Creating a musical composition on a keyboard synthesizer
For many years of the last century, Yamaha developed and improved its own concept of interactive keyboard synthesizers with auto accompaniment. And Yamaha marked the onset of the new millennium with the release of three models - heirs of the famous PSR 540, 640 and 740 - PSR1000, PSR2000 and Yamaha 9000 Pro.
Over the years of development of Yamaha PSR instruments, the following characteristics of the class of interactive synthesizers and home music stations have emerged.
EVERYWHERE DISTRIBUTION
The MIDI XG format has become a truly worldwide music standard for many professional synthesizers, synth workstations and sound modules. The author writes music on a Yamaha PSR XG, and his arranger works further with the same file - using the palette of his own XG format sound modules. The arranger can create a compatible file preserving all compositional moments, but for use in the performer's MIDI XG player. You, too, can create an arrangement at home, being confident that in the studio sound module on the other side of the planet there will definitely be a “native” or suitable sound bank. You found on the Internet an accompaniment to the words of a famous evergreen or a hit from yesteryear - rest assured: your Yamaha PSR - 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-sufficient. There is often no need to buy and use expensive audio editors and computer MIDI sequencers - Yamaha has its powerful and simple XG-lite product.
SUPPORT FOR BOTH HOME USERS AND PROFESSIONALS OF SMALL, CLUB AND BIG VARIETY
Yamaha has built an enduring industry of music clubs and support sites. Here you can get advice from experts or an assessment of your creativity, choose current XG versions of hits or new styles of auto accompaniment, exchange them or discuss them.
Professionals of the small and club scenes also have their own communities. So, having received a Christmas job in a certain establishment or in a certain area, you can always ask your colleagues about the morals 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 junior models will sound excellent and rich on older models, and professional studio arrangements will require minimal alteration for the most budget instruments of the XG and/or PSR family.
Even considering large number existing styles, situations still arise when the existing style file is not entirely suitable. The Yamaha PSR style editors CASM Editor, Visual Styler and PSR Style Viewer allow you not only to view styles for PSR synthesizers, but also to create new ones. The author is our compatriot Evgeniy Osenenko.
Well, if you don’t have a Yamaha PSR synthesizer, but you want to try the possibilities of stylish auto accompaniment, I recommend using the PSR Performer program by Alexander Lotov. The player allows you to play MIDI styles created for PSR Yamaha synthesizers. It is intended solely for live performance and is not a sequencer. By doing this, it introduces new features and does not overlap with the functionality of others. computer programs related to musical styles Yamaha. Using Hoobi's Loopback Driver, you can always link PSR Performer with a sequencer, for example, XG-lite for recording and editing musical performance.
The flagship of the interactive synthesizer industry, the 9000 Pro was designed to satisfy the most demanding performing musicians. 48 MB of sounds in memory, including new episodes of Live! and Sweet!, a magnificent 76-note keyboard, the ability to effectively highlight your workplace- illuminate with two plug-in lamps on flexible arms, add the sounds of a thoroughbred concert grand piano, magnificent, well-known instruments on synthesizer boards in VL formats (there is a socket for a breath-controller), AN or DX (the famous FM synthesis from Yamaha). For the convenience of 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 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 power supply is switching. Of course, 20.5 kg is a lot. But not so much for the category of professional stage instruments of a comparable class. In addition, it is only in terms of weight that it makes sense to compare the 9000 Pro with previous instruments - in all other respects, the 9000 Pro leaves the past far behind.
The 9000 Pro does not have built-in speakers - an innovation from professional standards. You will have to select external speaker systems. A quick glance at the front and rear panels of the instrument will reveal the undeniable similarity of the controls to the PSR9000. 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. There are 2 MIDI inputs and 2 MIDI outputs on the PSR 9000, but there are already 6 audio outputs, etc. There are jacks 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.
SYNTHESIZER EXPANSION BOARDS, FOR 9000 PRO PLG150-AN
Plug-in board simulating analog synthesis similar to the Yamaha AN1x and AN200. The primary goal is to accurately reproduce the sound of the classic subtractive transistor synthesizers of the past.
PLG150-PF
The board contains 16 MB of samples of grand pianos and upright pianos, from which 136 sound programs with 64-note polyphony each are formed.
PLG100-DX/PLG150-DX
DX/TX series instruments with advanced features. Based on FM synthesis algorithms, the board is designed to recreate classic DX7 piano and bass sounds, and even accepts DX/TX series instrument patches when loaded via MIDI as SysEx.
PLG100-VL/PLG150-VL
Yamaha in 1995 became a pioneer in the creation of instruments that operate on the basis of mathematical modeling in real time of physical processes occurring in acoustic objects. Such 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 also 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! IN total 848 sound programs are divided into 342 front panel callable, 480 XG format, 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 were used to create organs for greater realism in recreating the sound of classic rock and vintage 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, solo guitar with overdrive, “live” strings, woodwind and brass - solo and group, etc. The drum kits include 8 brand new ones, including Live!, played with brushes, Live! Caribbean set, pop latin, etc. PSR9000 owners might also notice some differences in the bank composition of the 9000 Pro.
Auto accompaniment in the 9000 Pro is similar to the PSR9000, with the addition of 2 additional styles in flash banks. The rest of the new styles are on floppy disks. Additionally, you can load up to 120 styles into the 1.8 MB flash memory. The distribution of multipads is also similar to the PSR9000, only the Latin percussion is replaced with “live”, and the brass section with “live” brass.
PSR-1000 AND PSR-2000 
The PSR-1000 and PSR-2000 series replace the PSR 640 and PSR 740. The new Yamaha PSR-1000 synthesizer features a new interface, a large graphics 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 tones. Display: VGA graphic (resolution 320x240). Polyphony: 64 voices. Auto accompaniment: 180 styles (intro, ending, four accompaniment options: A, B, C and D). Effects Processor: 23 Reverb Types + 3 User, 16 Chorus Types + 4 User, 98 DSP Types + 5 User.
Sequencer: 16-track song sequencer, built-in floppy drive that allows you to record your own songs in GM and XG standards, 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. Conclusion text information, recorded in SMF files, + karaoke function, 16 MB Flash memory.
Menu: English, Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Italian languages.
Wheels: Pitch bend and modulation wheel.
Connectors: MIDI input and output, headphone or external amplifier output, line output, sustain pedal input, volume pedal connector, To Host connector.
Acoustic system: two-way speakers 2x12 W (12 cm x 2.5 cm x 2), Bass boost system.
Additional functions: floating point of the auto accompaniment section, vocal harmonizer. Two voices for the right hand + one for the left with a floating point section. The selected types of effects are common to all voices; the send levels for each of the three are individually regulated, as well as the general return from the effects. Controlling effects is similar to controlling effects on a mixing console. There is an effects processor assigned to the selected instrument in the insert. Possibility of shifting one octave up/down for right and left hand voices. Function of transposing the general scale by 12 semitones up/down. 32x4=136 memory cells for saving general settings (when the power is turned off).
Eduard Debirsyan
This article was published in issue 2 2002 (29) of the Show Master magazine
- 1. How to “assemble” an arrangement using ready-made intros, auto accompaniments and conclusions? 00:07 (music by Henry Mancini from K-F “The Pink Panther”)
- 2. How to use auto accompaniment in an arrangement, created by the developers of the instrument based on popular music? 06:40 (Ignacio Herb Brown, "Singin' in the Rain")
- 3. How to reproduce the sound symphony orchestra? 09:09 (P.I. Tchaikovsky, dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from the ballet “The Nutcracker”)
- 4. How to create an arrangement using two voices? 11:54 (Walter Scharf "Ben")
- 5. How to add additional voices to the finished arrangement? 13:44 (Wayne Manzanero “It`s impossible”)
- 6. How to create an orchestra pedal? 16:27 (Louise Bonfat "Black Orpheus")
- 7. How and why to use the extreme registers of a solo instrument? 20:52 (Richard Rodney Bennett music. From the film “Murder on the Orient Express”)
- 8. How to supplement ready-made introductions and conclusions with other timbres? 24:08 (Samuel Fine “That old feeling”)
Teacher: Mikhail Grigorievich Bogdanov, head of educational projects at YAMAHA MUSIC LLC (RUSSIA)
If you have learned and at the right moment, we can assume that you are 95% already 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 you can choose a certain style, and often different styles approach the same melody, allowing for greater creativity.
Be careful about the size of the piece
How select accompaniment style? The most important criterion here will be the size of the work. For example, if you choose the melody Yersterday to learn, then you will not be able to play it in the style of a waltz. The waltz, as you know, is 6/8, and Yesterday is 4/4. Therefore, if you hear that the melody does not fit into the rhythm, just choose a different style.
How to connect a 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 begin to play. Now simply turn the selection wheel, the accompaniment will be played in different styles. Choose what you like best. I advise you to sign the style number directly on the notes. (Purchased sheet music for synthesizers sometimes includes a style number.)
If you want to play close to the original, listen carefully to the original performance and select the appropriate style. But in principle, nothing prevents you from playing the same piece in different styles other than the author’s. Make small discoveries, find new sounds of familiar songs!
(Yamaha PSR 1500)
Methodological message (practical work)
Work on piece of music different genres and directions is the main type of creativity in the class of electronic instruments. The purpose of this work is to create an artistic interpretation of the musical text. The great possibilities and variety of expressive means of a digital synthesizer help the keyboardist to more fully express the content of a musical work.
Work on a piece of music consists of arrangement (track-by-track introduction of material into the instrument’s memory) and performance. The arrangement includes elements of composing and sound engineering.
The composer's sphere 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 include adaptations of works of various genres. If this is a short melody of a dance tune, it needs to be developed - make several varied repetitions, come up with connections between them. The compositional form is determined by the dramaturgy of the work and the nature of the relationships between the images. A small motif can turn into couplets or variations, medleys, fantasies. The arrangement can be different - from exact following of the original musical text to authorized processing. Compositional form is closely related to harmony, texture and timbre. The brightness and expressiveness of the whole depends on how interesting it is presented using these means. artistic composition generally.
2. Harmonization of the melody.
It involves controlling the harmonic basis of the musical fabric by playing chords. To master this function, you must be able to correctly harmonize a melody. Knowledge of harmony (intervals, chords, modal and tonal functions) is needed not at the level of simple familiarization, 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. Performance technique for the left hand.”)
3. Work on the texture.
When working on a texture, there are different execution modes: Normal mode, 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 a synthesizer. There are three modes for playing chords: simplified, normal and across 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 when playing. The pattern is based on the timbres of various instruments: bass guitar, acoustic bass, synthetic bass, tuba, electric guitar, piano, accordion, wind instruments, drum kit, bass drum, snare drum, closed, open cymbals, maracas, chocolo, bongos and etc. More than a hundred patterns are stored in the synthesizer's memory. Stylistically related patterns are grouped into banks: Pop, Rock, Jazz, Latin, etc.
The next classification of patterns is meter, most often it is two-beat 4/4. Fewer patterns in 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 a dotted rhythm (Swing, Shuffle).
The next classification is temp. Of course, you can change the tempo during the work process, but you must keep in mind that the tempo set at the factory in the best possible way corresponds to the features of this pattern.
When selecting a pattern, first of all, you should pay attention to its correspondence to the melodic pattern in meter.
4. Electronic tones.
The bank of electronic sound timbres of the synthesizer includes about a hundred voices of various instruments.
Voices are divided into two different categories: 1) having a common, identical keyboard (piano, organ, harpsichord), for instruments such as an accordion (where the dynamics are controlled by bellows), the dynamics can be adjusted using a pedal. 2) without a keyboard (guitar, wind instruments, etc.), in this case the sound on the synthesizer will be different: legato, non legato techniques are done with the keyboard.
Live! Stereo sound high quality, as close as possible to the sound of a real instrument.
Sweet! Loaded with natural instrument imitation, vibration. You can add vibration using the modulation wheel.
Cool! The sound seems to be coming from an amplifier, maybe a rotating speaker effect.
S.Art! Superarticulation. Allows you to reproduce all the natural functions of instruments. Glissando can be done with one keystroke (modulation wheel).
INFO button for each voice, shake effect, good especially in Merengue style.
Megavoice can only be programmed using a computer or instrument. 127 is the loudest. With this function, different numbers 82, 45, 21 will be different. This sensitivity can be programmed, but not played.
5. Selecting and setting functions.
Provides the ability to configure a wide range of instrument parameters (split point, tone control, effects, etc.) In function mode, you can set the values of 49 parameters.
6. Playing with effects.
HARMONY. Adds HARMONY, TREMOLO, ECHO effects to the main timbre. Press and hold the (HARMONY) button. Use the control dial to select the HARMONY effect type.
REVERB. – reverberation. Enhances the sound of tones to create ambiance concert hall. Press the (FUNCTION) button, then turn the (CATEGORY) dial to select the reverb type.
CHORUS - chorus. Creates a rich sound, as if several identical tones are playing in unison. Press the (FUNCTION) button, then turn the (CATEGORY) dial to select the chorus type.
SUSTAIN. Adds duration to tones. Press the SUSTEIN button.
DSP. Digital signal processing. Up to 178 DSP effects can be added. Effects uses a microprocessor to change the sound in various ways. Press and hold the DSP button and use the control dial to select the DSP effect type.
PICH BEND. The pitch bend wheel can be used to smoothly change the pitch of notes played on the keyboard.
Works for practical mastery of the material:
Ukrainian folk dance"Hopak"
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, or across the entire keyboard, depending on the selected mode).
Left hand 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 when switching the main part.
4. To enable synchronous start, press the SYNCH START button.
5. The main part of the auto accompaniment MAIN VARIATION (main variation) exists in four variants A, B, C, D.
6. Introduction (insert) INTRO – there are 3 options.
7. ENDING – usually used at the end of a song. There are 3 ending options.
8. When you change the MAIN VARIATION function to another value while the OTS LINK button is on (one-touch setting), the timbre of the instrument changes along with the rhythmic pattern of the auto accompaniment.
9. When performing a song, you can change the tempo as desired.
10. Play using the MDB music database (button to the right of the main screen).
9. Quick recording.
You can start recording by pressing the REC button. In this case, the track number is set automatically.
Track 1 – main timbre part.
Track 2 – layered part
Track 3 – Left Hand Voice Part
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. To play the recording, press the button
Plan for creating a composition and recording on a multi-track sequencer
1. Drawing up a draft of the future composition.
2. Work on the compositional form.
3. Harmonization of the melody.
4. Selection of style and texture.
5. Selection of electronic tones.
6. Setting the sound balance of the parts. Function button
7. Working with the memory bank (entering the necessary functions) – Registration memory
8. Recording. (USER) button, turn the dial to select the song number (1-5).
9. Record an auto accompaniment track. While pressing the (REC) button, press the (ACMP) button. The inscription (REC) will appear on the screen - recording readiness mode.
10. Record a melody track. While holding down the (REC) button, press the track 1 button, and MAIN appears on the screen.
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 old data.
