I have a Yamaha Sx900 also. I posted some of my ideas about the Playlist and the Registrations about 9 months ago, it may have been to soon; people were just getting acquainted with their new Sx900 keyboard.

1-One Reg. per song.

2-One Reg. 8 banks if I like the song. That also goes into the Playlist.

3-Create a Band --- 8 Regs.
Example of my Big Band 8 Regs.
1-Piano 2-Trumpet 3-Clarinet 4-Sax section
5-Trombone 6-Soft Brass Section
7-Med Brass Section 8-Strong Brass Section

Please, do no more till my next post.
John C.

When I was still playing out, I had 90 songs that covered my job, the songs were saved in Regs, one song, one Reg. My method, using one song with 8 Regs is the method I am sharing here.

1-Select song.
2-Select a style you feel goes with the song.
When you saved the band you have created, the style and tempo were not saved.
3-Select the band—save the piano, style and tempo only in the first Regs. Regs Two to eight were not saved with Style, tempo so selecting them will not change the Style or Tempo.
The time required to select a song, style, tempo and band will be reduced by 70% using this method. Trust me on this one.

More on the next post, John C.

Working on this next step will continue until I run out of ideas. No pressure here. The Band I created I will call Medium Big Band.
Next stwp:
If I was playing a ballad; a slow Big Band song, the Trumpet in #2 would strong; I would select a Trumpet that had a sweeter sound. Then I would save it as Big Band Slow, or Soft. You now have two Big Band entries. Danger? If you try to create the different Big Bands in a short period of time you will burn out. It must be done over a period of time.
The changes you made six months ago are now being changed for your new song. The Band just improved. Over time you keep growing and adding.
John C.

John, I guess I'm one of the few individuals that enjoyed the instant access of the Music Finder Directory, which was eliminated with the SX series. Though I have hundreds of registration banks available as well, the MFD was my go-to directory of songs that allowed my instant access to the next song while still performing another song - it was a great tool for onstage performers that, for me, eliminated dead time between songs. Ironically, most folks on the forums rarely used the MFD, claiming it was versatile enough for them, therefore, they went to registrations.

My MFD contains about 700 entries, which took me nearly three years to complete. I totally agree with you about taking your time to grow and add to the registrations, therefore, creating a perfect registration for a particular song. IMO, there is no instant gratification in building a perfect registration - it takes a lot of time and effort, but in the end, the product is usually what you were hoping for.

All the best,

Gary

Gary, You weren't the only one who used the MFD database, I always used it too. When Yamaha released the Playlist feature it became my go-to system. The easiest way to say it is Playlist is a collection of registrations in some ways it resembles MFD but is more versatile at least in my opinion.

MDF and playlists have their advantages, but I don’t use any of those options. MDF was limited because he could not memorize the Lyrics, and using a playlist is not practical. Try skipping from 15 to 589 records so you’ll know why I’m saying that.

I only use banks and registrations, I know where everything is and I’m fast enough to perform live. I wanted to make my job even easier and I connected my iPad to the Midi Designer app. This works great, but I still use the old registration selection method. It would be great for Yamaha to work on a similar concept and make an app that would do the same thing.

WiFi control Yamaha arranger via iPad and MIDI designer app

Your program looks interesting, thanks for sharing the link to it. What's nice about our arrangers there are several ways to accomplish the same thing. Each one of us has our own method. I don't have one huge playlist I have them in categories and depending on the gig I can choose a particular Playlist so instead of having 589 records I'm working with 100 and like yourself I'm also fast enough to switch during a gig.

Leon, I respect what you are saying, but being a home player my needs are different I have moved from performing to self- enjoyment. Creating a new system is part of my enjoying my keyboard. 80% of my playing jobs have been on Technic keyboards, one song, one Regs.

Steve, like you I had 686 songs --- and selected 100; they were in sets. I love the iPad to keyboard idea, but I never got to do it.

Take care, John C.
PS, on a job, how do you find the next song that comes to mind?

Hi Stephen,

The program I use is MIDI Designer, a great application with many features.

I agree that each of us uses the keyboard according to our needs. There is no bad or good approach. Every approach is good if you are good at it and if it meets what you expect.




Hi John,

you are right, it is difficult to switch from Bank to Bank and choose the songs you want. I know exactly all the locations where which song is located because I have been creating each registration individually for years. It stayed in my memory and I think I could print 80% of my repertoire on paper without looking at the keyboard. I must mention that I actively perform hundreds of songs in my repertoire.
Then came the Playlist. I tried to switch to this way of working because there are some advantages to it. The only reason I don’t use them is because there is no numeric dialing and it’s hard to switch a few hundred numbers forward or backward. I described that at this point in the video.

Playlist on Genos, PSR SX700, PSR SX900

If I had to make everything from scratch, and if there was a numerical selection of Playlists that I mentioned, I would certainly approach the concept, one Bank - one song. I described the advantages in this video.

One Bank = One Song - how best to organize Registration Memory

Leon, I can relate to “where every song is” – and having many songs I did not need the music or lyrics.

For me at age 90 and having Parkinson will not allow me to rely on my memory. So my old system is not possible. The good news is that I refuse to allow obstacles stand in the way of enjoying my music, and my keyboard.

Life is good, John C.