The PSR-E models don't have Function menu settings for assigning specific parts to specific MIDI IN or MIDI OUT channels, so you're stuck with using the default MIDI OUT channels for the various parts, as follows:
KEYBOARD PARTS
- Main Voice = Channel 1
- Dual Voice = Channel 2
- Split Voice = Channel 3
STYLE PARTS
- Drums = Channels 9 & 10
- Bass = Channel 11
- Chord 1 = Channel 12
- Chord 2 = Channel 13
- Pad = Channel 14
- Phrases = Channels 15 & 16
SONG PARTS
There are three Function menu settings which control which types of parts will be sent to the (USB) MIDI OUT port:
- Keyboard Out
- Style Out
- Song Out
As long as the Keyboard Out function is turned on, the Main Voice will always be output, but the Dual Voice will be output only if Dual is turned on, and the Split Voice will be output only if Split is turned on. Note that the Dual Voice always outputs the same Note events as the Main Voice, although the actual Note values might be different depending on the Main Octave and Dual Octave settings.
The style parts will be output only if the Style Out function is turned on, but not all styles use all eight style parts, so the actual number of channels that will be output will depend on the specific style being used. Custom expansion styles might use different channels than the ones listed above, but standard Yamaha styles normally use the channels listed.
The song parts will be output only if the Song Out function is turned on, but only User Songs can be output; preset songs and song files are prevented from being output, presumably as a type of copyright protection. When you record a User Song, the resulting User Song can actually use up to 16 channels, depending on whether or not you record any tracks with the Dual Voice turned on, and whether or not you record an Accompaniment track. The channels used by the Main Voice and (if applicable) the Dual Voice will vary from track to track so they won't conflict with each other. For example, if I remember correctly Track 1 records the Main Voice to channel 1 and the Dual Voice to channel 11, whereas Track 2 records the Main Voice to channel 2 and the Dual Voice to channel 12, but I might be wrong about that. I think Track 6 records the Accompaniment events-- that is, the Style Number, Style Volume, Style Variation, chord changes, and section changes-- to channel 6. The channels might get rearranged when you use the Save SMF operation to convert a User Song to a MIDI song file. They might also get rearranged when you use the Song Out setting to output a User Song to the computer.
As far as recording multiple keyboard tracks in a DAW, you can normally output only three channels at once-- Main (1), Dual (2), and Split (3), with Dual essentially being a carbon copy of Main except for any difference in their octave offsets. So the normal procedure would be to record up to three channels at once in the DAW, then record up to three more channels, and so on. Note that this assumes you aren't using a style, but if you are then those channels could also be recorded in the DAW.
Let's say you are going to record only one voice at a time-- the Main Voice, which is output on channel 1. You would add a new MIDI track in your DAW, select the keyboard as the MIDI source port, and indicate that you want to record only channel 1. When you start recording the track, you'll need to use the Initial Send operation to send the keyboard's settings to the DAW before you actually start to play, so the selected voice and all of its voice settings will be captured at the beginning of the track.
Alternatively, you could record the track without using the Initial Send operation, but then you would need to set up the desired voice and all of its voice settings in the track's settings.
After you record one track, you would add another new MIDI track in your DAW, select the keyboard as the MIDI source port, and indicate that you want to record only channel 1. Then you would need to be sure that you arm the new track for recording
but do not arm the track(s) you've already recorded, since you don't want to record over them. Once you've recorded the new track, you should be able to use the DAW's functions to change the MIDI channel number on all of the events in the new track.
Alternatively, you could leave each track's MIDI events on channel 1 as they were recorded, and simply change the track's settings to send them back to the keyboard on different channels.
When you're done, you should be able to play back all of the tracks at once and send them to the keyboard on different channels to be sounded and recorded to an audio track. Or you might prefer to play back each track by itself and record the audio to its own individual audio track, such that you end up with multiple audio tracks. That way you can edit and adjust each audio track as desired before mixing them all down to a final recording.
What's your DAW?
