Using The BC3A Breath Controller with the Motif ES, and Why the PLG150VL Card Makes the Breath Control Experience That Much More Special
By Blake Angelos Product Specialist Product Support Group Yamaha Corporation of America
One of the coolest control devices that Yamaha has ever created has got to be the breath controller. This little device allows a player to use ones breath as a control source in the same way one could use any standard continuous controller such as aftertouch, modulation wheel, a knob or slider, an FC7 foot pedal, or any other continuous input device. If you have ever been to one of my Motif ES clinics (or for that matter EX5, S80, S90, Motifvirtually any clinic where I actually play) you have seen me use a Yamaha breath Controller. One end user issue that I have been happily seeing more and more emails and phone calls lately are from end users who have seen me in a clinic, then go out and buy a BC3A breath controller and cannot get it to work properly. There are usually two primary issues that are occurring: 1. The BC3 is plugged it but doesnt work, or only works a little. 2. I feel like I need to blow too hard, or I wish the BC3 wasnt so sensitive. 3. The sound that I got in the clinic was way more impressive than the sound they are getting from the Motif ES This document will address both issues. First Ill show you where in the Motif ES to route breath control to specific parameters and give a few specific voice examples (complete with MP3 examples since a musical application is what its all about), then Ill show you how to use it with the awesome PLG150VL card and compare the Physical Models generated by the card to similar Motif ES voices (VL Tenor Sax with Motif ES Preset Voice Tenor Sax, for example). Before I get into the Motif ES, lets take a look at the evolution of the Yamaha breath controller. The first version of the breath controller, the BC1, was considerably different than the current version. Released around 1985 when the DX-7 was the big new thing, the BC1 was silver and had a small control on the bottom for setting gain. The unit came complete with a small Phillips screwdriver for setting the gain control:
Yamaha BC1 (parachute pants and How to Moonwalk guide sold separately ;-)
When the Yamaha VL1 Virtual Acoustic Synthesizer was released at the Winter NAMM show in 1994, a new breath controller, the BC2, shipped with it. This was a marked improvement over the original BC1, with a headset style design, an improved mouthpiece and both gain and offset controls for more precise player customization:
One thing that both the BC1 and BC2 came with was the 3.4 long mini Philips screwdriver. Although cute, it was an eminently losable piece of cute.
The improved Yamaha BC2 breath controller
About 4 years ago, Yamaha released the current BC3 (also known as the BC3A) that we have today. Gone is the screwdrivernow there are small controls on the side to set gain and offset, and the minigooseneck stem is a nice improvement as well.
Mr. BC3A: Breath Controller
Look: Gain and Offset Controls right on the SIDE!!What Yamaha Product Specialists said when first meeting the BC3A.
So there you have it: Now you know more about the evolution of Yamaha breath controllers than probably everyone you know. Now lets get into making it work in the Motif ES.
Whenever I do a Motif ES clinic you can safely bet that I will be using a BC3A. What people sometimes dont understand is that I am using it almost always with the PLG150VL card. This does not mean that you cannot use a breath controller with preset or internal voices and performances, and you can actually do some pretty cool things with the BC3A and a stock Motif ES. However you enter an entirely new realm of expressiveness when you add a VL card to your sonic arsenal. Before I get into that, Ill show you how to assign the BC3A to control parameters within 3 preset Motif ES voices. Breath Control is a continuous controller (CC for short) assigned in the standardized MIDI control set to controller 02 (CC02) in the same way as Modulation Wheel (CC01), Volume (CC07), and Expression (CC11) are (for a full list of the standardized MIDI Controller assignments as set my the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA), as well as some great educational resources about how MIDI works, go to http://www.midi.org/about-midi/table3.shtml). Setting up the BC3A to control the volume of preset voices requires knowing something about control sets. A control set is a group of controller assignments that allow you to assign a control source, such as breath control, to a destination, such as volume. There are 6 of these source/destination sets per voice in the Motif ES. See page 155 in the ES manual for a description of control sets.

Setting up the Breath Controller for how YOU play: The only way to set up the BC3A is to have it working with either an internal voice in the Motif ES or with a Plug-in voice from one of the cardsPREFERABLY the PLG150VL card. The voice set up tutorials below will help you with that, but Ill describe what to do first, then you can experiment with these setting when using it to play a voice. For reference, please take a look at the BC3 owners manual, reprinted in its entirety below:
The two most important things to know about the BC3 are the two small controls on the side: The GAIN and OFFSET. GAIN sensitivity refers to how hard you need to blow, and as it says above, rotating clockwise increases gain sensitivity, (and) making a lighter breath produce(s) a bigger value change. Getting this one right is important because you dont want to be blowing your brains out to get a sound or vice versa. The other control, OFFSET, is basically a threshold: if you rotate the offset clockwise, the BC3 will transmit on controller 2 just a bit; rotating a bit more and you will get more transmission. I generally set this by moving it clockwise until the sound just begins to happen, then I pull it back just a bit counterclockwise until the sound just stop. Getting the offset set correctly is really important. Bad Mister puts it this way in his VL document:
Without blowing into the mouthpiece (very important) hold a note down on the keyboard. Adjust the OFFSET control on the side of the BC3 up and down. Notice how the sound can be made to disappear (remember you are not blowing). This is a critical setting you want to turn this back and forth so that you are resting at a point where the sound has just reached the OFF point. Stop! You should now hear absolutely no sound when you play on the keyboard. (The sound is said to be biased to breath control). It will now take blowing into the mouthpiece of the BC3 and playing a key to turn on a note.
It is important to realize that both values vary between players, and both values sometimes need to be adjusted per sound. Try to play sounds with the factory defaults (both values centered) and adjust accordinglyEXPERIMENT! The last partthe drain control capallows you to adjust the amount of air moving through the mouthpiece and the amount ofwell, drain control should be self-explanatory. Think salivaI like to have air moving though the cap, but you can turn it so that no air moves through. Once again, tweak these settings so the BC3 feels comfortable to you. The final thing I have to say about playing sounds using breath control relate to a question I get at my clinics that follows along these lines: How hard is it to play sounds with the breath controller? or Did it take you a while to learn to play and breath at the same time? The answer is: For some people, especially people who also play woodwind or brass instruments, it is very natural to play sounds using the BC3. For others it takes some practice. The one thing I can sayespecially with regard to using it with the PLG150VLis that it is a very amazing and completely musical experience, and it can teach you a great deal about playing melodies, the tonguing that brass and woodwind players when articulating (tongued vs legato), and a host of other profoundly musical concepts that pianists cant really experience. That is a heavy thing that this little piece of music technology can give you. Now, lets set it up and get it functioning. Voice Set Up #1: Tenor Soft] Assigning BC to Control the Volume of PRE 3: 113[Rp:

1. Select Voice PRE3: 113 [Rp: Tenor Soft], the soft tenor saxophone voice. Press [EDIT] to enter Edit Mode, then press the COMMON button just in case you are not in common edit (this is the same button used for selecting FAVORITES and DRUM KITS button in Category Search mode directly to the right of the LCD display). You should see this screen
NOTE: This edit is being performed at the COMMON level (the entire voice) as opposed to the ELEMENT level or (the parts of the voice)

Fig. 1

2. Press [F4]: CTLSET or Controller Set to view the assignable controller setups as below:
Lets take a look at this screen and define what is happening here. What you see in figure 2a above is set 1 and 2 of the controller sets for the Tenor Soft Voice. Some controller sets are assignable on a per element basis, meaning you can turn the controller on or off for each of the active elements within a voice, and some controller setting are common, meaning they are active for the entire voice. Volume is a common control setting as we will see.
Active Elements Controlled (All are affected) Source Controller (MW=Modulation Wheel, CC01) Destination (Element LFOPitch Modulation) Depth of Control (Range: -64 to +63 or 127 steps) Fig. 2b

Fig. 2a

3. Lets select Control Set 5 and set that up so BC will control volume. Select set 5 by pressing [SF3]. Now, using the cursor controls and data wheel, highlight the Source setting and change it from AS2(17) or Assignable Knob 2, sending CC17 to BC(02) or Breath Control, sending CC2 as in Fig 3 below:

Change Source from This.

to This.

Fig. 3

4. Now, change the destination from INSA: EfEqH-F to Volume and set the Depth Parameter to +60. This will give you a big control range when you use the BC3. After you get the voice responding correctlyand after step 5 belowit is the depth parameter that you should tweak to suit your individual playing style. Outside of setting the gain and offset controls on the BC3A, the depth parameter is probably the most important one to adjust to how you play. A setting of +60 might be too muchexperiment and set to where it feels most comfortable to you:

Fig. 4

5. And now the one parameter that needs to be changed that many people forget to change. This one is important or you will hear the sound playing from the keyboard and wont get a very dramatic result volume when using the BC3. Press [F3]:OUTPUT to call up this screen:
To make the Tenor Sax sound only when using breath control, change volume form this

to this.

Fig. 5
Thats it for this voice. Check out the MP3 called TenorSoft for this tutorial to hear what this voice sounds like in context with some music. Again, experiment with the depth parameter and the gain and offset controls on the BC3A to get this voice responding the way you want it to.
Voice Set Up #2: Motif ES Synth Lead using Breath Control Now lets assign breath control to adjust the filter cutoff frequency of a synth lead voice, in this case PRE5:005[LD: Mini Soft]. The set up is very similarly done as in the voice set up above, except in this case I am using control set 6 and setting the destination to FLT-Frq or Element Filter Frequency. This voice is a 2 element sawtooth wave voice, and I tweaked a few settings to get the sound I wanted. First off I quickly offset the filter settings using the control knobs so that my cutoff and resonance settings went from the values on the left to the ones on the right in figure 6 below:
This gives me not only a bit more bite when playing, but also will give the filter some room to open up when I utilize the BC3. Next I went to the controller set page and selected Set5/6 (Like before: Press [EDIT], [F4]CTLSET, [SF3]SET5/6). I then changed it from the values on the left to the ones on the right in figure 7 below:

Fig. 6

Before Edit

Fig. 7

After Edit
Check out the MP3 called SynthLdBC to check out the sound in the context of a musical example. Once again, feel free to experiment with the settings I have above to get it to sound the way YOU want it to. Voice Set Up #3: Motif ES Piano String Layer using Breath Control In this next voice example, I am going to set up Breath Control so it brings in a string pad behind a piano, with the string pad will only coming in when I blow through the BC3. In this case I need to make sure that BC will ONLY affect the string pad and NOT the piano sound. The voice I chose for my source was PRE1:020[Ap:Piano&Strg]. This voice is using 3 of the 4 available elements, with elements 1 and 2 being the piano sound and element 3 being the string background layer. I need to make two very important edits: One being setting the BC to only affect element 3, the other setting the level of element 3 to 0 so the BC will be the controller that moves the element level from 0 to whatever depth I adjust the control setting. In figure 8 below, you see that I have selected element 3 (by pressing the element 3 select switch (same as track 3) the selecting [F4] AMP, then [SF1] LVL/PAN (level and pad settings for element 3):

Select Element 3

Fig. 8
In figure 9 below is the before and after settings for the control set I used (in this case, Set 5) for this voice:

Fig. 9

I have this voice set to work well in a more rhythmic fashion, especially with the depth parameter above set at +63, and the MP3 PnoStrgBC is in a more Afro-Latin, rhythmic playing style (along with a PLG150PC card on percussion which sounds amazingthe card, I mean). Pulling that parameter back to around +25 makes the string sound come in softer and would probably be better for mellower music. Once again: Feel free to edit this in any fashion for your music. Using the PLG150VL with the BC3: In my opinion, the most amazing experience you can have with the BC3 and the Motif ES is using it to control the PLG150-VL. The technology is remarkably unique, expressive and can actually change the way you experience music as a whole (and that is not an exaggeration). In this article I am simply going to talk about setting up the BC3 to work with the PLG150-VL and have included several MP3s comparing VL to Motif ES preset voices. For a more in depth article specific to the PLG150VL, check out Phil Bad Mister Clendeninns article Motif ES and the PLG150-VL in the Behind the Manual section of Motifator.com (http://www.motifator.com/es/btm/btmes_index.php). In that article Phil really gets into the setting up the VL board in the Motif ES, the S/VA synthesis technology1 behind the VL board, editing it in the Motif ES multipart editor, the various parameters that can be controlled (like embouchure control, scream control, throat formant, etc.) There is also another great article he wrote called PLG150VL Virtual Acoustic Physical Modeling Plug-in Board: A Getting Started Guide that can be found at http://files.keyfax.com/download/PLG150VL_Motif.pdf. It is HIGHLY recommended that you check these two documents out if you really want to get a
Self-Oscillating Virtual Acoustic synthesis technology.great name
good handle on VL technology. Its pretty obvious that the Product Team at Yamaha has been profoundly changed by this technology. You will be as well Obviously, the only way to experience this technology is to purchase the PLG150-VL board (I assume that, since you are reading this article, you already have the BC3). Install the board in one of the Motif ES three Plug-in slots. I have mine installed in slot 1, but you can have in any of the three slots. First off, lets take a look at the voices that are available on the PLG150-VL board: PLGPREPresets for TouchEG play modea specialized version of Aftertouch that varies the pressure parameter, the same parameter that, for the purposes of this document you will control with BC3 PLGPREPresets for Velocity play modethis allows you to play the VL board from the keyboard without the BC3 PLGPREPresets for Breath Control play modeThese are the presets on the VL board that are set up for the BC3 and the ones that are relevant to this document! 033/Preset Board Voices 033/Preset Board Voices 033/Custom VL Editor locations 033/VL70-m compatible locations

So, in order to quickly and easily get the VL sounds on the card set up for the BC3, you must have PLGPRE3 presets set up in the Motif ES. The first voice I always start with is called Floboe, a woodwind combination of a flute-type mouthpiece on an oboe-type resonator. This sound has the timbre characteristics of an oboe with the embouchure and over-blowing characteristics of a flute, and it is also one of the easier instruments to playit really responds well. Heres how to do this: Select voice mode and press the PLG bank button where you have installed your card and, press D then 1, and press button [F2] BANK and select PLGPRE3. This will get you to the BC3-optimized voice P3-P:049(D01) Ld:Floboe (See Fig. 10 below):
Press the PLG bank where you have your PLG150-VL card installed mine is in Slot 1

Select Bank PLGPRE3

Fig. 10
Now you should have your Motif ES optimized for BC3 control of the PLG150-VL card. Now playyou may have to tweak your BC3 Offset and Gain controls to really make it respond the best for you. Things to check out on the Floboe voice: 1. 2. The virtual breath of the sound. The air passing through the horn is being generated by the VL card. Blow very, very softly and gradually increase to hear it move from air to sound Tongue a note (put your tongue against the mouthpiece of the BC3, build up air and release it) and listen to how the sound responds. Then blow gradually and play a few notes, Legato style, and listen to how the sound responds. Clearly this is a dynamic, living sound very unlike a sample-based voice. Now play a note and slowly move the pitchbend wheel. Listen to the sound jump the octave like a flute (from first mode to the upper octave second mode). It sounds alive It is a little tune that
Check out the MP3 FLOBOE included with this document. features all of the 3 things listed above Comparing PLG150VL Sounds with Motif ES Sounds:
I think it is really important to get understand sonically why the BC3 coupled with the PLG150-VL card is very different then using the BC3 with preset Motif ES voices. Although the ES woodwind voices are quite good, they are still sample-based and static compared to the dynamic VL based voices. During clinics I try to compare these voices so attendees can really hear and understand. This is not to say that the Motif cannot to a great job emulating wind instruments. I did a tune called 35 for the original Motif that has a tenor saxophone solo using a preset Motif sax voice that turned out great. But there is still something magical about VL technology. Check out these MP3 comparisons: MP3 MP3 MP3 MP3 ESTEN_VLTEN Motif ES Tenor Saxophone and VL Tenor Saxophone ESCLAR_VLCLAR Motif ES Clarinet and VL Clarinet ESTRPT_VLTRPT Motif ES Trumpet and VL Trumpet ESLD_VLLD Motif ES Lead Sound and VL Lead Sound

NOTE: All sequencing was done in the Motif ES, then recorded at 44.1 into Steinberg Cubase 3.01 via the mLAN16E expansion board, then imported into Steinberg WaveLab 5.0 an converted to 160 kbps MP3 format. Thanks for checking out my article. If you have ANY questions or comments, please dont hesitate to email me at bangelos@yamaha.com! Blake Angelos Product Specialist Product Support Group Yamaha Corporation of America

MIDI Solutions Breath Controller Operating Instructions M217 c 2001 MIDI Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved Printed in Canada MIDI Solutions, Inc. P.O. Box 3010 Vancouver, BC V6B 3X5 www.midisolutions.com
INTRODUCTION. 5 CONNECTIONS. 7 OPERATION. 9 PROGRAMMING. 11 MIDI CHANNEL TABLE. 23 MIDI CONTROL CHANGE TABLE. 24 HEXADECIMAL CONVERSION TABLE. 27 WARRANTY. 28.
Congratulations on your purchase of the MIDI Solutions Breath Controller. The MIDI Solutions Breath Controller is a TM Yamaha BC3 to MIDI interface that can be used to control the value of a selected MIDI parameter in real time. The generated MIDI data is merged with incoming MIDI data and sent to the the output of the Breath Controller. Programmed settings of the Breath Controller are retained in non-volatile memory until cleared or overwritten with new settings. The Breath Controller is MIDI-powered and requires no batteries or power supply to operate. 5
To program the Breath Controller, connect the In of the Breath Controller to the MIDI Out of the device that is sending the programming commands. The Out and BC3 input can be left disconnected during programming. Once the Breath Controller is programmed, it can be inserted anywhere in your MIDI setup. TM Plug the Yamaha BC3 into the BC3 input of the Breath Controller. Connect the MIDI Out or Thru of the sending MIDI device to the In of the Breath Controller. Connect the Out of the Breath Controller to the MIDI In of the receiving MIDI device. The number of MIDI Solutions products connected between any two MIDI devices should be limited to five.
The following procedure will help you obtain the optimal TM settings for the Gain and Offset controls of the Yamaha BC3 : Start by setting the Gain to approximately the halfway point. Then increase the Offset from zero until the Breath Controller just starts to transmit MIDI data (the LED will flicker). At this point decrease the Offset slightly. Then apply breath pressure to the BC3 to test these settings. Repeat the above procedure of adjusting the Offset with different Gain settings until you have determined the optimal Gain and Offset positions.
Insure that the BC3 is plugged into the unit before power-up, as its circuitry is sampled at this time. The Breath Controllers MIDI Indicator LED will light as soon as the sending device is turned on, and flashes whenever MIDI data passes through the unit. Applying breath pressure to the BC3 causes the unit to send out continuous data as programmed according to the instructions on the following pages.
The function of the Breath Controller is programmed by sending it MIDI System Exclusive programming messages from any device capable of creating System Exclusive messages, such as a computer-based sequencer. These messages are described in detail on the following pages. For decimal to hexadecimal conversions, see the chart on page 27. Upon receipt of a System Exclusive programming message, the MIDI indicator LED flashes rapidly for about ten seconds to indicate that the setting has been stored. Settings are retained in non-volatile memory until reprogrammed with new settings. 11
Device Parameters The Breath Controller has three programmable global parameters which are in effect regardless of the type of message the Breath Controller is programmed to send. These parameters are MIDI Echo, Curvature Amount, and Curvature Direction. When MIDI Echo is ON, all incoming MIDI information is echoed to the MIDI output. When MIDI Echo is OFF, only the messages generated by the Breath Controller are sent to the MIDI output. Curvature Amount specifies the amount that the output value vs. breath pressure applied differs from a linear response. Curvature Direction specifies the direction of this curvature. If
curvature direction is upward, the output value will rise more quickly at the bottom of the applied breath range and more slowly at the top. If curvature direction is downward, the output value will rise more slowly at the bottom of the applied breath range and more quickly at the top. Programming of these parameters is described on the following page.

To program the device parameters, send the unit the following System Exclusive programming message: Faa bb cc F7 (all values in Hexadecimal) aa = Echo ON/OFF (aa = 00: Echo OFF, aa = 01: Echo ON) bb = Curvature Amount (bb = 00: no curvature, bb = 7F: maximum curvature) cc = Curvature Direction (cc = 00: downward, cc = 01: aaaaaa upward)
Example: To program the Breath Controller to echo incoming MIDI data to its output and respond linearly to breath pressure (no curvature), send it the following System Exclusive message: F00 F7
Message Type There are five programmable parameters that specify the type of message to be generated by the Breath Controller. These parameters are aa: Message Type, bb: Control Change# (or Sysex Byte#), cc: MIDI Channel, dd: Maximum Value, and ee: Minimum Value. Message Type (aa) specifies the type of message to be generated. Selectable message types include Control Change, Aftertouch, Pitch Bend, and System Exclusive. Control Change# or Sysex Byte# (bb) specifies the Control Change number if the Message Type (aa) is Control Change. If the Message Type (aa) is System Exclusive, then bb specifies the
byte of the System Exclusive message that is variable, i.e. the byte that changes in response to the applied breath pressure. MIDI Channel (cc) specifies the MIDI channel of the generated message. This byte is ignored if the Message Type is System Exclusive. Minimum Value (dd) specifies the minimum value generated by the Breath Controller. Maximum Value (ee) specifies the maximum value generated. If the Minimum Value is greater than the Maximum Value, then the generated values will decrease as more breath is applied, allowing the device to be used in reverse operation. 17
Message Type To program the Message Type to be generated by the Breath Controller, send it the following System Exclusive programming message: Faa bb cc dd ee F7 (all values in Hex) aa = Message Type (aa = 00: Control Change, aa = 01: Aftertouch, aa = 02: Pitch Bend, aa = 03: System Exclusive) bb = Control Change# (if aa = 00) or Sysex Byte# (if aa = 03) cc = MIDI Channel (see p. 23) dd = Minimum Value transmitted ee = Maximum Value transmitted 18
If the Message Type is System Exclusive, then the System Exclusive message to be generated must be sent immediately after this programming message (the maximum number of bytes that can be stored is 20). Example: To program the Breath Controller to generate the System Exclusive message F55 F7 varying the fourth byte, with a minimum value of 9, and a maximum value of 127 (=7F Hex), send it the following programming messages: F7F F7 F55 F7

Dump Settings To dump all of the Breath Controllers current settings, send it the following System Exclusive message: FF7 (all values in Hexadecimal) Upon receipt of this message the Breath Controller will dump its current settings the MIDI Out port.
cc must be set according to the following table: Chan. cc Chan. cc Chan. - - 8 - - 9 - - 10 - - - 0A 5 - - 0B 6 - 05

cc 0C 0D 0E 0F

Decimal 10 11
Hex 00H 01H 02H 03H 04H 05H 06H 07H 08H 09H 0AH 0BH
Control Function Bank Select Modulation wheel or lever Breath Controller Undefined Foot controller Portamento time Data entry MSB Channel Volume Balance Undefined Pan Expression Controller
12-13 14-15 16-19 20-31 32-73
0C-0DH 0E-0FH 10-13H 14-1FH 20-3FH 40H 41H 42H 43H 44H 45H 46H 47H 48H 49H
Effect Controls 1-2 Undefined General Purpose Controllers (#s 1-4) Undefined LSB values for 0-31 Damper pedal (sustain) Portamento On/Off Sostenuto Soft pedal Legato Fsw (vv=00-3F: Normal, 40-7F: Legato) Hold 2 Sound Controller 1 (default: Sound Variation) Sound Controller 2 (default: Timbre/Harmonic Content) Sound Controller 3 (default: Release Time) Sound Controller 4 (default: Attack Time)
74 75-79 80-85-96,97 98,99 100,101 102-119 120-127
4AH 4B-4FH 50-53H 54H 55-5AH 5BH 5CH 5DH 5EH 5FH 60H,61H 62H,63H 64H,65H 66-77H 78-7FH
Sound Controller 5 (default: Brightness) Sound Controllers 6-10 (no defaults) General Purpose Controllers (#s 5-8) Portamento Control Undefined Effects 1 Depth (formerly External Effects Depth) Effects 2 Depth (formerly Tremolo Depth) Effects 3 Depth (formerly Chorus Depth) Effects 4 Depth (formerly Celeste (Detune) Depth) Effects 5 Depth (formerly Phaser Depth) Data increment, Data decrement Non-Registered Parameter Number LSB, MSB Registered Parameter Number LSB, MSB Undefined Reserved for Channel Mode Messages
Dec/Hex 10 0A 11 0B 12 0C 13 0D 14 0E 15 0F

1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F

2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F

3A 3B 3C 3D 3E 3F

4A 4B 4C 4D 4E 4F

5A 5B 5C 5D 5E 5F

110 111

6A 6B 6C 6D 6E 6F

126 127

7A 7B 7C 7D 7E 7F

MIDI Solutions Inc. warrants this product to be free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of one (1) year from date of purchase. This warranty is void if the product has been damaged by accident, misuse, alteration, unauthorized repairs or other causes not arising out of defects in material or workmanship. Under no circumstances will MIDI Solutions be liable for any loss of profits, benefits, time, interrupted operation, commercial loss, or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the product. MIDI Solutions specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. If the product requires service, a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number must be obtained from MIDI Solutions and the product must be shipped prepaid to a specified Service Center. MIDI Solutions will repair or replace the product at our discretion and will pay return shipping fees. The customer is responsible for any damage or loss sustained during shipment in any direction.