66

Besides eliminating the possibility of MIDI delays, a MIDI patch

bay is essential in a larger setup where you frequently need to

perform bulk dump and other operations with specific devices,

and don’t want to waste time plugging and unplugging cables

accordingly. A MIDI patch bay lets you instantly reconfigure the

way all MIDI cables are connected for a given application.

MIDI
THRU 2
MIDI
IN 2
MIDI
OUT
MIDI
OUT
MIDI
IN
MIDI
THRU 3
MIDI
IN
MIDI
THRU 4
MIDI
IN
MIDI
THRU 5
MIDI
IN
MIDI
THRU 6
MIDI
IN
MIDI
IN
MIDI
IN 1
MIDI
THRU 1
P-200
SPX-990
MU100R(A)
MU100R(C)
MU100R(B)
QY700
MJC8 MIDI Patch Bay
REVERBMODULATION
ROOM
STAGE
HALL
CHORUS
SYMPHONIC
TREMOLO
EFFECT
LOWMIDDLE HIGH
EQUALIZER
INT.EQ
KBD SENS.
PB MIW
NAMEPSCS FC
LOCAL
CHANNEL
PC TABLEMIDI FILTER
SYSTEM
PIANO 1PIANO 2PIANO 3PIANO 4E.PIANO 1 E.PIANO 2E.PIANO 3VIBESORGAN 1ORGAN 2STRINGS BASS
VOICE
PERF. B
PERF. A
EDIT
STORE
ORGAN
COMBINATION
123456789101112
PAGE
DETUNE
TRANSPOSE
BALANCE
SPLIT
+1/YES-1/NO
MIDI
PS2PS1
CONTRAST
C3
CS
DATA ENTRY
VOLUME
MAX
MIN
MODULATION
PITCH
POWER
ON/OFF
OUT
MIDI
IN THRUFOOT CONTROLLER SOFTSOSTENUTO SUSTAIN L/MONO R
OUTPUT L/MONO
INPUTROFF ON
SPEAKER

A more sophisticated MIDI setup is required if you want to

connect a sequencer, several tone generators and perhaps an

effects device. The series, or “daisy chaining” method is

shown in the following illustration.

In this case, the sequencer is used to record the note,

program change, controller, etc. data as you play the P-200,

and then play it back using the voices in the external tone

generators, as well as the P-200’s internal voices. Multitimbral

tone generators (such as the Yamaha MU100R) can play more

than one voice at a time, so you can configure them for

layering several voices by assigning the same MIDI channel to

more than one voice, or build up a complex ensemble by

assigning a different MIDI channel to each voice that makes up

a part in your composition.

You can send program change messages directly to the

external tone generators and the effects device (such as the

SPX-990) from the P-200, or record these messages in the

sequencer at specific locations in the song, so that voices and

effects will change “on cue” during sequencer playback—thus

giving you enormous music production power. Note that since

you would be recording each music part using a different

voice, you would need to set the P-200’s keyboard Local

feature to Off status (see page 55).

Be aware that the longer your daisy chain becomes (and also

depending on how long your MIDI cables are), the higher the

chances that a noticeable “MIDI delay” will occur during play,

caused by the time it takes for the MIDI data to reach each

device. To avoid such a potentially annoying problem, you can

use a MIDI patch bay (such as the Yamaha MJC8), which is

equipped with multiple MIDI IN and MIDI THRU terminals, as

shown in the following illustration.

MIDI IN
MIDI
IN
MIDI
IN
MIDI IN
MIDI OUT
MIDI
THRU MIDI THRU
P-200
QY700
MU100R(A) MU100R(B)
SPX-990
REVERBMODULATION
ROOM
STAGE
HALL
CHORUS
SYMPHONIC
TREMOLO
EFFECT
LOWMIDDLE HIGH
EQUALIZER
INT.EQ
KBD SENS.
PB MIW
NAMEPSCS FC
LOCAL
CHANNEL
PC TABLEMIDI FILTER
SYSTEM
PIANO 1PIANO 2PIANO 3PIANO 4E.PIANO 1 E.PIANO 2E.PIANO 3VIBESORGAN 1ORGAN 2STRINGS BASS
VOICE
PERF. B
PERF. A
EDIT
STORE
ORGAN
COMBINATION
123456789101112
PAGE
DETUNE
TRANSPOSE
BALANCE
SPLIT
+1/YES-1/NO
MIDI
PS2PS1
CONTRAST
C3
CS
DATA ENTRY
VOLUME
MAX
MIN
MODULATION
PITCH
POWER
ON/OFF
OUT
MIDI
IN THRUFOOT CONTROLLER SOFTSOSTENUTO SUSTAIN L/MONO R
OUTPUT L/MONO
INPUTROFF ON
SPEAKER