An aspect not covered in the article... my understanding is that you can use the pan effects to move two sounds of a split/layer to opposite sides. This could be useful, for example, to separate your LH bass sound from your other sounds (so you can send them to a bass amp for greater authenticity, or send a separate bass feed to FOH so the sound person can easily balance bass against drums independently of the levels of your other sounds), or to separate your organ sound from your other sounds (so you can send organ by itself to a Leslie or alternate rotary effect like a Neo Ventilator).

Scott, I know we've discussed this over on the KC before....but just to clarify, to do this right now you must fiddle with the Autopan effect and try to get it to stop in the right spot....and you must do that separately with each of the organ section (where you would need to use the main effect section) and keys 1 & 2 (if you're using both) using one of the two dedicated effects for each one of those. Also, I didn't test this out over a long period of time to see if the panning stayed stable. Regardless, it is an arduous process. I have posted on IdeaScale about this and am hoping that with an OS update, Yamaha will provide an easy and dedicated way to do this...but the reminders and pushing help!!! It's received good support so as long as it can be done via software, I am hopeful. Regards, Jim J (aka Counterpoint)

Thanks for the clarifications/caveats. I agree, it would be great if there were a better way to do this, something simpler that didn't monopolize use of some other effects. I don't mind so much that it's a bit arduos, in that it would be the kind of thing I would do and save as a Live Set, which could in turn (I assume) be used essentially as a template (copied) for any other similar split I may need, in which case one only needs to set it up once or twice (i.e. perhaps I'd set up one bass split with panning, and one organ split with panning, and use copies of those with alternate selected sounds for whatever specific combinations I might subsequently want).

That said, it does raise an eyebrow when you say, "fiddle with the Autopan effect and try to get it to stop in the right spot." IIRC, on the Nord that worked that way, simply turning the pan rate to zero locked it to motionless, and then the depth control could locate it at the left or right extreme (or at any point in between). Is it not that straight-forward on the YC?

Scott...tested it further. It's as I reported. You need to turn the autopan depth up all the way then try to "trap" the sound on one side or the other my moving the rate knob slightly up from 0 then back off. It can be done...but if you're playing and touch that rate knob in the slightest, it all falls apart. Also, it appears that you can't save this frozen position in a live set....I tried disengaging and re-engaging the effect and it sent the sound back to the middle. I tried it on my NE4 too. Even with the rate totally down it didn't freeze it...not sure which Nord model you might have been able to do this with. Continuing to hope that Yamaha implements this feature in an OS update...and/or, as I posted over on the KC, that they allow the different sections to be sent either to the analog outputs, the USB audio out or both. This would open up a huge number of possibilities for using outboard virtual effects.

re: "Also, it appears that you can't save this frozen position in a live set....I tried disengaging and re-engaging the effect and it sent the sound back to the middle"

That's very disappointing. Not being able to save the setup for quick recall almost entirely negates the function. Especially since if you're doing a whole gig where you want your LH bass separated from the rest you're going to want to be able to quickly swithc your RH sounds while keeping your bass going out its own output, which is not so practical if you can't save these setups. (Same with sending organ alone out to a Vent or whatever, as part of a layer or split).

re: "not sure which Nord model you might have been able to do this with"

Nord Stage, Stage 2, Stage 3 have this function.