Hello

I see some positive comments about the Music Finder. I would love to see how you have adapted its use so one can find what they need quickly.

I got mine all loaded up and tried it once on the first job with the PSR2000. It was WAY too slow, with WAY too much wasted time to suit me. The audience seemed ok and I did a lot more talking in between tunes to cover it up, but I really was not happy with the situation.

For a Lowrey organ player these new keyboards have a lot more choices than I'm used to. The organ is simply pick the style and use 11 factory registration presets. (Actually its 22 presets because the lower manual acts like a third keyboard with its own registrations. So all these wonderful choices on the PSR2000 is like what I call the double edged sword. It's great to have all those choices, but it seems quite overwhelming to me and it seems like I spend more time experimenting and tweeking than playing music. That's why I stayed away from the Korg PA80, I want to spend my time playing music and as little button pushing as possible.

Here's my latest idea on the Music Finder: I did a little analyzing and found when I perform I think of playing tunes as fast, medium and slow. Then I pick an appropriate style after "reading" the audience. For example, for a medium tune I might pick the Bossa Nova style, then very often I pick the tune AFTER the intro starts. Then maybe I sense the crowd wants a fast tune and I might pick a fast rock for certain crowds or maybe dixieland for an older bunch.

So, I find I pick speed and then style rather than the song first. With that in mind this is what I think I will try next and hopefully the last time.

I think I'll set up my tunes in the Music Finder in the simple catagoies of fast, medium, and slow. Fast I'll put in Favorites, Medium in Search 1, and Slow in Search 2. Then I generally think of my tunes as standard or modern. To seperated them I will put the number 0 before the title of the standards and number 1 in front of the modern tunes. This way all the standards will show up first in each catagory in alphabetical order followed by the modern stuff in alpha order. To accomplish seperating the fast, medium , slow I guess I will have to put something in keywords as I understand it. I will probably use F for fast and M for medium and S for slow.

This is much longer winded than I intended, but I thought somebody might find this system to advantage, and I hope if there's a better sytem out there that I find out about it before I do it the other way.

As always thanks for the much appreciated input.

Scott Langholff

[This message has been edited by Scott Langholff (edited 02-01-2003).]

Scott...
While I sometimes use the Music Finder for requests I don't usually do, I find it cumbersome for my core songs because it takes a little time to check tempos, and in my case, key changes. Too much down time between songs.

I have found nothing faster than having my personal registrations on discs. On a "general audience" type of job I may have to use more than one disc, but they load fast.

All my Dinner hour registrations fit onto one disc. Regs for rest homes are on another.

On the jobs that require everything from Big Band to Rock, I interchange pretty quickly...but if a special set up is needed for a particular tune, I will put on a midi or MP3 and don't even try to give the impression I am playing live while I set up the special settings for the next song.

So far no complaints. What seems to matter most to the crowds is that there is ALWAYS something to dance to.

Eddie

I use the MFD a lot, and found that in order to make it a quick, effective tool for eliminating dead time, you must set it up with relatively small files. If you've put 300 to 500 songs in the MFD you're gonna' spend a lot of time just squinting at the songs to figure out which one you are going to play next.

The best technique is to first and foremost plan each performance, keeping in mind the average age of the crowd and what you think they would enjoy and respond to by dancing. Next, sit down at the computer and put together a gig file with the songs you intend to use for that particular performance. You can set these up by sets, using set 1,2,3, and 4 with a dozen songs in each set. Or you can set them up by the job with 50 to 60 songs that you would play for the entire job. Keep in mind that the MFD will normally list them alphbetically, but you can also list them using other parameters.

You can also use a floppy filled with registrations, which is another great tool. Each registration can be categorized, rock, country, swing, big band, etc, and when accessed, merely press the edit button and you have eight songs with all of the settings that are exactly where you want them. Access time for the floppy is a matter of two to three seconds at most, which is a lot faster than most bands can make up their minds as to the tempo of the next number they're going to play.

This takes a bit of planning to put together, but it's well worth the effort. I have done this with the PSR-5700, 740 and 2000 and as far as I'm concerned, it's the best thing since sliced bread.

Sorry to be so windy on this topic,

Gary

What is a "Yamaha Music Finder"? I can't find that feature on my 9000 Pro.
Thanks,
DVJ

The music finder or MFD, for those of use who were fortunate enough to buy a keyboard with this feature, is a fully programable directory of songs. Each can be listed by name, tempo, style, etc and each contains the factory or user style, tempo, beat and any notes you may wish to add. They can be quickly accessed by merely scrolling down the list, then pressing the enter key next to the scrooling wheel. If properly used, it's almost like turning the page of a fake book and playing the next song. Unfortunately, Yamaha didn't see fit to put this into the 9000 pro.

Sorry guys and gals, but you'll have to take that up with Steve from Yamaha.

Gary

deatonent. Music Finder is known on the 9000Pro as MUSIC-DATABASE. The button is just to the RIGHT of the screen. You can search by Category. Tempo. Song Name etc:
All settings can be changed and renamed to suit songs of your choice.
There is a FREE MusicDataBase Edit program for the PC on the following site http://members.aol.com/MiMetz/

Graham UK

[This message has been edited by Graham UK (edited 02-03-2003).]

Graham is right on the money. With my limited contact with the 9000, I was unaware that it had the MFD feature because of the difference in function name. Sorry guys and gals. Looks like the 9k has just what you're looking for.

Cheers,

Gary