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Midi import - CT-X5000


Roy

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Hi,

 

This is really disapointing. Loading standard MIDI files is really a very convenient feature if you want to learn a song, play it or sing it with a backing

 track, etc.

Yamaha PSRs have been able to accommodate MIDI files for ages. I strongly hope that the next generation of AiX keyboards will have such a basic feature (along with the ability to adjust the respective volumes of the various voices on the successors of the CT-X700/800).

 

Regards,

 

Vinciane

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1 hour ago, vbdx66 said:

This is really disapointing. Loading standard MIDI files is really a very convenient feature if you want to learn a song, play it or sing it with a backing

 track, etc.

 

The CTX series will indeed playback SMF files stored on a flash drive.  The specific question in this thread was about editing an SMF file stored on a USB drive.  Editing is only possible if the files could be loaded into the keyboard, which they can't.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Brad!

If one was to take a Korg Pa style and change the .sty to .mid and loaded it on a flash drive, could it be played on a CT-X5000? I am still trying what I have available to come up with a Ray Price walking shuffle. I have a good one on my micro-arranger and if I could make it a .mid file and use it on my CT-X5000 that would perhaps be a short-term solution to my situation....maybe???? I appreciate your inputs.

Thanks Ricky Lee

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3 hours ago, RickyLee said:

If one was to take a Korg Pa style and change the .sty to .mid

 

I don't know a lot about Korg files, but I think it will take more than just changing the file extension.  It wouldn't work directly as a MID file.  It would need to make it's way towards becoming an AC7 or CKF Casio format file in order to play correctly on the CT-X5000.   

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I didn't realize Korg rhythm files use the .sty file naming convention. This is also the file format for Yamaha style files. If it is a Yamaha style file, simply changing the file from .sty to .mid will-usually-change it to a playable midi file. You will still need to use a conversion program to get this into a playable ckf file. for Korg, trying this simple conversion did not work-it describes "wrong file header". Trying to open this with PSRMidi-which allows importing a Yamaha .sty file and editing it, also did not work. Apparently you need to find software that will change the Korg .sty to a .mid file. then look at Chandler's and my posts for a good workflow once you have a .mid file, it's pretty neat being able to do this. I uploaded  bunch of ckfs I designed for the PX560, but should play on the CTX. Mostly funk style-good for practicing fast riffs, some pretty challenging backup chord intros. 

 

Regarding country licks/backing rhythms-can you PM a short MP3 or some other audio example so I can hear exactly what you want? I will design some backing tracks for you and upload as ckfs if you are interested.  Floyd Cramer  comes to mind for piano, love the classic Nashville licks. Guitar, well I prefer slide/pedal steel  and never heard a bad country lick-just played badly! here's some Moon Mullins...

 

https://hillbillycountry.blogspot.com/2015/11/moon-mullins-and-night-raiders.html

But this might be closer to what you want?

 

I started as a drummer, played  with a few local country bands early on-this sounds like a basic 2-step with loose hats and good walking bass with emphasis on 1 and 3? would need a good acoustic bass sound on this or Fender bass? Tempos-let me know.

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A bi-directional .MTRF to MIDI converter would be an awesome tool for the CT-X userbase. If I knew anything about programming (or if I had any clue on how to unlock the secrets of all the proprietary file formats Casio uses for their non 16+1 recorders), such a converter would be high on my list of side projects right now.

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Hi Chandler, great idea. You should maybe open a new thread on this particular subject with an appropriate title, some forum members might have ideas about how to realise this.

 

Could not for instance a computer software or an iPad app monitoring MIDI messages be of some help? That way it would be possible to monitor on a computer or iPad what is happening at the MIDI level while the .MTRF proprietary file is being recorded on the keyboard.

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Yeah my mistake, I meant .MRF. Seems there are different permutations of .MRF files even with the same format, as X3000/X5000 .MRFs can't be imported to X700/X800s, and vice versa. You would think that any recording on the the X700/X800's 6-track recorder would work on the X3000, as it has a 16 track recorder and all the voices and effects necessary to replicate whatever was made on the lower models, but the files can't be imported at all.

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2 hours ago, vbdx66 said:

Could not for instance a computer software or an iPad app monitoring MIDI messages be of some help? That way it would be possible to monitor on a computer or iPad what is happening at the MIDI level while the .MTRF proprietary file is being recorded on the keyboard.

 

Extracting the note data on tracks 2-6 (X700) or 1-16 (X3000) isn't really a problem. As you've said, connecting the output to a MIDI recorder/monitor would give us all the information we need to handle that part of the conversion. All that's really needed there would be automating per-track parameters like voice assignments and other CC commands to be converted to MIDI, and that's not too hard to figure out.

 

The real obstacle is figuring out how the metadata of the song is encoded on the system track (track 1 on the X700). Selecting different types of Reverb/Chorus/Delay and making changes to the "live performance" parts (layer play, split play, which rhythm controller buttons are pressed and when, tempo changes, etc) are all actions that are not normally addressable by MIDI in the same way that the info on the other tracks are.

 

You would need a very detailed understanding of how the system track data is parsed for each specific model, and a pretty sophisticated converter to automate the translation of those parameters back and forth with standard MIDI data. Maybe if the software only handled conversion of MIDI data to the non-system track parts of the MRF file it would be feasible. It would then be up to the user to program the system track on their specific model to suit their needs after importing, or to edit the MIDI file with the necessary parameters to replicate the data that was on the system track if they were exporting from MRF to MIDI.

 

Even then, you would still need to figure out how to get the CT-X board to accept an .MRF file that was not created on a compatible model. There seems to be some sort of identifier in the file that prevents you from importing anything other than an authentic recording made on identical hardware. That would be the first issue that would need to be addressed.

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