Question about User Styles in SK keyboards

Hello everybody,

I appreciate if somebody can help and let me know what I am doing wrong. I am trying to create a user style that consists of the following,

One variation from an 8-beat factory style, and another variation from rock factory style in the following manner:

variation 2 of 8 beat2 factory to variation 1 of user style.
variation 3 of 8 beat2 factory to variation 3 of user style.

variation 3 of slowrock 4 factory to variation 2 of user style.
variation 4 of slowrock 4 factory to variation 4 of user style.

This is very important because song has it that the chorus uses slow rock while the verse uses 8beat style. You cannot simply switch in real time, it is almost impossible, you have to have a style that combines both.

But when I try to create this particular style I get all sort of problem...

1) It seems to me that you cannot copy variation 1 to variation 2 from different styles... YOU MUST copy variation 1 to 1, 2 to 2, 3 to 3 and 4 to 4.... there is a way to specify it but it seems to me it does not work.

2) sometimes, you want to copy the variation including all tracks and all riffs of that particular variation, only the drum track gets copied.

I would appreciate if somebody can help me with this. Thanks

Hi sk880user. I'm at work right now so I"m not near my wk8 nor do I have the manual with me but I think you can do what you are wanting to. I seem to remember you can choose what style you want to copy a variation to and from in the copy dialog. I seem to remember playing with this feature. I'm almost positive you can choose another style's variation from the copy dialog. I'm sorry I can't remember the details without the board in front of me. One thing comes to mind, if you are starting with a factory style, did you remember to first copy the whole style to a user style location. You need to do that to engage all the editing features otherwise some of the featires will be grayed out. Maybe Chris@gem can help us out here.

Vic01,

THanks friend. Can you please try to do the following:

Copy variation 2 from Factory Style A to variation 1 of User style B.

See if this works.

If you copy var 2 of style A to var 2 of style B, it will work..

If you copy var 2 of style B to var 1 of the same style, it will work..

But not var 2 of style A to var 1 of style B...

SK88

Couldn't you set up a user template for percussion dedicated to overcoming this problem? User style X say - transfer variation 1 from style A into variation 1 of style X - than into variation 2 of style X and then into variation 2 of style B??

or is that too cumbersome?

Mike H

Mike,

I have never tried this. I wonder if it works.

But I tell you what, here what I did:

I transfered var 2 of style A to var 2 of style B, and then transferred var 2 of style B to var 1 of style B. That worked.

Hi sk880user. I didn't get a chance to check the forum last night when I was home and I'm at work again this so if I get the chance I'll try what you are suggesting tonight. Sound like you are making some progress though. Sometimes we have to invent ways of doing what we want. One way or another we'll get the results we want and learn things about our keyboards the designers didn't even know they could do.

sk88

I think what you described is basically the same thing - I just didn't know if working between styles A and B alone would cause you to lose something you didn't want to. Only in that case would you have to use a third style (X) to avoid too much disruption in one of the others. Your way is very direct but I would have thought that copying between styles would allow you a choice of destinations in any of the 4 variations

PS - heard anything new about genesys?? I am really hoping to see something in the OS which would vary the tempo track just ever so slightly up and down to create a sense of not being quite so rigidly locked in. I discovered quite by accident when looking at the tempo track of an onboard song demo in my Roland FP-3 - that they varied the tempo up and down a beat or two during the course of the song - quite interesting - and very natural sounding.

regards
Mike H

mike,

would that variation in speed be automatic, i.e. randomly generated by keyboard automatically? Or simply allow the song to record variation in speed programmed by the user? Because the later is already there in SK/WK series... I have the option of recording variable speed in any particular song. I do not recall, though, if this is possible to record it live without microscopic editing AFTER the song was created.

sk88

I was thinking that the application of random tempo changes slightly up and down - could be assigned to a number of performance modes - live, recorded, variation specific,patch specific, etc.

I did not know you could record with random tempo changes in the wk series - but I know this - musicians seem subconsciously aware of playing against an invarying tempo and it makes it a bit stiffer than playing with a live drummer. I believe that any bit of percussion randomness (within limits) that can be accessed by the keyboardist - should add to spontaneity - hopefully!!!!!!!

regards
Mike

interesting, you are actually bringing up a good point. Do you notice that the live drummer adapts sometimes follow other musicians... in other words, if they slow down, he would also slow down a bit and vice versa?

Also would this explain the fact that many factory songs, have variable speeds recorded, just slight variation...

sk88

I know what you mean - and I firmly believe the ebb and flow of energy during a song - particularly during solos or transitions between differing parts of the song - provide opportunities for provoking the subtle awareness changes in your audience that something is happening musically. The cadence of the drummer whether he is leading the intensity change or following another band member's - seems to be a trigger for this phenomenon. I notice (as a jazz player) - that such changes often brings an opportunity to spark a song to greater heights or a spectacularly creative passage - at least in our own minds (ha) if no one else's. A drummer - whether canned or live - who has rhytmic interest and variation - sure takes a load off the piano player.

MH

Mike,

Thank you for your ideas, now I am working on a song and I am adding some variation in the tempo. It really sounds nice.

sk88user - or maybe soon - genesysuser!!

Hope to hear your musical ideas on the web somewhere - and I hope to learn how to do that myself this year

regards
Mike in Alaska