Yamaha VL-1, Owner'S Manual

Page 1: ...Owner s Manual 1 Getting Started...

Page 2: ...Owner s Manual 1 Getting Started...

Page 3: ...trollers 12 The Modifiers 13 There s More 15 The Controls Connectors 16 A Brief Introduction To the VL1 Interface Front Panel 17 Rear Panel 20 Setting Up 22 System Connections Preparation Power Supply...

Page 4: ...ontroller Views 41 Some Exercises With the AltoSax Controllers 42 Controller Envelopes 46 Other Controller Views 47 Mixing The Modifiers 48 Creating New Timbres and Original Voices Mixing 48 An Exerci...

Page 5: ...d MIDI cables longer than about 15 meters Longer cables can pick up electrical noise that can causes data errors Handling and Transport Never apply excessive force to the controls connectors or other...

Page 6: ...it by hand The disk may not be ejected properly if the eject button is pressed too quickly or it is not pressed in as far as it will go the eject button may be come stuck in a half pressed position a...

Page 7: ...up playing the demo calibrating the Breath Controller and loading the pre programmed voices 4 Voice Selection Page 34 Several ways to select and play the VL1 s 128 voices 5 The Controllers Page 38 Th...

Page 8: ...u don t use very often Each section of the Feature Reference manual has its own table of contents so you should be able to locate any particular function quickly and easily Functions and references ca...

Page 9: ...e weather systems or the flight characteristics of aircraft in the design stage the VL1 simulates the very complex vibrations resonances reflections and other acoustic phenomena that occur in a real w...

Page 10: ...lay than conventional synthesizers but when mas tered this is the very characteristic that is its greatest strength The Yamaha VL1 is the most musical synthesizer ever made A soloist s dream The VL1 s...

Page 11: ...s it unsuitable for user programming so vari ous instruments for the VL1 are provided in the form of pre programmed voices These are primarily woodwind brass and string voices since the VL1 s physi ca...

Page 12: ...e air column or string and the timbre is a complex product of the driving source reed lip air string the shape of the resonant cavity the materials from which the instrument is made etc The sound thus...

Page 13: ...namics of the instrument by varying the breath pressure applied to the controller a natural instinctive way to play wind instrument voices At the same time the growl and throat parameters might also b...

Page 14: ...an create radical timbral variations within the current instrument family e g saxes Page 51 Dynamic Filter This section is similar to the dynamic filters found in many conventional synthesizers It has...

Page 15: ...s more suited to the simulation of metallic resonances and is thus invaluable for refining the sound of brass and metal bodied woodwinds Other impor tant effects are the ability to diffuse sharp attac...

Page 16: ...s are used as layers of a single voice There s also an extensive range of other functions and features that are similar to those you may be familiar with from conventional synthesiz ers There are for...

Page 17: ...ODE COMPARE PLAY EDIT UTILITY COPY STORE PITCH MODULATION 1 MODULATION 2 OCTAVE DOWN UP VOLUME CS1 CS2 L R OUTPUT 1 2 FOOT CONTROLLER FOOT SWITCH 1 2 IN THRU MIDI OUT 9 Breath Controller Jack 8 PHONES...

Page 18: ...s The P E and U buttons select the corresponding VL1 modes The PLAY mode lets you select and play voices the EDIT mode gives you programming access to the VL1 s voice and controller parameters and the...

Page 19: ...y dial provides a fast efficient way to cover a broad range of voice numbers when for example you re looking for a voice but don t know the voice number It s also handy for making large value changes...

Page 20: ...modes shift only while the button is held or press once to shift and again to release MIDI note output data is also shifted 6 Wheel This self centering pitch wheel allows realistic upward and downward...

Page 21: ...controller is optional Getting Started page 23 5 FOOT SWITCH 1 and 2 Jacks An optional Yamaha FC4 or FC5 footswitch can be connected to one or both of these jacks for sustain portamento and other con...

Page 22: ...21 Getting Started The Controls Connectors The Controls Connectors...

Page 23: ...let CAUTION Make sure your VL1 is rated for the AC voltage supplied in the area in which it is to be used as listed on the rear panel Connecting the VL1 to the wrong AC supply can cause serious damage...

Page 24: ...ot controllers it is not necessary to use both To begin with plug the supplied FC7 Foot Controller into the rear panel FOOT CON TROLLER 2 jack If you purchase a second FC7 Foot Controller for extra co...

Page 25: ...m expansion and control capability You might for example like to control it from a Yamaha wind controller such as the WX11 rather than the keyboard for even more realistic wind instrument feel and exp...

Page 26: ...tem s main level volume control s and the VL1 volume control are turned all the way down prior to turning power on 2 Turn on the VL1 3 Turn on the sound system 4 Raise the sound system volume to a rea...

Page 27: ...data in these memory locations This is the same as the data initially contained in these memory locations when the VL1 is first shipped so if you haven t made any changes there is no problem If howev...

Page 28: ...The VL1 will ask you to confirm again press to continue or to abort 4 Select a Song Use the data dial or and buttons to select the song number you want to start with 5 Run the Demo Press the button t...

Page 29: ...28 Getting Started Setting Up 6 Stop the Demo Press the button to stop demo playback 7 Return To the Play Mode When Done Press the MODE P button to return the PLAY mode...

Page 30: ...select the Sys tem function page 3 Go To the Utility Mode Curve Page and Select Brth Use the cursor buttons to move the cursor to 5 Curve then press to call the Curve function page When the curve dis...

Page 31: ...using the maximum pressure you intend to use while playing rotate the trimmer slowly clockwise until the number below the graph just reaches 127 the cursors should just line up with the right end of...

Page 32: ...any important voices in memory make sure it is safely stored to disk before loading the data Feature Reference manual page 166 1 Insert the Voice Disk Insert the voice disk into the disk drive The sli...

Page 33: ...k function directory 5 Select Load From Disk Use the cursor buttons to move the cursor to 2 Load From Disk and then press 6 Select All and Select the CUSTOMER All File Make sure the cursor is position...

Page 34: ...disk in a safe place You must now select a voice in order for the loaded data to be properly activated see the following section About the VL1 Data Disk The floppy disk supplied with the VL1 contains...

Page 35: ...the section separated by a line at the bottom of the display Cnt1 Cnt2 etc indicate the functions of the corresponding function buttons below the display through These will be discussed later in this...

Page 36: ...ce within the same bank it is only necessary to press the appropriate voice number button To select a different bank however you ll always have to press both a bank button and a voice number button or...

Page 37: ...s via the VL1 display NOTES If you don t get any sound at this point Make sure your sound system is turned ON and the volume is turned up to a reasonable level make sure that the VL1 VOLUME control is...

Page 38: ...ubleBow F12 092 RuffWreck F13 093 Clavisynth F14 094 Claricord F15 095 TrumpNSax F16 096 QuiScivit C01 033 Gonzilla C02 034 Soprano 1 C03 035 MouthKeys C04 036 Thump Bass C05 037 Cornet C06 038 Igneou...

Page 39: ...introduce you to the basics of controller assign ment and operation The effectiveness of the VL1 as a musical instrument depends to a great deal on how well you learn to use these controllers Since t...

Page 40: ...h controller foot controller etc Foot controller 1 has the standard MIDI foot controller control change number 004 and can be assigned to any VL1 controller parameter Like the modulation 2 wheel foot...

Page 41: ...into chaotic oscillation creating effects that can only be achieved with physical modeling technology Adds breath noise The sound of the breath noise itself can be varied over a wide range using the E...

Page 42: ...ause the AltoSax voice used for this example only uses one element so the controllers are listed in the central Element1 column In a voice that uses two elements the Element2 controllers are independe...

Page 43: ...ght to the last edit page that was selected for maximum programming speed and efficiency You may have to through one or two layers of the EDIT mode display hierarchy to return to the initial display 2...

Page 44: ...ing controller name is shown on the display non assigned controllers are displayed as MIDI control change numbers The Modulation Wheel setting refers to the VL1 s MODULATION 1 wheel The MODULATION 2 w...

Page 45: ...right of the display changes accordingly The horizontal axis corresponds to breath pressure or the control value in any other controller screen and the vertical axis represents the depth of the parame...

Page 46: ...the Curve Parameter You may have noticed in the previous step that the relationship between breath pressure and output is linear That is a change in breath pressure produces a correspond ing change i...

Page 47: ...manual respectively This must be done before you select a different voice or the same voice again or your edits will be lost To confirm this try selecting a different voice and then return to the Alt...

Page 48: ...offers a choice of portamento modes with or without MIDI control capability This line indicates the current portamento status Feature Reference manual page 40 Any physical controller can be assigned t...

Page 49: ...without the resonance of the instrument s body In acoustic instruments there is always a certain amount of driver sound particu larly when the instrument is heard at close range Judicious adjustment...

Page 50: ...to call the Miscellaneous page 3 Select Edit the Mixing Parameters Move the cursor to 4 Mixing and press Here you have all the parameters you need to mix the physical model output sig nals Driver Outp...

Page 51: ...AY Mode When Done Press the P button to return to the PLAY mode when you ve finished experi menting with the mixing parameters After experimenting with the Mixing parameters for a while you ll discove...

Page 52: ...siderable range the fundamental timbre of each voice is determined by its physical instrument model If you start with a trumpet voice for example the modifiers will let you create an broad range of ti...

Page 53: ...in these pages allow independent selection of the six different signal sources listed below This is the total output of the instrument model a mix of the driver pipe string and tap signals This signal...

Page 54: ...ic sound of the instrument in contrast with the first approach in which the basic sound of the instrument is modulated directly Please note that these are only guidelines and are by no means the only...

Page 55: ...ws delicate variations in the degree of filtration applied The Cutoff Tracking parameter selects either the Fixed mode in which the cutoff frequency of the filter is fixed at the specified cutoff freq...

Page 56: ...pendent key scaling parameters that can be used to vary the gain of the filters across the range of the keyboard The Input Gain parameter adjusts the level of the signal applied to the input of the Eq...

Page 57: ...hus invaluable for refining the sound of brass and metal bodied woodwinds Other important effects are the ability to diffuse sharp attack sounds and to give depth and realism to vibrato In fact the Im...

Page 58: ...L5 variable from 0 25 to 41 45 milliseconds Other parameters include variable Decay Time LPF Cutoff Freq low pass filtercutoff frequency Diffusion and Phase Like the Impulse Expander the Resonator is...

Page 59: ...cts The Modulation Feedback Delay and Reverb stages can be used simultaneously but only one of the effects available in each stage can be used at a time Creating the Right Ambience L R L R Feedback De...

Page 60: ...swishing flanger sound A dual pitch change effect which can be used in the Mono mode in which both pitch shifted notes appear on both channels or the Stereo mode in which one pitch shifted note appea...

Page 61: ...ntirely losing the live sound of the room The Studio program simulates this type of environment The plate reverb unit is a classic tool of the recording trade it was the first mechanical method of cre...

Page 62: ...61 Getting Started Effects Effects...

Page 63: ...1 Getting Started and Feature Reference manuals for easy cross referencing Page numbers in the Getting Started manual are preceded by and page numbers in the Feature Reference manual are preceded by A...

Page 64: ...parameters finding 9 G Greeting message 158 Growl envelope 141 Growl 74 Growl speed key scaling 142 H Harmonic enhancer 51 78 107 Harmonic enhancer key scaling 110 115 Headphones 23 I Impulse expande...

Page 65: ...sonator 57 126 Reverb effects 60 Reverb 60 S Scream 72 Selecting editing parameters 12 Sound system 24 Specifications 184 Store button 17 Store function 28 Sustain 35 T Throat formant 75 91 Throat for...

Page 66: ...M D G EMI Division Yamaha Corporation 1993 VQ65370 JADIR0PR117 2CP Printed in Japan...