Took me a second - but AK must be "Assignable Knob". Shows the importance of using established terms. The owner's manual just calls these "Knobs 1-8" with the functions [TONE] / [EQ/FX] / [ARP/MS] / [MULTI] / or [ASSIGN].

Myself as a bit loose with the lingo, when Knobs 1-8 are in [ASSIGN] mode I would refer to these as Assignable Knobs.

The reference manual does use the term "Assignable Knobs 1-8"

Zone transmit uses "A.Knob1" through "A.Knob8" ... so the reference manual also documents the "A.Knob1-8" variant.

OK, that makes sense. So AK1 through AK8 represent 8 equidistant positions in the 270 arc. Is that your take on it?

Thanks for your answer.
Karl

I don't really have a take - just explaining what "AK" refers to. I'm not referencing the source document since I don't have the programmer's notes in front of me.

EDIT: Found it - you're referencing

Source: "Install Chick's Mark V.pdf"

Chick Corea Mark V: Programmer’s Notes
1) Chick’s Mark V - This is the clean version, just the voiced samples without amp sims or effects. MW- LFO vibrato, Super Knob- this is a little “artsy.” I saw Chick used to use a space echo, so I went for an old style delay. One of the things I like about that effect is that the pitch changes when the delay time changes - as it’s supposed to. I made the Super Knob add delay and feedback for the first 3/4 of the turn, but then I also added a change in the delay time, which causes a strange, but cool pitch smear. If you sort of play the Super Knob by moving it while playing the keyboard, it’s a psychedelic little effect. AF1- brings in a resonant filter. It’s nice on its own, but it really works well if you play single note lead lines and use the pitch and mod wheels for a solo, AF2-Detune effect. AK1- low eq, AK2 - mid eq, AK3 - hi eq, AK4- tremolo, AK5 - reverb send. Global AK6- delay amount, AK7- delay time, AK8- delay feedback

2) CFX and Mark V - Layered CFX and Mark V. MW- adds delay to the Mark V, SUPER KNOB- Lft: CFX only, Center: CFX/Mark V mix, Rt: Mark V only, AF1- moves Mark V up a fifth, AF2- adds a detune effect to the Mark V

3) Mellow Amp - Chick supposedly used a twin reverb on some of his earlier RTF recordings. While there is some breakup, the EP is still pretty warm on those recordings. I was going after that kind of sound with this performance. MW- ring modulator amount, Super Knob - amp distortion amount, AF1- strange, dark, pitch bent EP with a delay. The AK’s give more control over the delay time and feedback. AF2- immediately kicks in the full ring modulated sound, RB- ring modulator frequency. Jan Hammer and Chick and probably others used to use the Oberheim (later the Maestro) ring modulator and control the amount and frequency with their left hands while playing the keyboard with their right hand. This technique can be imitated on Montage by using the MW and RB.

4) Overdrive Mark V - This is similar to the performance above, but more distorted. MW- ring modulator amount, Super Knob - amp distortion amount, AF1- adds a second EP at a high harmonic. AF2- two detuned EP's, RB- ring modulator frequency.

5) Mark V Satellite - Imitates the Rhodes satellite speaker system that included stereo tremolo. MW- reduces the amount of tremolo, Super Knob - Lft: tremolo, Center: mix of tremolo and chorus, Rt: chorus, AF1- dark EP, AF2- slow attack, long release, RB- tremolo speed

6) Mark V Roto - Mark V through a rotary speaker. MW- rotary speed, Super Knob - distortion amount, AF1- adds organ, AF2- tremolo/wah effect

7) Mark V Meets Strings - Mark V layered with strings. MW- darkens strings and makes them more of a pad, Super Knob - string volume, AF1- removes EP for strings only, AF2- adds chorus to EP, RB- delay

8) Stomped Phaser - Mark V through phaser effect. MW- phaser amount, Super Knob - adds a second ambient EP layer, AF1- fast phaser tremolo, AF2- slow attack and release, RB- delay

9) Mark V FM Pad - Mark V with two FM pads. MW- pad brightness, Super Knob - pad volume, AF1- removes EP, pads only, AF2- adds ensemble detune to EP, RB- adjusts the amount of chorus on pads

10) Touch the Wah - Mark V with touch wah effect. MW- crossfades between clean and distorted wah ep, Super Knob - adds phaser, AF1- gets rid of slow wah attack and restores normal attack, AF2- slow attack and release which also creates a nice chattering sound from the wah in the in the lower registers, RB- wah resonance amount

11) Wah Clav + Mark V - layered touch wah clan with Mark V. MW- added distortion, SUPER KNOB- Lft: Mark V only, Center: mix of ep and clav, Rt: clav only, AF1- fast flanger (univibe sort of thing), AF2- clean amp sound, RB- adjusts the wah sensitivity which also adjusts the clav tone.

12) Ghost in the Mark V - Two map shifted Mark V’s. One is pretty normal, the other one is running through motion sequencer modulated effects with lots of feedback. It took me awhile to get them even this far and they’re still barely under control, but it’s kind of a cool, strange sound. MW- pitch mod on straight EP, Super Knob - Lft: straight EP, Center: mix between straight and effected EP, Rt: effected EP, AF1- effected EP up an octave, AF2- removes effected EP from the more chorused effect, RB- changes the sampling rate on the lo fi effect on the straight EP. AK3 on that part changes the word length on the same effect. The combination of these two can make some great variations of the sound.

13) Chick’s Old EP - map shifted down Mark V. MW- panning tremolo, Super Knob - Lft: dry, Rt: chorus, AF1- LP filtered with a slight amount of resonance, velocity controlled cutoff for a mild wah effect, AF2- turns on the chorus effect - like a chorus footswitch, RB- tremolo speed

14) Ambient Mark V - My first experiments with the envelope follower got this one. Part 1 is also the Mark V, made into a pad with upward mapping and effects. Part 2 is the more “normal” sounding EP, but since its pitch and filter are being modulated by the envelope of Part 1, it has a strange wobbling sound. MW- distortion, very compressed for a distortion pad sound, Super Knob - Lft: removes all ambience and modulation from main EP making it basically dry, Rt: all ambience and modulation fully mixed in, AF1- filter resonance added to main EP, AF2- adds second EP also following Part 1, but with negative depth so that the two EPs detune apart from one another. Also adds stereo panning of the EP elements, RB- changes the volume of Part 1, which changes the filter cutoff and pitch of Parts 2 and 3. This would be fun to manipulate while playing.

15) 70s Solo- Keyboard split with Mark V on left hand for comping and typical 70s minimoog lead sound (actually FM, in this case…). MW- vibrato on lead, Super Knob - changes the relative volume of the synth lead from quiet on the left to louder on the right, AF1- darker, more ambient EP and lead, AF2- adds a fifth above to the lead, RB- changes the filter cutoff on the lead sound, AT- vibrato on lead

16) Accompanist Dreams- Keyboard split with Mark V on left hand delayed with different intervals and effects. The right hand is monophonic for soloing and is a map shifted Mark V and an FM lead that reminded me of something Chick might have used in the old RTF days. MW- vibrato on leads, SUPER KNOB- Lft: the FM lead drops out and most of the first half of the SUPER KNOB just adjusts the volume of the solo EP, the FM lead comes in at around the center of the SUPER KNOB and becomes more dominant as the Super Knob is moved to the Rt, AF1- the FM lead has multiple octaves and the top octave has a pretty strong personality. AF1 takes the upper octave operators out of the mix. AF2- adds a ring modulator to the solo EP, RB- changes the pitch of some of the operators in the FM lead sound. At the very top, middle and very bottom of the RB, the sound is at different octaves. Anywhere else and it’s FM craziness. If you play around with this while AF2 is on, you can get some wild enharmonic leads going. AT- vibrato on leads. In addition, delay times and other craziness is on the AKs, so you can change the delay times and feedback on the left hand EP.

Wow - these notes look very similar to "the book" I'd love to see of the presets so we could more fully utilize the presets with the original intent of the programmer captured. Information looks very useful.

Back to your question.

AK1- low eq,
AK2 - mid eq,
AK3 - hi eq,
AK4- tremolo,
AK5 - reverb send.
Global AK6- delay amount, AK7- delay time, AK8- delay feedback

These are individual knobs. Assignable Knob 1 (the left-most knob) controls low EQ. Next knob over is for mid. Next knob over is for hi eq. 4th knob is for tremelo. Next knob over is for reverb send.

Now the 6th knob shows "global" before it. I'm assuming knobs 1-5 are documenting PART level. And knob 6 is documenting when the assignable knobs are global for all PARTs. Could be wrong - this is where you'll need to dive into the settings and verify. I don't have this set loaded so I can't do it. I imagine "Global" applies to 6-8 and not only 6.

Glossary of some other terms:

AF1 = "Assignable Function" which on Montage is the button labeled "[ASSIGN 1]". AF2 would be the "[ASSIGN 2]" switch.
Sometimes, in other threads/contexts, you see these documented as AS1 AS2 or ASW1 ASW2 or SW1 SW2.
RB = Ribbon controller
MW = Modulation ("mod") wheel
AT = After touch (this one took me a second to think of as well)

Given all the abbreviations, I'm surprised they spelled out "Super Knob" instead of using "SK" - but at least that part is clear without a glossary.

... and not Montage related:

RTF = Return To Forever

Although previous to purchasing Return To Forever collaboration's Light As A Feather I had heard Chick's electric work - Light As A Feather was one of the first times I heard a more raw Rhodes sound from Chick instead of the more synth-inspired work of say the Elektric Band. Worth checking out for sure. It's not the first RTF album - I subsequently picked up others including "Return To Forever" (the album).

I misread your initial response. But after reading in more detail, you answered my question.

Thanks.
Karl

No problem - glad I could help. Although you didn't ask - I added the glossary of other terms for other readers who may benefit.