I’m pretty sure Yamaha’s can’t edit the sysex they send for Style Control. Not sure anything can (can Ketron edit what sysex the Variation buttons send? Or is it hardwired?)…
And here’s what I’ve been bitching about for decades… why not standardize the codes? Roland and iirc Korg use simple PC#s for style control. No sysex headers to worry about, simple to edit in a DAW if you need to, no worrying about sysex strings (which have to be sent in one string) messing with timing, no worrying about having to edit the sysex header (unique to each model) if you change arrangers.
Arranger manufacturers got gifted a huge benefit from the MIDI Manufacturer’s Association (MMA) coming together to standardize basic MIDI codes, and haven’t done one single thing themselves to leverage it so that a Yamaha can talk to a Roland, or a Korg, or anything when it comes down to basic style control. Not a damn thing. In 30 bloody years! It’s outrageous…
Intro selection, Variation Selection. Fill selection. Break selection. Bass Inversion selection. Part mutes. Ending selection…. Every single manufacturer uses different codes for the EXACT same thing. Things we all use, things which all arrangers have. It’s a crushing failure on behalf of the manufacturers of arrangers, and needs, now more than ever, to be addressed. Think of how many arrangers DON’T get bought because they won’t work well with another manufacturer’s arranger…. The synth market exploded after its manufacturers finally got together and standardized note, timing and controller codes and invented basic MIDI. Fortunes were made, and it opened the door to the world we now live in,
Except arranger manufacturers. To my knowledge, there has never been a meeting of the majors about anything to do with arrangers. EVER..! And now they’re going broke. Some have left the segment altogether. Their sales don’t even support releasing TOTL models not riddled with bugs and missing features. All because they aren’t selling many any more, while the answer (and a stupidly simple on to adopt) is staring them in the face…
You don’t buy two arrangers from two different manufacturers much, because it’s a nightmare to get them to play nice with each other. Simple as that. I’d have an SX900 synced to my BK9 today if they played together. That’s one sale gone, Yamaha…. Multiply that by thousands of players who’d LOVE to easily add another arranger. Why the arranger industry can’t see this, I’ll never understand…
Rant over… 🎹😂
In the meantime, if you want to control arranger divisions across brands, you’re going to need a device in the middle, laptop, tablet etc. and use a program that changes the codes received into the codes the downstream device wants to see. Unfortunately, many of the functions you’d need to send don’t even get controls. Bass inversions sometimes, part mutes sometimes, sometimes an arranger has a code for those, but the button doesn’t send anything.
Best of luck… 🥺😂
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An arranger is just a tool. What matters is what you build with it..!
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