Help!! How Do You Organize Your Setups?

[Deane]

I have now put over a month into the PA4X - several hours daily - and have
auditioned styles from all sorts of Korg keyboards. Many of them I have saved in the USER area but did not organize them by type such as JAZZ, BALLROOM - ETC.. So now I have several hundred useful styles saved in the USER area and I don't know how to organize them so they can be found easily in the future.

Is there PC software that can do this task or must it be done on the keyboard?

Deane

[rikkisbears]

Hi Deane
there is a manager for the pa3x and prior, it doesn't really appear to support the pa4x yet, I didn't have much luck.

Have you used any of the styles you mentioned in your songbook? If so, be careful. I haven't been a songbook user with my prior keyboards so I'm not all that familiar with the function. But if you change location of those styles, might cause a problem?? Double check with someone who does.

I used to write the styles I used into Favourites, but with this User Direct might be an option, but I haven't had the keyboard long enough to explore how it works.

Sorry, not much help.

[rikkisbears]

Hi Deane
I've just been going thru the pa3 x files to see what's missing. Had no idea how easy it is to organise styles on the pa4x.

What I'm doing at the moment is, I have the styles I want to load into favourites , on a USB stick. Thumb drive?

In user direct, I set up the folder I want to choose the styles from.
It shows up all the styles in that folder. I pick the style.
Use the copy and paste function.
Choose the slot in user favourites that I want to copy it to.
Then you can rename that Favourite1 folder to ballroom , jazz whatever you want.

Don't know if it's the best way, but it 's pretty quick.

[Bernie9]

Isn't it great that we have choices. I auditioned styles in Direct and User, but when it comes to writing a set, I always use Songbook for several reasons, but , as Rikki said, don't move the source information because you will need to rewrite the entree.

I use Songbook for everything because it saves everything. From there, I use Setlists for different gigs. As far as categorizing genre, page two of Songbook is for that very thing. The search facility is great by genre, title, number, etc..
You are limited only by the size the HHD. For all of our purposes, unlimited.

Just my 2 cents.

Bernie

[rikkisbears]

Hi Bernie,
I haven't checked out the songbook, but seems a great function for performence purposes.
Even though I don't perform, I'm actually planning on doing one, this time round. Haha

I basically just like to sort my styles into categories. That way it's easy if some new ones pop up, to sort thru them, and discard them , if I already have them.

[Deane]

Rikki and Bernie,
This info does help a lot. I thought if I moved the styles it would mess up my songbook but i was not sure. I guess I could re-arrange all the styles and then rewrite the songbook - that is not really hard to do - just takes time.

It would be great if we had a PC program to work with the styles and songbook.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Thanks,
Deane

[Jugoslovak]

95% of my styles are custom made with full intros, etc... and I set them up in alphabetical order (1050+ styles) Using all Fav and user banks & Direct Fav & User banks. It took me a solid 4 weeks to do (because PA Manager doesn't support PA4X)
What I want to do now is add all the styles into songbook and start to use that function in a live situation. I can then cadigorise and call up all the styles in A to Z, by artist name, by genre... or even utilise the setlist function (haven't gotten that far yet)
It would help me so much though if PA Manager supported the PA4X and I could use the songbook editor on my mac... its a struggle doing everything in the PA4X, very time consuming...

[Fransman]

I've suggested the following a while ago, in a PA3x wishlist post:

I think it would be very, very convenient, when Korg provided a standard Custom List in the Songbook containing all the styles in all style slots (factory, favorites and user styles).
When you load or delete styles in/from any style slot, this custom list should be updated automatically.
In that way you would always have an instant and accurate (searchable, by filter) overview of all the styles available in the instrument !
Doesn't seem too difficult to program to me, and maybe Korg could add some extra filter options (time signature for instance).

It could be done in the OS I guess, but I don't think Korg will add this to the PA3X anymore (if any updates).
But maybe for PA4X (or PA5X) or other PA's in the years to come.

Maybe a Korg PA developer can have a look at this simple idea?

[Bernie9]

The Songbook editor is supposed to be able to move the target to a new location en mass, i.e move a block of entries at once. But, didn't I read that there is a problem recognizing the PA4x ?

Bernie

[rikkisbears]

The Songbook editor is supposed to be able to move the target to a new location en mass, i.e move a block of entries at once. But, didn't I read that there is a problem recognizing the PA4x ?

Bernie

Hi Bernie,
I don't he's referring to the songbook editor.
Pa manager , manages styles , pads , etc
I bought it for my pa3x just before I took that long break.
Didn't actually get to use it much. It was much more basic , at that stage.
Unfortunately it doesn't really support pa4x. ( it says limited).
I accidently edited one of my pa3x styles in the pa4x and saved it in a pa3x set.
When I tried loading that set into pa manager, I was told I had to remove that style. Wish I could remember which one it was. Haha lucky I had a backup set..
If / or when it becomes available for pa4x, worth a look at.

[rikkisbears]

Hi Deane
Basically this is what I do with my styles.
I have a database of styles, consisting of
prior korg model factory styles,
my User Styles which are mainly PSR conversions ( these are currently playing incorrect drum kits on the pa4x because of a bug to do with XG/Gm)
Fortunately there is a workaround, because as is, some are totally unusable.
Song styles.
The prior factory styles, I sorted into categories , pop , rock etc etc I matched the categories to suit the pa3x. It makes it easy if I come across a set of styles I haven't had before ( ie pa900, they weren't available at that time) to go thru them, and sort out what's new or what I've already got.
A lot of these I will never use, but, they might come in handy for someone else.

For the styles I will use which wil be fairly limited, I'm probably going to put into favourites. I will sort those folders into ballroom , jazz, ballad, movie, Latin and pop. And my song styles.That's pretty much about all I play.
The above for me, makes it easy for me to find a type of style and keep adding to it.
From there I'm hoping to do a songbook.
I've still got to work out how this "direct " actually works, so I'll put my songbook on hold for time being.