SMF Separated by Markers

[Peter J]

Hi All,
I have over the last couple of weeks or so been getting to grips with creating new styles from Midifiles. I found the manual and the KorgPA tutorial unclear on several aspects and on others sketchy and so the import process was completed by trial and error. I have however now successfully imported two styles and noted down the procedure as I went.
This procedure appended below is by no means definitive but should prove useful to others in avoiding my initial mistakes. I trust that it will be useful to any one who wishes to follow it. I would also welcome comments or corrections/alternatives.
As a possible future update, I think that the introduction of a style element end marker could save time in preliminary editing of the SMF.

SMF Separated by Markers

1] Prepare SMF in RealBand [Cubase Essential 4 does not seem to save markers in SMF] including the following : ---
a) Start SMF at first tick of first style element {intro] with control changes 0 and 32 and program change --- other control changes e.g. modulation, volume, expression can be merged with notes in first bar of SMF;
b) Insert markers in SMF for variations, fills etc. Different markers must be present at start and end of each style element otherwise imported style element length will be incorrect e.g. if element v1cv1 is between bars 3 and 4 and v1cv2 starts at bar 7, on import, length of v1cv1 will be assumed to be 4 bars and not the correct 2 bars. Where markers do not occur naturally at the start and end of style elements, insert dummy markers using unwanted style element/chord variations [e.g. v4cv6] and delete the unwanted variations after import. Alternatively delete unwanted sections of SMF before SMF import;
c) SMF midi channels must be Bass, 9, Drums, 10, Percussion, 11, Accompaniment Tracks [1 to 5], 12 to 16;
d) Save modified SMF as Midifile Type 0 to Pendrive for import to PA2X.

2] On PA2X in StylePlay press Record button to open Style/Pad Record window and select ‘Record New Style’ then OK to access Style Record Main Window.

3] Press Menu button on PA2X and select ‘Import’ and then SMF tab and then in open window ; ---
a) Tick ‘Initialize’ [Korg recommendation for first import];
b) To E/CV --- adjust to required style element [Intro];
c) Press ‘Select’ to access SMF [with markers] from pendrive in PA2X front USB socket;
d) Hold down shift button on PA2X and press ‘Execute’ to import SMF style elements.

4] Press Exit button on PA2X to return to Style Record Main Page to adjust parameters in lower part of page --- upper page parameters are imported directly to from SMF with markers. Parameters to be adjusted are ‘Key’ and ‘Chord’ [Type] i.e. chord of imported style element e.g. C7, A minor etc. Also needing adjustment is NTT Type and Table [See Manual P117] which generally requires ‘Parallel’ for melody and bass tracks and Fixed for chord tracks [Strings, Piano etc.]
N.B. Above adjustments must be made for each imported style element [variation, fills etc.] against any drum, percussion, bass or accompaniment track used in that element.

5] Whilst in Style Record Main Page, track sounds can be adjusted and, on selecting ‘Record 2/Cue’ tab’ the cue mode for each element can be selected [and also track sounds].

6] Whilst in Style Record Main Page, press Menu button on PA2X to access the following : ---
a) Style Element Track Controls Window to adjust volume and expression for all style elements and tracks;
b) Style Elements Chord Table and adjust so that chord type e.g Am played on PA2X triggers corresponding [Minor] Chord Variation e.g. CV1, CV2 etc. For each style element.

7] Style elements can be auditioned from Style Record Main Page by selecting required style element and then pressing Start/Stop button on PA2X. Auditioned elements start with a 4 beat click which is not present in the eventual saved style.

8] When style editing is complete, access the Page Menu [press upper right triangular icon] and select ‘Write Style’ to save imported style.

9] Exit Style Record [press Record button again] to return to Style Play window to load STS and access the page menu and the Write Single Touch Settings Dialog Box. When all STS have been loaded and saved re-enter Style Record and access the Page Menu to write the final style.

Regards,
Peter J

[Lee]

Peter,
Thanks yo very much for posting this...it is of great help!
Lee

[rikkisbears]

Hi Peter,
very similar to the the way I convert some of my psr styles across to the korg. ie I load them into a sequencer as a midifile, do the necessary adjustments, alter the yamaha markers to suit the korg etc etc

The midifiles you mentioned, were they song based? or were they created for the style.
Gets a bit confusing at times, as to what type of midifile members are refferring to.
[quote="Peter J"]Hi All,

[Peter J]

Rikki,
As an ancient rocker, my tastes in music are generally anything 50's [R and R] or 60's. In this instance I therefore took midifiles of 'The Breeze and I'' and 'The Young Ones' [Cliff Richard] and converted them to styles.

Generally, the midifiles were used as is for conversion except where the original midifile had only a major chord variation so some basic editing of the midifile was necessary to provide say a minor and/or 7 chord variation. For Variation 1 to 4 style elements, I tried to produce CV1, CV2 and CV3 chord variations for major, minor and 7 chords respectively and for fills, CV1 and CV2 were major and 7 based chords. Intro and ending were generally as per the midifile.

I think that the styles produced can be used as song-specific or for other similar songs.

In 'The Young Ones' there is a middle section which has a number of stacatto breaks [Chords say on beat 1 and 2 only] and, although I have included a variation for this, in practice I am not sure it will be easy to switch in and out of such a variation [generally over a couple of bars] when playing. I do not know what the answer is for this!

Regards'
Peter J

[rikkisbears]

Hi Peter,
personally I haven't had a lot of luck with song based midifiles, maybe I just like the wrong sort of music, too many string parts & too many chord changes to get a decent variations.

I have used intro & endings from a song based midifile, but then I usually try & get my variations from existing style tracks or converted styles or even biab. No chord changes to contend with in the middle of the variation.

Just out of interest, did you have to do all the cv's for each of the variations or could you have gotten away with just the one?
I usually just try & get away with one if possible for variations/fills, based on maj7th chord & the i series ntt setting.

Rikki,
As an ancient rocker, my tastes in music are generally anything 50's [R and R] or 60's. In this instance I therefore took midifiles of 'The Breeze and I'' and 'The Young Ones' [Cliff Richard] and converted them to styles.

Generally, the midifiles were used as is for conversion except where the original midifile had only a major chord variation so some basic editing of the midifile was necessary to provide say a minor and/or 7 chord variation. For Variation 1 to 4 style elements, I tried to produce CV1, CV2 and CV3 chord variations for major, minor and 7 chords respectively and for fills, CV1 and CV2 were major and 7 based chords. Intro and ending were generally as per the midifile.

I think that the styles produced can be used as song-specific or for other similar songs.

In 'The Young Ones' there is a middle section which has a number of stacatto breaks [Chords say on beat 1 and 2 only] and, although I have included a variation for this, in practice I am not sure it will be easy to switch in and out of such a variation [generally over a couple of bars] when playing. I do not know what the answer is for this!

Regards'
Peter J

[Sam CA]

Hi Peter,
personally I haven't had a lot of luck with song based midifiles, maybe I just like the wrong sort of music, too many string parts & too many chord changes to get a decent variations.

I have used intro & endings from a song based midifile, but then I usually try & get my variations from existing style tracks or converted styles or even biab. No chord changes to contend with in the middle of the variation.

Just out of interest, did you have to do all the cv's for each of the variations or could you have gotten away with just the one?
I usually just try & get away with one if possible for variations/fills, based on maj7th chord & the i series ntt setting.

Rikki,
As an ancient rocker, my tastes in music are generally anything 50's [R and R] or 60's. In this instance I therefore took midifiles of 'The Breeze and I'' and 'The Young Ones' [Cliff Richard] and converted them to styles.

Generally, the midifiles were used as is for conversion except where the original midifile had only a major chord variation so some basic editing of the midifile was necessary to provide say a minor and/or 7 chord variation. For Variation 1 to 4 style elements, I tried to produce CV1, CV2 and CV3 chord variations for major, minor and 7 chords respectively and for fills, CV1 and CV2 were major and 7 based chords. Intro and ending were generally as per the midifile.

I think that the styles produced can be used as song-specific or for other similar songs.

In 'The Young Ones' there is a middle section which has a number of stacatto breaks [Chords say on beat 1 and 2 only] and, although I have included a variation for this, in practice I am not sure it will be easy to switch in and out of such a variation [generally over a couple of bars] when playing. I do not know what the answer is for this!

Regards'
Peter J

Rikki, one question about the key of a midi file. You said earlier that you always transpose them to the key of C. Let's say if your file is in the key of Gm. Do you transpose it down or up to get to Cm? or does it matter at all?

[rikkisbears]

Hi Sam,
I do keep changing the way I do things. The more I experiment with the Korg, the more some of the old notions I had (from using prior keyboards)
change.
Either the Korg is far more flexible than my older boards, or , I used to take for granted what the manual stated was how things had to be done.

Most of the files I use are already in the key of C. I just find it easier.
All those sharps & flats in some of the other keys , are too much for my brain to handle . haahaa
If I use a song based midifile intro/ending, I'd just leave as is & put in the correct key setting. The parts are all independant.

You shouldn't need to transpose. You're settings should take care of that.

Rikki, one question about the key of a midi file. You said earlier that you always transpose them to the key of C. Let's say if your file is in the key of Gm. Do you transpose it down or up to get to Cm? or does it matter at all?

[Sam CA]

.
You shouldn't need to transpose. You're settings should take care of that.

Rikki, one question about the key of a midi file. You said earlier that you always transpose them to the key of C. Let's say if your file is in the key of Gm. Do you transpose it down or up to get to Cm? or does it matter at all?

Hey Rikki,
Yeah, that's what i've been doing since i bought the keyboard. All my styles are recorded in diff. keys. If you want to copy a style track from factory styles though, it's a lot easier if you record your style in the key of C. Then you won't have to worry about taking a few more steps. I just experimented with it, and looks like it works better if the file is transposed down to the key of C and not up.

[rikkisbears]

Hi Sam,
just tried something & yes, does get a bit messy if copying individual style tracks that are in different keys.
Strangely enough, the korg appears to play it back ok in style play mode
( ie, intrument 1 Cmaj, instrument 2 Dmaj ) but listening to it in edit mode, you wouldn't be able to fine tune a style part.

I hadn't really come across the problem, because, as I mentioned before, majority of my files are based on key of c anyway.

I suppose if I end up copying a style track that isn't in the same key as the rest of the tracks in a variation, I'd just transpose that 1 track to match the rest ( maybe even if it means transposing it to a key other than C).

Transposing up or down, may also depend on an individual track, whether some of the notes end up too high or too low when transposed to another key?? Possibly end up doing some up & some down if necessary.
I haven't quite worked out the Keyboard Range function, which appears to limit the range of the notes. Have to do a bit more checking on how Korg uses the function in it's styles.

I do use the Keyboard Wrap around function, if notes are getting too high or too low when playing certain chords. (Probably what the Keyboard Range function is for??)

Hey Rikki,
Yeah, that's what i've been doing since i bought the keyboard. All my styles are recorded in diff. keys. If you want to copy a style track from factory styles though, it's a lot easier if you record your style in the key of C. Then you won't have to worry about taking a few more steps. I just experimented with it, and looks like it works better if the file is transposed down to the key of C and not up.

[Sam CA]

I suppose if I end up copying a style track that isn't in the same key as the rest of the tracks in a variation, I'd just transpose that 1 track to match the rest ( maybe even if it means transposing it to a key other than C).

Transposing up or down, ...

yes, that could work, except when you copy guitar tracks. Some times you don't want certain notes to be transposed because it changes their main function. I used to do these in my sequencer, but now i just tranpose every thing to the key of C, to bypass some extra steps.

[rikkisbears]

Hi Sam ,
are you refferring to Guitar Mode Tracks??
As you said you certainly can't transpose those.

Sorry, I'm off on my own little tangent here haahaa , I actually do a fair bit of my editing in the PA800 itself, wheras you obviously do most of your work on a pc sequencer.
What I was actually refferring to is, if I needed to transpose a single style track ( ie one that I'd copied a track from another style) I'd just transpose that track, by using the onboard transpose function. The track would show what chord it is based on, then I just need to transpose up or down to match the rest of the style tracks in that variation.

Hey Sam, I'm with you. If I was working with a midifile that wasn't in the key of C, I'd transpose also, before I started working on it.

yes, that could work, except when you copy guitar tracks. Some times you don't want certain notes to be transposed because it changes their main function. I used to do these in my sequencer, but now i just tranpose every thing to the key of C, to bypass some extra steps.

[Peter J]

Hi Rikki,
Sorry for the delay in replying, I have been away from my computer for a couple of days.

I have not tried to create a style with just a single chord variation for variations as I usually find that most midifiles can [possibly with some minor amendments] provide a major, minor and 7th chord variation. On fills, I usually try to provide a Major and 7th. Presumably your single Major 7 chord variation imports work OK? With intros and endings, I usually use import direct from the midifile with a single chord variation dependent on the midifile chord [usually a Major] but of course avoiding chord changes in the imported element. Unlike the Korg recommendation I used Fixed/Chord to allow the intro/ending to be played in any key.

Whilst I have seen reference in the manual to the I-Series NTT, I had presumed that it provided for style import from a Korg I-Series keyboard which is not applicable in my case as I have only one Korg keyboard, the PA2X Pro. Is this not the case?

Having created the song specific midifiles, I am now trying to work out the best way to select the various fills/variations/STS as the song progresses using my Behringer FCB1010 foot pedal and settings on the PA2X. It is a question of whether the STS changes with the variation and whether the fill introduces a new variation --- in some cases such changes are required but later in the song they are not. I know that Global settings can provide such links, but I do not think that they can be set differently for different styles. Is this something that can be programmed in the songbook, which I must confess that I have not got into yet?

[Peter J]

Hi All,
I recently imported a SMF separated by markers as a style in 6/8 time and was puzzled on import to find that the first style element [Intro]was correctly marked as 6/8 but all subsequent style elements were marked as 4/4. It would appear that the default arrangement, if only a single time signature [other than 4/4] is indicated at bar 1, is to mark subsequent style elements as 4/4 rather than the bar 1 time signature. Odd?
In order to get round this, it is necessary to prepare a meter map for the whole SMF and mark all style elements with the 6/8 time signature at each marker position. If the SMF is in 4/4 time, only the opening time signature at bar 1 appears to be required.
I wasted some time discovering this but hopefully now others, being forewarned, will not.

[Sam CA]

Time signature of every element has to be marked individually, otherwise it will default back to 4/4. It makes sense, because this way you can have an intro in 12/8 and a Var in 3/4 and yet be able to import all the information with one move.

[rikkisbears]

Hi Peter,
maybe try setting up a dummy style in 6/8 time in the Korg.
Default is 4/4.
You probably imported a 6/8 midifile into a 4/4 Korg slot.


[quote="Peter J"]