WK240: How does the "GM Trumpet" voice differ from the non-GM "Trumpet" voice?

[Little-Acorn]

Or more generally, how are the GM voices different from their non-GM counterparts? My Casio WK-240 keyboard has both.

Does GM stand for General MIDI? Do the GM voices do something that the non-GM voices don't? Like maybe send out MIDI commands from the USB port in some special way?

I've looked thru the User's Manual that came with the keyboard, couldn't find any mention of GM voices in particular, yet. I'll keep digging. But a few hints would be handy.

Thanx all!

 

[CowboyNQ]

Hi There,

This might help?

http://support.casio.com/storage/en/manual/pdf/EN/008/LK50_13_EN.pdf

Not specifically for your keyboard but a Casio document which explains how they apply the term "General MIDI".

Cheers!

 

[Little-Acorn]

Hi There,

This might help?

http://support.casio.com/storage/en/manual/pdf/EN/008/LK50_13_EN.pdf

Not specifically for your keyboard but a Casio document which explains how they apply the term "General MIDI".

Cheers!

Thanks, CowboyNQ. It talks about MIDI in general for a different keyboard, but doesn't mention the difference between the voices I asked about. I don't know if they are in the keyboard your link was written for.

Thanks for the try, though. Every little bit helps!

 

[CowboyNQ]

No problem. I had assumed the answer might lie on page E-36 where they talk about switching GM mode "on" and "off".

My idea was that by extrapolating on this concept, perhaps on your specific keyboard Casio might have had the GM mode inbuilt into the voices you speak of, rather than have the whole keyboard switching "on" and "off", as in the Casio manual I sent you. I didn't look at your manual as I got the impression from your post you'd already done that.

Unfortunately that's all I've got for you as my only other Casio experience is limited to some cool dust covers. However there are a quite a few Casio users/advocates on here so they will no doubt be able to add further value.

Cheers!

 

[SeaGtGruff]

The GM tones are usually not as good as the non-GM tones.

 

[happyrat1]

Usually but not always. The Casio and Kurzweil GM tones are of equal quality to the manufacturer "native" sounds.

But as a general rule you can consider the GM soundset to be a subset of the native soundset that's intended for use with GM files on ANY GM compatible synthesizer.

Think of it as a bare bones Swiss army knife of sounds whereas the rest of the sounds are the "deluxe" version.

Gary

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Usually but not always.

I probably should have said "often" rather than usually, since I don't know if the percentage of times is above 50% or below 50%. And "not as good" might not have been the best choice of adjective, because on a decent keyboard the GM tones should be pretty decent. But often the GM tones will sound a little "flatter" or "thinner" than the non-GM versions, or will be "plain vanilla" by comparison. That doesn't necessarily mean the GM tone won't sound as good-- it may even sound "better," depending on your preferences. For example, the Yamaha PSR-E443's "panel" Trumpet tones have a vibrato added to them that I personally find very annoying, whereas the XG Trumpet tones don't have the vibrato and therefore sound better to my ears.