midi files

[jcl123]

Hello everyone

I have had a T5 for a while now but still learning (by the time I'd worked out how to work my vcr they had stopped making the tapes)
so to me this tyros 5 is on a different level. I have purchased some XG & XT midi files from yamaha I want to use them so I am playing the chords and voices What settings do I need to change in my T5
Thanks

[Fred Smith]

I have had a T5 for a while now but still learning (by the time I'd worked out how to work my vcr they had stopped making the tapes)
so to me this tyros 5 is on a different level. I have purchased some XG & XT midi files from yamaha I want to use them so I am playing the chords and voices What settings do I need to change in my T5
Thanks

The T5 can do exactly what you want, out of the box. It shouldn't need any settings to do what you asked for in your post: play the midi file, play chords and play voices.

So you need to tell us more about what your problems are. Finding the midi? Loading the midi? Muting channels in the midi? Getting chords displayed on the screen? Changing the OTS voices in a style?

Give us more specifics. You'll get the help you need on this forum.

Cheers,
Fred

[jcl123]

Thanks for the reply Fred
I want to basically use the midi file as a backing track or style whichever and I want to play the chords and voices myself
like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE8HNDCg8KQ  I can either read the music of screen if its there or off sheet music

thanks for your help

[cthiggin]

Thanks for posting.
I would like to know the exact same thing.
Fred, hopefully you can help both of us?

Thanks,
Tom

[Fred Smith]

Thanks for posting.
I would like to know the exact same thing.
Fred, hopefully you can help both of us?

I'd love to help, but I don't know what the problem is.

I looked at the video, but I don't see him using a backing track. I sim him playing a style , chording in the left, and melody in the right.

So, sorry to be obtuse, but I still need an explanation as to what's stopping you from doing what you want.

Cheers,
Fred

[EileenL]

He has just muted the tracks he wants to play and left the rest such as counter melody and Bass pattern to play from Midi         

[jcl123]

Thanks Eileen its probably me not explaining it very well

[jcl123]

thanks Fred
what is playing in the background is a midi file some how (and this is what I want to do) he has taken the chords and voice out of the midi and playing the chords and voice himself on the keyboard.  this  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQOoE-XDIAY is another one where he is playing with a midi file and using the score from that midi file but again playing the chords and voice himself. this second link I have posted on here is an elvis presley song the wonder of you I've got the same midi file I will try and post it on here for you to listen to.
Thanks
jcl

[Fred Smith]

thanks Fred
what is playing in the background is a midi file some how (and this is what I want to do) he has taken the chords and voice out of the midi and playing the chords and voice himself on the keyboard.  this  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQOoE-XDIAY is another one where he is playing with a midi file and using the score from that midi file but again playing the chords and voice himself. this second link I have posted on here is an elvis presley song the wonder of you I've got the same midi file I will try and post it on here for you to listen to.
Thanks
jcl

As Eileen says, you mute the tracks you don't want the midi playing. This is done in the mixer. Just go there and experiment with turning the volume down to zero, until you e muted the tracks you want.

Cheers,
Fred

[jcl123]

Thanks Fred
I will have a look 2moro  11.30pm here my wife might not cook my breakfast in the morning if I start playing my keyboard now.

Thanks for your help and thanks to Eileen as well

Regards jcl

good job I didn't use my real name Fred, things could have got really confusing its the same as yours

[overover]

Hi jcl,

to mute (= switch off) certain Song Channels press the [CHANNEL ON/OFF] button a few times to call up the CHANNEL ON/OFF (SONG) display. Use the [1]–[8] button to turn each channel on or off.

If you want to play back only one particular Channel (solo playback), press and hold down one of the [1]–[8] buttons corresponding to the desired Channel. Only the selected Channel is turned to on and others are off. To cancel solo playback, press the same button again.

Press the [EXIT] button to close the CHANNEL ON/OFF display.

Note: You can memorize the Channel On/Off status of the MIDI file to a Registration. (Make sure you have ticked the checkbox "SONG" in Memory dialog.)


Alternatively you can use the Mixing Console: Press [MIXING CONSOLE] button repeatedly until the desired page is displayed: "MIXING CONSOLE (SONG CH 1-8)" or "MIXING CONSOLE (SONG CH 9-16)". Here you can decrease the volume of certain Song Parts (= Song Channels) or set the volume completely to zero, if desired).

Note: This status can NOT be memorized to Registrations, but you have to re-save the MIDI file. To do this, first press the SONG STOP button (to jump to the beginning of the MIDI file. Then press [CREATOR] button > [A] SONG CREATOR and go to tab "CHANNEL" > 5 SETUP. Now press [D] button (EXECUTE). Finally press [⁣I] button to SAVE the changes you made in the Mixing Console before to the MIDI file. (It is best to use a new or altered file name here to avoid overwriting the source file.)


Hope this helps!

Best regards,
Chris

[panos]

Hi Fred,
Chris explain the whole procedure very well.

Here is a video that can also help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inAc192_8Hw

On this video the user on the screen he displays the lyrics instead of the sheet music but he is showing want he is doing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zJq2noKxzM

Remember that:
A SONG on Tyros means a midi file.
A midi file can have up to 16 tracks/channels either it is from Yamaha's site or whatever other source.
You have to find out which tracks you want to mute.
(usually those who play the melody line)

And if you are able to play also the chords of a song correctly with your left hand,
then you can play that song in whatever style you wish.

[jcl123]

Thanks Chris for the for all the instructions  will be having a play today.

Thanks Panos for the video links I will have a look at those today

as you can see there has been quite a lot of views on this post so must be a few people wanting to solve the same problem.

regards
jcl   

[jcl123]

hello Chris

managed to set the score how I want it treble clef only and showing chord changes.
muted the voice so now I can play the voice myself. but still can't play the chords I have tried muting the channels and also had a go with the mixer settings but no success.when I try to play the left hand the key board is just like a piano. if I switch the acp on its still the same
so do I need to actually change some settings on the keyboard itself.
thanks for your help jcl

[vlbrgt]

I think the player in the video is playing a Tyros 4 instrument.
You can see that there is no style playing.
A midi file plays and the player plays the melodie with the right hand.
The left hand plays the voice that is selected with the button for the left voice.

Just like you say, the whole keyboard is playable as a piano, but with left and right different voices (splitpoint).

Regards
Etienne

[jcl123]

thanks for the reply
The  player in the video is playing a tyros3  the two links I have posted are  1/ how deep is your love  beegees he's reading off music
but playing the chords  and voices over a midi file the 2nd the wonder of you again playing chords and voices himself over a midi file reading off score  the midi file I have are from yamaha and are xt and xg the same as the ones he is using in the video and they should be able to be played on a T3/4/5  and 2 but not to sure about t2
Regards
jcl

[vlbrgt]

He is not playing the chords as they need to be played with a style.
He just plays another voice (Left) with his left hand.
The notes he plays with his left hand need to be in harmony with the song.
So it seems that he plays the chords, but he plays harmonic notes for the left voice, and they correspond with the chords.

Regards
Etienne

[jcl123]

thanks etienne
so are you saying what I want to do can't be done
regards jcl

[vlbrgt]

Indeed you can not make a midi file following your chords played on the keyboard.

Regards
Etienne

[vlbrgt]

Look at this video from the same player :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPu9ptUFmr4

Listen the first voice notes he plays with his left hand.
This voice is changing when he changes left hand playing other notes.


Regards
Etienne

[jcl123]

Thanks Etienne
so is there any way we can use midi files as backing tracks or convert them to styles.
if there is nothing we can do with midi files what's the point in having them
regards
jcl

[Toril S]

There are many song specific styles, much better to use a style.

[DonM]

Midi files are useful for songs where there are specific parts or lines that you don't have the ability, or don't want to take the time to learn, to play.  Or maybe you can't find a style close enough to the original song for your satisfaction.  They are somewhat limiting, but you can, as noted before, mute certain parts and play them yourself.  You can also set Markers in the songs, to allow you to repeat certain segments, giving you a little more control over the length of the song.
There are programs that can convert midi files to styles.  The last several generations of Korg arrangers have a program built in to do that.  Some midi files convert better than others, and almost all of them need some "tweaking", or changing of sounds, levels, etc.   I'm not familiar with the third-party programs that do this, as I seldom use midi files. 
Bear in mind that a midi file is not recorded music; it is a series of instructions to tell your midi player what to play. 
There are many ways to use arrangers, including playing CDG (Karaoke) files, but they are basically designed to be used with styles.  With Yamaha in particular, but with all the major brands, you can pretty easily find a style customized to use for almost any really popular song.

[Roger Brenizer]

Use Jørgen's midi2style converter to make a style file from a midi file.  You can download it at the following link:

http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/software/midi2style/index.htm

[mikf]

Thanks Etienne
so is there any way we can use midi files as backing tracks or convert them to styles.
if there is nothing we can do with midi files what's the point in having them
regards
jcl

Midi is just a standard protocol which allows digital instructions to be read by compatible music devices. Eve your computer can read and play a midi file - although it may not sound too good because it does not have the full range of voices, top quality sound systems etc.
A style is a midi file but a very special kind of midi file that when played on the arranger changes in real time to respond to what you play ie it is driven by the chords you play and the software in the arranger. That is essentially the whole essence of an arranger, - that it can do this. Most midi files or midi devices do not do this.
Normal midi files play on any midi device and reproduce exactly what is there - just like an audio file. So you can of course play along with a normal midi file, and people do this all the time. So it can be a backing track just like and audio file.  But it is just that, a fixed backing track, you play "along" with it - you cannot "drive' it in real time like a style.
There are many uses for midi files. You will learn that over time.
Mike

[jcl123]

Thanks for all your replies
Mike that is exactly what I want to do play along with them so lets take a simple song the wonder of you I have the midi file
which I purchased from yamaha it's an XT file  and it has the score so I can read the music off the screen I know how to mute the voice
so I play the midi and I can play the melody reading the music now what I can't fathom out is how to play the chords on the keyboard
from the midi file how do I connect the left half of the keyboard to play the chords that are written in the score.
hope this makes sense
regards
jcl

[Toril S]

You can't control the MIDI file by playing chords with your left hand. But you can of course play chords with both hands along with the MIDI song. It is best to set your keyboard in full keyboard mode, turn off acomp button as starting a style only will confuse things.

[mikf]

I think that most people are puzzled by your question about playing chords because the accompaniment is already provided by the midi. If you just want to play along both hands even if the midi is playing the accompaniment you have to make sure that you have set a lh voice as well as a rh voice or set the keyboard mode to full keyboard  so the voice you have set for the melody in the rh also plays in the lh.
To be honest, I think you need to start by experimenting with just playing the keyboard with different settings, with and without a style playing, before you start to mess with midi. Then everything will start to make sense to you.
Have you read the manual??
Mike

[Fred Smith]

Thanks for all your replies
Mike that is exactly what I want to do play along with them so lets take a simple song the wonder of you I have the midi file
which I purchased from yamaha it's an XT file  and it has the score so I can read the music off the screen I know how to mute the voice
so I play the midi and I can play the melody reading the music now what I can't fathom out is how to play the chords on the keyboard
from the midi file how do I connect the left half of the keyboard to play the chords that are written in the score.
hope this makes sense
regards
jcl

If you want to play chords, you're far better off using a style, rather than a midi.

Cheers,
Fred

[jcl123]

Thanks Fred and Mike
Mike have I read the manual ? I've got both the user manual and the reference manual and I do look at them occasionally but they
send you around in circles to different pages  so I find it much easier to look at keyboardamerica videos and read the lessons on here.
It does actually say in the user manual page 68 I think that you can play along with midi files but doesn't  tell you how to do it.

I think that Fred has probably given me the right advice which is forget midi use styles which is what I will try.
thanks regards Fred