M-Audio KeyStudio [9/20] Program change

KeyStudio User Guide

Program Change

Program changes are used to change the instrument or voice you are controlling with your KeyStudio. Program change

messagescanbebenecialwhenusingtheKeyStudiokeyboardtocontrolMIDIsoundmodulesorsynthesizers.Somemusic

software applications support these messages, however, others do not. Check your software’s User Guide to ﬁnd out if it can

process program change messages.

Inthisexample,wewilldemonstratehowtochangetheinstrumentonaGeneralMIDIsoundmoduletoacellosound.Todo

thisweneedtosendaprogramchangeof42,whichwillselectacellosoundfromtheGeneralMIDIInstrumentsstandardlist

(see Appendix A). There are two methods to send the program change:

1) Increment/Decrement Program Change:

1. Press the Edit Mode button.

2. Press the black key above F1 (F#1). Now the Octave “<” and “>” buttons can be used to change the program.

2) Quick Select Program Change

1. Press the Edit Mode button.

2. Press the black key above F4 (F#4), representing “program.”

  3. PresskeysD4,thenB3,thenC5.Thisentersthecombination:“4,”“2,”“ENTER.”

NowthekeyboardissettoplaytheGMcellosound42(fromtheGeneralMIDIInstrumentsstandardlist).Thefulllistof

GeneralMIDIprogramnumbersisgiveninAppendixAattheendofthismanual.

Method 1 is useful if you want to cycle through different instruments for the purpose of comparing and choosing which sound

works best in your song. Method 2 is more useful if you want to select a speciﬁc sound patch, as is the case here.

IftheOctave“<”and“>”buttonshavebeenassignedtocontroltheprogramnumber(Method1),thelightsabovethe

buttons will not change, since it is not possible to have a program with a negative value. Pressing both the “<” and “>”

buttonstogetherwillrecallProgram0,whichselectstherstsoundpatchonanysynthesizercapableofprocessingMIDI

program changes.

Bank LSB and Bank MSB

Programchangesarethemostcommonlyusedmessagestochangeinstrumentsandvoices.However,thenumberof

instrumentsaccessibleusingonlytheprogramchangeMIDIcommandislimitedto128.Sincesomedeviceshavemorethan

128 voices, they require a method to organize their large number of sounds into banks. These devices then access the sounds

withinthesebanksbyusingprogramchangemessages.Seechapter“MIDIMessagesExplained”foradditionalinformation.

Generally, these devices use Bank LSB (Least Signiﬁcant Byte) and Bank MSB (Most Signiﬁcant Byte) change messages.

KeyStudio can send these bank change messages in two possible ways:

1) Incremental/Decremental Bank LSB and Bank MSB Change:

1. Press the Edit Mode button.

2. Press the black key above G1 (G#1) or Bb1 (A#1), representing Bank LSB or Bank MSB respectively. Now the

Octave “<” and “>” buttons can be used to change Bank LSB or Bank MSB.

2) Using the Quick Select Method:

1. Press the Edit Mode button.

2. Press the black key above G4 (G#4), or Bb4 (A#4), representing Bank LSB or Bank MSB respectively.

3. Press the white keys associated with the bank number you wish to select, and then press C5 (Enter). For example,

pressing the C4 (the number 3), A3 (the number 1), and C5 (Enter) keys in this step selects bank 31.