The MIDIBoard is one of the finest MIDI controllers ever built. I
bought mine brand new in 1989 and it has never failed me on stage or in
the studio. The MB is a pre-Young Chang product of the original
Kurzweil Music, released in 1987. It had a comprehensive
implementation of the MIDI specification at the time, although it does
not implement 14-bit NRPNs as the last OS (v3.0) was released before
the MIDI organization added NRPNs to the MIDI spec. When Young
Chang acquired Kurzweil Music in 1990, the MIDIBoard was not carried
over in their product line and production ceased.
The following description adheres to latest
firmware v3.0.
MIDIBoards can recall 99 setups with eight MIDI instruments per setup,
which can be layered or split in three zones. 178 MIDI
instruments can be defined (older firmware is limited to 89 MIDI
instruments).
Each MIDI instrument has 48 parameters (older OSes have fewer
parameters) that define the instrument - MIDI channel, program #,
transpose, split zone 1/2/3 (with assignable split points), aftertouch,
slider assignments, pedal
assignments, etc. You also have any of ten MIDI strings you can
define as instruments, which requires hexadecimal codes to represent
the MIDI message (not for the novice). MIDI strings are handy for
configuring FX devices or sending bank change messages, when you do not
require the depth of parameters in a MIDI instrument.
Programming the MIDIBoard requires the user manual for reference, as
the only interface provided is an eight LED display and an array of
buttons. If you're auditioning a MB or giving it a first run,
read the manual first or you will get confused if you play with the
buttons. The user manual will guide you through, and it doesn't
take long to get the hang of programming. The best approach is to
build a "skeleton" instrument or setup that you can make a copy of and
manipulate those parameters. A pdf of the user manual has been
seen on the internet, google for it (it is too large for my webspace).
A setup can have user-defined split points and programmed values for
attack velocity, release velocity, touch, pressure sensitivity,
retrigger threshold, and arpeggiator parameters. You can change
attack/release/touch/pressure/retrigger at any time with the
slidepots. Yes, the MB can generate MIDI note off messages with
release velocity, although some sequencers will not record release
velocity. But what is "retrigger threshold"? When combined
with pressure aftertouch (retrigger is off with the slidepot all the
way up), you can send multiple MIDI note messages for that note by
varying the pressure with your fingers. This feature, unique to
the MB, allows you to emulate rapid events like snare rolls or cymbal
rolls. It is especially effective for cymbal rolls - with the
right pressure/retrigger settings, you can very accurately simulate a
cymbal roll and fade it in and out.
The arpeggiator is quite full featured, although I haven't much use for
them. The arp is capable of syncing to external MIDI clock with
clock divisions, clock bpm can be set by either assignable slidepot or
CV pedal, or to a fixed bpm (40-999 bpm). Curiously, the MB does
not generate a MIDI clock at its MIDI output port - a sad omission that
would have made it a complete MIDI controller as I did have occasion I
could have used the arpeggiator as a master clock source for
sequences. The arpeggiator can be active in any split zone or the
entire keyboard, and there are quite a variety of latching, play order,
and note shift options. It's been years since I experimented with
the arpeggiator so my discussion is rather limited (apologies).
Two assignable slidepots, two assignable return-to-center wheels, and
two assignable CV pedal inputs provide real-time MIDI
controllers. Pressure aftertouch is available in channel or key
mode (described in detail below). The wheels can have different
MIDI CCs in each direction from center. Four assignable switches
and a dual footpedal switch round out the user controls. The
assignable switches can be configured as momentary or toggle
on/off. The on/off values of the switches and the footpedal
switch can be values other than 0 and 127. I tend to assign one
of the switches to a preset volume, while another is assigned to soft
pedal - soft pedal, while rarely implemented, is optimal for changing a
MIDI instrument from rhythm volume to solo volume. Sending a MIDI
volume message affects all voices on the channel on reception, which
isn't ideal having held chords suddenly change volume. Soft pedal
MIDI messages do not affect current notes - only succeeding MIDI notes
are played at different volume. Soft pedal is much more useful
for toggling between rhythm and solo volume, but it is rarely
implemented.
Mono Aftertouch is flexible in that any MIDI CC can be assigned to
monoAT, as well as mod wheel or pitch bend up or down.
Although three split zones might sound limited today, it is actually
practical enough with an 88 key controller. The only omission I
would've liked is 14-bit NRPNs, but I can live without them. But
even today the MIDIBoard is a powerful MIDI controller. I used to
use mine onstage to automatically change patches, volume, FX, and other
parameters for each song. It required some elbow grease, but once
the songs were programmed it was a breeze to automate sounds for each
song. top
Two reasons why the MIDIBoard is popular
among
owners are its action
and its polyphonic aftertouch. The keys are solid wood and
are good long length with the fulcrum pins at approximately the same
point of a real piano. And the mass of the keys helps to make
aftertouch very controllable. There were two different keysets
for the wood action depending on where the MB was made. If the
rear panel badge says "Made in USA" then it has the Baldwin
keyset. If it says "Made in Japan", then you're in luck.
Hal Chamberlin, the designer of the
MB, tells me that Hammond-Suzuki (yes, the Hammond clonewheel
makers!!!) built the wooden keyset for the japanese models. The
H-S keysets feel wonderful,
the closest to a real
piano I have experienced. To date I have yet to find a controller
whose action feels as good as the H-S equipped MB. I have played
other MBs with the Baldwin keyset, it feels looser and lighter than the
H-S but it is still a good action for piano players. top
Polyphonic aftertouch... the biggest feature of
the MIDIBoard.
Few MIDI synths respond to polyAT, and the MB is one of the few
controllers to feature it. But once you experienced polyAT,
you'll wonder how you worked without it. Channel
aftertouch (aka monophonic aftertouch) only generates a single
aftertouch message per midi channel, no matter how many keys are
pressed. MonoAT is often used as a substitute for the mod wheel
to impart vibrato. Key aftertouch
(aka polyphonic aftertouch) generates an aftertouch message per key. Each individual key
has separate polyAT controls. This is best exploited to modulate
volume or timbre of voices. Strings and choirs are great voices
for polyAT, as you can fade in/out individual notes just by varying the
pressure in your fingers. You get very realistic swells when
using this technique. Pads and other synth voices benefit greatly
when polyAT is routed to filter cutoff, so you can make each note
brighter or duller by varying the pressure in your fingers.
But be warned - polyAT can generate very dense MIDI traffic that can
overwhelm MIDI devices. Some MIDI sequencers will not record
polyAT messages. One of my early experiments with the MB was with
my Memorymoog. When polyAT (inadvertantly left on) overwhelmed
that poor Z80 processor in the Memorymoog, it sent it into never-never
land (the only time I ever had this happen) and upon cycling power on
the Memorymoog, I discovered that several patches had been overwritten
because the MIDI buffer stack in the MM had overflowed and thus spilled
over into patch memory. Ouch!
PolyAT fell out of favor until the arrival of softsynths, primarily the
Arturia CS-80V. This softsynth is a software emulation (rather
good one too, I played with it at a NAMM show) of the famed Yamaha
CS-80 of the late 1970s, an analog polysynth which also featured
polyAT. The CS-80V will respond to MIDI polyAT, but customers
found that there were no MIDI controllers in production that generated
polyAT! GEM and Ensoniq made keyboards with polyAT, but they were
not 88 key weighted action controllers. Suddenly MIDIBoards were
back in demand, as CS-80V users wanted them for their polyAT features. top
Firmware v3.0 is the last and best OS and can be
identified by the 48
instrument parameters on the front panel label
(older OS have fewer
parameters), and when the MB boots up "M I D I B d 3 0" appears briefly
on the display. Many older MIDIBoards have been updated to v3.0
and it is common to find panel overlays over the old panel
legends. No new firmware has been released since 1989 and
Kurzweil under Young-Chang no longer supports the MIDIBoard.
MIDIBoards with older OS could be upgraded to v3.0 but the upgrade may
not be as simple as
copying OS EPROMs. MBs had three versions of the logic boards
(located at the rear of the chassis), and
if your MB contains the first version of the board (about 12 inches
long) then a daughterboard is required along with the v3.0 ROM
upgrade. There is no known source for these daughterboards as
they are long out of production. If your MB has the long logic
board then no daughterboard is needed, only the EPROMs.
Users may be curious of the dual MIDI output jacks. The same MIDI
data is transmitted out both jacks. The logic
board does contain the hardware for the MIDIBoard to have independent
MIDI outputs, but it was never implemented in firmware. I am an
embedded software developer, so when I encountered Hal Chamberlin at a
NAMM show I asked since the MIDIBoard is now long out of production,
could I have the source code so I could implement updated MIDI features
and those separate output ports? To my surprise, Hal graciously
emailed me the source code to OS v3.0. I do not have the time or
tools to monkey with that code, but maybe someday.
Back when I bought the MIDIBoard brand new, I opted for a pair of
Morley control pedals that were designed for the controller - the model
number on the badge is KRZ-WL. They
are good quality controllers although Morley hasn't made them in
years - nothing made today is as rugged as these good old METAL
assemblies. Here's some pics of them. The ATTACK switch
actually selects a linear sweep (A) or pseudo-exponential sweep (B),
and the MINIMUM VOLUME pot sets the minimum CC value with the pedal all
the way back.
The MIDIBoard doesn't have an input to
accept a Yamaha breath controller but the user manual does have a schematic
on how to build an adapter that works with the assignable CV pedal
input. I have built this converter and it works. If you're
going to use the MIDIBoard to orchestra MIDI scores, this is a really
good controller to have for authentic wind instrument simulation.
Today's MIDI controllers are not as rugged or full featured by
comparision, and their actions are inferior to the H-S keybed on the
MB. Sadly in today's competitive market, customers got too price
conscious and the product offerings had been compromised as a
result. Although the MIDIBoard does not support 14-bit NRPNs,
third party controllers are available for that; it is not necessary for
me to have every feature in
my MIDI controller. In the meantime, the MIDIBoard will continue
to serve me as my favorite
MIDI controller. top
Good weighted action MIDI controllers were made
back in the late
1980s. But not today. I have auditioned a lot of
controllers and have yet to find one that feels as good as the
MIDIBoard - modern weighted action controllers simply do not have the
feel and inertia of a wood piano action. They don't have the
sophisicated features of the MB, are marketed towards the home
recording musician, and are simply not rugged enough for touring.
The lack of good MIDI controllers is a common topic for discussion
forums these days.
When I had joined a southern rock weekend band
playing piano,
EPs, Hammond, and 3rd guitar I needed a good MIDI controller as I had a
lot of sound configurations to automate between songs. By then my
MIDIBoard was
firmly rooted in my studio, so I opted for a 2nd "road" MIDIBoard to
form my keyboard offsite
rig.
The "road" MIDIBoard went through some restoration. This unit had
obvious damage signs of a fall from a blunt object and the slidepots
got broken. The slidepots were no longer available on the market
and no suitable replacement could be found. I got around this in
two ways: the five slidepots that configure attack velocity, aftertouch
sensitivity, etc could be "hard coded" into a MB setup. As for
the slide A and slider B controls, I decided to route them to footpedal
controls. I was also interested in minimizing setup/breakdown
time by consolidating multiple footswitches and sweep pedals. My
Moog
Polypedal hadn't seen much use as I no longer used it with the
Polymoog so I decided it
would be the perfect footpedal solution, as everything I
needed was in one unit and it could eliminate multiple cables with a
single multicore cable. Being a heavy road-rugged unit, it also
doesn't slip away from your feet like individual pedals do.
Another problem with this "road" unit was the
keydip - it
was too
shallow. I really wanted the feel of my 1st MIDIBoard.
After some investigation I uncovered that the source of the difference
was the pedestal on which the hammer sensors were attached. The
only solution was to insert shims to raise the sensors a little higher
and it worked great.
The shims have to be nonconductive, so the
best solution was polymer. I measured the required thickness of
the shim and found the stock at my local hardware store, where they
could cut the polymer into the strips I needed.
I really am spoiled by the MIDIBoard. More than once I had
encouraged Hal Chamberlin to reissue a product like the MIDIBoard as he
still worked at Kurzweil. Hasn't happened yet.
