Combining Polyphonic and Monophonic Voices

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Combining Polyphonic and Monophonic Voices

Postby Hugh-AR » 09 Nov 2019 23:02

On my AR Organ I can choose Voices like Piano, Strings, Guitar etc. and all these are 'Polyphonic' ie. if I play two or more notes on the keyboard then these instruments will sound multiple notes. But I have one section called LEAD VOICE that plays Monophonic notes ie. it will only play one note at a time. If I play multiple notes then only the top note I press will sound. I had originally understood that these were for SOLO instruments, and indeed the direct choices I have in that block are VIOLIN, FLUTE, OBOE and TRUMPET, all of which I would expect to be playing a melody 'on their own' and not have several of the same instrument playing multiple notes.

On my AR, these LEAD voices are 'richer sounding' than the same voice chosen from the Voice sections. This is because they can be 'tuned' to make them slightly sharp and make them stand out; and they also have a greater volume.

But in that same section I have a Tab I can press to choose any of the voices available to me. Like Piano, or Guitar. Of course, if I do this I can only 'sound' one note at a time, so I have to play the melody with just the one note. This reminds me of a Yamaha Keyboard I had years ago when I had my Farfisa organ (yes, I did have a keyboard many years ago). When it was set up to play the whole keyboard (ie. no split) it would play multiple notes (ie, it was polyphonic), but as soon as I 'split' the keyboard to play chords with Styles on the left of the split .. the right of the split became Monophonic and would only play one note at a time. Keyboards have come a long way since then, but I have always thought that a Monophonic voice was a let-down in technology.

I couldn't have been more wrong, as I want to show you in this topic. In the DEMO below I have first set up a Piano Accordion and a Grand Piano from Voice 1 and Voice 2, so they are both Polyphonic voices. Listen to how the notes I play sound with both instruments. I have played it like this twice.

In the next part of the DEMO I have set up the Piano Accordion as a LEAD Voice (so it's MONOPHONIC); and the Grand Piano as a normal Voice (so it's POLYPHONIC). When I play notes you can hear the two instruments sounding together .. but when I reach that top note I hold that note down and play other notes underneath that top note with my other fingers.

Now the essence of the LEAD Voice is that being MONOPHONIC, it will only sound the top note I am playing (and holding). So those other notes I am playing underneath with the POLYPHONIC Grand Piano will sound as Grand Piano without the Accordion sound.

Have a listen to what I am on about. Click the below, then afterwards click the back-arrow to get back to this page.

DEMO of two Polyphonic Voices being played together; followed by what you hear when one is Monophonic and the other is Polyphonic

Using this technique you can play little 'counter melodies' underneath a top melody note which you are holding down.

Now listen to this piece. None of it has been 'multi-tracked'. The little counter melodies that you hear are by using the technique above.
To reiterate, the melody is played with the Piano Accordion .. and Grand Piano, together; but the little counter-melodies are Grand Piano only.

Do a right-click to open this up in a New Tab
https://app.box.com/s/8uhqhzyui50oub5sau6v4ut3ri48becl

I will never again think that MONOPHONIC Voices are a let-down in technology. I realise now that if a Monophonic Voice is played with a Polyphonic Voice one can use the technology to enhance one's playing by putting in little counter-melodies that sound with only one Voice.

Hugh
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Re: Combining Polyphonic and Monophonic Voices

Postby Hugh-AR » 12 Nov 2019 15:39

In the post above I have called the MONOPHONIC section LEAD Voice as this is what it is called on my Yamaha AR Organ. I'm sure this will be called something else on other makes of keyboard. In the Genos Reference Manual they say this about Voices:

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.. so looks as though there isn't a specific section for Monophonic Voices as any Polyphonic voice can be turned into a Monophonic one.

Here is a video where he shows quite clearly how he plays the melody with a MONOPHONIC voice (the Flugelhorn) and playing with it he has a Saxophone as a POLYPHONIC voice. You can see him playing notes under the melody with his other fingers .. and these notes only give a saxophone sound. Note that he does have to 'hold' that top note while he is doing this, otherwise the Flugelhorn will suddenly 'jump' down to a lower note he is playing. Another thing that might not be quite clear in this video is that the melody he is playing does actually sound with both the Flugelhorn and the Saxophone. As the volumes of these two instruments can be set independently, one can set the Monophonic voice to be louder than the Polyphonic one. Then the melody will be predominantly the Monophonic instrument.

Mixing Polyphonic and Mono Voices

It's all about the music ♫ ♪ ♫ Organ: Yamaha AR80 & Keyboard: Tyros 4
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Re: Combining Polyphonic and Monophonic Voices

Postby Hugh-AR » 12 Nov 2019 21:48

Here's another song I have played, Blue Moon where I have used the technique described above. I have set up a Clarinet as the Monophonic voice; and Grand Piano as the Polyphonic voice. I always find it is more effective to have a continuous sounding voice as the Monophonic one playing the melody. By that I mean a voice which when you hold the note down it continues to sound until you lift your finger off the key. So this can include Organ sounds, like Hammond; Strings; Piano Accordion; any Woodwind or Brass instrument etc. And then to have the Polyphonic voice as a 'percussive' instrument, like Piano or Vibraphone etc. Playing a counter-melody with a 'percussive' instrument makes the counter-melody really stand out as the essence of playing a percussive instrument is to hit the notes sharply.

It's in the second part of the tune that I have done this. If you listen very carefully, both Clarinet and Piano are playing together for the melody. Then so long as I hold that top note down, the Clarinet will keep sounding while I play the counter melody notes underneath that top note with my 'free' fingers. It's only the Piano that plays the counter-melody notes.

Click the LINK below to hear the song.
After you have listened, click the 'back arrow' to get back to this page.
Blue Moon (MP3)
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Re: Combining Polyphonic and Monophonic Voices

Postby Rev Tony Newnham » 13 Nov 2019 09:42

Hi

My HS8 has that function. I've used it a couple of times, but as stated above, your fingering technique has to be good to prevent unwanted notes. I learned classical organ back in the '60's when producing an absolutely smooth legato was the "done things" (i.e. no gaps between notes). All very well, until you try and play something using the decay function of the day, which required all notes to be released before it would re-trigger.

If you use mono voices, don't forget yourself & try & play chords!

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Re: Combining Polyphonic and Monophonic Voices

Postby Hugh-AR » 13 Nov 2019 17:13

Thanks for that, Tony. You're quite right .. when you are playing in Monophonic mode you must be very aware of how this feature works. It works fine when you are playing single notes, but if you play more than one note you have to make sure that the top note is never released while other notes are being played underneath it .. or the top note will suddenly jump down to the next 'top note' being held.

So chords almost have to be 'rolled'. Make sure the top note is struck .. and then roll downwards for the other notes in the chord. I don't mean slowly .. do it fast! And when taking your hand off, roll 'upwards' so the top note is the last one being released. This is a technique that you really have to concentrate on. When you play a chord normally, you are probably thinking that you are pressing all the notes of the chord at the same time. That is an impossibility. Although close, some notes will always make contact before others.

In that video above, if you concentrate hard you can hear that top note jumping down in quite a few places as he tries to 'fill in' underneath with saxophones. I only use this feature when the melody is 'held' and it's possible to put a little counter-melody in underneath while that note is being held.

Click on the DEMO below to hear what can happen to the melody if you try to play chords. I have deliberately removed any 'polyphonic' voices as they don't jump about when they are released so will provide stability to the melody. Not so easy to hear what is going on with the monophonic voice.

After you have listened, click on the 'back-arrow' to get back to this page.
DEMO of trying to play chords with a Monophonic Voice
It's all about the music ♫ ♪ ♫ Organ: Yamaha AR80 & Keyboard: Tyros 4
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