DPM3 Preliminary Profile - 4/18/90 version:

I did this Profile with DPM-3 1.2 ROMs, and found several bugs in the
ROMs.  Peavey has now released version 1.3 ROMs, which should correct
the most serious bugs, except for one crucial one: there is currently no
way to send a single program to a bank location (this is very important
for instruments like the DPM-3!).  It's in their Sys Ex spec, it just
doesn't work!

You can use this Profile with V1.2, but "Global" Get Patch only works
about 25% of the time. Also, Programs with links aren't played properly
when sent via MIDI - the links and ranges are O.K., but the base program
played is not the one you sent. These bugs should have gone away in DPM-3
version 1.3 ROMs.

DPM-3 Channel:
The Sys Ex Channel is the main MIDI channel, which is one of the
Global Patch parameters programmable from X-oR.

DPM-3 Modes:
The DPM-3 can be in Poly or Multi Mode (or Omni, which is not useful).
The mode is also a Global parameter.  When the DPM-3 is in Multi Mode, 
you can't play the current Program (in the edit buffer) via MIDI.  All 
you can do is select programs with the 16 channel program selectors
in the Global edit screen.  Speaking of which, these selectors show
"-1:AAAAAA" if a channel is "off"  (for reasons I can't begin to explain
here). 

DPM-3 Programs:
Program editing is fairly standard and self explanatory for the most 
part.  The only unusual part comes with the "Multi" Linked Programs.
When program type is Multi (as opposed to Single), the rest of the
Multi parameters are used to set up splits and/or layers with other
Programs (sensibly, only the links for the base program are used). 
This is similar to schemes used by Ensoniq and E-mu (most other manu-
facturers use a seperate "multi" format). Link programs are shown by
name if there is an Internal Bank present. Obviously, for a Performance
to re-load properly, the bank should be included in the Performance
(set the Perf Bank switch to ON).

DPM-3 Effects:
The Peavey engineers actually improved upon Ensoniq's design here -
unlike the muddled VFX effect system, the DPM-3 offers a bank of 
programmable (and nameable) effect combinations. This makes it much
easier to organize your effects. I've done a very complete editing
page for the effects - one page shows the whole thing. One thing I
haven't done is to keep track of "Illegal" combinations of effects,
so it is possible to send an "Illegal" effect combination to the 
DPM-3, in which case I've found that the effects shut down (without
any disasterous consequences).  A couple of things they left out - 
no dynamic control of effect parameters, and no parameter change
message to change only one parameter smoothly via MIDI (we have to
send the entire effect combo every time you change something).

Drum Kits and Global Architecture:
There is a basic conceptual problem with having an edit buffer for
Drum Kits or Globals, as well as storing them in a bank.  On one hand,
it makes sense for them to be kept with the bank data.  But since they
are always active, they should be kept with the Performance as well.  I
have resolved this by keeping them both places, and trying to make sure
that the data in the Internal Bank always matches the data in the 
Performance.  This results in some redundancy when a Performance with
a bank attached to it is sent (these areas are sent twice).  

DPM-3 Globals:
The Global Patch not only contains the basic MIDI parameters of the
DPM-3 (mode, channel, filters, control setup, etc.), but also includes
a "Mode 4" setup - program selects for all 16 MIDI channels, which come
into effect when the MIDI Mode is "Multi".  The MIDI Mode is perhaps the
most important Global parameter, since it changes the character of
the entire machine.  In "Poly" mode, the machine receives on one MIDI
channel, playing the Program patch shown in X-oR's Performance window.
In Multi mode, the DPM-3 plays only the Programs selected in the Global
patch itself, and the edit buffer is temporarily "off".  Strangely, you 
can still edit a Program in Multi Mode, you simply won't be able to hear 
it!  In most synths, this is where I would use a message to send a patch 
to a certain bank location, which would provide a convenient way to edit
one sound within a multi-channel configuration.  Unfortunately, the
DPM-3 bug (ommision?) that I mentioned above becomes a problem.  The
only two ways around it are: 1) Send the entire bank to the DPM-3 after
you've stored the edited Program, or 2) store the Program manually on
the DPM-3 (you should also store it within X-oR, if you want a 
Performance to reload it correctly).

Currently, effects are not loaded by sending a Global Patch, even if
the "FX source" is "Master"  I may try to work around this, unless
Peavey has improved the way it works in the version 1.3 ROMs.

DPM-3 Drum Kits:
The five drum kits in the DPM-3 allow you to reconfigure the five
Drum Kit "oscillators" available to a Program.  Basically, you build
your own multi-sample from the available samples. Here, I can see no
clear way to improve upon the DPM-3 editing (given DPM-3 and X-oR 
limitations), so I merely imitate it (more or less). Sadly, Peavey 
hasn't provided a parameter change message, so the entire (2K+) message 
must be sent to change one parameter.  X-oR stores all five drum kits
together, which is how they must be sent to the DPM-3.  If you need to
copy a single kit, use X-oR's Transplant or Copy Section commands.

Note that if a Drum Kit is chosen for OSC 1, many Program parameters
become invalid; OSC 2, DCA 1, DCA 2, ENV 2, ENV 3, etc.  If you choose
a Drum Kit for OSC 2, however, all the parameters seem to work.

RAM samples:
I don't have any way to show the names for the RAM samples, nor do I
have any way to determine how many RAM samples are loaded.  Perhaps
Peavey will consider extending the Sys Ex implementation to include
an inquiry message, a la M-1.  For now, if you have more than a couple
of RAM samples, you should use E-or to increase the limits of two
parameters - the only Program parameter currently set at maximum of 
111 should be set to maximum = 109 plus the number of RAM samples.

NOTE: I don't know how to number Program patches - with Peavey's Bank
system, you might want start at 10 instead of 0. (For some reason, 
marketing people almost always think that zero is a bad number for a
patch.  This is why, contrary to logic, patch numbering rarely begins
at zero - at least, that's my theory.)  Also, the patches in the 
windows are not numbered.  (If you were in marketing, the last patch
number would be "10-10"; engineering would number it "99".)

Bob M.