Yamaha YPG-235 question - split voice not sustaining

[aldri49]

Hi,

I just joined this forum so I don't know if this is mainly for pro gear or what. In any case, I just bought a YPG-235 the other day and I have a question. I play a lot using split keyboards, with piano in the left hand and woodwind or brass in the upper register. But on the YPG-235, I cannot get the piano to sustain, only the woodwind or brass. Sustain (via pedal) seems to only be applied to what they call the "main/dual voice" (right hand or upper register), not the "split" voice (left hand or lower register).

This is really bugging me. Am I right or do I need to reread the manual? Any suggestions? I have worked with other keyboards and this has never been a problem. I wonder if they exclude sustain in the left hand figuring one is just going to use it for base voices...?

thanks,

aldri49

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Unfortunately, that's the way Yamaha intended it to work. On page 59 of the Owner's Manual it says that "The sustain function does not affect split voice." Although that section of the manual is talking about the "panel sustain" function, it also applies to using the foot pedal.

I might have a suggestion or two on how you can accomplish what you're trying to do, but it depends on what exactly you're trying to do:

Are you playing the piano part at the same time as the brass or woodwind part, or playing the different parts at different times?

How frequently does the brass or woodwind part need to be played-- i.e., is it played intermittently at different times during the piece, or continuously throughout the piece?

When the piano part is to be sustained, do you want the brass or woodwind part to be sustained as well?

Do you need to play the brass or woodwind part with your right hand, or would it be possible to swap hands?

If you must play the brass or woodwind part with your right hand, would it be possible to play it on the left side of the keyboard by reaching across with your right hand-- i.e., with your arms crossed?

Edit: PS-- I think perhaps the reason Yamaha doesn't apply the sustain to the split voice might be because the split function is often used in conjunction with playing an auto-accompaniment (style), and sustain can't be applied to styles.

I know that some DAWs let you take a single MIDI channel coming from a keyboard and split it, layer it, transpose the splits and layers by various amounts, etc. For example, Acoustica Mixcraft can do those things very easily, although I don't know whether other DAWs can. So what I'm thinking is that you could split the keyboard with a DAW instead of with the panel settings, so you can apply the sustain to the piano part yet still play a woodwind or brass part in the upper portion of the keyboard (although it would also be sustained if you're holding down the pedal).

 

[aldri49]

OK, thanks - so first of all, I didn't miss something in the owners manual. The split voice will not sustain, period.

"sigh"

The woodwind and brass instruments by themselves aren't very useful to me. So I use them in splits with piano or guitar to flesh out ideas, compositions, etc. As soon as I brought the keyboard home the other day, I immediately went into the splits to try them out as I was looking forward to working on some things. Since nothing here is a final product, I am happy with just having both voices sustain just as if it were a single voice.
Reversing the voices or swapping hands isn't really an option.

Anyway, I own a mac. It came with Garageband but I haven't tried it out at all. Its been several years since I have done any digital music recording, sequencing, etc.

If Garageband can't do what you are suggesting, maybe another DAW for the Mac can. It gives me hope. Thanks again. I'll look into it more..

aldri49

 

[happyrat1]

You might be able to adapt a Behringer FCB1010 MIDI control pedalboard to add sustain at the MIDI level if the Yamaha recognizes the codes but simply doesn't implement them at the keyboard level.

http://www.behringer.com/assets/fcb1010_p0089_m_en.pdf

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/FCB1010.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/BEHRINGER-MIDI-FOOT-CONTROLLER-FCB1010/dp/B000CZ0RK6

They're not too pricey and might be worth a shot.

Gary