changing voices

[alecras234]

Hi im disabled keyboard player, i can only use my left hand but im having problems with my Yamaha E453. i want to switch between voices during a song but i need to press bank, selected a number to which the voice has been saved then press registration to ok the selection. How do i do this quickly with one hand during a song? Not possible! is there a quick way, press one button perhaps?

[J. Dan]

Unfortunately I'm not going to offer much help with the specific keyboard you have, but this gets into a deeper conversation with sort of the process people prefer while performing. Regardless of what keyboard I've used over the years, I've always preferred having all my sounds ready to go and assigned to splits or different keyboards so I can just play, others prefer to switch sounds mid song, which in some ways really simplifies things but leads to the kinds of problems you're having. Not much help, I know, but to the extent that I can have a performance set up ahead of time with splits, I do.

[RudyS]

I don't know about that keyboard, but if you are able to use your feet, you could use a midi controller to change the patches. For instance this one. (disclaimer, I don't know if this one does exactly what you need!)

 

one control gecko

 

[WesG]

Behringer also makes a foot pedal (BCP 1010 I think?) that would work -- but the PSR E453 does not have hardware MIDI ports.

 

My advice in this case would be to use the split feature of the keyboard, to have both sounds available at once and to move your hand back and forth. Failing that, use the bank/registration buttons - that's what they're for.

[RudyS]

Thanks for clearing that out. Didnt realize that there are still products without midi ports. The manual also does not say it can receive midi via USB, only send i think.

[WesG]

Yeah, there's a ton of entry-level Yamaha stuff that is USB-only. For the market segment, it makes sense. These aren't pro boards, although they sound really good for what they are. They street around $300 new.

[AnotherScott]

The manual also does not say it can receive midi via USB, only send i think.

It receives. Data List has all the relevant program change info (and says "The Voice List includes MIDI program change numbers for each voice. Use these program change numbers when playing the instrument via MIDI from an external device.").

 

So you could change patches using a USB device (an iPad, a computer), or probably from a MIDI device connected via adapter i.e.

 

http://www.kentonuk.com/products/items/utilities/usb-host.shtml

 

http://compasflamenco.com/midi-c-3/usb-host-midi-2-p-6.html

 

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I've got three earlier models-- PSR-E443, PSR-E433, and YPT-400 (just another name for the PSR-E403)-- so I'm pretty familiar with what they can and can't do.

 

The PSR-E453 has four Registration buttons, so each Bank contains four Registrations. Once you've selected a given Bank, you can recall any of the four Registrations in that Bank by simply pressing the appropriate Registration button (1, 2, 3, or 4).

 

There's no need to press the Bank button and use the number pad to select a Bank unless the Registration you want to use isn't in the Bank that's currently selected.

 

So what you should do is plan ahead and save your setups so they're organized in the order you want to recall them-- i.e., switch to the first Bank and save the first four Registrations you want to use, then switch to the second Bank and save the next four Registrations you want to use, etc. That way you can select a Bank before you start to play a song, and you'll be able to easily switch back and forth between the four Registrations in that particular Bank while you're playing, just by pressing one button.

 

Unfortunately, the PSR-E453 is limited as far as controlling it with incoming MIDI messages, because it has no functions for assigning a given MIDI channel to a given keyboard part. That means if you send patch changes to the keyboard it won't affect the Main Voice, Dual Voice, and Split Voice, because they're controlled by the keyboard's panel controls. And you can't switch Registrations using a foot controller, because the only type of foot controller the PSR-E453 can use is a sustain on/off pedal or foot switch.

 

If you don't mind having the keyboard connected to a computer while you play, it opens up many more possibilities. You could also buy a special USB-MIDI interface that's able to act as a USB host, and use it to send the keyboard's MIDI back to itself without needing to be connected to a computer.

 

But I won't go into any of that unless you ask, to avoid confusing you. It would probably be better for the time being to just better organize the way you save your Registrations, so you can switch back and forth between four setups using a single button press.