Real-time Style Performer for Yamaha styles.

The Real-time Style Performer (RSP) gives you the ability to play musical styles created for Yamaha PSR musical instruments through a PC sound card. The program is solely dedicated to real-time live! performance "ith a #$%$ &eyboard connected to PC' li&e it is done by the auto accompaniment PSR &eyboards. $t is not a se(uencer of any &ind and it does not create midi files. )y this the RSC introduces ne" abilities and does not cross performance of the other soft"are applications and utilities available on the mar&et' "hich deal "ith Yamaha PSR styles and #$%$. *ith such #$%$ commutation utilities li&e +ubi,s -oopbac& %river one may al"ays connect the RSP to a se(uencer for recording and subse(uent editing' if there is need for that. The RSP is not an official product for "or& "ith Yamaha styles' and the author does not ta&e any responsibility for .//0 compatibility "ith any Yamaha style. Yamaha is the trademar& of Y1#1+1 C2RP2R1T$23' and the author uses this "ord only for reference to available types of musical style files and devices. 1ll the information basing the creation of RSP has been obtained from open sources in the $nternet. The RSP is founded on the #a4imun #$%$ Tool&it by Paul #essic&. The tool&it' ho"ever' has been considerably modified and e4tended by the author of RSP. There are no styles distributed together "ith this program. +o"ever style files may be (uite easily be found in the internet. 1 good lin& to start "ith is http566home7.inet.tele.d&68s6musi&679/pages6lin&79/:.htm. There is also a PSR style group "ith Yahoo; """.yahoo.com

Description of controls
The RSP is meaningful if only you have a #$%$ &eyboard connected. Those "ho played "ith a PSR "ill find the program interface intuitively understandable. *hen you run the program for the first time you must select input and output #$%$ ports by pressing Options button and then MIDI Ports inside the 2ptions "indo". $n the 2ptions "indo" you "ill also see other controls. Device Type defines if you use a Yamaha #$%$ device for #$%$ output or 8ust a <eneral #$%$ compatible device. 3aturally' Yamaha styles sound better through Yamaha devices as they ma&e possible to use portamento control (smooth pitch shifting at accord change) and some =< commands present in many style files. 2"ners of the other sound cards and #$%$ devices should s"itch to General MIDI type of device. The parameter Timer Period lets you to set the sync timer period. The less is the period (do"n to . millisecond)' the smoother is the style play bac&' but the more demand is for CP> resources. Practically' it is (uite enough to set this parameter to ./ ms. ?specially ta&e care not to set a lo" Timer Period "hen you run other programs' such as a se(uencer' parallel to the RSP. 3o" you may return to the program main "indo" and load a style file. To do that' press the button Load in the upper left corner and select a file "ith the e4tension .STY. $f a style "as successfully loaded you "ill see the file name in the "indo" Style. $n truth' you may load a style before you made settings "ith 2ptions and opened or redirected #$%$ ports. The only restriction is that you should reload a style once you changed Device Type. The green indicators in the Parts section of the program "indo" "ill sho" you "hich style parts are available in the style loaded. @ersion A' this version' of RSP provide access to all currently available style parts for Yamaha style format. Their total number of .B is even bigger then the number of parts of any particular Yamaha PSR &eyboard. The yello" indicator sho"s "hich particular style part is going to be played first. You may mar& another part to be played first by pressing corresponding style part button. The "indo"s Tempo and Meter "ill inform you about tempo and musical meter of the style. Style tempo may be changed at any time "ith the arro"s attached to the Tempo "indo". )efore you started the style play bac& ta&e notice "here the split note separating the auto accompaniment section of the midi &eyboard from the solo part section is located. This spilt is sho"n by cc!Solo Split "ote control in the Solo section of the main "indo". $f you "ish you may change the value. 3ote that C: corresponds to the middle C note on the midi &eyboard.

Style performance is triggered by either of the t"o "ays5 pressing the Play!Stop button' or pressing #$%$ &eyboard,s &eys in the auto accompaniment section "ith preliminary chec&ed Sync Start. *hen a style is playing' the red indicator mar&s the currently sounding style part. The yello" indicator still sho"s "hich part is preparing for playing. Transition to another style part is performed either by pressing corresponding button in the Parts section' or by pressing some &eys on the computer &eyboard. These &eys are sho"n in yello" and may be custom bind through Options. There is a third "ay to s"itch bet"een style parts' "hich "ill be described later belo". 1 ne" part "ill start at the beginning of the ne4t measure. )ut the Cill-ins start "ith the ne" beat. The red light indicators above the Parts section count out beats of sounding style. To stop style performance press Play!Stop button. Style performance also stops automatically after #ndin$ % #ndin$ & or #ndin$ ' style parts. The ccomp controller in the (ol)me section of the program "indo" regulates volume of auto accompaniment. The "ay ho" you may define harmony for auto accompaniment depends on &ass 'hord and Sin$le *in$erin$ chec& controls located in the upper part of the program "indo". *ith Sin$le *in$erin$ chec&ed you produce ma8or' seventh' minor and minor-seventh chords by pressing a minimum number of &eys in the auto accompaniment section of the #$%$ &eyboard5 Major Chords D press one &ey. The &ey you press "ill al"ays determine the root! of the chord' Minor Chords D simultaneously press the root &ey and the nearest blac& &ey to its left' Seventh Chords D simultaneously press the root &ey and the nearest "hite &ey to its left' Minor-seventh Chords D simultaneously press the root &ey and both the nearest "hite &ey and blac& &ey to its left. *ith &ass 'hord chec&ed the lo"est note played in the auto accompaniment section of the #$%$ &eyboard "ill be played by the bass part rather than the chord root. &ass 'hord ma&es sense only "ith Sin$le *in$erin$ unchec&ed. $n the multi-fingered mode (Sin$le *in$erin$ unchec&ed) the RSP recogniEes F9 accord types in various positions5 #a8' #a8G' #a87' #a87(H..)' #a8(I)' #a87(I)' #a8G(I)' aug' min' minG' min7' min7b:' min(I)' min7(I)' min7(..)' min#a87' min#a87(I)' dim' dim7' 7' 7sus9' 7b:' 7(I)' 7(H..)' 7(.F)' 7(bI)' 7(b.F)' 7(HI)' #a87aug' 7aug' .JB' .J:' sus9' .JAJ:. The "indo" ')rrent 'hord displays the chord sounding. To silence chords and leave only drums sounding press simultaneously three ad8acent &eys in the auto accompaniment section of #$%$ &eyboard. Cor the solo section of #$%$ &eyboard you may set up four different instruments (patches)5 Solo L+% Solo L,% Solo R+% Solo R,. Solo L+ and Solo L, belong to instruments played on the left from Left!Ri$ht Solo Split (but on the right from cc!Solo Split "ote)' "hile Solo R+ and Solo R, belong to instruments played on the right of Left!Ri$ht Solo Split. $f a Solo button is pressed then corresponding instrument "ill be produced from the solo section of your #$%$ &eyboard. Several of the buttons may be in pressed state to ma&e several instruments sound simultaneously. *hen neither of Solo L+ and Solo L, is on then Solo R+ and Solo R, are produced from both sides of Left!Ri$ht Solo Split. 1ny of the buttons may be pressed either by the mouse of by a prescribed &ey on your computer &eyboard. The default 3um -oc& &eys act in the follo"ing "ay5 I! sets Solo R. on and Solo RA offK F! sets Solo RA on and Solo R. offK G! sets both Solo R. and Solo RA onK 7! sets Solo -. on and Solo -A offK .! sets Solo -A on and Solo -. offK 9! sets both Solo -. and Solo -A onK :! sets both Solo -. and Solo -A off. The "hole set of various midi settings for the four solo instruments is loaded "ith a standard #$%$ file of Cormat / through the button Solo Set Load. You prepare particular settings' including Program Change (patches) control messages and System ?4clusives' in your favorite se(uencer supporting your favorite and maybe e4clusive sound card' and then save them as a midi file of Cormat /. To differ the settings file from other midi files you should also rename the file for the e4tension of .sts. The follo"ing midi channels correspond to Solo R.' RA' -.' -A instruments5 Channel 1 Solo R1; Channel 2 Solo R2;

Channel 3 Solo L1; Channel 4 Solo L2. You should ma&e settings only for these four channels' leaving the other channels untouched. The auto accompaniment is performed in the Channels I through .G' and if you interfere there' the overall auto accompaniment changes. 1s an e4ample' please find L.sts files in the program pac&age. They set <eneral #idi instruments for R.. $f you create a settings file "ith the same name as the style (but "ith the e4tension of .sts) you "ill be able to fast load the settings "ith the button *ast Set Load The active mode of this button "ill notify you that such settings are available in the style directory. 1s during ne" style loading the midi device is usually reset' you need to reload solo settings ane". This reloading is done "ith the button Reload. The program may reload settings automatically "ith each ne" style if you chec& )to Reload. $f you "ish to record your performance into a se(uencer' here are some points to consider5 .. 1uto accompaniment channel settings are sent into the midi device at the moment of style loading. Thus the se(uencer must be recording at this moment. A. Solo settings are also sent to the device only during their loading. F. The RSP sends #$%$ Start' #$%$ Stop and #$%$ Cloc& messages. Therefore you may set the se(uencer to the e4ternal #$%$ Cloc& mode during style performance. @ersion A of RSP introduces lists for styles and solo settings. *ith the use of lists you are able to load styles and settings by their prescribed numbers. The t"o list types have the same te4t format' but different file e4tensions5 .ls. for style lists' .lsA for solo settings lists. ?ach style6settings is represented in the list by a separate line of the follo"ing format5 """ file-name comments "here """ denotes prescribed number' file-name denotes a separate file number (including the path' if necessary)' and comments is any user,s te4t. )et"een 333 and fileMname you should place one or several spaces. To load a style list use the button Style List in the upper left corner of the program "indo". To load a solo settings list use the button Solo Set List in the Solo section of the program "indo". 3umber selection is achieved "ith the corresponding control ")m.er' "hile loading of the selected number "ith the button / Load. $n addition' you may fast load ne4t style from the list "ith the button "e0t Style. The ma4imum number for styles in a list is II' the ma4imum number for solo settings in a list is .AB. There is a solo settings list e4ample in the program pac&age. $t is called gm.lsA! and lists the enclosed general midi L.sts files. *hen you load this list' you "ill be able to select <eneral #idi instruments for R. by its corresponding numbers. 1ll the controls and buttons "hich have yello" letter labels can be initiated from corresponding &eys of the PC &eyboard. You may change &ey bind through the button 1ey &indin$ in the Options "indo". There is the button (elocity 'ontrol in the Options "indo". This button opens the "indo"' "hich ad8usts the third "ay of s"itching bet"een style parts. The idea is that one may assign functions to some midi &eyboard &eys. )ut the functions are called only on the condition that a certain velocity threshold is e4ceeded. )elo" the threshold the selected &eys behave as usual. 1s velocity values of the &eys in the auto accompaniment section of the midi &eyboard play no role' one can assign some of them to functions "ith a threshold velocity value. $n that case "hen a style chord is placed &eys are pressed easy "ithout e4tra strength. $f a ne" style part is initiated' the corresponding function &ey is pressed alone and accented. ?nabling and disabling of this @elocity Control mode is set in the main program "indo" "ith the (elocity 'ontrol chec&.. )e careful not to abuse the midi &eyboard "ith this method. ?4cessive pressure stri&es "ill contribute to faster "ear of the plastic &eys. The nature of live accompaniment by a musician' "hen he or she changes accords in fact a fe" milliseconds earlier or later than beats' demands more care to intrinsic style settings than it is needed in such programs as Yamaha @isual 1rranger. @isual 1rranger plays bac& preliminary prepared and (uantified se(uences. 1 style' "hich sounds "ell in @isual 1rranger' may turn out to be bad "hen using "ith PSR or this Realtime Style Performer. Cor instance' you may loose bass notes if the bass

part is not correctly ad8usted in style file and you change chords even fe" milliseconds later than bass notes start. Style settings are located in the C1S# section in a style file itself. There is (uite full information about C1S# settings in the $nternet' as "ell as programs to vie" and edit the settings. +ere are some useful lin&s5 http566home7.inet.tele.d&68s6musi&679/pages6articles6casm.htm D by Norgen SorensenK http566osenen&o.chat.ru6 - %escription of C1S# and C1S# ?ditor by ?ugene 2senen&oK http566""".geocities.com6SunsetStrip6To"ers6II/A6inde4.html - #$%$ and Yamaha SCC stylesK http566members.tripod.com6OduoMlili6inde4.htm - Nuli8an Paverni& D +omepageK http566groups.yahoo.com6group6svp"orld6 - Yahoo <roup on PSR There is a limit on style siEe "hen the program is run under *inI:6IB due to the necessity to operate "ith .G-bit timers. You "ill be notified that a style fails to be loaded. +o"ever' there are no practical siEe limitations for running under *inA///63T6=P. The Real-time Style Performer does not encompass all the possibilities for playing Yamaha PSR styles in live!. Therefore the author "ill be grateful for comments and suggestions' as "ell as for information about any bugs founded. Cor free usage and estimation purposes the demo program modification "ith several limitations is offered. These limitations are5 Intro &' *ill In &' *ill In &' &rea2 &' #ndin$ & do not functionK *ill In & and Main & may be initiated only by mouse clic&s. Those of you "ho are satisfied "ith the program performance and consider that the full program (including full functionality for ) parts) is "orth of QA:' please send your re(uest to the author. 1le4ander -otov

lotalRhotmail.com Reported .)$3 If yo) hold a chord in the accompaniment section 4hile s4itchin$ .et4een styles 5loadin$ a ne4 style6 the chord notes 4ill al4ays .e present in reco$nition of all the s).se7)ent chords. So% 2eep yo) hands off yo)r midi 2ey.oard 4hile loadin$ a ne4 style.