The four assignable sliders can be assigned to MIDI controllers 01 to 120, and each slider has an associated button.
Polarity of these wheels (and the sliders that are described in a moment) can be reversed if that's useful to you - in which case you'd move a wheel or slider up for a decrement in controller value.
#DMPC PRO ERROR MOD#
A sprung, centre‑detented pitch bend wheel is joined by two mod wheels to the left of the machine, and all three can be assigned to controllers 01 to 120, channel pressure or pitch bend (although wheel 2 on my machine didn't appear to have pitch bend as an option) the manual states that wheel 3 is centre‑detented, but this wasn't actually the case on the review C8, though detenting would have made wheel 3's factory preset assignment of pan control a little more valid. Other good MIDI stuff includes a MIDI Input filter and a MIDI Input monitor.Īpart from the split and layering functions, the C8 also provides a comprehensive selection of controllers - three wheels, four sliders and four buttons - each of which can be assigned to transmit various MIDI data on a per‑patch basis. There's even an area of operating system that allows you to remotely control sequencers, with Start, Stop and Continue soft keys, tempo control and the ability to use a MIDI Song Select command when you call up a patch. The C8 has a 128k SysEx buffer - you could fill it up with synth patches and save it to the built‑in MS DOS compatible disk drive. The keyboard also has merging MIDI Ins this is handy since it allows external controllers (MIDI guitars or horns, for example) to take on the attributes of the current patch, and allows external synths to send data to the C8. Peavey provide 17 preset velocity curves, although the user can scale velocity and define negative and positive offsets, so you can choose a velocity curve and customise it to an extent. Each Range can be note or velocity split, layered or transposed, and can transmit its own program change Ranges can be sent to one, all, or any combination of four independent MIDI Outputs. The C8 offers 64 patches, each of which can contain up to eight fully programmable Ranges (Peavey‑speak for what you and I might call zones).
What It DoesĪllied to the high‑quality, velocity and channel pressure sensitive keyboard are some high quality MIDI control options. Perhaps American rock keyboard types work out more than their British counterparts. By imposing, I mean large and heavy (reportedly over 80lbs) you may need a pair of burly roadies to assist in getting it to gigs. The C8 is a serious first try for a controller: a wooden, weighted 88‑note keyboard ("chosen after extensive consultation with performing and studio musicians") is mounted in an imposing and highly polished case (available in sophisticated black or sports‑car red). It seems somehow logical that they should introduce a dedicated controller keyboard, and with the DPM C8, this is exactly what they've done. Over the past six or seven years, Peavey have gradually moved further and further into the hi‑tech music market, and are now able to offer a comprehensive range of DPM synths, sampling front ends and sample playback modules that can form the basis for a pretty powerful sound‑making system. But does it do the business? Derek Johnson finds out. With its highly‑polished finish and beautifully weighted piano‑style keyboard, Peavey's master controller certainly looks the business.