Yamaha PSS-780 Midi problem

[xteejx]

Hi all,

Noob here so sorry if this question has already been answered, I have searched the forum.
I have a Yamaha PSS-780 keyboard and bought a USB-MIDI cable and it works great with Synthesia to learn and play along with.

The problem I have is that when I tell anything to output midi to the keyboard, i.e. play through it's speakers, all the instruments sound wrong and there is no percussion at all.

If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you

 

[Burn4Him]

I dont think the Yamaha PSS-780 is capable of playing back beats from midi.

 

[Skipp]

When using MIDI you can have a keyboard set up either as a master (The one you use to control another keyboard/module/software) or a slave (the one that is being controled).

It sounds to me like you're trying to send midi data to the keyboard from your PC,
and I really think it can't work that way

And like mentioned above, i really doubt you can send full tracks onto the PSS
and expect them to play back. Unless it has an option to load GM files
via floppy or something like that.

Doesn't work via MIDI.

 

[xteejx]

Yes, I am trying to send midi data TO the keyboard FROM the PC by telling it to output all midi data while playing to the keyboard, which does in fact work to a degree.
If the midi file is complex it gets buffer overloaded/overflow error.
I assume all the Pc is doing is sending the midi events, i.e. note, length, etc to the keyboard instead of the keys being pressed.
The only problem is that:

1. Percussion tends to sound like a deep bass version of a "string", i.e. violin or something.
2. The instruments are wrong.

I think Burn4Him may be right on the percussion point.
I think the second point is probably to do with the fact that the instruments on the keyboard itself aren't the same as what is shown if the midi file is opened in a midi editing program, i.e. instrument number 64 in a program isn't the same as 64 on the keyboard.

Also, regarding percussion, channel 16 seems to be the assigned one for percussion on the keyboard (ref: Manual pg 32-33).

I have all this information but it is completely foreign to me and is really hard to understand.

If anyone is able to translate this to layman terms and/or know how to translate a midi to "PSS-780" capable midi that would really help.

But it definitely tries its hardest to play midi files sent to it on-the-fly, i.e. played through it, and it does kinda work

 

[xteejx]

Actually, I've had a look again at the keyboard and I think all it needs is percussion sent to channel 16 according to the manual for each percussion sound, and slight instrument number changes...but the question is how?!

Thanks in advance guys

 

[Skipp]

there is a reason why all the sounds in the GM bank always go in the same order.

So things like this wouldn't happen - regardless of which keyboard you play MIDI files.

If the MIDI file isn't "optimized" for GM sounds (meaning - the programmer didn't use the GM bank sounds) - you will get wrong sounds on particular channels

 

[xteejx]

Just my luck!
I don't suppose there is any freeware or open source software that can patch midi files to a set configuration. Or perhaps the same software so I can do it manually to the correct numbers? (assuming that would work)

 

[Burn4Him]

I have never heard of any sorry

 

[xteejx]

So much for good theory lol
Nevertheless, I appreciate the help guys

If any software like this comes around I'll update this so it might help others.