MIDI Convert from OLD PSR to new PSR or Genos - PLEASE HELP

[SG2009]

Hi team, Are there any tools that I can use to quickly convert a few OLD MIDI's there were created in the older PSR keyboard to the new PSR or Genos keyboard? Right now when I play those MIDI from the older keyboard into the newer, the voice sounds really weird. Thank you so much!

[pjd]

Hi --

I recommend reading through the software available at Jørgen Sørensen's site:

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

[ayeff]

How MIDI works really needs to be understood and then it will be quite obvious as to why it does'nt always translate well from one instrument to another.

Without getting too deep into it, the basics of MIDI is that it records three main things: Note information (pitch and velocity); Program (Voice) information and Control information.

Notes are notes and therefore G4 on a PSR is the same as G4 on a Tyros or a Genos or whatever - so note information will always be reliably translated.  Much the same can be said to many (but not all) Control information.  Program information however is where the differences lie - and these differences can be miles apart.  This is because the MIDI information that is stored is just a number.  The Spanish Guitar on one instrument might be voice number 36 whereas on a different instrument voice 36 could be a Sitar!

This is undoubtably why you are having problems.

The only way you can successfully convert your MIDI files is if you know what voices and controls you want and use a MIDI editor together with reference to the MIDI Data Lists for your instrument.  The Data List for your instrument can be downloaded from the Yamaha site.

Hope this helps to give some understanding of your problem.

Regards, Alan.

[Amwilburn]

Please note that the current arrangers, starting from the Tyros 1/PSR3000/CVP309 use a different set of drums than the keyboards pre-2000, so yes, a lot of them will sound really weird if you don't remap, revoice, and assign a new reverb for the drums; *unless* you have expansion memory and the old PSR340 retropack drum installed on your keyboard, then you can at least get 1 of the pre-2000's kits for use in the old styles.

Probably simpler to just edit the reverb and drum kit to work on the newer keyboards though (when I bring old midis to post-2000 Yamaha arrangers, it often cuts off all the reverb, and for some reason, chorus was added to almost every track back then, which sounds horribly unnecessary on anything other than bass, ep's and synths; very lightly on *some* guitars. If you're not sure, set chorus dsp to 0!

Mark