Some notes “stick”

[EPC]

Hello. I’m new here. I bought an LK280 keyboard and I love it! I have brain damage. Reading music and coordinating my fingers is impossible for me. The LK function is nothing short of a miricle!

 

I can play some of my favorite tunes for the first time ever.

 

I have two issues though. This concerns playing MIDI files off an SD card. 

 

1. I have a problem with what I call “sticky keys”. Not mechanically - but certain notes in the file which should play with one press cause the keyboard to stop abruptly with the light on and need to be pressed a second time to continue. (Different from the flashing next note waiting and tempo matched accompaniment that should happen). Some files play perfectly, others stick on several notes. 

 

2. On my unit only channel 3 controls the lighted notes.I do not have a second control channel. Any data on all the other 15 play as accompaniment.

 

Please advise.

[- T -]

Welcome to the forum.  I am glad you are enjoying your LK-280.  I hope the following information helps you resolve your problem.

 

Sometimes MIDI files send commands to the keyboard that confuse it, and you need to do a factory reset to set things straight again.  See the section Returning the Digital Keyboard to Its Factory Default Settings at the top of the right hand column on Page E-8 of the manual.  Be advised that any user data or settings that you have stored on the keyboard will also be erased.  If that does not resolve the problem, note as you play along with your MIDI files, does this happen with any of the files or just certain ones?  If it happens with just certain files, then those files may be defective.  if it happens with all files and can not be resolved with a factory reset, you may need to return the keyboard for a replacement, but first we would need to know where you obtained the MIDI files from, so that we can determine if they are from a reliable source.  If you are talking about the LK-280's built-in songs, and a factory reset does not resolve the problem, then it will most likely need to be returned.

 

- T -

[EPC]

14 hours ago, - T - said:

Hello T

 

Welcome to the forum.  I am glad you are enjoying your LK-280.  I hope the following information helps you resolve your problem.

Thanks.

Quote

 

Sometimes MIDI files send commands to the keyboard that confuse it, and you need to do a factory reset to set things straight again.  See the section Returning the Digital Keyboard to Its Factory Default Settings at the top of the right hand column on Page E-8 of the manual.  Be advised that any user data or settings that you have stored on the keyboard will also be erased.  If that does not resolve the problem, note as you play along with your MIDI files, does this happen with any of the files or just certain ones?  If it happens with just certain files, then those files may be defective.  if it happens with all files and can not be resolved with a factory reset, you may need to return the keyboard for a replacement, but first we would need to know where you obtained the MIDI files from, so that we can determine if they are from a reliable source.  If you are talking about the LK-280's built-in songs, and a factory reset does not resolve the problem, then it will most likely need to be returned.

 

- T -

Thank you very much.

I have been pressing Watch instead of Play.

 

Everything now works fine and I do seem to have two control channels. 

 

Next question - refering to external MIDI files played on a SD card.

 

The problems I have with notes sticking are only when I play external MIDIs by pressing the Watch button.

 

Can I get such files to play as in Watch Mode yet by pressing Play? I really like the music on the non-control channels to pace itself to what I play. I like it to wait if needed. Not just light the keys but play through even when I play the wrong notes or miss them.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2019 by EPC
Problem changed.

[- T -]

Here is a link to another thread, on this sub-forum. describing how to divide a MIDI song file into phrases, so that the Lesson features work correctly.  It is an old thread, but the last couple of entries are fairly recent:

 

http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/5085-lk-280-how-to-split-a-file-into-lesson-parts/

 

The video in that thread is the wrong one.  In that video he already has the MIDI data on the correct "Navigate" tracks/channels to light the keyboard keys.  Here is a link to his other video, where he shows how to get the MIDI data onto the correct "Navigate" tracks channels:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Bzlu-16dI

 

but he did not do his full homework on the LK-280, and makes a couple of incorrect statements.  He states that that data must go on track/channel 4.  That is correct for the older and lower priced LK boards, but not the LK-280.  On the LK-280, the RIGHT "Navigate" track/channel can be assigned anywhere from 2 to 16, and the LEFT "Navigate" track/channel is automatically assigned to the next lower track/channel.  See the right hand column of Page E-60 of the LK-280 manual.  He also states that the MIDI files you use should have the right and left hand data on separate tracks/channels, but that is not really true, if you are willing to spend a little time with some editing software, like Anvil Studio.  If the right and left hand data is combined on the same track/channel, you use the editing software to clone the original track/channel to a second track/channel.  Go to the track/channel for the right hand data and delete all notes below Middle C.  Then go to the one for the left hand data and delete all notes Middle C and above.  This works fine for all but complex scores that have a lot of notes around Middle C that might confuse the process, but even those can be corrected with a little cutting and pasting between tracks.  I can not speak for the LK-280, as my LK board is a very old model from 2003.  It is an inexpensive entry level model that does not even have touch sensitivity keys.  On it, all of the above works except the WAIT feature.  I can not tell, for certain, from all the LK-280 discussions and videos, on this subject, if this works for the WAIT feature on the newer, more advanced, LK boards.  In the video I provided the link for here, in a couple of places, it looks like the WAIT feature might work, but I can not tell for sure.

 

Now, all of this may sound a lot more involved than you would like, but believe me, once you have done it a couple of times, the entire process becomes pretty much automatic, very quickly, and is well worth the effort.

 

If you need editing software, Anvil Studio has a fairly low learning curve, and is a free download from http://anvilstudio.com/

 

Good luck!

 

- T -

 

PS

 

It is not a good idea to repeat (quote) replies from respondents in your entries, as this over-complicates the thread very quickly, and wastes a lot of hard drive space on the server.

 

 

[EPC]

4 hours ago, - T - said:

Here is a link to another thread, on this sub-forum. describing how to divide a MIDI song file into phrases, so that the Lesson features work correctly.  It is an old thread, but the last couple of entries are fairly recent:

 

http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/5085-lk-280-how-to-split-a-file-into-lesson-parts/

 

The video in that thread is the wrong one.  In that video he already has the MIDI data on the correct "Navigate" tracks/channels to light the keyboard keys.  Here is a link to his other video, where he shows how to get the MIDI data onto the correct "Navigate" tracks channels:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Bzlu-16dI

 

but he did not do his full homework on the LK-280, and makes a couple of incorrect statements.  He states that that data must go on track/channel 4.  That is correct for the older and lower priced LK boards, but not the LK-280.  On the LK-280, the RIGHT "Navigate" track/channel can be assigned anywhere from 2 to 16, and the LEFT "Navigate" track/channel is automatically assigned to the next lower track/channel.  See the right hand column of Page E-60 of the LK-280 manual.  He also states that the MIDI files you use should have the right and left hand data on separate tracks/channels, but that is not really true, if you are willing to spend a little time with some editing software, like Anvil Studio.  If the right and left hand data is combined on the same track/channel, you use the editing software to clone the original track/channel to a second track/channel.  Go to the track/channel for the right hand data and delete all notes below Middle C.  Then go to the one for the left hand data and delete all notes Middle C and above.  This works fine for all but complex scores that have a lot of notes around Middle C that might confuse the process, but even those can be corrected with a little cutting and pasting between tracks.  I can not speak for the LK-280, as my LK board is a very old model from 2003.  It is an inexpensive entry level model that does not even have touch sensitivity keys.  On it, all of the above works except the WAIT feature.  I can not tell, for certain, from all the LK-280 discussions and videos, on this subject, if this works for the WAIT feature on the newer, more advanced, LK boards.  In the video I provided the link for here, in a couple of places, it looks like the WAIT feature might work, but I can not tell for sure.

 

Now, all of this may sound a lot more involved than you would like, but believe me, once you have done it a couple of times, the entire process becomes pretty much automatic, very quickly, and is well worth the effort.

 

If you need editing software, Anvil Studio has a fairly low learning curve, and is a free download from http://anvilstudio.com/

 

Good luck!

 

- T -

 

PS

 

It is not a good idea to repeat (quote) replies from respondents in your entries, as this over-complicates the thread very quickly, and wastes a lot of hard drive space on the server.

 

 

By Wait feature do you mean by pressing the Watch button, or is there some way of geting it to wait with the Play button or lesson features?

 

Thanks for the help. I will follow the advice and get back to you.

[- T -]

EPC

 

By the "WAIT" feature, I am referring to when the keyboard "waits" for you to press the correct note before it proceeds to the next note.  I am not certain that this works on the LK-280 when using external MIDI files with the Lesson function.  It does not work on my old entry level LK keyboard.

 

- T -

 

 

 

 

[EPC]

All problems have now been solved. Thanks T.🤣

[- T -]

OK!  Glad you got it all sorted!  Enjoy!!!

 

Just for future reference - if you do use the "WAIT" feature - Does it work on the LK-280 with external MIDI files?

 

[EPC]

14 hours ago, - T - said:

 

 

Just for future reference - if you do use the "WAIT" feature - Does it work on the LK-280 with external MIDI files?

 

By pressing the Watch button? Sometimes, but it is unreliable. I have been able to make some play by cutting out occurances of more than one note of the same pitch following in succession. Also shortening or lengthening some notes helps. Its a loy of work.But there is no way to all of them all of the time.

 

By contrast the regular Play works fine with everything all the time as long as the light control notes are on ch. 3. 

[- T -]

OK!  Thanks much.  I will add this info to my notes on this topic.

 

- T -