Mclandy

When you listen to some of the built-in rhythms, you may hear certain drum effects which are not easy to recreate when you make your own rhythms. This is because the AC7 files actually contain some parameters that can alter the drum performance, but unfortunately they do not provide a way for you to create/edit those parameters on the keyboard. For example, they can: Assign a specific drum note value in the current drum kit so it instead actually plays (substitutes) any other drum sound from any other drum kit. Very useful when your primary drum kit is missing those one or two additional percussion sounds that you need (like brush sounds in the standard kit). Apply effects (reverb, delay, tone, pan, etc.) to a specific drum note value Apply equalization controls (high/low pass filter, etc.) to a specific drum note value Note that these parameters apply to all occurrences of the specified note values in the drum track (within a specific Variation), not just single note instances. In general, their use seems to be fairly limited, only where needed. But if you're wondering how Casio gets some of those very "professional and realistic" sounding rhythms to play on these keyboards, that's how they do it.

The answer to that question is both simple and complicated. For typical chord and arpeggio types of sounds used in Variations and Fills, it depends which Chord Conversion Table value you choose - Chord Basic, Chord Minor, or Chord 7th. Since all accompaniments must be recorded in the key of C, for Chord Basic that is generally C,E,and G notes. For Chord Minor, C, Eb, and G notes. And for Chord 7th, C,E,G, and Bb notes. Chord 7th is actually very versatile because it includes the 7th note (Bb), which makes for a more natural sound when playing 7th or M7th chords, but shifts that Bb up to a C root note when playing non-7th chords (the keyboard transposes it automatically depending on what chord is being played). For Intros and Endings, you typically would use a CCT value of Intro No Change or Intro n-minor because they can include melodic or chord transitions that you want to have shifted to the appropriate key, but otherwise not modified. Casio rhythm files do provide the ability to define alternate major and minor tracks for parts (mostly useful on Intros and Endings), but unfortunately the keyboard itself does not allow you to define and edit those, although it plays them just fine. Converting from Style files can be difficult, because Style files actually allow the accompaniment to be recorded in ANY key (not just C, although the vast majority of them are in C), and in any one of 30+ chord types. This actually turns out to be overkill, as it really doesn't give you any more capability to define a good accompaniment, and unfortunately all this flexibility results in some really wild style files, not because people NEED to create them that way, but just because they CAN. So, depending on the Style file you are trying to convert, you may need to key-shift the notes to be in the key of C, and you may need to change some of the notes to force them from whatever chord type is specified in the Style file, to a basic Major, Minor, or 7th chord in the Casio. For example, the default track type in Style files is recorded in Cmaj7, so that fits pretty well with a CCT value of Chord 7th if you just change all B notes to Bb. Again, I don't see all this "flexibility" in Yamaha as an advantage, but rather a case of over-engineering that actually results in unnecessary complexity.

SInce @Chandler Holloway tagged me, let me comment on a few of the points in this discussion. (Note: this is all true as far as I know for CTX keyboards, since that's what I have. I can't say for sure for other Casio keyboards.) Regarding AC7 files which contain alternative Major/Minor tracks for intros and endings (you can also have them for Variations and Fills, but generally it is unnecessary) - Even if those tracks are "unlocked" (which involves adding a special event to the track), the CTX keyboard does not allow them to be edited. Apparently it detects when an Element has multiple tracks and still won't allow the edit operation, mostly because it does not provide a way to select only one of the tracks. So contrary to what Chandler said, my experience is that it does not even allow editing of the "main" track. For multiple track parts, neither are editable on the keyboard, even if unlocked. In addition, I believe if you try to Save a Rhythm (on the keyboard) with an Intro or Ending containing dual tracks that have been unlocked, it deletes them! The AC7 rhythms do support a number of Control Change events - Modulation, Expression, Pitch Bend Range, Filter Resonance, Release, Attack, Filter Cutoff. Strangely, I'm not so sure about Volume and Pan. It seems like they should, except for the fact that the track Volume and Pan settings are defined by parameters in the Mixer portion of the AC7. If you do ever happen to create an AC7 that seems to have dynamic Volume or Pan events occurring in it, I'd be really, really interested in seeing it. As far as the DSP usage in Rhythms, the Rhythm section of the keyboard has two DSP engines dedicated to playing the Accompaniment sounds. In the AC7 file, those two engines can either be explicitly defined and assigned to specific parts, or they can be used implicitly for Tones referenced in the AC7 which have DSPs as part of their definition. Explicit assignments in the AC7 take precedence over the normal implicit usage by Tones. In cases where there are more than two explicit or implicit (Tone-based) DSPs called for, some of the tones will lose their DSP function. So I think the precedence order is explicit first, then Bass and Chord 1-5. The point is, there is a limit to DSP usage in Rhythms, although I'm sure that parts with DSP and a lot of polyphony could bog down the processor.

Glad to help. It definitely gets easier the more you do it. Have fun!

Oh, yes, turning Quantize off is very critical to placing a sound at the very end of the measure. If you have a good sense of rhythm, you can usually get pretty close without going through all the steps I mentioned above, with just a few tries. It also depends on how much other content your rhythm already has, that you can use as a guide. As for the occasional odd sounds during chord changes, I think that actually is due to slight variations in timing as you play. And depending on which chord mode you are playing, the precise timing of how each individual finger hits each key in the chord can vary, causing some chord "stutter". Of course, the keyboard has a very slight processing time delay, too. Depending on the content of your new rhythm, it may help to try turning Retrigger on or off on different parts, because what you hear may be the re-triggering of the notes on a chord change (generally, you want to retrigger on continuous "pad" or strumming kinds of sounds, but maybe not on arpeggiated sounds). Something that can also be tricky is that it's better technique, when creating a rhythm, to have musical notes actually turn "off" (that is, make sure the key is actually released) prior to the end of a track (before the next downbeat), rather than allow them to "run over", as that can cause more noise during a chord change and makes the timing more critical. But, I know, with things like pad chords you don't really want a noticeable "break" in there, so again it's a trick of timing to try to get that as close to the end of the measure as possible. So while it's possible that what you are hearing could be some odd behavior on the part of the keyboard, I think it's more likely that most of the time you tend to get the timing just right (or close enough), but every once in a while a slight variation can trigger an odd sound.

By the way, when using the Quantize function, be aware that the manual is somewhat misleading on the setting values. To set Quantize to 1/32, the value should be 11. See my earlier post:

I know, it is difficult to get the cymbal crash in at the very last instant. Slowing down while recording helps, but it also makes it a little harder to anticipate the exact timing of when the downbeat is coming. But it's really the only way to accomplish this through manual editing on the keyboard. To make it easier, you can try this and see if it helps. Get ready to edit your rhythm, but before you go into edit mode, change the Quantize setting to 1/32. Pick a drum sound (call it Sound X), something other than ones you've already used in your rhythm, this will make it easier to erase later. Start recording and slow the tempo down. What you want to do is put in eight 1/32 notes of Sound X, starting exactly on the 4th beat (assuming 4/4 time), so make sure it is slow enough that you can do that, but not too slow. Do it mentally a couple of times until you can start to "feel" it. Next time around, try recording the notes, starting exactly on beat 4, as regular as you can, and ending just before the next downbeat. If you do this successfully, you should now have 8 even Sound X notes, leading up to where the downbeat repeats. Exit editing and change the Quantize function to "Off" Go back into editing, and slow the tempo WAY down. Since you now have eight identifiable drum sounds leading up to where you want to insert the cymbal crash, count them off, and hit the cymbal note just after the eighth note, as close to the downbeat as you can. This should get you really, really close. You can speed up the tempo to see how it sounds, although it might sound funny with the Sound X notes in there. But once you think you've got it, use the keyboard function to delete all of the Sound X notes. P.S. On the CTX, each quarter note has 96 clock "ticks", so a 32nd note (the time between your last Sound X and the downbeat) is only 12 ticks. If you can get your cymbal crash in the latter half of those 12 ticks, it should be pretty indistinguishable from the downbeat at normal tempo speed.

Yes, Breakpoint and Inverted do also affect the notes played, but those settings only result in notes changing a full octave, never getting "transposed" to another completely different note. So Breakpoint just causes the whole chord to drop an octave whenever the chord you are playing has its root note above the Breakpoint. This is to keep the chords within the same general range of notes, instead of just continuing higher and higher, especially as you get up into the G to B range. Inversion, on the other hand, will change individual notes in the chord by an octave, to keep them in an even tighter range - for example, if the top note in the chord gets too high, just that one note will drop an octave, to create an "inverted" chord. Like I said, this is good for modeling things like rhythmic guitar playing, since different chords are often played at around the same place on the neck. Note that you should use the 7th setting for Inversion if the original chords were recorded as C 7th with a CCT of Chord 7th (#9). So think of the transpositions in the CCT happening first, and then based on their settings and what chord is being played, Breakpoint and Inversion will shift the resulting notes by an octave to keep them within a tighter range.

Everything you record for accompaniment must be in the key of C, but you can actually record a C 7th (1,3,5,7b) if you set the CCT to Chord 7th. Or you can record a Cmin chord (1,3b,5) if you set the CCT to Chord Minor. That's actually the purpose of the CCT setting, to let the keyboard know what type of chord was recorded, and what to do with it. In the case of Intros and Endings, which typically contain chord changes within their own sequence, you typically want to use Intro No Change, or maybe Intro n/m/h-Minor if a part is more melody than chord. But again, no matter what type of chord, it does always have to be based on the key of "C", in order to work properly. So as I said, recording C 7th chords and setting CCT to Chord 7th gives you more natural sounding 7th chords when you play them on the keyboard as part of an accompaniment, but also works great for normal straight maj/min chords, as well as M7. I know the manual says "Recording of each accompaniment pattern is normally performed using C major (root of C, major type)." The main problem with that is that if you record in C major (1,3,5) the keyboard does not ADD any notes when you play a 7th or M7th chord, but instead "bends" the existing C note down to a Bb or B. If you record in C 7th and use CCT #9, you actually have a 7th note in there that gets bent up to C for maj/min chords, or up to B for M7th chords, and the C note gets left alone. Sounds much better.

By the way, if you're interested, a while back a few of us worked on a spreadsheet that details how notes get transposed for each of the CCT table values. It's a bit technical, but it shows exactly how much each note gets raised or lowered, based on the CCT value and the type of chord being played on the keyboard. Here's the pointer:

@fitoni, glad this helped you get it sorted. Most of the time, I tend to record accompaniment chords as C7 and set the CCT to Chord 7th (#9). That way, when playing a chord while running the accompaniment, if I'm playing a straight major or minor chord the keyboard transposes the 7th note up two steps (to the root note, an octave higher), but when I play a major or minor 7th chord, the 7th note plays as is, right where I want it. It transposes nicely for M7th chords, as well (by raising that 7th note just one step). If you simply record chords in C major and set CCT to Ch Basic, the keyboard has to do funny things to "add" a 7th note when you play a 7th chord (like lowering the root note two steps), and that's probably what you heard. Try it, I think you'll be much happier with the result.

The breakpoint setting will shift the ENTIRE chord to a lower octave, once you go above a certain root note. For example, if it's set to G, then all the notes in chords above that point will drop an octave. The other thing it could be is the inversion setting. When turned on, the keyboard will automatically change to a different inversion of the chord being played (starting with a different note as the lowest note), in order to try to keep all the notes within a certain range. This is particularly useful when playing things like guitar sounds, since many chord fingerings are made at about the same location on the neck, so you naturally get a lot of inversions within a limited range.

I hadn't noticed some of the further updates that Casio Key had posted after my last upload of this document, so here is a revised version containing all his updates, other than #57 MT-CFT, which still appears to be uncertain. Casio CT-X5000 Amp Models.pdf

I don't necessarily see that as a bug. When you set the upper or lower layer tones to one of the tone definitions (built-in or user), it's basically like you are loading a "profile" or a "preset" from permanent storage (similar to a file in a file system) into that "active" voice element. When you edit a tone, you are only manipulating the settings in the currently active voice element, which is why you must select to "Write" it back to the permanent storage -- in other words, as a User tone (profile) -- if you want to keep it. However, if you use the Main voice element to load, edit, and write a tone, that does nothing to the currently active settings in the Upper voice element, even if it happened to have been previously loaded from that same User Tone number (with the settings it had from before the edit). That Upper voice element is in no way bound to the tone, other than it simply happens to be the last tone definition that got "loaded" there. So it makes sense that the tone would need to be "reloaded" from permanent storage for the latest changes to take effect, just like an altered profile on a computer doesn't take effect until it is reloaded. As it turns out, the only way to do that is to change to (load) a different tone, and then change back.

Yes, it's exactly the same problem with Quantize in the Phrase Pad recording. It makes it seem like random notes were added, but it's actually because the notes you do play get shifted in unexpected ways by the Quantize function.

I recently have been trying to create some drum rhythms manually, and have been having a big problem getting the drum notes to quantize correctly, based on the Quantize value in the User Rhythm Recording Settings, defined in the manual on page EN-82. In the manual, it defines the Quantize settings as Off (default), 4, 8, 16, 32, 4d, 8d, 16d, 32d, 4t, 8t, 16t, 32t. "d" refers to "dotted" notes, and "t" refers to "triplet" notes. When setting this value on the keyboard, the menu simply shows values from 1 to 13, which presumably match the order of the items in the list above. However, the actual order of the list is as follows: Off, 4, 4d, 4t, 8, 8d, 8t, 16, 16d, 16t, 32, 32d, 32t. In other words, the most commonly used values (for 4th, 8th, 16th, 32nd note alignments) are actually 2, 5, 8, and 11. So the list in the manual is very misleading in this regard. For example, you might think that to set the Quantize value to align to 16th notes, you would set this value to 4 (which actually quantizes to quarter note triplets!!), but really you should set it to 8. I also found a little trick -- If you are in a menu like this, press the Function button, and the display will change from showing the number (current setting) and (in this case) the word "Quantize", to showing both the number AND the value of the setting (for example, "1 4" or "7 8t". For example, this also works when setting the Chord Conversion Table, Inversion, and so on. This was extremely frustrating until I figured it out! Hopefully this will save someone else that frustration.

Just to be clear for Casiobird, you cannot import "sounds" (as in sound samples) into the keyboard. As Brad indicates, TON files are just a collection of effects settings which are applied to an already-existing tone in the keyboard (so, TON = "edited tone"). You can achieve a very wide range of sounds with these settings, but it is not the same as sampling an original sound.

I don't think it's a common problem with any specific key - my middle F is completely silent. It's just seems like a few people have had problems with a few keys. I've had my keyboard for about 18 months. Some of my keys make just a tiny amount of noise, but I don't think they have gotten any worse, and they may have even improved slightly since I got the new stand. I don't really know anything about the inside construction.

Just one other observation from my experience, which may or may not having anything to do with your issue. When I first got my 5000, I had an "X" style keyboard stand. To adjust the keyboard to the right height (fairly low for seated playing), I had to set the "X" to be pretty wide. That meant the keyboard was being supported way out on the two ends, with no support in the middle. I noticed after a while that some keys started squeaking, and it looked like the keyboard was drooping slightly in the middle, just from sitting there. And of course, playing put even more pressure on the middle of the keyboard. I ended up getting a "Z" style stand instead, which lets me adjust the height and width independently, so the support is now set much more evenly, and that seems to be better. The point is, just make sure your keyboard is supported well, on something that prevents it from drooping or bending.

There has been some discussion on this before. Obviously it doesn't happen on all keyboards. The consensus seems to be to return the keyboard, or have it serviced under warranty, but that doesn't always fix it. Here's the earlier thread:

Oddly enough, the negative values in the velocity control when doing tone editing actually creates an inverse velocity sensitivity. That is, the more negative you make that number, pressing the key faster will make the sound softer, and pressing it very lightly will play it at full volume. Or, as it says in the manual, " A larger negative value specifies more softness and less volume as keyboard touch becomes stronger." I'm not exactly sure in what circumstance this would be useful, but it's there if someone wants it. For most usage, you would probably want a positive number. Edit: Actually, right after I wrote this, I thought of a case where you have two lead instruments, layered, and by setting one to normal velocity sensitivity and the other to negative sensitivity, you could make it so that one instrument or the other stands out, depending on how hard you struck the keys. Softly, and the instrument with negative sensitivity stands out, hard and the instrument with normal sensitivity stands out. Somewhere in the middle, and you hear both. A little "out there", but an interesting capability.

Some of it is simply due to the range of velocity the key sensors are designed to measure, which is a characteristic of the keyboard hardware and is bound to vary from one keyboard to the next. I'm not aware of anyone creating user-defined tones just for the purpose of adjusting the velocity sensitivity, but that is certainly something that can be done, as described above. I'll leave that to anyone else to comment. I do agree that there is also some variation in general volume between different tones, so sometimes that requires some level adjustment in the mixer settings to get the desired balance (and then saved in a registration, so you don't have to keep making the same adjustment).

To start with, you can set the general sensitivity to touch speed for the overall keyboard (see manual page EN-29). In addition, when you edit a specific tone, you can set a much finer level of sensitivity (along with a big list of other parameters - see manual page EN-75). For some tones, the sensitivity affects not only the volume, but the "sharpness" or "brightness" of the sound, much like a piano tone varies when you strike the key harder or softer, or a guitar when you pluck harder or softer.

Casio chord and Fingered Assist are both designed to make chord fingering simple (which one you use is simply a matter of preference, and maybe what you learned on another keyboard), but they are not musically accurate. It also limits you to major, minor, major 7th, and minor 7th chords. If you really want to learn to play music, however, you'd be better off learning how to correctly finger chords, as in the other modes. Simple chords in Fingered 1 and 2 can still be played with only one or two fingers, but they also allow you to play more complex chords like maj7, dim, aug, b5, 6th, and so on. Fingered 1 and Fingered 2 differ only in how they deal with "6th" chords (fingering 1,3,5,and 6), which contain exactly the same notes as some min7th or min7b5 chords. For example, the exact same notes are in C6 and Am7 chords. In Fingered 1 mode, the keyboard will decide whether it's a 6th or m7/m7b5 based on the lowest note played in the chord (the "root" note), whereas in Fingered 2, it will always interpret it as the m7 or m7b5, and select an appropriate root note, no matter what lowest note is being fingered. Again, if you want more control, you would choose Fingered 1. Lastly, for even more control, you can play Fingered On Bass, which selects the bass (root) note for the chord based on the lowest note being fingered, regardless of the chord. This allows you to create music in which the bass note is different than the chord, which is very common, especially when "walking" between different chords. It's very much like having bass pedals on the keyboard, but it does require you to be knowledgeable about how to play different inversions of chords, and to be very aware in each case how you are fingering the chord. For example, a C chord contains C, E, and G notes, but in Fingered On Bass mode, you can play C with a C bass (CEG), an E bass (EGC), or a G bass (GCE). But once you learn it, it opens up a whole new layer of musical expression. So this is the one you want to work toward, assuming you want to invest the time. Full range chord just means that you can play the chord anywhere on the keyboard (instead of below the left hand/right hand split), but you may have to have the right kind of music for that. If you're playing music that contains a lot of chords being played with the right hand (as opposed to individual melody notes), it can be useful.

Right, that's because the first section of a .sty file is a complete, standard MIDI file. Most software just disregards any data after the standard MIDI part (that is, the Style CASM section), so that's why it works as a MIDI file if you just rename the file. The CASM section is what provides all the mapping of tracks to specific parts (drum, chord ,phrase, etc.) and variations (V1, V2, etc.), when to play them (based on what's being played on the keyboard), and how to interpret them (are they recorded as major/minor/7th/etc.). In some cases, it even specifies that the notes in the track should be interpreted as something completely different than a standard MIDI notes (e.g., "Guitar mode" and special voices like Mega!). Those extra Yamaha capabilities (specified outside the MIDI portion) have grown over time to add more flexibility and realism, but also make it much harder to port a rhythm from one keyboard to another and have it sound the same. Most of the time it can still be done with some manual correction and adjustment. But in a few cases, it's just not possible because there is no equivalent function. Plus, there are some capabilities that Casio rhythms have (for example, DSPs, filters, drum substitutions) that Yamaha doesn't.