Sorry, maarkr, your request still isn't completely clear to me;
1: You mean a timpani roll? Or do you mean several pitches of them? Because if you mean the latter, you just play different notes. If you mean Timpani roll, then yes, it's sounds artificial, but on the sx900 the only solution is to use a harmony/echo "Tremelo" for a single repeating note or "Trill" for trilling between 2 notes. The only Yamaha arranger i've encountered with a sampled timpani roll is the Genos 2
If you mean that Timpani's are hit with metal sticks vs kettle drums with mallets, then no, there is no seperate kettle drum. Again, the Genos 2 timpani has a *much* softer sound when rolling, it sounds like it may be using mallets.
3: Not 100% sure what you mean; unless you're recording a song with 2 completely different sets of DSP's from 2 different styles, in which case yes, there is a hiccup, there always is when you send too much information all at once. If you're talking about just using 1 style, then I don't know the issue, but if you're using multiple styes, and there's a huge pause when you insert the 2nd one, it's because it's clearing and resetting all the DSP's
To avoid this, either set them to the same DSPs (if possible) or conversely, stagger the dsp assignment sysex timing in the midi file so it doesn't try to do 100 things during the same tick count.
Mark
