Okay, my one burning ctk-900 question...

[GOMlKEGO]

What is the easiest way to get my CKF files on the computer, listen to them, edit them, and convert them to wave... or anything? Casio's data expansion system is alright, I can add user tones, backup my work and all that crazy stuff but their wave converter freezes up everytime I open it. I have a pretty good computer too. Vista says NO.

I've tried atleast a dozen audio converters and none of them (unsuprisingly) were compatible with CKF. If converting a prerecorded song isn't going to do the trick what is my next best option? I've read most of the recording music thread but is there a better way? If I'm stuck doing it the old fashioned way, is it possible to do without the male/male adapter? I'm equipped with an M-Audio Midi converter and elbow grease.

So I realise that my single question branched off into way to many questions... I was thinking outloud and typing everything I was saying. My apologies. In the end, all I want to know is the easiest way to rescue my songs from the burden that is CKF.

 

[Mourndark]

OK, I'll try to answer all your questions:

What is the easiest way to get my CKF files on the computer, listen to them, edit them, and convert them to wave... or anything?

Firstly, CKF files contain no audio information. They are Casio's equivalent of MIDI files - lists of instructions. They essentially tell they keyboard which notes to play, in which order and for how long etc. You won't be able to play them back on anything other than your keyboard.

To do anything apart from edit them, you will need to go through the procedures described in the "Recording..." thread. This will mix all your tracks down to one, so editting it after this will be near impossible, unless you're adding effects to the whole mix.

To edit the actual notes in the song, you either need to rerecord the tracks, or use Casio's editor on the keyboard to change individual notes (I don't reccommend this - it's not easy to use). I have heard tell of a program to convert CKF files to SMF0 (MIDI) files which are far easier to edit on your computer. You will still need to play them back through the keyboard to get them as wavs, unless you want to hear everything in the tinny tones of "Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth".

...their wave converter freezes up everytime I open it. I have a pretty good computer too. Vista says NO.

The wave converter is for creating your own waveforms to play back on the keyboard. It's very dodgy on XP (I hate to think what it's like on Vista), and doesn't work terribly well - I tried sampling an older Casio on it, and it turned what was a nice analog poly pad into a 3 sec tinny loop.

The MDMS is potentially a very powerful tool, far beyond what I expected of it, but it's so unstable it's too hard to work with.

Hope this helps!