How to use DATA LIST voices/sounds - Struggling for this info.

[boogoo]

how do you select a voice / instrument shown in the data list and play it on psr s970, I mean the steps involved

e.g i need to play fantasia instrument or have the rain drop sound (shown in the data list manual)

[panos]

Hi boogoo
Do you mean the Voice list?
https://ca.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/9/437559/psrs970_en_dl_b0.pdf

All the voices are in categories(the categories you see on the right side of the keyboard+3 more  categories you can search only by pressing right 1(or right 2 or left) and "up" on your screen.

You can search for a voice in the pdf above using ctrl+f to see in which category it is.
Also for sounds like a rain,thunder etc(just sounds without specific pitch to be used as notes) are in the drumkits called like SFX Kit 1,SFX Kit 2 etc

So the "fantasia" voice is on the Choir & Pad category.

You know how to choose voices on the keyboard right?

[SeaGtGruff]

In case you're talking about selecting voices via MIDI, the most important thing you need to understand is that the Bank Select numbers and Program Change numbers might need to be adjusted, and that this can vary depending on which DAW you're using.

There is only one numbering system as far as the actual MIDI events are concerned-- 0 through 127. But as far as documentation, hardware, and software are concerned, there are two possible numbering systems-- 0 through 127, and 1 through 128. For whatever reason, companies and individuals who create MIDI hardware and software seem to have decided that most human beings are incapable of counting from 0, so they have taken it upon themselves to convert the 0-through-127 values into 1-through-128 values. That wouldn't be so bad, except they've done this inconsistently, and all it's done (in my honest and humble opinion) is create a huge and confusing mess.

Converting from one system to the other is simple-- just add or subtract 1 as needed to adjust the value.

The trick is knowing when to do that, and whether you need to add or subtract. And the main reason it's so tricky is because of the lack of consistency about it.

In Yamaha's voice lists, Bank Select MSB and LSB values are printed using 0-through-127 values. As far as I know, other keyboard manufacturers do this as well, and most DAWs use these values, so the Bank Select values usually aren't a problem. But there might be exceptions.

For instance, the Ableton Live DAW uses the 1-through-128 numbering system for the Bank Select MSB and LSB values, and essentially uses a value of 0 to mean "Ignore this field because its value hasn't been set." So if you're using Ableton Live, you'll need to add 1 to Yamaha's Bank Select MSB and LSB values when you enter them into the corresponding Ableton Live fields.

Another possibility is that you might need to combine the Bank Select MSB and LSB values to get a single Bank number. To do this, you would multiply the MSB value by 128, then add the LSB value, to get a single Bank value from 0 through 16383. Fortunately, the chance of running into software like that is remote. And you might even need to add 1 to that single Bank value to get a value from 1 through 16384, but the chance of having to do that is even more remote.

By far the most likely possibility is that you'll need to enter the Bank Select MSB and LSB values exactly as Yamaha prints them, but that you'll need to either subtract 1 from the Program Change numbers or, if your DAW uses the 1-through-128 values (as Ableton Live does), that you'll be able to enter the Program Change values exactly as Yamaha prints them.

If I've made it sound like a big, complicated mess, it really isn't-- as long as you're aware of the situation and are careful to check your DAW to see which numbers it uses versus which numbers Yamaha uses so you can adjust the numbers as needed.