The Kurzweil PC-88 has been easily the most popular keyboard controller we’ve had the pleasure of selling in the past few years. As easy as it is to set up for most basic applications, we have had a number of people confused on the process of using it as a multi-zone instrument, with various sounds spread across the keyboard. Sweetwater Sound Technical Support guru, Mark Harbst clarifies with a step-by-step procedure:
- Press the MIDI setup button to enter the MIDI setup mode.
- Turn the Alpha wheel or use the numeric keypad and press the enter button to select “default setup” #127.
- Press the program button.
- Press the zone button to select the first zone.
- Press MIDI transmit and turn the alpha wheel to the right to select MIDI channel 1 for the first zone.
- Press the program button, and using the alpha wheel or the keypad, select a program for the zone.
- Press the key range button and set the key range (uppermost and lowermost notes) that the sound will play across.
To add another zone, repeat steps 4-7 and making sure that in step #5 (midi transmit) you enter the next higher midi channel number for each additional zone added. In other words, when you add zone #2, at step #5 (MIDI transmit), make the MIDI channel #2. At zone 3 it would be 3, etc.
After the setup is complete, press the store button, then select the location in memory where you want the setup to reside and press enter twice to store it. You will probably want to rename the setup, so after pressing store, press the enter button. Now you will be able use the keypad to select characters for naming your sound.
There are many other parameters that can be adjusted in setup mode, including adding an individual effect to a zone, transposition of a zone, and many more. Information on all the possible programmable parameters for zones and setups can be found from page 5-1 to 7-1 of your user’s manual. Call us if you need further assistance.
