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Make MZ X500 Rhythms from MIDI file Import?


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  Hi, Casio people,  :)

 

    Had a dabble at converting Yamaha 'Styles' to Casio Rhythms on my new MZ-X500.    Amazing what these keyboards can do, eh!   There are thousands of Yamaha styles free on the psrtutorial site.  Some styles need some tweaking after conversion to get a reasonable result.   But for me, it's a great way to play around and learn a few things.   In fact, this advertised feature of MZ-X's ability to convert third-party 'styles' to Casio  rhythms was what drew my interest in the first place.  

 

     Am now trying to make a MZ-X500  Rhythm from an imported MIDI file.  Not from a Yamaha 'Style' this time, but using a General MIDI SMF file type 01 to try to build a Casio Rhythm by segments, or 'Elements' in Casio speak. 

 

    Okay, have followed Ralph Maten's excellent video tutorial on this subject,  have mirrored his every move, but for some reason all I'm hearing after the final (Execute - Complete) stage, is drums.   Checked the  Accomp button is lit and am playing chord shapes on left hand (like Ralph does in his video),  only drums again.  Have installed the 01:30 upgrade, no difference.   

   All my MIDI files play no problem in the MZ's  MIDI Recorder and play also when played on the SMF IMPORT SETTING screen, so nothing wrong with the MIDI files, one presumes. 

 

      Any suggestions gratefully received, folks. 

 

 

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11 hours ago, dfahrner said:

Has anybody else been able to do this?  Or import Korg or other manufacturers' styles?  Is there any documentation from Casio that describes this process?  I can't seem to find any "official" mention of this capability...

 

df

Hi, df, 

            Yes, some success here with Yamaha Styles converted to MZ-X' Rhythms.  I am enjoying using this feature of my MZ-X500.   I used the posted video tutorial plus pages EN-33 & 34 of Casio MZ-X' Tutorial manual.

 

          Regards converting Korg Styles to MZ-X' Rhythms, no joy as yet, in fact I can't even get the MZ to 'see' the Korg Styles on my thumb drive.  Have also tried loading same file under a different  name, no change.

 

       Still trying without success in converting a SMF  song file (element by element) to a MZ-X' Rhythm. Possibly some essential piece of the jigsaw I am not seeing, but all I am hearing so far is drums. Hoping for a good MZ-X' video tutorial soon on this one. 

 

      Any MZ-X owners, please feel free to try this Korg Style for conversion if you can, and please share if successful:  

 

 KORG STYLE: MEXICAN.  free download from: 
http://shop.korg.com/pa#tabsMexican     

 

        Also, if I can further presume on your collective patience, :)  please try to convert this SMF to MZ-X' Rhythm with this free download:

     

 'Stand By Me' free MIDI song downloaded from: 
http://www.midiworld.com/search/5/?q=pop

 

           many thanks and good luck :banana:

Edited by Lobbard
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Here is a website I have found useful, you might find something here that will help.

 

http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/software/software.htm#msp

 

Tnicoson, myself and others here have lengthy posts about the SMF to auto-accompaniment conversion process. There is a Casio program called SMF converter but i don't know if this will work with the MZX. As Brad has stated, the converter allows placement of "markers" for your start and end points for each part you want to create-intro, ending variations etc. In converting smfs for my (older) PX350 and PX575 I had less success with the Roland and Korg styles which just did not translate well to the Casio structure for rhythms. Yamaha style files played more accurately but due to their "COSM" embedded extra data for the Tyros, these sometimes caused problems. One of the programs on the bove referenced page strips the COSM data if you need that. I think Korg styles have some type of header information which may be blocking using their styles in other keyboards although I didn't spend much time working on that.Korg styles play on my older Casios, but there was such a  mismatch of sounds and channels, i felt it wasn't worth the trouble.

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5 hours ago, Jokeyman123 said:

Here is a website I have found useful, you might find something here that will help.

 

http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/software/software.htm#msp

 

Tnicoson, myself and others here have lengthy posts about the SMF to auto-accompaniment conversion process. There is a Casio program called SMF converter but i don't know if this will work with the MZX. As Brad has stated, the converter allows placement of "markers" for your start and end points for each part you want to create-intro, ending variations etc. In converting smfs for my (older) PX350 and PX575 I had less success with the Roland and Korg styles which just did not translate well to the Casio structure for rhythms. Yamaha style files played more accurately but due to their "COSM" embedded extra data for the Tyros, these sometimes caused problems. One of the programs on the bove referenced page strips the COSM data if you need that. I think Korg styles have some type of header information which may be blocking using their styles in other keyboards although I didn't spend much time working on that.Korg styles play on my older Casios, but there was such a  mismatch of sounds and channels, i felt it wasn't worth the trouble.

 

    Thanks for taking the time in response, Jokeyman123. 

 

     Oh-oh,  now I'm worried.  Sounds like I'd need some heavy MIDI schooling there, sir.  

    Pardon me for a shallow ingrate, but was rather expecting my new Casio MZ-X500 could do something like this: 

 

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18 hours ago, BradMZ said:

Most SMF files will require mapping the part channels manually since they tend to follow no rules.  You'll need to know which channels you want from the file before importing. As you see, default is 9-16.  

 

14081459_1037644759665699_169915021_n.jp

14009838_1037644799665695_1205079948_n.j

     

 

     Cheers BradMZ, that's the missing link!   Mapping to your second image screen (default setting) and pressing Execute, produces only drums as before.  

 

    Changing the part channels produces a positive result (drums plus music):

 

                            Percussion = 09,   Drums = 10,     Bass =  01,    Chord 1 = 02,   Chord 2 = 03,  

                                                                                  Chord 3 = 04,  Chord 4 = 05,  Chord 5 = 06. 

 

   Okay, this MZ-X' feature (converting SMF to Casio Rhythm) hardly compares to that of the Korg Pa4x, but it still works.  Looks like a lot of work to do for a finished item.  Having tried it, think my preference might be for converting third-party styles to Casio rhythms after all. :-) 

 

  Cheers all

 

  [EDIT]  Whoops!  Yes, remapping to those part channels did work, but something sounds amiss, possibly due my using the channels that would be otherwise used by the upper melody parts later? When I try to play something on this newly-converted Rhythm, the upper keyboard sounds off-key.  Example, instead of major C chord, I find I had to play the chord: G# - C - D - G# to play in tune.  Very entertaining I'm sure. 

 

  

 

 

 

       

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I successfully imported a Yammy Style into my MZ-X500 ... I had auditioned some Yamaha styles first in a midi file player to determine if the files had channels 9 thru 16 programmed. I then imported and did the ALL conversion and it worked just fine. 

 

Note re: Korg styles, someone on the KORG forums created a utility that will convert a Yamaha style to a MIDI format for Korg style import. I think this utility could be useful for our conversion tasks as you can swap intros and endings with it. (Yamaha styles tend to have intro and ending swapped from a Korgies point of view) I'll dig trough my docs this morning and try to find the link to that utility in the Korg forums. It works quite nicely.  

 

Found it. Here's a link to the thread.  http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=98741&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 

Here's a link to Amit's program. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzVh3K4aKXmSUnBmZmE4X3FxTjA/view

 

If you have a newer Korg arranger (PA600 and newer) you can export a Korg style as a MIDI file for editing and importing into the MZX. 

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42 minutes ago, BradMZ said:

Did you take note of the original key of the midi file and compensate for it by setting key shift properly before final conversion?  

 

       That  fixed it, BradMZ, thanks, I'd forgotten about the original key.  

 

        Original key of the 'Stand by Me' MIDI song file (download link in earlier post)  is 'A'.    On the SMF IMPORT SCREEN,  have now compensated by shifting the Key Shift to  -9 and that fixes it, cheers.  Also tried the Key Shift +3,  but while in tune, the bass is too high.  

 

      Phew! - back to playing on the white keys. :)    

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
On ‎19‎-‎8‎-‎2016 at 11:35 AM, Lobbard said:

Hi, df, 

            Yes, some success here with Yamaha Styles converted to MZ-X' Rhythms.  I am enjoying using this feature of my MZ-X500.   I used the posted video tutorial plus pages EN-33 & 34 of Casio MZ-X' Tutorial manual.

 

          Regards converting Korg Styles to MZ-X' Rhythms, no joy as yet, in fact I can't even get the MZ to 'see' the Korg Styles on my thumb drive.  Have also tried loading same file under a different  name, no change.

 

       Still trying without success in converting a SMF  song file (element by element) to a MZ-X' Rhythm. Possibly some essential piece of the jigsaw I am not seeing, but all I am hearing so far is drums. Hoping for a good MZ-X' video tutorial soon on this one. 

 

      Any MZ-X owners, please feel free to try this Korg Style for conversion if you can, and please share if successful:  

 

 KORG STYLE: MEXICAN.  free download from: 
http://shop.korg.com/pa#tabsMexican     

 

        Also, if I can further presume on your collective patience, :)  please try to convert this SMF to MZ-X' Rhythm with this free download:

     

 'Stand By Me' free MIDI song downloaded from: 
http://www.midiworld.com/search/5/?q=pop

 

           many thanks and good luck :banana:

Maybe I can help a little bit.

a styl from stand by me in YAMAHA SSF format. just change the sounds

Ben E King - Stand By Me.sty

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 8 months later...
On 8/20/2016 at 2:39 PM, Rick Sterling said:

I successfully imported a Yammy Style into my MZ-X500 ... I had auditioned some Yamaha styles first in a midi file player to determine if the files had channels 9 thru 16 programmed. I then imported and did the ALL conversion and it worked just fine. 

 

Note re: Korg styles, someone on the KORG forums created a utility that will convert a Yamaha style to a MIDI format for Korg style import. I think this utility could be useful for our conversion tasks as you can swap intros and endings with it. (Yamaha styles tend to have intro and ending swapped from a Korgies point of view) I'll dig trough my docs this morning and try to find the link to that utility in the Korg forums. It works quite nicely.  

 

Found it. Here's a link to the thread.  http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=98741&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 

Here's a link to Amit's program. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzVh3K4aKXmSUnBmZmE4X3FxTjA/view

 

If you have a newer Korg arranger (PA600 and newer) you can export a Korg style as a MIDI file for editing and importing into the MZX. 

 

Hi Rick- what 'midi file player' did you use to audition and swop midi channels (Sound Forge?) to relocate midi channel parts between CH9-16 for the MZ-X500?

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