Old 02-14-2014, 02:36 PM   #1
Yamaha Man
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Default MIDI capture of instrument voices

I'm running a Yamaha DGX-640, Reaper and an Asus laptop running Windows 7. There was no issue to connect the DGX-640 to the laptop via a USB cable. I can create a new MIDI Item in Reaper, record the default keyboard (Grand Piano) in Reaper and play the recorded track back through the piano’s speakers. It sounds great.

My problem is that the DGX-640 comes up a large selection (500) of different voices (various pianos, organs, saxophones, percussion, etc.) but I can’t capture the individual voices in MIDI. No matter which voice I select the sound is always played back as Grand Piano. Recognizing that MIDI does not transfer any sound, only data, is there any way to configure Reaper to capture the actual selected voice (e.g. a saxophone) from the piano?

I have plenty of VST’s and the DGX works great as a controller to play them. I have tried to add the DGX-640 as a VST in Reaper. Reaper appears to scan the DLL files but when I add a VST Instrument Track and try to add the DGX-640 under FX it doesn’t appear in VST, VSTi or Instruments.

I work around the whole problem by running a cable from the headphone out jack (there is no separate line out on the DGX-640) to a Tascam US-122L then into the headphone-in jack on the laptop. I have also recorded with microphones (using XLR connections into the Tascam) and the quality is equally good. Either way, I capture a great sounding saxophone (as a WAV file) as represented when playing that voice on the piano.

However, it would be ideal if I could edit the individual DGX-640 voices in MIDI. If anybody has any ideas as to what I could try next please let me know.

Thanks in advance,
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Old 02-14-2014, 06:06 PM   #2
TimOBrien
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No. MIDI is only performance (User hit key 27, held this much down, then released) information.

The only way you can get the instrument sound is to run an audio line from the keyboard to an interface input and record it.

Some newer keyboards with interfaces inside them (Motifs, etc) can pass audio information via usb. That one only passes midi.
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Old 02-15-2014, 01:31 AM   #3
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Hello Yamaha Man and welcome to these forums. You'll find many helpful people here and a lot of useful information.

Maybe I've missed the point completely, but ...

You would like to send some (recorded?) MIDI back to the Yamaha and play the desired voice (not the piano)? If so, then you can enable the Yamaha as a MIDI Output in Reaper's Preferences and route the MIDI from the track to the Yamaha (click the track's [IO] button and Add it as a MIDI hardware output).

Then, you can either se ReaControlMIDI, to send Program Change messages:
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=132959

or, edit Program Change messages into the MIDI clip:
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=127352

Either way, it will be valuable to create your own DGX-640.reabank file defining user-friendly names for all the banks and programs (voices) that the DGX-640 has. A GM.reabank is automatically installed; you can copy it, rename the copy and edit it in a Text Editor.
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Old 02-15-2014, 02:17 AM   #4
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On rereading, as you are Recording the default voice (Grand Piano) in Reaper, it may be that Program Change messages for Grand Piano are being recorded too.

In that case, when you play back the MIDI clip it instructs the Yamaha to play the Grand Piano. To change this: proceed as in the second link above and you can edit the existing Program Changes.

More details in the User Guide: 12.9 (and 12,6, 12.7) ReaControlMIDI is in 12.39
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Old 02-15-2014, 10:25 AM   #5
Yamaha Man
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Default MIDI capture of instrument voices

Thanks for the warm welcome to the forum DarkStar and also to Tim OBrien for responding, it is greatly appreciated.

For clarity, I am only able to record the default voice (Grand Piano) in Reaper. I will try what you have suggested regarding Program Changes and
also review the sections in the manual related to ReaControlMIDI.

It may be a few days before I am able to post an update due to my work schedule.
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Old 03-09-2014, 07:16 PM   #6
Yamaha Man
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Default MIDI capture of instrument voices

Thanks again for all of your help DarkStar. I am now able to record any of the program/voices from the Yamaha in MIDI. I'm going to try to create my own DGX-640.reabank file, I may have some questions as I work through it.
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Old 03-10-2014, 02:17 AM   #7
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You're welcome.

To help out others with a similar problem please post the steps you took to get things up and running.
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Last edited by DarkStar; 03-11-2014 at 10:15 AM.
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Old 03-11-2014, 09:58 AM   #8
Yamaha Man
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Default MIDI capture of instrument voices

Absolutely, I would be happy to explain what I did. It is a very basic process but is a starting point until I can build a custom reabank file. I'll try to include a screen capture of the data list from the DGX640's user manual since understanding what those data parameters are and changing them(i.e. LSB, MSB, etc.) might be confusing for some people.

The DGX640 contains 600 XGLite voices plus a ton of effects. Some of them sound dated compared to current VST's but others are very good. It would have been very unfortunate not to be able to capture and edit them in a MIDI format.
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