Megabeat One All-in-one Hard Disk Midi Player User Manual
Megabeat One All-in-one Hard Disk Midi Player User Manual
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 2. CONNECTIONS AND COMMANDS ............................................ page 8 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 3. AC Connection .................................................................. page 10 Audio Connections .............................................................. page 10 MIDI Connections ...............................................................
5. UTILITY .................................................................................... page 32 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.3.1 5.3.2 5.3.3 5.4 5.4.1 5.4.2 5.4.3 5.4.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 5.10.1 5.10.2 5.10.3 COPY SONG: loading Songs in the hard disk ........................ page 34 EDIT GROUPS: create and modifying Groups ........................ page 36 GLOBAL SETUP................................................................ page 43 Media Player........................................................
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL
1. INTRODUCTION 1. INTRODUCTION We wish to compliment you on your new Megabeat One. Megabeat One is a “Hard Disk Midi Player”, i.e. a Standard Midi File Player, in 0 and 1 format, based on hard disk. Unlike the normal Midi File reproducer, which use the floppy disk as a support (i.e. from which they read and play the Midi File at the same time), Megabeat One uses an internal hard disk.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL ◆ the possibility of changing at once volumes, effects (reverberation and chorus) transposition and performing time of a song; ◆ the possibility of storing the changes carried out on each song (with the chance to recall the original song structure whenever you want); ◆ the “karaoke”: i.e. the visualization of lyrics and chords on the display (only for those Midi-File already set for this function); ◆ an inside 3.5” - 720kb floppy disk (soon upgradable 1.
1. INTRODUCTION - an A/D system to connect Megabeat One to a microphone or a line signal; - an Audio Recording system (to record an audio-digital track by means of the Direct-to-Disk technique). Finally, a computer interface used for the direct connection to a PC is already available (in order to carry out backup/loading operations of the hard disk of your Megabeat One easily).
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL 2. CONNECTIONS AND COMMANDS The front panel contains all the commands which you can use to operate with your Megabeat One. 1 2 6 3 PAGE / VALUE CHARLIE LAB MEGABEAT E VERSION XX ON CURSOR HARD DISK MIDI PLAYER UTILITY 7 8 EXIT 4 5 SOFT KEYS PLAY STOP TO DIGITAR H.
2.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL 2.1 AC CONNECTION The Megabeat One comes with its own AC power supply. Plug the AC adapter into the “AC Adapter jack” (20) on the rear panel of the machine, then connect the adapter to an AC mains socket. 2.2 AUDIO CONNECTIONS If your Megabeat One has an inbuilt audio card, you will be able to play the songs contained on the hard disk without using any other external MIDI instruments.
2. Connections and Commands 2.3 MIDI CONNECTIONS The MIDI connections between Megabeat One and any other external sound generator are very simple and are possible through only one MIDI cable (not included in the set). You have to connect the MIDI OUT (19) of Megabeat One to the MIDI IN of the external sound generator.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL NOTE 1. Before connecting DIGITAR to Megabeat One by means of the interface TO DIGITAR, please check the position of the “MIDI INPUT” parameter in the “MIDI SETUP” Menu, which can be read by pushing the UTILITY button; then set the parameter on “Auto” or on “Digitar”. 2. If you connect the Digitar to Megabeat One by means of the “TO DIGITAR” socket, as described above, the AC adapter /MIDI interface pack which comes with the Digitar will not be used. 2.
3. LET’S START 3. LET’S START 3.1 TURNING ON To turn Megabeat One on, simply push the Power On/Off button (21) on the front panel. After a few seconds, the following words will appear on the display: CHARLIE LAB MEGABEAT ONE VERSION XX HARD DISK MIDI PLAYER Don’t worry if after turning on, no message appears on the display. The instrument is checking the hard disk and the Ram and this operation can last up to a minute.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL 3.2 SINGLE PLAY Straight after having turned Megabeat One on, it is in the SINGLE PLAY mode, i.e. it is set to play a single song at a time. The display shows a PAGE containing a list of songs in alphabetical order (in each page there are 12 songs).
3. LET’S START NOTE The titles of the songs contained on the hard disk are displayed according to their alphabetical order. Megabeat One’s operative system arranges each song loaded from the floppy disks in alphabetical order (as well as after a restore operation carried out on a PC by means of PC DATA DUMP - see PC DATA DUMP function in the UTILITY Menu). 3.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL 4. OPERATIVE MODES 4.1 HIGHLIGHTED SONG AND SELECTED SONG Before describing the various operative modes, we have to make a preliminary statement about the display and the cursor.
4. OPERATIVE MODES 4.2 Soft Keys The SOFT KEYS buttons (6) are located just below the display. The 5 SOFT KEYS buttons have not a fixed function (as the PLAY and STOP buttons), but it changes according to the enabled operative mode. Of course it is not necessary to remember each time which function has been assigned to a SOFT KEY; in fact in the last line of the display, near each SOFT KEY button, a square indicating the name of the function assigned in that particular mode is visualized.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL PAGE: ØØ5 SINGLE PLAY Ø1 STREETS VAGABOND WE_ARE WLAMAMMA WLAMAMMA YESTRDAY CLRSEL GROUPS LYRICS TITLE: STREETS 4/4 ØØ3:4 TEMPO Ø91 SELECT To enable one of the command assigned to a Soft Key, simply push the SOFT KEY button corresponding to the desired function. ◆ CLRSEL:(Clear Selection) allows you to deselect all the songs selected in that moment (see SELECT command) and to clear the contents of the USER GRP. N.B.
4. OPERATIVE MODES PAGE: ØØ5 SINGLE PLAY TITLE: STREETS Ø1 STREETS VAGABOND WE_ARE 4/4 WLAMAMMA ØØ3:4 WLAMAMMA YESTRDAY TEMPO Ø97 CLRSEL GROUPS LYRICS ADJUST SELECT Now another Soft key, corresponding to the following function, has been enabled: ◆ ADJUST: allows to access the page which will help you adjusting the parameters of volume, reverberation, chorus, transposition and tempo of the song currently played.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL ◆ CONTIN: It is usually called Continue and is often used together with the PLAY/STOP functions. It allows you to continue to play the song from the point where it was stopped by means of the STOP button. 4.3.1 SELECTING/DESELECTING A SONG To select a song in the SINGLE PLAY mode, highlight it with the cursor (i.e. position the cursor on the desired song by means of the CURSOR buttons) and push the SELECT Soft Key.
4. OPERATIVE MODES 4.3.2 DISPLAYING TEXTS AND CHORDS The function is enabled by means of the LYRICS soft key and can be retrieved both before and during the playing of a song. If the song currently highlighted contains texts and chords, you need only to play LYRICS and then PLAY.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL enabled, could be “lost”. In fact the text is stored in the song, and then read by Megabeat One, with a certain anticipation on the performing time of the song (therefore the text to be visualized on the display when the LYRICS function is enabled, could have been “lost”, as it was contained in a previous part of the song and when that part had been read the LYRICS function hadn’t been enabled yet).
4. OPERATIVE MODES At this point you can: ◆ push the CONTIN soft key (to continue the performing of a song from where it had been stopped), ◆ push the PLAY button (to start the performing of the song from the beginning). NOTE The song which is played by means of the PLAY button is always the one currently highlighted by the cursor.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL CHANNEL VOLUME ADJUST: +ØØØ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1Ø 12 1ØØ 1ØØ Ø85 1ØØ 11Ø 1ØØ 9 1Ø 11 12 13 14 15 16 1ØØ 127 1ØØ 1ØØ 1ØØ 1ØØ 1ØØ 1ØØ GLOBAL PARAMETERS ADJUST REV CHOR TRAN Ø TEMPO Ø97 RESTOR SAVE RELOAD MUTE EXIT ◆ RESTOR: “clears” all the changes carried out by the user on the parameters and retrieves the values originally stored in the song. ◆ SAVE: saves the changes carried out by the user. ◆ RELOAD: retrieves the values stored by the user with the SAVE function.
4. OPERATIVE MODES measure and the value “090” after the tenth measure on the display (near the volume of the MIDI channel number 2). Therefore the variations made by using the ADJUST function shall be added to (or subtracted from) the values of the parameters stored in the song.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL ■ ■ ■ To change the volume of a MIDI channel: position the cursor on the desired channel; turn the PAGE/VALUE Dial to change the displayed value; push the SAVE soft key (if you want to store the variation). The CHANNEL VOLUME ADJUST parameter will show the variation of the value stored in the song which has just been carried out (for example: +010, -030. -095, etc.).
4. OPERATIVE MODES Also in this case, the CHANNEL VOLUME ADJUST parameter will show (in the first line of the display) the variation just carried out (for example: +010, -020, etc). ◆ ◆ ◆ TRAN position the cursor on the TRAN parametre value; turn the PAGE/VALUE Dial to change the displayed value; push the SAVE soft key (if you want to store the variation). NOTE The transposition is carried out by semitones (with the following range: 12...
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL sequence (in order to organise one’s own repertoire), or to group one’s own songs per type (e.g.: disco music, bossa nova, etc.). One song may belong to more than a Group (with no need to duplicate the song on the hard disk), thus you will be able to run alternative song lists. Each Group may contain a maximum of 48 songs. Megabeat One hard disk may contain up to 1000 groups.
4. OPERATIVE MODES In order to enable one of the Soft Key commands, just press the SOFT KEY relevant to the desired command. ◆ LOOP/NOLOOP: allows you to decide whether, after the end of a group song, the next song has to be performed automatically (LOOP), or whether the songs contained in the group have to be performed separately (NOLOOP). Megabeat One first default choice is LOOP. ◆ SINGLE: allows you to have access to the previously described SINGLE PLAY mode.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL 4.4.1 CHOOSING A GROUP When you have access the GROUP PLAY mode, the display shows the groups stored by the user in the hard disk or those automatically created by Megabeat One when loading a floppy disk (see UTILITY mode). NOTE Another group, called USER GRP, is always active in the main page of GROUP PLAY mode. This group is automatically created by Megabeat One, by using the songs selected in SINGLE PLAY mode. If no song has been selected in SINGLE PLAY mode, USER GRP is empty.
4. OPERATIVE MODES soft key, you can change the value from LOOP to NOLOOP and vice versa. NOTE LOOP/NO LOOP value can be changed even when the group is in PLAY mode. ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ If you press the PLAY button, the first song of the group is performed. In the field called “TITLE:”, on the right, the display shows: the name of the current selected song; the time signature (4/4, 3/4, etc.); the current position, indicated in bars and quarters (e.g. 059,4); the tempo.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL As usual, you can display the other pages of the group songs (if present) with the PAGE/VALUE Dial. With the cursor buttons you can move from one group song to another one. On the right hand side of the display, the TITLE field (as above described for SINGLE PLAY mode) is active. After positioning the cursor on a song, you can play it by the PLAY button.
5. UTILITY 5. UTILITY UTILITY menu contains different utility functions in order to create and organise groups, load or erase songs, format hard disk or floppy disks, set up MIDI, and carry out Megabeat One global set-up.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL ENABLED SOFT KEYS The soft keys enabled in UTILITY mode are the following: COPY SONGS EDIT GROUPS GLOBAL SETUP MIDI SETUP SONGS BACKUP RENAME SONGS UTILITY ERASE SONGS MIDI DATA DUMP PC DATA DUMP DISK UTILITIES SELECT EXIT ◆ SELECT: allows you to have access to one of the previously described functions. ◆ EXIT: allows you to leave UTILITY mode (back to SINGLE PLAY mode).
5. UTILITY NOTE In order to use the COPY SONG function you must insert a floppy disk into the drive of Megabeat One, otherwise the following message will appear: FLOPPY DISK NOT READY. The soft keys relative to the COPY SONG function are: PAGE:ØØ1 DISCOINF JUSTWAY BREAKOUT COPY COPY SONGS SELECT EXIT As usual, the display shows the songs to be copied, which may be selected with the SELECT soft key and the CURSOR buttons.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL NOTE Thanks to the automatic creation of a group containing the songs which belong to a same floppy disk, you can reorganise your songs in the hard disk in a simple way, by grouping them according to the provenance floppy disks. This function is very useful if you are used to remember your own songs as coming from a same floppy disk (e.g.: EDIROL5, MDB24, MIDISNG3, etc.).
5. UTILITY In order to work on a group, choose first the desired group (with the CURSOR buttons or the PAGE/VALUE Dial) and then press the soft key relative to the desired operation. ■ ERASE: allows you to erase the selected group. By pressing the ERASE soft key, the display shows the following message: "SONGMIX1" WILL BE ERASED ARE YOU SURE ?! YES NO By pressing the YES soft keys, the group is erased. Vice versa (i.e. choosing the NO soft key) the group is preserved. N.B.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL After positioning the cursor on one of the groups present in the EDIT GROUPS main page, by pressing the CREATE soft key you have access to the creation/editing page. If you chose to begin with an existing group, the display shows the list of the songs present in the group. If, instead, before choosing the CREATE function, the cursor had been positioned on an empty box (i.e.
5. UTILITY IMPORTANT Do not use the EXIT button placed under the PAGE/VALUE Dial, you will loose all the work you have done. 5. Save the changes made to the group with the SAVE soft key (see below). ❐ DELETE: allows you to remove a song from a group. 1. Before pressing the DELETE soft key, position the cursor on the song you want to remove. 2.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL RENAME GROUPS OLD NAME: NEW NAME: OK INS >> SONGMIX1 SONGMIX1 DEL << EXIT The first choice for the NEW NAME is the same of the OLD NAME. The cursor will highlight the first letter of the NEW NAME field: in order to change the name of the group, move the PAGE/VALUE Dial clockwise (to increase the selected letter) or anticlockwise (to decrease the selected letter). Then move to the next character with the CURSOR button on the right.
5. UTILITY PAGE: ØØ1 EDIT SONGMIX1 ALICE HONESTY AMOREBEL MNLTSHAD BEBOPALU YOURSONG BLUESUED GIPSYKI D CROCODIL INSERT REMOVE SAVE EXIT The difference between the CREATE and MODIFY functions is that the CREATE function always creates a new group, while with the MODIFY function all the changes made are relevant to the starting group. ❐ INSERT: already described in CREATE function. IMPORTANT Do not use the EXIT button placed under the PAGE/VALUE Dial, you will loose all the work you have done.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL ❐ EXIT: allows you to return to the EDIT GROUPS menu. Every change you did not save with the SAVE soft key will be lost. ■ RENAME: allows you to change the name of an existing group. Once you have selected the group with the cursor, press the RENAME soft key. The display shows what follows: RENAME GROUPS OLD NAME: NEW NAME: OK INS >> SONGMIX1 SONGMIX1 DEL << EXIT The first choice for the NEW NAME is the same of the OLD NAME.
5. UTILITY 5.3 GLOBAL SETUP This function allows you to have access to the global parameters of Megabeat One, in order to specify: ◆ ◆ ◆ the kind of disk from which you will read the song (hard disk or CD-ROM); the polarity of the pedal command (normally open or normally closed); the starting of the QUICK START function. 1. 2. 3. In order to enable the GLOBAL SETUP function: press the UTILITY button, position the cursor on GLOBAL SETUP; press the SELECT soft key.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL 5.3.1 MEDIA PLAYER This parameter identifies the kind of media from which Megabeat One reads songs (during PLAY phase). The values are: ◆ H.DISK (songs will be read from the inside hard disk); ◆ CD ROM (songs will be read from the outside CD ROM reader). In order to change the MEDIA PLAYER parameter: 1. enable the GLOBAL SETTINGS function (as above described); 2. position the cursor on the MEDIA PLAYER parameter; 3.
5. UTILITY 5.3.3 QUICK START This parameter enables the Quick Start function, used by Megabeat One to speed up the reading of the first beats of a song. These beats usually do not contain notes, but only messages of Program Change, Bank Select..., that is something that “does not make a sound”. If the first “empty” beats are read at the normal reading speed of the song (which depends on the selected tempo), you will have to wait before the starting of the music.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL The set-up concerns: ◆ MIDI CLOCK OUT, ◆ MIDI INPUT (Midi or Digitar) choice, ◆ possibility to select a song of a group via Midi, ◆ possibility to visualize Lyrics Sysex (when present) on the Megabeat One display or on external displays (wordbox). 1. 2. 3. In order to enable MIDI SETUP function: press the UTILITY button, position the cursor on MIDI SETUP, press the SELECT soft key.
5. UTILITY 5.4.1 MIDI CLOCK OUT This parameter indicates whether Megabeat One must transmit the Midi Clock from its MIDI OUT. The values for this parameter are: ◆ ENABLED; ◆ DISABLED. When MIDI CLOCK OUT is enabled, during the performing of a song, Megabeat One transmits the Midi Clock from MIDI OUT. In this way you can synchronise external devices, such as sequencers or electronic drums. N.B.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL With the current version of Megabeat One, these two input can not be active at the same time, this means that it is not possible to play simultaneously with the Digitar and drive the Megabeat One internal sound generator with an external keyboard or a sequencer (the “Midi Merge” function for Midi and Digitar inputs is not available).
5. UTILITY In order to perform the song, just act as usual, by using the PLAY button on the frontal panel of Megabeat One, or with the START/STOP pedal. The MIDI SONG SEL parameter values are: ◆ ◆ ENABLED: MIDI messages of Song Selection are identified. FILTERED: MIDI messages of Song Selection are ignored. In order to change the MIDI SONG SEL parameter: 1. enable the MIDI SETUP function (as previously described); 2. position the cursor on the MIDI SONG SEL parameter; 3.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL NOTE The Megabeat One has an always-enabled function called MIDI SOFT THRU. This function produces the retransmission of the messages received by Megabeat One MIDI IN on MIDI OUT. The messages received by MIDI IN are “merged” (by an internal Midi Merge function) with the MIDI messages created inside Megabeat One (normally the Midi data related to the Song in PLAY mode), and then transmitted by MIDI OUT.
5. UTILITY In order to copy a song to the floppy disk: 1. insert a formatted floppy disk into the drive, 2. choose the song to be copied with the CURSOR buttons or the PAGE/VALUE Dial, 3. press the COPY soft key; during this operation the display will show: COPY IN PROGRESS PLEASE WAIT.... 4. 5. if you want to copy other songs, just repeat steps 2. and 3., press the EXIT soft key to return to the UTILITY menu.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL The display shows the list of all the songs present in the hard disk (songs are divided in pages, as usual, and are accessible with the CURSOR buttons and the PAGE/VALUE Dial).
5. UTILITY Once you have finished the song name editing, confirm it with the OK soft key (in order to save the modified name), or leave the change with the EXIT soft key, returning to the RENAME SONGS menu. In order to leave the RENAME SONGS menu, use the EXIT soft key. 5.7 ERASE SONG This function allows you to permanently erase a song from the hard disk. 1. 2. 3. To enable the ERASE SONG function: Push the key UTILITY, Position the cursor on ERASE SONG , Push the soft key SELECT.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL The display will change as follows : "YESTRDAY" WILL BE ERASED ARE YOU SURE ?! YES ALLSEL NO To erase the song press the soft key YES , otherwise push NO. By pressing ALL you will automatically erase all the previously selected songs without having to confirm the erase command for every single song. NOTE The Megabeat One will allow the erasure of a song only if it does not belong to any group. If it did the display would show the name/s of the group/s.
5. UTILITY Moreover, the dump files can be included in a group (as the first file of a group for example ) and transmitted before playing the songs of that group. This function is extremely helpful especially during live performances where you may need to re-load some patches into your instruments at once before playing a group of songs. To enable the MIDI DATA DUMP function: 1. 2. 3. Push the key UTILITY. Position the cursor on MIDI DATA DUMP. Push the soft key SELECT.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL When all messages have been received, the page that allows you to name the file you have just recorded is automatically retrieved . The instructions are the same as for the RENAME SONG function. NOTE Once they have been recorded on the hard disk, both the dump and the song files are handled in the same way: they are recorded and showed on the display in alphabetic order and can be copied, erased or renamed.
5. UTILITY The display will show the utilities menu: DISK UTILITIES F.DISK FORMAT H.DISK RECOVER H.DISK FORMAT SONGS:XX The active soft keys are : SELECT 5.10.1 EXIT F. DISK FORMAT This function allows you to format the floppy disks. We remind you that, before using it, any new floppy disk has to be formatted. If you format a floppy disk which already contains data you will automatically erase all those data. At the moment, Megabeat One can work just with “720K” disks.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL Choose NO to halt the formatting or YES if you want to continue. When the operation is completed the display goes back to the UTILITIES menu . 5.10.2 H. DISK RECOVER This function enables you to solve whatever problems you may have while using the hard disk. Sometimes it could happen that , due to a sudden suspension of the power supply during a writing process on the hard disk for example, your recorded data will prove to be damaged.
5. UTILITY Once the RECOVER has been enabled the display changes once again: SONGS RECOVER 0014 RECOVER IN PROGRESS The solution of the problems may even take a few hours because the system will have to carry out a complete scanning of the disk surface analysing every single song, copying the data into the available areas and verifying their integrity sector by sector.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL If there are problems with the hard disk, we recommend to try with the H.DISK RECOVER function described in the next pages before formatting it. To enable the H.DISK FORMAT function, from the DISK UTILITIES menu: 1. 2. Position the cursor on H.DISK FORMAT. Push the soft key SELECT.
6. OPERATING SYSTEM (UPDATING) 6. OPERATING SYSTEM (updating) The operating system of the Megabeat One is made up of all the commands and functions which enable the Megabeat One itself to carry out all the operations described in this manual. It has been previously loaded by CHARLIE LAB into the hard disk of the Megabeat One and it is automatically loaded every time the unit is turned on.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL 7 FILE PREFIXES The display of the Megabeat One will show different file names.
SPECIFICATIONS MEGABEAT ONE SPECIFICATIONS • POWER SUPPLY: External power supply according to EEC regulation Primary: 230 Vac - 50Hz Secondary: 12 Vac - 60 VA • CONNECTORS: MIDI: MIDI IN, MIDI OUT/THRU RJ45 plug for Digitar link • BACKLIGHTED GRAPHIC DISPLAY (64X192 DOTS) • PUSH-PULL KNOBS FOR VOLUME AND CONTRAST ADJUSTMENT • SIZE: 260x240x90 mm • WEIGHT: Megabeat One 4.5 Kg Power supply 1.
MEGABEAT ONE USER MANUAL Megabeat One User Manual by Natale Caccavo © 1995 CHARLIE LAB Roland, Megabeat One and Digitar are registered trademarks.
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