(Yamaha PSR 1500)
Methodical message ( practical work)
Work on piece of music different genres and trends is the main type of creativity in the classroom electronic instruments. The purpose of this work is to create an artistic interpretation of the musical text. Great opportunities and variety means of expression digital synthesizer help the keyboardist to more fully express the content of the musical work.
Work on a piece of music consists of arranging (track-by-track introduction of material into the instrument's memory) and performance. The arrangement includes elements of composing and sound engineering activities.
Composer's field of activity includes building compositional form, harmony, texture and instrumentation.
The process of electronic arrangement begins with the creation of a draft of the future composition.
1. Creation of a compositional form.
The repertoire may contain transcriptions of works of various genres. If this is a short melody of a dance tune, it must be developed - make several varied repetitions, come up with links between them. The compositional form is determined by the dramaturgy of the work, the nature of the relationship of images. A small motif can turn into couplets or variations, potpuri, fantasies. Arrangement can be different - from exact following musical text original, before authorized processing. The compositional form is closely related to harmony, texture and timbre. How interesting it is presented with the help of these means depends on the brightness and expressiveness of the whole artistic composition generally.
2. Melody harmonization.
Assumes control of the harmonic basis musical fabric by playing chords. To master this function, you must be able to correctly harmonize the melody. Knowledge of harmony (intervals, chords, fret and tonal functions) is needed not at the level of simple acquaintance, but practical mastery - each of these chords in the process of performance must be able to quickly find on the keyboard.
There are three performance modes (See the topic "Auto Accompaniment. Left Hand Performance Technique".)
3. Work on the invoice.
When working on a texture, there are different execution modes: Normal, Layer (Dual), Split, Layer (Dual)+Split, Normal+Drum machine, Layer (Dual)+ Drum machine, Layer (Dual)+Split+Drum machine.
Auto accompaniment is most often used when playing the synthesizer. There are three modes for playing chords: simplified, normal and all over the keyboard. Textured blanks are called patterns (pattern - example, pattern, style). The pattern is a two bar ostinato pattern different voices accompaniment, the harmonic basis of which can be controlled while playing. The pattern is based on the timbres of various instruments: bass guitar, acoustic bass, synthetic bass, tuba, electric guitar, piano, accordion, brass, percussion, bass drum, snare drum, closed and open cymbals, maracas, chocolos, bongos and etc. More than a hundred patterns are stored in the synthesizer's memory. Stylistically related patterns are combined into banks: Pop, Rock, Jazz, Latin, etc.
The next classification of patterns is meter, most often it is a two-part 4/4. Less patterns on 3/4 and 6/8.
The next criterion is the nature of the rhythmic pattern. It can be dominated by eighth notes (8 Beat) or sixteenth notes (16 Beat), even durations or dotted rhythm (Swing, Shuffle).
The next classification is temp. Of course, you can change the tempo in the process of work, but you need to keep in mind that the tempo set at the factory the best way corresponds to the features of this pattern.
When choosing a pattern, first of all, you should pay attention to its correspondence to the melodic meter pattern.
4. Electronic timbres.
About a hundred voices of various instruments are included in the bank of electronic sound timbres of the synthesizer.
Voices fall into two different categories: 1) having a common, identical keyboard (piano, organ, harpsichord), instruments such as the accordion (whose bellows control the dynamics) can be controlled with a pedal. 2) those that do not have a keyboard (guitar, brass, etc.), in which case the performance on the synthesizer will be different: legato, non legato techniques are done by the keyboard.
Live! High quality stereo sound, as close as possible to the sound of a real instrument.
Sweet! Loaded natural instrument imitation, vibration. You can add vibration with the modulation wheel.
Cool! The sound comes out as if from an amplifier, there may be a rotating speaker effect.
S Art! Superarticulation. Allows you to play everything natural functions tools. Glissando can be done with a single keystroke (modulation wheel).
INFO button for each voice, shake effect, good especially in Merengue style.
Megavoice can only be programmed with a computer or tool. 127 is the loudest. With this feature different numbers 82, 45, 21 will be different. This sensitivity can be programmed, but not played.
5. Selection and setting of functions.
Allows you to set a wide range of instrument parameters (split point, tone controls, effects, etc.) You can set 49 parameters in the function mode.
6. Playing with effects.
HARMONY. Adds the HARMONY, TREMOLO, ECHO effects to the main tone. Press and hold the (HARMONY) button. Use the dial to select the HARMONY effect type.
REVERB. - reverberation. Enhances the sound of timbres by creating an atmosphere concert hall. Press the (FUNCTION) button, then turn the (CATEGORY) dial to select the reverb type.
CHORUS - chorus. Produces a rich sound, as if several of the same voices are playing in unison. Press the (FUNCTION) button, then turn the (CATEGORY) dial to select the chorus type.
SUSTAIN. Adds duration to timbres. Press the SUSTAIN button.
DSP. Digital signal processing. Up to 178 DSP effects can be added. Effects uses the microprocessor to make various changes to the sound. Press and hold the DSP button, use the control dial to select the type of DSP effect.
PICH BEND. The pitch bend wheel can be used to smoothly change the pitch of notes played on the keyboard.
Works for the practical development of the material:
Ukrainian folk dance"Gopak"
Norwegian dance
W. A. Mozart "Spring"
I. Strauss "Viennese waltz"
Robert Dolo "Dancing Rocks"
7. Style. Functions.
The Yamaha PSR S 550 has 11 internal Style categories, but it also allows you to import additional Styles (from the Internet or other sources) and load them into a User Style. Style playback methods: MULTI and FULL KEYBOARD (chords to the left of the split point of the keyboard, or across the entire keyboard, depending on the selected mode).
Left hand playing technique in MULTI mode – playing auto accompaniment chords.
8. Auto accompaniment.
1.Select the desired style.
2. Press the ACMP button
3. FILL IN - automatic filling during the switching of the main part.
4. To enable synchronous start, press the SYNCH START button.
5. The MAIN VARIATION section of the auto accompaniment is available in four variants A, B, C, D.
6. Introduction (insert) INTRO - there are 3 options.
7. Ending ENDING - usually used at the end of a song. There are 3 ending options.
8. When you change the MAIN VARIATION function to another setting while the OTS LINK (one-touch setting) button is on, the instrument's voice changes along with the auto accompaniment rhythm pattern.
9. When playing a song, you can change the tempo as you like.
10. Playback using the MDB music database (button to the right of the main screen).
9. Fast recording.
You can start recording by pressing the REC button. In this case, the track number is set automatically.
Track 1 is the main part.
Track 2 – Dual part
Track 3 – Voice part for the left hand
Auto accompaniment track – Auto accompaniment part.
1. Turn on the accompaniment function, DUAL, LEFT.
2. Recording will start when playing.
3. Stop recording by pressing the REC button.
4. Press the button to play the recording.
Song plan and recording to a multitrack sequencer
1. Drafting a future composition.
2. Work on the compositional form.
3. Melody harmonization.
4. Selection of style, texture.
5. Selection of electronic timbres.
6. Setting the sound balance of the parties. Function button.
7. Working with the memory bank (entering the necessary functions) – Registration memory
8. Recording. (USER) button, turn the dial to select a song number (1-5).
9. Record an auto accompaniment track. While pressing the (REC) button, press the (ACMP) button. The screen will display the inscription (REC) - ready to record.
10. Recording a melody track. While holding down the (REC) button, press the track 1 button, the MAIN (main part) appears on the display.
11. Recording a backing track or background voice. While holding down the (REC) button, press the track 2 button, DUAL (overdubbed) appears on the screen.
12. You can stop recording by pressing the (STOP) or (REC) button.
13. Repeat recording. Repeat recording new material will overwrite the old data.
For many years of the last century, Yamaha has developed and improved its own concept of interactive keyboard synthesizers with auto accompaniment. And Yamaha marked the beginning of the new millennium with the release of three models - the heirs of the famous PSR 540, 640 and 740 - PSR1000, PSR2000 and Yamaha 9000 Pro.
Through the years of development of Yamaha PSR instruments have stood out the following signs class of interactive synthesizers and home music stations.
WIDELY DISTRIBUTION
The MIDI XG format has become a truly worldwide musical standard for many professional synthesizers, synthesizer workstations and sound modules. The author writes music on the Yamaha PSR XG, and his arranger works with the same file further - he uses the palette of his XG sound modules already. The arranger can create a compatible file with all compositional moments preserved, but for use in the performer's MIDI XG player. You, too, can create an arrangement at home, knowing that a studio sound box on the other side of the planet will definitely have a "native" or suitable sound bank. You have found on the Internet an accompaniment to the words of a famous evergreen or a hit of the past years - be calm: your Yamaha PSR - an instrument with XG will understand it, since the file is also MIDI XG. The world of Yamaha PSR synthesizers and XG workstations/sound modules is vast, varied and often self-contained. Often there is no need to buy and use expensive audio editors and computer MIDI sequencers - Yamaha has its own powerful and simple XG-lite product.
SUPPORT FOR BOTH HOME USERS AND PROFESSIONALS OF SMALL, CLUB AND BIG VARIETY
Yamaha has built an unbreakable industry of amateur music clubs and support sites. Here you can get advice from connoisseurs or an assessment of your work, choose current XG versions of hits or new auto accompaniment styles, exchange them or discuss them.
There are also communities for professionals of the small and club scenes. So, having received a Christmas job in a certain institution or in a certain area, you can always ask your colleagues about the customs and preferences of the visitors there. After all, an artist will always help an artist, right? And again, the same compatibility and continuity: arrangements created on younger models will sound great and rich on older models, and professional studio arrangements will require minimal alteration to suit the most budgetary instruments of the XG and/or PSR family.
Even considering a large number of existing styles, there are still situations where the existing style file does not quite fit. Yamaha PSR style editors CASM Editor, Visual Styler and PSR Style Viewer not only allow you to view styles for PSR synthesizers, but also create new ones. The author is our compatriot Evgeny Osenenko.
Well, if you don’t have a Yamaha PSR synthesizer, but you want to try the possibilities of style auto accompaniment, I recommend using Alexander Lotov’s PSR Performer program. The player allows you to play MIDI styles created for Yamaha PSR synthesizers. It is designed exclusively for live performance and is not a sequencer. By doing this, it brings new features and does not overlap with the functionality of others. computer programs associated with musical styles Yamaha. Using Hoobi's Loopback Driver, you can always link the PSR Performer with a sequencer, such as the XG-lite, to record and edit your musical performance.
The flagship of interactive synthesizer construction, the 9000 Pro has been designed to satisfy the most demanding musicians - performing songwriters. 48 MB of in-memory sounds including the new Live! and Sweet!, a magnificent 76-note keyboard, the ability to effectively highlight your own workplace- illuminate with two plug-in lamps on flexible sleeves, add the sounds of a thoroughbred concert grand piano, magnificent, notable instruments on synthesizer boards in VL format (there is a breath-controller jack), AN or DX format (the famous FM synthesis from Yamaha). For the convenience of the performance, you can install a vocal processor board with a harmonizer, vocoder, etc. The artist's dream instrument has received its material embodiment.
Regardless of the incredibly attractive appearance and dominant design, despite the 76-note velocity/aftertouch sensitive keyboard, the 9000 Pro is no heavier than the PSR9000. Even the built-in 47 W power supply with a professional three-pin connector did not greatly affect the weight - the switching power supply. Of course, 20.5 kg is a lot. But not so much for a category of professional stage instruments of a comparable class. In addition, it is only by weight that it makes sense to compare the 9000 Pro with previous instruments - in everything else, the 9000 Pro leaves the past far behind.
The 9000 Pro does not have built-in speaker system speakers - an innovation from professional standards. We'll have to pick up external speakers. A cursory glance at the instrument's front and rear panels reveals an unmistakable resemblance to the PSR9000's controls. But there are differences that make the 9000 Pro even more distinct from other similar instruments. There are additional banks of synthesizer board sounds - these are 14 additional buttons above the main ones. 2 MIDI inputs and 2 MIDI outputs are also available on the PSR 9000, but there are already 6 audio outputs, etc. There are sockets for two 5 W (12 V) lamps, a mono send / return for effects and a microphone input on XLR / jack.
It was unexpected to find an input for a wind controller and a SCSI port on an instrument with auto accompaniment, which a few years ago would have looked like an unaffordable luxury. In the case of the 9000 Pro, this luxury is possible.
SYNTH EXPANSION BOARDS FOR 9000 PRO PLG150-AN
Plug-in board that simulates analog synthesis like the Yamaha AN1x and AN200. The first task is to accurately reproduce the sound of classic subtractive transistor synthesizers of the past.
PLG150-PF
The board contains 16 MB of grand piano and piano samples, from which 136 sound programs with 64-note polyphony each are formed.
PLG100-DX/PLG150-DX
DX/TX series tools with advanced features. Based on FM synthesis algorithms, the board is designed to recreate classic DX7 piano and bass sounds and even accept DX/TX series instrument patches when loaded via MIDI as SysEx.
PLG100-VL/PLG150-VL
Yamaha in 1995 became a pioneer in the field of creating instruments based on real-time mathematical modeling of the physical processes occurring in acoustic objects. Such a synthesis has an advantage over traditional PCM synthesis - extraordinary realism.
PLG100-XG
The board is a 16-part XG compatible tone generator for the 9000 Pro. It is useful when working with GM and XG MIDI files or songs, but is not available from the 9000 Pro keyboard, and saves the 9000 Pro's polyphony by providing additional tracks to the song sequencer.
SOUNDS AND STYLES
The 9000 Pro has 50 percent more sounds in permanent memory than the PSR 9000, the vast majority of which are new sounds from Live! A total of 848 sound programs are divided into 342 front panel recalls, 480 XG formats, 24 drum kits and 2 special effects kits. There are slots for 32 user programs and 20 (10 factory and 10 user) organ sounds. New modeling techniques have been used to create organs for greater realism in recreating the sound of classic rock and rare jazz instruments, which also affects the polyphony required for such sound programs.
Among the 11 new types of sounds are concert grand piano sampled in stereo, guitar, guitar like Carlos Santana, lead guitar with overdrive, live strings, woodwinds and brass - solos and groups, etc. Among the drum kits, there are 8 brand new ones, including Live!, Brushed, Live! Caribbean dialing, pop Latin, etc. Owners of the PSR9000 might also notice some differences in the banking of the 9000 Pro.
The auto accompaniment in the 9000 Pro is similar to the PSR9000, with 2 additional Styles added in flash banks. The rest of the new styles are on floppy disks. Additionally, up to 120 styles can be loaded into 1.8 MB flash memory. The distribution of the multi-pads is also similar to the PSR9000, only the latino percussion has been replaced with "live", and the brass section has been replaced with "live" brass.
PSR-1000 AND PSR-2000 
The PSR-1000 and PSR-2000 series have replaced the PSR 640 and PSR 740 models. The new Yamaha PSR-1000 synthesizer features a new interface, a large graphic screen, updated sounds, styles, and a number of significant improvements over the earlier series models. Keyboard: 61 keys (five octaves), full size, velocity sensitive. Voices: 799 instruments and 16 drum kits, Sweet and Cool and Live voices. Display: VGA graphic (resolution 320x240). Polyphony: 64 voices. Auto accompaniment: 180 styles (intro, ending, four types of accompaniment: A, B, C and D). Effects processor: 23 reverb types + 3 user, 16 chorus types + 4 user, 98 DSP types + 5 user.
Sequencer: Song 16-track, built-in floppy drive that allows you to record own works in the GM and XG standard, create your own styles, play standard MIDI files (format 0 and 1), and load additional styles.
Sequencer functions: quick recording, multi-track recording, step recording, editing. Output of text information recorded in SMF files, + "karaoke" function, Flash-memory 16 MB.
Menu: English, Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Italian.
Wheels: Pitch bend and modulation wheel.
Connectors: MIDI in and out, headphone or external amplifier output, line output, sustain pedal input, volume pedal jack, To Host jack.
Acoustic system: two-way speakers 2x12 W (12 cm x 2.5 cm x 2), Bass boost system (bass boost system).
Additional functions: Auto Accompaniment section floating point, vocal harmonizer. Two votes for the right hand + one for the left floating point section. The selected effect types are common to all voices, the send levels for each of the three are individually adjustable, as well as the overall return from the effects. Effect control is similar to effect control in a mixing console. There is an effects processor that can be assigned to the selected instrument in-between. Possibility of shifting one octave up/down for voices of the right and left hands. The function of transposing the general scale by 12 semitones up / down. 32x4=136 memory locations for saving general settings (when the mains power is turned off).
Edward Debirsyan
This article was published in issue 2 2002 (29) of the magazine "Show-master"
- 1. How to “assemble” an arrangement using ready-made intros, auto accompaniments and conclusions? 00:07 (music by Henry Mancini from The Pink Panther)
- 2. How to use the auto accompaniment created by the developers of the instrument based on popular music? 06:40 (Ignacio Herb Brown, Singing in the Rain)
- 3. How to play sound symphony orchestra? 09:09 (P.I. Tchaikovsky, dance of the fairy Dragee from the ballet "The Nutcracker")
- 4. How to create an arrangement using two timbres? 11:54 (Walter Scharf "Ben")
- 5. How to add undertones to the finished arrangement? 13:44 (Vayne Manzanero "It`s impossible")
- 6. How to create an orchestral pedal? 16:27 (Louise Bonfat "Black Orpheus")
- 7. How and why to use the extreme registers of the solo instrument? 20:52 (Richard Rodney Bennet music. From the film "Murder on the Orient Express")
- 8. How to add other timbres to ready-made intros and conclusions? 24:08 (Samuel Fine "That old feeling")
Teacher: Mikhail Grigorievich Bogdanov, head educational projects YAMAHA MUSIC LLC (RUSSIA)
If you have learned, and and at the right time, we can assume that you are already 95% learned to play a melody on a synthesizer.
All that remains for us is to make the accompaniment complete, for this we will use auto accompaniment function.
Auto Accompaniment is a set of styles built into your synthesizer. For any song choose a certain style and often different styles fit the same tune, allowing for more creativity.
Be careful about the size of the piece
How select an accompaniment style? The most important criterion here will be the size of the work. For example, if you have chosen to learn the melody Yersterday, then you will not be able to play it in the style of a waltz. The waltz, as you know, has a time signature of 6/8, while Yesterday has a time signature of 4/4. Therefore, if you hear that the melody does not fit into the rhythm, just choose a different style.
How to connect style
To select a style, click STYLE button, then the START button, now you can press the first chord of the song, the accompaniment will start playing. Now just turn the selection wheel, the accompaniment will play in different styles. Choose what you like best. I advise you to sign the style number directly on the sheet music. (Synthesizer sheet music sometimes lists the style number.)
If you want to play close to the original, listen carefully original performance and choose the appropriate style. But in principle, nothing prevents playing the same work in different styles, different from the author's. Make small discoveries, find new sounds of familiar songs!
