Gary, Yamaha styles can be edited to the extreme for sure. The catch with me is, if I take the time to edit a couple, I have to take time to edit all of them I might want to use, because they make the factory settings sound even worse.
Now if they would come up with a page to edit OVERALL style settings, they would have something. Better yet, they could just make them sound good in the first place.
They have such beautiful arrangements, and flowing transitions between style parts, then you have to listen to those drums.
I played a four-hour job with the S900 today, using internal speakers only. It is so easy to use and unlike most people, I love the extra-light key touch. This was mostly piano and jazz guitar sounds, along with vocals. But after 15 straight nights playing the SD5, I just kept trying to adjust e.q., levels, effects, etc., including harmonizer. I finally just gave up and played the thing. The audience certainly didn't complain because the drums are outdated and the vocal harmonizer is "temperamental".
BTW, some very good points in this thread. The key is finding what works best for YOU!
I can certainly emphasize with Zuki. After playing PA800 for an hour, I wanted to throw up, or better yet, throw it at somebody. However I wasted a couple of months trying to use it, unsuited as it was for my purposes.
That doesn't mean someone else won't love it though!
DonM

Gotta agree with you on the overall edit thing Don. I have been trying to do some of this with Michael Bedesem's Midi Player program, which does batch conversions with Yamaha styles, but even after running them through the program you still have to tweak and tune them in the keyboard. Some day soon, someone will come up with a program that will allow you to batch tune the files the way you want, then load them into the keyboard as onboard styles. I'm looking forward to that day.

Cheers,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

There is a lot of SYSEX commands that Yamaha styles use! The problem is that you can edit those only through a PC sequencer ( not on the arranger itself). After you spend a lot of time and grasp the SYSEX messeges, you get a KICK-ASS drum or bass...

This is true for other arrangers too!

I cannot send you a e-mail gary, but i sure would like to have a looksy at this piece of work you created!

jseeseven3@msn.com

Hi Hitman,
Where can we get the SYSEX program?
Is it easy to learn and use?
thanks
tyro

Mr9000,

You have mail!

Enjoy,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

Tyro,

There are lots of inexpensive PC sequencer programs available, of Power Tracks Pro immediately comes to mind. Do a Google search and you'll find some really good prices.

The following is a breif explanation of Sysex commands that is currently posted at http://www.createsongstyles.com

For those of you new to midi data and venturing into editing in sequencer progs for the first time.
I thought a short explanation of System Exclusive (Sys-Ex) may be helpful .
Those of you that already know all this please forgive me for teaching you to suck eggs.

Sys-Ex strings are as their name implies messages to midi devices (including keyboards) that are only understood by a specific device or manufacturer (/model in some cases)
If your Keyboard doesn’t recognize it as one of its own it will ignore it and not bother to read it. This is essential to stop keyboards becoming confused by data they don’t know what to do with.

Having just said that ,A few kinds of Sys-Ex strings are understood by almost every instrument or MIDI-device, some of these are:

1. GM Reset (understood by every GM-compatible instrument)
Sys-Ex String: F0 7E 7F 09 01 F7

2. Roland GS Reset (Understood by all Roland GS instruments)
Sys-Ex String: F0 41 10 42 12 40 00 7F 00 41 F7

3. Yamaha XG reset (Understood by all Yamaha XG instruments)
Sys-Ex String: F0 43 10 4C 00 00 7E 00 F7

So what do they mean and how does the device know it’s for say a Yamaha kb.
You will have noticed that messages are in fact in Hexadecimal (don’t Worry)
Most documentation will show in the form (nnH) I will not bother with the H just remember we are talking Hex

ALL Sys-Ex start FO (F null) This means that the following will be in Sys-Ex
Format

All Sys-Ex end F7 This means end of Sys-Ex and if checksum is right execute command.

The second pair of numbers are normally the manufactures id See list below For some!
Gm Reset above 7E is universal.

40H Kawai Musical Instruments Mfg.Co.,Ltd
41H Roland Corporation
42H Korg Inc.
43H Yamaha Corporation
44H Casio Computer Co.,Ltd.
46H Kamiya Studio Co.,Ltd.
47H Akai Electric Co.,Ltd.
48H Victor Company Of Japan,Ltd
4BH Fujitsu Ltd
4CH Sony Corporation
4EH Teac Corporation
50H Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.,Ltd.
51H Fostex Corporation
52H Zoom Corporation
54H Matsushita Communication Industrial Co.,Ltd.
55H Suzuki Musical Instruments Mfg.Co.,Ltd.
56H Fuji Sound Corporation Ltd.
57H Acoustic Technical

The third pair of numbers is The model id Not used by all manufacturers

The forth pair is The device id and is used to show which device in your system should receive the message if say you had 2 keyboards from the same manufacture connected via
midi.
There is also one special device id 7FH this is often known as a broadcast
It means that every device in your system will receive the message.
This is the end of the part of the message to determine which device the message is for.

The rest of the message
This part contains the 'real' Sys-Ex data. Consists of a variable amount of bytes, depending on the setting you want to change. The data that is needed here is different for every instrument. You will have to use your manual for this. Look up in the tables what you want to do and place those bytes here.

Followed By The Checksum
This is also a part of Sys-Ex that not every manufacturer uses. The checksum is used as a control number that the instrument uses to determine if the message is received correctly. If the received checksum does not correspond with the number the instrument has calculated Itself, than the message is ignored and nothing changes. This is to prevent unwanted changes. Unfortunately the way the checksum is calculated is also different for almost every manufacturer.

Ok hope you find some of this useful. But you should be able to tell from the above at least if the Midi file was intended for your make of keyboard.
Roland Files for the GS set contain amongst other things an all notes off message after each note, sent as midi events cntr this can cause havoc on some keyboards. So at least you will know what to expect if the second pair of numbers (byte) is41H.

I have not gone into the full technical detail of Hex, as you don’t need to know this to use the above information, and I don’t want to post info on this forum that is over the top with technical detail.
I already feel some of my post are a bit too technical and don’t want to frighten people off.
If anyone feels this post inappropriate for this forum please let me know.
Also if anyone found useful
Just trying to help ,
Mike
Smiley
LATER Edit
The Model ID is not used by all manufacturers. For example Roland uses it in Their Sys-Ex format: Model ID 39H is a D-70, Model ID 16H is a D-110.
Yamaha does not use a Model ID in his Sys-Ex format.

A big thanks to Ron for posting this information at his site. Great explanation of Sysex commands.

Hittman, You'll find that the onboard Style Creator program, when used in conjuction with the Mixing Console, produced nearly identical results. As you stated, however, it takes some time, but this is time well spent whether it's on the Sysex codes or tweaking and tuning using the Style Creator.

Cheers,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

thanks Gary, I got your email and as time permits I will turn on that tyros 2 and see if it still works. I have been using the E 80 every since it got here. Still trying to figure out a lot of it's OS,
Best to you and thank you for all that you do.
Bebop

Thanks Traveling Easy.
As time permits, I will learn more about it.
tyro