Cakewalk INS file for PSR-S970

[beakybird]

Does anyone have an instrument definition file for the S970? I want to do some recording, and I have Cakewalk. Thanks

[pluto]

Hi everyone,

Breakybird, I have created a Sonar/Cakewalk INS file for the S970 over the last few days by modifying the S950 version by Bill Grosse and Heiko Plate (available on Jorgen's jososoft website). I have attached it as a text file to upload into this forum, so remove the .txt extension. I am using the trial version of Sonar to determine if I can use it effectively, to decide if I will purchase a license.

A few notes about this S970 INS file:

1. I am a novice with INS files, so any mistakes are likely to be mine rather than the original authors. Any help from those with more experience to check it is okay is desirable. I have passed it through the INS checker on Jorgen's website, and there are no errors, but that does not mean the INS file I have created is problem free.

2. I have not yet tested the INS file with Sonar because at this stage I am just using the trial version to see if I can use it effectively for my simple tasks. This is the ultimate test of whether it is working I would think. I did try an earlier version of the S970 INS file I created, and it did load. I realised it needed more work when I realised that I use voices from packs which I had not included in the INS file, so it was defaulting to other voices (e.g. Music Box when I was using the Violin Vib1 voice from the Church & Christmas pack).

3. Due to lack of knowledge, I have not touched the .Controller Names, .RPN Names, or .NRPN Names sections. I don't know if these require changing for the S970, or how/what.

4. I have changed the naming conventions in my INS file to be more consistent with the naming in the S970 data list manual from Yamaha. For this reason, there are a number of differences between my S970 file and the original S950 file. My reasoning is that it should make it easier to maintain and update in future, because data will come from Yamaha data lists and thus their naming conventions, and can be entered with little/no editing. Although I have noted that Yamaha are not always consistent in naming of things between keyboards, and between expansion packs. So some editing for consistency may be needed.

5. The attached INS file includes voices from the S970 expansion packs I have bought (West Europe, Church & Christmas, Easy Christmas). These
voices will not work on an S970 unless you have installed the same packs. The INS file should still load the default S970 voices into Sonar/Cakewalk and work, but it will likely list these additional pack voices too.

6. I was not able to find note names for the expansion pack drum/sfx kits, because such info does not appear to be online or on the Yamaha website. The data lists for expansion packs specify voices, styles, registrations and multi pads, but not kit note names. I therefore have not added drum/sfx kit details for these packs under the .Patch Names, .Note Names and .Instrument Definition sections in the INS file. If someone can point me to this info, I will then update the INS file to include this.

7. I do not know the kits or Sonar/Cakewalk well enough to know which drum/sfx kits I added (i.e. those in S970 but not in S950) should have these set to 1 using 'Drum[]'. Based on the online help, I assume a kit needing a drum editor should be set to 1, otherwise it should be 0 (default). My confusion relates to the settings in the S950 INS file. First, 'Drum[15360,*]=1' and 'Drum[15360,56]=0'. The first Drum[] sets all the GM2 kits to 1 (i.e. use editor). This is logical given the kits are drum-like. The second sets the only GM2 SFX kit to 0, which again is logical. The '*' enables setting multiple at once (i.e. all kits assigned to the same number). Then it has 'Drum[16256,*]=1', which sets all the S950 MSB=126 kits to use the drum editor. Again, this is logical because they are all drum-related. My confusion relates to the S950 MSB=127 'Drum[16128,35]=1' (Arabic Kit 2), 'Drum[16128,40]=1' (Cuban Kit) and 'Drum[16128,43]=1' (Pop Latin Kit). This means all other kits default to 0 (no drum editor). Why would the other similar kits (e.g. Arabic Kit 1, Arabic Mix Kit, Turkish Kit, etc) not be set to 1? I think it should be 'Drum[16128,*]=1' and then setting the SFX kits to 0 like for the MSB=126 kits (i.e. SFX Kit 1 and 2 and maybe Noises Kit)? This would be more consistent with the other settings. Should this be changed in the S950 INS file? Assuming I am right (maybe not, since I am a novice with this), then the kits in S970 (not in S950) would be set as follows: NewSFXKit1/2 (set to 0), BassDrumKit, ReverseDBKit, RealBrushes, CymbalKit, HouseKit and DrumMachine (set to 1). If I am correct, then I think I can fix the S950 INS file and finish this part of the S970 INS file.

I decided to spend some time designing a spreadsheet to help me to create the INS file, and to update it in future more easily (e.g. if I purchase new packs). I already found this when adding the Easy Christmas pack voices. The spreadsheet has worksheets for selected expansion packs, voices in the S970 and packs (from the data lists Yamaha provides), kit note names, etc. These worksheets enabled me to create other worksheets to produce the text to copy directly into an INS file.

I am happy to add this as an attachment in this forum for others to use, and adapt etc for their own purposes, assuming this is appropriate. I am not sure if Yamaha has any restrictions on how their data can be distributed, such as in spreadsheets created by others. If those more experienced in this area can advise, and if deemed appropriate I will add here and/or in a new thread.

Cheers, Pluto

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[saaimabrar]

Thanks Alot !

[Psjvent]

Thanks. Also downloaded to test i and hopefully use it with Cakewalk Sonar on my PSR S970.

[Psjvent]

Tested it in Sonar LE and did not work. Ran the InsFileChecker on it and could not make heads or tails of the error report. Removed spaces at the end of all the lines where there were spaces (did it in MS Word so I could switch on the function to see non printing characters). Once I exported it the InsFileChecker did not show any errors and it successfully imported into Sonar LE. From that I did another version without the expansion packs section which worked too.

Thanks for the file without which I would not have been able to set up Sonar LE for my PSR S970.