Hello once again from sunny Melbourne.
I am attempting to improve a S.M.File by improving and altering some of the "voices' and adding a STRING track.
I have initialised the keyboard- inserted the disk with the S.M.F. and loaded it as GM/GM2-NX.There are 12 tracks on it in total.
Reverting to the home page- R1. R2 and Left are shown as GRAND PIANO X- ACOUSTIC BASE X AND HARP X. I would have expected them to have loaded in the Technics equivalent voices which sound much better.Why is it still playing with G.M. "voices". Is there another step I have missed? Is it possible to change all the voices to ones I prefer from the keyboard?
Is any one else working along these lines? If so,any advice would be much appreciated.
This effort is for my choir so I need to produce a quality backing for them. My instrument is the K.N.6500.Cheers. Jean.

Hi Jean
One method is to go to step record for the tracks you want to change sound in and cursor along until you find an asterisk that shows the GM sound. Delete it and insert your chosen sound. If you play the file and go to Mixer, you will see the sounds for each track. On some GM files the sound change can be several bars in - so make sure your chosen sound is input just before the first note.
No doubt there are other ways of doing it, but this should help till a better suggestion comes along
John

Jean, when the smf file is loaded into the KN6500, all the information on that file is also loaded including the patch number (the number used to identify the instrument). Since all instruments have a different patch number it will not automatically replace the midi numbers with other instrument numbers. When the file is loaded, you can select the "mixer" button on the left side of the screen. Then press the "other screen" button (I think that's what it is called) and you should see all of the tracks with the instruments and volumes displayed. At this screen, you can select the track and change the instrument to any instrument you want. Now, if you save this to a midi file, the instrument saved will be one that is designated as a midi instrument and, if the one you selected is not a midi instrument it will not be saved. In your green book that came with the instrument you will find a list of all midi instruments and their designated numbers. If you wish to save the new music with the technics instruments you selected (ones that are not on the midi list), you will need to save the song in Technics format and not midi. I hope this makes sense. It's easier to do than to explain. If I didn't make it clear enough, let me know and I'll try again.

Peter

Thank you John and Peter for your replies.
Peter , I am trying your method first, but I will try both ways. I can see how you can change the instruments for each part on the mixer page.
I am not sure which page in the green reference book you want me to refer to. Pages 4 to 8 have all the sounds listed with 3 columns of figures-MSB LSB PC No. I am assuming the last column PC No is the one you mean It does not give any explanation of what the letters stand for and I would appreciate it if you could tell me even if it is not the page you mean.
Every column has SOUND EXPLORER at the top of the column. What about all the others?? You can see I am quite dumb about all of this midi stuff!!I just don't understand how to interpret these pages.
If I just want to always play the file on the 6500 and just choose the instruments from those residing in the 6500 and save the file as Technics, do I need to worry about this? You help is most appreciated as I am determined to get on top of this instrument--I don't mean jump on it although I have been tempted to at times. Reguards Jean.

Jean, the Sound Explorer button on the keyboard actually accesses all of the sounds on the keyboard and are thus shown in the Reference Guide under Sound Explorer Group. The other Sound Group buttons provide duplicate paths for quick access to various groups of sounds from the complete Sound Explorer Group. The MSB, LSB & PCNo columns are only of use if you are wishing to access the complete range of sounds from a sequencer program on a computer. If you want some individual help with MIDI problems or interpreting the Reference Guide don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Cheers

Len C.

Thank you all for your help' i have succeeded in changing all the X voices to Technics voices and the song sounds much better.
John. I have not used the step record for any purpose yet but I can see a practical use for it here. I have however had success with Peter's method and was surprised at how easy it was.
Peter . I followed your instructions and all went well. I found I had to save all changes to Panel Memory 1 and do a Panel Write and save to keep the setting. I then loaded and saved it on a new disk.I have noticed that when I load the "new song" it still shows the G.M. sounds on the screen until I press Panel Memory 1 -so it apparently does not completely wipe out the G.M. sounds. Is that right?
Len. Glad to hear you are home and doing well. I did not have your E-mail address but heard from the others all the news. I thought the sound explorer was a sort of supplementary list. I did not really understand. Thank you for your explanation. Yes I am anxious to learn about midi.
Walter . thank you for your helpful E-mail. All I have to do now is to add some strings to this "new song". Cheers. Jean.

Jean,

It looks like I gave you some bum information. Last night I loaded a midi backing track into my keyboard, made an instrument change and tried to save it in Technics format. It didn't do what I thought it would; it did just what yours did, save the midi information. Sounds like a flaw in the Technics software. I guess, in order to save Technics information, you need to create the tracks using the keyboard sequencer.
I do all of my backing tracks(currently some 690) in midi format on my computer because I find it easier than using the keyboard sequencer and because midi is a more universal format than Technics. One thing to keep in mind is that when the midi file is loaded into the keyboard, the instruments used are the Technics instruments, for example, an acoustic grand piano is the same in both midi and technics, and sound the same.
Now, as for the midi patches. You are referencing the correct pages in the manual. The PC No. is the patch number. The MSB (Most Significant Bit) and the LSB (Least Significant Bit) are used to select other instruments within the same patch number, thereby, extending the number of midi instruments available. The normal number is 128, however, you can see that there are far more than that available using MSB and LSB. If you have a music software program (I use Digital Orchestrator Pro) that will allow you to enter the MSB or LSB number, you can select any of the instruments on those pages by entering the Patch Number, MSB number, and LSB number.

I hope this helps. If you need more information, just post.

Peter

I'm sorry... the technics grand piano is quite different from the midi piano, easily heard.

There is no flaw in the technics software, different midi files have their patch info at different places in the intro measure, therefore the mixer method will never work.

Load as gm to nx, change the voices in step record, save as a technics sequence, lyrics included. Job Done.

I could have sworn I had improved all the voices-- also there are no Xs showing after the sounds. Haven't I done anything??
Thanks for the explanation of the midi columns Peter. I will keep it for future use. I have Logic Platinum- but am trying to work just with the 6500 at the moment until I learn a bit more about it. I can see I will have to study up on the Step record feature if it has other uses than putting in notes and chords manually instead of playing them in. At first it seemed a bit to me like "Painting by numbers".
This is a very steep learning curve !! I am encountering all sorts of different challenges. This week I have been trying to "insert " an extra verse and chorus into a song but as there is a half bar before the chorus it complicates things. I have done it with the minidisc finally. My other complication was to lengthen a song from the Technics range which just have APC AND CONTROL tracks. I followed the WORKSHOP instructions from Techplus but found that the song always stopped after the first chorus.I woke up to the fact that the STOP command must have been given before the final bar so I got around this by charting the commands of the control track then deleting it, and I just lengthened the APC track and then put the CONTROL track back in as it was before, I have lengthened all the songs now and am very pleased with them. Thank you all for your input- I learn so much by reading all the posts although some of them are way above my head.Cheers. Jean.

[This message has been edited by Jean Olivia (edited 10-08-2002).]

glad you find the workshops useful