Help! Mac user attempting to import MIDI file to LK-280

[opus100]

I'm attempting to import a MIDI file of Schubert's opus 100 to the LK-280. All of the tutorials I've seen online use PC programs like Anvil Studio. I am using the mac program Musescore 3 and the attached MIDI file. How can I format this file so that it can be played (with the hands divided appropriately) on the LK-280? I simply get an error message when I drag the file onto an SD card and insert it into the LK-280.

 

Thanks in advance for any help. 

 

 

02Andante_con_moto.mid

[Mike Martin]

What is the error message? 

On most Casio products (I'd assume this one too) the files have to into the folder called MUSICDAT. 

[opus100]

Thanks for the response. I tried creating a new folder on the SD card with the title "MUSICDAT" and placing the MIDI file inside the folder but I received the same "Err Format" notification on the screen after pressing the "SD CARD" button on the LK-280. Can anyone verify if the MIDI file I attached to the OP is correctly organized to be played on the LK-280? 

[Brad Saucier]

I would try formatting the SD card on the LK-280.  You'll find formatting instructions on page E-54 of the user guide.  It will format the card and create a MUSICDAT folder.  Copy your file over to the card again after that and try again. 

[opus100]

OK, I have now formatted the SD card on the LK-280 and it has the appropriate MUSICDAT folder, but when I drag the MIDI file (attached in the OP) into the folder it is rejected, presumably because it's the wrong format. Any idea how I can solve that problem? 

[opus100]

Is it a problem that the SD card is MS-DOS format?

[Brad Saucier]

What do you mean by rejected?  What is saying rejected?

[opus100]

There isn't a popup or notification, when I attempt to drag the MIDI file into the MUSICDAT folder (or even the SD card itself) there is a "no symbol" (i.e., a circle with a diagonal bar) that prevents the file from being moved onto the card/folder. 

[Brad Saucier]

Can you copy any other files to the card?  

[opus100]

No, I can't copy other files to the card. I don't know if this is because of the MS-DOS format or because of the formatting that occurred when I inserted it into LK-280. I can't even delete the MUSICDAT file from the card. 

[Brad Saucier]

Did you accidentally lock the card with the little slider?  

[opus100]

Although I'd checked that several times, I think it was still the problem and had somehow engaged. I was able to place the MIDI file in the folder and it plays on the LK-280. The keys flash but it seems semi-random, ideally I'd like to be able to practice the piece one hand at a time, but it seems it's only illuminating random notes. Do you all have any advice for clean devision of the left and the right hand and how to get them to play one at a time? 

 

Thanks everyone for your prompt and helpful replies, it means a lot. 

[Brad Saucier]

It depends how the file is arranged.  If the left and right hand parts are recorded on two different tracks in the file, it would be possible for the LK-280 to display them correctly.  

[opus100]

In the original MIDI file that I view on Musescore it appears there is a division of the two hands. I deleted the other instruments that are contained on the MIDI file thinking this might confuse the keyboard and now the keys don't light up at all with the new MIDI file (attached). I had no idea doing something like this would be so difficult. 

 

 EDIT opus 100.mid

[- T -]

On the LK series and certain other "Step-up Lesson" capable keyboard models, Casio uses the term Navigate Channels to determine which  Tracks/Channels of a MIDI file the left and right hand note data needs to be on in order to properly light the keys and/or work with the "Step-up Lesson" features.  See the right hand column of Page E-60 and the left hand column of Page E-61 in the LK-280 manual for an understanding of how the Navigate Channels are implemented on the LK-280.  The right hand note data is assigned to the upper or higher Track/Channel, and the left hand note data is automatically assigned to the next (adjacent) lower Track/Channel.  On the LK-280, the right hand Navigate Channel is fully assignable from Track/Channel 02 through 16.  The manual says 01 through 16, but if you assign the right hand Navigate Channel to 01, there is nowhere for the left hand note data to go.  On the LK-280, the right hand Navigate Channel" defaults to Track/Channel 4, makiing Track/Channle 3 the left hand Navigate Channel.  Even though they are assignable, there is good reason to leave them at their defaults.  If, over time, you develop a sizeable collection of MIDI files, and have re-assigned the Navigate Channels to accomodate the MIDI files, you will need to keep a good set of notes to tell you how the Navigate Channels need to be assigned for each particular MIDI file, but if you leave the Navigate Channels at their defaults and modify the MIDI files to suit, it saves a lot of second guessing a year or so from now, when you want to replay a certain MIDI file.  There is another very good reason, which we will discuss when we get to the MIDI file you attached to this thread.

 

In the MIDI file you attached, the right hand note data is on Track 01 and the left hand note data is on Track 02, but both of those tracks are assigned to Channel 01.  That is because this is a Type 0 Midi file, where all tracks are condensed onto a single Channel, but if the data is on the correct Tracks to begin with, the LK keyboard will be able to sort it out, when it loads and expands the data.   So, in this file, not only is the note data on the wrong Tracks, it is reversed.  The left hand note data is on the higher Track, which is the other reason for not trying to re-assign Navigate Channels to accomodate MIDI files.  No amount of Navigate Channel re-assignment can correct for reversed left/right note data in a MIDI file.

 

In the MIDI file you attached, the Track 01 right hand data needs to be copied to Track 04, and Track 04 needs to be assigned to Channel 04, while the Track 02 left hand data needs to be copied to Track 03, and Track 03 needs to be assigned to Channel 03, then the data deleted from Tracks 01 and 02, and the entire file saved as a Type 1 MIDI file.  While the LK-280 saves its own data only to Type 0 MIDI files, it will load/play either type, so I recommend staying with Type 1 to ensure keeping the tracks and channels straight for the Navigate Channels.  On most MIDI files, a one-to-one relationship between tracks and channels is not absolutely necessary, but when trying to accomodate Navigate Channels on LK keyboards, it is best to keep it one-to-one.  That is, in the sequencer software, assign Track 01 to Channel 01 and Track 02 to Channel 02 and so on.

 

Now, your MIDI file needs to be edited, if it is going to work with the LK-280, but MUSESCORE is notation software.  It does not have the correct editing capabilities to make the edits needed, in this case.  You need sequencer software.  On the MAC you could use GarageBand, but GarageBand does not save or export to a MIDI file, so you would need to opt for a premium package like Logic.  There are work-arounds for using GarageBand.  Do a Google search on "export MIDI files from GarageBand" and read through the various choices.  There is an open source code sequencer package called Aria Meastosa that runs in both the Windows and MAC-OS arenas.  You coud try that, but I have never had any success with it in Windows, but then I am a dyed-in-the-wool Cakewalk (Sonar) person.  I think you will find, like most LK keyboard owners, that most MIDI files, downloaded from the internet, were created with no thought given to, nor even any knowledge of, Casio's LK Keyboards, so most of them are going to require extensive editing to work with those boards.  The worst are those that have both the left and right hand note data intermixed on the same track, and has to be extracted before it will work with the LK's.  These boards, and this system, have been around for quite a few years now.  I honestly think that Casio thought/hoped, like Roland''s ever popular General MIDI (GM) tone set, that the LK boards' "system" would become another defacto standard that everyone would voluntarily adhere to, but they just never caught on to that extent.  So we have to modify the MIDI file chaos to fit our own needs.

 

 

 

 

 

[- T -]

I am attaching Opus_100_Type-0 and Opus_100_Type-1, both of which have left hand note data on Track/Channel 03 and right hand note data on Track/Channel 04.  I have included both Type 0 and Type 1 MIDI files, as indicated by the file names.  I know the LK-280 will "play" both, but I am not certain that its key lighting will work properly with both.  Use whichever one works for you.  I apologize that I am unable to test these for you, but I do not currently have access to an LK Model.

 

 

Opus_100_Type-0.mid Opus_100_Type-1.mid

[YaPaY]

I have a Logic Pro X and Casio Lk-280 but I cannot do lights up.

 

any help would be very nice.

[Mike Martin]

6 hours ago, YaPaY said:

I have a Logic Pro X and Casio Lk-280 but I cannot do lights up.

 

any help would be very nice.

 

Check the "Navigation Channels" in the Function menu. These are the MIDI channels which you can select to make the keys light up.

[YaPaY]

I donot have too much experience on Logic, could you pls describe? Under Functions menu there is no any element like Navigation Menu