1985 (Dec.)
Initially sold for ¥144,000
The KX88 and KX76 MIDI Keyboard Controllers are designed to be "master keyboards" in a synthesizer setup. Although neither the KX88 nor the KX76 produce sound by themselves, they offer a great deal ofcontrol over the tone generators to which they are attached.
Both the KX88 and the KX76 are completely assignable MIDI keyboards. The keyboard is only part of the story: both instruments provide a number of other controllers, all of which can be programmed by the user to control any type of MIDI information.
Both keyboards provide inputs for two FC4-type footswitches, two FC7-type foot controllers, and one BC1 breath-controller. In addition, each keyboard provides 4 slider controls, 5 momentary switch controls, 2 toggle switch controls, 2 wheel controllers, and monophonic aftertouch control. Although all of these controls are given preset control assignments when the unit leaves the factory, every one of them may be programmed by the user. In short, the KX88 and KX76 controllers are completely programmable and assignable. Each of the controllers can be assigned to control a specific aspect of sound coming from an FM digital tone generator.
The KX88 and KX76 have three operating modes: Play, Controller Assign (CA), and Parameter Assign (PA).
- The Play mode is the one which most people are familiar with. It provides three types of keyboard operation: Single, Split, and Dual. In the Split and Dual modes, the KX will transmit on any two MIDI channels, and the split point (in Split mode) is fully programmable.
- The actual programming of the perform,· ance controllers is done in the Controller Assign Mode, (and, for more adventurous tasks, the Parameter Assign Mode). The Controller Assign Mode allows the user to take any of the Controller Code preset functions (assigned to hexadecimal numbers 00~3F) as well as any of the user-definable Controller Codes (hexadecimal numbers 40~FF) and assign them to any of the performance controllers.
- The real power of the KX Series lies in the Parameter Assign Mode.In this mode, any of the 192 user-definable Controller Codes may be defined to be any MIDI code. Once defined, these codes are then assigned to performance controllers in the CA Mode.
