Casio Privia PX-S Drums?

[CalebBX]

Hey guys I have a question. Does the Casio Privia pro px5s have any way to create and play drum loops?

  I am asking this because our band does not have a drummer and i would like to get a keyboard that could play drum loops for some of the songs we do.

 

Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

[SonnyDaye]

Hey guys I have a question. Does the Casio Privia pro px5s have any way to create and play drum loops?

  I am asking this because our band does not have a drummer and i would like to get a keyboard that could play drum loops for some of the songs we do.

 

Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Caleb,

The answer is Yes, you can definitely play Drum Loops (called Phrases on the PX). I'm pretty sure that you have to create them with other software or you could record them off of a drum machine and then convert them into a phrase in the Casio software available here. It's a fairly complex thing to figure out at first (several different ways to do it), but easily doable eventually. I'm at the point of just getting in to it now. There are some great people on here....I'm sure they'll point you in the right direction for a tutorial and get you started. There's been several threads about this subject....search for them.

Good luck!

[jaspeter]

... Or you can create them onboard the keyboard itself, complete with overdubbing!

[CalebBX]

Thanks so much for the quick response!!! I will definitely do that.

Is there a couple different software that you would recommend to do this with.

[Brad Saucier]

Any standard midi sequencing program will work as long as it can export a standard midi file.   Cakewalk is one such program.  The PX-5s data editor can convert standard midi files to phrases.

[krullebolle]

So,

 

my drummer who has an electronic yamaha drum, can play a track, we record it trough midi into cubase. Then we could play it via the midi file on the px-5s with a drum in zone 1?

 

interesting...

 

Probably will have to remap some drum settings in cubase for it to work... But we could play a song, the px-5s doing the drum and the drummer could be doing second guitar..

[CalebBX]

would Presonus Studio One work for this. Would i be able to use impact or would i need to use presence.

If not, are there any alternative free programs i can use.

[jaspeter]

Krullebolle, you wouldn't need to do it this way, but here's how I might approach that (sans computer)!

• Find out what percussion sounds the Yamaha transmits on each pad.  It probably transmits that data on a standard MIDI note-on signal and is probably listed in the manual for that instrument.
• Edit an internal drum set on the PX-5S in Zone 1 to reproduce those tones on the corresponding notes of the keyboard.
• Hook his drum MIDI-out (set to channel 1 or OMNI on) into the PX-5S.  Turn off the Yamaha's internal sound generator, or unplug it from its amp.
• Set the phrase recorder parameters on the PX-5S (tempo, time signature, length) and start recording.  The drummer may want headphones to hear the metronome.  It can be pretty easily overpowered by ambient noise.
• Save and name the phrase, and you've got yourself a drum track!

Not having tried this exact thing, the only part of it that might cause difficulty is that I'm not 100% sure the phrase recorder will run from an external MIDI-In signal.  I'm about 95% sure it will, but that may be a sticking point.

[Choppin]

I don't think the phrase recorder records external midi input. 

[maarkr]

i know that you can use the data editor software to convert the midi to a phrase... i've been doing that, loading it on a usb stick and loading the phrase in the PX.  Since you're doing drums there may be some midi translation issues with the parts, ie, snare may be an A1 on the Yamaha and C1 on the PX.  I don't know if that's ever been standardized using channel 10 midi or not over the years.

[jaspeter]

I stand corrected, Choppin.  I should have verified it before posting a "solution".  I just tried it from the USB interface out of Reaper to channel 1 and it didn't work.  I'm guessing the same is probably true for the direct MIDI interface.  Sorry, krullebolle!

[krullebolle]

Guess I'll go about it like I said, through cubase.

The yamaha drum isn't correctly mapped through midi even with a program like addictive drums, so also not with the px-5S.

Don't mind it much, because it is easier to remap a drum in cubase then to remap through programming it in the PX. 

In the studio we can do it easily and even let the PX 's metronome sound for the drummer so it's spot on tempo.

[dbecker22]

I'm looking for a solution or software update to make the drum pattern phrases more user friendly. I've had my PX-5s for a little over a week now. I own both a PX-330 and PX-350. I'm gigging with the 350 mostly solo, but a few band gigs now and then. Both keyboards have pretty good set ups for playing with drum patterns allowing for intros, A-B patterns and endings and switching patterns or setups on the fly. After several attemps to import drum patterns from the 350 to the 5s I've given up. The 350 does not send drum patterns out via midi and the files saved via usb can't be converted to midi. I asked casio if the PX-350 drum patterns were available as midi files. It would be nice, but no such luck. I have created some patterns and converted some midi patterrns to phases for the PX-5s with good results. I'll post for download when I get a bunch.

 

The only thing that isn't working for me on the PX-5s that when you change one drum pattern phrase on zone 1 to another in a stage setting the newly chosen phrase starts immediately. So switching phrases (drum patterns) is not easily done in tempo. On the PX-350 the drum pattern completes the measure before going to the newly selected pattern. Can this be done on th PX-5s? Am I missing something? In one post a user triggers a phrase switch with a pedal but has to do it exactly on the downbeat. Song mode is one solution, but then you are locked into a fixed number of repeats. I am into playing and improvising sometimes with a guitarist or horn player and don't want to be tied to a fix arrangement. In a perfect world you could set up several phases in sequence and even have and ending phrase with the loop turned off. That would be beautiful.

[Brad Saucier]

The PX-5s doesn't have pattern change timing options the way workstations do.  

[Choppin]

@dbecker22

I think it may be possible to switch phrases on the fly.  Program 6 drum phrases - say 200 through 205. Make 200-204 looped.  Set 205 to not loop.  Program a stage setting where zone 1 is drums.  In order to get your phrases to play through zone 1 without the keyboard interfering (triggering additional notes) either turn zone 1 off, or set the key range to something you won't be playing (like the lowest or highest midi note).  Once your stage setting is set up and saved,  press the Phrase button.  Call up your phrase number (200 maybe) and the press Start.  Your phrase should play.  When you want to switch to the next phrase, press the + key (on the upper right of the numeric keypad).  When you want to go back, press the - key.  That will step between phrases by 1 number.

 

You should also be able to call up the phrase number directly by pressing the NUM KEY button and then typing in the number.  As long as a phrase is looping, you can switch between phrases and they will play having initiated START once.  If you select a phrase that does not loop and it reaches the end, selecting a phrase number won't initiate playback of that phrase until you hit the START button again.  I think timing may be important to pull this off.  If you switch a phrase number mid phrase, I think it starts playing right after it's selected, but I cant remember.

 

While the drum phrases are playing, you can play the keyboard on the other 3 zones of the stage setting.

 

My Px-5s has been out of reach for a little while now so this is all from memory, but I recall doing something similar.  Let me know how it goes.