Programming your own STYLE

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Programming your own STYLE

Postby Hugh-AR » 08 Jun 2018 16:30

We all use STYLES to accompany what we play, but have any of you created your own Style for something you want to play? You would obviously have to have in your head what you wanted to hear from a STYLE (Rhythm, Bass, Chord 1 etc.). Now I often 'adjust' an existing 'default' STYLE to suit a tune I am playing, but doing a completely new style from scratch?

I have come across this YouTube video explaining how to set up a Style 'from scratch'. This is with the Yamaha PSR-S950, but I'm sure the basic principles are the same whatever keyboard or organ you have. Watching this, the one thing that has got through to me, which I hadn't realised, is that these PARTS are in 'loops', and until you SAVE them you can keep adding bits in. So with the Rhythm, he puts in the bass drum first. Then he adds the next 'drum' from the 'drum kit' and has the two running together. Then a third .. and so on until the Rhythm track is complete. He then uses the Quantize function, which sets what you have played 'to the beat' (in case you were a little 'off the beat' when you recorded it).



Worth watching, and then read the above again.

Hugh
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Re: Programming your own STYLE

Postby dragon » 08 Jun 2018 17:14

Interesting. .. Fred
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Re: Programming your own STYLE

Postby mikeg » 08 Jun 2018 18:15

Hi Hugh I have never seen a style developed on Yamaha, it seems quite straightforward Best Regards mikeG.
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Re: Programming your own STYLE

Postby andyg » 09 Jun 2018 10:52

This explains some of the technical aspects quite nicely. It doesn't explore the musical aspects of a) making a good, musical pattern and b) making sure that it would be playable in real life. Never seen a drummer with more than two hands and feet! :)

Yamaha have never opened up the technology behinds style creation. Yes, they are all basically cleverly put together MIDI files with extras added that the keyboard 'sees' as a style, but there are more hidden parts to styles, like the CASM, and things that Yamaha have never released to the public.

Style creation from scratch can be good fun, but to get really good results is time consuming if done on the keyboard itself, there is software out there that will make the job easier.

Me? Been there, done it, happy to leave it to those who are really good at it! :)
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Re: Programming your own STYLE

Postby Brian007 » 09 Jun 2018 17:18

Hi,

A very interesting subject, but to be honest for me its way to technical and time consuming and beside for Yamaha there are loads about already
but an interesting watch.


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Re: Programming your own STYLE

Postby Hugh-AR » 04 Aug 2018 20:32

Now it's all very well for those of you with the latest keyboards. House of the Rising Sun is almost certainly going to be one of those songs listed in your 'Song Banks'. Press a few buttons and you have a suitable backing all set up for you. But the AR doesn't have this facility, so if you have a specific backing you want, you have to create it yourself. This song has a very obvious 'arpeggio' pattern running right through it. I often find that if I go to YouTube and look for a Guitar Tutorial I get some very useful tips that can be transferred to the organ. And if a guitar, you can often pick up the chords they are playing too.

Listen to this 'Demo' of the notes you can play for the backing of this tune.



So using this as a base, and listening to the original version by The Animals, I came up with a 'Backing PART' for my AR, and have programmed this in. This is just a 'pattern' of notes that is picked up by the chord you are playing.

The MP3 below is how my 'Backing PART' sounds when using just the STYLE and playing chords. Have played a C chord to start with so you can hear the 'pattern'; and then some of the other chords. Click this LINK to listen:

House Of The Rising Sun Backing Part (MP3)

Putting the above together with the tune, this is what I have ended up with:

House Of The Rising Sun

https://app.box.com/s/1lz38q3m7mwyq9zbqb4jgwo35u84316v

To get the 'slowing down' of the tune as I neared the end I just kept the same Registration and changed the TEMPO gradually, putting each change into a Registration Memory for easy access.

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Re: Programming your own STYLE

Postby Hugh-AR » 08 Dec 2018 18:19

Whilst listening to the backing I had done for House of the Rising Sun I realised that this would be a suitable backing for another song I have been trying to play for years .. The Great Pretender.

So I have loaded my House Of The Rising Sun STYLE into my AR (the one I created, as above) and have set about making yet more changes to suit the 'Pretender' song. First, in the Bass PART I changed the Bass VOICE from Finger Bass to Acoustic Bass, DELETED the original Bass PART and programmed in a new one. I did this for both MAIN A and MAIN B.

So now the Bass PART sounds like this. Preferably, use headphones in order to really hear that bass part.

The Bass 'Part' for The Great Pretender - MP3
Press the 'back-arrow' top left of screen after listening

And then, for the 'Bridge' (or 'Hook'?) I added a new PART to Phrase 2 (MAIN B), first replacing the VOICE E. Piano 2 with Grand Piano.

This is what I wanted the backing to sound like:

The Phrase 2 'Part' for The Great Pretender - MP3
Press the 'back-arrow' top left of screen after listening

I am keeping the Registration sounds the same (quite like that 'Jazz Organ' Registration for playing the tune), but need to 'split' the Lower keyboard (on the F) so that I can 'jump' down from the Upper to the Lower when I get to the 'echo' notes that give you the F ninth chord sound (just love harmony, and it's the F9 at this point that makes this piece).

Finally, here is a short burst so you can hear how this has all panned out. Use headphones, or a sub-woofer to really pick up that Bass Part.

The Great Pretender, DEMO played by Hugh Wallington - MP3
Press the 'back-arrow' top left of screen after listening

I have just listened again to The Great Pretender by The Platters, on YouTube. They have a 'repeating piano' running right through this piece. So now I have created another 'Backing PART' to create a 'repeating piano' that I can use as well as the above.

Here is my final version of The Great Pretender.

Do a right-click to open this up in a New Tab
https://app.box.com/s/ns1c2tmxa85eon6m0jrnsv3apibdz6gr
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Re: Programming your own STYLE

Postby Brian007 » 09 Dec 2018 08:50

Hi Hugh,

A interesting subject that you have started and one which highlights some of the good and bad things about auto accompaniment,
while its great for a quick easy way to have something playing to accompany you, it does also have its limitations , well at least on
arranger Keyboards not too sure about organs, but where would we be without it.

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Re: Programming your own STYLE

Postby dentyr » 15 Sep 2019 21:48

Hello Hugh,

Regarding the styles, I think only Yamaha kbds can alter the styles in bits. You can alter the voices on the fly if you are dexterous. As one of your recipients commented, there are thousands of Yamaha styles out there. However, very few can compare with the Yamaha made styles. Yamaha make all their voices and styles on something like the MotifXF which is very difficult to compete with. Getting the timing right and the voices in place is not easy. Why bother when Yamaha have hundreds of styles already on their kbds and if you want something different then you can buy from Yamaha. I wanted a 3/4 time Hawaiian style so I bought it from Yamaha. When I got my PSR S900 I had a go at making my own styles. Josoft has programs to do this.

Plough your way through this, look at Utilities tab:

Do a right-click to open this up in a New Tab
https://psrtutorial.com/util/index.html

There are more programs than you can imagine for altering, modifying, and generally stuffing up your kbds on this site. I have had great fun downloading styles. Recently I deleted about 15000 from my portable HD as they had a very low count (2Kb or so).

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