Yamaha RX-21, Product Manual

Page 1: ...YAMAHA AUTHORIZED PRODUCT MANUAL DIGITAL RHYTHM PROGRAMMER ...

Page 2: ...YAMAHA DIGITAL RHYTHM PROGRAMMER OWNER S MANUAL ...

Page 3: ...hm patterns for you to try out a pattern chart in which you can note down your own personally programmed patterns and a song chart CONTENTS CONTROL PANEL 2 CONNECTIONS 3 PRECAUTIONS 5 SETTING UP 6 THE INSTRUMENTS 7 Getting to Know the RX21 Instruments 7 RX21Instrument Chart 7 Total Level 7 Instrument Level 8 Stereo Positioning 8 Accents 8 Setting Accent Levels 9 PATTERN OPERATIONS 10 Pattern Selec...

Page 4: ...CONTROL PANEL 2 ...

Page 5: ...NECTIONS MIDI IN MIDI OUT CASSETTE IN OUT PHONES OUT R MIDI EQUIPMENT A wide variety of MIDI compatible equipment may be used These are just a few examples QX SEQUENCER CX5M MUSIC COMPUTER DX SYNTHESIZER 3 ...

Page 6: ...1 POWER SUPPY DC9V 12V IN POWER ON OFF OUTPUT TO SOUND MONITOR SYSTEM OTHER SOURCES PA OR RECORDING MIXER MULTITRACK RECORDER OUT L CASSETTE IN OR MIC JACK CASSETTE OUT OR EAR JACK DATA CASSETTE RECORDER 4 ...

Page 7: ...e used for an extended period of time Remove all plugs and connections if the unit is to be transported to prevent damage to the cords and jacks Do not use solvents such as benzene or paint thinner to clean the unit Do not use insecticides or other pressurized spray products in proximity to the unit Wipe off the exterior with a soft cloth PRECAUTIONS The RX21 memory has a Lithium backup battery so...

Page 8: ...em or the volume of the mixer channel to which the RX21 is connected is set to minimum before the RX21 is turned on Better yet turn on the RX21 first then your sound system The RX21 has an LCD Liquid Crystal Display panel that keeps you informed of what is happening at any moment for example which pattern is playing or what editing operation you are carrying out When you turn on the RX21 the LCD s...

Page 9: ...Instrument Button Instruments SD Medium tuned snare TOM 1 10 deep body tom tom TOM 2 TOM 3 12 deep body tom tom 14 floor tom tom BD Bass drum HH OPEN Open hi hat HH CLOSED CYM Closed hi hat Crash cymbal CLAPS Hand claps NOTE Although HH OPEN and HH CLOSED can be used together in the same pattern they cannot be used on the same beat this is obviously also true in a live drum kit If you have program...

Page 10: ...practice to set the individual in strument levels at 15 then adjust each instrument up or down to get your desired mix The instruments can be adjusted in any sequence Press the PATTERN PLAY button to exit the instrument level mode Instrument Level Example Increase TOM 1 level from 15 to 22 Output from the RX21 can be either in STEREO connect cables to both L and R Stereo Positioning outputs or MON...

Page 11: ...LEVEL nn XXXX being the instrument and nn the accent level The accent level can then be adjusted by the 1 YES or 1 NO keys The accent level range is the same as the instrument level range 00 31 The accent level setting however is added to the instrument level setting to produce the actual accent level For example if the instrument level is set at 15 and the accent level for that instrument is set ...

Page 12: ...ncreases the pattern number by one respectively This method of selection is easy when going to an adjacent or nearby pattern number but when selecting a pattern in a distant number range the direct numeric selection method is quicker 2 Selecting Patterns Using the Numeric Buttons The two rows of grey numbered buttons may be used for pattern selection Entering the desired pattern number using these...

Page 13: ...e or increase respectively The range available is 40 to 250 quarter notes per minute Pressing the TEMPO button again returns the RX21 to the mode it was in before tempo setting TEMPO Function Example Change tempo from 120 to 140 during playback of pattern 00 Real Time Pattern Programming NOTE An understanding of the QUANTIZE function described later in this chapter is essential for effective use o...

Page 14: ...A then revert to the SELECT PTN display You should now select another pattern number Normally the LCD will switch to LENGTH 16 is the pattern length with the cursor flashing to the right of the length number The RX21 measures patterns in sixteenth notes so for example a bar of 4 4 time four quarter notes per bar would be indicated by the setting 16 16 sixteen sixteenth notes per bar a bar of 3 4 t...

Page 15: ...layed every time the pattern is repeated There s no need to try and input all the instruments at once you can input one instrument at a time and gradually build up a pattern Enter accented beats by tapping the ACCENT button see Accents in the section entitled THE INSTRUMENTS Here s an example of how a basic 4 4 time pattern is built up PLAY BASS DRUM 4 beats to a bar THEN PLAY SNARE DRUM on the of...

Page 16: ... scores or from the pattern charts provided in the RX21 PATTERN BOOK accompanying this manual It also makes it possible to input complex rhythm patterns that would be extremely difficult to program using the real time method First select the pattern number you wish to program numbers 00 through 55 only patterns 56 through 99 are permanent preset patterns and cannot be re programmed although you ca...

Page 17: ...ady to program your pattern Tap the red START button If by mistake you have selected a preset the LCD will show PRESET PTN AREA then revert to the SELECT PTN pp display and you should select another pattern and repeat the step write setting procedure Normally the LCD will switch to PTN pp BEAT 01 prompting you to input the first beat of the pattern You can now enter an instrument on beat one by pr...

Page 18: ...re beat STEP WRITE mistakes can be corrected in the same way as REAL TIME mistakes when you reach the beat at which the erroneous entry was made simply hold down the CLEAR button and press the instrument button corresponding to the instrument to be cleared Patterns including of course those you created in the REAL TIME mode can be edited by adding new parts and deleting unwanted parts simply by re...

Page 19: ...nearest quantized beat Thus for more subtle rhythms it is best to select a higher quantize rate 1 32 or 1 24 while simpler rhythms can be entered more accurately and rapidly using the lower quantize rates 1 12 or 1 16 QUANTIZE Applied to the Step Write Mode In the step write mode the quantize function can save time by minimizing the number of steps required to enter each part If for example the qu...

Page 20: ...er case the flashing cursor will move forward to the next beat and you can enter another note or rest The Dot Display will show only the part of the instrument you have just played Playing another instrument will immediately change the Dot Display to the one corresponding to the new instrument with the cursor in the same relative position When you first enter the Dot Display mode the initial Dot D...

Page 21: ...e first 16 beats will be displayed initially Then as soon as the cursor passes the last beat to the right of the LCD the Dot Display will switch to show the remaining beats in the bar Just remember that the pairs of vertical dots indicate the primary beats in each bar and you ll find that the Dot Display is a valuable aid for programming your RX21 rapidly and accurately in the step write mode You ...

Page 22: ...change function If you re not sure what quantize rate is set on your selected pattern simply press REAL TIME WRITE and the LCD will show REAL L Q 1 qq qq is the Quantize rate If the Quantize rate is 12 or 16 the Beat exchange will switch it to 24 or 32 and vice versa If by mistake you have selected a preset pattern pressing the BEAT key will call up the PRESET PTN AREA display on the LCD which wil...

Page 23: ...2 4 6 8 etc will be erased This will affect all instruments simultaneously Let s look at what happens to a 2 4 time hi hat pattern programmed at 1 32 quantize rate when we perform the Beat Exchange function QUANTIZE AT 1 32 BEAT EXCHANGE TO 1 16 All the notes originally occurring on even numbered beats have gone permanently It is safer then to use the Beat Exchange function for switching from a lo...

Page 24: ... your intention to clear the pattern by displaying the CLEAR PTN pp message where pp is the number of the selected pattern If you decide you don t want to clear the pattern press the 1 NO button to cancel the clear function If you want to clear the pattern press the 1 YES key The LCD will show the PTN pp CLEARED display followed by the SELECT PTN pp display If you have selected a pattern that is a...

Page 25: ...se the RX21 software to malfunction It s advisable to save the contents of the pattern memory onto a cassette tape see the CASSETTE OPERATIONS chapter to prevent loss of patterns you wish to keep Pattern Clear All Patterns Except Presets Instrument Clear A single instrument s entire part may be immediately cleared from a pattern when the RX21 is in the pattern select mode holding the CLEAR button ...

Page 26: ...ber 00 55 ONLY you cannot copy to a preset pattern number You can now copy the pattern by pressing 1 YES The LCD will show COPY EXECUTING then revert to SELECT PTN pp Prior to copying you can alter the pattern numbers if you ve changed your mind Press 1 NO to move the cursor back to the first pair of asterisks and enter a new number Press 1 YES to move the cursor back to the second pair of asteris...

Page 27: ...Pattern Copy Example Copy pattern 79 to pattern 00 25 ...

Page 28: ...k by pressing the STOP key the 1 NO and 1 YES keys allow you to move backwards or forwards through the song re spectively in the usual press once for single step or hold down for continu ous movement actions You can then playback the song from any selected point by pressing the STOP CONTINUE key again If you have selected a song that contains no data nothing will happen when you press the START ke...

Page 29: ...NG WRITE key The LCD will show PART 001 PTN a Song prompting you to enter the number of the pattern which will be used as part 1 of the song If you have selected a song that already contains data the asterisks will be replaced by the pattern number already programmed in You can still enter new data in the normal manner Simply enter the desired pattern number and press 1 YES The LCD will move forwa...

Page 30: ... example throughout this section of the manual Song Editing Example song 0 patterns 22 5 79 4 Break Patterns The first four of the RX21 presets numbers 56 thru 59 are blank patterns of various lengths that enable you to rapidly enter breaks into songs These are as follows Preset 56 a 1 4 measure Preset 57 a 2 4 measure Preset 58 a 3 4 measure Preset 59 a 4 4 measure Enter these patterns in the nor...

Page 31: ... any subsequent parts will be moved up by one part Press the INSERT key The LCD will show INSERT PART 003 Press 1 YES and the current parts 3 and 4 will be moved to parts 4 and 5 leaving part 3 free for the insertion of a new pattern The LCD will now show PART 003 PTN and you can enter the new pattern simply by entering the pattern number using the numeric keys Editing can then continue as normal ...

Page 32: ... to 99 times The repeat function is used in the song edit mode For example to repeat parts 2 and 3 of our song 3 times this means parts 2 and 3 would be played 4 times 1 original plus 3 repeats locate part 2 using the 1 NO or 1 YES keys and press REPEAT The LCD will then show 0 or 1 giving you the choice of inserting a Begin Repeat sign by pressing 0 or End Repeat sign by pressing 1 Press the 0 ke...

Page 33: ...try to enter a Begin Repeat sign at a part that already has one you ll see the ALREADY EN TERED LCD message followed by the normal editing display The same goes for an End Repeat sign A number of repeats can be programmed into one song to create complex song arrangements This also minimizes programming time as you can enter repeat signs instead of having to program in large numbers of individual p...

Page 34: ...Generally it s best to delete both repeat signs Song Clear Single songs can be cleared by selecting the song to be cleared and then pressing the CLEAR key The LCD will show CLEAR SONG s where s is the song number Press the 1 YES key to clear the song and the LCD will show SONG s CLEARED followed by the SELECT SONG s display Press 1 NO to cancel the song clear function If you try to clear a song th...

Page 35: ... you want to clear all songs press the 1 YES key The LCD will show the ARE YOU SURE display to give you a second chance to confirm your intention to clear all songs Again If you decide you don t want to clear all songs press the 1 NO button to cancel the clear function If you are sure you want to clear all songs press the 1 YES key The LCD will show the ALL SONGS CLEAR display followed by the SELE...

Page 36: ...rst enter the cassette control mode by pressing the CASSETTE button The LCD will read CASSETTE CONTROL indicating that the cassette control mode is active The three buttons below the CASSETTE button now function according to the name written ABOVE them rather than the name written ON them In other words REPEAT KEY becomes SAVE KEY INSERT KEY becomes LOAD KEY DELETE KEY becomes VERIFY KEY To save t...

Page 37: ...file you wish to load press the 1 YES button then start the cassette player in the playback mode to begin the load operation If you do not wish to load press the 1 NO key and the LCD will revert to the CASSETTE CONTROL display While the RX21 is loading the data about 12 seconds the display will read LOAD EXECUTING If the load operation is completed and no errors are detected the RX21 will return d...

Page 38: ...Load Data From Cassette 36 ...

Page 39: ...CK MIDI In this example the RX21 is controlled by a QX7 Digital Sequence Recorder The QX7 sends START and STOP controls to the RX21 and the QX7 clock controls the tempo of the RX21 You could either set the RX21 to PATTERN PLAY in which case it would play continuously a selected pattern every time it receives a START signal or you could set the RX21 to SONG PLAY in which case it would on receipt of...

Page 40: ...u could set your DX21 to KEYBOARD SPLIT with the balance adjusted so that no sound is output from the left hand section of the keyboard In this way your left hand plays only the RX21 while your right hand plays a melody on the right hand section of the DX21 keyboard APPLICATION EXAMPLE 2 QX7 plus RX21 plus TX7 In this example the QX7 sends Key Number data to the RX21 The QX7 is pro grammed with a ...

Page 41: ...via the MIDI OUT connector 2 MIDI In this mode the playback of patterns and songs is synchronized to a MIDI clock signal received from an external sequencer music computer or another rhythm machine via the MIDI IN connector on the RX21 rear panel In this case the tempo is controlled by the device which is transmitting the MIDI clock signal The desired clock mode is selected by pressing the MIDI bu...

Page 42: ...he LCD cc being the channel number To change the channel number press the 1 YES button to increase the number and 1 NO button to decrease it To exit this mode press any main function key The MIDI Receive Channel that you have selected will remain even after the RX21 power is turned off MIDI Receive Channel Setting Example set to channel 2 2 CHANNEL INFORMATION AVAILABLE In this mode the RX21 recei...

Page 43: ...his mode the RX21 can send or receive the entire contents of pattern and song memories in the form of MIDI data to or from another RX21 This means that without having to use cassette save load operations you can quickly and easily transfer an enormous amount of pattern song data To engage this mode press the MIDI button four times on both RX21 s The LCD s will show SYS INFO AVAIL You can now eithe...

Page 44: ...used to control the RX21 QX7 and TX7 The tape sync signal contains START and STOP signals and sets the Clock Rate of both the RX21 and the QX7 The RX21 clock should be set to MIDI The other three tracks of the cassette tape contain recorded instruments or vocals In this way the two worlds of acoustic and digital music are brought together as never before in this unique system designed by Yamaha Si...

Page 45: ...FERENCE GUIDE Total Level Example reducing total level from 63 to 50 INSTRUMENT OPERATIONS Instrument Level Example Increase TOM 1 level from 15 to 22 Accent Level Example increase TOM 1 accent level from 5 to 15 43 ...

Page 46: ... 00 01 24 PATTERN OPERATlONS Pattern Change During Playback Example Patterns 00 01 24 TEMPO Function Example Change tempo from 120 to 140 during playback of pattern 00 Real Time Write Example 3 4 time Quantize Rate 1 16 on pattern 00 44 ...

Page 47: ...MENT KEY TO CLEAR MISTAKES Step Write Example 4 4 Time Quantize Rate 16 on pattern 00 PLAY INSTRUMENT KEYS TO ENTER MORE NOTES USE ACCENT KEY TO ENTER ACCENTS 1 YES KEY TO ENTER RESTS CLEAR KEY PLUS IN STRUMENT KEY TO CLEAR MISTAKES Dot Display Example Time 3 4 Quantize 1 16 on pattern 00 45 ...

Page 48: ...Beat Exchange Example on pattern 00 Setting CIick level Example reducing level from 31 to 20 while recording on pattern 00 46 ...

Page 49: ...Pattern Clear Single Example clear pattern 00 Pattern Clear All Patterns Except Presets Instrument Clear Example clear HH CLOSED from pattern 00 Pattern Copy Example Copy pattern 79 to pattern 00 47 ...

Page 50: ...Song Playback Example playback of song 2 SONG OPERATIONS Repeat Playback of Song Example repeat playback of song 0 48 ...

Page 51: ...Song Editing Example song 0 patterns 22 5 79 4 Insert Example insert pattern 59 between parts 2 and 3 Delete Example delete part 3 49 ...

Page 52: ...Entering Repeats Example repeat parts 2 and 5 3 times Delete Repeat Example delete Begin Repeat at pattern 2 Song Clear Single Example clear song 0 50 ...

Page 53: ...Song Clear All Songs Save Data to Cassette and Verify CASSETTE OPERATIONS START RECORDER IN RECORD MODE START CASSETTE RECORDER IN PLAYBACK MODE Load Data From Cassette 51 ...

Page 54: ...Clock Mode Selection MIDI FUNCTIONS TO RETURN TO INTERNAL CLOCK MIDI Receive Channel Setting Example set to channel 2 Key Number Reception Transmitting MIDI Data 52 ...

Page 55: ...es and or less RX21 instruments played simultaneously You tried to edit one of the preset patterns numbers 56 99 Copy the preset pattern see the PATTERN COPY section into a programmable pattern number 00 55 and edit the copied pattern You tried to copy a pattern onto a preset pattern number Copy the pattern into a programmable pattern number 00 55 You tried to clear a preset pattern or clear one i...

Page 56: ...tions are secure all cables are functioning properly and use another cassette tape if ne cessary Increase the record level on the cassette recorder if needed There has been an error in loading data from cassette due to bad ly recorded data bad connections or power fluctuations due to lightning etc Try loading again Check that all connections are secure and all cables are functioning properly Incre...

Page 57: ... REAL TIME WRITE STEP WRITE SONG KEYS PLAY WRITE INSERT DELETE REPEAT CLEAR CASSETTE MIDI SWITCH POWER SWITCH DISPLAY LCD 16 CHARACTERS CONNECTION TERMINALS AND INTERFACES AUDIO OUTPUT OUTPUT L R phone jack OR MONO L only PHONES stereo phone jack 8 40 ohms INTERFACE CASSETTE IN OUT MIDI IN OUT DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT 350Wx56Hx203D mm 13 25 32 x2 13 64 x8 1 3kg 2lb 1402 POWER REQUIREMENTS 9 12v Suppl...

Page 58: ...BLOCK DIAGRAM 56 ...

Page 59: ...ystem E x c l u s i v e o o 2 P a t t e r n Song System Song P o s x o Song S e 1 o Ø 3 o Ø 3 Common Tune x x System Clock o o MIDI mode Real Time Commands o o Aux Local ON OFF x x All N o t e s OFF x x Mes A c t i v e S e n s e x x s a g e s Reset x x Notes All m e s s a g e s e x c e p t System E x c l u s i v e a r e bypassed t o MIDI OUT 1 N o t e number 4 5 48 5Ø 5 2 53 54 57 59 and 6Ø which ...

Page 60: ...rence If your equipment does appear to be the source of the interference you should try to correct the situation by using one or more of the following measures Relocate either the equipment or the electronic device that is being affected by the interference Utilize power for the professional music equipment and the device being affected that are on different branch circuit breaker of fuse circuits...

Page 61: ...SINCE 1887 YAMAHA NIPPON GAKKI CO LTD HAMAMATSU JAPAN OMD 136 85 11 10 0 CR Printed in Japan ...

Page 62: ...YAMAHA RX21 OM Yamaha Corporation of America 6600 Orangethorpe Avenue P O Box 6600 Buena Park CA 90622 6600 RX21 OM 9 10 98 29645 Recyclab e Recycled ...