Yamaha PSR 1100 midi and usb question

[chyandour]

Hello

I wondered if anyone could help me, I recently bought a second hand discontinued keyboard ( I cant afford the dream tyros, quiet yet)

I am not sure if anyone will be familiar with my keyboard as it was discontinued in 2003. But basically it has usb point at the back and a floppy drive on the front, also has midi in and out points.

I obviously have a modern laptop that does not have a floppy drive and I thought that this keyboard would have the capabilities to transfer my midi files from my laptop via the usb (type b) point or through the midi yamaha cable I purchased.

I have also got a PSR 640 ( yes I know I like my relics) this also has the midi in and out and floppy drive but no usb and I never had any luck with that machine also!

So to sum up I basically have all my midi files in a folder on my laptop and I wondered if I could either get them to play on my keyboard via the cables mentioned above or send them to my keyboard to put onto floppy discs.

It does say in the manual that came with the keyboard that it can transfer files but I cant seem to understand what its telling me to do!!

Obviously the easiest and cheapest route would be to buy an external floppy disc drive.

Oh one more thing I was lead to believe that this keyboard came with the education suite, would that of been a cd to run on my laptop or actually within the keyboard itself.

Sorry for the newbie questions although I can play keyboards and have all my life, the technology seems to have got away from me over the years!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[happyrat1]

It should hook up to your computer using a USB AB Printer Cable and then with old Yamahas you need to load the proper drivers for your operating system. Google them on Yamaha's website.

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Hi-Spe...8&qid=1389206300&sr=8-1&keywords=10+ft+usb+ab

You may even be able to download the education suite as well which I believe runs on the computer.

Finally though, it would be a good idea to buy a USB Floppy drive so that you can transfer MIDI files to the keyboard's internal sequencer and patches you find on the web and create yourself.

http://www.amazon.com/1-44MB-USB-Ex...d=1389210989&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+floppy+drive

Once the USB cable is hooked up and the drivers installed you should be able to download any MIDI playing software and play songs from your computer though.

Gary

 

[chyandour]

Hi Gary, thanks for your reply so quickly.

The cabling is all good and I downloaded the drivers for them this morning and it worked perfectly, well the laptop recognised them but that was as far as I got!

The problem I have is where on my computer or keyboard do I go to transfer from...in other words how do I make them go from one to the other?

Interesting about the education suite... I will check that out now.
Thanks again for your help

 

[chyandour]

Ahhhh midi playing software!!! Lol got it (duh)

 

[happyrat1]

I'm not really a Yamaha kinda guy so I can't offer any specifics short of RTFM

http://download.yamaha.com/search/product/?site=usa.yamaha.com&language=en&product_id=1040681

Someone else may respond to this thread who has more experience with Yamaha PSRs.

 

[happyrat1]

Ah OK, you got the part about downloading a MIDI player. Never mind then It's all good

 

[happyrat1]

BTW, don't try and use Windows Media Player to play MIDIs cause it defaults to its own lousy internal MIDI voices.

 

[Ted Nicoson]

chyandour

I agree with Gary. An outboard USB diskette drive for your laptop would be the most convenient/efficient way to go, especially for no more than they cost, but in the meantime, you may want to download the Yamaha Musicsoft Downloader. This is a program available from Yamaha as a free download. It is primarily intended for transferring MIDI files and rhythm styles purchased from Yamaha from a computer to a Yamaha arranger keyboard, but it can also be used for transferring any appropriate files, regardless of source, from a PC or laptop to a Yamaha arranger keyboard. You should be able to use it to transfer files from your laptop to the the PSR-1100's diskette drive. It is pretty straight forward, but the built-in HELP files are fairly instructive. Don't worry about a model match, as it is generic to almost the entire Yamaha arranger line. You can download it from:

http://www.yamahamusicsoft.com/en/msd_download/download

and . . . if you did not get a manual, data list, or other instructions with your 1100, you can download them from:

http://download.yamaha.com/search/product/?site=usa.yamaha.com&language=en&product_id=1040681

and . . . if you would like a taste of the 1100's capabilities, here is a video demo of the PSR-2100 by a fellow named Michel Voncken. The 2100 is the 1100's big sister (same model year). Just about everything he does with the 2100 you can do with the 1100 except it does not have the mic-in jack and vocal harmonizer of the 2100:

http://www.pushpsavera.com/?v=oiIRH6nxH2c

Good luck and enjoy that "NEW" PSR-1100