Update: SMF to KeyLighting and StepUp Lesson Conversion - CLOSED

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This is to provide updated information for owners of any of the "SteUp Lesson" keyboards who are interested in the SMF conversion process.  I think many of us, who have come into this in the last few years, have been making an assumption about Casio's SMF converter program that is simply just not true.  The SMF converter download site lists the following models as being compatible:

 

"CASIO Models Supported by SMF Converter
CTK-800/810/810IN,WK-110,LK-70S/90TV/93TV/200S/210/215/300TV,
PX-100/200/300/310/320/400R/500L/800, AP-24/26/80R/500"

 

I think most of us have been taking this statement exactly at its word: that the SMF Converter is an old program for these old models of keyboards, and if you have one of the newer SteUp Lesson boards, that is not on that list, you are just out of luck, and need to resort to the manual conversion process, AND . . . . that is the part that is probably not true.  The only reason that the newer boards are not on that list is because they did not exist when that statement was made, I believe, back in the late '90's.  So, a word of advice to Casio: when you make a pubic compatibility statement like this, you need to keep it updated.  I have noticed this same tendency with some of their other utility program, which are not listed as being Windows 10 compatible, when in fact, they are.  The only reason Windows 10 is not listed is because it had not been released yet, when the compatibility statement was made.

 

So, I am currently in a complete quandry about this manual SMF to "StepUp Lesson" process.  I strongly suspect that ALL of the "StepUP Lesson" models of today are just as SMF Converter compatible as are the older models of a decade ago, but Casio really does not state what all the converter does.  So, we still have questions about how much of the manual conversion process is really necessary.  Certainly, if the left and right hand note data is combined onto the same channel, that will require human intervention and human logic (?) to properly sort that out, and while you are at that, you might just as well put the split data onto the proper "Navigate Channels".  BUT . . . . what if the note data is already split, but on the wrong channels - does the SMF converter program move it to the proper Channels?  (I doubt this!) Does the converter program adjust the data to work with the StepUp Lesson''s "WAIT" feature, where the keyboard waits for you to press the next correct key before it proceeds with playback ?  (Probably!)  Does the converter divide the song into lesson "Phrases"? (Doubtful!).  Does the converter enable the lighting of the "fingers" of the "hands" in the keyboard's display panel? (Very doubtful!)

 

So we need the help of a couple of owners of newer StepUp Lesson boards (LK-280, WK-225, WK-245, etc).  Try to find an SMF that has left/right note data on separate channels.  Run it through the SMF Converter and load it onto the keyboard.  Start the StepUp Lesson feature and let us know what does and what does not work.  Any help/information would be very greatly appreciated.

 

Now!  This particular topic will really not be of much (or any) interest to LK keyboard owners who merely want to modify an SMF to properly light their keys, but want to keep it as an SMF so that they can play it to their keyboard from their computer or, in the case of the LK-280, play it from an SD Card.  They would not necessarily be interested in a full SMF to Casio .CM2 Song File conversion or in the finer points of the StepUp Lesson features.

 

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Today, I recorded an auto-accompanied song with an improvised right hand melody line with the onboard song recorder of my WK-3800.  As I recorded the song, the chord name in the display followed the chord changes I was making with my left hand.  When I played back song, the chord name in the display followed the chord changes that had been recorded into the song.  This is the same as I had observed with my CTK/WK-6XXX/7XXX units and my WK--225, when I had them.  I then recorded the same performance into a computer based DAW/sequencer program via USB-MIDI.  When I played that back into the WK-3800 via USB-MIDI, the sound was exactly the same as when I had recorded and played it back with the WK-3800's onboard song recorder, but this time the display DID NOT SHOW THE CHORD NAME.  While we could say that the keyboard does not recognize that information from external sources, I believe a more accurate description would be that the keyboard does not monitor data from external sources for that information - that the keyboard only monitors built-in songs, the auto-accompaniment engine, and the "StepUp Lessons" programming (if equipped) for that information.  So it makes no difference how we manipulate data from external sources, or what we might try adding to it, other than key lighting on the LK models, none of the rest of it (the chord name or "fingering hands" in the display, etc) will respond, because the keyboard isn't even looking for it there to begin with.  I believe that we are safe in assuming that this applies to all of the LK models, all of the WK models (including those with SteUp Lessons} and all of their 61 key CTK equivalents.  Period ! ! !

 

Therefore I am considering this thread and this topic closed.  We have been beating this poor dead horse for way too long!

 

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