Category Archives: PSR/Tyros

Out Of The Shadows

Posted on by

I’ve been working on backing and lead instruments for the classic Del Shannon song “Keep Searchin'”.

Yamaha Genos™ is made for this tune. First off, its “ShadowedPop” style is the perfect fit for that old 1950s rock’n’roll vibe. It has just the right amount of swing and attitude.

Next, Genos has very good electric guitars for lead. Want clean Tele or Strat? Genos has them. Genos also has a suite of effects to obtain a complete, authentic guitar tone.

Yamaha arranger styles have “One Touch Settings” which are mini-registrations. Hit an OTS button and Genos will both change song section and bring up an appropriate voice. The Genos “ShadowedPop” style has two OTS mini-registrations that are worth deconstructing to see how the Yamaha sound designers got their Shadows guitar tone: “60sShadowLead” and “ShadowedGuitar”.

Of course, the “shadow” in all of these voice and style names refer to Hank Marvin and The Shadows — one of, or perhaps, THE iconic 1950’s guitar band and sound. The Shadows’ treatment felt absolutely right for the Del Shannon cover. Hank Marvin was perhaps the first English artist to pick up a Fender Strat, usually putting it through a Vox amp.

The PSR “ShadowedGuitar” voice goes back four or five years and is a standard factory preset. If your Yamaha arranger does not have “ShadowedGuitar”, choose a clean, 1960’s vintage guitar preset voice. Change the insert effect to Tempo Echo and set the insert effect send level to 30. Change the effect parameters to:

 Param#  Parameter name       Value 
 ------  -------------------  ------ 
      1  Delay Time           8th 
      2  Feedback Level       +28 
      3  Feedback High Damp   1.0 
      4  L/R Diffusion        +14ms 
      5  Lag                  0ms 
     10  Dry/Wet              D34>W 
     13  EQ Low Frequency     500Hz 
     14  EQ Low Gain          0dB 
     15  EQ High Frequency    4.0kHz 
     16  EQ High Gain         0dB

Reverb is a big part of the 50’s vibe and you’ll need gobs of it on the guitar. Select a hall reverb and set the reverb send level to at least 50. If your arranger has it, I recommend the “Real Medium Hall+” preset. It’s one of Yamaha’s best reverbs, in my opinion.

Only Genos has the “60sShadowLead” voice voice. Fortunately, it’s easy to add a close sound-alike to your instrument. Start with “ShadowedGuitar” or a clean, 1960’s vintage guitar preset. Get into the mixer (or DSP effect page) and change the insert effect to Multi FX Vintage Echo and set the insert effect send level to 127 (if necessary). Then change the effect parameters to:

 Param#  Parameter name       Value 
 ------  -------------------  ------ 
      1  Comp Sustain    2.9 
      2  Wah Switch      Off 
      3  Wah Pedal       0 
      4  Dist Switch     Clean 
      5  Dist Drive      5.0 
      6  Dist EQ         Mid Boost 
      7  Dist Tone       3.5 
      8  Dist Presence   4.3 
      9  Output          110 
     11  Speaker Type    Twin 
     12  LFO Speed       2.103Hz 
     13  Phaser Switch   Off 
     14  Delay Switch    Delay St 
     15  Delay Control   60 
     16  Delay Time      33

We met the Multi FX algorithm once before. This algorithm is like a virtual guitar pedal board:

Compressor -->  Wah --> Distortion --> Phaser --> Delay --> Spkr Sim

The above parameter values dial in The Shadows’ guitar tone.

You’ll need gobs of reverb, again, to complete the scene. Choose the “Real Medium Hall+” preset and set the reverb send to at least 40.

The “60sShadowLead” OTS also configures the chorus system effect. Having listened to the overall tone with and without chorus, this step is optional. (Possibly some other style part may be affected by this change or a change to any other system-level effect including reverb.) Change the chorus type to “Celeste 1” and set the chorus send level to 12. 12 is not especially high, so you can see why this last step is optional; it’s just a little sweetener.

You might consider changing the chorus effect to tremolo (e.g., “E-Piano Tremolo”). Guitarists in the 50s and 60s didn’t have guitar pedals. (Sorry, Edge.) So, folks relied on guitar amp spring reverb and tremolo (often mislabeled “vibrato”) to get space-y effects. I still have the sound of an Ampeg Gemini going through my head. 😎

Select the “E-Piano Tremolo” effect preset, increase the AM Depth to max, and set the chorus send level to 127:

 Param#  Parameter name       Value 
 ------  -------------------  ------ 
      1  LFO Frequency        5.38Hz 
      2  AM Depth             127 
      3  PM Depth             0 
      6  EQ Low Frequency     500Hz 
      7  EQ Low Gain          0dB 
      8  EQ High Frequency    4.0kHz 
      9  EQ High Gain         0dB 
     11  EQ Mid Frequency     2.0kHz 
     12  EQ Mid Gain          0.0dB 
     13  EQ Mid Width         1.0 
     14  LFO Phase Difference +39deg 
     15  Input Mode           Mono 
         Return Level         127

You’re looking for that deep, “Spaghetti Western”, Ennio Morricone effect. Play the lead line an octave down. Have fun!

The EQ parameters in the tremolo algorithm make this a good guitar tone mangler — swept mid EQ with Q (width)! Mid boost or cut is right at hand.

Here are short demos (MP3) on Genos with tremolo and without tremolo. Yamaha Montage and MODX have the same effect algorithms, so you should be able to apply the same techniques on those instruments, too.

Links to a few other posts about chasing tone on Yamaha gear:

Copyright © 2022 Paul J. Drongowski

STEP EDIT → Chord Looper

Posted on by

Yamaha Genos and PSR-SX900 arranger workstations have a feature called “Chord Looper”. Chord Looper records your left hand chords and saves them in a memory slot. (8 slots per Chord Looper bank.) Once recorded and saved, you can play back the chord progression and play over the changes. Neat.

Obviously, one way to enter a chord progression is to play it in. Let’s say, that the chord progression is long and has jazz chords like the Coltrane changes (AKA “Giant Steps”). These changes are notoriously difficult to solo over because the changes come fast, furious, and in three different scales! On top of musical difficulty, Chord Looper does not allow edits. Make a mistake and you need to record the entire sequence over again. So, folks are looking for ways to create and edit Chord Looper progressions.

Chord Looper CLD files

Fortunately, Chord Looper let’s you import and export individual chord progressions (i.e., a slot). Chord Looper exports a progression into a file with the CLD extension. Henceforth, I will call these files “CLD files”.

A CLD file is actually a Type 0 Standard MIDI File (SMF) in disguise. You can examine (or possibly edit/create) a CLD file by renaming the extension to “MID”. Once renamed, conventional software tools (Cubase, SONAR, etc.) will recognize the renamed CLD file as a Type 0 SMF and import it.

A CLD file recorded by Chord Looper is very simple inside. It contains a sequence of Yamaha XF chord events, one event for each chord change. Here are the metadata events for a simple progression (C-Am-F-G) played in by hand:

Chord Symbol   1.1.1.0     Metadata    Chord:  C/C 
Chord Symbol   1.4.4.112   Metadata    Chord:  Am/A 
Chord Symbol   3.1.1.34    Metadata    Chord:  F/F 
Chord Symbol   4.1.1.40    Metadata    Chord:  G/G

Each event specifies the chord root, chord type and alternate root bass. That’s it! A CLD file does not contain any other kind of event (notes, controller, time signature, tempo, etc.)

Each chord is a Yamaha XF Metadata chord event. The event time is the time of the chord event, i.e., when the player changed the chord and Genos recognized the chord. In the example above, the chord was changed at the beginning of each measure (sometimes a little early, sometimes a little late).

Chord STEP EDIT to CLD

Folks on the PSR Tutorial Forum have found a few ways of creating CLD files using existing software tools. Flip over to the forums and check out some of the Chord Looper threads.

Here’s a new method!

Yamaha arrangers have long supported a basic MIDI sequencer and editor. Like many software editors, the Yamaha sequencer supports step edit, letting you enter notes, control events, etc. with precise timing. One better, the Yamaha sequencer supports Chord STEP EDIT through which one can easily enter a chord sequence from a lead sheet into a separate chord track.

Thus, it’s possible to enter a chord progression easily using STEP EDIT and save the progression in a Type 0 Standard MIDI File. Initially, the progression is stored in a special part (Cds chunk) within the SMF. DAWs and so forth ignore the special proprietary data and typically delete it when writing the file back to MIDI. This kind of Chord STEP EDIT data does not contain the Yamaha XF chord events needed by Chord Looper. If you import one of these files into Chord Looper, Chord Looper comes up empty.

Once you EXPAND the step edit chord sequence, however, the expansion process creates Yamaha XF chord metadata events along with the notes and other MIDI events for the accompaniment parts. That’s the normal compositional process anyway — step edit the chord part, expand the chord part using the selected style, and save the expanded file as a Standard MIDI File.

One fly in the ointment. The Yamaha arranger software hides file extensions. This streamlines user workflow, but it inhibits interesting experiments! So, save the expanded MIDI file to a USB flash drive, take the flash drive to a personal computer, and rename the expanded SMF. Replace the “MID” extension with “CLD”. Copy the CLD file to the flash drive and reinsert the flash drive in the arranger workstation.

Import the newly renamed CLD file into Chord Looper. Voila! Chord Looper scans the file and produces a chord progression using the embedded Yamaha XF chord events. If you export the progression as a different CLD file, the exported data includes all of the other MIDI data, e.g., notes, etc. [I wouldn’t count on Chord Looper always doing this; software subject to change by Yamaha.)

Bottom line: If you pine to create and edit Chord Looper progressions with precision, use Chord STEP EDIT to create the progression, expand the backing, save as a Standard MIDI File, replace the file extension with CLD, and import into Chord Looper. Of course, you need to rename the MID file to a CLD file using a personal computer, but that’s a small hassle. Give it a try!

I tested this procedure on Genos with the Coltrane changes. Once the progression was captured in Chord Looper, I could try different tempos and different styles. Those changes do come fast and furious indeed!

Copyright © 2022 Paul J. Drongowski

Casio CT-S1000V: Master EQ

Posted on by

Beware, this post is going to bury you in numbers. 🙂

I’ve been investigating master equalization in the Casio CT-S1000V. The CT-S500 has the same master EQ, so everything discussed here applies to the CT-S500, too.

The CT-S1000V master EQ is a four band, semi-parameteric equalizer. The four bands are: LOW, MID1, MID2, and HIGH. It’s possible to create and store a USER setting. The edit page let’s you set the center frequency and gain for each of the four bands. You cannot set the band quality factor, Q, which determines the bandwidth spread.

The CT-S1000V provides ten master EQ presets with suggestive names. Casio, unfortunately, do not publish the center frequencies and gains for the presets. Listening to each preset, one thinks “Yeah, that’s bright,” or whatever. Details are missing in action, however.

One can assign LOW, MID1, MID2, and HIGH gain levels to a knob. Thanks to the knob edit function, it’s possible to suss out the gain level for each band within a preset. After much button pushing and knob twiddling, here are the gain levels (dB) for each preset:

                LOW  MID1  MID2  HIGH 
                ---  ----  ----  ---- 
    Standard      0    0     0     0 
    Loudness     +3   +6    +1    +7 
    Treble +      0    0    +4    +6 
    Bass +       +3   +4     0     0 
    Mellow       -3    0     0    -8 
    Bright       -4    0    +6    +4 
    Rock         +3   +2    -6    +6 
    Jazz         +3    0    +6     0 
    Dance        +3   +4    +2    +8 
    Classic      -2   +6    +2     0

As to the band frequencies, we turn to the published table of master EQ frequencies:

    LOW frequency range      50Hz to 800Hz 
    MID1 frequency range    100Hz to 8.0kHz 
    MID2 frequency range    100Hz to 8.0kHz 
    HIGH frequency range   2.0kHz to 16.0kHz

That’s enough to get into the right ballpark.

Yamaha XG Multi EQ

Never content, I worked out a table for Yamaha XG Multi EQ. Multi EQ is an optional master EQ in the Yamaha XG effects chain. Multi EQ is fully parameteric and has five bands: LOW, LOW-MID, MID, HIGH-MID, and HIGH. The LOW and HIGH bands support a peak mode, but are usually configured for shelving.

Multi EQ has five presets: Flat, Jazz, Pops, Rock and Concert (AKA “Classic”).

           Flat          Jazz            Pops          Rock          Concert 
      -------------  -------------  -------------  -------------  ------------- 
        Freq  Q  dB    Freq  Q  dB    Freq  Q  dB    Freq  Q  dB    Freq  Q  dB 
      -------------  -------------  -------------  -------------  ------------- 
Low     80Hz      0    50Hz     -6   125Hz     +4   125Hz     +7    80Hz     +3 
L-mid  500Hz 0.7  0   125Hz 0.3 +2   315Hz 2.0 -4   200Hz 0.7 +4   315Hz 0.7 +4 
Mid   1.0kHz 0.7  0   900Hz 0.3 +4  1.0kHz 0.7 +3  1.2kHz 0.5 -4  1.0kHz 0.5  0 
H-mid 4.0kHz 0.7  0  3.2kHz 0.5 -4  2.0kHz 2.0 -4  2.2kHz 1.0 +4  6.3kHz 0.7 +2 
High  8.0kHz      0  6.3kHz     -6  5.0kHz     +6  6.3kHz     +2  8.0kHz     -3

None of the Q’s are high, so the peaks/curves are rather gentle. [I wish there was an easy way to plot the curves for each preset.]

Of course, you can plug these settings into the CT-S1000V and merrily tweak away.

Yamaha Genos Master EQ

The Yamaha Genos™ Master EQ is an eight band, parametric equalizer. The Low and High bands are shelving.

Yamaha Genos provides five presets: Flat, Mellow, Bright, Loudness and Powerful:

           Flat          Mellow         Bright        Loudness       Powerful 
      -------------  -------------  -------------  -------------  ------------- 
        Freq  Q  dB    Freq  Q  dB    Freq  Q  dB    Freq  Q  dB    Freq  Q  dB 
      -------------  -------------  -------------  -------------  ------------- 
Low     80Hz     0     80Hz      0   100Hz      0   100Hz     +1   140Hz     +3 
1      250Hz 0.7 0    250Hz 0.7  0   250Hz 0.7 -1   250Hz 1.2 +1   315Hz 0.5 +2 
2      500Hz 0.7 0    500Hz 0.7  0   500Hz 0.7 -1   450Hz 1.0 -2   560Hz 1.5 +2 
3      630Hz 0.7 0    800Hz 1.0 +1   800Hz 0.7 -2   630Hz 0.5 -1   800Hz 0.5 +2 
4      800Hz 0.7 0   1.8kHz 0.5 -1  1.0kHz 0.7  0  1.0kHz 1.3  0  1.6kHz 1.2 +1 
5     1.0kHz 0.7 0   3.6kHz 1.0 -2  1.6kHz 1.7 +2  3.6kHz 1.0 +1  3.6kHz 1.6 +1 
6     4.0kHz 0.7 0   6.3kHz 1.3 -2  4.0kHz 0.7 +1  6.3kHz 0.8 +1  5.6kHz 1.4 +2 
High  8.0kHz     0   9.0kHz     -1  7.0kHz     +3  8.0kHz     +2 10.0kHz     +2

The settings match the names. Mellow knocks down the highs. Bright cuts the lows and boosts the highs. Loudness is a bathtub boosting both lows and highs. Powerful kicks all bands up a notch.

If I find a way to discover the CT-S1000V band frequencies, I will update its table. In the meantime, have fun!

Copyright © 2022 Paul J. Drongowski

Ye olde Yamaha Dance Kit

Posted on by

Ya learn somethin’ every day. Thanks for to Mark — my neighborhood to the north in Vancouver — who looped me in.

As one might expect, Yamaha have updated their drum kit samples over the years. Who knew — the DanceKit circa 2000 is more heavy, punchy and analog than present-day DanceKit. According to Mark (and Musicnik), the Standard Kit had more punch back in the day.

The table below summaries the instruments in the Yamaha Standard Kit and Dance Kit:

                    Standard Kit      Dance Kit 
Keyboard   MIDI      127/000/001      127/000/28 
-------- -------- ---------------- --------------- 
40 E 1   28 E 0   Brush Tap Swirl  Reverse Cymbal        * 
41 F 1   29 F 0   Snare Roll       Snare Roll 
42 F# 1  30 F# 0  Castanet         Hi Q 2                * 
43 G 1   31 G 0   Snare Soft       Snare Techno          * 
44 G# 1  32 G# 0  Sticks           Sticks 
45 A 1   33 A 0   Bass Drum Soft   Kick Techno Q         * 
46 A# 1  34 A# 0  Open Rim Shot    Rim Gate              * 
47 B 1   35 B 0   Bass Drum Hard   Kick Techno L         * 
48 C 2   36 C 1   Bass Drum        Kick Techno 2         * 
49 C# 2  37 C# 1  Side Stick       Side Stick Analog     * 
50 D 2   38 D 1   Snare            Snare Clap            * 
51 D# 2  39 D# 1  Hand Clap        Hand Clap 
52 E 2   40 E 1   Snare Tight      Snare Dry             * 
53 F 2   41 F 1   Floor Tom L      Tom Analog 1          * 
54 F# 2  42 F# 1  Hi-Hat Closed    Hi-Hat Close Analog 1 * 
55 G 2   43 G 1   Floor Tom H      Tom Analog 2          * 
56 G# 2  44 G# 1  Hi-Hat Pedal     Hi-Hat Close Analog 2 * 
57 A 2   45 A 1   Low Tom          Tom Analog 3          * 
58 A# 2  46 A# 1  Hi-Hat Open      Hi-Hat Open Analog    * 
59 B 2   47 B 1   Mid Tom L        Tom Analog 4          * 
60 C 3   48 C 2   Mid Tom H        Tom Analog 5          * 
61 C# 3  49 C# 2  Crash Cymbal 1   Cymbal Analog         * 
62 D 3   50 D 2   High Tom         Tom Analog 6          * 
63 D# 3  51 D# 2  Ride Cymbal 1    Ride Cymbal 1 
64 E 3   52 E 2   Chinese Cymbal   Chinese Cymbal 
65 F 3   53 F 2   Ride Cymbal Cup  Ride Cymbal Cup 
66 F# 3  54 F# 2  Tambourine       Tambourine 
67 G 3   55 G 2   Splash Cymbal    Splash Cymbal 
68 G# 3  56 G# 2  Cowbell          Cowbell Analog        * 
69 A 3   57 A 2   Crash Cymbal 2   Crash Cymbal 2 
70 A# 3  58 A# 2  Vibraslap        Vibraslap 
71 B 3   59 B 2   Ride Cymbal 2    Ride Cymbal 2 
72 C 4   60 C 3   Bongo H          Bongo H 
73 C# 4  61 C# 3  Bongo L          Bongo L 
74 D 4   62 D 3   Conga H Mute     Conga Analog H        * 
75 D# 4  63 D# 3  Conga H Open     Conga Analog M        * 
76 E 4   64 E 3   Conga L          Conga Analog L        * 
77 F 4   65 F 3   Timbale H        Timbale H 7
8 F# 4  66 F# 3  Timbale L        Timbale L 
79 G 4   67 G 3   Agogo H          Agogo H 
80 G# 4  68 G# 3  Agogo L          Agogo L 
81 A 4   69 A 3   Cabasa           Cabasa 
82 A# 4  70 A# 3  Maracas          Maracas 2             * 
83 B 4   71 B 3   Samba Whistle H  Samba Whistle H 
84 C 5   72 C 4   Samba Whistle L  Samba Whistle L 
85 C# 5  73 C# 4  Guiro Short      Guiro Short 
86 D 5   74 D 4   Guiro Long       Guiro Long 
87 D# 5  75 D# 4  Claves           Claves 2              * 
88 E 5   76 E 4   Wood Block H     Wood Block H 
89 F 5   77 F 4   Wood Block L     Wood Block L 
90 F# 5  78 F# 4  Cuica Mute       Scratch H             * 
91 G 5   79 G 4   Cuica Open       Scratch L             *

The starred (“*”) entries denote analog drum machine samples.

I decided to do a side-by-side comparison. I first recorded the DanceKit samples as dry as possible on the Yamaha PSS-A50 and the Yamaha QY-70 (circa 1997). Then I matched everything up, ignoring the toms and a few extraneous instruments.

You’ll hear all the PSS-A50 examples first followed by all of the QY70 examples. I’ll let you decide as to your personal preference. Although I tried to get the A50 dry, there seems to be a hint of reverb remaining.

Without further ado, here is a ZIP file containing the WAV for all of the Yamaha QY-70 Dance Kit instruments starting from the bottom of the keyboard to the top. Have fun! Slice and dice everything into audio mirepois.

If a drum machine plays in the forest and no one is around, does it still make a sound? 🙂

Copyright © 2022 Paul J. Drongowski

Yamaha PSR-E473 and PSR-EW425

Posted on by

The PSR-E473 and PSR-EW425 continue the evolution of the Yamaha E-series arranger keyboards.

Yamaha PSR-E473 and PSR-EW425 arranger keyboards

Main features are:

  • PSR-E473: 61 keys, PSR-EW425: 76 keys
  • Super Articulation Lite voices and articulation button
  • 820 voices (including 43 Super Articulation Lite)
  • Category access buttons to select voices
  • 290 auto-accompaniment styles
  • Two DSP effect channels (DSP1 and DSP2)
    • DSP1: 41 types of DSP insertion effects
    • DSP2: 12 effect types
  • New quick sampling user interface (44.1kHz, 16-bit, stereo, 9.6 sec)
  • Motion effects (57 types) and motion effect button
  • Mega Boost (adds +6dB to the apparent volume)
  • Two live control knobs
  • 1/4″ main audio out (R, L/L+R)

Pricing has not been announced as of this writing.

The PSR-EW425 has an exclusive organ sound from the YC stage keyboards. Although the E473 and EW425 share ten new drawbar organ voices, the EW425 has some extra tricks. Quoting Yamaha’s documentation, “On the PSR-EW425, a percussive click sound at key-on/key-off and a leakage sound are added, providing more realistic vintage organ sounds.”

DSP1 is automatically assigned to the main voice. DSP2 can be assigned to any part. DSP2 is assigned to all parts (including the keyboard and backing) by default. There is a dedicated DSP2 button on the front panel which provides direct access to DSP2 and turns it ON and OFF. You can choose the effect type for each DSP unit. Effect parameter editing is limited to that available through the Live Control knobs.

PSR-E473 and PSR-EW425 effect routing [Yamaha]

With reverb, chorus and two DSP effect units, effect routing (above) is more sophisticated than earlier E-series models. The routing adheres to the XG architecture. The MIDI implementation does not provide SysEx for effect selection and routing. (Well, at least it’s not documented…)

Motion effects are implemented via MIDI pitch bend and continuous control messages. (The approach is similar to the Yamaha PSS-A50.) Message-heavy effects will cut into song size when recording into MIDI.

The PSR-EW425 has two 12cm speakers and its amplifiers produce 12W per channel. The PSR-EW425 requires six D size batteries, which will affect final weight. The PSR-EW425 weighs 8.3kg (18 pounds, 5 ounces) without batteries.

The PSR-E473 requires six AA size batteries. The PSR-E473 weighs 7.0kg (15 pounds, 7 ounces) without batteries.

Live control knobs can be assigned to:

  • Keyboard:
    • Filter cutoff and resonance
    • Reverb and chorus level
    • DSP1 parameters A and B
  • Backing:
    • Filter cutoff and resonance
    • Reverb and chorus level
    • Volume balance and retrigger rate
  • System:
    • DSP2 parameter A and B

Check out my pre-announcement post. See how well I did. 🙂

Copyright © 2022 Paul J. Drongowski

ChordPro auto-accompaniment: Uses

Posted on by

The ChordPro to Yamaha auto-accompaniment program, cp2mid, translates an extended ChordPro song file to a MIDI file containing Yamaha-compatible auto-accompaniment messages. The MIDI file is compatible with recent mid- and high-end Yamaha arranger workstations like Yamaha Genos™. Once you transfer the MIDI file to the arranger, it plays like any other Standard MIDI File (SMF). Instead of directly playing notes, however, it tells the arranger’s auto-accompaniment engine what to play: the style, the tempo, the chords and the section (intro, main, fill in, or ending). The arranger displays chords and lyrics in sync with play-back.

What can you do with ChordPro auto-accompaniment? Here’s a few ideas.

Play along with a song from the Web

ChordPro is one of the most widely used song formats on the Web. Pros and punters alike use ChordPro as shorthand lead sheets. You’ve probably seen formatted ChordPro songs like:

 G      G7          C         G 
Amazing Grace! (how sweet the sound) 
                         D 
That saved a wretch like me!  
  G        G7        C      G 
I once was lost, but now am found, 
    Em         D     G 
Was blind, but now I see.

Presumably, a musician is already familiar with the song’s tempo and melody, needing only to follow and change chords in time.

In extended ChordPro, the chords are embedded within the lyric text:

[G]Amazing [G7] Grace! (how [C] sweet the [G] sound) 
That [G] saved a [G]wretch like [D] me! [D] 
I [G] once was [G7] lost, but [C] now am [G] found, 
Was [Em] blind, but [D] now I [G] see. [G]

Chords are surrounded by square brackets. Here, we assume each chord is held for a single measure. Songs on the Web are very loose (flexible!) about time. Auto-accompaniment, however, is precise. You will probably need to tighten up timing when using a song file from the Web.

You’ll also see ChordPro directives in song files:

{title: Amazing Grace }   
{key: D}   
{artist: Munsoncovers}

Directives express song meta-data and control formatting. Extended ChordPro adds a few new directives for auto-accompaniment:

{title: Amazing Grace }   
{key: D}   
{artist: Munsoncovers} 
{time: 3/4} 
{comment: SouthernGospel is stylecode 7812 3/4} 
{stylecode: 7812} 
{tempo: 90} 
{start_accomp}

You’ll want to add the time signature, tempo, stylecode, and start_accomp directives to the song. The stylecode directive selects one of the hundreds of built-in arranger styles. (A convenient list of codes is included in the distribution.)

You can always leave out the stylecode and select the accompaniment style on the arranger keyboard itself. You can choose one of the preset styles or user styles. Thus, you can try out different arrangements or use a style of your own design.

Finally, extended ChordPro allows annotations which select an accompaniment section like an intro, main, fill-in or ending. Here is “Amazing Grace” ready to go:

{title: Amazing Grace }  
{key: D}  
{artist: Munsoncovers}
{time: 3/4}
{comment: SouthernGospel is stylecode 7812 3/4}
{stylecode: 7812}
{tempo: 90}
{start_accomp}

# Introduction 
[G][*IA] 

# Verse 
[G][*MA] Amazing [G7] Grace! (how [C] sweet the [G] sound) 
That [G] saved a [G]wretch like [D] me! [D][*FA]
I [G][*MA] once was [G7] lost, but [C] now am [G] found, 
Was [Em] blind, but [D] now I [G] see. [G][*FA] 

# Ending 
[G][*EA]

Don’t forget to turn on the Lyric or Score display. Song chords and lyrics are displayed during play-back.

Jam

Auto-accompaniment is a tireless band! Plug in some chords and play along.

Here is a fast blues shuffle. Copy and paste the 12-bar sections as many times as you like. Change the accompaniment sections to build up energy as the tune progresses.

{title: Shuffle Blues}   
{key: C}   
{time: 4/4} 
# Style: BluesShuffle (3685) 
{stylecode: 3685} 
{tempo: 120} 

{start_accomp} 
[C][*IA] 

{start_of_instrumental} 
[C][*MA]  [C]  [C] [C7][*FA] 
[F][*MA]  [F7] [C] [C7][*FA] 
[G7][*MA] [F]  [C] [G7][*FC] 
{end_of_instrumental} 

{start_of_instrumental} 
[C][*MB]  [C]  [C] [C7][*FB] 
[F][*MB]  [F7] [C] [C7][*FB] 
[G7][*MB] [F]  [C] [G7][*FC] 
{end_of_instrumental} 

[C7][*EA]

Experiment with different intros: [*IA], [*IB] or [*IC]. Try different endings: [*EA], [*EB] or [*EC]. An intro or ending will follow the preceding chord as if you played it on the keyboard itself. Generally, the A variations are one measure long. Length of the B and C variations depend on the chosen style. You will need to specify the root chord for each measure in order to keep play-back in sync.

Write a song of your own

Why not write a song of your own? Yamaha’s built-in Chord Step Edit is too detailed and clunky for songwriting. Use cp2mid instead.

{title: Minor Blues}   
{key: Cm}   
{time: 4/4} 
# Style: SlowBlues (7810) 
{stylecode: 7810} 
{tempo: 90} 

{start_accomp} 
[Cm7][*IA] 

[Cm7][*MA] My baby left me.  [Cm7] [Cm7] Now I'm all alone. [Cm7][*FA] 
[Fm7][*MA] My baby left me.  [Fm7] [Cm7] And I'm all alone. [Cm7][*FA] 
[Ab7][*MA] I still love her, [G7]  [Cm7] Won't answer the phone. [Cm7][*FC]  

[Cm7][*MB]   It's about money, [Cm7]  [Cm7] I know it's true. [Cm7][*FB] 
[Fm7][*MB]   It's about money, [Fm7]  [Cm7] I know it's true. [Cm7][*FB] 
[Ab7b5][*MB] Can't keep a job, [G7]   [Cm7] I am so blue.     [Cm7][*FC] 
 
[Cm7][*EA]

It’s easy to change the chord progressions and song structure. Plus, the lyrics are all in front of you. Once the song is loaded, you have the freedom to change the tempo and style on the keyboard. Unlike Chord Step Edit, you can manually choose a user style; you aren’t limited to the preset styles.

Turn on Lyric or Score display. You’ll be able to sing and play along with your new song!

Copyright © 2022 Paul J. Drongowski

ChordPro auto-accompaniment: Implementation notes

Posted on by

I’m prep’ing my ChordPro to Yamaha accompaniment program (cp2mid) for distribution. Please check out the demo. In the meantime, here are a few comments about the implementation.

Command line interface

cp2mid doesn’t have a fancy graphical user interface (GUI). A GUI is too much for a simple tool that translates an extended ChordPro file into a Standard MIDI File (Type 0).

I’m distributing both Java source code and a JAR file. The JAR file contains the compiled Java — the Java executable, if you will. “JAR” is an acronym for “Java Archive” and is produced by the Java archive program (jar), which is part of the Java development environment (JDK). JAR is a way to package up a compiled Java program, hiding all of the interior classes, etc. An end user doesn’t really need to know about JAR.

Given the JAR file, enter the following command line to run cp2mid:

    java -jar cp2mid.jar AFile.cho

“AFile.cho” is the name of an extended ChordPro file to be translated. You can hide the cp2mid.jar file within a Windows BAT file or shell file. Here is cp2mid.bat:

    java -jar cp2mid.jar %1

Nothing complicated, here.

cp2mid recognizes the “.cho” file name extension. It does not recognize any other extensions. If you snag a ChordPro file from the Web, you may need to change its extension to “.cho”. cp2mid replaces “.cho” with “.mid” in order to make the MIDI file name. Thus, “AFile.cho” is translated to “AFile.mid”.

During development and testing, you can run cp2mid starting with the compiled classes, e.g., cp2mid.class. Enter the command line:

    java cp2mid AFile.cho

to run cp2mid. The Java interpreter will look for “cp2mid.class” and the rest of the compiled classes needed by cp2mid. These compiled classes must be available in the same directory as cp2mid.class. “cp2mid”, by the way, is the main class in the application. You’ll need to specify the main class when creating a JAR file. Again, these steps are relevant only to developers.

Java classes

cp2mid has five Java classes:

  • cp2mid (cp2mid.java) Main class and driver
  • SongElement (SongElement.java) Basic element (parts) of a Song
  • Song (Song.java) Represents a ChordPro song in terms of SongElements
  • Song2mid (Song2mid.java) Translates the internal song representation to MIDI
  • MidiFile (MidiFile.java) Represents and manipulates a standard MIDI File (SMF)

The MidiFile class was used in an earlier prototype and still contains a bit of unused legacy code. This may change in future versions. The MidiFile class exploits the standard Java MIDI packages and classes. It creates a MIDI file and inserts MIDI messages (meta, SysEx and otherwise) into a MIDI file.

cp2mid is the boss. It calls on the other classes to do their jobs. Processing is broken into five phases:

  1. Check and manipulate file names.
  2. Read the ChordPro file into a String array, one line per array element.
  3. Translate each line into one or more SongElements.
  4. Translate the SongElements into MIDI.
  5. Write the internal MIDI representation to a Type 0 SMF.

The translation phases do the heavy lifting.

Song and song elements

A Song is a list of SongElements. A SongElement represents one of several ChordPro song constituents:

  • Directive
  • Chord
  • Lyric
  • Line
  • Annotation
  • Comment
  • Tab

All SongElements have the same data members. Each SongElement has a tag which identifies its type. The type determines the validity and interpretation of the other data members.

The Song class translates extended ChordPro to a list of SongElements. This is, effectively, the intermediate, internal representation of a ChordPro song.

ChordPro directives begin with ‘{‘ and end with ‘}’. Usually ChordPro directives control song formating. Extended ChordPro uses key, tempo, time signature, style code, start accompaniment and stop accompaniment directives to issue MIDI messages that will control the accompaniment engine when the MIDI file is played back.

ChordPro chords and lyrics are what it’s all about. Chords begin with ‘[‘ and end with ‘]’. Chords are extended by an optional beat count which specifies how long the chord is held. A lyric is text and may be multiple syllables long (i.e., anything up to the next chord, annotation, or end of line.)

A line element is a marker for important end-of-lines. Line elements affect lyric formating.

Normally, a ChordPro annotation is text added to a song when it is displayed. Annotations begin with ‘*[‘ and end with ‘]’. Certain predefined annotations, e.g., [*MA], [*FA], etc. change the accompaniment section during play-back.

Comments are just that. cp2mid saves the text, but doesn’t do anything with it.

A ChordPro song may contain guitar tablature (tab). Right now, cp2mid ignores tablature. This has not been tested. I’m not sure how to handle or translate tablature as yet.

Song to MIDI

The Song2mid class translates the internal intermediate song representation to MIDI messages and adds the MIDI messages to a MIDI sequence. The MidiFile class helper functions create specific types of messages. Base MIDI message and sequence classes belong to the standard Java MIDI package.

The Song2mid class walks the SongElement list from front to back. Based on element type, it dispatches to an element type-specific handler. The handler adds one or more MIDI messages to the sequence.

A separate blog post describes the MIDI messages.

I tried to encapsulate most of the “Yamaha-ness” in the Song2mid and MidiFile classes. ChordPro is very loose and forgiving when it comes to chord syntax. Song2mid recognizes only the 33 or so Yamaha chord types as defined in the Genos Data List PDF. If Song2mid doesn’t recognize a chord, it issues either a major or minor triad.

Example songs

I will distribute 15 example songs in extended ChordPro and MIDI format. Even if you don’t run cp2mid (or look at its implementation), please take a look at the extended ChordPro songs and try the MIDI files on your arranger. All sorts of fun and crazy things happen in real music (key changes, time signature changes, anticipation) and the examples demonstrate how to handle many exceptional situations. I chose certain songs as examples for testing because they are weird. 🙂

I tested the MIDI files on Genos and I’m curious about their behavior on other arranger keyboards. The MIDI files are similar to those generated by Yamaha ChordTracker. If your arranger plays ChordTracker MIDI files, it should play cp2mid MIDI files.

I don’t want to lead you on — it takes a fair bit of effort to take an Internet ChordPro file and whip it into shape. ChordPro as a formating tool is very lenient and forgiving. Accompaniment requires tighter semantics and precision like most “executable” computer stuff. It’s fun to whip a song into shape, but it requires work.

Copyright © 2022 Paul J. Drongowski

Hidden arranger smarts: file system SysEx

Posted on by

What to do with the ennui that sets in on New Years Day? Explore unexamined territory!

Yamaha Musicsoft Downloader is a valuable tool for Yamaha arranger keyboardists. Downloader lets you transfer MIDI song files, registrations file, text files, etc. between a Windows PC and a compatible Yamaha arranger keyboard. It even works with digital home pianos, too.

Most folks transfer their files using a USB jump drive. This isn’t a big deal when moving a few files maybe once or twice a day. When I’m developing a new style, however, I swap a drive quite frequently — dozens of times a day. All that physical swapping causes wear and tear on USB ports. I often use a short USB extender to reduce wear on the computer and/or instrument USB ports. I’d rather have a cheap cable fail than a USB port on a motherboard.

Downloader saves a lot of that wear and tear by copying data over a cable instead of a USB drive. Downloader supports both USB and good ole 5-pin MIDI transfers. Thus, folks who own older pre-USB keyboards can use Downloader, too.

Downloader has been around a while — one reason why it’s backward compatible. The user interface is a little bit dated, but it works and who cares? To move a file, you add the file to the holding area at the top of the screen, then move the file to its final destination by pressing one of the big arrow buttons. Classic.

Yamaha Musicsoft Downloader in action

The screenshot shows Downloader connected to Genos over 5-pin MIDI. The file “Downtown.mid” is in the temporary storage area. The lower left hand panel navigates instruments, drives and directories. The lower right hand panel selects files within a directory.

So, how does it do the actual transfer?

Because Downloader is old skool, it does it with MIDI. (Even over USB.) Downloader was written back in the day when MIDI was king and could do anything and everything. As another example, I give you the MIDI Sample Dump Standard (SDS) for representing and transferring samples to/from early-day samplers.

Downloader performs a dance with the target instrument. Like SDS, Downloader and the target instrument follow a set of rules — a protocol — for communication. To my knowledge, Yamaha has never published this protocol. It’s all done via MIDI System Exclusive (SysEx) messages although you won’t find these message types in the instrument’s reference manual or data list file. Nonetheless, your instrument is smarter than you think!

Of course, a lot depends upon the storage and capability of the target instrument. Entry-level instruments may be oblivious to Downloader or maybe just transfer back-up files. Mid- to higher-end arrangers are fully capable.

I decided to get a taste of this hidden protocol by monitoring the exchange of MIDI SysEx messages between Downloader and Genos. I split the MIDI stream and watched the dance as Downloader makes contact with Genos and acquires top-level directory information. After watching this process several times, I tried sending my own SysEx messages via MIDI-OX. (What a great tool!)

Here is a typical start-up sequence. It shows Genos’ response for each SysEx message that I sent.

F0 43 50 00 00 00 01 F7 
    Genos responds: F0 43 50 00 00 00 02 01 01 F7 
F0 43 50 00 00 02 01 F7
    Genos responds: F0 43 50 00 00 02 02 33 00 01 00 00 01 00 01 00 00 1B 
                    78 17 3F 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 7F 00 00 00 32 00 00 
                    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 27 08 00 00 02 00 
                    04 7F 7F 7F 7F F7 
F0 43 50 00 00 01 01 F7 
    Genos responds:         F0 43 50 00 00 01 02 00 F7 
F0 7E 7F 06 01 F7              Identity request 
    Genos responds:         F0 7E 7F 06 02 43 00 44 42 1C 0A 00 00 01 F7 
F0 43 50 00 00 01 00 01 F7  Make connection (Genos is connected)
    Genos responds:         F0 43 50 00 00 01 02 01 F7

The first three out-bound messages test for a response. Downloader uses these messages as a connection check. The identity request message is a MIDI standard message for obtaining the identity of a musical device or instrument. Genos identifies itself as Yamaha (0x43) and model.

After getting the instrument identity, Downloader initiates the actual connection. When connected, the Genos display changes to a special background with the message: “Connected to the computer or smart device.” Genos is now listening for Downloader commands.

Thereafter, Downloader asks Genos for device, file and directory information. Here is the inquiry about top-level devices:

F0 43 50 00 05 0B 00 00 F7     Request drive 0 information 
    Genos responds: F0 43 50 00 05 0B 01 42 00 00 05 00 55 53 45 52 F7 
                                                         U  S  E  R

Yamaha arranger people will recognize the USER drive where all user directories and files are kept. Genos returns the name for device 0: “USER”. If you have a USB jump drive attached, you will see:

F0 43 50 00 05 0B 00 01 F7     Request drive 1 information 
    Genos responds: F0 43 50 00 05 0B 01 42 00 00 05 00 55 53 42 31 F7
                                                         U  S  B  1

Makes me think that Genos tells Downloader how many devices are available — maybe in response to the connection command?

Moving on, Downloader interrogates Genos about the directories and files at the next level down in the file hierarchy.

F0 43 50 00 05 04 00 3F 00 08 00 30 3A 5C 2A 2E 2A 00 F7    dir 0:\*.* 
                      ?           0  :  \  *  .  * 
    Genos responds: F0 43 50 00 05 04 01 10 31 39 38 30 20 31 20 31 20 30 
                                             1  9  8  0     1     1     0 
                    20 30 20 30 03 01 00 00 00 03 00 2E 00 F7 
                        0     0                       .

You’ll notice that some command arguments and responses are ASCII characters, including the date and time stamps.

The number of subdirectories and files varies. So, Downloader and Genos go into a “loop” in which Downloader asks for the next entry (i.e., list item) and Genos responds with the entry’s information:

F0 43 50 00 05 05 00 F7        Request next dir list item 
    Genos responds: F0 43 50 00 05 05 01 10 32 30 32 31 20 36 32 36 20 30 
                                             2  0  2  1     6  2  6     0 
                    34 34 35 34 03 01 00 00 00 06 00 53 4F 4E 47 00 00 F7 
                     4  4  5  4                       S  O  N  G

This loop continues until the list of available items is empty:

F0 43 50 00 05 05 00 F7        Request next dir list item 
    Genos responds: F0 43 50 00 05 7F 01 01 01 42 00 00 F7    End of list

Genos responds with a unique message saying “no more” (0x7F).

Finally, it’s time to close the connection:

F0 43 50 00 00 01 00 00 F7     Disconnect command

Genos drops the connection and returns to normal operation, that is, it displays its usual main screen.

Sharp-eyed readers have noted the “ChordTracker” subdirectory in the “SONG” directory. ChordTracker created this subdirectory when I transfered an accompaniment from my iPad to Genos. How did ChordTracker create the subdirectory and perform the transfer? That’s new territory (more SysEx) to explore!

Well, that was one way to stave off the New Year’s blues. 🙂

Copyright © 2022 Paul J. Drongowski

ChordPro to MIDI accompaniment: Demo

Posted on by

Work continues on my Java program to translate ChordPro songs to Yamaha accompaniment (SMF). The code is fairly stable and mostly I’ve been writing example songs in ChordPro format for testing. The range and variety of musical craziness is amazing: weird chords (“Superstition”, “Michelle”), changing time signatures (“Two Of Us”), changing key signatures (“My Girl”), unusual time signature (“Everybody Wants To Rule The World”), and more.

Today, I want to give a taste of what to expect. I plan to distribute the Java executable as a “jar” file and will also make the source code available. To keep things simple, the program runs from a command line — no graphical user interface:

    java -jar cp2mid.jar ItsTooLate.cho

The program is named “cp2mid” and “cp2mid.jar” is the Java executable. We need to invoke java explicitly because it is an interpreted language and the executable consists of Java bytecodes.

The above command produces a Type 0 Standard MIDI File (SMF) named “ItsTooLate.mid”. This file must be sent to a Yamaha arranger like Genos™ by whatever means you have at your disposal, i.e., a USB flash drive or Yamaha Musicsoft Downloader.

Here is the first part of “ItsTooLate.cho”. The song begins with set-up directives including “{stylecode: }”, which selects the accompaniment style (“Cool8Beat”). You could leave out key, time, tempo, or stylecode and go with the current panel settings. This flexibility allows experiments with different tempos or different styles, including USER styles.

{t: It's Too Late }   
{key: Am}   
{artist:Carole King} 
{time: 4/4} 
{tempo: 104} 
# Style: Cool8Beat 
{stylecode: 5635} 

{start_accomp} 
[Am7][*IA] 

# Introduction (intro riff) 
{start_of_instrumental} 
[Am7][*MA] [D6] [Am7] [D6]   
{end_of_instrumental} 

{c: Verse 1}  
[Am7] Stayed in bed all morning just to [D6] pass the time. 
[Am7] There's something wrong here there can [D6] be no denying. 
[Am7] One of us is changing    
Or [Gm7] maybe we've just stopped [Fmaj7] trying. [Fmaj7][*FA] 

{start_of_chorus} 
And it's too [Bbmaj7][*MB] late baby now [Fmaj7] it's too late    
Though we [Bbmaj7] really did try to [Fmaj7] make it.    
[Bbmaj7] Something inside has [Fmaj7] died    
And I can't hide [Dm7] and I just can't [Esus4:2][*FB] fake it. [E7#9:2]
{end_of_chorus}

The screenshot above shows the Genos song player with “ItsTooLate.mid” loaded and ready. Choose either the Lyrics or Score display (optional). Then hit play!

The next screenshot shows the Lyrics display. It should look familiar if you have played a Yamaha arranger. The arranger highlights the current lyric syllable or phrase in time with playback. Compare the screenshot with the ChordPro song and you’ll get an idea of what to expect for each ChordPro construct. A lyric phrase is not broken into syllables, but is associated with the chord preceding the phrase.

The following screenshot shows the Score display. It’s a different view of the same song. Lyrics appear below the staff and chords appear above. The time and key signature are displayed on the first page. Follow the bouncing ball during playback.

So, how does it sound? Listen to a quick demo (MP3) with me noodling on top.

That’s a taste of what’s ahead. I hope you will try cp2mid when it’s ready.

Copyright © 2021 Paul J. Drongowski

ChordPro auto-accompaniment: MIDI messages

Posted on by

I’ve made quite a bit of progress with my Java program that translates extended ChordPro songs into a Yamaha-compatible accompaniment MIDI file. This blog post describes the stuff inside the MIDI files produced by the program (cp2mid).

The MIDI file contains MIDI meta and SysEx (System Exclusive) messages which drive the Yamaha accompaniment engine. When the MIDI file is played back on a compatible Yamaha arranger keyboard (e.g., Genos), the keyboard generates an accompaniment as directed by the chord and section change messages in the MIDI file. It may sound odd to hear this, but the MIDI file doesn’t contain a single note ON or note OFF message! It’s all accomplished through control messages and the accompaniment is produced in real-time.

The MIDI file is a Type 0 Standard MIDI File. It starts with a bunch of set-up messages:

  F0 05 7E 7F 09 01 F7                           GM Reset 
  F0 08 43 10 4C 00 00 7E 00 F7                  XG System ON 
  FF 58 04 04 02 18 08                           Time signature 
  FF 59 02 02 00                                 Key signature 
  FF 51 03 07 EF eb                              Tempo 
  F0 0D 43 73 01 51 05 00 03 04 00 00 2C 05 F7   Style code 
  F0 04 43 60 7A F7                              Accompaniment Start

All of these message types are defined in the Yamaha Genos™ Data List PDF document. The messages beginning with “F0” are System Exclusive (SysEx) messages. Messages starting with “FF” are MIDI SMF meta messages. All messages are Yamaha proprietary (code “43”). The trick, of course, is filling in the correct values for the tempo, key, etc.

GM Reset and XG System ON initialize the tone generator. Time signature, key signature and tempo are SMF meta messages which control and arranger’s sequencing engine. The Style Code message selects one of the many built-in accompaniment styles. The Accompaniment Start message tells the accompaniment engine to get busy.

Once set-up is complete, the rest of the MIDI file consists of Chord, Lyric and Section Control messages. Again, these messages are all defined in the Genos Data List PDF document.

Here is a typical chord message:

    F0 08 43 7E 02 37 08 37 7F F7          Chord Bm/B

It tells the accompaniment engine to play a B minor chord (0x37 0x08) with a B bass note (0x37 0x7F). The neatest thing about the ChordPro conversion program? It makes it easy to play and hear difficult to finger chords like slash chords and unusual chord types like Cminmaj7-9.

Lyrics are inserted into the MIDI file using the SMF Lyric meta message:

    FF 05 len [Data]

For example, this Lyric meta message:

    FF 05 04 79 6F 75 20      0x79='y', 0x6F='o', 0x75='u', 0x20=' '

encodes the syllable text “you “.

No attempt is made to separate lyric text into syllables or to assign syllables to individual beats. When a lyric phrase is encountered in the ChordPro file, the phrase is inserted right after the preceding Chord message, i.e., it has the same MIDI timestamp as the preceding Chord message.

A Section Control message selects the current accompaniment section (pattern). The following message:

    F0 06 43 7E 00 09 7F F7               Section Control Main B: ON

selects the “MAIN B” section (0x09 0x7F). Because playback is fully automated, section changes are precise.

The penultimate message stops accompaniment:

    F0 04 43 60 7D F7                     Accompaniment Stop

The final SMF meta message ends the SMF sequencer track:

    FF 2F 00                              End Of Track (mandatory)

Overall, that’s a lot of power with just a few message types! Most of the Java code involves scanning the ChordPro input, book- and time-keeping. Java has a good MIDI library which makes coding easier.

As to time-keeping, all MIDI events (messages) have a timestamp. Messages issued from set-up directives before start_accomp occur in the first song measure. The start_accomp directive advances the MIDI clock to the first beat of the second measure. Thus, the first chord and lyric (if any) occurs at the beginning of the second measure. Thereafter, MIDI time advances in accord with each chord beat count (default: a full measure as determined by the current time signature).

Look here for more information about ChordPro format.

Copyright © 2021 Paul J. Drongowski