Issues with multi-track MIDI recording with Yamaha YPT-300 (PSR-E303)

[Sergey Mashchenko]

I am trying to help my daughter to setup Cakewalk on a desktop PC to be used as a multi-track MIDI recorder for her keyboard - Yamaha YPT-300 (PSR-E303). I am completely new to Cakewalk and MIDI - can anyone please help me with this?

We've already figured out how to record and playback MIDI tracks.  What we are stuck with is a good/convenient way to assign MIDI instruments to tracks, in the way that when the whole piece is played back via Yamaha (MIDI), the instruments used would be the same we used during recording. We did find one solution which works, but is very inconvenient: as long as we start recording (on Cakewalk, or Yamaha) first, and then change the instrument, the correct instrument is recorded by Cakewalk (or recorded by Yamaha, then correctly copied to Cakewalk).

I suspect the answer will be "use instrument definition file", but (1) the only file I found for our instrument (here: http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/ins_files.htm) is apparently all broken (tested with the Ins File Checker; also seems not to work correctly when used in Cakewalk). And (2), even with the correct file, I think this will not achieve what we want: an easy way to add an instrument to recorded track using the Voice Number for our keyboard (goes from 001 to 482). My understanding is the definition file would still require you to know which bank any particular voice belongs to (and there are dozens of banks).

There is one particular situation which might work for us if it's fixed/tweaked. Specifically, our workflow is to first record one or both tracks on Yamaha, then copy them to Cakewalk (using MIDI Sync clock, so it starts exactly at the point where Yamaha track starts). Later, we play back the one/two Yamaha tracks while recording additional tracks to Cakewalk (again, using MIDI sync clock; Cakewalk is muted, using Yamaha speakers) - this eliminates any sync issues (lag) between different tracks. This would all be fine, except when we copy the pre-recorded tracks from Yamaha to Cakewalk,  the instrument is not recorded for some reason. But Yamaha does record the proper instruments for its tracks somewhere - playing it back on Yamaha always uses the correct instruments. Is this something we can fix? May be Yamaha doesn't transmit the correct instrument via MIDI during track playback? (Looking at the Events View, I don't see any initial patch change commands). If so, this will not be fixable. Or perhaps one can enable something inside Cakewalk to record this initial patch set commands?

Thanks for any feedback!

[Sergey Mashchenko]

I spent some time on this, and figured this out myself.

1) The Cakewalk feature "Patch browser" can be used to get what I want - an ability to easily punch in the instrument's native voice number - as long as this voice number is included in the name of the voice (during writing the instrument definition file).

2) The only instrument definition file I could find for my Yamaha YPT-300 (identical to PSR-E303) is all broken (when checked with INS file checker; also when trying to use it for anything beyond first 128 basic voices). To my surprise, all INS files I tried (even the ones provided by Cakewalk) generate errors under INS checker.

3) Based on multiple INS file examples online, plus my instrument's manual, I managed to compile a new instrument definition file for Yamaha YPT-300 / PSR-E303 which has no errors under INS file checker, and seems to work correctly with my instrument. It does have instrument's voice numbers included in the voice names. Here it is:

Yamaha_PSRE303_YPT300.ins