Preferences
Choose menu File=>Preference in Windows or
omb=>Preferences in OSX to get in the Preferences Window.
MIDI Ports
MIDI In: Select a MIDI In port from the
listed ports that are available on your computer (if any). To
connect a MIDI keyboard controller you need a MIDI interface
cable. This MIDI interface comes with driver-software (mostly
automatically installed when plugged in). This driver will
show up in the MIDI In list. You can select more than one
MIDI Port if available, they will be merged.
MIDI Out: Select the MIDI Out port. By
default the JmSynth in Windows or QuickTime synthesizer in
OSX. Better sound quality can be obtained by using a better
external or software synthesizer.
Synthesizer compatibility defines how close
your synthesizer matches the synthesizer that the styles
where made for. If you have a Yamaha XG synthesizer then
choose XG else choose GM. Identical should only be chosen
when you only use styles that come from the arranger keyboard
that is currently also used as MIDI Out synthesizer, or if
you created the styles yourself for this synthesizer. Based
on the compatibility mode OMB will decide how the notes,
controllers, patches in the style will be played. E.g. the XG
drumnotes outside the GM range when played on a non-XG
synthesizer may unwantedly produce sounds of hooting owls and
crashing cars. In GM mode OMB will convert this XG notes to
GM notes that resemble the original XG drumsound. Another
example is the conversion of some Tyros voices. Part of the
note range for these instruments is not intended to play
notes but used instead to activate effects. If you play
styles for these instruments in "Identical" mode on
an ordinary XG or GM synth then you will hear annoying beeps.
In XG and GM mode these beeps will be filtered out.
GM bank: If the GM bank in your synthesizer
is not in bank 0 then you can specify the different bank
here.
Live control
Chord recognition:
Select the chord recognition method that you intend to use.
Fixation: Select the controller type (e.g.
from a MIDI footswitch) that will switch the chord
recognition on and off. With chordfixation on, the chord will
not change nomatter what you play.
Chord channel: Should only be specified when
using a MIDI accordion that sends chord notes and melody
notes on different channels. Or when you use separate MIDI
keyboard controllers for chords and melody. Select a specific
channel to receive chords from. If specified then highest
chord key is ignored, all notes from this channel are
regarded as (left hand) chord notes and all notes from other
channels are regarded as (right hand) melody notes. Default
is All: notes on all channels up to the highest chord key are
regarded as left hand notes and otherwise as right hand
notes.
Highest chord key: Specifies the split
between left hand chord area and right hand melody area of
the MIDI keyboard controller connected to the MIDI In port.
Be aware that the numbering of the notes may be not the same
as the ones printed on your keyboard. The C4 listed here is
the middle C. On your 61 keys keyboard the lowest key
corresponds with the C2 and the highest key with the C7.
Bass channel: Note played on this (MIDI in)
channel will be played with the instrument defined as
bass/split instrument in the current multivoice.
Keyboard split : Specifies an optional range
of the keyboard for a second melody instrument. It uses the
same instrument as the bass channel, which is defined in the
multivoice. If none, there is no range of the keyboard
assigned to this. If the value is lower than the highest
chordkey then the split area is to the left of the chord
area. If the value is higher than the highest chordkey then
the split area is to the right of the melody area.
Control device:
Choose to control the Live functions like selecting
variations, presets etc. with the computer keyboard, a MIDI
keyboard controller or a touch screen. The layout of the
labeled actions in the Live window will change accordingly.
When MIDI keyboard is selected you can specify a channel to
distinguish the control MIDI keyboard from the MIDI keyboard
that you use to play chords and melody. If you use only one
MIDI keyboard then specify an activation trigger that will
switch the function of your MIDI keyboard from playing to
control and vice versa. When Touch screen is selected then
choose the number of buttons to display.
Confirm restart: When chord recognition is
"full keyboard" or "guitar" then a
problem may occur when you keep playing melody after the
ending. If a chord is recognized then the accompaniment will
restart unwantedly. To prevent this check this option and the
accompaniment will not restart after the ending until you
have deblocked it with the confirm restart function (one of
the functions assignable to keys or MIDI messages).
Touch sensitive variations: At each chord
played a variation will be chosen depending on the velocity
of the chordkeys. So play the chord very softy to switch to
Main A and hit the chord hard to switch to Main D.
Slider actions: When you have sliders on
your MIDI keyboard controller that send MIDI messages to the
MIDI out port, then you can use these to control things like
tempo and loudness. For each of the options on the left you
can specify by which type of MIDI messages this will be
regulated and on which channel this message should be.
Functions and multivoices triggered by keys,
controllers and patches: For each of the functions
and multivoices listed on the left you can specify which MIDI
message coming from your MIDI keyboard controller will
trigger this function. Any key or any button, wheel or slider
that sends MIDI messages can be used. To define, click on a
function or multivoice on the list on the left and then
select the MIDI message that must trigger this on the right.
You can also select a combination of three adjacent notes to
trigger the action, then you can use the chord area both for
chordplaying and triggering actions.
Sound control
Controller defaults: If a style does not
contain specific settings for a channel regarding volume,
pan, reverb etc. then the values listed here will be used.
These initial controllers will be send when a style is
switched instead of a GM Reset which would cause a glitch
when switching styles non-stop.
Style loudness correction: When collecting
all kinds of styles from the internet you will notice that
the loudness of each style may vary a lot. This is a problem
when you are playing live and don't want to adjust volume
each time you switch styles. Therefor this can be automated
by selecting "Avarage" as correction method. If you
play styles where there is also too much difference in
loudness between the instruments in one style then you can
choose "Fixed".
Harmony velocity: Specify how loud the added
harmonies in the multivoices should be as percentage of the
note-on velocity of the original melody notes that you played
with your right hand.
MIDI files
MIDI file types: There are two types of MIDI
files, type 0 and type 1. In type 0 the events for all
channels are in one track. In type 1 each channel is in a
separate track. Although type 1 is most common, some
sequencers are not able to load type 1.
Save chords in marker or XF events: Things
like stylevariations, multivoices and chords are saved in a
MIDI file in marker events. This will ensure that if you load
and save the file in another sequencer these events will
survive. If you want to play the MIDI file in a Yamaha
keyboard you may choose to save the chords in Yamaha's XF
format so that they will be visible on the keyboard display.
Voice list
One Man Band organizes the list of voices for each bank of
your synthesizer in the same format as Cakewalk/Sonar. So if
you have an .ins file with the names of all instruments in
the different banks of your synthesizer dan you can load it
here. If you don't have such a file and your synth does have
more instrument banks than just GM that you want to use in
OMB, then you can specify the names for them here. These
instrument names wil be listed when you select an instrument
patch/bank in the multivoice editor and the sequencer
eventlist. To add an entry type a number that doesn't yet
exist and press update, to modify type an existing one with a
modified name and press update, to delete click on an
existing one and press delete.
Keyboard
In some countries the lay out of the computer keyboard is a
little different from the US layout, e.g. AZERTY instead of
QWERTY. That can be a problem when using the keyboard in the
Live window and the Sequencer main window. You can switch a
few keys in the lay out here, so they will be displayed in
the correct layout in the Live and Sequencer window..
Backup and restore
the configuration.
All the settings that you change are saved in the file
settings.cfg. This happens when the program is exited and
they are restored when the program starts. The settings
include all the menus and presets that you defined in the
live window. You can save (store) and load (restore) a backup
of the presets with the buttons at the lower right of the
window.