate turned up to around 80.

Another variation on the theme: create two versions of the same sound, one with vibrato and one without. Give the one without vibrato a negative Touchsense; then as you dig in, the vibrato fades up. It's almost like having aftertouch! (not).

I just love watching you work! 

In posts #18 and 19, are you overdubbing into the G1 looper or phrase sequencer?

Maybe I'm talking out of turn here because I don't have a PX-5S, but I do have an XW-G1 and I've noticed a lot of requests on this forum for a monophonic mode in the PX-5S.

I've been experimenting with a one-step arpeggio on my G1 (http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/7617-whats-the-point-of-a-one-step-arpeggio/), and thought it might offer a potential solution to the PX-5S monophonic issue, especially since the PX-5S apeggiator is clearly based on the XW one.

The idea is to create a one-step arpeggio of an L1 or U1 type. Then, no matter how many keys are pressed, only the lowest or highest note is sounded. The repeating arpeggio keeps sounding the L1 or U1 note. A bit of tweaking is needed to stop the repeated stuttering sound, like setting the arpeggio note length to 100% and lengthening the attack and release of the tone. I usually turn up the attack to +64, then raise the release until the stuttering stops, then reduce the attack until just before the stuttering restarts. For many tones, this envelope can produce a continuous sound even though it is being arpeggiated.

It's not quite the same as the usual most-recent-note-sounded monophonic mode, but with a little practice it can work.

You can also use a one-step arpeggio to give near real-time control to PCM tones, as described here:

http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/7617-whats-the-point-of-a-one-step-arpeggio/

Hey Scott, that's the video I referred to in link1, but all I could do is link to it rather than embed it. How do you embed video in a post?

I think the XW will keep me digging for years.

I know it's taken me a while to get around to this, after all Mike Martin posted a video showing step sequencer fun over two years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8mezJkEQT0

However, Happyrat's discussion of analog synths in the Members Lounge started me thinking and watching plenty of YouTube videos that showed lots of analog synth noodling. Given that the XWs come with 800! step sequences to experiment with (100 presets x 8 patterns each), I thought it was about time I tried some noodling of my own.

From what I've seen, the most fun effects to try are resonant filter sweeps, of course, and delay; so I created a Solo Synth patch with the Solo Synth Delay DSP enabled and assigned it to Zone 1 of a Performance. The last 15 minutes of Mikes clinic discusses a similar set up, except I didn't swap channel 1 for channel 14. For this exercise, I'm more interested in knob twiddling than soloing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGDT81sp0XI

To facilitate realtime control, I tempo synced the delay and set Knob 1 to control its timing (CC80:General5) and Knob 2 to control its feedback (CC17:General2). I also tempo synced LFO1 and set it modulating filter cutoff. Raising and lowering LFO1's depth allowed filter automation to be brought in and out quickly and easily.

My G1 is especially good for noodling because it comes with slider control of the filter and LFO already built in. P1 owners could assign these parameters to knobs. I also created a bank of nine Multifunction Keys to toggle the DSP lines of each of the nine Step Sequencer channels (only channels whose DSP line is enabled are routed through the Solo Synth) which made switching effects really easy. On the P1, the DSP lines can be accessed via the Mixer.

I must admit it's been a lot of fun and I'm now working my way through all 800 sequences! It's been an especially great way to learn about the syncopated rhythms that can be created by tempo synced cutoff and delay.

You've probably noticed that PCM tone parameters only take effect at note-on, meaning that you can't easily do live filter sweeps in a performance without routing through the solo synth filter.

I'm thinking of a one-step arpeggio that does nothing except retrigger the keys – Max Step = 1, P5 type, for maximum polyphony, with zero note and velocity settings, and 100% note length. Applying a pad envelope (longer attack and release) greatly reduces the note-on stutter and even makes it completely disappear in some cases.

With this arpeggio, effects like filter sweeps and panning are possible in near real-time, even in Tone Mode. (Many of the preset arpeggios like Up will allow this for single notes, but a P5 type works with chords.)

Correction, up to 1,600 steps are available - I forgot about chaining.

I've been impressed by the ability of the PX-5s arpeggiator to send control data (http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/7341-px-5s-arp-angel/), as recently demonstrated by Mike Martin. Then I realised that the XW step sequencer can do this as well, paving the way for it to act like the PX-5s arpeggiator. The XW step sequencer has 4 control tracks which can send CC messages and pitch bends to channels 8-16 and channel 1; which means that it can be used to areggiate live performance in zone 1.

Just specify channel 1 as the destination of the control track in Step Sequencer->Edit->Track Param->Ctrl. Ch. The Ctrl. Ch parameter is hidden deep within the menus and doesn't appear on the Track Param screen until you press Part+ several times to get to the control tracks.

Up to 16 steps need to be set up manually, but effects like tremolo (CC07), vibrato (pitch bend), wah (CC74), autopan (CC10), etc. can all be created, simultaneously if necessary, via the step sequencer; leaving the DSP available for other things. 

The XW arpeggiator and step sequencer can both be running at the same time affecting live performance in zone 1.

The range of the pitch bend wheel can be saved for a particular channel/zone 1-4 in a user Performance via Performance->Zone Param->BendRngDwn and BendRngUp. You can set them from 0 to 24 semitones, default 2. Any drum tone in zones 1-4 will be affected by the pitch bend wheel.

For channel/parts 8 to 16, you can save the Mixer->BendRange parameter in a user Step Sequence. When in the Mixer, the pitch bend wheel will bend that channel, when not in the Mixer the pitch bend wheel reverts to the live keyboard, channel/zones 1-4, and does not affect channels 8-16. You can only bend the single channel that is currently active in the Mixer this way however.

It sounds like you might be trying to bend some of the Step Sequencer channels (8-16) while not being in the Mixer. This would be more tricky because I don't think there are any CC messages that send pitch bend data, so you couldn't just assign the pitch bend to one of the knobs. You could try assigning the drum tone that you want to bend to zone 1, then assigning channel 14 of the Step Sequencer to zone 1. This is done via Performance->Sequencers->Solo1 Ch.

Also, the Multifunction Keyboard of the G1 can send pitch bends to ALL 16 channels, so you could set up a bunch of multifunction keys with various bend values, or even key on velocity, to any or all of the Step Sequencer channels for some interesting pitch bend effects across several drum kits. 

I just thought of another way of doing it - there's always another way.

Although the XW arpeggiator cannot send control data, it can send note on velocity. (The PX-5s arpeggiator can too.) This means that tremolo can be created using the arpeggiator instead of the DSP. Just create a two step arpeggio with both steps set to a P5 type, for maximum polyphony, leave note set to zero but set velocity at step 2 to -40, say. This arpeggio will alternate the volume of a note or chord and create a tremolo effect. Speed of the tremolo is controlled by the master tempo setting instead of an LFO.

The full Wah DSP can then be used, with full control over resonance, to create an Arp Angel type effect.

With 16 steps available, a tremolo arpeggio can be much more unusual compared to the usual sine wave LFO variety, including the ability to create syncopated throbbing rhythms and wobble basses.

Besides the ability to create weird hybrid instruments, this technique may be put to better use cross-fading between wet and dry versions of the same or similar instruments to create a more expressive single instrument. E.g., clean guitar cross-fading into distorted guitar (http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/6612-velocity-controlled-distortion/), crunch guitar cross-fading into overdrive or finger bass cross-fading into slap bass.

Some dynamics is lost, but can be recaptured somewhat by tweaking the volumes of each zone in the performance.

Besides filtering the tone before applying distortion, as AlenK suggests above, another trick is to use the DistWah dual DSP which applies a filter AFTER the distortion.So it's possible to filter the tone on either side of the distortion effect to get rid of excess upper harmonics.

Even better, when the wah waverform parameter of the effect is set to "off", as in DistWah 2, the wah depth parameter becomes cutoff instead of LFO depth for even greater control. Pity there's no resonance parameter.

This undocumented behaviour of the wah waveform parameter works for other dual wah DSPs as well.

I really loved that shimmering "Arp Angel" sound that Mike Martin presented about 30 minutes into the recent PX-5s video clinic. He was demonstrating the ability of the PX-5s's arpeggiator to arpeggiate control data, in this case filter cutoff.

Given that my XW-G1 is only equipped with the older model arpeggiator that can't access control data, I wondered how I could duplicate this effect on an XW. It seemed to me that the base sound was one of the PCM Polysynth tones, or maybe a Warm Pad, with a fast oscillating LPF cutoff overlayed on a slowly oscillating one. This suggested using Performance Mode with a silent Solo Synth in Zone 1 and the base PCM tone in Zone 2, routed through Zone 1 by enabling its DSP line. I set Solo Synth LFO 1 to control the Total Filter cutoff at a slow rate, and LFO 2 to control the cutoff at a faster rate. With a bit of tweaking of the rates and depths of the LFOs, I got a sound pretty similar to the PX-5s's Arp Angel.

Then I wondered about creating a similar sound using fewer XW resources and tried applying the Wah-Tremolo dual DSP to PolySynthPd2. First of all I brightened up the tone a bit and tweaked its attack and release parameters, then I set the Wah half of the DSP to a slow rate and the Tremolo half to a fast rate. This also created a very appealing sound, not quite as close to Arp Angel as the Performance Mode/Solo Synth method because this time the shimmer was created via fast amplitude modulation instead of fast filter modulation, but nevertheless a very usable sound. Wah-Flanger offered another useful approach.

In the video Mike went on the discuss the HerbiesRoadz patch on the PX-5s which applies DSP distortion and arpeggiator autopan to an electric piano sound. At this point I realised that, unlike the XW's, the PX-5s does not have dual DSPs like Distortion-AutoPan.

Thanks Ted, I get it now.

So Ted, you are basically saying that the GM tone pallet is the starting point and the panel sounds are the GM tones that have been tweaked to some extent. They may be very similar to the original GM starting point, depending on the sound engineer, and the two are likely to converge as technology improves. However, the manufacturers leave the original GM tones in there as the raw original waveforms. 

Does this mean that the GM tones are a better starting point for our tone editing? Should we be able to reproduce the panel sounds from the GM sounds? What about the panel sounds that don't have a GM counterpart?

The idea is to create a PCM tone with a -64 TouchSense value and layer it with another tone with the default +63 TouchSense. Then, when you play lightly the first tone plays loudly, but as you dig into the keyboard the sound cross fades into the second tone. All sorts of unusual sound morphing effects are possible.

Similar timbres blend well, e.g., a tuba and a trumpet; but a double bass and a piccolo sound like ... a double bass and a piccolo.

This is doable on the XW synths using two zones of a performance, the PX-5s (where it's called Velocity Sense under the tone amp menu) using two zones of a stage setting; and any of the other Casio keyboards which have tones with a TouchSense parameter and allow keyboard layering, including many of the CTK and WK models.

Also good for training a light touch.

Thanks for this explanation Ted, the problem is that the "panel" sounds on the Casio boards I have listened to sound exactly like the GM sounds with only a slight variation, e.g., an octave lower, a DSP added or more chorus or reverb. Or is it just me? Why would they bother making lower quality sounds? Wouldn't they want standard midi files to play back as well as possible?

I just realised that there is another way - there's always another way.

Instead of routing a PCM tone through the solo synth, create two versions of the PCM tone, one with distortion (or some other DSP) enabled and one without any DSP. For this second version, set the touchsense value to -64. Then assign these two tones to zones 1 and 2 of a performance. This creates a velocity based cross fade between the two zones so when you play lightly the undistorted tone is loud, but when you dig in the undistorted tone softens and the distorted tone is turned up.

P1 owners can probably do even more complex switching between PCM versions using the hex layer.

The advantage of the solo synth method, as per the download, is that the resonant filter is involved so more variation of tone is possible.

I thought some of you may be interested in one of my failed experiments...

Having noticed that DSP settings seem to be stored in tones, that is, if you edit a PCM tone with a specific DSP and change some of those DSP parameters, then the values are retained by the tone; I wondered whether I could get two DSPs to work in a performance, even though only one is supposed to be available.

The idea would be to use one of the dual DSPs and create two user tones, both using the same dual DSP, but have one of the tones switch off half the DSP and the other tone switch off the other half of the DSP. For example, using the compressor-distortion DSP which has compressor parameters threshold and level and distortion parameters gain and level, one of the tones could set the compressor threshold to 127, thus disabling the compressor effect and the other tone could set the distortion gain to 0, thus disabling the distortion effect. The same DSP is being used as distortion only in the first tone and as a compressor only in the second tone. The question is: if these two tones were then assigned to zones 1 and 2 in a performance, would I have a performance with effectively two DSPs operating?

Alas it doesn't work that way. The parameter values of the first zone take precedence and are applied to the second zone. I was hoping that different parameters might be remembered from the tones given that the same DSP was being assigned as the overall performance effect.

Even when zones 2 and 3 are used, with zone 1 set to off, the same thing happens: zone 2's parameters take precedence over zone 3. An interesting side note of this last set up is that zone 2 does not have "DSP" showing on screen in the performance menu or the mixer screen, in spite of what it says in the manual. "DSP" appears only if a DSP is enable for zone 1.

Nevertheless, I really like some of the dual DSPs.

Hi Stephe

You can assign any DSP parameter to any of the assignable knobs within a performance via the controllers sub-menu, then all you have to do is turn the knob to make the change in real time. So, for example, you could assign K1 to CC19:General 4 and if you turn K1 to the left the rotary brake parameter is set to "rotate" and if you turn K1 to the right the rotary break parameter is set to "stop". Or you could use one of the preset rotary DSPs with the brake parameter already set to "rotate"  and the speed parameter (parameter 3) already set to "fast" and assign parameter 8 ("fast rate"/CC83:General 8) to K1, then you can dial in the exact rotary speed you want using K1, even a speed which would be considered slow. This is how I did it in the G1 drawbar pak I uploaded to this forum, except I used K4 instead of K1.

Spin up time, rise acceleration, is rotary parameter 6, CC81; and spin down time is rotary parameter 5, fall acceleration, CC80. Some of this information is admittedly buried in midi implementation document that can be downloaded from the Casio website.

The multifunction key system on the G1 can also be used to send midi CC messages with specific values. So you could sacrifice a few keys at the top of the keyboard to function as switches for your rotary effect. One key could toggle the rotary DSP on and off, the second could send CC19 with a value of 0 to set the rotary to "rotate" and a third could send CC19 with a value of 127 to set the rotary to "stop". Thus you could quickly switch the rotary on and off, fast and slow with the touch of a key. Or you could control the effect using a combination of knobs and keys; many other configurations are possible.

I hope this helps.

File Name: Roaring Silence

File Submitter: Brett M

File Submitted: 30 Jan 2015

File Category: XW-Synths

My attempt at using the solo synth to create that classic sci fi effect when the camera pans down the dark corridors of a vast alien ship or when the slab orbits Jupiter - resonant filtered noise on the brink of self oscillation.

Knobs 1 and 2 turn up wailing voices a la Kubrick. (This was created on a G1 so P1 owners may need to reassign PCM oscs 1 and 2 to wave 451.)

WARNING: resonance is maxed out so keep the volume low when you first listen, especially when the wailing is turned up.

Click here to download this file