Multi Mode Using Real MIDI Cables

[luddy]

You've got two choices, really. One is to work in SEQ mode, same mode VC uses. That mode fits what you describe pretty well; in particular, it's designed for sending individual patch changes per channel. The patches refer to SINGLE mode patches.

The other choice is to use MULTI mode. That mode is designed to switch all 16 parts at once with a single program change. You get slightly more detailed control with it. For example, you can have more than one part receiving a single MIDI channel, and there are some multi-level controls that affect the whole collection of parts that aren't available in SEQ or SINGLE mode.

They're both well thought-out, but I prefer using the MULTI mode at the end of the day, because there's less bookkeeping, and you can easily keep all the patches associated with a single song together, with a single MULTI dump to an archiver or sequencer. In other words, what I really like about it above all is that it frees you from worrying about which RAM locations are in use for which patch and where those patches are used by which multis. The self-contained multis are very simple to think about, and you can rearrange your RAM & ROM banks at any time without worrying if you stick to them.

hth,

-Luddy