Playing Imported WAV and AIFF files
In order to play any sample it must assigned to a keymap and that keymap assigned to a program. When you load a WAV or AIFF file, you are loading a sample only - you still need to make a keymap and program to play that sample.
If you go to the Sample page and call up the sample, you will be able to play it. That is because the Kurzweil creates a temporary keymap, with the sample assigned across the entire keyboard, and a temporary program, based on the parameters of program 199 Default Program. But once you leave the sample page, the temporary program and keymap no longer exist.
So you need to create a keymap and program. A quick and simple way is to use the Preview button on the Sample page. This will save the temporary keymap and program into memory, naming both the keymap and program exactly the same as the sample.
But if you want to take multiple samples and assign them across the keyboard in one keymap, you will need to make your own keymap.
Start in Program mode, and select Program 199, the Default program. Press the EDIT button, and you'll enter the Program Editor. Press the KEYMAP soft button, and the KEYMAP page will appear. The Keymap parameter will be automatically selected. Press 1, 6, 8, ENTER on the alphanumeric pad to assign the keymap "Silence." This isn't absolutely necessary, but it makes it easier to recognize the key ranges that have samples assigned to them when you start assigning samples. You can actually choose any program you want to start with, but by choosing these, you are starting with a "blank slate".
With the Keymap parameter still selected, press the EDIT button, and you'll enter the Keymap Editor. The Key Range parameter will be automatically selected, and you see its values: C 0 to G 10 (the entire MIDI keyboard range). The Sample parameter will have a value of 168 Silence C 4.
Now you're ready to start assigning samples to key ranges within the keymap. We'll assume that you've loaded samples with roots at C 1, C 2, C 3, etc. and that you plan to assign a root to each octave. To begin, press the Assign soft button. The display will prompt you to select a sample. Use the Alpha Wheel to scroll to one of your samples, or type its ID on the alphanumeric pad and press ENTER. When you've found the sample you want to use, press the OK soft button. The display will say "Strike low key..." Trigger A 0 (MIDI note number 21, the lowest A on a standard 88-note keyboard) from your MIDI controller. The display will change to say "Strike High Key..."Now trigger F 1 (MIDI note number 29) from your MIDI controller. The display will return to the Keymap Editor page. The Key Range parameter will show A 0-F 1, and the Sample parameter will show the sample you selected when you started the range assignment.
One more time...Press the Assign soft button. Select another sample root at the prompt, and press the OK soft button. Now trigger F# 1 for the Low Key prompt, and F 2 for the High Key prompt. At this point you've defined two key ranges, the first from A 0 to F 1, and the second from F# 1 to F 2. You can repeat the process as many times as you want, creating a new key range each time.
Once you have your samples assigned, you may need to transpose them so that they play back at the correct pitch within the range you have chosen. To do this, highlight the Keyrange parameter, scroll to the range you need, then highlight the Coarse Tune parameter. Adjust Coarse Tune to bring the sample to the proper pitch within that keyrange. Then scroll back up to the Keyrange parameter, select the next range, and continue as needed.
Here's a fairly important point that may or may not affect your keymap construction. Suppose you want to build a keymap that uses the same sample in several adjacent key ranges, and you plan to add a bit of detuning to the samples in each range. You might think that you could build the keymap first, then go into the Sample Editor and tweak the samples when the keymap is finished. Yes, but?
Suppose you used the technique we described above to assign a vocal sample whose root was C 4 to a key range from A 3 to E 4. Then you assigned the same sample to a key range from F 4 to B 4. You might be surprised to find that when you finished the F 4-B 4 key range and the Keymap Editor page reappeared, the current key range would not be F 4 to B 4, but A 3 to B 4! This is because the Kurzweil automatically merges adjacent key ranges that are identical (this is done to save memory). Therefore, some parameter must be different in each adjacent key range you create if you want to build keymaps using the technique we just described. So if you want to use the same samples in adjacent key ranges with, for example, minor pitch or volume modification, you should make those changes to the current sample on the Keymap Editor page before assigning the next range.