Play Song on WK220

[yuvi]

I have a WK-220 casio keyboard that my child is using to learn piano. She has received a CD from her instructor that has some songs in it. These songs when played on a laptop or phone plays multiple instruments. She has sheet music/notes for each of these songs. She usually learns 3-4 songs/week and then practices them at home. She usually practices them with the metronome and after she's comfortable with the speed for each song,  I play the song on my laptop or phone while she plays it on the keyboard (reading the notes in her book). My question to the group is with respect to these songs.

• Can we put these songs on the keyboard (in its memory) so that she can play along with them while playing the keys on the piano? If yes, how to do that? I have the songs in mp3 format from the CD. These songs are written/composed by my child's instructor.
• I have tried to convert these songs from mp3 to midi and then from midi to SMF using the casio software and then transfer them into the user songs area using the datamanager 5.0 via a usb midi cable. I can select the song on the keyboard using the songbank but it doesn't play. I hear nothing after i select the song and then hit the start/stop button. May be this is not correct.

 

Is it possible to play these songs on the keyboard (in the background) while we play the keys on the piano?

 

Thank you.

[- T -]

MP3 to MIDI converters, better known as "pitch to MIDI converters" are grossly misunderstood and over-rated.  They really only work (?) when the source is a single instrument, such as a piano, or guitar, or organ, etc with a single, fairly simple, melody line.  If the source is a recording of multiple instruments or dense note passages, the converter has no intelligence for distinguishing one instrument from another, or the dense right hand passage from the dense left hand passage, so if it is able to convert anything at all, the result is just a cacaphonous MIDI mess.  I suspect that your MP3 to MIDI converter is passing something to the Casio SMF-to-CM2 converter that the SMF-to-CM2 converter was just not designed to handle.

 

If you want something more convenient than playing back the MP3's from your computer, your best bet is to leave them in their original audio (MP3) format, and deal with them that way.  You can transfer them to a small iPod-like or smart phone MP3 player and connect its "phones" output to the WK-220's Audio-In jack on the back of the WK-220 with the proper cable.  See the right hand column on Page E-63 of the WK-220 manual.  This will "mix" the output of the MP3 player with the audio output of the WK-220 and play both through the WK-220's built-in speakers.  With the advent of MP3 capabilities on smart phones, local availability of stand-alone MP3 players has dropped off considerably, but some big-box retailers still keep a few in stock, and they are still available from internet sources.

 

When I had my WK-225, I velcro'd a small $30 (USD) MP3 player to a convenient blank spot on the top panel, but I eventually opted for a $60 (USD) unit with a larger LCD screen that made song selection much easier than the original unit with its tiny and difficult to read display.  I was reluctant to use my smart phone for this, as I wanted something that would not create a huge personal security or financial set back, if it were lost, stolen, or damaged.

 

Another alternative is to just purchase a small "boom-box", definitely still available at most "big-box" stores, and just play the original CD back with it as a stand-alone unit, and not connect it to the WK-220, at all.

 

Good luck !

 

Regards,

 

- T -

 

[yuvi]

Thanks 'T' for your suggestions. I like your 'Audio-in' idea. Would you suggest any particular cable? 

[- T -]

The Audio-in of the WK-220 is a standard 3.5mm three conductor TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve) mini-stereo audio connector that matches the audio output or "phones" connection of a typical iPod-type MP3 player, so you would need a standard  stereo cable with 3.5mm TRS  mini-stereo connectors.  You will find these on the "accessory" sales racks where MP3 players, smartphones, and boom-boxes are sold.  They normally come in  1/2, 1, 2, and 3 meter lengths.  Any of those lengths will work fine for you, so you can select the most convenient length for your particular set up.  If you should happen to select a larger "player" device (some boom-boxes) that use the large 1/4 inch TRS stereo connector, you will normally find 3.5mm mini stereo to 1/4 inch stereo adapter plugs sold where the above cables are sold.  There are also cables that have the 3.5 mm mini connector installed on one end, and the large 1/4 inch connector permanently installed on the other end.

 

If you connect the WK-220 to a "player' device while that "player" device is connected to the commercial power mains through its power adapter, you may get excessive "ground hum" in the audio output of the WK-220.  If this occurs, you will need to have the "player" device running on its battery power supply, while it is connected to the WK-220