Creating Registrations

[Divemaster]

Registrations are something I am finding extremely difficult to grasp. To the point of not using them.

So my question is this.
Are there any registration lessons specifically available for the PSR SX series of keyboards.

Whilst I see such tuition for Tyros and earlier keyboards, these are massively appreciated, BUT because they rely on OLDER non touchscreen keyboards, they are created for older keyboards using a lot of button pressing, and just don't translate into more modern keyboards.

The PSR-SX700 and 900 Manuals are not the best, and assume (wrongly) a pre-level of expertise.

Videos on YouTube are disappointing. One in particular shows an old guy with a pork pie hat who goes to great lengths to explain it on an SX900, but then halfway through he says "You'll have noticed I made a mistake a while back"  well obviously NO.... I didn't because he knows..... He's teaching..... Not me, and it just completely threw me. He lost me from that point! At my age I want to follow steps... 1 2 3 4 5 etc.

So anyone? Thanks

Keith.

[EileenL]

Registrations are always a personal choice of what type of voices you like. Just start off with trying different sounds combinations you like. These could be Piano and strings or a mix of brass and woodwind for big band. When you find a sound that you like then Just press memory and registration number you want it in. If you find some OTS mixes you like these can be saved the same way into a registration. If you want these registrations to be used by any style you chose then you must first go into your memory and take the ticks out of style and tempo before saving.
When you have something you are happy with then you need to save and name this registration to your user or USB.
  What keyboard do you have. I have the SX900 and can let you have some registrations if you would like then.

[Divemaster]

Thank you Eileen!

I have the SX700 (2 of them).
I've really struggled to get my head round Registrations, and anything would be a help.
But I don't want to take the lazy way out... I want to understand them. I've tried several times but never grasp the basics.
I play mostly Easy Listening styles, light jazz, sax and pianos. Definitely not pop.

Any help is very welcome. Bless you.
Keith

[EileenL]

Hello Keith I see you are in the UK as am I.
  Registrations are not hard to create once you know how. Firstly you have to decide what you want saved with your voices. For instance I use two effect pedals so I would
press my memory button and take a look at what box's I had ticked. I would therefore want a tick in foot pedals. I prefer to use transpose when I want it and not set it to a registration so I would not want a tick in that one.
  Having done all that I would start off with a blank bank and now decide what style I wanted saved and what variation I wanted to start with. You then start trying what voices will suit the type of songs you are going to play with this style. You can use all three voice slots to give you a nice full sound or individual ones. This is your choice.
  You now play a few bars with the style and if you like it you simply touch Memory and chose one of the eight buttons to save it to. This button will now be illuminated
  Just carry on selecting the voices you want and the style variation saving as above
When you have what you want you can now run through the bank with a couple of songs and see if it is what you want. If at this point the volume needs adjustment or you don't like one of the voices you have chosen then you can alter them now before you save it.
  When you are happy with it Press Regist. at top of screen and select File .Now select save and chose where you want to put it. Press Save here and name your registration then press OK. That's it.

[mikf]

Eileen, you say that it is simple, but frankly, when you read your instructions, it's actually not that simple, there are multiple steps. Yes, like many things, it's easy when you know how, but in my view it's really not as intuitive as I think it could be. I believe it's one of the areas that could be much improved.
Mike.

[dlepera]

Hi Keith.

   I sent you a message. Please read, I have no problem showing you how it's done.  I can also tell you about my lessons learned.  I was like you when I first got my SX700. Tried to find people to show things and looked for anyone that provided lessons and the best lessons I got was from these wonderful supporters on this form.
    God bless then all. So today I am enjoy music in a way I never thought possible for me.  Exclude this stupid search issue that I am having now but that is another story as you know.

   So acknowledge my free offer arrangement as I have done that with a few other people in the past a few years back and it worked well.

        dom
               

[Divemaster]

Hi Dom, and thanks for your kind offer and your private message.

I'm going to defer on it for now, as I am in the process of packing up our home in the NE of England to move much further South, so I have a lot going on currently. Weather up here is quite literally killing my health, so that's priority at the moment.

Your search issue isn't stupid, it's very concerning, so I'll continue to follow it. 😊

But at some stage in the future, I'll take you up on your suggestion. Thank you.

Very kind regards

Keith

[Fred Smith]

Registrations operate similarly on all Yamaha keyboards. The best tutorial are my videos  (link in signature)

Cheers,
Fred

[richkeys]

I agree with Mike that the registration system is not very intuitive. And the Yamaha manual seems like it was written by a robot rather than a musician, so shame on Yamaha for that.

Everyone's brain is wired differently with different levels of tech understanding. I am not the most technical person but when I got my SX900 a year ago I willed myself to understand it's capabilities. Time & effort went into reading the manuals, looking at video tutorials and most importantly asking specific targeted questions here on this forum. Responses here from people like Eileen, Chris, Bogdan, Fred, Mark, Graham, JoeH all go into my own homemade text manual that I can refer to and that has really helped a lot.

Keith, I would suggest you save Eileen's comments above, you might find they'll come in handy once your understanding of registrations improve. The YouTube old guy tutorial you are referring to is probably Leon Castonguay. I suggest you re-watch that video later on, it's a pretty good registration tutorial actually. See Fred's video on creating a setup registration which I think is a must do before creating a whole bunch of your own registration banks.

Rich

[Duurduur]

I agree with what has been said about Leon Castonguay. I have followed his instructional videos about registrations and he explains it very well. He needs a lot of words to explain it, that's true, but it's all very clear. But that's my opinion.

Regards Ruud

[overover]

Registrations are something I am finding extremely difficult to grasp. To the point of not using them. ...

Hi Keith,

Personally, I find Yamaha's Registration Memory concept fundamentally very easy to understand:

A single registration, i.e. the data stored on a specific Registration Memory button 1 - 8 (or 1 - 10 for Genos models), is nothing more than a "screenshot" of the current panel settings when the registration is memorized.

After pressing the MEMORY button you can specify which parameter groups should be memorized and which not. Only the parameters of memorized groups will be changed when the registration is called up later. Then press the desired Reg Memory button (on which you want to memorize the current panel settings).

Example: If the STYLE box is NOT ticked when memorizing a registration, the currently set STYLE and the current LEFT VOICE remain unchanged when you call up this registration later.

It is important that you always save the current Registration Bank (= current content of all the registration buttons) as a file after making changes (on the USB stick or in the internal User drive).

Another important point is that you should not subsequently change the storage location or file names of external files used in registrations (Styles, MIDI files, Multi Pad files, TXT files on the USB stick or in the internal User drive). Otherwise, the relevant registrations will no longer be able to find the linked files.

It's actually nothing more. If the things I've described here are followed, there should be no problems creating, using, or modifying registrations.


Hope this helps!

Best regards,
Chris

[richkeys]

Another important point is that you should not subsequently change the storage location or file names of external files used in registrations (Styles, MIDI files, Multi Pad files, TXT files on the USB stick or in the internal User drive). Otherwise, the relevant registrations will no longer be able to find the linked files.

Hi Chris,
Not sure if I asked this before, but say I don't move around those files used in registrations, but instead move around or rename the registration file banks themselves in internal User. Could that also break the links? I don't want to experiment with this to see for myself.

Rich

[overover]

Hi Chris,
Not sure if I asked this before, but say I don't move around those files used in registrations, but instead move around or rename the registration file banks themselves in internal User. Could that also break the links? I don't want to experiment with this to see for myself.

Rich

Hi Rich,

You can move/copy Registration Bank files to any location/folder in User drive or on a USB stick. You can also rename Reg Bank files (and/or the folders in which they are stored) at any time. The Registrations will always work.

Only external files used in the Registrations (e.g. User Styles) and/or the folders in which these files are stored may not be subsequently moved or renamed. Otherwise, each individual Registration would have to be edited (re-memorized and then the Bank file re-saved).

Alternatively, you could use Murray Best's Yamaha Registration Manager. By using this PC (Windows) program the file paths in Registration Bank files can also be changed in Batch Mode, i.e. for all Bank files in a folder.


Best regards,
Chris

[mikf]

Funny the way that people say 'it's so simple' then go on to explain why and the why still reads like a tech manual
The fact is that it is simple if you know how .. but it cannot be that simple because we seen posts here all the time of how it trips people up.
Which box do you tick to save the fingering mode ?... you think that's obvious?
Mike

[overover]

Funny the way that people say 'it's so simple' then go on to explain why and the why still reads like a tech manual
The fact is that it is simple if you know how .. but it cannot be that simple because we seen posts here all the time of how it trips people up.
Which box do you tick to save the fingering mode ?... you think that's obvious?
Mike

Hi Mike,

It should be clear that the (currently used) Fingering Type is memorized with the STYLE box in Registrations (because there is no separate box for it). If you always play with the same Fingering Type, you can lock it in the "Parameter Lock" display, as mentioned many times in the forum.

What may not be immediately understandable is that the LEFT VOICE settings are also memorized with the STYLE box. But once you've heard/read this (or found it out by trying it out), you'll probably never forget it again...

By the way, such details ("what is saved where") can be seen relatively easily in the Data List manual of the respective keyboard (section "Parameter Chart").


Best regards,
Chris

[Fred Smith]

Funny the way that people say 'it's so simple' then go on to explain why and the why still reads like a tech manual
The fact is that it is simple if you know how .. but it cannot be that simple because we seen posts here all the time of how it trips people up.
Which box do you tick to save the fingering mode ?... you think that's obvious?
Mike

I don't know many people who say registrations are simple. The reason there are so many tutorials around is because they're not simple. But they are powerful, and can be learned by most anyone. That's what all the tutorials are for.


Cheers,
Fred

[EileenL]

Like everything else registrations are not difficult to set up once you know how. The beauty of Yamaha keyboards is that they have used the same system for years and an awful lot of us have had previous Yamaha keyboards. Genos and Genos2 are no different except you use a touch screen to carry out the instructions.
The most important thing is to set up all the things you want to happen when you use your registration. Most of this is done by selecting these things in the memory and making sure they have a tick in the boxes you want saved, also if you are going to use the freeze button set this up as well. Then just choose a style. If you are making a registration for the first time I would suggest you use an on board style and there will be no problem with the reg. finding the right style. Now you need to set up the voices you want to use and the volume you want them at, you can also adjust the volumes of your style. These will all be saved when you press memory and a registration button. I have already described the rest of the procedure on this thread above.
Like everything else the more you do this the easier it becomes.

[cyber swine]

I am one year in with my Genos journey.  I had no prior arranger experience, and that prior experience I have found is something many forum members take for granted and just naturally  assume exists.  Understanding the manuals and multitude of instructions (and terminology) is far from simple and not having an instant grasp on essential details is not a sign of either laziness or a lack of attention to detail.  So....  after my one year I am reasonably competent in operating system basics but all too well aware of how much I probably don't know and how much I still need to learn.  I'm a retired systems guy and therefore probably not entirely stupid but some of this stuff has been a challenge.  All you folk with years of arranger lore under your belts might cut a little slack to newbies because, no Virginia, it ain't easy.

[mikf]

My point is not that setting up registrations are impossible, or that there is insufficient help, or guidance on how. That all exists, but it exists for the reason Fred says - because it is not that simple.
My point is that surely Yamaha after all these years could have come up with a way to make it more intuitive. But basically it's been tripping people up and the same for over 20 years.
Basically you should be able to set everything for a song just the way you want, press one button, and it's saved. Maybe it can never be exactly that, since you have to save it in a way to be able to retrieve it. But the goal should be to get much closer to that than it is now.
Chris, I already know how the fingering set up is saved, but the first time I did it it was far from obvious that it could be done, never mind how. And even where you might find the information in two pretty big manuals is not obvious. Of course you could ask here - usually after getting exasperated trying to work it out on your own - and get the answer .... But you shouldn't have to.
Mike

[Divemaster]

Thanks to you all for the interest that this post of mine has generated. I've taken on board a lot of what's been suggested.
But it needs updating for what to do on the SX and Genos models with completely different touch screen and keyboard layouts.
Demonstrating it on earlier keyboards, whilst interesting is mostly button pressing. Those buttons around the screen simply aren't there on more modern arrangers. That's where it could do with updating. Thanks.

Keith

[Fred Smith]

I am one year in with my Genos journey.  I had no prior arranger experience, and that prior experience I have found is something many forum members take for granted and just naturally  assume exists.  Understanding the manuals and multitude of instructions (and terminology) is far from simple and not having an instant grasp on essential details is not a sign of either laziness or a lack of attention to detail.  So....  after my one year I am reasonably competent in operating system basics but all too well aware of how much I probably don't know and how much I still need to learn.  I'm a retired systems guy and therefore probably not entirely stupid but some of this stuff has been a challenge.  All you folk with years of arranger lore under your belts might cut a little slack to newbies because, no Virginia, it ain't easy.

Ok. How do we cut you a little slack?

Some of us have spent hundreds of hours helping people with registrations. Murray Best wrote 20,000 lines of code to help people convert registrations.

Was this time all spent in vain? Would you rather we didn't reply to your posts? Sorry if I misunderstood that when you post here, you're actually looking for some help.

Cheers,
Fred

[EileenL]

If you find it so complicated to set up registrations there are places you can purchase them from such as Strawberry Music.

[Divemaster]

I am sure nobody is criticising the very hard work that a lot of the registration tuition is based on Fred. Certainly not me! I'm grateful for it. 😊

I think its a bit like when we're all in the comfort of our own neighbourhoods and driving from A to B.
We just get in the car at point A and go to point B.

It's familiarity.

We do it almost automatically without even thinking how we got there.

But if I took you into My city, or conversely you took me into Yours, without guidance from a map or satnav we'd both probably get lost.

Does that make sense?

But on the good side... I think I'm beginning to grasp it.... A bit. So Thank you all. 

Keith.

[mikf]

Cyber swine
It's a fact that these instruments have a lot of functionality. Just like an iPhone or computer. But another fact is that you don't need to be able to use all of it that functionality for the instrument to be useful, fun and fulfilling - just like most of us never learn to do absolutely everything on an iPhone or computer. We don't need it.
Registrations are a good example. They are almost an essential for the gig player, so they better put in the time to get comfortable with it.
But do they really matter that much for a home hobby player? I'm not saying use them or don't use them, but it's not life or death. I personally never bother much with them because I don't  see them as worth the trouble. Even when you know how, you still need to organize them in a way you can easily find them later. I just can't be bothered with the effort. I sit at the arranger to play music, not to run a filing system. Not doing it doesn't spoil my enjoyment, and I don't thing doing it would add to my enjoyment.
For most of us playing at home you just need to think of a song, pick a style and voice, tap in the tempo. I don't care that it's exactly the same as the last time, in fact I like it being a bit different. For the same reason, I never got into using someone else's registrations. I make my own decision about what sounds good, and if it doesn't I don't care because no one else hears it and I'll do it differently next time anyway.

So, in general, as a beginner, or a hobby player, just find a way to play. Don't think it will all be a lot better if I just learn to use this function or that function.  Ask a specific question here when you get stuck. Mostly you will not just get help, but get a lot of it, and maybe more than you need!
Mike

[Amwilburn]

Did I find registrations obvious and intuitive? yes, but that's possibly because I have 2 degrees (B.A.Sc. Civil Engineering, T.Dipl. Computer Science) or possibly because I've been training here at Tom Lee Music since I was 6 years old (yes, really). To me, they're just a snapshot of all the current settings at the moment I hit save (however, the oddball "Style" checkmark being responsible for the "Left voice" was *not* intuitive).

Are they strightforward for everyone? Clearly not, otherwise I wouldn't get so many customers asking me how to do it! And likewise, there wouldn't be so many tutorials on how to do them either.
Are they needed for everyone? Nope. One of my customers, when he was struggling with the computer operation steps (not a pc person) I showed him how to program OTS, and it was like a 4 button registration built into the style, and he was happy with that! (you can even program left and right hand into parts into OTS!). When I'm doing my demos, I often use default styles with OTS or even custom ones with OTS, just to skip any faffling about. But for my youtube demos, nearly all use registrations (but Pedro's incredible youtube demos are nearly all custom styles with custom OTS, except his multi tracked /multi pass Mandalorian theme).

It really depends what you need the instrument to do.

Mark

[richkeys]

Keith,
I suggest posting a specific question about what you are trying to do with registrations. That way some of the experts here might have a better idea where your level of understanding is at. There's more than one way to use registrations depending on personal workflow.

I began by understanding how to memorize my own voices into the OTS buttons and save that as a new custom style, which is one way to play without even using or thinking about registrations, because those 4 style variation and 4 OTS buttons behave somewhat similar to registration buttons. Once that concept became clear, I then focused on how I wanted to use registrations and asked a whole bunch of questions here. The bottom line is registrations offer a lot of flexibility depending on what you are trying to do. If you are not sure how you plan to use them then you need to just do a lot of experimentation.

By the way I see you have a PA5X in your signature. How is that one going?

Rich

[Divemaster]

Thanks Rich.

I'm beginning to follow through on Eileen's suggestions and starting to make progress, so I will persevere. Early days.

My Pa5X is obviously a very different beast. To say I'm blown away with it is an understatement. Such a
responsive and professional feel to it, and the build quality is very good. I'm enjoying it immensely.

[Bill]

Hi Keith

A YouTube video on registrations. It shows the procedure for a Genos 1 but the method is the same for the SX series.

https://youtu.be/ocYzJhzD4Is?si=VprzB_0sWl-0BuVE

Bill

[Divemaster]

Bill, Thank you very much.

Just settling in for the night 22.15 over here, but I'll check this out tomorrow. Really appreciate it. 😊

Keith.

[travlin-easy]

Many years ago, I wrote a detailed explanation about registrations, how to create them and how they worked. For me, it was easy, but for others, it has been a nightmare.

Essentially, registrations are just a readily accessible data base that is built into your arranger keyboard. It is no different than any other data base, other than its limitations of parameters you can input and select.

Now, don't feel ashamed that you are having a problem comprehending registrations. Some of the best players I know cannot figure out how to create them, or control them. For both Fred and myself, it was fairly easy, but for some, it has been an absolute nightmare.

I know my file is likely still on this site, somewhere, but for the life of me, I cannot recall exactly where it is located. Maybe Roger or Joe can point it out. It's a real, basic explanation - nothing more, nothing less.

I found it! https://www.psrtutorial.com/lessons/playing/regist/10regGD.html

Good luck,

Gary