Choppin

Simple fix is best!

It's not too bad. Only if you get into the deep stuff might you have some troubles. You'll want Midi yoke - that allows you to set up to 8 virtual midi ports I believe. Midi Ox allows you to assign the actual and virtual ports however you want. Cubase should be able to recognize the virtual ports as well. This is all assuming you are using a windows based computer.

It's strange that by unplugging it (USB) the functionality resumes. Maybe on the PC it's having a hard time determining which USB midi to use. Lets try a more complex mapping that only utilizes 1 USB input. Let's look at it just from the PX side sending its info out. The first thing under [sys Settings], is to set the Midi Out to Key, and the USB out to Key. These are two settings. Midi Out in the menu doesn't refer to general midi data going out, it actually is the 5 pin connector. So you have to set both this and the USB to Key. Cable wise: PX-5s 5 pin MIDI out --> MOX 5 pin MIDI in PX-5S USB --> Computer USB The above allows you to play on the PX and control the VST and the MOX. Now let's look at a complex possibility from the MOX side: MOX 5 pin MIDI out --> NI Komplete 5 pin MIDI in --> Computer Virtual midi splitter/router/virtual ports (like Midi Ox/Midi yoke or something) After assigning the input from the MOX to virtual ports on the computer, route the ports to the VST and to the MIDI out of the Komplete: Virtual ports --> NI Komplete MIDI out --> PX-5s 5 pin MIDI in. In my mind, this should work. Essentially allowing you to control the MOX and the VST from the PX with direct cable inputs, and allowing you to control the PX and the VST from the MOX using direct cable and virtual port rerouting with help from the midi I/O on your sound module.

Ok, the 5 pin MIDI out from the PX can either transmit what you play on the keyboard, what it receives from the USB, or what it receives from the 5 pin MIDI in. It can't do any of them at the same time. If you want to send what you play from the PX to the MOX [sys Settings] > MIDI > Midi Out [KEY] Assumingly, you've connected the USB from each of the keyboards independently to your PC. From the [sys Settings] menu, make sure USB is set to Keyboard. Make sure on the MOX, what you are receiving from the Midi in of the PX isn't being looped back to the Midi out, or you'll get a feedback or doubling. This should allow you to use each keyboard as a controller that will independently control the VST and the other keyboard. What this setup will not do, at least from the PX side, is receive a program change or controller command from the MOX and transmit that to the PC. The keyboard events and received midi messages are not merged.

Hello, If you want to record the audio from both keyboards, I recommend a mixer or if you are using cubase, record one at a time on it's own track. I assume you would be recording in stereo from each keyboard. If you are not recording, then you could run the lines out of the Yamaha into the input of the PX then have all of the output going from the PX. There's a noise gate issue with the Px that will cut off at low volumes on the exernal inputs, that's why I'd avoid this method for recording - but for playing live, it shouldn't be as big a worry. Midi wise, what do you want to control? You want each keyboard as a controller - what is it you want to control? Midi, in general is one way. You have a master and an ultimate slave in theory. Midi thru can chain a series of slaves together, but the final connection is into a single Midi in. It sounds like you want each keyboard to control the other keyboard and control cubase.

The idea, is to have 2 offset waves with a filter sweep like Brad said. But you also need a pitch envelope and an initial high resonance to get the growl. This is one of the first things I did on the PX-5s, however, I lost the tone somewhere between updates and failed USB drives. I hand drew the envelopes and the figures on a sheet of paper somewhere. If I find it, I'll dig it out. I used a sawtooth and a triangle wave form. Here's one of my tests (it doesn't help you but t least it shows it's possible). TAKE14.zip

Just to add: make sure you do a deep (full) format of the thumbdrive as FAT32 before copying the update file onto it. Don't do a quick format.

In case my cryptic Du Didaa Daat made no sense, this hints to me of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis stuff.

Du DiDaa DAAT ! what have you done for me lately? Du DiDaa Dat do Oo Ooo yeah

hmmm, that might be tough to find. One thing you could try, if you have a lot of time, is to plug the pad into the computer, use a midi monitoring program, and go through every pad, switch, and button and combinations of them, see what the results are. The user guide should give you a basic idea and a starting point.

It does seem like a lot of people want it, so I guess there's a definite demand for the functionality.

In regards to an expressions pedal: I'm not sure how most other keyboards are designed. My impression is that they are not layering 4 independent zones each assigned to receive on MIDI channels 1-4 but able to transmit on 4 channels of 1-16 (independently or simultaneously). Expression is a per channel control (CC 11). A global volume control comes through a Sysex message and controls all of the channels at once; but I don't believe most expression pedal volumes create a sysex message, but rather affect the global channel of the keyboard. But when it comes to the PX, you may or may not want to control all of the channels volumes at once. I believe many if not most keyboards receive and transmit on 1 channel, maybe 2 if they have a keyboard split - and it's generally globally assigned - sequencers may do their own thing. My thought is, there's much more complexity in terms of incorporating an expression pedal on the PX-5S than may be understood. Since CC 11 is a per channel control, how do you make the determination of how a zone is controlled by it's use? Do you make a blanket decision that all channels are controlled at once, or do you have a specific assignment per channel? Do you control the expression "out" separately from the "in" (the in would be the controlling of the receive channel when playing a zone - the out of course would be the output for the specific zone)? Since it is an analog potentiometer, you need a conversion routine or hardware at the plug in site. Does the PX power the pedal in that case? if so, is there enough battery power to effectively run when an expression pedal is used? Would this reduce battery life? If the chassis and basic guts were already designed before creating the PX-5s, CASIO may have saved a ton of money by not incorporating and additional plug and was able to channel those funds into something else - like the arpeggiator. There are so many possibilities of why an expression pedal was left out. Personally, I can't understand the deep need for one. What is its advantage over, say, a volume pedal between an amp and the keyboard? Or is the expression data being assigned to something else like a frequency filter for controlled wah?

What do you mean by initialize? There are user Hex Layer tones that are all at zero (default settings). Any tone can be saved to the computer from the data editor. http://support.casio.com/storage/en/support/download_files/en/008/manuals/DATAEDITORPX5-E1A.pdf

Taking a quick look at the Vestax user guide, it seems you can set the XY pad to a controller (CC) of your choice. If you set it to 7 or 11 for either of the axes, you should be able to control volume of an external device/channel. There is also an after touch setting for the pads that allows you to assign a CC. You could also set a volume here (CC 7 for volume CC 11 for expression).

Brad, if the PX-5s is being used as a sound module, couldn't the midi in and out be set to the Vestax, then on zones 1-4 set the midi out to a channel in the range of 5-16 and set a fader or dial to control volume on that channel? If channel 5 on the Vestax receives the volume change, wouldn't it then transmit the new volume to channel 5 on the Px?

Though the following doesn't describe how to use the levers and dials to control channels 5-16, it uses a similar approach as described by BradMZ but instead uses a midi file that can be set however you need and loaded and played to set the mixer settings: http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/5796-help-integrating-korg-kronos-and-casio-px-5s/ Question, isn't the Vestax Pad One a drum machine? Why do you have to control multiple channels? You can send lever and knob information out from the Px-5s. For example, you could have zone 1 send midi out information to channel 10 and send volume control messages using a lever or a dial.

This isn't an explanation of how to build a song, but rather some information regarding what the song sequencer is on the px-5s. The song sequencer is more of a mod builder or a music tracker. It is designed with the intention of linking together premade phrases on various tracks (up to 8). If one is used to recording what is played directly on a track and playing it back, then a tracker or mod builder may take some rethinking and getting used to. Imagine 8 separate grids divided into 999 cells each. Each cell on each track can hold a phrase - any of the available phrases including user recorded ones - at any meter. A Phrase, in Px-5s language, is a short recorded block of midi events (usually focusing on notes). The phrase can be played back using any tone. That means a phrase can be a series of chords, a bass line, a drum pattern, knob and lever changes, etc. The same phrase can be used over and over again on different tracks set to different tones. Each cell on each track can be repeated up to 99 times, can be transposed chromatically up to 2 octaves, and the track itself can have it's own tone, reverb, volume, panning, chorus, as far as the basic midi settings. All of the tracks can be controlled in real time through the mixer (easily controlled through the PC editor) or external midi device. None of the tracks have to have phrases with the same time signature or the same number of cells or the same repeat of cells. It's up to you to build the blocks to make sure things sound at the right time. The tempo will be consistent, but when an actual note sounds will be up to the user and the design of the phrases. The basic premise is this: you build the phrases that will be joined together to build your song. For example, you could build a basic walking bass line on the root as one phrase. With this single phrase, you could repeat that phrase maybe 4 times, transpose it up a fourth, repeat 2 times or so. Transpose it back down to the root, transpose it up a fifth, and you have a complete bass line using only a single phrase. You could also create a basic comp pharase that might go on a track assigned to piano. You can transpose the phrase similarly to the bass line and complete a basic rhythm section over several bars using two phrases and transposition. Again, song building is just that: building. You create small pieces of the song or riffs as phrases, then place the phrases in the cells of the grid on each of the 8 tracks. You can record phrases directly through the keyboard, or convert parts of midi files (1 midi channel at a time) to phrases using the data editor. Also note, you can assign sequencer tracks to whatever midi channels you want. If you assign a track to midi channel 1 or 2, then you can use a hex layer on that track. Basically, if you've ever used a tracker, the Px-5s song sequencer should be a fairly simple transition. If you'd like, I can go through a basic example along the lines of what Scott had posted - when I have time

Hello, Here are my thoughts from a conceptual standpoint: For the first part, you might try an arpeggio that is set to change midi controllers rather than notes. If you set the tempo roughly to the same time you are playing your tune, then you can program the reduction in volume within the hold time of your note. You could use 4 or more steps to change the volume how you see fit. Use CC 11 or CC 7. Accenting a tone may be through an ADSR adjustment. That is to say, you set the initial volume to a high level (Attack level 127? and attack time 0) and have it immediately reduce (decay time short) to a lower level. Depending on how you set the timing, you may get the desired effect. Another way is to use the zones layered, with louder and softer tones, or a hex layer that may have a couple of tones sound together to produce some umph.

I see. Perhaps the Stage Setting Filters is what's being referred to? Sys Setting > Stage Set Filter > Compressor > On/Off

Make sure the Effect button is lit, then press the Master Button. Look for the Master Compressor in the display.

So changing the A when you are editing the control on the Akai slider or knob doesn't allow you to independently select the midi channel? The hex layer messages are a little more complicated. Also note, that hex layers can only be played on channels 1 and 2. To control the volume for a hex layer, you have to use NRPNs. The message is initiated by sending (Hex values) Bchannel 63 5<layer> B<channel> 62 <control to change> where channel can be 0 or 1 (0=midi channel 1 1=midi channel 2) and layer can be 0 through 5. So to start the conversation with a hex layer on zone 1 channel 1 on layer 3 and say we are going to change the volume on that layer, the midi code is: B0 63 52 B0 62 04 (04 is the hex layer amp volume) parameter Following that we have to tell it the data entry for the volume change: B0 06 <value 0-127> (06 says we are about to add a value to the identified parameter) B0 26 00 (some NRPNs may have an LSB value as well. For this, the px-5s does not but still needs receipt of the code) When Px-5s sends an NRPN it follows with a NULL RPN. I'm not sure if it needs to receive it also but here it is for reference anyway: B0 65 7F B0 64 7F Remember, the 0 after the B indicates which channel to transmit on (0=midi channel 1). So the whole midi string to set the volume of a hex layer layer 3 on channel 1 to 64 would look like (assuming the NULL RPN has to be included): B0 63 52 B0 62 04 B0 06 40 B0 26 00 B0 65 7F B0 64 7F

DanL, I'm not sure how familiar you are with the MPK, I'm not familiar with it at all but gleaned some of the info from the reference guide that might be useful. It seems you should press the Edit button and then move a knob or slider that you want to edit. Engaging the control at this stage should activate it for edits. Next use the VALUE dial to select the control change you want this fader or knob to control (CTRL CHANGE) and press Enter. That will take you to the control change select screen. The MIDI channels are assigned in 2 groups - A and B (A1-A16 and B1-B16). Use the < > keys to select the parameter that you want to change. If you want to change the midi channel that is controlled by this slider, then change the little A to A5 or whatever channel in whatever group you want to use. Use the < > to go through the different fields. If you wanted to control the volume on a specific channel, then after the CC , set the parameter to 7 . Next to that parameter, set the low and high values for the range of the fader or knob. You should be able to do this for all of the sliders and knobs. This way you can control the volumes of each of the external channels of the px-5s. At least, that is how it logically works in my mind - I've never tried the MPK keyboard.

Hello and welcome! If you want to do the program changes 1 at time, you can send them from Akai directly in the Program Change mode. In order to change the tones (we'll talk specifically about channels 5-16 on the px) you have to send the bank and the program change for the specific channel. From the Akai directly you have to choose Prog+Bank for the type, and channel 5-16 for whatever channel you want to change the tone on. If the Akai is attached from the Midi out to the Px-5s midi in, that should do the trick. Now if you want to change multiple channels at once using a file as your post seems to suggest, you have to do a similar operation for all those channels and tones you want to change. You can find out which bank and tone combination is what in the Reference section of the Px-5s User Guide (Tutorial). For your Midi file, you want to set CC 00 (bank select) with the bank number identified in the reference (eg. piano sounds are bank 64, electric piano bank 65, synth sounds bank 69, etc.) and you want to set the program change to the number of the tone. The attached midi file changes channel 5 to choir. It will use bank 67 and program change 52 midi channel 5 choir.mid

Hello, Welcome! 2 things to check: 1) When playing the keyboard of the PX-5s, 4 zones - midi channels - can potentially be transmitted at once. By default, zone 1 transmits on channel 1, zone 2 on 2, zone 3 on 3, and zone 4 on 4. Make sure mainstage is receiving on 1 of these channels, or deactivate zones you don't need and only transmit on 1 channel. 2) The Px-5s is likely transmitting high resolution velocity and Mainstage might not know what to do with the information. You can turn it off by pressing the [sys Settings] button > HighReso /Off > Off

Specifically regarding the firmware update - for what it's worth, my experience is to have a blank USB drive formatted to FAT32 on a computer using the deep (full, not quick) format. Every drive I've formatted directly on the PX-5s has eventually failed with file errors of one type or another. Could be me, but my computer formatted drives haven't failed. Make sure only the update.bin file is on it - there should be no MUSICDAT folder for the firmware update. Make sure the USB drive is NOT in the PX-5s. Turn on the PX, let it boot up, then insert the USB drive. Follow the update procedures from that point on. When the process is finished, the PX-5s automatically adds a MUSICDAT folder on the USB drive. At this point, I turn of the PX-5s, remove the USB drive, plug the drive into the computer, delete the update.bin from the USB drive, and copy any Tone or ALL files I want to add to the MUSICDAT folder. I eject the drive from the computer, turn on the Px-5s, let it boot, initialize ALL, then plug in the USB drive and copy over anything I want to restore or replace.