M-Audio ProKeys 88sx manual Midi Controller Messages, Extra Controller Messages

2.10 Pitch Bend Wheel

The Pitch Bend wheel allows you to bend the pitch of your instrument. The range of frequencies that the pitch bend wheel will achieve depends on the default Pitch Bend Range setting of your sound module, or virtual instrument. However, in many cases, by default the pitch bend will increase or decrease the pitch by two semi-tones. For example, if you play a C and push the Pitch Bend wheel right to the top, the note you hear will be D. If you pull it all the way back towards you, you will hear Bb.

It is possible to alter the range of the Pitch Bend wheel to allow even larger pitch shifts. This is explained in detail on page 16.

2.11 MIDI Controller Messages

There are 128 MIDI controller messages that are used for controlling the MIDI-adjustable parameters on your MIDI device. Examples of these controllable parameters include volume, pan, expression, reverb, chorus and portamento.

There are three controls (Slider, Modulation Wheel, Expression Pedal) on your ProKeys 88sx that can send any of the 128 MIDI controller messages to control such parameters. Please note that in order for these effects to work, the MIDI device you are sending them to must be able to receive these messages!

The controls that are able to send MIDI controller messages are the volume slider, the modulation wheel and the expression pedal. By default, these controls are assigned to send master volume, modulation, and expression messages, respectively. However, you can assign them to send different MIDI controller messages, by changing the number that is assigned to the control. These numbers are defined in Appendix C.

For example, you may want to set the Modulation wheel to control a reverb amount. This would be achieved by changing the control number of the Modulation wheel assignment to 91.

Examples of other popular effects are listed in the table below. Please consult Appendix C for the full list.

Effect	Control Number
Modulation	1
Volume	7
Pan	10
Expression	11
Reverb depth	91
Chorus depth	93

2.11.1 Extra Controller Messages

You may have noticed that although we have said there are 128 MIDI controller messages, Appendix C shows 132. This is because messages 128

–131 are not “standard” MIDI controller messages, but are useful messages that we have added to the controller list. They are more complicated messages, but you can assign them to your controls in exactly the same way as any other MIDI controller message.

The extra messages are supported by GS, XG and GM2 devices. The use of each message is given in the table below:

Controller Number	MIDI Message	Use
128	Pitch Bend Sensitivity	Alters the range of a pitch bend message
129	Master Tune (coarse)	Adjusts the tuning of your sound module or synthesizer
		in large steps
130	Master Tune (fine)	Adjusts the tuning of your sound module or synthesizer
		in small steps
131	Channel Aftertouch	Adds a vibrato effect

14 Part 2: The ProKeys 88sx as a MIDI Controller