O I u o 11 F , TIH I I S , I WXOT R I LTD

I feel like the characters in that old sci-fiI film This Island Earth must have feltwhen they received a complicated piece ofmachinery from another planet and didn

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t

quite know what to do with it. The ZyklusMIDI Performance System is certainly outof this world in that respect, because therehas been nothing like it known to manuntil now. To review equipment which hasno parallel is impossible, to fully evaluate amachine like this is only slightly lessdaunting. Hopefully. I will be able topresent the facts and let your imaginationdo the rest. Close the hatches and stand

by for liftoff. ..

WHAT IS IT?You may have gathered from Zyklus'advertising and promotional literature thatthe MIDI Performance System is a kind ofsequencer. It is - but not what we havecome to expect a MIDI sequencer to be.

In days of old, before MIDI, therewere still such things as sequencers, butwhere we now look upon a sequencerprimarily as a performance recorder, itused to be used just for stringing notestogether. Nowadays we play the keyboardand the sequencer remembers what weplay. Then, a

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sequence'

was just asequence of notes. Some synthesizers hadtheir own internal sequencers which couldremember just eight or so notes and playthem back over and over. More advancedmachines could store 100 notes or so -

but without variation in note length andwithout polyphony. It may sound prettyprimitive, but when that

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s all you have,then you use it to make music. Take alisten to some of those old TangerineDream records to find out what the result

was like. It may sound old hat now, but atthe time it was considered innovative.

Another sequencer freak (note early'

lOs vernacular!) is the high earning Jean-Michel Jarre. If he made 50p every timeOxygenewas played as background musicon TV, he would be a millionaire. Actually,he does and he is! Jarre's repeatingsequences are often of the old, pre-MIDI,type. By setting them going and playingagainst them he manages to build up awash of sound that many people find veryattractive.

What this is leading me to is thenature of the Zyklus MIDI PerformanceSystem. If you think of it as old-timesequencing brought up to date, then youare very close to appreciating the machineand its possibilities. When I say

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old-time'

,

by the way, I do not intend any negativesense. We had a valuable musical tool in

the '70s which got a bit rusty when MIDIcame along. Zyklus have polished up thisold workpiece and extended its capabilitiesa thousandfold with new technology andconcepts. This is the essence of the MIDIPerformance System. Now I can move onto matters operational.

RANDOM VARIATIONA few years ago I had the chance to act as

Zyklus

MIDI

Performance

SystemWhat the hell's a

MIDI Performance System?

DAVID MELLDR does his best to

explain.sound engineer on a two-week course forcomposers, directed by John Cage. (He

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s

the guy who wrote a piece called '

Four

minutes and thirty-three seconds' - which

consists of four minutes and thirty-threeseconds of total silence.) On the coursewere eight professional and semi-professional composers and a dozen or somusicians who thought they wouldbenefit from the experience. I had theimpression that the composers thoughtthey would get a platform for their piecesin front of an appreciative audience. Littledid they know!

Cage is famous for his use of randomprocedures. In fact if anything intentionalcrept into one of his works then he wouldprobably throw it out. At the end of thefirst day of the course, when eachcomposer had finished a two-minutepiece, instead of performing them oneafter another - in the conventional way,you know - they had to perform themsimultaneously, then in variouscombinations. You should have seen the

ZYKLUS MPS SPECIFICATION

Connections:

. 1 x MIDI In

. 4 x MIDI Out

. 1 x Sync input: 24/48/96 ppqn

. 1 x Sync output: 24/48/96 ppqn

. 3 x Footswitch (or gate) inputs for remotecontrol of Run/Stop, Enter or sequencecontrol 1 y. 1 x Trigger input. 1 x Gate output (programmable). 1 x Metronome output. 1 x Data cartridge connectorMaximum internal storage:. 99 sequences. 24 configurations. 12 performances. Basic event capacity; 9,000. Effective event capacity (typicalperformance/sequence ratio) >60/000NB. Internal memory is double battery-backed

looks on their faces! They were all prettynaffed off about this because they didn

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get to show off their new pieces properly.I could stand back, however

, and

appreciate what was going on. Cagewanted the composers to hear the chanceevents thrown up by the randomcombinations of sounds and hopefullygain new ideas from the experience. Icertainly learned a lot, and I always leavespace in my compositions for randomvariation.

The MIDI Performance System is anideal source of random variation. It

enables control of 99 sequences from aMIDI keyboard and from its front panel. Itis not simply a gadget for recording notesand playing them back. It is a machine forexperimenting with musical ideas, puttingthem together in different order anddifferent combination and seeing whatcomes out - improvising at the keyboard,but instead of single notes coming fromeach key press, each key press triggers asequence. Didn

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t I say that you would haveto use your imagination? Try this . . .

You hit middle C on your keyboardand a drum pattern starts. Press twobuttons on the Zyklus, hit low C and a bassline pulsates. Two more buttons, hit highC and a flowing pattern of notes emerges.Play other notes and this pattern changeskey, harmonises with itself, and playslouder or softer as you touch thekeyboard. Other buttons on the Zyklusbring in other patterns, separately or incombination. Get the idea?

PLAYBACKThere are three principal modes ofoperation: recording, playback andperformance. In the normal course ofevents, recording would be the obviouschoice for starters. With the MIDI

Performance System, it's better to imaginethat you have several short sequencesalready recorded, which may be notes,runs, chords - in fact, musical elements

which could be put together to form awhole piece. Twelve totally independentsequences can be performed separately ortogether in any combination. They may betriggered by buttons on the machine itself,by a footswitch, or via a MIDI keyboard.The keyboard method allows instanttransposition of sequences and a richtexture can be built up very easily in thisway.

There are 12 control buttons

positioned below the display window.Each of these can have a sequence (any ofthe possible 99) assigned to it. In playbackmode

, the MIDI destination of each

control button can be set and displayed.There are four MIDI Out sockets so theMIDI channels are identified as A1

, B16,C3, D10, etc. The possibility of having 64separate MIDI channels is enticing,although the expense of the synths andexpanders is daunting - not to mentionthe size of the mixing console!

When you wish to assign a previously

soiiNin on

ZyklusMIDI

i MIO*PCRFOHMANCESYSTEM

PerformanceSystem

4 recorded sequence to a control button,the display takes you through a number ofoptions. The first is the Sequence number,where you choose which of the 99sequences you want to call up with thisparticular button. As each sequence canhave a name as well as a number

, this

should be straightforward. The length of

FUNCTION KEY OPTIONS -PLAY MODE

Commands:

CopyAppendDumpLoad

Format

General options:Internal/Cartridge

Write protectClock

Input optionsConfiguration options:Control key start-upControl pitch triggerTrigger profile off/on

Tempo off/onRelative quantisation

Range 1 (2/3/4) start noteRange 4 top note

Range 1 (2/3/4) octave offsetConfiguration name

Assign sequence:Single/12 free

Select control keySelect sequence number

Repeat modeVelocity ratio

Assign destination:Select control keySelect destination

Program change off/onMIDI mode off/on

Local off/on

Effect program off/on

FUNCTION KEY OPTIONS -RECORD MODE

Commands:

Punch inPunch out

Cancel punchSet start sectionSet end sectionCancel sectionDelete section

General options:Note lengthMetronome

Clock

Input optionsSequence options:

Time signatureKeynote

Quantisation

4 Sequence/performance name

-

the sequence is also displayed.After this the Repeat mode is set

which is either Repeat, Single-Shot orHold-At-End. Obviously, Repeat meansover and over; Single-Shot causes thesequence to be played once; Hold-At-Endis the same but with the last note or chord

sustaining until switched off.Velocity Ratio specifies the way the

original velocities of the recordedsequence will be played back. For instance,if you trigger a sequence from a MIDIkeyboard, you might want the sequenceto be replayed at its original note velocitiesregardless of the velocity of the key yousubsequently press to trigger thesequence. On the other hand, you mightwant a certain amount of say in how louda sequence will be played. There is a rangeof five ratios available.

Assign Destination, which I brieflydescribed above, is used to decide which

MIDI Out will be used for the particularcontrol key and which MIDI channel. Thereis a wide range of possibilities here:. MIDI PROG; a MIDI Program Changecommand can be sent the first time a

particular sequence is activated.. MIDI MODE; a MIDI Mode message(1,2,3 or 4) can be sent to the assigneddestination when a sequence is firstactivated.

. LOCAL; this allows a Local On or Local

Off message to be sent to the assigneddestination when a sequence is firstactivated.. EFFECTS PROGRAM; this allows

programs to be changed before asequence is played.. TOTAL RESTART; when no sequence isrunning, this facility can transmit allprogram change messages and all effectsprogram changes, which have alreadybeen set. All sequences are restarted and aMIDI Start command sent.. TUNE KEY; this will sustain each note

played on the MIDI keyboard until anotheris pressed.

After going through the aboveprocedure . . . Actually, I

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m making it

sound more complicated than it is. It youwant to get something up and runningquickly, then you don

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t have to go throughall that every time. These facilities are thereif you want them, perhaps not foreveryday use but they are there, and theyare invisible until you conjure them up.

More important for getting the bestout of the MIDI Performance System arethe Trigger Profile buttons. I wish Zyklushad thought of a better name than thatbecause it makes the available musical

options sound technically obscure.The Trigger Profile buttons - there are

12 of them - determine how the MIDI

Performance System responds to the MIDIkeyboard during actual performance. Thesimplest option is to have the keyboardswitched off and to trigger sequencesdirectly from the Zyklus' control buttons.Enabling the keyboard brings in extraoptions: the control buttons now placesequences in a state of readiness to beactivated by key presses. Each sequencecan be transposed according to which keyyou press. Middle C plays the sequence atits original pitch. Any key above transposesup, any lower key transposes down.

An interesting feature is when newsequences are

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readied'

by pressing theircontrol button, the old sequences whichare already running have their pitch lockedso that the performer has a runningbacking over which he can improvise newsequences, at different pitches.

The Build button makes it possible toallow sequences to build up at differentpitches, even though the notes on thekeyboard are not sustained. Cycle allowssequences which are ready to play to betriggered one by one from the keyboard.

I could go on to describe all 12 ofthese Trigger Profile buttons, but sincethere is no other sequencer to comparewith this machine, it becomes difficult to

describe what any of the effects can soundlike. There are many possible combinationshere. I'm sure no-one, not even the

designer, has tried them all yet. Let's moveon to more understandable matters.

66SOUND ON SOUND FEB 88

I

CONFIGURATIONSI don't know how many possiblecombinations of sequences andassignments there must be - probablyzillions, if not squillions, when otheroptions are taken into account.

When you have set up the MIDIPerformance System to something thatyou like and want to keep, it is possible tocall this a 'configuration

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, name it and

store it. There are 24 memories set aside

for these. As in the case of the assignmentoptions, there are

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hidden' options heretoo. For instance

, you may want to set aconfiguration so that any sequencecurrently running will be stopped whenthe configuration is changed. Perhaps youwould like certain sequences to be exemptfrom transposition - drum patterns, forinstance. I'll give the other seven options amiss so that you

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ll have fun finding outabout them when you buy the machine.That's my excuse for finding them hard toexplain without knocking on your doorwith a MIDI Performance System under myarm to demonstrate!

RECORDINGNow that I have outlined - and it is only anoutline - the playback mode, I canbacktrack to the record mode.

Recording is pretty much the same ason a conventional MIDI sequencer, exceptthat the operation is tailored to suit theplayback-oriented nature of this machine.On a conventional sequencer, playbackconsists of hitting one button and that's it.

Recording options to be set include:. NOTE LENGTH; this is expressed as apercentage of the currently selected stepsize, in step-time recording.. METRONOME; allows the internalmetronome to be switched on or off. The

externally available metronome ispermanently on.. CLOCK; internal

, MIDI, or external (24,48 or 96 pulses per quarter note) are theoptions.. INPUT OPTIONS; allows the incomingMIDI channel to be selected to OMNI or

from 1 to 16. Also, types of data - pitchbend, aftertouch, etc - can be accepted orfiltered out.

Sequence options include:. TIME SIGNATURE; between 1/2 and32/8.. KEYNOTE; sets the base note for

transpositions. For example, if the keynoteis set to middle C, then the sequence willplay back at its original pitch when middleC is pressed.. QUANTISE; quarter-note to 1/96th noteresolution.

. NAME; up to six characters.Editing options include:

. SLIDE; this permits the insertion orremoval of blank space in a sequence tomake it longer or shorter.. MOVE; this shifts the start points ofnotes without altering the overall timing ofa sequence.. LENGTH; adjusts the duration ofindividual notes.

. VALUE; alters the numerical value of

events. This would be velocity for note-onevents.

Record/edit commands include:

. PUNCH; punch-in and punch-out pointscan be set so that the drop-in operation isperformed automatically. This can also bedone manually if required.. DELETE; it is convenient to delete whole

sections by moving the start and endpointers for this function.Note: Both the punch and delete pointscan be set at any point in the sequence,not just on the bar line, as with somesequencers.

PERFORMANCESo far, I have explained the recording ofsequences and how they can be playedback in various ways and combinations.What we need now is a sort of supersequencer which can

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sequence' the

playback of sequences. Thankfully, Zyklushave thought of that one already. Aperformance is just that - a sequence ofsequences.

To record a performance is the workof a couple of button presses. Whateveryou do next as part of your performance islogged. All MIDI key presses, all controlbutton presses, all trigger profile buttons.In other words, whatever you do to get anice noise out of the system is recorded.Punch-in can be performed and so canediting. As the manual says,

"

When

performances are edited, it is sometimesnecessary to keep a clear head.

"

(!)Obviously, MIDI note-on messages

are shown clear enough on the editdisplay, but there are other types of data.Zyklus have invented symbols to displaywhat is what. For instance, a figure

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8'

with an up arrow means that a controlbutton has been switched on. A down

arrow means it is off. A '+' with a't'

below indicates a tempo increase . . .There's a lot to handle here

, but handled it

can be.The more I write

, the more I get thefeeling that I am only scratching thesurface. I haven

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t yet mentioned the use ofthe MIDI Performance System as a MIDIcontrol station. Any control button, as analternative to having a sequence assigned

CONSTRUCTION

The Zyklus MIDI Performance System isintended for professional use and istherefore built to a high standard using afolded steel case. Heavy-duty DIN socketsare fitted, of a type found to be extremelyreliable in the past. All rear panel connectorsare connected via a wire loom, rather than

PCB-mounted connectors.

The front panel switches have a precise,positive action. Many have LED indicators toshow their status. The display is anilluminated liquid crystal type with amaximum of 80 characters.

FRONT PANEL LAYOUT

The three red mode buttons select sequencerecord and playback or performance recordand playback. The 12 control buttons areused for selecting and triggering sequencesin real time. They also select step size duringstep-time recording.

The 12 trigger profile buttons allow theselection of

"

several hundred"

sequencetriggering modes.

The alpha-dial controls (five buttonsand rotary control) are used for scrollingthrough sequences during editing, changingtempo or configuration in real time, and forselection of function key options.

to it, can act as a MIDI Thru with keyboardzoning and octave transpositions. Usingthis, a live performance can be integratedwith a performance of recorded sequences- all from the same keyboard and havingaccess to up to 64 synthesizers.

VIEWPOINTIt remains to be seen who the users of a

system like this will be. (Editor's note:

apparently Vangelis has one andimprovised with it during a concert heldlast year in Athens, Greece.] It's definitely aprofessional tool, the £1995 price tag tellsus that. In a professional workingsituation, my guess is that it will be atwo-person job to operate. One personbeing the musician or composer, the otherbeing the 'Zyklus expert'. The MID!Performance System is full of musicalpossibilities and is inevitably complex. Idoubt whether one musician could

operate it to the full and still have brainpower left for the business of makingmusic.

Another point is whether the MIDIPerformance System could do double dutyas a conventional MIDI sequencer. To beperfectly honest, I just don't have enoughexperience with the machine to make avalid judgement. Put it this way, don'texpect to buy one and be using it as aconventional MIDI sequencer in a fewminutes - you won

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t. It doesn't work in

the same way and a whole new set ofreflexes would need to be developed tocontemplate this.

The potential purchaser of this systemis not going to be the person with aproblem looking for a solution, rather theadventurous type who sees this as apotential for musical exploration. Do youmeasure up? ggjgPrice £1995 inc VAT.

Contact Zyklus Ltd. 88 Golden Lane,London EC1.

1Sr01-675 1816.

SOUND ON SOUND FEB 88