MixMaster is a program for editing midi files. It is unique because it is designed specifically for the song, style, pad and voice files used by the Tyros/PSR line of instruments. It comes ready to use with translations of voice, effect, midi and known Yamaha sysex commands.

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With It You Can

• Monitor the activity, voices, wheel, volume and other controller settings on all channels as the file plays.
• View, copy to clipboard, print and edit virtually all midi commands.
• Copy and paste within a file or between files.
• Update files with setting snapshots or record live edits using slider controls.
• View and play files over their full range, or between markers (e.g. StyleSections, Song Position Pointers) or user-specified times.
• View and edit "command versus time" graphical displays for midi events, PSR control commands, notes, lyrics, tempo, step record chord events, wheel movements, voices, effects, and all controller events such as volume, pan, brightness, expression and modulation.
• Edit, delete, and insert standard midi and PSR/Tyros sysex, song position, and keyboard control commands.
• Edit styles without destroying the Casm, OTS and Music Finder sections.
• Exchange files seamlessly with MidiPlayer and PSRUTI to access additional processing capabilities.
• Edit the volume, pan and effects of individual drum instruments (e.g. Tom, Snare) in a drum kit.
• Monitor and record live play or the response to registration and other button depresses.

Common Applications Include

• Adjusting of the volume of style sections, or the individual instrument parts within a style section.
• Controlling the volume, pan, and other effects applied to individual drum instruments.
• Altering the tempo within a midi file, including Ritardando.
• Live mixing (vol, pan, expression, etc) of prerecorded midi tracks.
• Adding commands to control style accompaniment (style used, tempo, variation, etc), voices (on-off, left hold), harmony-echo (type, volume, etc), turning vocal harmony on-off.
• Controlling the Audio player (play, stop, and pause).
• Inserting/editing markers(intro, verse, chorus, song position pointers, editing aids).
• Adding a count in, volume fade in-out, tempo fade out.
• Removing measures, channels, events.
• Changing or merging channels.
• Transposing a file, channels or notes (including those in styles and pads)..
• Shifting events or adding empty measures.
• Changing the velocity, length or timing of notes.
• Correcting common note problems (short notes, overlapping notes, timing issues with quantize).
• Removing All Keyboard Voice Events added by Song Creator/Execute operations with keyboard Voices checked in the Setup tab.
• Building backing tracks or full midi songs by step recording chord ad notes.

Requirements

System Requirements: XP, Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8.

Some understanding of midi commands, or a willingness to learn.  MixMaster does not explain how midi works in modern instruments, and, unlike other programs in the Style Manager series, it is not fully automatic.

However, it does offer support for common editing (boundaries to selections, choices tailored to the selected instrument, etc) and automated functions that can be used with a minimum of background knowledge.  A "How To" section in the manual outlines common procedures.

And you can always send an email to the author using the Help/Email Author menu item.

Sample Display Screens

List View provides access to all commands in the file and is used for general editing. All events are available here. Commands are listed (and can be sorted) by time, channel and voice name, color coded command type, and translated data values. View controls enable data selection by channel, event type, and marker/ style section.

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Menu items support copy/paste, inserting and editing all standard midi and many PSR control and DSP commands. Process functions provide the move, remove, transpose, shift, scale, and convert operations that users most frequently need for modifying songs, styles, pads and voices. Note and Lyric editing, while they both have separate screens, can also be done here.

Note View lists note data along with a piano roll style graphical display. Here channel-voice data is color keyed to the piano roll display, making it easier to identify events. Data can be selected by channel or marker/style section, and sorted in the data listing by any of the column headings.

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This view hosts a comprehensive set of zoom, select, copy, paste, edit, delete, insertand processing commands specific to note events. This view is also home to the extensive note clean up, quantize and randomizing functions.

Lyric View lists lyric and chord events along with a text display that supports formatting content, font, bold, color and justification. Functions include print, copy to clipboard, save as text file, text to lyric conversion, copy, paste, delete, insert, and sorting.

 

Midi Record View displays data as received in real time by your computer, translated into the commands used by the PSR/Tyros. It can be used to capture the keyboard playing, registration button presses, or other control activities.

It can be used for recording simultaneous real time playing from the instrument, capturing what happens when a voice is changed or a registration is executed, or the response to any other keyboard depress or file loading operation.

Once recorded, you can save the session for future reference, or Open it in the other MixMaster screens.

Event Views provide display and editing facilities for a specific channel related controller, program change or other channel events. They are selected by depressing the ▲ next to a control in Mixer View or in the Controller- Channel box on Controller View, or by clicking a selection in the MixMasters Views menu item.

You can edit this parameter by clicking on items of the DataList or using the Insert or Delete push buttons.

One powerful feature of this view is the ability to copy and paste a multi event selection that you can identify from the chart.

In the example above, we have pitch wheel events from Eric Clapton's song, Wonderful Tonight, in midi (available in the C:\Program Files\MixMaster\ Sample Files folder). Copy /Paste makes it easy to capture events (e.g. from 003: 1:0000 to 003:4: 2000) for use in this file, other midis, or for inclusion in, for example, a 'guitar effects' file.   

Tempo View, available by depressing the ▲ below the tempo box in Mixer View, displays, and allows editing of tempos events (here showing Ritardando). The Edit menu item supports moving, insertion and deletion.

The Effects Panel in Mixer View shows the effects and where they are assigned along with providing instrument-aware editing functions.

Note that for Tyros 4/S910 that the special DSPs assigned to styles are identified along with the style part to which they are applied.

Clicking the ▲ next to an effect assignment brings up a editing view that allows editing of the effect and/ or insertion of new ones at any position in the file.

Step Record View - This PSR/Tyros Song Creator can create a midi file by entering step chord events that can be "expanded" using a selected style.

While powerful, creating and editing on the instrument's small screen is awkward and slow. The Step Record view allows Insert, Delete, Copy, Paste, and most editing operations to be done in a MixMaster screen.

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Big Time View displays the New time and the current beat in a separate screen that can be expanded to the size of your monitor. It is useful for keeping time in band/choir applications.

Pan View displays and provides editing facilities for all the pan events in a graphica representation that indicates the instruments position in the stereo field.

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This page updated on March 19, 2013 .