Import midi from Yamaha DGX 670-Cakewalk edit?

[56_Kruiser]

I decided it was time to get started with a DAW and research landed me with Cakewalk. So, I am newer than a newbie.?

Well, it brings lots of surprises to me. I've created a 10 instrument song (Clair de Lune) in my Yamaha DGX 670 and thought I'd experiment with volumes, and try to add a bit more dynamics using a DAW.

The song has 6 tempo changes, along with a few key changes. Time signature is 9/8. Somehow I ended up with a wrong tempo at a spot that doesn't even have a tempo change. Not sure how I did that. I was going to attempt to repair that in the keyboard, as the DGX 670 has an option under Song Creator to set tempo. But in a contact with Yamaha support, they suggested it would be better to do that in a DAW.

So, this was my first attempt in Cakewalk. I imported the midi file and I quickly noticed:

• Did not bring in any tempos at all
• Did not bring in the time signature
• Did not bring in what instruments are being used (I presume I need to assign virtual instruments in Cakewalk, haven't messed with that yet), BUT:
  • When I import the revised midi from Cakewalk into the Yamaha, do I lose all instruments that were used when I recorded the Midi file ?

What I have done is:

• Imported the midi into Cakewalk
• Finding no tempos in the song left it easy, in that all I had to do is go to an appropriate measure and set the tempo, for each tempo change
• Exported the midi from Cakewalk to a midi giving it a different name
• Went to the Yamaha and played the song from a USB drive

Well, all I got was a short tone. Other than that nothing.

Is my thought process of using a DAW to add dynamics to a song, expecting to retain the instruments that I assigned to each channel an unattainable task?

I appreciate any input, help  and suggestions.

[Kurre]

I would use the midi channels to handle what instruments to be used.

The rest is for others to answer. I haven't yet connected any midi hardware.

[57Gregy]

8 hours ago, 56_Kruiser said:

Imported the midi into Cakewalk

How did you do that? Where did the MIDI file come from? Directly from the Yamaha or from the hard drive of the computer? Or a thumb drive?

[Promidi]

10 hours ago, 56_Kruiser said:

The song has 6 tempo changes, along with a few key changes. Time signature is 9/8.

 

What I have done is:

• Imported the midi into Cakewalk

 

Because of the above, you need to OPEN the MIDI file into Cakewalk, not import it.  Importing MIDI files does not bring in the tempo changes, key changes or Time signature changes.

Edited July 28 by Promidi

[56_Kruiser]

20 hours ago, 57Gregy said:

How did you do that? Where did the MIDI file come from? Directly from the Yamaha or from the hard drive of the computer? Or a thumb drive?

The midi file was generated by the Yamana, saved to a USB thumb, and I used the Import command to load it from the USB thumb drive.

18 hours ago, Promidi said:

Because of the above, you need to OPEN the MIDI file into Cakewalk, not import it.  Importing MIDI files does not bring in the tempo changes, key changes or Time signature changes.

That did the trick! I clicked in the hub for an empty project, and loaded the file (maybe I didn't need to do the empty file). It even plays the instruments w/o my having to set up virtual instruments. 

A couple caveats at this point:

• While the sound plays the instruments, I do not see where it identifies the instruments.
• It adds an extra/empty measure at the front of each track (maybe that's why I didn't think it pulled in the time signature, as in this case it shows 4/4 for the first (empty} measure, then changes to the 8/9 on measure 2
• While all of the tempo indicators are there, checking them I find this:
  • As expected, given the extra measure at the front, if my sheet music shows to change to 80 at measure 27, it does so. But when the sheet music indicates to change to 100 at 43, I would expect in Cakewalk it would show to change at 44, but in the midi file in Cakewalk it shows it to change at 42
  • The above fact prompted me to test playing the midi while watching the electronic music sheet play indicator. Both set at same tempo, the song being played (in the PC...not connected to the Yamaha at this point) moves quite a bit faster than the song played via Cakewalk.
• Net on tempo, a little further looking and the measures do not match the measures in the music. I need to see if I can figure that one out.

 

[Promidi]

16 minutes ago, 56_Kruiser said:

A couple caveats at this point:

• While the sound plays the instruments, I do not see where it identifies the instruments.

 

Being an XG keyboard, you might need the instrument definition file for XG. 

This should be in your Cakewalk resourses folder.  Looks for a a file called "Yamaha.ins."

Once this is loaded, your instrment patches should show up when ever you need to select patches, or enter Patch change commands in your Project.

I have a Yamaha SW1000XG card and I have done this for that card.

See Preferences - MIDI - Instruments

Here is how mine is set up.

[56_Kruiser]

I really appreciate your guidance. I haven't attempted that yet, but I certainly will.

I have another problem that is an issue for me that I' posting now.

Learning the use of a DAW will keep me entertained?

[56_Kruiser]

My list is varying from yours. So I have the Patch Name for Banks selected under Yamaha XG in the Define Instruments and Names window, then I click the Import button, turns off the highlight on Patch Names for Banks  and it opens a window wanting me to select a file for an instrument definition, as shown below. I didn't get to the Project Window.

 

[Promidi]

6 minutes ago, 56_Kruiser said:

My list is varying from yours. So I have the Patch Name for Banks selected under Yamaha XG in the Define Instruments and Names window, then I click the Import button, turns off the highlight on Patch Names for Banks  and it opens a window wanting me to select a file for an instrument definition, as shown below. I didn't get to the Project Window.

Looks like you already have the XG patches loaded. Setting all your MIDI channels to “Yamaha XG” should be all you need to do (this is assuming your Yamaha Keyboard adheres to the XG standard)

Edited July 30 by Promidi

[sjoens]

4 hours ago, 56_Kruiser said:

My list is varying from yours. So I have the Patch Name for Banks selected under Yamaha XG in the Define Instruments and Names window, then I click the Import button, turns off the highlight on Patch Names for Banks  and it opens a window wanting me to select a file for an instrument definition, as shown below. I didn't get to the Project Window.

You can import a new list  (.ins file)  for the DGX 670 synth if the patch names are different from the standard Yamaha XG names.  Your manual should have a name chart.

Or go here for a list of Yamaha INS files and change the file extension to .ins if not already done so.

Edited July 30 by sjoens