Yamaha PLG150-AN Owner's Manual download pdf (Page 2)

Motif & PLG150-AN

PLG150-AN Analog Physical Model

The PLG150-AN is a single part plug-in

module – capable of reproducing one virtual

analog Voice at a time – capable of contributing

one Part to the host product. It is like a separate

synthesizer that you add to the Motif or other

Modular Synthesis Plug-in System product. The

board is a separate synthesizer but it must use

the hardware of the host product to be heard.

There are several levels of accessing sounds on

the PLG150-AN when it is inserted into the Motif.

To better understand this, let’s take it a step at a

time. The PLG150-AN board is a part of the

Yamaha PLG150 series – currently, four plug-in

boards each a different synthesis technology with

its own editor software. These synth series

boards add a single part to the host product.

They are not multi-timbral. The AN board has

256 preset voices and RAM locations for 128 user

board voices. The Presets are divided into 2

banks of 128 each. The user bank for your own

custom board voices is available via bulk dumps.

The 128 user board Voices can be created and/or

loaded in with computer software, AN Expert

Editor, and they exist in a volatile RAM bank on

the board. They can also be saved in a special

bulk type file to SmartMedia card. The AN Expert

Editor will allow you to create your own analog

voices from scratch. (More on the AN Expert

Editor and custom ‘from-scratch’ analog User

Voices in the next installment). First, lets

understand how to access, edit, save and load

sounds made from the supplied preset data.

An important part of the concept to the

plug-in boards is that although the PLG150-AN is

an analog synth, it does not have wheels, or

knobs, or a screen, or keys, it has a distortion

but no other effects…all of that must come from

the host product, the Motif. The AN board has

some 256 preset sounds on it, but until you

integrate them with the Motif parameters they

are what we call a BOARD Voice. Once you have

routed them through the Motif effects and

assigned Motif controllers etc., they become what

we call a PLUG-IN Voice. When the PLG150-AN is

properly installed in a Motif and you power up,

the Motif does a system check and scans the PLG

board slots. When it finds a PLG150-AN board it

will automatically load 64 finished PLUG-IN

Voices (PLGPRE1). With each of the PLG150

series boards you will also find 64 blank PLUG-IN

Voice locations for you to store your tweaks or

customized versions of the sounds (PLGUSR).

You will find that you can use two editors

when you have both a PLG150-AN and a Motif.

The VOICE EDITOR for MOTIF6/7/8 will let

you program USER Bank Voices for the Motif.

That is, AWM2 Normal User Voice, Drum User

Kits and PLG150 Series User Plug-in Voices. Then

why do you need the AN EXPERT EDITOR?

Because the EXPERT EDITOR will let you edit the

analog Voice Element itself. The Motif editor will

let you integrate a finished AN Element with the

Motif. The AN EXPERT EDITOR will let program

the analog engine itself. Many parameters

effecting the AN board are available from the

Motif front panel and via the Voice Editor for

Motif, however, the fundamental and complete

set of edit parameters are available only via the

AN EXPERT EDITOR. It would be impossible to

include in the Motif architecture all of the

parameters for each of the possible plug-in

boards available. Each of the PLG150 Series

boards is an entirely different technology: AN is a

physical model of an analog synthesizer. The DX

is a Frequency Modulation (FM) synth equivalent

to a DX7. The VL is a physical model of an

acoustic blown pipe/bowed string instrument and

the PF is sample playback (like the Motif). The

parameters for these technologies are each a

whole synthesizer by itself (and each has been).

If you want to program from scratch, the AN, DX

and VL boards have in depth ‘expert’ editors. If

you are just a tweaker – one who likes to fiddle

with existing sounds – each board will give you

plenty of data to work with and plenty of

parameters to play with, as well. If you do enjoy

making sounds from scratch, you will love the

way the Motif-PLG150-computer system works.

It will take some getting used to but is very

powerful. Ultimately, you will be able to make

custom sounds via the computer editor and save

the data to SmartMedia card or SCSI drive and

restore them when you are at the gig (the

computer remains safe at home where it

belongs). You will not be editing from scratch

while on stage – you put the voice in the Motif in

a form that allows you to perform them via the

available controllers.

The PLG150-AN will add its own 5-notes

of polyphony to the modular system.

Summary: The PLG150-AN is part of a ‘modular’

system. It is analogous to adding a hardware

synthesizer to your host product, the Motif. The

Motif will address certain performance-oriented

parameters on the board via offset values. The

Voices on the board are programmed via a

computer Voice Editors (AN Expert Editor and the

Voice Editor for Motif6/7/8) which can send Voice

setups to the Motif. The idea is to do “in depth”

editing of the voice in the computer editor (AN

Expert Editor), then integrate with the controllers

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Yamaha PLG150-AN Owner's Manual Page 2

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