Ratio of volume settings between styles and voices

[Sophia531]

I have a DGX 230 which I'm very happy with the default settings of volumes between Styles and Voices which I believe it is set at Style = 35 and Voice 114, I also have a PSR S970 and looks like they are set at 100 for both voice and Style, but you can hardly hear the voice when style is being played at the same time, till finally I reset them to match the DGX 230 and now it sounds better. My question is this normal for that much difference in those two volume settings. main voice being the Grand piano.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I thought that the PSR-S970 has separate volume settings for each of the eight style parts or channels (rhythm1, rhythm2, bass, chord1, chord2, pad, phrase1, and phrase2)? I didn't realize it also has an overall style volume control, but I guess that makes sense.

The DGX-230 also has separate volume settings for the eight style parts, but there's no way to modify them on the keyboard as there is on the PSR-S models; all you can do is adjust the overall style volume. If you're using an external style file then you can use external software such as Michael Bedesem's MixMaster program or some of Jorgen Sorensen's many programs to adjust the channel volumes of the eight style parts, but you can't do that on the DGX-230 itself.

Anyway, it's normal for the eight channel volumes to vary from style to style. A lot of Yamaha owners who make heavy use of style files will spend some time tweaking each new style file that they add to their collection, adjusting the channel volumes, voice settings, and effects until they're satisfied with the results.

It's also normal for there to be a good bit of variance between the volumes of the many preset voices on a Yamaha keyboard. Personally, I don't understand why Yamaha has set so many of the preset voices to such low volumes, but "it is what it is."

 

[Sophia531]

Thank you. I guess Yamaha, knowing DGX 230 being geared more toward beginners, they done some more tweaking of the sounds and styles vs PSR S970 being more geared toward advance players and having the capability of adjusting everything the way player likes they were not concerned with adjusting the sound levels. But not knowing that, at first I thought I might have a defective keyboard till finally decided to follow the DGX 230 settings then I realized what they have done, even though their Demo songs produces way louder sounds than I can actually produce by adjusting individual volumes.

Thank you again for your response.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I haven't checked their specs, but it's also possible-- and likely-- that the S970 has more powerful amplification than the DGX.

 

[Sophia531]

They do, DGX 230 is 6 or 7 watts per each side and PSR S970 is 15 watts per each side but it is amazing the way they have loaded the voices on DGX the volume is much higher for Grand Concert Piano, I'm not sure on other voices but default voice it is way different, to the point when very first I tried it I was not happy at all and felt I might have received a defective unit.

 

[Sophia531]

Okay, I did some more testing, the default voice on PSRS 970 is Concert Grand, and on DGX 230 is Grand Piano, so that is not a good comparison, however PSRS has Concert Grand also and both also have Midi Grand, so I compared them that way to be fair, and turned up the volume all the way on both, the result, loudness on both are about the same according to my ears, even though DGX is total of 12 Watts and PSRS 30 watts, I also increased the volume setting of PSRS to match the default setting of DGX which is 114. So at the end like you mentioned players spend lot of time tweaking the sounds and styles to their liking, and I guess that is what I'll be doing. For people that just want to select a style and play, DGX much friendlier, and I was thinking about selling that one when I purchased the PSRS, but more and more I like it so much specially having the 76 key that I have decided it is a keeper. Also some of the Styles introductions and endings are so much nicer, but that is a different subject and I have to see if I find a way to transfer the ones that I like to PSRS if it is possible, I'm just a beginner at keyboard but been playing guitar for most of my life.

Thank you and have a nice day.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

The DGX line doesn't have a Style Creator feature like the PSR-S line does, so there's no simple way to export the preset styles from the DGX. What you have to do is record a User Song in which you play nothing but the style you want to export, using the C Major 7 accompaniment chord and cycling through all of the style sections that you want to export-- e.g., Intro A, Main A, Fill A->B, Main B, Fill B->A, and Ending A-- giving each section a chance to play from beginning to end. Then you can play back the User Song and send its MIDI output to a computer to record in a DAW, saving the recording to a MIDI file. After that, you can use a utility such as "Midi2Style" by Jorgen Sorensen to create a style file from the MIDI recording. Unfortunately, all of that can be easier said than done!