I am trying to use an Arduino to send MIDI commands to a PSR-520. The 520 manual says that this 23 year old keyboard supports GM MIDI and also an expanded set called XG MIDI. I can send NOTE ON and NOTE OFF commands with no problem, and also MASTER TUNING commands, but I cannot figure out how to make some other features work. I wanted to press a lower key while ONE FINGER MODE was turned on (in order to trigger auto-accompaniment), but with the MIDI NOTE command, I only succeeded in playing the low key note, not in triggering the auto-accompaniment that is triggered when you actually touch a key. I talked to a Yamaha tech who said my piano was too old to support those types of commands, but newer models would work (he did not say which models.) Now I am trying to trigger TRANSPOSE commands or COARSE TUNING commands, and again cannot get them to work as I had hoped.
For example, following the 520 manual, I sent the hex string F0 43 10 4C 00 00 06 42. This is the GM Parameter Change command for TRANSPOSE that Yamaha says they support on P91 of the manual, and did raise the tuning two semitones, but it only affects notes called by MIDI commands, not notes played on the actual keys. So I worry that, like my failure with auto-accompaniment, perhaps my old piano cannot use the TRANSPOSE or COARSE TUNING commands to accomplish what I want - Arduino-driven transposing of the key notes. Strange though, since MASTER TUNING does work on the keys, but it does not have enough range to actually transpose very far (limited to + or + 100 cents). Based on posts I found at XG-central.com, I tried resetting the GM package with the hex command F0 7E 7F 09 01 F7, and the XG package with F0 43 10 4C 00 00 7E 00 F7, but this had no effect. Perhaps the 520 manual is alluding to the problem I am having by this sentence about MASTER TUNING: “This value affects not only MIDI reception part but the entire system of the PSR-520.” (As if maybe the other commands DON’T affect the entire system?)
If anyone has any advice on whether I can resolve this problem with TRANSPOSE, I would appreciate it. I also would appreciate any advice on a different model keyboard that would definitely support TRANSPOSE of the keys. Is there an exact feature or specification I should be looking for to be able to access TRANSPOSE through MIDI commands?
Thanks very much, Jack