When playing a performance and then switching to the next wile you did not yet released the last key you where playing, it will hold that note. For quit a long time. It is totally unwanted when playing fast riffs and switching fast between performances

Hi Stefan,
When you need very fast switching between sounds we recommend not using SSS, it has a very specific use case, which works exactly as intended for its intended use. We recommend you place the sounds you need to switch between in the same Performance and use the Part Select buttons to switch between them. This will be covered in depth in the upcoming video tutorials.

Basically, you can place the sounds you need side by side in a Performance, DO NOT use the KBD CTRL, now you can switch between them as fast as you'd like. Try it. Here's how to experiment.

Press [CATEGORY SEARCH]
Select INIT
Select MULTI/GM

Here you have a basic setup for 16 Part multi timbral use. Place the sounds you want in the various PARTS.
When you are ready to perform, simply light the [PART CONTROL] button and use the PART SELECT 1-16 buttons to select your Parts. There is not delay, no hangover, you can even switch Parts mid note without cutoff.

It is simply a matter of knowing which item to select on this Swiss Army knife. In the screenshot below I have eight different sounds that I can seamlessly switch between, and you will not be able to run faster than they change. I use this to demonstrate several lead sounds versus a rhythm section in Parts 9-12. Notice no KBD CTRL icons are lit, I must touch the Part Select button [1]-[8] to activate it.

Now I'm confused.......does that mean it will still be a SMOOTH MUSICAL TRANSITION OR AN ABRUPT JUMP TO THE NEXT PART?

Thanks
John

P.S. What IS the very specific use of SSS?

Seamless Sound Switching (SSS) lets you change performances seamlessly without any cut-off in envelope or effects. This is perfect for live performances where you end one song and start another without stopping.
* This function is only available for Performances that have a maximum of 8 parts.

Translation: you need to hold the last chord of one song (say sustaining a string sound) into the start of the next song, say with a piano sound. You can hit that last chord, hold the strings with the sustain pedal, switch to a piano sound and start playing the piano (without sustain) while strings still sustain. Finally, when you release the sustain pedal the strings disappear. This is a very typical musical use of the SSS feature. This can happen with any Performance using up to 8 Parts. It works because every sound has its own dual Insertion Effect and there are enough effect resources to pull this off.

But if you need to play fast licks while changing through sounds (focus on *fast* licks) this is not for SSS. If you're doing a sort of a non-musical torture test... Say like running a fast lick on an organ sound going up the keyboard and switching mid-run to a faster lick on a synth lead coming back down, then simply use the method I described above. In both instances the switch in sounds is smooth, seamless and no cut off of your sound. One is for a specific use, the other for the speed test.

Hi Phil,

I tried your method and it is indeed pretty fast. The transition is very smooth! Although there are a few disadvantages to it. It only works when I play one part at a time, so I can't use my layered performances for it. And the 2nd disadvantage to me is that I have to share the reverb, variation, master FX, master EQ...

I tried now to activate part 9 so that the SSS automatically turns off. Switching times between performances are still the same length now but the last note I played while switching performance won't keep sounding.
If there would be a way to make the switching time between performances shorter in a future update (with or without SSS) that would be great, so I don't have to compromise and can enjoy the sounds as I meant them to sound thru this beast! 🙂

Thanks!

How do I add SSS / seamless sound switching to a Performance that I created? It has less than 8 parts. I have several lined up in a Live Set and noticed that when I switch between the ones that don't show SSS, it's quite abrupt and just like a typical patch change on any board. I searched through the owners and reference manuals but can't find anything on enabling it. I also haven't figured out what's different between the Perfs that I created that has some with SSS and others without. They all have either Arp or Motion, effects, etc...in the event that matters.

I figured I'd add on to this thread as there don't appear to be others focused on SSS.

Garrett wrote:

How do I add SSS / seamless sound switching to a Performance that I created...

Never mind, I figured out the issue. On each perf I had one part hanging out on slot 16. I found it by looking at the mixing view and switching to the parts view instead of the default audio view.

SSS back in full effect 😀

That is curious. I also have several custom performances that still have "SSS" active and I have others that do not. What is causing some "SSS" to remain active after editing them while others are not? All are under 8 parts on mine also.

I experimented with adding parts and those I tested the "SSS" remained active. Did you create a performance from scratch?

Never mind, I figured out the issue. On each perf I had one part hanging out on slot 16. I found it by looking at the mixing view and switching to the parts view instead of the default audio view.

SSS back in full effect 😀

Glad you figured it out... By the way, in the extreme upper right corner of the main HOME screen you see an indication "9.........16" when you have a Part or Parts "hanging out" in the other view.

_ You can switch views by [SHIFT] + [PERFORMANCE CONTROL], the button will flash while viewing 9-16 (you will also notice that the upper right corner reads "1.......8" indicating Parts are assigned in the first eight locations.

_ You can press the [PART CONTROL] button to turn the top two rows of eight buttons into seamless sound switching buttons among all sixteen of the Parts, [1]-[16], in the current Performance. Try it!

You may never have to leave the single Performance for some transitions.

I noticed after updating to V1.20, switching time between performances are shorter and the last note you play won't keep "hanging" that long anymore.
So thank you YAMAHA for listening to your customers!!! 😉

Regards,

stef

I started new Init AWM2, added some parts to that Performance, but I did not see the SSS symbol on it? How can I add it to my Performance?

Thanks

Tho wrote:

I started new Init AWM2, added some parts to that Performance, but I did not see the SSS symbol on it? How can I add it to my Performance?

Thanks

There is no way to switch it on or off. It is just there *iff* you do not use parts 9-16 in your performance. Maybe by adding performances you actually spilled over into parts 9-16? Happened to me before. You can check by going to the "mixing" page in the performance view. Make sure to select "Part 1-16" to the left of the sliders on the screen. Then you should see all 16 parts at once and can find out if indeed there are parts there.

Hope that helps,

Stefan

I started new Init AWM2, added some parts to that Performance, but I did not see the SSS symbol on it? How can I add it to my Performance?

If your Performance qualifies for SSS, it will automatically appear. If it does not, it means your Performance does not qualify for SSS.
In order to qualify for the SSS, your program must be using just Parts 1-8.

Understanding the requirements will help understand how and why it works.
What causes the interruption in sound is the repatching of the Effect routing, which can be extremely complex in Montage. Each Element in the Normal AWM2 engine can be routed to one or the other or both or neither of the dual Insertion Effects available for the Part. Each Drum Key in an AWM2 Drum Kit can be routed to one or the other of the Kits dual Insertion Effect. Each FM-X Part can be routed to one or the other or both or neither of the dual Insertion Effects available to each Part.

Each Part goes through its own 3-band EQ pre- going through its Dual Insertion block. Then each Part goes through its own 2-band EQ post- the Dual Insertion block...

All of this under real time control of assigned controllers in an eight Part KBD CTRL Performance. You can switch between, at maximum, any two KBD CTRL Performances. KBD CTRL - Keyboard Control is an green icon found on the HOME screen. It denotes a Part that is active to be interacted with either directly via the key presses or indirectly via Arpeggios/Motion Sequences assigned to one of the first eight Parts of a Performance.

The way the Montage can switch between two Multi Part Performances without cutting sound off is, it has enough resources to support as many as 16 Parts each with its own dual Insertion Effects. When you move from one Multi Part program to another, in an SSS maneuver, the Montage reserves the resources so that there is no sudden interruptions of reverberation trails, delayed repeats, or movement because Montage has enough DSP to support 8 dual Insertion Effects Parts in each of the two programs, simultaneously.

If you've been in a pro studio, you've seen the patchbay. A field of jacks that represent the inputs and outputs of every piece of outboard gear in the studio. By the time the session is running, it looks like a rat's nest of wires going every which way. That's what the patching of a Montage looks like (only in the virtual world), the results would be the same... Imagine changing programs (Performances) is like ripping out and repatching all of those connections. Do you think there would be a sonic glitch?

How Montage gets around this is to divide the resources in two. One set for the SOURCE SSS and one set for the TARGET SSS Performance.
Make sense?

In order to qualify for the SSS, your program must be using Parts 1-8.
KBD CTRL does not have to be active to qualify, I should mention this... It is possible yo have several sounds under KBD CTRL for Multi play and several others as individual play. The real requirement is Parts 1-8.

Right now, SSS acts as a sort of FIFO

Performance1 - Hold notes
SSS
Performance2 - Held notes (Performance 1) + Performance 2 notes
SSS
Performance3 - Still holding performance 1 notes, but performance 3 over-writes performance 1 area now and turns off held notes

So SSS is kind of hard-coded to "flip flop" between two memory regions and will favor the most recent performance over a performance that is earlier in the "stack".

This makes the policy easy - and I'm actually OK with what we get today.

I'm wondering if there's any possibility to look at the held notes and determine which performance they come from (an SSS performance or the current performance that is loaded). Because it is possible you are still holding an SSS performance set of notes while switching to a 3rd performance - and NOT holding any notes of the current performance. If you were to hold ANY notes from the current performance (in addition to the previous, "SSS" performance) then the policy should be to favor the current performance and kill the previous SSS performance (like what is done today). But if no current performance notes are held - then overwrite the current performance and "patch" the new performance to what, before the switch, is the current performance area.

The use case to illustrate this sort of policy would be to hold a pad or organ or something that does not decay and "patch in" a new performance - still holding the drone pad - no carry-over of the new performance (held notes) - switch in a 3rd performance - still holding the pad.

It's not absolutely necessary - since there are other ways to work with what is available to accomplish the same thing - but a smarter SSS that sees it does not have to apply SSS in cases where no notes of the current voice are held over a performance switch would be incrementally better if this is possible.

The priority on such a thing would be way below most anything else. "Nice to have".