Subsystem Search

This page is read from MIDI Instrument Definitions, a Python library used in the author's other projects, in which every number is traced to a document its maker published. Its source is on GitHub.

Roland TR-6S MIDI implementation

The MIDI implementation of the Roland TR-6S: what it answers to, and the 34 controls it offers, on firmware 2.00.

At a glance

Firmware
This page describes firmware 2.00.
MIDI channel
Any one of 1 to 16.
MIDI mode
4: omni off, mono.
Voices
Not recorded.
Notes
Each note plays a drum of its own, assigned by the player; the factory notes are listed below.
Note range
Not recorded.
Velocity
Received.
Aftertouch
None, sent or answered.
Pitch bend
Not recorded.
Program change
Received and sent, with 128 presets.
MIDI clock
Sent and received.
Start and stop
Sent and received.
Control change
34 controls, in the tables below.
NRPN
None.
System exclusive
Not recorded.

Drum notes

Each drum's note is assigned by the player, and these are the notes it has from the factory.

Drum Note
bd 36, C2
sd 38, D2
lt 43, G2
hc 39, D#2
ch 42, F#2
oh 46, A#2

Controls

In the order the definition gives them, by group. Under each control is the name a program calls it by, once pymidiinstrumentdefs.load("roland/tr_6s") has loaded them.

Kit and pattern

Control CC Values
BEAT
beat		 2 0-127
Sent, never received
SHUFFLE
shuffle		 9 0-127
MASTER FX
master_fx		 15 0-127
DELAY LEVEL
delay_level		 16 0-127
DELAY TIME
delay_time		 17 0-127
DELAY FEEDBACK
delay_feedback		 18 0-127
MASTER FX CTRL
master_fx_ctrl		 19 0-127
FILL IN TRIG
fill_in_trig		 70 0-127
Sent, never received
ACCENT
accent		 71 0-127
REVERB LEVEL
reverb_level		 91 0-127

BD

Control CC Values
BD TUNE
bd_tune		 20 0-127
BD DECAY
bd_decay		 23 0-127
BD LEVEL
bd_level		 24 0-127
BD CTRL
bd_ctrl		 96 0-127

SD

Control CC Values
SD TUNE
sd_tune		 25 0-127
SD DECAY
sd_decay		 28 0-127
SD LEVEL
sd_level		 29 0-127
SD CTRL
sd_ctrl		 97 0-127

LT

Control CC Values
LT TUNE
lt_tune		 46 0-127
LT DECAY
lt_decay		 47 0-127
LT LEVEL
lt_level		 48 0-127
LT CTRL
lt_ctrl		 102 0-127

HC

Control CC Values
HC TUNE
hc_tune		 58 0-127
HC DECAY
hc_decay		 59 0-127
HC LEVEL
hc_level		 60 0-127
HC CTRL
hc_ctrl		 106 0-127

CH

Control CC Values
CH TUNE
ch_tune		 61 0-127
CH DECAY
ch_decay		 62 0-127
CH LEVEL
ch_level		 63 0-127
CH CTRL
ch_ctrl		 107 0-127

OH

Control CC Values
OH TUNE
oh_tune		 80 0-127
OH DECAY
oh_decay		 81 0-127
OH LEVEL
oh_level		 82 0-127
OH CTRL
oh_ctrl		 108 0-127

Where these facts come from

Source documents

How they were read

MIDI Implementation Chart, one sheet, marked Version 1.00 and dated April 22 2020: p. 1, which is the whole of the control map and the note table below it. Parameter Guide, 15 pages, the edition Roland names 04: the effects on pp. 2 and 3, the assignable knobs on p. 7, the kit count and the shuffle on p. 13, and every MIDI setting on p. 14. Owner's Manual, 40 pages, edition 02: the connectors on p. 6 and the data layout on p. 8. And Roland's own system program page, for the version history.

THIRTY-FOUR CONTROL CHANGES AND SIX INSTRUMENTS. Twenty-four of the numbers belong to the six instruments the chart names - BD, SD, LT, HC, CH and OH - four each, tune, decay, level and one control. The other ten are kit and pattern settings: the master effect and its control, the delay's level, time and feedback, the reverb's level, the shuffle, the accent, the fill-in trigger and BEAT.

THE LABELS ARE THE CHART'S OWN WORDS IN ITS OWN CAPITALS, because its remark column is all there is: "BD TUNE", "MASTER FX CTRL" (chart p. 1) and "FILL IN TRIG" (chart p. 1). The committed roland/tr8s writes the same names in title case because it had a second source - a working map of that machine, whose names it follows - and this instrument has nothing of the kind.

THIRTY-TWO OF THE THIRTY-FOUR GO BOTH WAYS AND TWO DO NOT, and they are not the same case. cc 70, FILL IN TRIG, is marked "o *2" transmitted against "x" recognised, and the footnote says "Transmitted when the UTILITY:SOUND:LocalSw is SURFACE" (p. 1) - so it is sent in one mode only. cc 2, BEAT, is marked "o" against "x" with no footnote at all: sent always, and never heard. A panel may read either and must never offer to send them.

THE NUMBERING HAS HOLES AND THEY ARE THE CHART'S, not a gap in the reading. BD is 20, 23, 24 and SD is 25, 28, 29 - skipping 21, 22, 26 and 27 - while LT, HC, CH and OH each run consecutively. The six CTRL numbers are 96, 97, 102, 106, 107 and 108, with 98 to 101 and 103 to 105 unused. And the sheet does not print its rows in numeric order either: 80, 81 and 82 come before 70, 71 and 91.

THE SECOND READING OF THIS SHEET SAID WHAT THOSE HOLES LOOK LIKE WITHOUT HAVING SEEN THE OTHER INSTRUMENT: a sheet derived from a larger member of the family with the absent parts' numbers deleted. The mechanical comparison says the same thing from the other end, and the two were arrived at independently. The TR-8S's own chart, read since, bears it out for some of the gaps and not for the rest. Its MT, HT and RS are at 49 to 57 and at 103 to 105, and its CC and RC at 83 to 88 (sibling_chart p. 1): all three runs are missing here, between LT and HC, after OH, and among the CTRL numbers. Its CC and RC CTRL, at 109 and 110, are past this sheet's last number. But 21, 22, 26, 27 and 98 to 101 are gaps on the TR-8S's chart too, and no absent part explains those. Either way they are the maker's numbering, and nobody should ever close them up.

AND NOTHING SAYS WHAT BEAT IS. The word, standing alone, is in neither the Owner's Manual nor the Parameter Guide - both carry "WEAK BEATS" and nothing else - and the TR-8S's chart has no such number. So this is the one control here whose name is the only thing known about it.

THE SIX CTRL NUMBERS REACH A PARAMETER THE OWNER CHOOSES. "Assigns a parameter to the [CTRL] knobs of the instrument edit section so that it can be controlled" (p. 7), from a list of seven: OFF, Pan, ReverbSend, DelaySend, LFO Depth, InstFX and User. cc 96 and its five companions move whichever of those is selected, and MASTER FX CTRL on cc 19 is the same arrangement for the master effect. What a reader gets from these numbers is therefore a knob and not a parameter, and no field here records which.

TWO CHANNELS, AND THIS FORMAT HOLDS ONE RANGE FOR BOTH. "Pattern Ch 1-16 ... Specifies the MIDI transmit/receive channel of the pattern sequencer" (p. 14), and "Kit Ch 1-16 ... Specifies the MIDI transmit/receive channel for program change messages that switch kits" (p. 14). So the notes and the controls arrive on one channel and the kit changes on another, and midi.channels records the span each may take. The chart's Basic Channel default is 10, remarked "Memorized"; no document gives the kit channel's default.

SIX NOTE NUMBERS AND SIX MORE BESIDE THEM, ALL DEFAULTS. The chart's note table has two columns, Note Number and Note Number (ALT), footnoted "These note numbers are configurable on UTILITY:MIDI:Inst Note." (p. 1). The Parameter Guide confirms it from the other side and gives the range: "Specify the MIDI note number for each track's instrument, instrument alternate sound, and TRIGGER OUT" (p. 14), "OFF (---), 0 (C -)-127 (G 9)" (p. 14). voices below holds the first column. The alternate sounds are BD 35, SD 40, LT 41, HC 54, CH 44 and OH 55, and this format has one map where the instrument has two. TRIGGER OUT has no note number in the chart.

THE TWO SERVED EDITIONS OF THE CHART DISAGREE ABOUT ONE OF THOSE NUMBERS, AND BOTH CLAIM VERSION 1.00. The earlier file prints OH's alternate as 58 and the later prints 55; nothing else about the instrument differs between them, and neither the printed version nor the printed date changed. 55 is recorded because a third document agrees with it and nothing agrees with 58: the TR-8S's own chart, which is another model's document, cited here as sibling_chart. Its Note Number (ALT) column gives the same alternates as the later edition here for all six instruments the two machines share - 35, 40, 41, 54, 44 and 55, OH 46 55 among its rows. The format has no field yet for marking a source as another model's, so this sentence and that source's comment are the marking.

THE CHART AND THE PARAMETER GUIDE CONTRADICT EACH OTHER ABOUT SYSTEM EXCLUSIVE, so sysex is not recorded. The chart marks System Exclusive "x" in both columns. The guide gives a parameter for it, whose range is 17 to 32: "Device ID ... When transmitting and receiving system exclusive messages, the device ID numbers of both devices must match" (p. 14). Two documents of different vintages, and nothing here chooses between them.

EVERY CONTROL IS GATED BY A SETTING THE CHART DOES NOT MENTION. "Tx EditData ... Specifies whether changes to the kit settings (panel operations) are transmitted as MIDI messages (ON) or are not transmitted (OFF)" (p. 14), and "Rx EditData" is the same for the other direction. Program change and the clock have their own pairs: "Sync Out ... Specifies whether clock, start, and stop messages are transmitted to other devices (ON) or are not transmitted (OFF)" (p. 14), and beside it "RxStartStop" (p. 14), "Tx Prog Chg" (p. 14) and "Rx Prog Chg" (p. 14). So every "o" below is what the instrument can do and not what it is doing.

AND THE LOCAL SWITCH HAS THREE POSITIONS RATHER THAN TWO. "SURFACE: The controller section, sequencer section, and external MIDI device are disconnected from the internal sound engine" (p. 14) - which is the position the fill-in trigger is transmitted in, and the one the manual tells a player to choose to use this instrument as a controller.

AND NOTHING OVER MIDI CAN PUT IT THERE. Local On/Off is one of the Aux messages the chart marks "x" in both columns, so this three-way switch is reachable from the panel and from nowhere else. A panel that wanted the fill-in trigger to be sent would have to ask its player to set it.

CHECKED AND ABSENT: both aftertouches and pitch bend, each marked "x" in both columns, as are song position, song select, tune request and every Aux message except Active Sensing. Continue is the one row that differs between the columns - "x" transmitted against "o" recognised - so this instrument answers to a Continue it will never send.

NEITHER COVER IS CITED, AND THAT IS DELIBERATE. The Parameter Guide and the Owner's Manual each print a page number on every sheet but the first, so "p. 1" would land on the right sheet of either while naming a page the document does not have. What those covers say is this: the guide covers Ver. 2.0 and later, and the manual applies to program version 1.50 or later - so the manual is two minor versions behind the firmware and the guide is not. Both statements are in this file and neither is quoted with a locator, because there is no locator to give.

CHECKED AND ABSENT: NRPN. The chart has no row for it and no other document mentions it, and the chart's Control Change row names every number the instrument uses, among which an NRPN's 98, 99, 6 and 38 are not, nor an RPN's 100 and 101. Its 96 and 97 are the BD CTRL and SD CTRL knobs, not data increment and decrement.

NOT RECORDED: values, bands and defaults for any control, none of which any document gives. And the maximum polyphony, which no document states.