What does key follow do exactly

[pcoul]

Hi,

I purchased XW-G1 Synth, my first synth ever, 2 months ago and I am pulling my hairs about that key follow functionality. The manuals (G1 or P1-companion) assumes the user already knows that function.

1. I notice that changing the KeyFollow changes the amount of pitch between neighboring keys but why would one need to do that?
2. In solo synth, I note that when I pressed the c2 and then c5, the pitch gradually raised up to c5. Is this related to keyfollow?
   What setting can do to remove that gradual increase of pitch like for non solo synth tones?
3. I changed the key follow base from c4 to c2 and did not notice any difference, why is that?
4. Totally confused with keyfollow applied to filter or amps since I played with that parameter as well as the keyfollow base, notice some changes and could not understand according to the manual what was happening.
5. I am having hard time understanding the attach graph.

 

May be the easiest is to refer me to a solid documentation on that issue applied to synth. A better solution might be to send me some pitch, amp and filter keyfollow settings (and base) on specific tone and explain to me the effect I am hearing

 

Thanks in advance for your patience and happy new year to all Casians

Phil C.

[Brad Saucier]

Put simply, instead of twisting a knob to adjust pitch, filter cutoff and amp level, the value of those things are determined by which key is played.  

[Jokeyman123]

Brad is exactly right-many synths even years back used key follow to make subtle changes to notes spanning the entire rang of keyboard notes. for example, if I alter the level of key follow for the filter-as I play higher on the keys, my notes can have a duller sound, or more trebly sound depending on the key follow setting. applied to amp, keys could sound less loud or more loud as I play up the keyboard range, or have a shorter or longer decay, or shorter or longer attack-depending on what the amp settings are-it can get complicated!

I'm weighing because I think the answer to #2 about notes sliding from one to the other is due to "portamento" which is a separate setting which controls how quickly or slowly one note will change pitch in relation to the next note played and it can vary depending on the setting for portamento. some of the sounds in the XW sseries have porttamento switched on automatically as part of the sound I seem to recall (I have the XW-P1). Hope this helps.

[Jokeyman123]

Oops, I meant "weighing in"-like weight watchers.

[pcoul]

Hi

I knew I was very close to understanding this functionality and the quick explanations above solved the issue.

I started experimenting with Brad explanations (looking for the same effects as knob twisting) in mind and noticed the changes while getting away or closer to the keyfollow base and now I could explain what I was hearing.

Jokeyman, you were right about the portamento effect.

Many thanks to all

[pcoul]

The attached picture from the Yamaha synth parameter manual was of enormous help in understanding that feature. In my case the keyboard drawn below was an eye opener. I found the XW manual keyfollow graph confusing because under the horizontal axis, they write Key Follow Base as though the variations on that axis was key follow bases. That axis rather represents keys movements closer or farther from the key follow base.

For XW-G1 (or series),

1. B is the key follow (KF) base
2. E the KF value set to 64
3. D is either the volume (AMP), the cut-off freq (FILTER) or the pitch (OSC)

Just analyzing the attached graph provides the following:

1. The more we head toward C (higher notes) the more the effect (D) is accentuated. Same effect occurs when we play the same key increasing the KF value (E goes toward F).
2. When KF value = 0, there is no effect except that when D is the pitch (set in OSC section), all the keys sound at the same pitch. Interestingly, when D is the pitch, KF values different from 64 results in a totally out of tune keyboard! What is the use then ?
3. When the KF value is negative and D is the
   1. AMP,  the closer to C, the weaker the volume
   2. FILTER the closer to C, the louder the sound
   3. PITCH, the keyboard is totally reversed and the closer to C, the lower the pich and the closer to A the higher the pitch. When KF=-64, the major scale from C4 is interesting

I thought I would share my understanding of this feature to help newbies like me or to be corrected if need be.

Thanks