EXPANDED CONTROL CAPABILITY FOR THE YAMAHA MCS2 MIDI CONTROL STATION Art Hunkins www.arthunkins.com abhunkin AT uncg DOT edu June 2007 The Yamaha MCS2 is an early MIDI controller designed to supplement a similar generation of MIDI keyboards. Not intended as a standalone controller, it has limited programmability, and is designed around a basic set of 8 program change buttons. A complementary MIDIOx VBScript, however, can remedy several of these limitations, enabling the MCS2 to function fairly independently - generating multiple continuous controller (CC) and MIDI note messages. YamahaMCS2Conversion.vbs accomplishes this "upgrade" by converting the 8 program change buttons - actually 8 changeable *banks* of 8 buttons - to either CC or MIDI note messages, with a choice of momentary or toggle switching. Another button (PS3) is given an identical capability. (Momentary mode is unfortunately limited to on-and-immediately-off switching, as the MCS2 does not issue messages at button release.) Finally, all controllers and notes can be assigned any CC or MIDI note numbers desired; they can also be disabled at will (a feature that applies as well to the pitch bend wheel). This script requires the MIDIYoke and MIDIOx utilities (Windows only), which can both be downloaded (free) from: http://www.midiox.com. Follow the steps below to prepare for performance (note that a number of these steps need only be done once): 1) Download and install MIDIYoke and MIDIOx on your Windows computer. (Instructions are available on-site and as part of the download package.) 2) Edit YamahaMCS2Conversion.vbs, if necessary, by right-clicking on its icon and selecting Edit. (Complete descriptions of the script, and directions for its modification, are contained within the script.) Editing can be done in any text editor, such as Notepad. 3) Run the script by left-clicking on its icon. This, in turn, will open MIDIOx. 4) In MIDIOx, click on Options | MIDI Devices, and select MIDI Yoke Junction: 1 as MIDI Output. 5) Select your MIDI Input device. 6) Minimize MIDIOx. 7) In your audio application, select MIDI Yoke: 1 as MIDI Input Port. 8) When finished, close your script (and MIDIOx) by clicking on Actions | Stop WScript in MIDIOx. (Do not simply close MIDIOx!)