Uploading a song to PX360M

[Marion Roquemore]

I'm trying to help our church choir.  I want to upload a song to my 360M, play it through the piano and while the song is playing I want to layer in the individual parts.  Is there a way to do that?  I've been unable to find a way to upload the song into the piano's memory?  Thanks in advance for any help I can get.

[aystaum]

I don't personally have the PX360M, but I'll try and help as much as I can from my understanding of the manual, what you are trying to do, and a general understanding of digital music equipment.

 

A couple of questions to clarify...

What exactly are you trying to do? I think it should be fully feasible to play a song, whether audio or MIDI, while playing the keyboard over it. I know I can do that on my CTK-7200, and most Casio keyboards have a lot in common.

 

Also, which format is the song in... Is it an audio file, with extensions .mp3, .wav, or something of that genre? Or is the song in MIDI (extensions .mid, .midi, .smf, .zmf), which is a format that records the notes, and not the audio. I don't believe there is an official way to upload an audio file to the keyboard, though I have done it on mine. MIDI should work fine over a flash drive.

 

You can find the manual at http://support.casio.com/storage/en/manual/pdf/EN/008/Web_PX360-ES-1A_EN.pdf if you don't still have your copy. I'd recommend taking a look at page E-56 if you haven't already.

 

Hope this was helpful, and please reply with any more questions!

[Marion Roquemore]

I have formatted a flash drive per the instructions on pg. E56,57 in the manual.  I put the song (.mp3 file extension) on that flash drive. I was hoping to be able to play the song (through the keyboard) from the flash drive and 'layer' in the individual (SATB) parts one at a time (add a track?) from my keyboard to help people as they practice the song on their own.   So far, I've been unable to get the song to either upload to or play through the keyboard.  If I can get the MP3 to play through the keyboard and at the same time record the individual parts as I play them, it would be a great tool.

 

Is there a way to 'search' the files on the flash drive while it's plugged into the keyboard?  If so, when I find the file maybe I can figure out how to get it to play through the keyboard.  Not that this particularly matters for this discussion, but the song is acapella with some VERY challenging harmonies and timing.  Thank you for reaching out and I hope you can help.

 

Marion Roquemore

[aystaum]

It seems that it's impossible to play .mp3 on your keyboard. Can you try converting it to a .wav?

 

Also, even if you did convert the file to a .wav, which the keyboard might be able to play, I don't think you can record layers over it.

Your best bet is either to get a MIDI recording of the song, if at all possible, in which case you may be able record over it.

 

If none of those options work, I'd recommend using a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) to record layers of your keyboard playing over the .mp3.

While those softwares are plenty complicated and involve a whole science of audio engineering, it seems what you are trying to do is pretty simple from a technical standpoint. There are plenty of tutorials online, and if you are proficient with computers, it shouldn't be much of a hassle to set up for your situation.

 

There is a widely known free DAW called Audacity, which won't get you very far if you ever really want to start recording, but for now it should be enough. It's also worth it to check out Cockos REAPER, which is very low-cost and has a no-restrictions demo, though it is a bit more complicated to set up and use.

 

Hope this helps...

[Marion Roquemore]

You have been very helpful and I don't want to abuse that ........ BUT .......

I've downloaded Audacity and imported the MP3 file into it.  Looked at their manual and not sure where to go from here.  I see where I can add a track.  Can I plug my computer into my keyboard and play the notes as the song plays?  Will that record the track and in effect overylay it?  Thought I would try that and see what happens just don't wanna screw up my keyboard or computer.  Thanks again ......

[aystaum]

I direct messaged you about recording in Audacity, as that doesn't really have much to do with this forum.

 

Another idea is to record audio on your keyboard to a flash drive, (see the manual for how to do that, page EN-45) while the mp3 is playing on your computer. Then, transfer the audio on to your computer, and try and line up your keyboard performance with the song in Audacity.

 

Might be better than trying to record direct into Audacity if you don't already have the necessary cables.

 

I wish you the best of luck, and don't hesitate to respond again if you need more help with this!

 

 

[Mike Martin]

The PX-360M will not play back MP3 files. Aystaum is correct that files must be converted to .wav to be played back on the PX-360.  I'm not 100% certain on the PX-360 but on most Privia models the files must be labeled TAKE00.wav, TAKE01.wav....etc to be recognized.  Don't forget that the PX-360 has audio inputs on the back so you could also play back audio through the PX-360 from another device.  

[Jokeyman123]

I have an idea or 2 which might help. make sure first, that you understand the 2 types of recorders in the PX360-the 1) audio recorder and 2) the 17-track "midi" or "song" recorder.

 

Since you have audio inputs that allow you to play any audio source you want connected through the px360 sound system, why not play the mp3 song with an mp3 player (or your computer which can play mp3s with a variety of software programs-including Audacity, Windows media player or Apple software) connected to the PX360 audio input-study page EN10 in the manual. If you can do that, now you can play the PX360 along with the mp3 file that is  playing using your mp3 player's audio out (or headphone out which will require the proper connecting audio cable) and......now use the PX360 17-track sequencer to record individual "midi" or "song" tracks while the mp3 song is playing-you will have to familiarize yourself with how to record using the 17-track sequencer, and when you do this, the mp3 track will not be recorded-you are recording separate "midi" data. Now whatever midi tracks you record, providing you record along with your mp3 song playing live, will be not exactly synchronized depending on your playing skill, but might be close enough to what you need for rehearsal purposes at least. You could even record completely independent parts one track at a time and save each as a separate song or midi file, for the purpose of rehearsing each voice melody line one at a time. Using the 17-track sequencer-you can create a full 4-part piano accompaniment (or a full orchestral arrangement). To repeat-playing the mp3 through the px360 audio inputs along with your newly created 17-track sequencer parts may not stay exactly synchronized, but might be close to what you are trying to do. An additional function is possible now. Using the "audio recorder"- you can record your live piano playing with the audio recorder while the midi file is playing. You can only record a single live keyboard part like this though, there is no multi-track "audio" recording possible using only the PX360. I am not clear whether the audio recorder will be recording the full midi arrangement along with your live playing-I think it will. Now you save the entire midi multi-track recording along with your new audio track as an audio file, yikes! I may be wrong on this last step though, I haven't attempted this myself.

 

Does your mp3 file contain vocal parts, or only instrumental? I ask because there are software programs that will convert an mp3 file to a midi file. Look these programs over.

 

http://www.aiseesoft.com/tutorial/mp3-to-midi.html

 

Once you have converted the mp3 to a midi file, now it can be saved in the px360 as a playable midi file. Study the px360 to go over how to import midi files into the PX360.

 

This last step I am not sure about. I have the PX350 so I will check.

 

The midi file can now be played with the PX360 and I know you can play at least one other part live from the keyboard while the midi file is playing. If you need to record multiple parts for layering or for individual vocal melody lines in addition to the midi file that is playing I'm not sure if this is possible-I'm not sure you can record additional tracks with the 17-track sequencer along with a midi file stored in the PX360.  I have imported a midi file, re-saved it in the PX350 as a "song" file (this is the proprietary song recorder format Casio uses instead of standard midi (.mid) files when you record with the 17-track sequencer. Now, you can add parts to your original song using only the PX-360 and the 17-track recorder, and save the entire arrangement of all the tracks and your original mp3 converted to a midi file in one shot, in the PX360. I have done this with the PX350. It is complicated but is do-able.

 

I'm sorry this is such a long post and may sound complicated, (blame Casio!)  but if you are trying to avoid using your computer for almost everything, and want to get the maximum use from the PX360 functions instead, this is the only way I know, and I am assuming I understand what you want to accomplish! For all of my shows, I needed to use a combination of live playing, pre-recorded keyboard midi  tracks, pre-recorded audio recordings and CD/media players for rehearsing in large groups and playing in bands. It can get complex. But the benefit is that the technology allows us to accomplish musical chores in ways impossible even five years ago! I hope this information helps. Our current church director plays live from a midi grand piano and records arrangements with the built-in midi sequencer for rehearsing and occasional live choir performances giving her the ability to conduct away from the piano when needed. Good to know how to work a midi sequencer IMO.