jaspeter

Parts of this post written during a time of temporary lapse of judgement due to age-related brain hardening have been struck... Carry on. There seems to be a discrepancy between what is saved from the editor onto a file and what actually gets saved into the Stage Settings. When I change the Level in the Master Compressor in the editor and save it to disk, that value gets recalled when I load the setting. If I transfer that setting to the keyboard, the keyboard even says that the compressor setting is changed when it really isn't. What it boils down to is that the compressor settings don't seem to be able to change from stage-setting to stage-setting. The EQ values, however seem to be assignable in that manner. Is there a way to save stage-setting specific compressor values? Or will that be system-wide until you explicitly change the value? That brings about another question which Brad addressed when I asked it before, but I still don't quite "get it" (sorry, Brad). If I change the EQ input and output levels to both be zero, I still get sound, regardless of whether or not the compressor is pre- or post-EQ. From the diagram in the manual, these processors are in series. I would expect to get no sound in the case of zero-level EQ, since I'm either feeding the compressor nothing post-EQ, or the signal from the compressor is essentially ignored by the EQ when the compressor is pre-EQ. It almost seems like there is some dry signal that bypasses the Master EQ. I'm also not quite sure of the appropriate settings to turn the compressor "off". The manual says that I should adjust the Threshold high and Ratio high for a limiter effect rather than compressor. I believe that is what I want, a limiter that doesn't kick in until the highest possible threshold value. Would that be correct? For troubleshooting purposes, if you want to reproduce the issues I'm having with saving compressor values, do the following: - Pull a stage-setting into the editor by hitting the refresh button in the upper right of the stage setting window (two blue arrows) - Go to the Master tab and adjust the Compressor Level and save the file to disk - Transfer that file back over to the PX-5S - Notice that, no matter what stage setting you're in, the compressor values are the same now - Load a different stage setting file from disk into the editor while watching the Master Compressor values in the editor. They change! Notice that they have also changed on the keyboard itself in the Master menu, but they don't actually change the value of the compressor until its value is changed on the keyboard. - Now change the compressor value on the keyboard by simply hitting the + then the - key so it goes back to the same value. The compressor is now at the value that the editor and PX-5S menu say it is and you can hear the change.

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.

Hey Scott! How do you like the KC110 for just home use? I plug into a PA at gigs, so I don't need it for that, I'm looking for a (relatively) inexpensive and compact stereo solution for plugging into at home and maybe small gigs.

I know that the PX-5S isn't designed to be a mixer, but... if it had a balance control for the line-ins, that would be really awesome! I'm finding it extremely useful to use it as a volume controller for other acoustic instruments as well. I can also assign a "solo boost" function to a pedal which really helps! Now if the line-ins came in before the effects, that would be something else! Like another one- or two-thousand US dollars else!

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

I use the PX-5S explicitly as my drum machine. After a few times programming phrases, it only takes a few minutes to lay down a 1 or 2 bar loop. For variations, I create duplicate stage settings, but with the phrase variation loaded. The pattern switches over without missing a beat (literally) when you switch between stage settings. For fills, I leave the left side of the keyboard open to Zone 1 drums and just play over the top of the phrase. I usually have pedal 2 set to start/stop the phrase. Since we gig in mono, I am considering panning the drums hard right and the other tones hard left and running two line-out/DIs to the mixer. I practice with headphones, though, and don't want to have to listen to it directly in my ears panned that way. I'm still trying to figure that one out. I'll probably either forgo the idea altogether, or convert the headphone signal to mono.

Hey Mike! Perhaps I'm missing something. I am getting the same results as SonnyDaye. When you say "edit the tone", is there a step I'm missing, or another menu? From the keyboard, I go to Edit > Tone > Amp > Velocity Sense. I get the GM organs to respond, but not the Drawbar. It's not too big of a deal, since that is doable in the hex layers. I was just a little surprised that the melody tone doesn't seem to respond to specific tones. Although I don't currently use velocity-sensitive organ tones, I'm really thinking about it for the dynamic control.

I hadn't looked into the velocity sense of the drawbar organs. I'll be darned - they aren't velocity sensitive, and don't seem to be able to be made to be (for the melody tones, anyway)! How bizarre... I know organs aren't velocity sensitive, but the stage settings are completely able to handle that independently of the tone. And it doesn't make sense that the other organs have velocity sensitivity, but not the drawbar tones. It seems short-sighted to go out of your way to unbuild a capability from your product. As far as the vocoder-like sound, it sounds to me like a filter sweep on a tone like VASynth2 with the arpeggiator cutting the expression on and off. Pretty cool! Can't wait to see how it was actually done!

Good to know, Mike. Is there an "off" switch for the compressor, or do you have to change the parameters to effectively disable it?

Another wish for a new feature that would very likely be easy to implement: I'd like the Start/Stop functions (for phrase, arpeggio, song) to not be toggles. That's already a function in the pedal list (momentary vs. toggle). When selected for a pedal, the momentary function of the pedal turns into a toggle. The toggle function of the pedal becomes some funky double-toggle thing. It might be nice to only have the phrase play while holding the pedal down. Maybe not so easy to implement, it would be nice to be able to assign controllers to trigger note events. You know, like if someone wanted to turn their pedals into kick drums or hi-hats or something. ;-) While we're at it, maybe we could add a "tap-tempo" function to the pedal, too. I LOVE that the PX-5S has this function already. It would just be nice if I could assign it to a pedal.

That sounds nice! I'm looking forward to the download! I'm surprised that the additional layers don't make the sound louder. That is what I have encountered. At least, I think it is. Perhaps there was some subjective listening. It could be that the compressor is doing something, which may explain the tremolo as well. It is set to "on" somewhat by default. Try cranking the threshold all the way up and the ratio all the way down. Make sure you have the wet/dry mix set to hear the tremolo. On several occasions, I've tried to chase down a problem with a DSP only to find that I had accidently set the mix all dry.

SonnyDaye, what version of Cakewalk are you using? As long as you can get a MIDI track into Cakewalk, you can worry about the synchronicity afterward in editing, or at least delete the empty space between the Roland record start and the Cakewalk record start. You will have to disable the "Snap to grid" function so you can accurately line up your selection. You may not even need to worry about this when converting the resulting MIDI into a phrase. There's a chance that it may automatically blank out the empty space at the front, anyway (disclaimer - I've never tried that). In fact, if all you have in your Cakewalk project is the incoming MIDI stream from the Roland, if you just save your project as MIDI, there might not be any commands in the file before the track starts. Reopen the saved MIDI project in Cakewalk and see if it took care of the problem for you.

It sounds like you've got a good project going there! I'd love to see the stage setting itself. I don't know if you can load it directly to this thread or if it has to go into the Downloads Section. I suspect that you'll end up needing to use the onboard master compressor to level out the volumes. I haven't tried this with my organ sounds, although I really want to, and I suspect it will probably work OK. There are some issues with using compression, that I suspect may have undesirable effects on the sound. You're probably right in first trying to attack it by turning down the volumes of the individual elements first and then hitting it with compression afterward. I see your problem with the multiple zones but equivalent layers for the mixture and Nazard. Even though they only have 3 layers, you have to dedicate 4 layers to each to use the two-layer, two-zone controls of the sliders. If I may take a stab at your setup, I'd say: Zone 1: L1 & L2 - 3' (Piccolo), L3 & L4 - 2 1/3' (Nazard), L5 - 16' (Bassoon), L6 - 8' (Klarinet) Zone 2: L1 & L2 - 3' (Piccolo, one layer disabled), L3 & L4 - 2 1/3' (Nazard, one layer disabled), L5 - 4' (Principal), L6 - 8' (Trumpet) Then for the sliders: S1: Layer5 vol, active in zone 1 only S2: Layer6 vol, active in zone 1 only S3: Layer5 vol, active in zone 2 only S4: Layer1 vol and Layer2 vol, active in both zones 1 and 2 S5: Layer3 vol and Layer4 vol, active in both zones 1 and 2 S6: Layer6 vol, active in zone 2 only In this scenario (assuming I understand what you're trying to do), you don't even need to venture into Zones 3 & 4. You could if you wanted to, though, and to control the volume in that zone you can assign "CC#07:volume" to the slider and activate it for that zone only. There may also be a way to mimic multiple tones from a single tone in zone 3 or 4 by using the Pitch Shift DSP, although I haven't really delved into that yet.

Unfortunately, no. The controllers are all given options for "DSP parameter 1", "DSP parameter 2", and so on. What you choose for your DSP for that zone dictates what parameter gets assigned to the controller. Because controllers can be assigned two controls, you can assign each to control parameters of two different DSPs, but those DSPs function on two different zones.

There are probably ways around what you're trying to do, Hugh. It sounds like you want to have zone 4 come up so you can just hit the Zone Enable button rather than cycle through the first three zones before you get to the point when you can turn it off. You could assign a controller to toggle that zone on/off. You could put brass and piano in a hex layer and assign a controller to toggle the brass layer on/off. Or, you could create a stage setting with duplicates of everything except the brass zone and toggle between it and the first. The drums won't stop if you have a phrase looping, although it will reset upon stage setting switch. Or I may have completely missed what you're trying to do and gave you useless advice!

That is correct to the best of my knowledge, except for the master eq and the master compressor. It hasn't been to big of a deal for me, but I'd sure like to use some of the amp models in conjunction with other DSPs! Because the amp, pitch, and filter envelopes and LFOs are not considered insert effects, though, you do get to chain those, which is quite nice.