Yamaha PSR-A1000 Owner's Manual - Page 140

Using Your PSR-A1000 with Other Devices Now let's examine what happens when we play back a recording. When you playback a music CD (for example, a solo piano recording), you're hearing the actual sound (vibrations in air) of the acoustic instrument. This is called audio data, to distinguish it from MIDI data. Recording and playing back the performance of an acoustic instrument (audio data) Recording Playback The "controller" and "tone generator" in the illustration above are equivalent to the piano in our acoustic example. Here, the player's performance on the keyboard is captured as MIDI song data (see illustration below). In order to record the audio performance on an acoustic piano, special recording equipment is needed. However, since the PSR-A1000 features a built-in sequencer that lets you record performance data, this recording equipment is unnecessary. Instead, your digital instrument - the PSR-A1000 - allows you to both record and play back the data. Tone generator Sequencer In the above example, the actual acoustic sounds of the pianist's performance are captured in the recording as audio data, and this is recorded to CD. When you play back that CD on your audio system, you can hear the actual piano performance. The piano itself is not necessary, since the recording contains the actual sounds of the piano, and your speakers reproduce them. Recording and playing back the performance of a digital instrument (MIDI data) Recording Playback Controller (keyboard, etc.) FD Tone generator Sequencer Keyboard performance (MIDI data) However, we also need a sound source to produce the audio, which eventually comes from your speakers. The tone generator of the PSR-A1000 fills this function. The recorded performance is reproduced by the sequencer, playing back the song data, using a tone generator capable of accurately producing various instrument sounds - including that of a piano. Looked at in another way, the relation of the sequencer and the tone generator is similar to that of the pianist and the piano - one plays the other. Since digital instruments handle playback data and the actual sounds independently, we can hear our piano performance played by another instrument, such as guitar or violin. Even though it is a single musical instrument, the PSR-A1000 can be thought of as containing several electronic components: a controller, a tone generator, and a sequencer. FD In the case of digital instruments, the audio signals are sent through output jacks (such as AUX OUT) on the instrument. Finally, we'll take a look at the actual data that gets recorded and that serves as the basis for playing the sounds. For example, let's say you play a "C" quarter note using the grand piano sound on the PSR-A1000 keyboard. Unlike an acoustic instrument that puts out a resonated note, the electronic instrument puts out information from the keyboard such as "with what voice," "with which key," "about how strong," "when was it pressed" and "when was it released." Then each piece of information is changed into a number value and sent to the tone generator. Using these numbers as a basis, the tone generator plays the stored sampled note. 140 PSR-A1000