"Song Ready / Stage Settings"

[Mike Martin]

I posted this question over on the Facebook PX-5S Users Group too. 

 

 

Another big question for you.  I need a list of what "gig ready / song ready" Stage Settings you need for the PX-5S.  Jim Jarosik here in the group mentioned yesterday that he was looking for a way to do  "Waiting for a Girl Like You" from Foreigner.  So whether it is this or Jimmy Buffett's Margarittaville - lets start building a list of songs that you need to cover.  Bring it on.

 

[Brad Saucier]

U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name.  

 

 

 

 

[willf]

Mike,

 

I won't dump a complete set list on you but a variety of songs and differing levels of complexity from a sound setup point of view.

 

 

I'm not in Love - 10cc,   House of the Rising Sun - Animals,   Paradise - Coldplay,   Viva la Vida - Coldplay,   I Just Died in Your Arms - Cutting Crew,  Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits,   Walk of Life - Dire Straits,  The Final Countdown - Europe, Follow You Follow Me - Genesis, Steppin' Out - Joe Jackson,   Don’t Stop Believin' - Journey,  Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs,   Kashmir - Led Zeppelin,   Kayleigh - Marillion,   Lavendar - Marillion,   A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum,   Black Magic Woman - Santana,   Do it Again - Steely Dan,  Africa - Toto, Drops of Jupiter - Train,   Jump - Van Halen , Valerie - Zutons (Sax in left, Voice for Oohs and Aahs)

 

 

Edited:

 

and a few where piano/electric piano features strongly.

 

 

Always - Bon Jovi

Angels - Robbie Williams

My Life - Billy Joel 

Sister Christian - Night Ranger

The way it is - Bruce Hornsby

Walking in Memphis - Marc Cohn

You are so Beautiful - Joe Cocker

[Brad Saucier]

Great List willf!  

[willf]

Great List willf!  

 

This is a 'partial list' drawn from four set lists that I currently play.

[BeowulfX]

+1 on Africa by Toto...

 

Here are few more "oldie" songs that may make some use of PX-5S Pro's capabilities:

 

1) We built this City - Starship

2) The way you make me feel - Michael Jackson

3) Sowing the Seeds of Love - Tears for Fears

4) Mother's Talk - Tears for Fears

5) Rock DJ - Robbie Williams

6) Star People - George Michael

7) Escapade - Janet Jackson

8) Together in Electric Dreams - Human League

 

And more recent ones:

 

1) Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5

2) Moves like Jagger - Maroon 5

3) Tik Tok - Ke$ha

[Joe Muscara]

I believe Africa is already in there under Stage Setting 7-3.

[jimmyjames]

Joe, the primary tone from "Africa" is at 7-3 (and it's very good...good job Mike), but there are a couple of other tones from "Africa" (particularly the solo tone) that would be great to have in the upper two octaves of the setting, for example (I think the solo stays within two octaves).  Same goes for other songs like the ones listed here with multiple tones.  To the extent possible, it would be great to have them zoned within one Stage Setting.  Of course, this is not work I would expect Mike or anyone else at Casio to dedicate their time to, other than, perhaps to set up a few of the songs as examples.  Hopefully us users will begin to create these song-specific, multi-tone Stage Settings and share them in a dedicated "sanctioned" website.  Perhaps Casio will at least create and manage this site (maybe it already exists?).  Not that I am that deep into the world of keyboards, but I know of no other keyboard that has such a repository.  I think it would be a great marketing feature for the 5S.

[willf]

Reading through a thread on another forum reminded me of a song that I have not played for a long time - Golden Brown by the Stranglers.

 

As far as I know this was played on a real harpsichord. The main problem that I have with most 'stock' harpsichord patches is the lack of sound on key release.

[Joe Muscara]

Theoretically, the PX-5S could do that, and even make that adjustable. I haven't done much with the harpsichord on the PX-5S so I don't know if the key release sound is in there already.

[Mike Martin]

The PX-5S has a new harpsichord with key release.  

[jimmyjames]

Mike, following up on my above comment, is it a problem for Casio to be too involved in a song-specific stage setting site because of copyright issues?  As I'm sure you know, there is (partially) song specific sample area on the Nord User site but I think that site is independent from Nord itself, right?

[Mike Martin]

This site is not owned by Casio.  We also would not be distributing "music" of any kind (printed or audio).  

[Brad Saucier]

This forum site looks so good and "official" that many are mistaking it for a CASIO site.  I know I was unsure at first.

 

Also:  The more tidbits of info I read about the PX-5 the more I like it.  I'm sold.  It's official.  

 

And here's a challenge for you Mike:   The arp pattern sound in The Neverending story theme.  I just can't get it right.  

[Mike Martin]

That is why it says "Independent User Community".   

 

As for the Neverending Story Theme, I don't know it but I'll take a listen.  

[Brad Saucier]

As for the Neverending Story Theme, I don't know it but I'll take a listen.  

 

I'll probably be the only person who'll ever ask for that song.  Sorry, It's an 80's thing.  

[Joe Muscara]

I got mine before hurricane season. I think if I planned my life around that, I'd go crazy or move. I know - I don't live in a flood zone nor am surrounded by levees.

 

Is this what you're talking about?

 

[Brad Saucier]

Hi Joe,

 

Yes that's the song.  BTW there is a club mix of the song I like better.

 

I've been able to recreate most of it with the pattern sequencer but synthesizing the arp sound has eluded me.  The MZ-2000 synth is limited compared to the PX-5.  I'm thinking it would be easy to get the sound right with it.  Especially the arp pattern itself.  The MZ's arpeggiator is strictly presets.  No user patterns are possible.  

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLxgjOh2sbs

[mphelps06]

I'd like to throw in The Cars "Just What I Needed". I'm a total synth noob, so maybe this doesn't rise to the level of a song setting, but I need it for a gig so why not?

 

On a related note, anyone care to suggest how would I put together a sound for that tune? 

[willf]

I'd like to throw in The Cars "Just What I Needed". I'm a total synth noob, so maybe this doesn't rise to the level of a song setting, but I need it for a gig so why not?

 

On a related note, anyone care to suggest how would I put together a sound for that tune? 

 

As you are new to synths this may not make much sense but:

 

For the 'main' riff, first time played, try layering  a square wave with a saw wave set one octave higher. Depending on how your synth (PX-5S?) sounds you may need to use a Low Pass Filter to take off some of the bottom end. You may also need to use a bit of chorus on the saw wave to thicken the sound and add a bit of movement. You will need to experiment with the amount of portamento you use as this will depend, to a degree, on your playing style.

 

For the 'main' riff, apart from the first time played, and the end riff just mute the saw wave layer.

 

If the sound is too 'thin' for your liking then simply double up on the wave forms and detune one slightly to make it sound 'thicker'. 

 

This should be fairly easy on the PX-5S, or indeed the XW-P1

 

A question for Mike. Can detune amount be controlled by an LFO or is detune amount static/fixed?

[Brad Saucier]

A question for Mike. Can detune amount be controlled by an LFO or is detune amount static/fixed?

Hi willf,

 

You don't get Mike today, he's busy.  You got me. Just kidding.   I'm sure he'll chime in.

 

Anyway,

I'm pretty sure it can.   I'm seeing it in the PX-5 manual under LFO>PITCH.  You can specify pitch/amp wave type, pitch rate, depth and delay. 

[jimmyjames]

mphelps, Greg Hawkes used a MiniKorg 700s for most of the sounds on The Cars first album.  It was (is) a monophonic synthesizer.  Fortunately, I had one in the band I was in when this came out (I am dating myself) so we did a mean version of "Just What I Needed".  My recollection is that I used the sine wave setting on the 700S with a bit of portamento for the primary synth sound in the song.  With the firmware 1.10 upgrade, the PX-5S now has portamento too so I bet there is a way to get close.  I'll leave it to Mike Martin to go through the details as I am sure to do a poor job of it, but I believe you will want start in the Hex tone edit menu, get into the layers edits, probably pop in a sine wave or two then edit envelopes, portamento, etc from there.

 

Edit note...just tried it.  Two triangle waves slightly detuned from each other sounds quite close to me.  Sine wave is too soft.  Also, don't forget to zero out touch senstitivity.

[Mike Martin]

Jimmy,

You've got the details right but the PX-5S is not a monophonic synth.  We don't have a mono-mode.  We make two keyboards that are practically dedicated to do that kind of sound, so we focused making the PX-5S a better polysynth. 

 

That being said, I made a patch that would probably get you through a gig without too much criticism.  Adding it to the HexLayer downloads section

[mphelps06]

Thanks, willf and jimmyjames. I tried out the triangle waves and got the portamento about right, but need to tweak the envelopes. I'll definitely try the sqaure/saw wave approach too, but I'm still learning my way around the PX-5s, so that's for tonight or tomorrow.

 

At any rate, thanks again!

[mphelps06]

Thanks, Mike! That patch sounds great. Helped me to learn the ropes of stage settings, too, as I set up the sliders to control the volume of the hex layers.