Hi folks,

I like to do things like transpose, change the bpm, and revoice sounds. and be able to save the changes. I could do this kind of stuff pretty well on my old 950, but I'm having some problems on the SX 900. I'm sure there's some YouTube videos out there, but I haven't found any.... Any suggestions?

Watch these couple of videos

channel edit

Transpose

editing drum channel

With Roland out of the business now, I think it’s time for Yamaha and Korg to take a VERY close look at how Roland’s Makeup Tools simplifies editing styles and SMF’s.

Especially the ease of adjusting drum sounds within a kit and the simple way of adjusting MIDI velocities and volumes per drum sound. Hitting the sweet spot in multi sample drum sounds (drum sounds that use different samples as they are played harder) is the key to great drums, and no two manufacturers (and even no two different arrangers from the same manufacturer) put the switch points at the same velocity. So a style or sequence for one kit rarely transitions across the samples the same way.

You CAN do stuff like this on Korg and Yamaha, but it an incredibly tedious process doing it for each division and even chord type one at a time. Roland made it global, turning something that few attempt into a simple process.

If other manufacturers have copied the Roland Chord Sequencer (and even improved on it), why not this?

Dicky, I agree with you. Roland had a great MIDI editing tool. I think it was called Make up tools. Unfortunately, there is no more Roland and we have to come to terms with that.
At Yamaha, such work can be done on a computer. It may seem complicated to connect the keyboard and the computer, but once you get used to it, it works without any problems. watch the video

Yamaha Midi File (SONG) - editing drum with XG Works

The one problem I have with offloading editing to computers and tablets is, how long will the software be supported? Your arranger will (with care!) still be working and making great music for 20-30+ years, but what are the odds that a) the software will be available, b) it will be updated to run on an 20-30 year newer OS, or c) you can find a working computer or tablet that is 20-30 years old and still working well?

Let’s say you want to sell your arranger after 15-20 years of service. Will the new owner be able to find the software and hardware to be able to do essential editing by then?

Tablets are even worse, with closed ecosystems. There is iPad software for the BK-9 that is no longer available because it was removed from the Apple Store. It stopped being available several years ago, not long after the BK-9 was discontinued… I have a current iPad, and I cannot get it.

Add to that, what are the odds a developer will continue to update a software to run on newer OS’s after the arranger is discontinued and newer ones use a different system? You MIGHT be able to keep an old computer working for 20 years to use the legacy software, but what happens if you sell the arranger? Throw in the computer for free?

I feel that essential editing capabilities MUST be included in the OS of the arranger itself, not left to the vagaries of an extremely volatile computer market.

===like there are still going to be 'Arrangers' around 20-30 yeares from now, much less nerds manually programming them in TODAY'S programming/editing languages on what will then be the equivalent of a Commodore 8. I doubt if you'll feel any pain giving away your computer/museum piece with your 30 yr. old arranger. Plus, who's going to buy it, the Smithsonian? . Given the rapid rate of technological progress, I think it's highly unlikely that any technology based musical instrument today will be relevant/useful 20-30 years from now. Piano tuners, on the other hand, will probably still be able to earn a comfortable living . Also, 20-30 years from now, the only persons owning today's arrangers will be you, Russ, and Fran .

BTW Diki, before you go into full counter-attack mode , I'm just messin' with ya'----sorta'.

chas

I agree, there is always a software update problem. This is especially evident with iPads, which require a new software version.
But on the other hand, the video I posted in the above post describes working with XGWorks, which is over 20 years old. In fact, it stopped development in 2002 and can still be installed on Win10/11 without problems. The interface is not modern, the icons are small, but it still has no equal in the segment of editing Yamaha's XG information.

I also often use Cakewalk by BandLab. It is free, reviewed, but it does not contain any tools that are specific to the XG protocol.

Genos Style recording in Cakewalk - create MIDI file

Hi,
I still use xg works too. Possibly closer to 25 years old haha. Brilliant old program.
The only way I could get it to work was to copy the folder of a working version of the program from my xp computer to a usb drive and run it from that. I could never get it to install on my win7 laptop, so never bothered trying to install it on win 10 either. I just run it off the usb drive. Good enough for the editing I do.

(I’ll have to check out your video’s)

Just copy the contents of XGWorks from USB to PC (Win 10) and run the exe file. The program works without problems.

@chas

B3 is getting pretty old too! Worth more than when it first came out! Wish I had held onto some of my old analogs, that Odyssey might buy me a car!

It seems difficult to predict what’s going to appreciate and what’s going to end up valueless, a lot depends on what future generations decide us ‘cool’ long after those that used it moved on to newer tech…

But even personally, I have got close to 15+ years out of each of my primary gigging arrangers, and plan on running the BK-9 until I pass on. And, if I sold my G70, I’d prefer to not have to give away an aging computer at the same time just so the new owner can edit styles!

I know you’re just joshing, but as times get tighter, fewer and fewer of us fossils that still use arrangers can afford to drop huge bucks on the latest tech, and the odds of anything in the far future being any good at the genres we like to play is slim. We all better start taking really good care of them, first Roland bail, I wonder who’s next? My money’s on Korg if the PA5x’s bugs don’t get squashed pretty quickly. Few pros are buying them if they can’t gig with them as is.

More and more, arrangers are complete rubbish doing modern genres, and way overpriced compared to things like the MODX+ etc.. The final days of the home organ market comes to mind watching what is happening to arrangers.