Extra Credit:
Understand [MUTE] buttons as a function of the built-in digital mixer.
Understand KBD CTRL as a function of the musical instrument.
[MUTE] is operated by the sound engineer... and disconnects/connects audio to an output
KBD CTRL is operated by the musician... and is all about your musical input being transmitted
When doing masterclasses on Synthesis, I often break down the MONTAGE/MODX as combining a digital mixer with a digital synthesizer. You wear two hats when you operate it; one is an engineer’s hat (where you make technical decisions) and the other is the musician’s hat (where your musical skills are used).
Muting a channel on the mixer is technical... changing how your keyboard transmits is musical.
Sometimes the line blurs, but in this instance it is clear.
Starting a Sequencer - is simply pressing a button (technical)
Starting an Arpeggio is musical, requires musical skills (you must play on the beat and exhibit chord quality recognition).
Operating the SLIDERS on the front panel is using the digital mixer, assigning and adjusting the output using the Super Knob system becomes a musical adjustment.
Adjusting playback Volume with the sliders is a technical decision, adjusting velocity to adjust volume is a musical decision.
Why it helps to think this way can be useful in gaining an understanding of how something may be designed to work. If you are performing, included in your musical performing gestures are ways to manipulate the resulting sound. When looking to transition instruments, some methods are designed to be sonically invisible, others are not. And this is usually On Purpose. In other words there are better and worse ways to accomplish things.
MUTEs work like they do for a very specific reason. A button that seamlessly transition from one sound to another is never called a “mute button”... that is not what a mute button does. It has another use, a specific use when you need to make abrupt changes, not changes made during sustaining notes, but at musical ‘breaks’. You don’t use a splice cut in a movie when you want a seamless transition. But that does not mean you’ll never need a splice cut. When you need one, nothing else will do.
And while we like to say there is no right or wrong when it comes to operation, using the [MUTE] button or memorizing Slider values for volume, when you want to transition between instruments undetected is, well, a poor choice. Using KBD CTRL, XA CONTROL, Super Knob assignments, are better (music friendly) choices.
Summary: once you are clear that the Mute button cuts off the sound by disconnecting the audio signal, you stop looking at it as a possible solution for seamless transitioning. You want to be able to play a sound and have it continue while you start playing another. This is a ‘musical decision’ that requires a solution, that does NOT disconnect or stop the audio signal. These include keyboard transmitting (KBD CTRL) to the Part as a whole, XA CONTROL where you can dynamically transition AWM2 Elements mid-note. You are playing back a series of looped audio recordings, by not interrupting their signal path, you can, again, stop transmitting to them as you activate a new set of looped recordings to be triggered. And the AssignKnob/Super Knob system allows you to design overlapping “fade in/fade out” type transitions (morph) as you may require. You might add Motion Sequences to the list of methods to create morphing transitions between instruments, as you can automate parameter movements in unique ways.
Hope that helps.