BTW, the track numbers for the 8
pattern tracks are 17 to 24 (since 1-16
are taken by song mode), however you
can map patterns to tracks 1 to 8 or 9
to 16 in the utility section of the menu¡
but if you are muting via Sysex or the
QY you should just use tracks 17 to 24
to keep the first 16 for song tracks.
(The reason for the remapping
capability is that alot of midi equipment
can¡¯t deal with track numbers greater
than 16, but since everything you are
doing in on the QY, you should be fine).
Just wanted to clarify some terminology here, because it confused me for a long time.
Yamaha XG introduces the concept of 'parts'. It's important to distinguish between this and 'tracks' or 'MIDI output channels'.
The QY70 has 24 XG parts (these are like synth voices, each with their own wavetable sound, envelopes, LFO, etc). Each one can be set to respond to any MIDI channel (16 of them on the QY70). So, if you set parts 1 and 2 to both respond to MIDI input channel 7, you are effectively making a layered synth patch. Any standard MIDI messages that come in on channel 7 (from a keyboard, the included pitch keys, or external MIDI being piped in) will then control both voices.
There are also Sysex messages that let you specify which part to tweak, so in a layered patch, you can still adjust each individual part.
As mentioned, the Pattern tracks are assigned internally using channels 17-24. The QY700 handles 16+ channels by using two physical MIDI output ports. But since the QY70 has a single physical output port, the setting Eric is describing lets you route the Pattern tracks to the MIDI out (either MIDI output channels 1-8, 9-16, or none). This happens in the sequencer block, which is different than the whole part aspect of the tone generator block.
The cool thing about this, is you can assign all 24 parts to respond to a single sequencer track. By setting them all to something like a sine sound, and transposing each part purposefully, you can simulate the first 24 harmonics of the overtone series and create that additive synth.
Also important to note, there is no way to play the pattern tracks from an external source, unless you are using the RecMonitor mode, which reroutes any incoming data to the currently selected track. But, because parts can be individually assigned to MIDI in channels, you can still make use of parts 17-24 in the tone generator when playing from an external MIDI source.
