Hi Diki,
I am now the proud owner of an FC7 footswitch and I see it is pre-programmed to plug and play. Do you have any suggestions, tips or tricks before I dive in at the deep end please.
I have taken your advice and now enter the performance number from my alphabetical playlist. My lyrics are on my laptop and numbered the same.
You say you don't ever use the root for songs but instead save the midifile as a performance and once again enter the number. Do you have a separate performance list with sub directories or is there another way.
thanks in advance

The labeling on the FC7 goes back decades, so quite honestly I wouldn't pay it any attention at all. What you set the switches to do is very much up to you and what you need most. But, as I mentioned, there's only ONE 'global' setup for it, which very much reduces its usefulness.

Personally, when using the FC7 for arranger use, I like SW's 1-4 for Variation selection (with Auto-fill ON) SW's 5&6 for Perf Up/Down and SW7 for Break/Mute. But your needs may differ from mine.

If you use the Key Audio for adding say a percussion loop as a sort of multipad, you might want a couple of switches to trigger those, or you've got to use keys at the top of the keyboard, and you run the risk of accidentally hitting them!

My songlist is only about 400+ songs, so currently I only use the one main Performance List for my solo shows, but I have several others that I'll use with bands, duo's, of holiday type music (Xmas, Mardi Gras etc) or specific functions (snowbirds, weddings etc).

As to organizing the data in the Songs folder, I keep EVERYTHING in different folders while I'm working on it, but as soon as I'm ready to perform it, I'll move it to the root level and then create the Performance using the file at the root level. This means if I edit it on the gig and want to 'replace' the file, I only have to navigate to the root level, not hunt around in myriads of sub-folders to find it...

As you've gone with the numerical system, I think you should concentrate on your laptop as the 'organizer' if you want genre specific lists or stuff like that. I embed all my lyrics into either the SMF or the .mp3 so the only songs I need lyrics for are songs I play with no backing, and I just use my iPad for those with a Bluetooth page turner to scroll if needed.

There's a little trick you can try with that as well if you find yourself just needing a few words to trigger your memory rather than the complete lyrics. Create a blank SMF of say 5 bars long. Then embed the words you need at Bar1 for first verse (you'll quickly find out if it's too many for the page to display) bar2 for chorus, bar3 next verse etc.

Now set up markers for Bar2, Bar3, Bar4 and Bar5. Now the Marker buttons can jump you to each 'page' even if the SMF is not playing..! It's not a LOT of text on each page, but it might be enough to trigger your memory. I often find that the first line of each section is enough to jog my memory..!

I'm not a big fan of reading off of laptops etc when playing, I'm old school, few entertainers read while they played back in the day. The audience likes to see you looking at THEM not buried in a screen! Plus they block the audience's view of you...

If you're on a Mac, I use a program called QMIDI to embed lyrics into SMF's and .mp3's. There's are several on Windows that can do this. The biggest advantage to doing this is that your Performance now calls EVERYTHING... resource (style/SMF/MP3), keyboard sounds AND lyrics!

Currently I don't bother with exact numericals, I just keep things in alphabetical order and then I know roughly where 100/200/300 etc put me in the list, and then scroll from there. It's quick enough unless I'm trying to medley..!

Hope some of this helps. You'll quickly find what works best for you..!

Thanks Diki, most of what you advised I'm already doing and the rest will follow. Yes it's a long hard slog getting set up for gigging but already I can see results. Biggest time consumer is transferring my midifiles via midifile optimiser. Some are fine and others need a lot of work. Never got my head round that, just get the head down and keep converting.

What's the biggest issue converting MIDI files? I've never used a utility, just my ears...

Plus, if you still have your previous keyboard (or can borrow one) and you're content with how that sounded, why not simply record the old keyboard and use the .wav or mp3?

Midifile issues.
First point is that some of them play perfectly, but others for no apparent reason have....
Wrong instruments/drum kits. Wrong volumes and sometimes reverb/expression.
Some midifiles switch off or kill the volume on my right hand so I can't play along with it. Could this be a midi RX fix?
I have tried importing a midifile into cubase and deleting the sysex but it did'nt seem to make any difference.
Recording the midi as an audio track would be the answer but after recording and inserting lyrics, it would be even more time consuming than fixing the midifile.
I have a Ketron SD2 module which is very small and portable and would be another solution but slightly defeats the purpose of cutting down on my setup ( or am I being stubborn). Also I like the new sound the Roland gives some of my files.
To be clear, I am not moaning because I know the time spent fixing things will be worth it, and again I am grateful for the benefit of your experience

I can't find a way to delete my previous post.
The simple answer is to use the Ketron module to play my midifiles
Sometimes you just need to take a step back

sorry for wasting your time

What's the source of the files? I get a fair amount of issues with XG Yamaha files, kits, effects etc.. And then others from Korg, Ketron etc.

Unless something is SO OLD it's really set up for GM (128 tones, no variations, very rudimentary drum kits etc) things all started going sideways with GS/XG and their more recent incarnations. Yamaha were big culprits with non standard drum kits, etc.

I guess I've been collecting SMF's since the beginning, and it's frightening how much they evolved.

Ditching ALL sysex is always a good start, unless they're fairly recent (10-15 years) Roland files. The minute Roland transitioned to the V-Drums kits (VA76/G70 era) there was quite a bit of drum weirdness. Ghosting notes on clap notes, flams on tomtom notes etc.

Thing is, if you still have the gear you USED to play them on, it would take you @3min/song to record the audio. I can't imagine fixing the SMF is faster than that! You can still revisit the SMF later at your leisure, but audio gets you gigging immediately,

The Roland GS became the most common format as it was included as the default for Windows PCs.

Bill

Thanks for your input Bill. Probably most of my midifiles will be years old now, and some more recent. Like you I have been collecting from various sources for years.
It is time for me to eat humble pie. Embarrassed but I hope it helps someone else.
After converting the midifiles I made a playlist on my laptop using the old Van Basco player and the BK9 as the source.
That was my problem !!!!
I have now done what Diki told me to do in the first place and playing them directly from the USB in the BK9. Soon I will have everything in the same list. I still have the odd hiccup to fix on some of them but I am steadily working through them.
Tonight will be my first gig with my new setup being purely Roland, so I am looking forward to hearing all my hard work in a live environment/
Thanks to everyone for their help and especially to Diki , who I should have listened to in the first place.

Oh Lord, don't make my head any bigger! I really only try to pass on what worked for ME, and there's dozens of ways to skin a cat!

But I've always had a horror of laptops. I just don't find them aesthetic on stage. They distract us, and they distract our audience, and I feel that performing music is a bit like magic. You shouldn't really let your audience see how the trick is performed! Don't give them the opportunity to think 'Oh, so THAT'S how he's doing it!' or 'Maybe I could do that too!' 🤣

So I've spent a lot of time and effort trying to do everything in the keyboard itself so that it's me, a keyboard and NOTHING else. Just like it would have been in the days when there WAS nothing else, and musicians/entertainers 'entertained', not read off a crib sheet.

I was in bands that had hundreds of songs, and nobody read, we just played. I think we still owe our audiences that kind of show. Let the kids bury their noses in their laptops, let the kids distract themselves with half-acre sized pedalboards (I love the new term 'shoegazers' for those players! 🤣)

We're from the generation that didn't NEED that stuff. Let's at least LOOK like we still don't! 🤣😎🎹