The Owner’s Manual is vague on this, so I’d like to see if anyone here knows the answers…

1. In Voice mode, is it possible to call up a sound (at least a sound in the current bank) using the keys under the display as a number pad (the NUM function), in the case where you know the patch number of the sound you want to call up? Or must you scroll using the Data dial and INC/DEC buttons?

2. Similarly, in Voice mode, if you invoke Category Search and scroll to your Favorites category, can you then choose sounds from among your Favorites using the number pad (i.e. hit 7-enter or whatever to get right to your seventh entry in that category), or again, must you scroll using the Data dial and INC/DEC buttons?

(Also, how many voices can you put into your Favorites category?)

3. If you use Category Search and select a voice from your Favorites category, and later you go back to the Category Search function to select another voice, will it default to the last category used, so that you will instantly be in your Favorites category? Or will you have to again scroll to that category first? (Or does it always default to the Favorites category anyway?)

4. If I understand correctly, in Voice mode, the “Group [A] – [H] buttons” select a category (I guess there are 8 categories?), and then the “Number [1] – [16] buttons” would select 16 sounds in that category, I guess the first 16 by default, is that right? If that’s the case, can you change which 16 sounds are assigned to those buttons? (If so, can you even assign sounds that are actually in other categories?)

Also, if you are playing a sound that is, say, “Group B, sound 2” and you switch to “Group C, sound 5,” what happens the next time you hit the Group B button? i.e. does it go back to sound 2 (the last sound you had selected in Group B), or does it stay on sound 5? (Or does it go back to sound 1, which I assume is the initial default?)

And whatever the right answers are here, I assume the functionality is the same for selecting Performance and Master setups when you’re in Performance mode or Master Mode (assuming that the various other settings that can alter the functions of these buttons--like mute, track, and solo buttons--are turned off), yes?

5. When using the Split function to select a second voice (for either the upper or lower part), the manual shows you can select the second voice by navigating via category, but is that the only way? i.e. you cannot alternately select a voice by bank and location number? Or by selecting a voice using the “Group [A] – [H]” and “Number [1] – [16]” buttons (if they work as voice select buttons in general, as I assumed above)? And in a reiteration of some of what I’ve talked about above in a different context, if you select a voice from your Favorites category as your new Split voice, and you later go back to create a different split, will it default to the Favorites category this next time, or will you have to again scroll to it (or is it defaulting to the Favorites category anyway)?

6. If you create a Split--say, bass and piano--and save it as a Performance (let’s call it Performance A), and then create a second Split with the same bass, but, say, organ instead of piano (call it Performance B) and in live performance you switch from Performance A to Performance B, can you continue to play the common voice (left hand bass, in this case) without an audible “glitch” or dropout as it switches the right hand part from the piano patch to the organ patch?

Thanks to anyone who has any of the answers!

If while in VOICE mode, you know where a sound is, you can select it via the buttons [1]-[16] because you can view 16 VOICE programs in the screen simultaneously. The GROUP buttons A-H each, when pressed will display 16 VOICE names, you select the VOICE directly by pressing a numbered button [1]-[16]. There are 16 categories as each GROUP button can be clicked once for the first category and a second time for the other category.

You can have every VOICE as your Favorite (although that completely defeats the purpose of the concept “favorite"). A preferred (recommended) method of organization of VOICES would have you either placing your Favorite VOICES in the USER bank Grouped as is convenient for your need. Or using the MASTER mode to organize the recall order of programs.

You can when constructing a PERFORMANCE use any method of VOICE selection you prefer. The “PERFORMANCE CREATOR” function is provided to make it easy to select your VOICE via the CATEGORY SEARCH feature. If you prefer not to use this method for creating a PERFORMANCE you can simply assemble yours without the Performance Creator, by selecting VOICES via the front panel BANK SELECT / GROUP / PROGRAM number buttons.

If you require to switch the right hand PART of a PERFORMANCE from Piano to Organ while keeping the left hand sound the same, you do not need to setup a second PERFORMANCE. You could:

PART 1 = your bass sound
PART 2 = your piano sound
PART 3 = your organ sound

Press [PERFORMANCE CONTROL]
You have dedicated buttons to activate and deactivate PARTS of your PERFORMANCE. With a single gesture you can turn the Piano OFF, while turning the Organ ON. Thus avoiding any audible glitch… which would surely happen if you advanced from one PERFORMANCE location to another. In general, you can always avoid any such problem by selecting the correct mode to accomplish the task.

Hope that helps.

Bad_Mister - 12 April 2011 01:42 PM

If you require to switch the right hand PART of a PERFORMANCE from Piano to Organ while keeping the left hand sound the same, you do not need to setup a second PERFORMANCE. You could:

PART 1 = your bass sound
PART 2 = your piano sound
PART 3 = your organ sound

Press [PERFORMANCE CONTROL]
You have dedicated buttons to activate and deactivate PARTS of your PERFORMANCE. With a single gesture you can turn the Piano OFF, while turning the Organ ON. Thus avoiding any audible glitch… which would surely happen if you advanced from one PERFORMANCE location to another. In general, you can always avoid any such problem by selecting the correct mode to accomplish the task.

I like that solution, thanks.

Now I’m wondering, though, if there’s a way to accomplish that task (change the right hand sound without causing any glitch in the left hand sound) in a manner that would permit me to select from a wider range of right hand sounds. Using Performance mode is clearly a great solution if I’m only switching between 2 right hand sounds (or 3, if a Performance can be set up with one sound on the left and 3 sounds on the right, I’m not sure whether or not that is possible...?) --- but what if I want to pick from a wide range of sounds on the right?

i.e.—keep non-glitching bass going on the left, and be able to switch the right from piano to organ or brass or strings or clav or EP or flute etc. I wonder, is it possible to start in voice mode, pick your bass sound, then hit the split button, select the right hand sound (say, piano) and then start playing *without* hitting the Enter button to complete the operation, and have it function (i.e. you would already be getting bass on the left and piano on the right); and then, while continuing to play left hand bass, at any time, since you are still on the “right hand performance select” screen, you could select any other sound at any time, without glitching the bass, would this work? And if so, is it possible to pick your next sound with direct-entry buttons instead of rotary (or INC/DEC) scrolling, either by using the NUM pad under the LCD display to enter the number of a Voice, or by hitting a “Number [1] – [16] button” on the right to call up a voice that is assigned to one of those buttons, which would possibly give single-button access to 16 possible right hand sounds?

I guess you can tell from my questions, I am completely focussed on usability for live performance!

I spent a few hours with the MOX, and I figured out, yes, there is indeed a way to keep a bass patch going with your left hand and change the right hand sound to any sound whatsoever in live performance without causing any glitch to the bass part. Cool!

It wasn’t the simplest thing to set up--I still feel I am battling with the interface a bit, and the manual drives me batty (I think the manual makes the interface seem more complicated than it really is)--but once I figured out how to set it up, it did just what I wanted.

The only thing I couldn’t get it to do is continue to play the my right hand chord (held with the the sustain pedal) after I selected the next voice, to make the transition to the next right hand voice completely seamless. I do that with my Casio PX-3 (the piece the MOX would be replacing). Is there any way to do this?