Switching/layering zones from the switch buttons

21 Dec 2022, 04:37

Hi. Online videos push the idea of using the pads to create switch groups/layers etc, but I was wondering if I could create my multi zone scene of bread and butter sounds and simply select/mute/layer those tones from the switch buttons on the left hand side? The old JV 90 could do this (as can units like the Kurzweil pc4.) The pad idea is great but I would love to be able to do instant single or double button presses with the left hand (which is usually less busy). Any clarity on this would be greatly appreciated, and help me decide whether to purchase the Fantom.
Cheers, Norm

Re: Switching/layering zones from the switch buttons

21 Dec 2022, 14:33

Yes, you can use the 8 ZONE INT/EXT buttons above the sliders on the left side to turn on/off the first 8 zones.

In more detail: The 8 buttons can be used for different purposes. By default, they are used to turn on/off zones, and this feature is also known as "keyboard switch". In your question, you mentioned the (keyboard) switch groups, and they control the keyboard switches of the individual zones. That means the ZONE INT/EXT buttons behave basically identically to the keyboard switch groups regarding how and when tones start/stop sounding, and whether controllers affect zones or not.

You can see the use of these buttons as keyboard switches in the following video starting at the linked time (and the part before that is interesting for context): https://youtu.be/7VZzVSPWmYY?t=181

The keyboard switch groups (via pads) do one other thing: They also might change the selected zone. This is important, however, difficult to explain. My recommendation is: Go to system settings and change "Zone Int/Ext Control" from "Basic" to "Advanced", and if you do that, the confusing interaction between enabled and selected zones becomes mostly irrelevant.

Re: Switching/layering zones from the switch buttons

21 Dec 2022, 15:58

Thanks XP30 for that clear and detailed explanation. Should have been so obvious, I know, but I must have missed the basic video. Much appreciated🙂