Dave Smith Instruments TEMPEST - Manual (Page 75)

65 Tempest Operation Manual System Settings
System: MIDI Polyphonic Keyboard Play
Tempest can double as a 6-voice polyphonic analog keyboard synthesizer, play-
ing the selected sound polyphonically and responding to your MIDI keyboard’s
sustain pedal and pitch bend wheel.
1 . MIDI: Synth IN Channel: Off, 1…16— Sets the channel on which one of
Tempest’s Sounds can be played from an external MIDI keyboard or other MIDI
controller, or a MIDI sequencer. When used strictly as a MIDI sound module,
Tempest behaves as a six-voice analog poly synth. It responds to note messages
and the “standard” controllers (pitch bend, mod wheel, aftertouch, channel pres-
sure, etc.), provided that the Sound has those modulation sources routed to some
destination.
When used to record notes to Tempest’s sequencer, the external keyboard or
controller controls the note’s pitch, but otherwise acts much the same as record-
ing from a pad: only one note can be recorded at a time. Velocity and duration
are also recorded. Timing is subject to the current Quantize setting. Because the
sequencer is event-based, continuous controllers such as pitch bend, mod wheel,
and aftertouch are ignored.
IMPORTANT! The MIDI: Synth IN Channel must be set to a different
channel than Remote Pad: IN Channel in order to function properly. If they
are set the same, the note-to-pad mapping detailed under “Remote Pad: IN
Channel” overrides the MIDI: Synth functionality.
Note: Notes played via MIDI are prioritized higher than notes played by
Tempest’s sequencer, so the sequencer should not steal voices while notes
are playing via MIDI. Notes played by the pads have the same priority as
MIDI notes, so they can steal voices from MIDI notes and vice versa.
2 . MIDI: Synth Sound: A1…A16— Used to choose the pad—and its assigned
Sound—that plays on the MIDI: Synth IN Channel. Because this is currently a
system-level setting, MIDI data will be routed to the chosen pad, regardless of
the loaded Beat or Project.
3 . MIDI: Synth Root Note: C0…C10— Sets the note at which the external
MIDI controller plays the Sound at the same pitch as playing it from the pad in
16 Sounds mode. For example, let’s say the pad plays the sound as an A. In order
to play the Sound from a MIDI keyboard without transposing, MIDI: Synth Root
Note should also be set to an A, perhaps A4 or A5 to play in close proximity to
middle C on the keyboard.