Yamaha KX-88 Midi Master Keyboard

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The KX88 is, according to the manual, ‘the first fully programmable and assignable MIDI keyboard’. It does not produce any sound on its own and must be connected to a TX816 or DX7. The master keyboard functions are taken over by other devices in the MIDI network. This means that playing the keyboard of one synthesiser causes the other synthesiser to ‘play’ the same notes. This is the most basic function of a master keyboard. It has a range of other controllers that can be programmed to control any type of MIDI information. The KX76 variant has similar functions.

The KX88 has three operating modes: Play, Controller Assign (CA) and Parameter Assign (PA). The Play mode offers three types of keyboard operation: Single, Split and Dual. In ‘Dual’ mode, the game is played on both available channels. In ‘Single’ mode, only one of the two banks is active. In Split mode, the left and right ends of the keyboard each correspond to one of the banks. The performance controllers are programmed in Controller Assign Mode. In Parameter Assign Mode, any of the 192 user-definable controller codes can be defined as any MIDI code. After the definition, they are assigned to the performance controllers in CA mode. It is possible to have more than one master controller active at the same time and, for example, have a sequencer play parts of a multitimbral synthesiser and play other parts live.