Yamaha VL Visual Editor User manual

Important Notices
The VL Visual Editor (the Visual Editor) provides an easy, intuitive way to create, edit,
and save basic voices forYamahaVL Plug-in Board.
Do not operate the “mother” synthesizer/ tone generator while editing voices using the
Visual Editor since you may inadvertently change the voice edit parameters by operat-
ing the hardware.
Copyright Notices
• The software and this owner’s manual are the exclusive copyrights ofYamaha Corporation.
• Copying of the software or reproduction of this manual in whole or in part by any means is
expressly forbidden without the written consent of the manufacturer.
• Copying of the commercially available music sequence data and/or digital audio files is
strictly prohibited except for your personal use.
Trade Marks and RegisteredTrade Marks
• OMS®and are trademarks of Opcode Systems, Inc.
• The company names and product names in this Owner’s Manual are the trademarks or regis-
tered trademarks of their respective companies.
Notices • Yamaha makes no representations or warranties with regard to the use of the software and
documentation and cannot be held responsible for the results of the use of this manual and
the software.
• The windows and illustrations in this manual are for instructional purposes only, and may
slightly different from the ones shown on your software.
About this manual
The screens shown in this manual are almost all onWindows systems. Although some screens may differ for
Macintosh systems, the basic operations are the same.
VL Visual Editor
Manual
ForWindows users
When you use the VL Visual Editor, set “Font Size” to “Small Fonts” at the “Control Panel | Display | (Settings |)
Advanced” page. If “Large Fonts” is selected, messages in some dialog boxes may not be displayed properly.
For Macintosh users
When you use the VL Visual Editor on MacOS 8.5 or later, set “Large System Font” to “Charcoal” at the “Control
Panels | Appearance | Font” page. Also, uncheck the “Smooth all fonts on screen” check box.
Copyright (c) 2001Yamaha Corporation.All rights reserved.
Version 1.0, 2001
YAMAHA CORPORATION

2
Editing Procedure
The Visual Editor mainly consists of two windows: the Synthesis Window and Edit Win-
dow.
Synthesis
Edit
zSelect the combination of the Driver, Pipe/Strings and Variation
to synthesize in the Synthesis Window.
xSwitch to the EditWindow after the selection.This process auto-
matically creates a voice (a set of new voice parameters).
cMake detailed changes on the parameters in the Edit Window to
complete the new voice.

3
MIDI Settings
Select [VL Visual Editor MIDI...] from the [Setup] Menu to open the dialog box, which
lets you select the MIDI Port, Device Number and Transmit Channel to send. Set the
same MIDI Port, Device Number and Transmit Channel as the ones you set for the tone
generator.
The Visual Editor is valid for the VL voice assigned to Part 1. Set the VL voice to Part 1
by operating the “mother” synthesizer/ tone generator.
Select [MIDI…] or [Choose Input/Output…] from the [Window] Menu to open the follow-
ing dialog boxes.
Windows
Windows
Macintosh
Macintosh

4
Synthesis Window
Click on any of the “DRIVER” options to the left of the window to select it (the selected
driver will be outlined in red). Next click on one of the PIPE/STRINGS options to the
right of the window — the selected PIPE/STRINGS option will be outlined in red.A com-
posite image representing the selected DRIVER and PIPE/STRINGS options will
appear in the “PREVIEW” window. The “VARIATION” buttons will also appear and be
selectable. If one of the “VARIATION” buttons in the lower part of the window is now
clicked, the corresponding voice data will be transmitted to, and can be played via, the
connected tone generator. The transmitted voice will sound briefly when the data has
been successfully transmitted.
When the transmission process is completed, theVisual Editor informs you of it by play-
ing a broken chord using the transmitted voice.You can audition the edited voice as a
broken chord by clicking the composite image.
The DRIVER Options
The Visual Editor provides 6 DRIVER options. This is the part of the instrument which
generates the energy which will be converted into sound and subsequently “shaped” by
the PIPE/STRINGS section.
• Single Reed
A single-reed woodwind mouthpiece like the type used on a saxophone or clarinet.
• Double Reed
A double-reed woodwind mouthpiece like the type used on an oboe or bassoon. The
“grass flute” also works on this principle.

5
Synthesis Window
• Lip Reed
In a trumpet, the player’s lips are pressed against a specially-shaped mouthpiece and
forced to vibrate in response to the player’s breath pressure. The trombone, horn, tuba,
and most other brass instruments work on this principle.
• Jet Reed
The flute, pan pipes and shakuhachi all work on the “jet reed” principle: i.e.sound is gen-
erated by the air turbulence produced by blowing across a solid edge.
•Bow
A bow drawn across a string causes the string to vibrate, thereby generating rubbed-
string instrument sound: violin, cello, contrabass, etc.
• Selecting the Bow (DRIVER) and String (PIPE/STRINGS) combination allows you to select
Analog synthesizer waves inVARIATION.
• Pluck
Guitar, mandolin, and harp are all plucked string instruments.“Pizzicato” is plucked violin,
viola, etc.This driver corresponds to plucking a string to produce sound.

6
Synthesis Window
The PIPE/STRINGS Options
The Visual Editor provides 6 PIPE/STRINGS options.The pipe or string is the section of
the instrument that amplifies and adds distinctive tonal characteristics to the sound
energy generated by the driver.
• Conical (large)
This option simulates the type of conical horn used in instruments like the saxophone —
a small entrance aperture, gradually expanding to a relatively large bell.
• Conical (small)
This conical pipe has a much smaller taper than the above, more like the type of pipe
used in an oboe.
• Straight (double-ended)
A flute pipe, for example, is essentially straight along its length, but is driven at a point
somewhere between its two ends.This type of pipe is “double-ended”.
• Straight (single-ended)
Similar to a clarinet pipe — driven from one end and essentially straight right up to the
flare at the other end.In physical modelling terminology, this type of pipe is considered to
be “single-ended”.

7
Synthesis Window
• Flare
This is the type of pipe found on the trumpet and other brass instruments. Although it
depends on the type of DRIVER selected, this type of pipe generally produces a rela-
tively bright sound.
• If the Pluck driver is combined with the Flare pipe, the resultant pitch can be unpredictable.
This is because the Flare pipe is inherently ambiguous — e.g. a trumpet player can vary the
pitch of his instrument over a wide range simply by adjusting his embouchure (the way he
uses his lips).
• String
A drawn string, like the type used on a violin or guitar. The final result depends on the
DRIVER selected, but the string generally has a relatively long decay.
TheVARIATION Options
Depending on the DRIVER and PIPE/STRINGS combination selected, two or more
VARIATIONs corresponding to different instrument sizes and characteristics may be
available. If the DRIVER and PIPE/STRINGS combination is a standard one (e.g. Lip
Reed with Flare), the corresponding instrument names will appear in the VARIATION
buttons (e.g.Trumpet, Trombone, etc.).
You can also selectVARIATION by double-clicking, and it takes you to Edit window auto-
matically.

8
Edit Window
Press the [Edit ->] button in the lower right corner of the “Synthesis” window to go to the
“Edit” window.This window allows further editing of the basic voice created in the “Syn-
thesis” window.
The labelled “menu tabs”in the lower section of the “Edit” window provide access to cor-
responding edit pages. By clicking each menu tab you can display various editing
“pages”.
You can audition the edited voice as a broken chord by clicking the composite image.
The Patch Palette
When the “Edit” window is selected, a smaller floating window labelled “Pickup” will
appear to its left. This is the “Patch Palette” containing 8 menu pages for editing Pickup,
Filter, Resonator, Combination-1, Combination-2, Variation, Chorus, Reverberation.
Click on the left and right facing arrows at the top of the window to switch menus as
required.You can also select a menu by clicking on the solid section showing the menu
name to open the pop-up menu and directly choosing a menu from it.

9
Edit Window
A menu contains several icons (patches), each of which is assigned with specific effects.
Editing will be executed by selecting the icons from various menu pages and arranging
them in the patch holder row in the center of the Edit Window (above the labelled “menu
tabs”).
Double-clicking on any of the icons in the “Patch Palette” causes that icon to appear in
the patch holder, and the corresponding effect will be applied to the current voice. The
items in the “Patch Palette”menu icons can also be moved to the patch holder by clicking
and dragging.The icons can be selected, or moved to the patch holder according to the
following rules:
• Only one item can be selected from the same type menu. If one of these icons is selected
while a previous icon of the same type exists in the patch holder, the new selection will
replace the previous selection.
• The selected icons lines up from left to right in the predetermined order: Pickup (left most),
Filter, Resonator, Combination,Variation, Chorus, Reverberation (right most).
• Selecting the Combination item while the Variation, Chorus and/or Reverberation items are
selected resets, or deletes the Variation, Chorus and/or Reverberation items. On the contrary,
simultaneously selecting all three items (the Variation, Chorus and Reverberation) while the
Combination item is selected deletes the Combination item.
• When you are using the synthesizer/ tone generator compatible with Modular Synthesis Plug-
in System, the Combination,Variation, Chorus and Reverberation items have no effects.
To remove an item from the patch holder chain, simply click and drag it to the trash can
icon.
If you want to remove all patch icons and start from scratch, click on the [Clear] button.
Clicking [Recall] button restores the items deleted.
• Please note that when “Clear” is executed the other “Edit” parameters — “Envelope”, “Con-
trol”and “Tweak”, to be described later — are also cleared.
• The “Patch Palette” will always appear in front of any other open windows, but, like any other
window, it can be closed by clicking on its close button. Once closed it can be re-opened by
selecting [VL Show Patch Palette] from the [Window] Menu.

10
Edit Window
The various patches are described briefly below.
<1> Pickup
Changing pickups is like changing pickups on a guitar or changing the position of
a pickup on a brass or woodwind instrument.The Visual Editor provides 8 pickup
types.
• Single
A simulation of a “single-coil” electric guitar pickup.
• Humbucking
A simulation of a “double-coil” humbucking electric guitar pickup.
• Mouthpiece
The effect produced by attaching a pickup to the mouthpiece of a wind instrument.
• BreathNoiseAmp
This pickup picks up the amplitude of the noise components of the breath noise.
• FlowRate
The saturation component of the air-flow within the instrument’s mouthpiece is con-
verted to sound and amplified.
• Beatin’
The beating or “buzzing” of the mouthpiece reed is selectively amplified.

11
Edit Window
• Slit/Friction
The variation in the gap between the reed and mouthpiece is converted to sound and
amplified. When the “Bow” driver is selected this pickup amplifies the friction of the
bow.
• Reed Aperture
The flexing of the reed is converted to sound and amplified.
<2> Filter
The sound can be shaped with basic low-pass filters usually found on analog syn-
thesizers. The frequency and resonance of the filter can be adjusted via the
“Tweak” edit page, described later.

12
Edit Window
<3> Resonator
These patches add, for example, the resonance of a violin or guitar body to the
sound.
<4> Combination 1, 2
A range of effect combinations are provided for use with different types of music.

13
Edit Window
<5>Variation
Mainly delay type effects based on the Variation Effect of the “mother” synthe-
sizer/ tone generator.
<6> Chorus
Chorus type effects based on the Chorus Effect of the “mother” synthesizer/ tone
generator.

14
Edit Window
<7> Reverberation
Reverb type effects based on the Reverb Effect of the “mother” synthesizer/ tone
generator.
Suggestion
Clicking on the “Suggestion” tab in the lower part of the “Edit” window will bring the Sug-
gestion page to the front.The Suggestion page provides notes on the current voice and
the selected patches.
Envelope
Click on the “Envelope” tab to access the Attack Rate, Delay, and Release envelope
parameters. The Decay parameter is only available when the Pluck driver is selected.
Each of these parameters can be adjusted from -16 to +16 (33 steps). The higher the
value the faster the rate. A value other than “0” must be selected to produce any effect.
With some DRIVER and PIPE/STRINGS combinations, however, only positive or nega-
tive values may be effective.Also, some envelope settings will produce no audible effect
with some DRIVER and PIPE/STRINGS combinations.

15
Edit Window
Control
Click on the “Control” tab to access parameters that allows adjustment of Breath Con-
troller operation. The “Control depth” parameter can be adjusted from 0 (no control) to
127 (maximum depth), and the “Control curve” parameter can be adjusted from -16 to
+16 (33 steps). Positive values produce a softer curve while negative values produce a
harder curve.The “Breath/No Breath” parameter selects the controller: “BC/WX” for the
Breath Controller. “Velocity” for the keyboard velocity. “TouchEG” for touch EG control
(i.e.keyboard velocity and aftertouch response) .
Be aware that the “Breath/No Breath” setting here affects all voices equally. Indepen-
dent setting for each voice cannot be applied.
Tweak 1, 2, 3
The “Tweak 1”, “Tweak 2” and “Tweak 3” tabs access a range of parameters that can be
adjusted from -16 through +16 (33 steps). Additional parameters may also appear
according to the selected patches.
• When you use the synthesizer/ tone generator compatible with Modular Synthesis Plug-in
System, some items on theTweak pages have no effects.
Recall
Clicking the [Clear] button resets the “Patch Palette”, “Envelope”, “Control” and “Tweak”
parameters. Clicking [Recall] button restores the parameters which have been deleted.
In some cases you might want to change the DRIVER, PIPE/STRINGS and/or VARIA-
TION settings without affecting the “Edit” page settings.If you switch from the “Edit”win-
dow to the “Synthesis” window (the “Patch Palette”, “Envelope”, “Control” and “Tweak”
parameters will be reset to the defaults) and then return to the “Edit” window, you can
restore the original parameter settings.
The “Clear” and “Recall” functions will be effective to the values of the “Envelope”, “Con-
trol” and “Tweak” parameters even though the patch holder have not been assigned
with the patch palette menu.

16
Voice List
A Voice List window is automatically created the first time the “Edit” window is selected,
and it can also be opened by selecting [VLVoice List] from the [Window] Menu.
A newly created voice is automatically added to the Voice List each time the [Edit ->]
button in the “Synthesis” window is clicked.
Audition
When a voice name in the Voice List is clicked, the data for that voice is transmitted to
the connected tone generator, and the selected voice can be played via the tone gener-
ator.
• This function will be inactive when you select a voice using the arrow keys on your computer
keyboard.
Edit
Commands in the [Edit] Menu from the Menu Bar can be used to editVoice List items as
in the conventional Edit commands. For example, copied voices by using [VL Voice
Copy] command can be pasted to a new location by using [VL Voice Paste], or selected
voices can be deleted by using [VLVoice Delete].
File Management
The Voice List can be saved in the same way as any other file on the computer. Its file
extension is .LIB.
Select [VL Voice Save] from the [File] menu to save the current Voice List. Select [VL
Voice Save as …] to specify a different save file name. The “Save As” dialog box will
also appear the first time the “Save” option is selected for aVoice List.Subsequent uses
of the “Save” option simply overwrite the previous file of the same name … be careful
not to accidentally overwrite a file you want to keep.
Select [VL Voice Open] from the [File] menu in order to open a previously saved Voice
List. Use the “Open” dialog box to select the folder and file you want to open.
Select [VL Voice New] from the [File] Menu to create a new Voice List.

17
Voice List
• When a new or existing file is opened and a new voice is created (specifically, when the [Edit -
>] button in the “Synthesis” window is clicked), the new voice will be added to theVoice List.
If you want to add the new voice to the specific voice list, you must open it beforehand.
• Multiple Voice Lists cannot be opened at the same time. Voice copied from one list using the
[Edit] Menu [VL Voice Copy] command can be pasted to a different Voice List to allow voice
management between multipleVoice Lists.
• A newVoice List contains 128 blank voice locations, none of which contain data which can be
transmitted to the tone generator. As voices are created they are placed in the Voice List in
the order of creation, and are automatically saved up to the last existing voice location when
theVoice List is saved.
• When a new voice is synthesized after performing edit operations, the existing voice in the
Voice List may be overwritten.
Voice Names & Comments
The Voice Name window can be selected by double-clicking on the desired voice in the
Voice List while holding the <Ctrl> key. A voice name of up to 8 characters can be
entered as required.
For Macintosh, it can be selected by double-clicking while holding the
< >key.
The Comment window can be selected by double-clicking on a voice in the Voice List
while holding the <Ctrl> and <Alt> keys. The total number of characters that can be
entered in the Comment window is shown next to “Capacity” in the lower left corner of
the window.
For Macintosh, it can be selected by double-clicking while holding the
< > and <control> keys.
Macintosh
Macintosh
Macintosh
Macintosh

18
Voice List
SMF (Standard MIDI File)
The Standard MIDI File is a universally accepted file type format which enables MIDI
song data to be transferred easily among different music sequencing software and hard-
ware made by different manufacturers.The Visual Editor can save the voice data in the
SMF format, which can be adopted to song sequence data.
zz
zz After selecting the desired voice from the Voice List, select [VL
Voice Export...] from the [File] Menu. The following dialog box
appears:
The voice number in the Voice List is shown in the “voice”. Two SMF format types
are available: format 0 and format 1 (only format 0 for Macintosh).
xx
xx Designate the file name and the folder to which you want to save
the voice.
• Selecting [VL Voice Export...] when the voice is not specified in the Voice List allows you to
save the currently editing voice. In this case, the voice number is not available.
Loading theVoice Data to Custom Voice Bank
The currently edited voice can be transferred and loaded to the VL Plug-in Board as the
Custom Voice in the Custom Voice Bank. Refer to the VL Plug-in Board’s manual for
information on the Custom Voice.
zz
zz Select [VL LoadVoice...] from the [File] Menu.
The following dialog box appears:

19
Voice List
xx
xx Enter the CustomVoice number (1 - 6) you want, and click [OK].
Number ofVoices in the Voice List
The number of voices in the Voice List can be predetermined.
zz
zz Click theVoice List to be top, or active.
xx
xx Select [VLVoice Number...] from the [Setup] Menu.
The following dialog box appears:
cc
cc Enter the number (1 - 256) you want to have in theVoice List, and
click [OK].
Inserting theVoice Data in Songs
The voice data created by the VL Visual Editor can be inserted in the specified position
in the track of a song.
• This function is enabled when you use the Visual Editor as Plug-in Editor on Windows sys-
tems.
zz
zz After selecting the desired voice from the Voice List, select
[Insert VL Voice Parameters...] from the [Setup] Menu.
The following dialog box appears:
xx
xx Select the track number and specify the position you want to
have the data inserted, and then click [OK].
• Executing the operation above when the voice is not specified in the Voice List allows you to
insert the currently editing voice.

20
Quitting the Application
Click on the Close button at the top of the “Synthesis” or “Edit” Window to quit the VL
Visual Editor application. If the currently synthesized or edited voice is not saved, a dia-
log box asking you to confirm whether you want to save the current Voice List will
appear. Select the appropriate response to quit the program.