XW-P1 Bank numbers?

[Jokeyman123]

Haven't used the XW much with software sequencers and have recently decided to work some more with the XW as a tone module.

 

I am not clear regarding the designation for a bank change number. Normally, all other Casios I've used with software have one simple bank change number plus the program change for selecting each tone in a multi-track midi recording for each midi channel, not a problem. But the XW appendix shows the following...."bank-number" followed by exactly that-2 different numbers with a dash in between such as P0-2 etc.-and I see that in various categories of tones (solo synth, PCM, hex layers, etc) the same numbers are used repeatedly across categories. Can anyone explain then, what exactly do I use as a bank change number for selecting each tone when recording with a midi sequencer or DAW?

 

After studying many old posts about this from several years ago (!!!!) I recall that if using the XW-P1 with an external midi sequencer-using the XW as a tone module-one needs to set up a performance which I also understand-I just don't know what a bank change number should look like in a DAW since, repeating myself-most DAW's have responded with a simple 1 or 2 digit number, and all the other Casios I use follow that simple number scheme. And even after doing alot of work with the XW-using it this way-to create a multi-track from software or a midi file, I am still confused as to exactly how the XW is mapped as far as midi channels from software. Do I pre-select my tones with the mixer in sequencer mode and play and record with software in sequencer or performance mode? I think we have already decided-when playing a midi file from software into the XW-tone mode will always only recognize one midi channel.

 

Some of this is about re-visiting old posts, and except for the bank change messages I think most other topics regarding this are already in the faqs thanks to Happy Rat who compiled so much of this stuff before leaving our forum. Thanks Happy wherever you are!

[Jokeyman123]

EEEKKK!!!!  My bad..I knew if i dug around long enough-and it was right here all along. Mike Martin's absolutely complete .ins file for Sonar-exactly what i needed. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it!  still not completely up on manually entering these bank changes manually in other DAW's that do not use .ins files, but it's a start. Some of my older DAW's use what was called in the musical stone-age ".idf" files-strangely enough called....wait for it...Instrument Definition Files.  I won't repost the uploaded file-this forum is getting so full of info-even a dweeb like me needs time to find stuff now!

[Jokeyman123]

Seems silly-posting like this, but in case anybody needs to know......how I solved an XW-P1 and software problem.

 

1) Since I needed to use a version of Cakewalk, or Sonar, or Bandlab depending on what you decide to use-to load the XW .ins file-I decided to go with Bandlab...at first. But after opening it, studying it and deciding it certainly a powerful program-it had about 100 features I would never need-and all i wanted to do-was record midi tracks from the XW into a simple midi sequencer/recorder-but use the .ins file.

 

2) I backed down to...don't laugh....my oldest version of the original Cakewalk 3.0-its crude looking, but the .ins file loaded perfectly-and thanks to Mike's rather ambitious work-every track in Cakewalk now accesses any one of huge sound databank from the XW-organ bank, PCM bank, hex layers-solo synth-every sound is there, shows up in Cakewalk ready to lay down tracks. I've posted somewhere in the Forum if anyone dares to try it-i think it takes up something like a little over 2MB!  Now i can do this drop dead easy with the PX560 and many other keys-but the bank and program change numbers were eluding me-until now. As to how my tracks will be recognized by the XW, still working on it, but this crude version of Cakewalk-no wonder so many musicians used it, and it grew-and grew-and grew to where it is now-almost undecipherable by an old dinosaur like me.

 

3) Another interesting factoid probably only suitable to computer heads like me-and Windows-you know who you are....i discovered that even these older Cakewalk programs will install even in Windows 7-not sure about 10, if you have 2 things going for yourself:

 

a) Windows 7 has to be installed in its 32-bit version-trust me on this-many better eraserheads than me have tried 64-bit and failed and

b) the program, and all it's files-have to be installed in the root directory of your drive-not in "program files" where it would ordinarily default install. Again, trust me on this!

 

Even back then-Cakewalk had the ability to record all 16 midi channels on one Cakewalk track-and then you have 15 more tracks, very cool. Plus, since it's such a small program-it uses practically no Windows resources, hooks up to midi usb or din no problem-the XW can do both or either, very nice.

 

As the XW is already pretty deep, and has some killer sounds-I've always wanted to be able to do linear recording with it as a "tone module"-in addition to the half-dozen other ways this monster can create musical atrocities/cacophonies only I could think up (I hope anyway)-still musically scarred from playing too many weddings-not that there's anything wrong with that, paid the bills, I met some interesting people....sigh. Have a nice day!!!!!!