Roland VA-76 owner manual About Midi implementation charts, System Exclusive messages, 199

VA-76 – MIDI in general

All Note Off message *— This message causes a note- off message to be sent to each note of the specified channel that is currently on. However, if Hold 1 or Sostenuto are on, the sound will continue until these are turned off.

Reset All Controllers *— This message returns con- troller values (modulation, Pitch Bend, etc.) to their initial settings. The following controller values for the specified channel will be reset to their initial values.

MIDI message	Initial value
Pitch Bend	0	(center)
Polyphonic Aftertouch	0	(minimum)
Channel Aftertouch	0	(minimum)
Modulation	0	(minimum)
Expression	127 (maximum)
Hold	0	(off)
Portamento	0	(off)
Soft	0	(off)
Sostenuto	0	(off)
RPN	no change
NRPN	no change

Note: Parameter values that were modified using RPN or NRPN will not change even when a Reset All Controller message is received.

Active Sensing— This message is used to check for broken MIDI connections, such as MIDI cables that have been disconnected, or are defective. The VA-76 transmits Active Sensing messages at set intervals.

Once an Active Sensing message is received via MIDI IN, Active Sensing monitoring will begin, and if an Active Sensing message fails to arrive for more than 420ms, it is assumed that the cable has been discon- nected. If this happens, all currently sounding notes will be turned off, the same procedure will be executed as if a Reset All Controller message was received, and Active Sensing monitoring will stop.

System Exclusive messages

System Exclusive (SysEx) messages are used to control functions which are unique to specific devices. Although Universal System Exclusive messages can be used even between devices of different manufacturers, most exclusive messages only apply to one type of instrument.

In order to recognize the device for which the data are intended, Roland exclusive messages contain a manu- facturer ID, device ID and model ID.

Note: See the separate MIDI booklet for details about the SysEx messages recognized by the VA-76.

Universal System Exclusive— When a GM System On message is received, the VA-76 will be set to the basic GM settings. Also, NRPN and Bank Select mes- sages will no longer be received once GM System On is received. The beginning of song data bearing the GM

logo contains a GM System On message. This means that if you play back the data from the beginning, the sound generator will be automatically initialized to the basic settings.

GS Reset (GS Format System Exclusive)— When GS Reset is received, the VA-76 will be set to the basic GS settings. The beginning of song data bearing the GS logo contains a GS System Reset message. This means that if you play back the data from the beginning, the sound generating device will be automatically initial- ized to the basic settings.

Master Volume (Universal System Exclusive)— This

is an exclusive message common to all newer MIDI devices. It controls the master volume of the entire VA-76.

Other System exclusive (SysEx) messages— The VA-76 can receive GS format exclusive messages (model ID 42H) that are common to all GS sound generators.

About MIDI implementation charts

MIDI allows many different types of instruments to be connected, but in some cases there will be messages that cannot be conveyed meaningfully. For example, if you wish to use Aftertouch of an external instrument to control the sound, while the sound generator con- nected to the keyboard does not receive Aftertouch messages, you will not get the musical result you intend. Only messages that are used by both devices will actually be executed.

The MIDI specification requires that the owner's manual for each MIDI device include a “MIDI Imple- mentation Chart” that shows the types of MIDI mes- sages which are actually transmitted and received by a device. Put the Transmitted column of the transmit- ting device’s implementation chart side by side with the Received column of the receiving device’s imple- mentation chart. Messages which are marked as “0” in both charts can be conveyed successfully. If either chart shows a “X” for a certain type of message, that message cannot be conveyed.

199