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E-80 Music Workstation
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15. Programming Styles (Style Composer)
Concept
New Styles can be created in three ways:
• By converting portions of a Standard MIDI File into
an accompaniment to be played by the Arranger
(page 197).
• By creating new accompaniments from scratch
(page 202).
• By editing existing Styles, which requires that you
copy them and then alter the settings or notes you
do not like (page 208).
Patterns (Divisions)
Styles are short sequences, or patterns (of four or eight
measures) you can select in real-time. If you have ever
worked with a drum computer or groove box, the pat-
tern concept may sound familiar. Pattern-based
accompaniments usually consist of the following ele-
ments:
• The basic groove, i.e. the rhythm that is the backbone
of the song.
• Several alternatives for the basic groove that keep
the accompaniment interesting and suggest some
kind of “evolution” or “variation”.
• Fill-Ins to announce the beginning of new parts.
• An introduction and a closing section (ending).
Programming four to eight patterns for a three-
minute song is usually enough. Just use them in the
right order to make them suitable for your song.
The E-80 allows you to program 54 different patterns
per Style, some of which can be selected via dedi-
cated buttons (MAIN [1]~[4], etc.). Some Patterns are
selected on the basis of the chords you play in the
chord recognition area of the keyboard (major,
minor, seventh).
Tracks
Unlike a drum machine, a Style not only contains the
rhythm part (drums & percussion) but also a melodic
accompaniment, such as piano, guitar, bass and strings
lines. That is why the Styles work with tracks – eight to
be precise. See also “Arranger parts” on p. 82.
The part-to-track assignment is fixed. You cannot
assign the AccDrums part to track 6, for example.
The reason why the AccDrums part is assigned to the
first track and the ABass part to the second is that most
programmers and recording artists start by laying down
the rhythm section of a song.
There are exceptions to this rule, however, so feel free
to start with any other part if that is easier for the Style
you are programming.
Note: Though there are six (melodic) ACC tracks, most Styles only
contain two or three melodic accompaniment lines. In most
cases, less means more, i.e. do not program six melodic accompa-
niments just because the E-80 provides that facility. If you listen
very carefully to a CD, you will discover that it is not the number
of instruments you use that makes a song sound “big” but rather
the right notes at the right time.
Looped vs. one-shot patterns
The E-80 uses two kinds of patterns: looped divisions
and one-shot divisions.
■Looped divisions
Looped divisions are accompaniments that are
repeated until you select another division or press
[START÷STOP] to stop Arranger playback. The E-80
provides four programmable looped divisions (MAIN
[1]~[4]).
Looped divisions do not select other divisions when
they are finished (because they never end): they keep
playing until you select another division by hand (or
by foot).
■One-shot divisions
One-shot patterns (or “Divisions”) are only played
once and then select a looped division or stop the
Arranger. The E-80 uses the following one-shot divi-
sions: INTRO [1]~4, FILL UP [1]~[3], FILL DOWN [1]~[3]
and ENDING [1]~[4].
The division type also determines how the respective
tracks are played back. Any track of a looped pattern
that is shorter than another track is repeated until
the longest track is finished. Then, a new cycle begins.
Here’s how you can take advantage of that: if the
drums play the same notes during four measures,
while the rhythm guitar or piano needs four mea-
sures to complete a cycle, recording only one drum
measure is enough, because it is automatically
repeated until the longest track is finished.