The Stylemaker window (2).

To create a style from a MIDI file, first select menu "File/New style" and press the OK button in the "New part" button. Then press the Load button and select a MIDI file. Then press the Paste button.

Press "Audition" to play the midifile. Specify from and true to select a part. Press OK to paste this part of the midifile into the current style part.

Tranposition type chord (for main variations) will change all the note events to either C, E, G or B to fit in a CMaj7 chord.
Transposition type melody (for intros and endings) will not do this but you have to specify which key the melody is played in and the notes will be transposed accordingly without changing the melody. To determine the key: determine what would be the most likely first note to play after this part of the midifile, that will be the key.

Include control data: specify the first an last bar where the control data (instrument settings for each track) should be taken from. Or leave this option unchecked to prevent the control data that is already present in the style from being overwritten.
Arrange channels: the destiny channels for Yamaha styles are typically 9 thru 16 with the drums on 9 and 10 and the bass on 11. Checking this option will take care of this.
Set note low/high limit: the boundaries will be determined based on the note events present in the selected bars. Instruments often just sound good at certain pitches.
Single note bass: If the resulting style part sounds off, then try to paste it again with this option.
XG midifile: check this option if the midifile contains XG bank numbers and drum channels other then channel 10.

Selected tracks: exclude the solo instruments.
Drum channels: specify which channels contain drum events and shouldn't be transposed.

 

Part and track menu options

The New part window will appear when you select the menu option File/New style or Part/New part. Select a partname. You can also choose to make the settings of this part identical to a part that is already present in the style. If you do so then you can copy the events as well if you check the "Copy events" option. If you already have a Main A then you can copy it to Main B and then make some modifications to Main B. If the specified lenght of the new part is longer then the original part then check the "Fill to lenght" option to repeat the contents of the original part in the new part.

Menu Part/Delete will remove the current part from the style. Menu Part/Delete bars will ask for the first and the last bar to delete from the part. Part/Insert bars will ask for the insert position and the number of bars to insert in the part, empty bars will be inserted that need to be filled. Part/length will ask for the new lenght of the bar, if it is longer then the original length then choose the "Fill to lenght" option to repeat the events in the bar. All these three actions will change the length of the part.

Menu Part/Export can be used to save a Part and use it later in an other style. Select menu Part/Import and select a previous exported part from the file selection box. A window will appear with options how to import this part.

If the instrument settings should be the same in all parts then choose the option "Copy control data to control data column". This means that the control data for the instrument settings will be used style wide for all the parts.

Choose "Copy control data to events column" if you plan to use different instruments in each part. This will be necessary if you make a style with parts from differents styles. If you include the instrument settings at the start of one part then al the other parts should have instrument settings as well.

Choose "Don't copy control data" if you want to use style wide instrument settings but you don't want the current control data to be overwritten. You may already have copied the control data from another part and did some editing on it in the mean time.

Only select "separate tempo and timesig for each part" if you really want to apply different tempos in each part.

Menu Part/Quantise: Select the resolution to which the note starting times of the notes will be adjusted. With the "quantize ending times" option also the duration of the notes will be changed (not recommended).

Menu Part/Transpose: The pitch of the notes can be changed with a value from -12 to + 12 semitones. Select the tracks that you want to transpose. Don't transpose the drum tracks.

With menu Part/Velocity you can change the velocity (loudness) of the notes. To increase or decrease the note on velocity: specify the percentage change between -99 and + 99. Because the maximum velocity is 127, the velocity increase will not be the percentage of the original velocity but the percentage of (127 - original velocity). To give all the notes the same velocity: specify the fixed value. To give a "live" effect define a random value between 1 (little variety) and 9 (much variety). With the "In all parts" option this action will be done in all the parts in the style.

Menu Part/Synchronize is an advanced options to fix parts that play out of pace. If you record a MIDI file by playing piano in your own tempo without listning to a metronome or other accompaniment created by the sequencer, then the recorded MIDI file will be unsynchronised. The start of the beats and the bars that are to be heared in the music will not be in the same time as the sequencer beats and bars. When you try to make a style from an unsynchronized MIDI file, then the beats in the result will play out of pace with the beats of the MIDI clock (visible in the red and green lights on screen). E.g. if you have 5 bars pasted into a part then the first beat of each bar may be at 1:02:0365, 2:02:0423, 3:02:0475, 4:03:0066 and 5:03:0107. To correct this you can specify to fit the sequence from 1:02:0365 thru 5:03:0107 into 4 bars. As a result the first beat of each bar will be at 1:01:0001, 2:01:0001, 3:01:0001, 4:01:0001. You may have to quantize too, if you want to get this exact result.

Menu Part/Fade in and Part/Fade Out will gradually raise the expression controller value from 1 to 127 or lower it from 127 to 1.

The window above will appear when you select menu Track/Copy or Track/Cut. Specify the first bar to copy and the number of bars. If you want to copy the instrument settings in the Control data instead of the notes in the part track then select "Control data. After a copy or cut action you can use the Track/Paste menu option to insert the contents in another track. Always click on the desired track first before you select a track menu option.

The Menu options Track/Quantise, Track/Transpose, Track/Velocity, Track/Fade in and Track/Fade out are similar to their counterparts in the Parts menu.

The Track/Generate menu option will add notes or controllers to the selected track. Select Notes or Controllers. Specify the Note or Controller type and the number of events per beat that will be added. Select wether the values of the events should be Fixed, Random, Increasing, Decreasing or vary in a Wave. Speciy the fixed value or the range of values (random, increasing, decreasing). For waves also specify the wavelenght in beats. Check the channels where the events will be generated.

If the style uses a drumset that is not present on you synthesizer, then this may lead to very awkward sounds. With the Track/Convert menu option you can convert the drums notes so that they will give a better matching sound. The simplest way is to load the "bongos and congas" conversion table, select the drum track(s) that needs conversion, check the "in all parts" option (if you're sure that the situation is the same in all parts) and press apply. Now it's all finger tapping what is less annoying then hooting owls and cowbels.

You can make your own conversion table. Double click on any note in the conversion table and select a new note and/or change the velocity. Save the conversion table when you are ready.

The Track/Kill menu option will delete both the events in the track as the CASM settings, Track/Wipe will just delete the events.

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