Genos and a DAW?

[Michael Trigoboff]

I installed Yamaha's USB-MIDI Driver V3.1.4 for Win 10, connected my PC To my Genos with a USB cable, and was able to to get MIDI from the Genos into Cubase and back out to the Genos. So far, so good.

In Cubase, the Genos shows up as "Digital Workstation 1" and "Digital Workstation 2." I can select either one and everything works fine.

My questions are:

• Why are there two of them?
• Where did that name "Digital Workstation #" come from?

Thanks...

[Michael Trigoboff]

Found the answer to the first question in the reference manual, page 146. There are two MIDI ports, as shown in the diagram.

[overover]

Found the answer to the first question in the reference manual, page 146. There are two MIDI ports, as shown in the diagram.

Hi mtrigoboff,

Yes, Yamaha arranger keyboards like Genos, Tyros1-5 and PSR-S/SX models have two internal MIDI Ports.

Port 1 = MIDI A (IN / OUT)
Port 2 = MIDI B (IN / OUT)

RECEIVE via USB-MIDI:
- "Digital Workstation-1" is the USB-MIDI IN (Receive) on Port 1.
- "Digital Workstation-2" is the USB-MIDI IN (Receive) on Port 2.

TRANSMIT via USB-MIDI:
- "Digital Workstation" is the USB-MIDI OUT (Transmit) on Port 1.
- Note: There is no USB-MIDI OUT for Port 2! If you want to transmit certain parts that are assigned to "Port 2 Transmit" by default via USB-MIDI, you have to assign them to "Port 1 Transmit" (and to save the new assignment as a user MIDI template).


The standard MIDI template is "All Parts". When this template is selected, the SONG parts (MIDI channels 1 - 16) are assigned to "Port 1 Receive", so select "Digital Workstation-1" as MIDI OUT Port for the MIDI tracks in your DAW. Via "Digital Workstation-2" you would control/change (among others) the Keyboard parts of the Genos. This is only required in exceptional cases.

Important: With "All Parts", the Genos keyboard parts (Right 1-3 and Left) are transmitted on MIDI channels 1-4 (Port 1), but only if the respective keyboard part is switched ON.

Alternatively you can use the MIDI template "KBD & STYLE". Basically this is the same as "All Parts". The difference is  that here the keyboard area above the Left Split point is treated as "Upper" part (transmitted on Ch 1). The area below the Left Split point is treated as "Lower" part (transmitted on Ch 2). Note: The keyboard data is also sent here if all keyboard parts are switched OFF.


Hope this helps!

Best regards,
Chris

[overover]

P.S.
To avoid so called "MIDI Loops", be sure either to switch off the MIDI THRU function in the DAW or to switch the Genos to "Local control OFF" in MIDI setting.


Best regards,
Chris

[Michael Trigoboff]

Yes, Yamaha arranger keyboards like Genos, Tyros1-5 and PSR-S/SX models have two internal MIDI Ports.

I would be curious to see a specific example of when having 2 MIDI ports would be useful. Wouldn't the Genos work the same if you sent everything going to MIDI port #2 over MIDI port #1 instead?

[Rick D.]

mtrigoboff

A perfect example is if you had a MFC-10 Midi Pedal board. This would take MIDI 1, then you could use the MIDI 2 for your PC and DAW.

Rick D.

[overover]

I would be curious to see a specific example of when having 2 MIDI ports would be useful. Wouldn't the Genos work the same if you sent everything going to MIDI port #2 over MIDI port #1 instead?

Hi mtrigoboff,

The Genos has 32 internal MIDI parts (Ports 1 & 2) that can all play simultaneously:
4 Keyboard parts
8 Style parts
4 Multi Pad parts
16 Song parts

These parts can also be addressed externally via MIDI (Receive). In addition, each part can be sent externally (Transmit). So there are 2 * 16 Receive channels and 2 * 16 Transmit channels.

If required, all parts can be used simultaneously via the DIN MIDI sockets A/B IN/OUT (Receive & Transmit).

As already mentioned, it is not possible to transmit via USB-MIDI on Port 2 due to technical limitations. In most cases this is not a problem, since it is usually sufficient if the keyboard parts and, if applicable, style and multi pad parts can be sent via USB-MIDI Port 1 and recorded on the DAW.

What would not be possible with USB-MIDI, for example, is playing a MIDI file and some Keyboard parts on the Genos at the same time and recording all 16 MIDI file channels plus the Keyboard channels in the DAW at the same time.


Best regards,
Chris