Does anyone Use Style Magic?

[rikkisbears]

Hi,
Not sure if I am posting in correct are, but, wondering if anyone uses Style Magic.
I downloaded demo, but it of course it doesn't save the styles, so bit hard to tell.
Still need to go thru demos to try and work functions out.

Years ago, I used to use One Man Band for my editing. Still have it, but haven't used it in many years.

My focus has really been on my Korgs for the last 10 years, but decided to buy the sx 900, so now trying to catch up with what is available for editing psr styles

[Pino]

Hi rikkiesbears

Welcome to this forum,
Seen you around other forums for years and years, you have excellent equipment but never heard you playing an arranger keyboard, where is your music?
Are you on 'Soundcloud' or somewhere.

StyleMagic is an excellent program.
Good luck with the 900
Pino

[rikkisbears]

Hi Pino,
Thank you. Yes I've been around for years but I don't really play much.

I've been too involved over the years with styles technology, on  te various keyboards I've  owned, and my korgs brought out the  worst in me, too much time spent on fiddling around , instead of playing. Loved their style creation and editing functions.Haha

Anyway hope to change that and do some playing instead, but still handy to know that I can do the odd bit of editing if needed  on a psr.

One Korg gone now, maybe2 more to go. Still deciding. Either way , next addition will be SX900.
Time for a change.

[Pino]

My next door neighbour was never happy with his fishing rods, always fiddling with them and kept buying new ones but we never saw any fish.What was the point of that, he should have practiced more with the one he already had.

I'm into writing my own style as well, that's just a small part of the end product , my main task is to play the keyboard good enough to amaze my audience,

Shouldn't you be playing 10 to 20 songs by now or even 50 for the enjoyment of others as a "musician".

It's a great feeling playing an instrument that others can enjoy listening to.

It's never too late
Good luck
Pino

[valimaties]

Hi.

Yes, I have Style Magic YA for at least 2 years and is a great software. I did a lot of jobs on my multi-channel styles, but I also used Cubase for midi notes editing, because is a little bit annoying the MultiEditor screen. Even if I told Thomas to change behavior of some commands (mouse or keyboards) it still use the same behavior as when I bought the license.
BTW , check the IDL Editor, also. It will help you create the files for StyleMagic YA, to be able to choose expansion voices.

Regards,
Vali

[rikkisbears]

My next door neighbour was never happy with his fishing rods, always fiddling with them and kept buying new ones but we never saw any fish.What was the point of that, he should have practiced more with the one he already had.

I'm into writing my own style as well, that's just a small part of the end product , my main task is to play the keyboard good enough to amaze my audience,

Shouldn't you be playing 10 to 20 songs by now or even 50 for the enjoyment of others as a "musician".

It's a great feeling playing an instrument that others can enjoy listening to.

It's never too late
Good luck
Pino

Hi Pino,
Not a case of me not being happy with the korgs I just enjoyed experimenting with the style creator and basically working out how to do stuff that wasn't necessarily written in the manual. Kept me happy helping others and sharing styles.

Anyway, new chapter,  I intend to play. I discovered the Yamaha styles are more suited to the type of music I enjoy, so won't need to spend as anywhere near as much time altering or converting styles, but still handy to know I have the option if I need to, that's  why I asked about the software.

As for sharing music, whenever I turn the record function , I become all thumbs and make mistake after mistake. Must get nervous or something. Haha . I don't even play for the family . Maybe one day.

[rikkisbears]

Hi.

Yes, I have Style Magic YA for at least 2 years and is a great software. I did a lot of jobs on my multi-channel styles, but I also used Cubase for midi notes editing, because is a little bit annoying the MultiEditor screen. Even if I told Thomas to change behavior of some commands (mouse or keyboards) it still use the same behavior as when I bought the license.
BTW , check the IDL Editor, also. It will help you create the files for StyleMagic YA, to be able to choose expansion voices.

Regards,
Vali

Thank you Vali.
Haven't really studied the style structure of the newer styles, last bit of editing on Yamaha styles I might have done goes back to my old  psr1500 which were a lot simpler.
I still have my old XG works sequencer and Real Band ( part of Band in a Box) so sounds like they may still come in handy.
The multi editor is a bit hard to read , so much going on.
Anyway, thank you for your input.  The software seems pretty good value for the money.

[marcodg]

I bought it for 2 years but don't use it a lot. I find there is not enough tutorial or explanation on how to use it. (If i missed something please send me link to pdf or video.)
I wanted to be able to create or assembly some style through the computer because on Keyboard i find it less intuitive but i was not as much convince from the software.
One thing really anoying on the Genos for example is to change the note velocity on a drumkits or other voices. On old PSR and tyros, you could do it 10 by 10 from 0 to 127. On Genos i can not do it anymore.
I would be great to if i could select an element and change the volume from the whole elements on the drumkits.

[valimaties]

I bought it for 2 years but don't use it a lot. I find there is not enough tutorial or explanation on how to use it. (If i missed something please send me link to pdf or video.)
I wanted to be able to create or assembly some style through the computer because on Keyboard i find it less intuitive but i was not as much convince from the software.
One thing really anoying on the Genos for example is to change the note velocity on a drumkits or other voices. On old PSR and tyros, you could do it 10 by 10 from 0 to 127. On Genos i can not do it anymore.
I would be great to if i could select an element and change the volume from the whole elements on the drumkits.

What you tell us here means you have not dig enough in Style Creator. Take any style from keyboard and start editing it using all the functions and see what every function do. It is THE ONLY way of knowing Style Creator. You cannot mess anything, you only will learn things . I learned only practicing

You can change any of the voices velocity notes by selecting a channel for editing ("Rec" red image, press channel's green icon for at least one second) and press "Step Edit" in the top of the screen. All notes will be shown on screen. If you want to change individual velocity, find the time measure where note needs velocity changes and change it. If you want to change to entire channel, go top, on the first line, and position the cursor on the velocity column. Press "Multi Select" button and start going down using the arrow from the right of the grid. When you gain the last position in grid, make sure to be position on the velocity column and start modifying the velocity for that last note (upper or downer, as you want). When you finish, move the cursor (move the focus) to other position in grid, using arrows. You will see that all the notes will change the values with the incremented or decremented value you used in the last note.
Very simple, and this is not an advanced functionality, it's a simple one!
Note: Be sure that Event Filter screen has checked only Notes, not other events, because you will modify other events too, and is not wanted

I really want to see a function in style creator to change velocity for a certain note (key). It will help us to change, for example, the velocity for snares, or kits, or for FX notes in MegaVoices. Yes, I know I can use Drum Setup and I can change expression for individual elements right there, but if you want to use multiple drum kits, you cannot do it anymore, because using Drum Setup will setup one kit for entire style.

PS: StyleMagic YA is a great software, it has a lot of easy things to do on style editing in advanced way, and the only thing to learn is to practice with it No one will give you tutorial, even for free. Dig in it and you will achieve enough knowledge to use it like a pro That's happening with a lot of great software.

Regards,
Vali

[DrakeM]

I agree with Vali.

I have been going back through my styles here lately and changing "stick hits" volumes and/or changing them out and turning them into "brush slips". It is simple to do, it just takes a bit of time to get the the correct volume set up.

I have thought about recording videos about some the things I do on YouTube using the STYLE CREATOR, but I really don't see that many people here on the forum wanting to dig into those screens.

[rikkisbears]

Hi,
If you load a factory style in, does it alter the original style in anyway, or only the stuff you want to change.
ie just say you load a factory style in, don't change anything, and resave it, is it still as per original.

Reason I ask,  many years back, I used to use One Man Band for editing, and it sometimes made unwanted changes. Maybe not the case anymore, I'm talking over 10 years ago and probably a number of updates.

[DrakeM]

Factory styles are embedded into your keyboard and can not be changed.

Any other style you import into your keyboard and make changes to will change what you originally imported into your keyboard .. IF you save it with the SAME NAME. So be sure you always rename your changed/edited styles with a NEW name. Then you will have no problems.

[Pino]

Factory styles are embedded into your keyboard and can not be changed.

Drake, not sure what you mean.
All the factory styles can be copied to an USB stick in just one click and changed as required
I have all the styles for all the PSR's right up to the Genos on my USB stick

I think what you mean is -
Once you have changed/edited a factory style then it is saved in the USER area.

I personally believe that Yamaha never intended for any style or voice to be used as is,
Most styles have a 2 song intro and AB for song 1 and CD for the next, eg, 'easyballad'

All the voices and styles are like artists paints, you mix as required to make a nice painting.
If you want to use a style for a song, edit it and save to the USER area, rename to the 'song name'

Same with the voices, have you noticed how 'dry' the voices are, Yamaha just put all the voices there, as is, up to the player to change as required and saved to the USER area, I think most voices should have at least 40% reverb.

One excellent feature in 'StyleMagic' is that a style like 'EasyBallad' can be split into 2 styles, deleting intros, sections and endings that is not required for the song is done in seconds, it's a very good bit of kit,  Yamaha ahould give a free copy with every keyboard sold.

Pino

[rikkisbears]

Hi Guys,
sorry, probably didn't make my question very clear, I suppose what I really wanted to know was does style magic make any unwanted changes.

Think I'm going to buy it anyway. Sounds like a good program. My PA4x got picked up today, so might as well start relearning about yamaha styles, its been many years since I did any editing on psrs.
With the korg I just got away with using xg works for importing and exporting styles as midifiles for editing. If Style Magic helps make editing easier for Yamaha styles, so be it, it will be worth it.

Thank you all for your input.

[Pino]

The answer to your question is NO
Nothing will be changed.

But good practice
Import a style eg. EasyBallad
Then immediately save at as EasyDallad2
Then your original style will be in tact

Pino

[valimaties]

Drake, not sure what you mean.
...

I think Drake said that factory styles are fixed on those positions, cannot be overwritten. In fact, on Korg PA4X, as I know, factory style can be replaced by custom styles or edited styles.

Regards,
Vali

[mikf]

All the factory styles can be edited but then have to be saved with a different name in the user area or on a usb. The original style remains unaltered. Factory styles are often the best place to start experimenting with editing because they are well made and have all the sections. This is not always true with other people's custom styles.
Mike

[Fred Smith]

I agree with Vali.

I have been going back through my styles here lately and changing "stick hits" volumes and/or changing them out and turning them into "brush slips". It is simple to do, it just takes a bit of time to get the the correct volume set up.

I have thought about recording videos about some the things I do on YouTube using the STYLE CREATOR, but I really don't see that many people here on the forum wanting to dig into those screens.

Drake,

I would love to see one of the videos. My issue is not learning a program like StyleMagic. I know I could do that. My issue is figuring out how to get the sound I want. I can listen to a style, and say "that's not what I want", but really have no clue as to how to change it to what I do want. Knowing very little about drums, and having no idea of the difference between a "brush slip" and a "stick hit" is part of the problem, I'm sure.

Less technical information on the program, and more music theory on styles is what I'd be looking for.

Cheers,
Fred

[Pino]

Vali
No disrespect to Drakes post,
Drake is probably the most experienced musician here regarding styles and editing styles.

I was just trying to point that what YAMAHA has given us as a preset style should be just the starter for making a style to suit whatever song we want to adapt the style to.

Pino

[rikkisbears]

The answer to your question is NO
Nothing will be changed.

But good practice
Import a style eg. EasyBallad
Then immediately save at as EasyDallad2
Then your original style will be in tact

Pino

Thank you Pino, I will do.

[Dave Nuttall]

Yes, I have Style Magic YA for at least 2 years and is a great software. I did a lot of jobs on my multi-channel styles, but I also used Cubase for midi notes editing, because is a little bit annoying the MultiEditor screen. Even if I told Thomas to change behavior of some commands (mouse or keyboards) it still use the same behavior as when I bought the license.
BTW , check the IDL Editor, also. It will help you create the files for StyleMagic YA, to be able to choose expansion voices.

WHAT is the IDL Editor, please? Perhaps an "add-on" for Style Magic?
Thanks.

[Joe H]

I wanted to be able to create or assembly some style through the computer because on Keyboard i find it less intuitive but i was not as much convince from the software.
One thing really anoying on the Genos for example is to change the note velocity on a drumkits or other voices. On old PSR and tyros, you could do it 10 by 10 from 0 to 127. On Genos i can not do it anymore.

Thomas has started working on an upgrade to StyleMagic that will allow us to Export and Import style Parts. This will be like using Style Creator Assembly on the keyboard.

As far as editing drums.  Due to the limits of the style format, we can only edit individual drum notes in the SInt of the style file.  This is the part of the style where initial setting reside and apply to the entire style.  In other words, editing individual drum notes in StyleMagic will apply to all style Parts.

StyleMagic has a very good Drum Editor by the way. 

Editing for individual notes include:

1.  Change Pitch
2. Adjust Filter and resonance
3. Volume
3. Pan
4. Reverb
5. Attack
6. Decay
7. Release
8. Filter Cut-Off
9. Resonance
10. Note Velocity
11. Change drum Note

Joe H


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[Dave Nuttall]

That's great news, Joe, about the future of Style Magic.
Thanks for sharing that info.

[valimaties]

Hi Joe.

Thomas gives me a test version for drawing controls (like Pan control), but I have suggest some modifications because the drawing process is not so accurate. Deleting process is worst, as you have to click on each control, you cannot simply press Shift, click and drag mouse over the controls

[Joe H]

... BTW , check the IDL Editor, also. It will help you create the files for StyleMagic YA, to be able to choose expansion voices.
Regards,
Vali

Yes and Vali is responsible for Thomas releasing IDL Editor v2.  You can download it on the midisoft website.

https://www.midisoft.pl/en/#pricelist

IDL Editor v2 can be used with the Voice files created with Vali's software YEM Content Explorer

https://www.psrtutorial.com/forum/index.php/topic,43547.0.html

I have create MANY expansion pack Voice files that I have added to StyleMagic and Midiworks. (and MixMaster, PadMaker and PadMaker-Midi)

Thank you Vali for your efforts, it is much appreciated!  You get my 5 smiles rating!

            

Joe H

[Pino]

Joe, not sure if you are families with this page but we are able to import and export style parts, I have a folder full of fills, intros and endings etc. Can swap around as you want.

Pino

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[valimaties]

Pino, I think it's about exporting and importing channels directly (Rhythm, Bass, etc ) Maybe in Channel Manager, to be able to drag a channel from another variation or from another style, like Assembly function in Yamaha.
There can be a very good option of exporting CASM and importing CASM, also. There are users that uses Cubase for editing midi events on channels, so it is a better option to be able to export CASM, work on that style in Cubase (or other midi software) and after you export it in midi 0 type as mid, you can import it in StyleMagicYA, but you have to recreate yourself CASM section for each channel in each variation, which is time consuming.

Regards,
Vali

[Pino]

Hi Vali - ok, I'm with you, I play other keyboards also, in YAMAHA terminology it's 'style sections" and style parts,
I have never had the need to import style parts from another style,
The reason being that 'StyleMagic' is so powerful.

In the 'MultiEditor' page I can edit style parts to whatever I want them to be, including the drums, it's so easy, just drag your notes around, delete, copy, move, change velocities etc
You say "drag a channel from another variation" you can do that already.
You can copy and paste any style part you want, copy the drum or bass part from Main D to Main A, no problem, it's all there and then edit the bass part in real time till your completely happy.

When I make a new song INTRO in my MIDI sequencer and import to SM, it automatically creates the CASM and ready to go.
Regards
Pino

Tried to attach one of my new intros but didn't work 🤔


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[Joe H]

Pino,

Yes we can copy parts in the multieditor, but I suggested to Thomas that we should be able to Export/Import individual style Parts in Channels Manager just like we can do with complete Sections with Sections Mananger shown in your picture.  He liked my idea. It will make StyleMagic a more powerful program to be able to save to disk style Parts. Thomas explained that it will be difficult to implement because he must write the code to look at alternate channels used for a style Part and copy that too. He  is working on it.

Joe H

[valimaties]

Hi Joe.

Exactly, but it is working only with current style in Multi Editor.

But in Channels Manager he can make a temporary storage for another style (a twin screen ) for a new style you can import, and to be able to drag elements from temporary storage to current style




PS: BTW, Joe, That "Copy range" button is for copying events from ALL channels between chosen measures. If you want to copy only a channel, you have to use the left most button, Copy.

Regards,
Vali