- T -

CDW: This would probably get a quicker/better response over in the XW-P1/G1 synth forums (if that is the type of Casio unit you have). The CTK/WK units are ROMpler arranger workstations, not synths. Their tone editing capabilities are fairly limited, making it very difficult for them to "emulate" other units. If you do have a CTK/WK board, I'm not sure how much luck you will have making the Busyboy sound.

Josh You're right ! The manual shows how to initialize the board, but does not state what all does or does not get initialized. I think it is safe to assume that the Regs get wiped out and do not get restored, since the older Casios did that and since I have a couple of Yamahas and several Rolands that do the same thing. So, I now make a backup of the Reg file on any new board I get before I change anything. I have attached a pristine copy of the WK-7500 initial factory Reg file, but I am not sure that you will want to use it. You can not export/import (backup/restore) individual registrations, or even individual banks, for that matter. This is an all or none-at-all situation, even with the Data Manager software. You have to take the entire file, so if you load the file I have attached, you wipe out anything you may have created and saved in the meantime. If you have backed up your file and reload it, you overwrite everything in the file I sent you. The Yamaha Arrangers suffer from the same plight, but over on the Yamaha Arranger forum, they have a couple of coding gurus that have written Reg file editors. If you are a coder and are up to it, you could become a real hero here real quick. I thought it was interesting that for the CTK-7000 and the WK-7500 supposedly being identical boards except for number of keys that their factory installed registrations were slightly different on the upper couple of banks. The basic regs are the same, but some of the WK-7500 regs have accompaniment and/or layering turned on, whereas the equivalent regs for the CTK-7000 do not. Had they left splits turned off for the shorter board, that may have made more sense, but the only differences were just in the accompaniment and layers. Anyway, have fun with the attached reg file if you try to use it. Just remember to backup your own stuff before you try to load it. The forum would not let me upload a file with an .RM7 file extension so I had to zip it. When you unzip it, you should have a file named WK-7500_140206.RM7. Just copy that to the MUSICDAT folder on your SD Card and use the instructions on Pages 138 and 140 of the manual to load it, or just download it directly from your PC to the keyboard with the Data Manager software. BUT . . . BUT . . . BUT . . . I just discovered something that tells me you may already have it. In the MUSICDAT folders on both SD Cards for both my WK-7500 and CTK-7000 is a file named ORIG-REG.RM7. I never created either one of those. When I originally backed up the reg files on both of those units, I just extracted both of them directly to the PC with the Data Manager software. The only way for those files to have gotten onto the SD Cards was for the keyboard to have done it when I initially formatted the cards, so if you formatted your SD Card in the keyboard you may already have what you are looking for. Press the "BANK" button to put the keyboard into registration mode, then PRESS AND HOLD the "FUNCTION" button while you press the "LOAD/SAVE" button and see if you get a screen " - Regist Load - " with a file name of ORIG-REG.RM7. If so, you already have your original factory registrations. All you need to do is save your stuff and load the original. I just formatted a new SD Card in the CTK-7000 and it did not put that ORIG-REG file on it, so if the keyboard is doing that, somehow it knows to do it only the first time you format a card so that it doesn't subsequently create a file by that name that does not have all original regs in it. Very strange ! ! ! By the way, if you are wondering why I just don't backup, initialize, and restore one of my boards, I learned a long time ago to do factory resets absolutely as last resorts. Just like with computers, when you wipe everything out and restore it, you don't always get everything back the way it was. Quite often, there are a few things missing or not quite right here or there. Just a word to the wise ! ! ! Good luck ! WK-7500_140206.zip

I think you are probably right about the sample rates on the P1 and G1, Brad. I got the 42 KHz out of the P1 manual, where it discusses audio files. It was mentioned so off-handedly, it almost didn't fit in with the rest of the discussion. I mean, nothing else in the paragraph had been specific. Why all of a sudden get specific about the sample rate and then not even follow up on what the important point really was - that being: "It is not a standard Windows wav file." No mention of that little item at all. Any way, it would not surprise me if they just rounded the 42.819 off a bit to 42. I would try to load one into Acid and check the specs on it, but when you format the SD Card, the keyboard repartitions the SD Card and creates that hidden partition to store the audio files in. That's why you get that format error if you try to save an audio file to a card that was formatted in a PC. That hidden partition isn't there in that case. That's also why Windows can't get to them, and if it's a proprietary partition, I'm not sure even partitioning software could get to it. I really don't understand the rationale behind that. I am very disappointed about the "noisy" loops you are getting from the G1. I bought an Ensoniq EPS-16+ (one of the few 16 bit samplers of the day) when they first came out back in the early 90's. That thing was a full fledged sampler. The only thing it had in ROM was the OS - no tones - no presets - no performances - nothing. Once it booted, you had to load the tones you wanted to play in that session from 3 1/2" diskettes (and hope you didn't run out of memory before you had everything loaded), but it would sure give the Roland samplers of the day a good run for their money. I think it had something like 8 or 10 or 12 different kinds of crossfades to avoid the problems you're having with the G-1. Plus it had a full set of envelope shaping parameters and a complete set of insert effects that were the best of the day. I used to make some really beautiful samples with that thing - no loop clicks - no aliasing - just nice musical tones. The only drawback was doing that kind of intense editing at the keyboard (no PC editors back then) was a real strain on the back, butt, and eye muscles. Maybe that's why I now view the world with a squinty-eyed stoop.

Oh, you're welcome, Scott - Thanks for the kudos - and thanks for posting the link to the editor instructions. I'm just keeping a promise I made to Patrick over in the General Discussion sub-forum. I don't want him to have to wait for the next Live Clinic to get this info.

Patrick Audio files placed on an SD Card for the XW-P1 are Casio proprietary audio files. They are not Windows standard 16-bit 44.1 Khz wav files, rather they are 42 KHz audio files. They are placed in a hidden partition on the SD Card by the XW Data Editor software, so they can not be seen on the SD Card by Windows Explorer and any audio files just copied to the SD Card with Windows Explorer will not be recognized by the XW-P1. The XW Data Editor software will convert Windows standard 16-bit 44.1 Khz wav files into the Casio proprietary format and install them onto the SD Card, but the files to be converted must be this exact format. So-called wav files with any other format (8, 24, 32 bit / 48 etc KHz sample rate) will not even be recognized by the Data Editor software. Audio files in other formats (including MP3) will need to be converted into the standard 16-bit 44.1 Khz wav format with other third party audio software before the XW Data Editor will recognize them. If you have not already done so, download and install the latest version of the XW Data Editor software from the Casio website onto your PC. Plug an SD Card into the XW-P1 and format it with the XW-P1. You should be able to format it on a PC, but the new Casio boards get a bit picky about formatting when dealing with audio files, so best to be safe and just do it on the board to begin with. That will also automatically create the MUSICDAT folder for storage of other than audio files. Unplug the SD Card from the XW-P1 and plug it into the card reader on your PC. Start the XW Data Editor software. When it comes up, click on "Preference" - the last item in the menu at the left of the Data Editor window. In the "Preference" window, go to the last (bottom) data entry field, entitled "WAVE File Folder Path" and click on the "Browse . . ." button at the right of that field. Browse to the folder on your PC that contains the wav file(s) that you want to convert and install on the SD Card. Nothing will be done to the files on your PC, so you do not need to worry about them. When you get to the intended folder, you will not see the files in it yet at this point. Once the intended folder is showing in the data entry field, click on "Audio" in the menu field, and this should take you to the audio file transfer screen. You should see all of the correct format audio files in that folder listed in the left hand pane. Click on the SD Card icon at the top left corner of the right hand pane and select the correct "drive" designation for your SD Card. Drag and drop the desired files from the left pane to the right pane and the Data Editor will convert them and install them onto the SD Card. You can use the standard Windows SHIFT-CLICK and CTRL-CLICK for dragging and dropping multiple files at a time. Remove the SD Card from your PC card reader and plug it back into the XW-P1. Press the "DEMO / PLAYER" buttons, and when the menu comes up, arrow down to "Audio" and press "Enter". The first audio file should show in the display. Use the data wheel or "- / +" buttons to select other audio files. Press the "START/STOP" button to start or stop file play. When finished, press the "Exit" button as many times as necessary to return to the "Performance" screen. As an interesting side item: for those that have a CTK/WK-7XXX Workstation as well as an XW-P1 or that have friends or colleagues with those workstations - audio recordings of performances on those workstations may be ported directly to the XW-P1 on their own SD Cards and played there, as the audio files for all of those units are the same format. What will play on one, will play on the others, but for audio file sharing, the downside is that the Data Editor or Data Manager software would still need to be used for copying audio files from one SD Card to another, since Windows Explorer can not access them. For the most part, the procedures for handling audio files for all of these units is pretty much the same, it's just that the CTK/WK-7XXX Workstations will also create them.

Mark Here are several links to iPad GarageBand sampling tutorials. The first is fairly basic, while the second is more in depth and even discusses some of the connection options. The third is a short shot on chopping your samples: http://iosmusicandyou.com/2011/07/06/using-the-sampler-in-garageband/ http://www.askaudiomag.com/articles/record-and-edit-your-own-samples-in-garageband-for-ipad http://www.ehow.com/how_12053108_chop-samples-garageband.html If you are specifically trying to get XW tones onto the iPad, then I suppose this is the quickest way to go about it, but if you are just looking for some nice synth tones on the iPad that you can play from the XW, then it would be a lot quicker, easier, and possibly more professional sounding to just install several of the nicer synth apps from the App Store, particularly the "full" synth apps that allow you to create and edit your own tones. I say "several" as this would give you a larger palette of available sounds. BUT . . . I still have to wonder why you are trying to get the XW tones into the iPad when you already have them in the XW. If you are just looking for MIDI based backing tracks that use the XW tones, just put your backing track MIDI files on the SD Card and play them back with the XW's MIDI file player as you play along with them. I am still not certain what it is that you are really trying to do. Good luck !

Bigmark Are you trying to make audio recordings of complete songs you play on the XW-P1 into the iPad to be played back as backing tracks, or are you trying to record the individual instrument sounds of the XW-P1 into Garage Band for it to use in place of its own instrument sounds. In other words, are you trying to use Garage Band as a "sampler" ?

Patrick One of your posts above, in this thread, mentions loading audio files to the SD Card. I do not see that that ever got addressed here or elsewhere, and the next Live Clinic may be a while in coming about. Even then, the topics you want/need to be covered may not be included. So, in the meantime, we do the next best thing. Why don't you open a new thread on that topic over in the "XW-P1 Specific" sub-forum and we'll see if we can get you going on that. I don't want to do it here, because it could get a bit involved, and I don't want to hijack this thread any more than I already have (Please excuse!). If you've already got it sorted, then no problem. See you over there !

Nah Gary ! We want to send him over to motifator.com and let him have a go around with ole "Bad Mister" Phil Clendenon. He's their chief moderator. They feed him raw meat and nails for breakfast. I had a reply all typed up a little earlier and then scrapped it because I thought it might be a little too snarkie, but I'll go ahead and post it now anyway: "I have noticed a growing pattern on this and several other music forums. It goes something like this. A new guy comes on the forum and announces that he has just bought the latest brand-x and is going to do all kind of great things with it, but it's obvious he has probably never touched a keyboard in his life. He may even state that openly. And . . . then the infamous statement - I am not good with manuals - so I need to know from you guys in a dozen words or less - how do I record this and overdub that - when the guy hasn't even figured out yet which button to push to turn the d@mned thing on. I even see this over on the Canon camera forum. I just bought this new camera. What settings do I use so I can take it out this afternoon and take professional quality pictures with it." And of course, when things don't work out that way, it's always the equipment's fault. When I saw this exchange going on a little while ago, I decided to bury the axe with this fellow after my initial exchanges with him the other day, so I held out the olive branch by showing concern over his decision to scrap the 7200. By stating that I already had working what he was having problems with, I was offering my help, but once again, all I got back was bloody, bitten, chewed, and gnarled fingers. Don't know what happened to the olive branch. So now I am done . . . with this matter, at least . . . tnicoson signing off !

Gary Exactly my point on why I do things here the way I do. My reality is that I have a Windows based system. I know from my own early experiences and those of others that I have observed on these forums that a keyboard-to-Windows system is just a battle I do not want to fight. So, I record MIDI to the keyboard's sequencer, port it to the PC on a card and that's it. No fiddling around for hours trying to figure out why things that worked fine last night are not working at all tonight. That kind of stuff eats up my creativity real quick. If I want to record audio instead, I have a standalone Fostex 8-tracker that does that very well.

ctk7200user So if you throw enough $$$ at it, maybe you will finally come up with something that will automatically make your dream CD for you ? And . . . if it doesn't - well that is just another system designed by a bunch of jerks that does not come up to your standards. You are now several weeks into this thing and have accomplished nothing but to find fault with everything that does not do the job for you. I am back to my very original question to you - if you dislike Casio, or as you have now stated (above), keyboards in general, why did you buy one to begin with. Go buy your computers and have at it, but in that case, you are on the wrong forum. This is a keyboard forum and a Casio keyboard forum at that. You might want to try the PG Music Band-in-a-Box forum. There are a lot of folks over there who spend all of their time making music strictly with their computers. And what time they don't spend making music, they spend playing one-upmanship over who has the most expensive equipment. Good luck !

ctk7200user I am concerned that you are considering scrapping use of the 7200's sequencer and considering going to a controller and DAW software. On other forums, I see comments from folks that have gone that route. They buy a controller that come bundled with software that has templates specifically designed for their controllers, yet they have no end of problems getting them to work, if ever, and if they ever do get them work, then they have horrendous latency problems. You touch a key on the controller now and get a tone out the VST 5 seconds later. Gee ! Must be driver problems - ASIO vs MME. Whose ASIO drivers are the best ? Two months later, still unnacceptable latency problems. Must not be driver problems. Must be out of date PC hardware. Gee I just bought it last year. Paid $600 for it. Ahhhj ! Asked the experts. They say I need to spend at least $2500-$3000 to do what I want to do. Sure wish I had kept my $500 keyboard and learned to use it. Point is. These systems are not without their own whole set of problems. Right now, I am doing with every one of my Casio boards with either Cakewalk MC-4 or 6 or Sonar, or Cubase what you say you can not get to work. The secret is something I learned several years ago from three guys on another forum who make their livings from their home studios. Don't try to interface the keyboard with the DAW software. Its too finicky. I record my take to the keyboard's internal sequencer. Save it as an SMF to the SD Card. Port that to the PC card reader. Bring it up in the DAW and do my full screen editing and mastering there and I am done. Works first time, every time. No compatibility problems - at all !

ctk7200user You are still approaching this from the standpoint of a computer techie, while Gary and I see it from the keyboard musician's point of view. Computer techies will always be big on and swayed by "what all great software and free stuff does it come bundled with and how much of my thinking will it do for me so I don't have to learn a lot ?", while to the average keyboard buyer, the questions are: How does it feel to my fingers ? How does it sound to my ears ? What will it take to get it to and from a gig ? How much does it cost ? Can I afford it ? They really couldn't care less what it comes bundled with. They know in the end they will find something that will work with it.

ctk7200user Just stay tuned to this station and you may eventually get it all. The older boards I mentioned above (WK-3300/3800/8000) came with a reasonable software bundle on a CD-ROM. I have no idea why Casio omitted that with the newer boards. It could not have cost them all that much. You make a very good point, Now that Roland is in bed with Cakewalk (Sonar) and Yamaha with Steinberg (Cubase), maybe it is past time that Casio find some high level software company to partner with - maybe the one you have already mentioned elsewhere here - Presonus. That appears to be a nice package, and then there is always Sony's Acid. It has great audio and MIDI capabilities, but has kind of just hung around in the wings since its inception and never really came to popularity. There is always Ableton Live, but they are more into audio looping, and I don't think you will ever be able to separate us old dyed-in-the-wool onboard-hardware-sequencer guys from our precious MIDI files.

Posted in error - Please disregard !

Brian I do not know if you have been following the other threads here on this topic, but there is a work around for converting MIDI files to rhythms that should work fairly well. You can use the stand alone converter that came with the old IDES-4 Data Manager software that was for the WK-3300/3800/8000 boards to convert MIDI phrases to .CKF rhythm files and then use the new Data Manager 6.X software to download the resulting .CKF rhythm file to the new boards as .AC7 rhythm files. Like I say, this should work fairly well, as the new auto-accompaniment (rhythm) engines are not all that much different from the old. This just adds an extra step in the conversion process instead of going directly from MIDI to .AC7. You will need to learn to use "markers" in your DAW software for separating the various rhythm sections (intro/main/fill/ending) in your MIDI phrase, but this would still be required even with new converter software. Even so, I still fail to see Casio's wisdom in not including this with the new Data Manager 6.X software. That Tone Editor and Tone Converter, I understand, as the voice (sound) engine is considerably changed and the "editability" of the new voices (tones) is quite limited compared to the old, so that would have required a complete new rewrite. I have a feeling that Casio thought no one was using this software, so it was not worth including with the new Data Managers. By omitting it, hopefully they are finding out how popular it really was and will resurrect it with some updated capabilities at some point in the very near future. Casio has obviously taken a big step forward with the CTK/WK-6XXX/7XXX Workstations and XW synths, but now appear to be failing to take those final few steps to ensure a lasting success of these new units. You can download the old IDES-4 Software and standalone converters from the Casio-Europe site at: http://www.casio-europe.com/euro/emi/specials/ides/downloads/ Good luck !

Josh The INST IN jack on the 7500 is MONO not stereo, but so is the MIC IN. It also is MONO not stereo. Good luck with your efforts !

Josh If you use the INST IN on the WK-7500 you should not have a level problem at all and should not need a level adapter as it is LINE level. Anything connected there can be recorded to the SD Card the same as the MIC IN jack. The INST IN was really provided for connecting a guitar. And as for your last question - I never throw anything out. You never know when you might have a use for it. I still have my Yamaha PSS-480 with its little mini keys that got me started in this business to begin with. No ! I would not get rid of the CTK-900. Connect it to the 7500 and put it to some more good use. Good luck !

Glad I was able to help !

Machax The IDES program was to the older Casio keyboards what the Data Manager 6.X programs are to the new units, B U T . . . while IDES would convert a MIDI phrase to a CKF rhythm file, and the Data Manager 6.X would import that rhythm file into the new units as an AC7 rhythm file . . . THIS ONLY WORKS FOR RHYTHM FILES - NOT FOR TONE FILES. The sound engines of the older and newer units are too far different to allow conversion and importing of old tone files into the newer keyboards. This is particularly true of the "Tone with Wave" files. The older units had special onboard sample memory to hold the sampled wave data, the newer units are not equipped with this sample memory. So . . . bottom line . . . while you can convert old rhythms to work on the newer keyboards . . . not so with tone files. . . not possible . . . there is too much difference in the old/new hardware. Sorry to disappoint you !

Josh If you are coming from the LINE OUT jacks of another keyboard, you would want to patch those to the INST IN (INSTRUMENT IN) jack on the WK-7500. If you patch those to the MIC IN jack on the WK-7500, you would have an enormous level and impedance mismatch and may have problems controlling distortion. The MIC IN is pretty sensitive compared to the INST IN. This is even more critical if you are coming from the PHONES jack of the other instrument. There is still a level and impedance problem with a PHONES - INST IN patch, but at least, you can control distortion if you keep the level out of the driving instrument down to a reasonable level. Like the MIC IN, the INST IN is mono. On most keyboards with L & R LINE OUTS, if you connect only to the L LINE OUT jack, it will give you a combined mono signal, so no adapter would be necessary. Just patch from LINE OUT L to INST IN, but if you have a keyboard that only outputs the individual left and right signals from the L & R LINE OUTS, then you would need a stereo-to-mono Y-adapter cable to get both the left and right channel signals into the INST IN jack on the WK-7500. On the keyboards that automatically convert, the LINE OUT jacks will normally be labeled "L / MONO R", but when in doubt, check the owner's manual. Of course, the AUDIO IN jack on the WK-7500 is stereo, but you can not record anything connected to it. Good luck !

The CTK/WK units are "arrangers" and are not necessarily equipped with the real-time tone manipulation features of full-blown synths like the XW's. They do not have the "tone-hold" feature of the XW's, but you can simulate this feature somewhat by lengthening the "RELEASE" component of the tone's ADSR envelope with the Tone Editor and saving it as a User Tone ("ReleasTime" on Page 1/8 of the Tone Edit menu). This will have, essentially, the same effect as a sustain pedal that is permanently held down. If you should have the need to quickly switch between your sustained and the unsustained tones in real time, just save your sustained and unsustained setups as adjacent registrations and switch between them quickly and easily. Good luck !

See reply to your post on this topic in the General Discussion section of this sub-forum.

The Casio CKF files were merely libraries or containers that held the various types of files (rhythm, tone, drawbar, etc) that the older keyboards would accept, but these were not the keyboards' "native" files. The CKF files were converted to the keyboard's "native" file format during the download process. For instance, a CKF rhythm file was converted to a .Z00 file format as it was downloaded to a WK-3800, and a CKF tone file was converted to a .Z01 format, while a drawbar organ setup file was converted to a .Z04 format. The CKF files were merely Casio's "one-size-fits-all" file distribution scheme. The newer CTK/WK-6000/7000 line of keyboards have arranger (auto-accompaniment) engines that are very similar to those of the older units and therefore, will accept rhythm files from the older units, but here again, as they are loaded onto the keyboard, they are converted to the new .AC7 native rhythm file format. They are not stored or played as CKF files. If you load an older CKF rhythm file onto one of the newer keyboards and then upload it to a PC, it comes back as an .AC7 file, not as a .CKF file. The sound (tone/voice) engines of the newer keyboards, however, are considerably different from those of the older units and use wave samples that the older units do not have and require wave shaping parameters that the older files do not contain. Therefore, the newer units can not load tone (or drawbar organ) files from the older units. It is very unlikely that anyone will develop such a "converter" as it would have to "second guess" at the correct (closest) wave sample and parameters to use, which would most likely leave a lot to be desired.