CS1x Background Edit is an easy-to-use application designed specifically for editing the Yamaha CS1x's background channels (5-16) when it is in Performance mode.

A couple of years ago I, along with a lot of other people, bought a Yamaha CS1x control synthesiser. At the time it was a great buy. It had a solid mix of electronic and acoustic sounds, and it had real-time control knobs--cool! However, the synth wasn’t all sweetness and light. In their wisdom, the engineers at Yamaha had designed it so that when it was in Performance mode (the mode containing all the groovy electronic sounds) only 1 out of a possible 16 MIDI channels could be accessed using the synth’s front panel--major bummer! Of course, you could set up the synth’s background channels (5-16) using sysex and control change messages in a MIDI sequencer although this was a major pain. Even using this approach you still couldn’t scroll through sounds quickly. This really bugged me. It seemed such a waste not to be able to use the synth’s full capabilities.

CS1x Background Edit addresses all of these limitations and more. The program consists of two sections: a Voice section and a Parameter section. The Voice section gives access to all of the CS1x's internal waveforms including Performance, XG and the "hidden" QS300 waves.

The Parameter section allows the user to set a wide range of parameters for each of the synth's background channels. These parameters include: Modulation, Volume, Panning, Portamento Time, Attack, Release, Resonance , Cutoff, Reverb Send, Chorus Send, Coarse Tune and Fine Tune. Portamento On/Off and Mono On/Off are also available.

The editor features a "Link Channel" option that allows you to control any or all CS1x background channels using a single master channel. This is great for things like filter sweeps across multiple channels. There's also a "Copy Channel Settings" option which makes it very easy to copy one channel's settings to another's. This is very handy for creating fat sounds where the only difference between channel settings is the tuning.

CS1x Background Edit really expands the potential of the CS1x. For example, it allows you to create super-fat patches using up to 16 channels. It also means that you don't have to use the CS1x "one sound at a time". Having access to the background channels makes the CS1x a far more powerful multi-timbral instrument.

All CS1x Background Edit settings can be saved in Standard MIDI File format. CS1x Background Edit is currently available in two formats: PC, and Yamaha's new OPT (Open Plug-in Technology). A Mac version will be released soon.