Layering on the P255

[PAcityguy]

I use to have a P120 which I had for over 15 years and has served me well. I recently purchased a P255 and will be using it at my next performance in a couple of days. I am trying to match the functionality of the two for the songs i sing and two things I don't see. The first is a minor one. I am looking for a Honky-tonk sound (only used for one or two songs so no big deal). The other is being able to layer a piano sound then go up an octave and use the same piano sound. I use this more often. Any ideas would be great. Thank you.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

As far as I can see from the manual, you're right on both counts-- there is no Honky-tonk piano voice; and the Dual function doesn't let you use two voices from the same category, so you can't layer the same voice on top of itself in a different octave. I'm kind of surprised at both, because I would have expected the P-255 to be superior to the P-120.

One possible workaround would be to run a MIDI cable from the P-255's MIDI Out to a MIDI processing box that can change the channel number on the events and transpose the Note events up or down an octave, then run the MIDI back to the P-255's MIDI In. Then the notes you play on channel 1 could be sent back on channel 2, using the same voice but shifted an octave, giving you the result you're wanting.

 

[PAcityguy]

SeaGtGruff. Thank you so much for the response and the advice. It is a shame that the P255 does not have these functions but other then those two things it is a big step up from the P120. The overall feel and action of the keys is so much better.

For playing live I create loops on the fly with the TC-Helicon Voice Live processor and it would be tough to add another step in the start of a song but I will keep that in mind when recording.