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YAMAHA
AUTHORIZED
PRODUCT MANUAL
DIGITAL PROGRAMMABLE ALGORITHM SYNTHESIZER
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YAMAHA DIGITAL PROGRAMMABLE ALGORITHM SYNTHESIZER OWNER’S MANUAL
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CONGRATULATIONS! Your Yamaha DX21 Digital Programmable Algorithm Synthsizer incorporates the state-of-the-art in digital FM tone generation technology, providing extraordinarily vi- brant, rich voices and outstanding playability. The DX21 actually has two FM tone generators, permitting two voices to be combined and played simultaneously, or in a split keyboard configuration. The DX21 has a 32-voice programmable RAM memory from which any voice can be selected at the touch of a button, a built-in
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PRECAUTIONS Choose the installation location for the DX21 with caution. Avoid locations exposed to direct sunlight or other sources of heat. Also avoid locations subject to vibration, excessive dust, cold or moisture. Do not attempt to clean the exterior with chemical solvents, as this may damage the finish. Clean with a soft, dry cloth. Do not open the cabinet or attempt to make your own repairs or modifications to any part of the instrument. Such actions may not only result in electrical shock
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CHAPTER I: SETTING UP The DX21 has two audio outputs, one for each tone generator channel. These 1. Audio Outputs are labelled MIX/A and B. When a plug is plugged into the MIX/A output only, the sound from both the A and B tone generator channels will be mixed and delivered via the MIX/A output. When plugs are inserted into both MIX/A and B jacks, however, the channel A signal will be delivered via the MIX/A output and the channel B signal will be delivered via the B output. This permits sending
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Plug the DX21 AC power cord into an AC wall socket. Be sure that your local line 7. AC Power voltage matches that specified on the DX21 rear panel. The POWER switch is located next to the AC cord on the rear panel. NOTE: When setting up your system, be sure to turn the DX21 and any effects units used on BEFORE turning the main amplifier system on. This will prevent the initial power-on shock surge from possible damaging your amplifier and speaker system. The music rack supplied with the DX21 fit
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CHAPTER II: PLAYING THE DX21 The DX21 has 32 RAM (Random Access Memory) locations which contain voices 1. The 32 Voice RAM which may be immediately selected by pressing the appropriate memory button while the DX21 is in one of the three normal play modes described below. The two Memory rows of 16 buttons- row A and row B-are the voice memory selectors. The row A and B selectors correspond to DX21 tone generator channels A and B. These same buttons actually serve a number of functions. In the FUN
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Enter the DUAL mode by pressing the PLAY DUAL button. 3. The DUAL Play Mode “DU” in the upper left display corner indicates that the DUAL mode has been se- lected. The upper display line now shows the number and name of any voice selected from the “A” row of memory selectors, while the lower display line shows the number and name of any voice selected from the “B” row of voice selectors. The number in the lower left display corner indicates the value of the DUAL MODE DETUNE (see CHAPTER III: THE
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SPLIT POINT set at 60 The split point number on the LCD will change to the number of the pressed key, the “A” voice will be playable on all keys to its left (Including the split key), and the “B” voice will be playable on all keys to the right of the split key. This process can be repeated as many times as necessary, but you must press and hold the S POINT key again every time you re-program the split point. As in the DUAL mode, the A/B BALANCE control can be used to balance the volume levels of
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THE 128 VOICES PROVIDED IN THE INTERNAL ROM GROUP 1 : PIANO GROUP 5 : BRASS GROUP 9 : PERCUSSION 2 GROUP 13 : BASS o Tom d Bass p Grand 1 1 1 1 Uprt Piano 2 Brite Brass 2 Pluck Bass 2 2 Synthe Bass Breakin 3 Honkey Tonk 3 3 Flugel horn 3 Trombone 4 Xylo snare 4 Mono Bass 4 4 5 Phase Grand 5 Hard Brass 5 Synballs 5 Flap Bass Elec Grand Power Brass 6 6 Hand Drum 6 6 Clock werks BC1 Horns 7 Uprt Bass 7 7 7 8 Heifer Bell BC1 Trumpet 8 8 Acous Elec 8 GROUP 10 : LEAD S YNTH GROUP 14 : SOUN
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CHAPTER III: THE FUNCTION MODE The FUNCTION mode permits access to four groups of functions : tuning functions, MIDI functions, memory management functions, and performance functions. In this chapter we’ll describe each of these functions; what they do and how they are programmed. The FUNCTION mode is accessed by pressing the FUNCTION button to the left of the LCD display. Individual parameters to be programmed are then called by pressing the appropriate voice selector button. Note that when t
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“Performance parameters” are programmable parameters which pertain mainly to real-time performance effects such as how the pitch bend and modulation wheels 3. The Performance affect the sound. All performance parameters can be memorized for each voice. Parameters If you wish that the edited data will remain in the memory, you have to store it using STORE function (see CHAPTER V: VOICE PROGRAMMING, “4. Storing Voice Data”). B1: POLY/MONO This function selects either the POLY or MONO note output m
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(2 ) “Fingered Porta” (MONO mode only): Portamento only occurs if the previously played note is held while the next note is played. This mode is useful in re- creating the effect of guitar string bending techniques, wood bass slide effects, etc. If you lift your hand off the DX21 keyboard between notes, there will be no portamento effect. Once the PORTAMENTO MODE function is called, subsequent presses on the B3 button alternate between the two available portamento modes only if the MONO note out
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produced depends on the settings of the LFO parameters—these will be discussed in CHAPTER V: VOICE PROGRAMMING. Note, however, that the appropriate voice PITCH MODULATION SENSITIVITY parameter must be set to a value higher than 0 for pitch modulation to be effective. The voice PITCH MODULATION SENSITIVITY parameter will also be discussed in CHAPTER V. The data range is from 0 to 99. At 0 pitch modulation is OFF , and rotating the modulation wheel will cause no pitch modulation to be applied to t
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Data is entered using the DATA ENTRY controls and -1/+1 switches. Once this function is called, subsequent presses on the B10 button increment the data value. B11: BREATH RANGE, AMPLITUDE This function is used to set the maximum depth of LFO amplitude modulation which can be applied using the Breath Controller. The actual effect produced depends on the settings of the LFO parameters—these will be discussed in CHAPTER V: VOICE PROGRAMMING . Note, however, that the appropriate voice AMPLITUDE MODU
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This function permits transposing the pitch of the entire DX21 keyboard up or down two octaves in semitone steps. The data range is from C1 to C5 (C3 is middle C, C2 is one octave lower than middle C, C4 is one octave higher than middle C, etc.). Immediately after this function is called the desired new key can be selected simply by pressing any note on the keyboard between C1 and C5 (within a plus or minus two octave range of middle C). The keyboard’s C3 key then assumes the pitch of the key pl
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imately 1/4 semitone—is achieved with a setting of 99. The detune effect is produced by simultaneously increasing the pitch of channel A while decreasing the pitch of channel B. Use the DATA ENTRY control or -1/+1 switches to enter the data for this parameter. Once the DUAL MODE DETUNE function is called, subsequent presses on the A2 button increment the data value. The memory management functions include functions for loading voices from the 5. Memory DX21’s internal ROM voice memory, for stori
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INITIALIZED VOICE DATA LIST When this function is called the LCD will read “Init. Voice ?“. Confirm your intention to initialize the voice edit buffer by pressing the DATA ENTRY YES button. The DX21 will then ask you to reconfirm your intention to initialize the voice with “Are You Sure ?“. Press the DATA ENTRY YES button again to actually execute the initialize operation. Once executed, the DX21 will automatically enter the EDIT mode, ready for voice programming. Pressing another function butt
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Once you have selected the desired ROM memory group, press the DATA ENTRY YES button to go on to the next step. If you press the NO button at this point the display will revert to the “Group to Bank?” stage. If you do press the YES button, the display will prompt you to select the group of 8 memory locations to which you will load the selected ROM voice group—A1 through A8, A9 through A16, B1 through B8, or B9 through B16. The desired memory location group is selected by pressing the A1 through
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You can now try out the newly loaded voice. ** Be sure to turn the MEMORY PROTECT function back ON after the load op- eration. A13: CASSETTE SAVE/ This function actually incorporates two “sub-functions” —SAVE and VERIFY. After calling this function, subsequent presses on the B13 button alternate between the SAVE and VERIFY sub- functions. Normally, however, you will start with the SAVE function which saves the entire contents of the DX21 RAM voice memory onto cassette tape. The VERIFY function i
