Keyboard Styles (Drum Beats)

[marny]

I'm wondering if anyone has created or downloaded different styles for their keyboard. I just received my Yamaha DGX-640, and I was looking for a very basic drum beat for slow-to-medium pop or ballads. I'll listen to all of them, again, but didn't really find what I was looking for. Maybe I should create/record one, using the keyboard?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[sloppydave]

You can sequence MIDI files on your computer (don't know of a particular free app, but you can try looking here) and then either play them there, upload them to the keyboard (as a "song", though, not a beat - not sure you can change those), or just play them on the keyboard from the PC. Just remember to always set the drum tracks to channel 10.

 

[marny]

I tried purchsaing a MIDI file from the Yamaha MusicSoft site, and try editing it a little. The interesting thing is that I can mute any track except the piano. The piano and percussion are on the same track. If I mute the piano, then I lose the percussion.

Has anyone run into this with a MIDI file? It seems stupid because if I'm using it on a keyboard then chances are I play the piano, and would want to mute that part.

 

[sloppydave]

In MIDI files, "regular" instruments go on all tracks except for track 10 that only does drums, so this is kind of odd.
What software are you using to mute the tracks? If it's something Yamaha made (program, but particularly filetype - check if it's a *.mid file) it might come with some wacky limitations of its own.
Try looking at it with a third party sequencer (like this). If it manages to open it, you should be able to add, remove and edit anything you want.

 

[marny]

I purchased the .mid file from Yamaha MusicSoft website, for the DGX-640 keyboard. The keyboard has the ability to mute/edit tracks. The only way to mute the piano is to mute the track that plays the drums.

I didn't try a good MIDI software, but used a free one. I got the same results. I removed the "grand piano" instrument, and it removed the drums. I even deleted certain measure for the piano portion, and those measures lost the drums as well.

Very odd. I contacted support on their website.

 

[sloppydave]

Try switching channels around, if the piano is on channel 1, change it to 3 (and change whatever's on channel 3 to something else).
Maybe move the tracks around, too. If the piano is the first track in the file, make it the second one or whatever.

I just thought of something - the instrument selection for the default drum kit is #00 which is, for all intents and purposes, "grand piano". Maybe the DGX mutes instruments instead of channels?
When you deleted the pieces from the "grand piano" track in the file, did you do that on multiple tracks? And if so, was one of them set to channel 10?

 

[marny]

Sloppy Dave,

Thanks for all the tips. I used Reaper on Saturday, which gave me the necessary control that I must have been missing. I was able to mute the instruments that I didn't want.

 

[sloppydave]

Great! Glad it worked out.