The question of getting started with the creation and editing of PSR/Tyros/Genos style files arose on the PSR Tutorial Forum. I’m re-posting my reply here.
The best suggestion that I can make is reading Jørgen’s style creation course:
If folks don’t like PDF, there are on-line versions of the same articles:
Honest to goodness, Jørgen has done a super job!
Another excellent resource is “Style Files – Introduction and Details” by Peter Wierzba and Michael Bedesem:
This document and other very useful information are published on Peter’s site:
Anyone who is interested in creating new styles really needs to know what is inside of a style file — not just hand-waving, but to know in enough depth to start editing.
Another alternative is the high-level tool MidiSoft Style Magic:
Even then, a modest amount of background information is needed.
Once someone has the background, I encourage them to read a few existing articles at my site. Parts 2 and 3 of the series:
- Motif/MOX Performance to PSR style (part1)
- Motif/MOX Performance to PSR style (part2)
- Motif/MOX Performance to PSR style (part3)
describe translation of a Standard Midi File to a style. Another potentially useful article is about converting the Yamaha DJX II patterns to styles:
So, there are already quite a few resources available. Jørgen, Michael and Peter have really shown the way!
One more suggestion.
Crack open a style file with a DAW and look inside. First, change the file name extension to “.mid” by renaming the file. Then, open the file in a DAW like Sonar or Cubase. Poke around.
A Yamaha style file consists of “chunks.” A style file must have a MIDI chunk and may contain a CASM chunk and an OTS chunk. The CASM chunk holds the NTR/NTT information that you can see and edit in PSR Style Creator. The OTS chunk holds the OTS information.
DAWs ignore the Yamaha chunks, so if you change the MIDI file, it won’t have the original CASM and/or OTS chunks. That’s where Jørgen’s style split/splice tool comes into play. The tool splits a style file into MIDI and non-MIDI parts. After editing, the tool splices the MIDI and non-MIDI parts back together again to make a complete style file.
If someone gets this far, they can move mountains. 🙂
Copyright © 2018 Paul J. Drongowski