Ensemble Harmony and Intro and Endings 1

Bob H2 · Post by **Bob H2** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 8:34 pm

I am new to Korg arrangers and am slowly beginning to understand things. But some bewilder me . . .

When you use a variation 1 Intro or Ending with the PA3X, the harmony notes of the ensemble function are muted. I understand that this is common with certain other models of Korg arrangers so it is apparently an intentional software design. I have also found that a variation 1 Intro or Ending can be moved (copied) to the variation 2 position and the ensemble harmony notes are not muted at that location. So the muting action is not a part of the style element itself, but is apparently triggered by the variation 1 Intro and Ending buttons. An obvious solution is to move the style element to the position 2 location if one wants to use that style element and the ensemble function at the same time.

Many songs start with pick-up notes in a partial measure. For example, Moonlight Serenade starts with a single note in the measure before the first full measure. That note should be played during the last measure of the Intro. If you choose to use a Glen Miller type voice setup with the ensemble function providing the harmony notes, that first note will not include the ensemble harmony notes. So a style element in position 1 cannot be used in that scenario. Yes, there are ways around this, but why should it be necessary?

Special software code must have been written to prevent ensemble harmony notes from sounding during the intro1 or ending1 sequence. Is this a fear of exceeding polyphony limits? The variation 1 intro or ending sequence works fine with ensemble harmony, if it is moved to position 2. Although this is not an insurmountable problem, it would be nice to understand the logic of this . .

tommy1340millar · Post by **tommy1340millar** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:09 am

It's probably because intro1 is a programmed sequence of chords, and the harmony would be relative to whichever chord you press before starting the intro?

Bob H2 · Post by **Bob H2** » Mon May 21, 2012 10:27 pm

You would usually start the intro using a major chord in the key of the song. The keyboard still responds to changes in chords after the intro begins (as do all keyboards I have used). In fact, you can get some interesting variations of the intro by careful use of chord changes during the intro. And, to say again, it works perfectly if copied to the variation 2 position and used from that position . . .

There is no logic that I can think of, to the muting of ensemble harmony in position 1.