11/4/90 Notes for K4 Profile:

Prerequisites (the K-4's SYSTEM parameters):

1) System Exclusive must be enabled for anything to work!
   The RCV EXCL parameter must be ON.

2) OMNI should be OFF and RCV CH should be the same as X-oR's
   Sys Ex channel.

3) RCV PGM should be set to NORM. This allows X-oR to switch K-4 
   modes (single or multi).

BASIC LAYOUT & OPERATION:
The Profile, like the K-4, has two modes; Multi and Single. Only one of 
the modules will be active at one time - the other will be "xxx'd out."
To change modes, simply click on the xxx'd out module, and it will become
active. Messages are sent to put the K-4 in the proper mode (see #3 above).

The K-4, like all Kawai instruments that I know of, does not lend itself 
to a multi-edit buffer layout, so there's just one Single edit buffer.
To edit a single patch within a Multi, you need to have the Internal 
Bank open. First, make sure the Bank Update switch (in X-oR's Instrument 
Setup) is on. Then, load the single patch, edit it, and store it back 
into the Internal Bank, in it's original location (you could use the 
"Update Source" command). When you return to Multi mode, the new patch
should be audible.

CHANNELS:
The K-4 receives Sys Ex and note data for Single Patches on it's 
Basic Receive Channel (the RCV CH parameter). Therefore, in X-oR,
the K-4 Single Patch Module's receive channel always follows the 
Sys Ex Channel (in the Instrument Setup). The Rhythm Module has its own
receive channel which is set within the Rhythm Patch itself. The Multi
Patch Module may be receiving on any of up to eight channels, so the 
Profile uses the Instrument Setup Receive Channel. If a Multi patch is
receiving on several channels, the best way to control the mouse channel
is manually (using the function keys). On the other hand, you might use
multi mode to layer and split Single patches on the same channel (as 
with all the K-4 Multi presets), in which case, you could just set the 
Instrument Setup Receive Channel. Effects obviously don't have a channel,
so they are permanently set to "neutral".
 

MULTI PATCHES:
Multi patches don't contain the single patches, they "point" to them.
Therefore, for a Multi patch to be restored properly, the bank it was
created with must be in the K-4.  Single patch names are shown in the
edit window if the Internal Bank is open (which is always recommended). 

NOTE: There is no parameter change message for Multi patches, so the
entire Multi patch is sent each time you edit a parameter.

SINGLE PATCHES:
The real unusual thing here is that the screen scrolls horizontally as
well as vertically - there were just too a few too many parameters per
"source" to fit on one standard size X-oR edit page.  Problems of this
sort will go away in the next revision of X-oR, I promise!

The wave names may not be exactly as shown in the K4 Wave List (I had to
abbreviate). "1S" or "1Sh" means "1-Shot" (waves that don't loop).

The Delay parameter for a source is shown with the envelope (it's the 1st 
step of the envelope). I did this to save space, and to be more graphic.

The K-4 does not show received parameter changes on it's display (until 
you press a button). Rest assured, however, that X-oR is doing its job.

DRUM PATCH:
There is an edit buffer for the drum patch, but there is only one 
location in the bank to which it can be stored. I think this means that
editing the drum patch does not affect the drum patch stored in the K-4
(the next time you turn on the K-4, you'll get the old patch). If you 
want to get a different drum patch the next time you turn on the K-4,
send a whole bank.

The first Drum Patch Edit page contains the Global Drum parameters. 
The second has the parameters for one individual drum key. The Input 
Note slider chooses the current note to be displayed and edited.

EFFECTS & SUBMIX Handling:
When you load a Single or Multi patch from a bank, the Effect patch 
"pointed to" by the Multi or Single patch is loaded into the Effect 
edit buffer, which pretty much emulates the K-4. 

However, when the Multi or Single patch is stored in a Library (or as 
a single patch file), I have elected to keep the Effect patch with it, 
as if it were part of the patch format. In this case, the Effect patch 
pointed to by the Single or Multi patch probably won't be the one which
is actually sent to the K-4. This is a FEATURE, not a bug, although it
may be confusing.  

The Single and Multi edit buffers contain different Effects patches,
so when you switch between Single and Multi modes in X-oR, the contents
of the Effect edit buffer are changed accordingly. If you change modes
accidentally, don't worry - the previous Effect patch isn't gone, 
it's just "hiding."

DEALING W/ CARDS:
The Master Int/Card switch (on the last page of the Multi edit 
screen) can be used to direct the Get Bank and Send Bank routines to
either Internal or Card Memory. It also controls the destination of
patches which are stored to the Internal Bank with "Bank Update" on. 
In essence, the Internal Bank becomes the "Card bank."

The Master Int/Card switch and the current mode of the instrument (Multi/
Single) are saved with the Instrument Setup (Save Defaults). 

LIMITATIONS DUE TO K4 ARCHITECTURE:
Perhaps the biggest K4 limitation is it's inability to send it's current
patches out via MIDI.  The Profile can get any patch from memory, and
it can send patches TO the K-4's edit buffers (an improvement over 
earlier Kawai synths), but it cannot get the contents of these edit 
buffers. Therefore, Get Patch or Get Performance merely gets the 
contents of the 1st patch in memory, which is admittedly useless. You
may even want to disable the K-4's patch receive routine in E-oR (set
it to -1 for all data types).

As far as I can tell, there is no way to change modes (Multi <-> Single) 
via a simple SysEx message. So, I've unfortunately had to resort
to a program change message to do this. Not only do I send a program 
change, but I also have to send the edit buffer, since you wouldn't want
to lose what you were working on just because you switched modes!
This results in a fair amount of useless extra data being sent, but
it shouldn't cause any audible problems - i.e., it should be fairly
invisible, as long as the K4's System RCV PGM parameter is set to NORM.

Another fix I've had to make has to do with effects. I found some bugs
(maybe features?) in the K-4's sys ex reception of effects. The K-4 will
not load the effect patch pointed to by a single or multi patch when it
receives the single or multi patch via MIDI. Therefore, the Profile has
to do the extra work of sending the effect patch. This isn't bad, since
this gives the Profile much more flexibility - it can disregard the 
effect patch pointed to, if so desired.  There are bugs in the reception
of effects patches, which require effects patches to be sent one parameter 
at a time - again, this should be invisible to the casual observer.


Please E-Mail your comments to me on Dr.T's BBS if possible.

-Bob Melvin

P.S. I actually more or less keep track of Singles that go with a Multi,
and everything gets stored together in the Library, but I haven't made
the Multi Send Patch routine send all the Single patches to their bank
locations (before sending the Multi data). I think this would have to be
a disable-able (is that a word?) feature, since one might not one's bank
memory to be routinely trashed.  I'm also trying to concoct a general,
easy to comprehend way of doing this for all instruments of this type -
perhaps to be included in the next major X-oR revision. Any thoughts?