Kawai CA-X manual Midi Keyboard #1 Midi Keyboard #2

There are two aspects of channels, one for receiving and one for sending. The MIDI channel of the receiving instrument must be matched with the MIDI channel of the transmitting instrument. The idea is just like television or radio. If you have a desired station to watch or listen to, you need to tune in to the right channel. When a transmitting instrument uses channel 1, the receiving instrument must be set to use channel 1 also. The CA piano lets you set the same channel number for both Transmit and receive. There are 16 MIDI channels available to choose from on the CA piano.

In addition to channel-to-channel connection, it is possible to receive multiple channels. With MIDI instruments equipped with multi-timbral capabilities, you can receive multiple parts on multiple channels each played with a different sound simultaneously. For example, a MIDI instrument might receive the melody on channel 1, the chords on 2, the bass on 3, and assign a different instrument to each channel. Piano for channel 1, strings for 2, electric bass for 3. In this way, the CA piano can play up to 16 different parts each with a different sound.

Here’s a diagram to summarize the MIDI connections we have discussed.

Instrument #1, which is transmitting the piano part on channel 1 (Ch 1), the string part on Ch 2 and the bass part on Ch 3, is connected to Instrument #2. Instrument #3 is connected to MIDI Thru on instrument #2. The receive channel is set to 1 for Instrument #2 and multi-timbral mode is turned off. On instrument #3 multi-timbral mode is on.

MIDI Keyboard #1		MIDI Keyboard #2	Sound Module #3
Transmitting		Receiving ch 1	Multi-timbral mode on
Ch 1	Piano	Multi-timbral mode off
Ch 2	Strings
Ch 3	Bass

Receiving only	Receiving
Ch 1 Piano	Ch 1	Piano
	Ch 2	Strings
	Ch 3	Bass

Using MIDI

USING MIDI 33