Synth/MIDI

[mariaelizabeth]

I am interested in tone creation, but I have no clue where to start or how to learn. I want to create tones and effects and import to my px-560m. Or run 2 keyboards at once during live performances. Any pointers would be appreciated!!

[Brad Saucier]

You can edit preset tones and effects on the keyboard itself.  To edit a tone, press tone, select a preset tone for upper 1 then press edit.  For details on everything editable, see your user PX-560 manual, section titled "editing a tone".  

[Chandler Holloway]

This video from Rich Formidoni should help you get started, both with regular tone editing and the more advanced Hex Layer synthesis that the PX-560 is known for.

 

 

[Jokeyman123]

This is  huge topic, the PX560 is very 'rich" in how you can progrm nd alter tones as this video illustrates. If you study some of the "classic" synthesizer programming techniques-especilly starting with so-called "analog" synthesizers-the earliest synths-might give you a good basic understanding of what you can do-as the PX560 can be programmed the same way as the first synthesizers were. I have programmed on a huge variety of keyboards over time-Casios many others-a few ideas. 

 

1) pitch envelope-most obviously this will change (or not change) the pitch of the tone as you hold down a key-can create interesting effects all by itself.

 

2) amp envelope-this change how the "loudness" or 'dynamics" of a tone can change as you hold the key down-in other words, you can vary how loud a single tone will be each time you hit a key-can make a sound go from the extremes of a very short "blip" to a tone that will keep playing as long as you hold the key down, or anywhere in between. 

 

3) filter envelope-think of this a kind of "tone control"-depending on how you program it-can make a sound vary from being very "muffled" to very 'trebly"-and you can vary this over time-the tone will change each time you lay a key.

 

These are 3 of the most fundamental programming functions, used from the beginning of the invention of synths, and before that by experimental sound designers. Just using any one of these 3 can vary a tone quite a bit-and using all 3 combinations -amp, filter and pitch can get very involved, but even a simple change can do alot. Experimenting is the way most programmers learn how to do it. 

 

One other I think very fundamental concept to understand-the first synthesizers used almost always-3 basic "waveshapes"-the fundamental source of the tone itself, also called an "oscillator". These are the sine wave ( whistling quality like a flute) a square wave (hollow kind of sound but can be fairly harsh-sounding) and a sawtooth wave- a rather pronounced harsh sound. Also something called a "pulse" wave simlar to a square wave. I learned my first programming tricks by studying and programming a Sequential Circuits "Pro One" analog synthesizer back in the 1980's, now being copied and remanufactured by Behringer. I would pick one of these waveshapes-from a switch/knob panel-then adjust the amp, filter and pitch "envelopes" and could get a huge change in that wave alone-a monophonic tone-one tone on one key at a time. Now the incredible thing about the PX560 and I'll end this here-not only do you have all that in the PX560-not only those 3-4 basic waveshapes to pick from-you have a huge variety of other waveshapes-many of which are now "samples" of the acoustic or electronic instruments-pianos, organs, woodwinds etc. and any of those wavesamples can b eprogrammed with the amp, pitch and filter envelopes. with enough programming, I could for example take a basic piano tone and re-program it to sound quite a bit different than a piano, and so with any other acoustic instrument. I've uploaded a few of those tones here in the PX560 upload section, if you care to download them and try in your PX560. I've programmed a few with the PX560 that sound like a few of the tones I'd programmed on my much older Casio CZ synths-the PX560 is powerful enough to do that with some work. 

 

That to me is the overwhelming part-there is such a huge choice of what you can now use-but again, if you are just starting out-try picking one of the simpler tones-many of the synthesizer "lead' or 'pad" tones in the PX560 are using the saw, sine, square and pulse waves to create the tone-go to edit from the main screen-and try changing any one of the envelopes-pitch, amp or filter, to listen to what that does to the tone. If, like me 4-5 days later you decide to take a break (!!!!) I am sure you will know way more even if you feel like you don't!  and try to remember if this seems really challenging-there are musicians who have made entire careers doing this, and have spent years developing programming techniques so try not to be discouraged.

 

Hope I helped.